Video: Rod Stewart and Faces play Stay With Me

One of the best live shows, I've ever seen was a Faces concert in 1972. That is approximately the vintage of this YouTube video.


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Karla Bonoff, Kenny Edwards, Chris Brockett & The Wasted Bullets, and The Drunks of Hazzard

I went to a couple of rock shows this week that couldn't possibly have been more different. On Friday, we were comped in to a show by Karla Bonoff and Kenny Edwards. My friend Dave Hokit's law firm sponsored the show. You may know Bonoff's work--she has had tunes in a lot of movies, and has been widely covered. She had some hits that you might recognize in the 80s. She has a fantastic voice with every bit of power she ever had. Alas, I am just not a fan of her music--it's just too Hallmark-poppy. I liked hearing her, but didn't much like the songs.

Kenny Edwards, however, put on an excellent set with folksy, rootsy tunes that could have almost come from the Anthology of American Folk Music. He is a long time associate of Bonoff and Wendy Waldman. In the last five or six years, he has begun performing his own songs, which are sad, funny, and often moving. He is also a member of the band Bryndle (Wendy Waldman, Karla Bonoff, Andrew Gold, and Edwards), where he co-writes songs and sings a few on each record. He was the opening act for Karla Bonoff, and played about 20 minutes. It was the highlight of the show for me. He is a facile guitarist and also played electric bass and mandolin. I am going to search out his hard to find CD...



Chris Brockett and The Wasted Bullets opened up a show on Thursday night at The Rendezvous. Chris played a short set with some of his own tunes and some great covers, including a Johnny Cash cover in which he was joined by the Drunks of Hazzard. Brockett was nervous about his guitar playing, but it didn't matter. His voice sounded great, and he put on a moving, and oh so humble show. I hope I can see him perform a longer set soon. Keep it coming, Chris!

The Drunks of Hazzard are Fraser Thompson, Tony Ravo, Eric Gingrich, and Mike Chavez--artists, designers, and a programmer in the game world. You can find some posters of their gigs here. This band is a gas to watch and hear. And for some reason, you get thirsty listening. After their Thursday night gig, my stomach hurt from laughing so much. Each of their faces are a unique mirror of the music. Tony Ravo and Fraser Thompson mainly front the band. Fraser, in particular, is a joy to watch. His frantic facial expressions and wild limb movements while he plays and sings (most lead vocals and lead guitar) are worth the price of admission. His face can be puzzled, amused, and demonic all at the same time and watching him bounce around the stage only amplifies the music.

I have seen the Drunks play four or five times, but this time they were the most rehearsed I'd ever seen, and they broke out six or seven new songs--most as sick and hilarious as the great old tunes. The audience was convulsed in laughter. I want to try and post some of their lyrics in the near future. If you live in Seattle, try to show up at one of their sporadic gigs. And, hey, Drunks! Isn't it time to put out a CD? I could already name 12 songs that deserve inclusion. I have some low-quality boots of them, but I need an actual CD. Thanks, Drunks!

Other recent music postings on All This Is That:

My Favorite Rock And Jazz Shows (1966-Last Weekend)
More Shows I've seen over the years
The Surprise At The Divorce Crocodile CD Release Party
The Divorce Releases New CD - Seattle Release Parties
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Alien Lore No. 99 - Professor says humanoid ETs walk among us

An article in The Canadian tells us how aliens walk and live among us. This may be news to some. "It all began in 1972, with a voice in his head, leading him to scientific breakthroughs in his own medical research in immunology which brought him special recognition by his peers.

"Professor Hernandez knew the ideas were not his own, because he had no background in developing them. The ideas came from a beautiful [ed note: of course she was!] extraterrestrial woman who said he could call her Elyense, which he changed to LYA for short. She met him several times on the University Campus before she went any further.



"LYA wore a dark pantsuit of some very fine material that the professor could not quite identify. She had dark eyes and wore dark hair shoulder length. She walked our streets and breathed our ambient air with no difficulty. She even drank fruit juice with him at a sidewalk lunch table as they talked. She was obviously far better educated than Hernandez, and he was considered one of his country's foremost scientists. "

"LYA told Mr. Hernandez that there were many space-races far more advanced than men of Earth who were also coming here for exploration, observation, and study of our humanity about to enter a point where we would either join others in space travel and exploration, or we would eliminate ourselves in a suicidal employment of our primitive technology. We had become a society of some interest to many."

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Happy 50th Birthday Osama bin Laden!

If Osama bin Laden is actually alive, he celebrates his 50th birthday today. "Friends in the Taliban prayed for his long life. The al-Qaida leader’s long silence has fueled speculation that the world’s most-wanted fugitive may have died, though many in the international intelligence community reckon Islamist militant Web sites would circulate word of his death."

