Autumn Souvenir

Dear Governor, As a proud resident of the state of California, I am absolutely embarrassed by your speech at a McCain rally in Ohio today. Yes, I understand that you're a republican and are lending your support to Senator McCain (despite his despicable campaign tactics), but your statements are flat-out lies. Do you REALLY think that Barack Obama is a socialist? I mean, really? There's no way an individual who's reached the governorship of such a great state could truly believe this. You are pandering to the weak and uneducated and it's sickening. I thought you were above the divisive, deceitful and reprehensible actions of the republican old guard. Today made it clear that you are not. Until today, despite disagreeing with you on a number of issues, I have supported your governorship. As of today, I no longer do. I am embarrassed to call you my governor. Regards, Chris Campbell

On Tuesday night we hear the following, "President Elect, John McCain"? For the past few weeks, Obama supporters have begun to feel as if Barack really does have a chance. That said, despite some polls having him with 320+ electoral votes, most Obama supporters have remained cautiously optimistic. I mean, we all remember 2000 and 2004, when victory was decided by a right-leaning Supreme Court (2000) and voter fraud in Ohio likely cost Kerry the election. But after all the enthusiasm, passion and spirit brought on by Obama, what if he loses? After eight years of arguably the worst administration in the history of this country, and McCain's absolutely abhorrent campaign tactics, what if the democrats once again lose their bid for the presidency? I recall an older friend of mine saying a few months ago, "What Obama's doing in this country right now is bigger than Kennedy in the 60s. I've never seen anything like it." But what if hate, lies and corruption on

If Obama wins: "Sky Blue Sky" "I'm the Man Who Loves You" "Pick Up the Change" "Promising" "I Got You" "California Stars" "Dreamer In My Dreams" "Remember the Mountain Bed" "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)" "In a Future Age" If McCain Wins: "Hate It Here" "Ashes of American Flags" "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" "At My Window Sad and Lonely" "Red Eyed and Blue" "The Unwelcome Guest" "I Must Be High" "Can't Stand It" "The Lonely 1" "Why Would You Wanna Live?" "Jesus, etc." "When You Wake Up Feeling Old" "War on War"

There's something about Bill that still rubs me the wrong way in relation to Obama. Following Obama's primary victory, I've always felt that Bill and Hillary want no part of handing over the party to Senator Obama. They've done very little to help him on the campaign trail, but now that Obama appears to be in line to win, Bill wants into the party. The last two minutes of this video are not flattering to Obama. Clinton tries to make it appear as if Obama's open-minded and wants to listen to those around him, but it's really a swipe at Obama. Watch from about 9:10 to the end. It is very clear that Obama is not happy with Bill's remarks and his body language makes this clear. When Clinton says about Obama, "You tell me what's right and I'll figure out how to sell it", this is a clear shot at Obama's leadership abilities. I had enough of the Clinton's leading up to this election, and this underhanded swipe at Obama while standing NEXT

Eels : Blinking Lights and Other Revelations Vagrant, 2005 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan : Ballad of the Broken Seas V2, 2006

I can remember the moment Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president. I can remember the same for John Edwards, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton and even Bill Richardson. If you read this blog on occasion, you're well aware that I was an Edwards supporter until his run fizzled out. Once it did, I moved over to Obama. But I still had questions. I didn't know much about this young Senator from Illinois. Although it's now become a silly campaign attack, I admit that I saw a lot of promise but wasn't certain about the substance behind it all. The last 21 months or so have proven Senator Obama to be ready. There's now no question in my mind. But I reflect on the Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and George Bush years. All of the folks who stood beside these criminals as they condoned torture, left Americans to die in the streets of New Orleans, lied to the entire planet leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, stripped us of o

Things The Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett, Memoir, 2008: 9.4 The Night of the Gun by David Carr, Memoir, 2008: 7.6

As I sit in a cafe waiting for the smog check to finish on my car, I'm coming to realize that I'm returning to the person I used to be, in some senses. After being on the "cut list" with an employer, you'd expect to take a hit to your esteem, despite the circumstances surrounding the cut. But I can honestly say, and not in an attempt to coat over feelings of inadequacy, that I am feeling almost the exact opposite. I am still working through the reality of being unemployed, but I feel as if the person that I truly am is returning. I'm just about finished reading Mark Oliver Everett's sensational memoir, Things the Grandchildren Should Know , and it's strange how much Everett's thinking with respect to work, success, culture, self-awareness and integrity, seem to match exactly what I feel is finally being returned to me. It's almost as if I was running at about 75% of myself, letting a bit over half of myself out, while playing the game with the

These two tracks open Bonnie "Prince" Billy's fantastic 2006 release, The Letting Go . The more I listen, the more I think this may be the best 1-2 opener on any record released in the past ten years. Now go to insound.com, Amoeba Records, Other Music or hell, even Amazon, and buy this near-perfect record. I've got it on CD and Vinyl (arrives this week) and I'm not kidding, despite sounding like a tedious asshat. For the lazy loads:

