Hixter

Nels and the Fibbers covering Can in 1997:

http://youtu.be/cz4jcYHjqzw

This general is leading our fight against ISIS. The article makes him sound like he's the greatest warrior and thinker in the Army. He spent much of his career leading a unit whose existence the Army doesn't even acknowledge. A very interesting read.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/01/nagata-islamic-state-terror-obama-pentagon-syria-special-forces/

Even though he's in the States at the moment, it's May 19th in the UK and that means Pete Townshend is 70 years old. Here's to many more happy and healthy years for ol' Pete.

The man who shot at George Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and firing a deadly missile into an occupied conveyance.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/us/george-zimmerman-truck-shot/index.html

05 (1968) - Disney records

10 (1973) - Elton John

15 (1978) - The Who

20 (1983) - The Who

25 (1988) - The Who

30 (1993) - Sonic Youth

35 (1998) - Whatever Carla Bozulich and Nels Cline were doing at the time

40 (2003) - Whatever Carla Bozulich and Nels Cline were doing at the time

45 (2008) - Whatever Carla Bozulich and Nels Cline were doing at the time

50 (2013) - Whatever Carla Bozulich and Nels Cline were doing at the time

You know that your neighborhood gas station is a good one when they have this on the shelf:

i could do the top 4 and substitute Springsteen's Born to Run or Minutemens Double Nickels as #5.

I'd be only slightly inconvenienced with DNOTD as #5. I knew that I was missing a classic double album and that was it. But I'm still a huge Geraldine Fibbers fan, so it makes me a little uncomfortable. I guess I'd go with The Minutemen at #5.5 and bow towards Pedro and pray for forgiveness.

I never for a moment believed that Pakistan did not know he was there and did not know we were comming. The whole set up thing sounds a bit much. I was also skeptical of the positive ID, shipping the body to the carrier and burial at sea timeline.

It's almost certain that some high-ranking members of Pakistan's intelligence agency knew that he was hiding out in Abbottabad, and they likely helped him to do so. But I doubt most of the leadership were aware of his presence. Anyone who was willing to harbor the world's most wanted terrorist would be unlikely to allow American forces to swoop in and kill him. (The Pakistanis had already warned bin Laden about Clinton's incoming cruise missile strike in 1998.) Had they known about the plan in advance, they would have spirited him away and set up an ambush to kill or capture American soldiers who were participating in an illegal, armed incursion into a sovereign nation. 

The Who - Quadrophenia

The Clash - London Calling

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

The Geraldine Fibbers - Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home

but this just smells bad to me. It is the opposite of the equally valid statement "If George Zimmerman had just left Trayvon Martin alone, Martin would still be alive." And you chose to side with Zimmerman. "Fan" may be over the top, but you certainly gave him more than the benefit of the doubt.

Yes, both are equally valid and they are not mutually exclusive. However, it is not an indication of fandom or bias if I only mentioned one of them. As a matter of fact, I only typed it out as an other-side-of-the-coin response to this post:

If tubby had just stayed in his car as he was instructed that poor kid would still be alive. Simple as that. I won't shed any tears when Zimmerman is beaten to death on the street soon*.

 

*sorry if that sounds harsh, but I'm just really pissed and more ashamed of this country than usual today.

So the whole killing Osama thing might have been a big lie.  That is if you believe a bunch of unnamed sources and Seymour Hersh.

 

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden

 

Unnamed sources yeah!

From what I've gathered, it was a single unnamed source. Sy Hersh is losing it.

Hixter, I know you consider being called out in a message board's political thread an affront on basic human decency, but - you still a fan of George Zimmerman?

I was never a "fan" of George Zimmerman. I was relieved that he was rightfully acquitted in the Trayvon Martin shooting, based upon all of the available evidence.

Nels Cline and Julian Lage are doing another tour. Happy to see some Texas shows on the calendar.