According to Reuters, "a long silence [since then] has fueled rumors that bin Laden is unwell, or dead, though the United States fears that the al-Qaida network he founded is rebuilding its base in Pakistani tribal lands, and has forged ties with affiliates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East."

The United States has a longstanding offer of a $25 million reward for any information leading to the arrest or death of bin Laden, but leads on his whereabouts have been almost non-existent. Can one of you attorneys also explain to me how you can offer $25M for the death of someone....without even so much as an indictment? How does presumptive innocence figure into that?

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Priests to Purify Archeological Site After President Bush Visit

Mayan priests will hold a purification cermony at a sacred archaeological site, Iximche, to eradicate bad vibrations following President Bush's visit to Guatemala next week, Mayan sources told the Washington Post.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," said Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan organization.
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Poem: Changes 39/Obstruction

1

A dangerous abyss lies ahead
And the inaccessible mountain behind.
You are attached to the earth

By ninety square inches of shoe
And confronted by obstructions
That can't be solved directly.

2
Going leads to obstruction

And adversity and coming

Meets with praise.

Sometimes you must go out
As difficulty compounds difficulty
And meet the trouble.

3

In the midst

Of great obstructions,
Your friends arrive,

And you no longer act
Of your own volition but seek danger
In the service of a higher cause.

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Photographs: Five UFO Crash Landings

The first UFO crash photo is by me. One is definitely from Worth1000.com. The others, who knows?? Click them to enlarge. . .

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That's no blood clot: The new Dick Cheney cover-up

X-ray by Bethesda Naval Medical Center

A source within the White House told All This Is That on Wednesday that the "blood clot" in Vice-President Dick Cheney's left leg does not exist. The blood clot is a cover story for what doctors actually found. Naval Surgeons Dr. Roy Benson and Dr. Daniel Fitch found something far more insidious than a blood clot.

X-rays reveal what appears to be a metal object lodged in the Vice President's leg. Cheney has no record of previous surgery on his legs. The surgeons alerted the White House which, in turn, sent in a phalange of Majestic medical experts along with an artifact recovery squad and counterintelligence experts (who immediately halted all communications from within the hospital and sealed off Bethesda Naval Medical Center).


U.S. Navy Surgeons Dr. Roy Benson and Dr. Daniel Fitch

According to our source, a similar device was recovered from alien crash victims at Roswell, New Mexico, as well as from victims in the Carp, Ontario UFO crash. The device has been recovered from other humans and cattle infected with a virus of unknown origin. Sources speculate that the object seems to be a receiver and transmitter, utilizing frequencies unknown to us. It is not known whether the Vice-President was pitching or catching, whether he is part of an alien hive, or the unwitting victim of an implantation.

Device recovered from Roswell, NM UFO crash victims
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The Scooter Libby Pardon

As soon as Scooter Libby was convicted of lying, the calls from Republicans for a pardon began. However, as the loyal fall guy, Libby is not ready for a pardon. His case needs to wend its way through the appellate courts now, which may take years. And it's not like the President has the political capital to pull this off right now. . .although, we have seen him pull other suicidal moves over the last 6+ years (such as nominating Harriet Meiers for ther Supreme Court, nominating Bolton as the U.N. delegate, deficit war financing, and plunging into his new "surge" in Iraq). If he does decide to pardon Libby, he would likely do it the morning of January 20, 2009. . .that blessed day so many of us are awaiting. If the pardon did come on that last day, we would see George Bush exit the Presidency as he entered it: under a massive firestorm of protest and anger. It would make a fitting bookend to this failed Presidency.

There are at least two impediments to a pardon for Libby:

1) George Bush's already tarnished "legacy." We know he thinks about this, and we also know not many Presidents have ever resurrected their legacy in their last 20 months in office. A pardon would only garner approval from the Neo-cons and the far right.

2) Perhaps even more importantly, there is the Dick Cheney problem. As Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told the jury last month in his summations: ""There is a cloud over the vice president." We know that Libby painted Cheney, his former boss, as the puppeteer, pulling strings in a campaign to defend the administration's case for war in Iraq and discredit a critic. And yet, so far, he seems willing to be the scapegoat and fall guy for Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. As he begins facing serious jail time, you wonder if he won't take a scorched earth position.

Vice President Cheney's recent health problems have led to speculation that he might actually resign. Who knows what effect that would have on a possible pardon? Surely Condi Rice would become VP. She at least seems untarnished by this fracas. And with no one to bring down politically or legally, the President's counsel would tell Libby's lawyer to pound sound when they came calling for a pardon.

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Giuliani son: "I have problems with my father, but it doesn't mean he won't make a great President."

Rudy Giuliani's son, Andrew, told ABC that he has 'problems' with his father. Andrew stressed he still loves his father and said "we are both working on our relationship.

