cryptique

My reason for poking you about this is the connection you attempted to make between two posters' claims of malevolent media control and their use of others' words to advance their arguments. You meant it as a snarky "observation," but it contained a false equation of two minimally related things, masquerading as a serious point, and that equation had gone unchallenged.

There's not a point I'm trying to prove; it is what it is, and it occassionally annoys me.

Maybe you could jot down your rules for message-board discussions, so that we all may know how not to incur your annoyance.

I see your point, but if someone wants to post a link, where's the harm in that? Click it or don't click it. If you do click it, you can usually determine within ten seconds whether it interests you enough to actually read it.

Rather than rehashing someone else's words, posting a link is an efficient way to direct people's attention to additional commentary on an issue. It's helpful when a link is accompanied by a brief explanation of what the link leads to, but I don't see that as a requirement. At the same time, if someone merely posts a link without explanation, they shouldn't be surprised if no one bothers to click that link, because they didn't exert the minimal effort required to provide some context for it.

As you said, it is what it is ... nothing to be annoyed about. Move along.

I thought Gervais was fantastic. Awards shows are stupid, and they deserve to have someone come in and lay waste to them from time to time.

I always think it's funny when you and Sparky Lyle post about how others are controlling our infrastructure and media...but rely almost exclusively on others' words and ideas to convey the point.

Ludicrous. I haven't followed this thread closely enough to know whose words they posted to convey their point, but this argument is dishonest. Though mainstream media are clearly being manipulated by powerful interests into skewing their reporting to suit a certain agenda, there is an ample supply of reporting and commentary on the internet that is not beholden to any corporate or political master.

That's not to say that all of it is worth reading, or that much of it is objective, but it's hard to find a subject on which countless others have not already weighed in online, many of them with considerable eloquence. I see no harm in drawing from the words of others, if someone has already done a good job of making the very point you wish to express.

In the running for worst album cover of the year.

Otherwise, quite an ummemorable experience

Is she still relying on endless repetition in her songwriting, or has she actually started writing good songs again?

And, who says that NPR is a strictly "Liberal" media outlet?

They haven't been for quite a while now. Ever since the Republicans started threatening to de-fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NPR has been kissing GOP ass every chance they get.

Not that it's working ... that threat is in full force again.

I love both of them as actors

Meh. Franco has been hit and miss for me, mostly miss. Hathaway is gorgeous but I can't say she's ever left much of an impression on me with her acting.

I figured they'd be competent and boring, but instead they were annoying and boring.

Just heard INDIANA gov. Mitch Daniels on NPR this morning talking about the issues in his state and his thought processes behind it all. And, I have to say, the guy makes sense. I don't agree with a lot of what he said, but at least he comes off as sane and knowledgeable about the issues. This is a guy that I would listen to. This appears to be a guy that seems to be open to reasonable debate. Whether he is or not, is another matter. But I can see this guy making a serious run at the presidency in '12. And, as a lifelong Democrat (and child of the labor unions), I am willing to hear him out. There are actual ideas there.

I had the exact opposite reaction. That son of a bitch sat there and lied about the Bush tax cuts, and was furiously spinning the recession to make himself look like some kind of hero.

I'm especially looking forward to the show this year, because I'm anxious to see James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts.

Well, I for one thought they were horrible. Absolutely atrocious.

Damn that was a great concert - at the Town and Country Club in North London as I recall. Quite an emotional night for me - seeing Parker and band in such great form after all those years - and in front of a really appreciative crowd. Brinsley Schwarz was on fire! I remember Parker doing a terrific version of The Las 'There She Goes' at some point.

Indeed, it was at the Town and Country Club.

I was in London for a semester of foreign study, but I had virtually no extra cash, so when I found out about this show I had to reduce my grocery budget for a week or two to free up funds for a ticket. Definitely worth it.

These big beefy punk guys with nose rings and tattoos were coming back with bloody noses. My first experience with a mosh pit - intense!

