MattZ

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the last couple of days and I think that part of the problem here stems from the fact that this country has done some pretty reprehensible things behind the scenes for a long time. And we (the people) were naive enough to believe that they weren't happening. I stand by what I said yesterday but I don't think this is simply a case of Obama going back on a campaign pledge by continuing Bush policies. As Sullivan says, the news is out already. The Red Cross has already let the cat out of the bag. I fear that Obama is trying to conceal somethi

There hasn't been much action around here recently so I wanted to get some going. It occurred to me that I go through phases where I have a go-to riff or song that I play when I pick up my guitar before I start messing around. Or if I sit down in a guitar store to check out a new instrument. These days, since I am focusing on my acoustic playing mostly, I find that if my guitar is in standard tuning after I've picked it up, that I play the opening runs to Mountain Bed. If it's in drop D tuning, the intro to Spiders. Then I move on to whatever else I feel like playing in the moment. Do

For all the "let banks fail" and "we will never see this money paid back" chatter in here, I'd like to reiterate that, by not letting Goldman fail, we avoided a potential calamity and Goldman appears to be the first bank stepping forward to pay the Government back. Now, we will see if the Government takes the money back (they may not), but Goldman is raising private capital to pay the public sector back. So yes, I understand that Goldman Sachs aren't exactly the good guys here, and this isn't exactly a feel good story, and this doesn't mean that anyone else will pay their loans back. And y

Thanks for posting that, Dondoboy. Great interview.

Yes, yes. I know this is all probably some devious plan on Goldman's part to lull taxpayers into complacency before they take over the world at our expense, but still, this is relevant to our thread here (from the wsj): NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said he believes that repaying the $10 billion the firm received from the U.S. government bailout is a "duty" now that the investment bank has reported strong quarterly results. The company priced a $5 billion stock offering Tuesday to raise part of the money, and it will find other means to come up

feliz cumpleanos!

That Greenwald article ruined my morning. The constitution and these court rulings are black and white. To me, this has nothing to do with how hard the job is when you get there, or not being rash, or dealing with a difficult situation in a reasonable and nuanced way. Those are all rationalizations that comfort a terrible reality. And if Bush was president, we'd be (still) calling for his head on this.

Safe to assume that you don't think I See A Darkness is the most beautifully haunting song ever written, huh? He's not being "intentionally shitty." Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but that's not an opinion IMO, and that's the difference.

is the title track from I See a Darkness the most beautifully haunting song ever written? fuck.

Yeah, I was there last night too. And I have to say that I had two odd experiences. First, like you said, after a couple of the songs, my instinct was to clap and I had to stop myself. And second, the sound so unbelievably crisp that I had to catch myself from closing my eyes and listening. Armisen was pretty funny and I agree that the IATTBYH questions from the audience were a bit odd. Seemed (to me) that folks were more interested in (and were asking about) what sort of limits the band put on the filmmakers' access. Since, as we know, things got a bit dicey the last time someone had

Nah, Blinking Lights was (tip of the cap to Beltmann) and then I worked back. I agree that it's pretty basic rock, but that's not a problem in my mind. I think some of those songs are beautful, if not ground-breaking. But I definitely put it on when I want to have fun. So I see what you are getting at. Diff'rent strokes is cool with me. Was just curious.

If you scroll ALL the way down, the official site lists Wilco LP reissues too. http://www.recordstoreday.com/Page/642

They may be greedy bastards who missed this entire collapse. They may also be the best we've got. Taibbi is right that this is all incestuous but it is because, I hate to say it, finance is incestuous. You can't pluck someone from the local coffee shop to run the treasury. There just isn't a huge pool of candidates to choose from. Most people don't know much about a CDO other than how to spell it. The best we've got just isn't all that impressive, and many (most?) of them are Goldman, Sachs alums. I don't think Obama has a choice.

Dang. I love Shootenanny. Maybe my favorite. I know that's heresy, but it just hits me right. What don't you guys like about it? Also, hard to think of better meat to the middle of the lineup than the 3-4-5-6 hitters (Good Old Days > Love of the Loveless > Dirty Girl > Agony). I guess the '27 Yankees were better.

I just dove into BPB myself, but I didn't take everyone's advice here and I went with Lie Down in the Light and Beware first. Both blew me away and I love them, but I just started listening to I See a Darkness and jeez that's like a 180 turn on emotion right there. It's taking some effort for me to re-adjust my brain.

I know exactly what you mean. My work is done here. Carry on folks.

the game is the same, it's just up on another level. Ya know?

Yeah. It's the best example, but you are right. I think even if you gave the 24 year old Bobby the music and lyrics to Po' Boy or Nettie Moore, we'd prefer the versions from the guy we got now. What do you think? The world has gone black before my eyes.

not to harp on this, but I listen to stuff that is relevant to me. Anything Bob Dylan does is relevant to me. Objective relevance to the real world is not relevant to me. Unless I am arguing with my buddies over beers or posting on this message bd. And, fwiw, not even Bob Dylan in his "prime" could have written a song like Not Dark Yet. I think Dylan, in some ways, is as good as if not better than he's ever been. (in some ways).

no, there are at least two of us.

Awesome!

It's bizarre that the music industry evolved in such a way that you had been forced to purchase an LP of a band without the benefit of actually getting to hear it to see if you'd like it. Sure, maybe you'd hear a song on the radio. But I can't think of many other things (certainly not in the art realm) where you don't get an opportunity to experience the art in some form before deciding whether you wanted to buy it. I dont say this to defend illegal downloading. But it would be nice (and I think fair) if there was a way to allow people to download music for free and maybe have it automati

The Beta Band - The Three EPs

Couldn't agree more.

happy birthday!