Young Giuliani's comments are a reminder of the extremely messy and public fracas that accompanied Giuliani's divorce from his second wife, the lovely Donna Hanover. According to The Daily News "New Yorkers grew used to" their mayor's sewer of a personal life. But then New Yorkers get used to a lot of things that would revolt the rest of the country. Believe me. I lived there five years.

Maybe Gothamites can hold their noses, but Rudy's reputation may not play so well in places like Terre Haute, St. Paul, or Cheyenne, or just about anywhere in the bible belt. In those places, it may not be a sign of your machismo when you publicly have a sexual relationship with another woman while your wife and children sit home at Gracie Mansion.

Hey Republicans: enjoy your front runner!

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Poem: Truism 1

You don't shop

For a cop.

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Caption of the week: "Coulter's Ugly Crack"

To learn more about the incident, click here.
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Poem: Changes 38/Opposition

1
The flame burns upward
The lake seeps downward
The earth shimmies and quakes

2
When people live in opposition
They cannot carry out
Great undertakings in common

Opposition obstructs
But when it represents polarity
Within a gestalt

It has important functions
Like a catalyst
Or a fuse

Like heaven and earth
Spirit and nature
Man and woman

Light and dark
In and out
Or you and me

3
If you lose your horse
Do not run after it
It will come back of its own accord

The horse goes farther away
When you run after it
So too when someone who belongs with us

Is estranged because of misunderstanding
They will return of their own accord
If we let matters run their course

So too with the evil ones among us
You cannot shake off the evil by force
You must endure

And the evil will collapse

Like a house of cards

Into its own darkness

4
The wagon is dragged back
The oxen halted
And a man's hair and nose are cut off

You can easily overcome
A bad beginning
But a good end lasts forever

5
If you find yourself among people
From whom you are separated

By inner opposition

You become isolated
But meeting someone
Who at the core of their being

Is your kin overcomes isolation
And when the companion is revealed

You face the darkness together.

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74 years ago today, FDR became President

. . .Click President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to enlarge. . .


On March 4, 1933, with the depression in full swing, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States. His inaugural speech promised a "New Deal," e.g., expansion of the federal government as an employer and the establishment of a national "saftey net," as well call it these days. During the first nine months of FDR's stewardship, we were still Dry-- a nation under The Volstead Act,. Not until December could alcohol again be legally sold or drunk. The ban on alcohol lasted 13 years and it was perhaps even less effective the bans on marijuana today.

The majority of Americans stood behind the President and his radical measures to repair the economic climate. He was re-elected three tiemes.

His long term in office led congress and the states to pass the 22ndAmendment to the U.S. Constitution, which limits Presidents to two consecutive elected terms in office.

My favorite quote about President Roosevelt came from none other than Governor Mario Cuomo--who was sitting in the same seat FDR occuped as Governor. This is from his magnificent speech (the entire text appears on All This Is That) at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco:

"We Democrats believe in something else. We democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact, and we have more than once. Ever since Franklin Roosevelt lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees -- wagon train after wagon train -- to new frontiers of education, housing, peace; the whole family aboard, constantly reaching out to extend and enlarge that family; lifting them up into the wagon on the way; blacks and Hispanics, and people of every ethnic group, and native Americans -- all those struggling to build their families and claim some small share of America. For nearly 50 years we carried them all to new levels of comfort, and security, and dignity, even affluence. And remember this, some of us in this room today are here only because this nation had that kind of confidence. And it would be wrong to forget that."

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Front-runners Clinton and McCain losing ground fast/All This Is That's dark horses are mired in the back of the pack

click to enlarge the front runners, climbers,
fallers, & dark horses.

A Newsweek magazine poll released on Saturday shows Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani (more or less tied with John McCain in a January poll) with a 25-point lead over Arizona Senator McCain. Republicans--59 percent--said they backed the former NYC mayor and 34 percent chose McCain. That doesn't leave much for Mitt Romney, who I still feel is a viable dark horse, and who has yet to really emerge from the pack. The magazine notes that ""Most registered Republicans are not familiar with Giuliani's positions on key social issues," mentioning specifically his support for abortion rights and gun control.

Another (Newsweek) poll of registered Democrats shows Sen. Barack Obama chiseling away at fellow Senator Hillary Clinton's lead. In the latest poll, it's 52% Clinton vs. 38% Obama. Again, not much room in there for the dark horse, John Edwards. Or the rest of the vast pack, including Bill Richardson, et al.




Click to enlarge - The real dark horse? Al, if
you do run, bring back the beard. It makes you
look more avuncular, and it's been 91 years
since the last bearded man (Charles Evan
Hughes) ran for President.

Perhaps the real dark horse on the Dem side is the 800 pound gorilla and Oscar winner, Al Gore. He's being coy about a run, but he keeps showing up in all the right places. Is he just laying low, waiting for Obama and Clinton to cut each other to ribbons and/or self-destruct? We may not know for a few months.
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