I nearly died in the pit at a Jesus & Mary Chain show at the Brixton Academy in '88. And I'm as big and beefy as they come.

Slight miscalculation on my part when I decided to go down front.

The J Geils Band - 10th Anniversay concert at the New York Academy of Music 1977

Forgot to mention these guys. The full original lineup (minus Stephen Jo Bladd) played a couple of shows in Detroit two years ago, and I made sure I got tickets.

I think my favorite Killdozer cover is "I Am, I Said."

He might have left out two continents, but he included the two most populated.

Latin America is a continent?

we are bankrupt, the unions have played a role in this

A very minor role. There are far bigger Goliaths that need slaying before anyone goes after unions ... but those Goliaths tend to donate very heavily to Republicans (or are manifestations of the longstanding Republican agenda), so here we are.

My parents let us borrow bricks and boards and we set up jumps on the sidewalk in front of our house -- both takeoff and landing ramps. Those ramps got pretty far apart after a while. Amazingly, no memorable injuries resulted.

We lived on a cul-de-sac with woods at the end of it, and in those woods there were some great jumps that someone had constructed by creating mounds of earth. Some of them were really scary, but I don't remember any of us ever getting hurt.

This whole record.

Silver Jews

Police (reunion tour)

Pixies ('90, also reunion)

R.E.M. (original lineup)

Ramones (C.J. on bass)

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Graham Parker & The Rumour (one-off London reunion show in 1988)

CSNY (featuring the late Ben Keith)

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (with Federici)

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (w/ Stan Lynch)

The Pretenders (w/ Martin Chambers)

Meat Puppets (original lineup reunion)

The Dead Milkmen

Dinosaur Jr. (original lineup reunited ... OK, so these guys are still around)

GBV ('94)

Gigolo Aunts (later lineup)

The Jayhawks ('93)

The Chamber Strings

Soul Asylum (before they were big)

Scruffy The Cat

The Vulgar Boatmen (Indianapolis branch)

The Knitters (reunion)

Spacehog (supposedly reunited now, but haven't seen any product from that)

Lemonheads (later lineup)

The Waxwings

Pete Seeger (still around, but he's 91 ... does he still play any regular shows?)

Junior Wells

Koko Taylor

Albert Collins

Bobby "Blue" Bland (still alive but not touring)

The Persuasions (all original members)

Big Star (reunited lineup)

Alex Chilton (High Priest tour)

Pink Floyd (first post-Waters tour)

Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper

Killdozer

The Residents

Smashing Pumpkins (original lineup ... I don't really like these guys but I added them to the list)

Sand Rubies

Trip Shakespeare

"Vibes" probably isn't the right word, so instead I'm sending good thoughts to the southern hemisphere...

Another shot of my bike.

It looked a little ridiculous, what with the bicentennial banana seat, the fenders, and the stumpy handlebars, but it was the fastest bike in the neighborhood. I routinely beat my brother (3 years older) in bike races.

And A-man, I didn't have that Knievel bike, but someone in my neighborhood did.

Awwwwww yeah.

That's me on the right, my brother on the left.

Whiskeytown.

Long story, but I was actually at a Whiskeytown show, but had gone with friends to see the opening band and wound up leaving before Whiskeytown came on stage.

At the time I had heard of Whiskeytown but hadn't yet listened to any of their stuff.

There is a Borders in PA where the whole basement level use to be mostly music. That place had everything - imports, box sets, all sorts of stuff. I once spent two hours looking at cds there. The cds were not all that expensive, but that was before the days of iTunes, and online music buying.

Sometime around the turn of the century I had the same experience on the top floor of the B&N in downtown Baltimore. I couldn't believe how much hard-to-find music was in there. Man, if I were rich I would have needed a little red wagon to haul everything I wanted. I finally found A.M. there (wasn't available anywhere near where I live), and, I swear, the Lt. from Law & Order (S. Epatha whatever her name is) was in there shopping, too!

These posts take me back to the glory days of Tower Records on North Clark in Chicago. I had many kid-in-a-candy-store moments in that place. (RIP)