10/20 - Fall River, MA - Narrows Center for the Arts
10/21 - Portland, ME - SPACE Gallery * on sale now
10/22 - Northampton, MA - The Parlor Room (2 shows) * on sale now
10/23 - Ithaca, NY - The Dock
10/24 - Erie, PA - Mercyhurst College *on sale 7/6
10/27 - Houston, TX - Mucky Duck
10/28 - Austin, TX - Cactus Cafe (2 shows)
10/29 - Dallas, TX - Kessler Theater

There's a nice interview with Pete Townshend here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/whos-done-pete-townshends-ambivalent-farewell-20150507

Here's an excerpt that should probably have been posted in the Politics 2015 thread:

 

While we're on the subject, when you look at ISIS and Boko Haram — and even what Putin has been up to, to some extent — do you worry about the state of the planet?

 

Not as long as we remember. [Laughs] You know, I am not going to get fucking accused of being a neocon by Arianna Huffington again, that dimwitted woman. [Editor's note: Huffington herself didn't call Townshend a "neocon"; he was described as that in a 2012 piece on the Huffington Post.] But I do think it's very important that we keep our ammunition ready. I do feel there is nothing to worry about as long as we're willing to protect ourselves.

 

Had America not interceded in World War II, Germany would have taken over the whole of Europe. I think the most important thing is that we remember that. But also remember that we don't need to act until this shit comes to our door. When that happens, whether it comes to our door in a Charlie Hebdo scenario or in a 9/11 scenario, we need to keep calm and to honor our own sense of values and justice and law and the way that we want to live.

 

Are you able to understand why a young person in America or the U.K. would go join ISIS?

 

I'm not particularly politically well-grounded, but from 1967 to the mid-Seventies, I was following Meher Baba and also considering joining a Sufi order. It's not exactly Islam, but it's very close. I kind of understand what they mean when they talk about what jihad is, but I don't see how it helps anybody. I don't see how it helps the people in the countries in which they live. They're getting to a point where the so-called caliphate will be run by a bunch of bullies, basically. But then, I've seen this before — in my lifetime, I grew up with bullies at school, I grew up with bullies in the Sea Scouts, I grew up with bullies in my band!

Bush didn't help matters when he literally said, If you're not for us, you're against us.

His exact words following the September 11th attacks were:

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

A few days earlier, Hillary Clinton said:

"Every nation has to either be with us, or against us."

Nice! They haven't played that on tour in a LONGGGGGGGGGGGG time.

How was the show?

I had a lousy seat, but the band sounded great and it was nice to hear 3 or 4 songs that I'd never heard them play before. Pete really seems to like Austin, and at the end of the gig he pronounced it the 'music fucking capital of the fucking world.'

Pete and Roger seem like good pals these days and Townshend seems to be softening up a bit. I think he's looking forward to the end of the band, but with more nostalgia and happiness than he's shown in the past.

Most of the night's songs can be found on YouTube. I'm going to download them and try to create my own concert video by dubbing in the official audio download of the concert which will be available shortly. Ten bucks is a reasonable price, but it annoys me when bands charge more ($15) for lossless FLAC files.

The Who Setlist - Austin 4/27/15:

I Can't Explain

The Seeker

Who Are You

The Kids Are Alright

I Can See for Miles

Pictures of Lily

My Generation

Magic Bus

Behind Blues Eyes

Bargain

Join Together

You Better You Bet

I'm One

Love, Reign O' er Me

Eminence Front

A Quick One, While He's Away

Amazing Journey

It's a Boy

Sparks

Pinball Wizard

See Me, Feel Me

Baba O'Riley

Won't Get Fooled Again

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26216037/legal-pot-blamed-some-influx-homeless-this-summer

I've been panhandled in cities across several continents, but Denver is the only place where they've asked me for weed.

I've only been panhandled twice (both times outside a club where my friends' band was playing) and both guys were dreadlocked bro-hippies, but I'm just going by what my crusty friends have told me. I'll probably see them this weekend in SoCal, so I'll ask for clarification.

As I said, I was speaking about the people who have flocked to Denver to beg for weed and money, not the average resident. "Crusty, dreadlocked vagrants" describes them very well.

Looks like they've installed some giant dildos since the last time I was there.

The audience mikes were set up so there is a chance at a Roadcase release.

Thanks for the info. Fingers crossed!

that flipping setlist is epique

What are the seating arrangements? I think my tickets say Row B, but I don't know anything about the venue.

I was on the stage at the very last Geraldine Fibbers show (1997) because Nels and Carla convinced the venue that an underaged girl and I were part of the crew so that she could enter the 21+ venue.