Following the cliche "day after losing job hangover" day, this morning I awoke at 5am to realize that it was a weekday, but I did not have to go to work. No, it wasn't a vacation day, holiday or "personal" day; I just don't have a job. This is the first time in my life that I've faced this reality. I've had probably 15 different employers dating back to the age of 14 or so, but I've never been dismissed anywhere. Should the fact that 19 others at my company were "laid off", make this reality less stark? I'm not sure. Maybe. It's now a little bit before 5pm on a Friday, a time when, at most jobs in the past, I'd be about ready to put a week of work behind me and step into a coveted weekend. But right now it's just 5pm on another day. I guess it could be Monday or Sunday or Tuesday. Fine, it's Friday. Most of my friends and former colleagues are getting ready to end another week. I'm fighting off furious urges to s

For the first time in my 12 years in the post-college workforce, I have been laid off at a job. I left a breakfast meeting yesterday morning, turned the corner to my office and noticed about ten colleagues standing outside. I saw tears, laughs, anger, and friendship. And I was warned that I would meet my fate, whether good or bad, the moment the elevator doors opened. I made my way upstairs and felt an incredible sense of ease. Given my role in the company, I was 95% certain that I was on the cut line. And I was right. I've now had 24+ hours to absorb this all, and the most overriding feeling and emotion I'm experiencing is a sense of being grateful. See, when I graduated college I wanted to travel down one of two paths: 1) pursue a phD in Sociology or 2) work in music. These were and still remain my two biggest passions (the former having evolved into politics and policy), and given a lack of money to fund many years of graduate school, I opted for music. And boy have I been l

Yes, today he surpassed George W. Bush. With zero plan on any important front, McCain has now begun relentlessly attacking his counterpart, firing off one lie after another. First he fabricated Obama's "relationship" with Bill Ayers. And now Sarah Palin and a bunch of surrogates are claiming that Obama is not only a Socialist, but a Communist. Add to this the allegations that Obama's a "baby-killer", a terrorist, a Muslim and an elitist (his net worth is less than 5% of McCain's), and McCain has now gone down a path that no presidential campaign has ever visited. This is worse than the 2004 Georgia Senatorial race in which Saxby Chambliss claimed that Vietnam-hero, Max Cleland, who lost both legs and one arm in the war, was a terrorist sympathizer. This has gone too far, way too far. If the republican party had any ethics and "patriotism", they would vocally condemn this deeply hateful and deceitful campaign. If McCain does end up losing, he wi

This is the first video or audio I've found of this show. As the weeks have passed since this night, I can now say, without a moment of hesitation (or even hypberbole), that this was among the greatest shows I've ever seen.

Phonebanking in San Francisco Obama in St. Louis

Man do I love this song: Modern Guilt - Beck

It's a pretty cool feeling when a good friend's band has improved to the point where you actually love the band for the music alone. It's equally cool when they bust out covers like Gillian Welch's "Wrecking Ball".

In February, M. Ward will release Hold Time on the beloved Merge Records. Guests include his She & Him pal Zooey Deschanel, Lucinda Williams, the dude who fronts DeVotchka, and the fella who used to front Grandaddy. Having spent many, many hours with Ward's records, I've come to the conclusion that his last record, 2006's Post-War is hands-down his best. It's a record that takes time to fully absorb, but once you do, it's clear that this one's a near masterpiece. Ward is so on his game right now, that Hold Time has the potential to remove the word "near".

"Used Cars" "The Ghost of Tom Joad"

Having passed the middle mark of October, I am now less than one month shy of my 35th birthday. As I typed that, it still remains absolutely astounding to me that I am a few weeks away from my 35th birthday. Those close to me won't hesitate to note that I still act as if I'm way short of the 35 mark. For one, on occasion, I still like to go out and drink a bunch with my friends. Secondly, it can be argued that I still claim to be "finding myself" as far as my career aspirations. When it comes to marriage and children, despite being with the girl of my dreams, I'm still "figuring things out". I won't deny any of these. Although I feel as if life has become much more clear over the past few years, there are basics that I'm still working out. With three-plus decades under my belt, and much of my life to be determined, I have been reflecting on some of the most important external events of my life. See, we all have our passions, whether it be relati

and for good measure:

River Man - Nick Drake

Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 01 (Emcee Intro) 02 On the Way Home 03 Songwriting Rap 04 Mr. Soul 05 Recording Rap 06 Expecting to Fly 07 The Last Trip to Tulsa 08 Bookstore Rap 09 The Loner 10 "I Used To" Rap 11 Birds" 12 Winterlong (excerpt) / Out of My Mind (Intro) 13 Out of My Mind 14 If I Could Have Her Tonight 15 Classical Gas Rap 16 Sugar Mountain (Intro) 17 Sugar Mountain 18 I've Been Waiting for You 19 Songs Rap 20 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing 21 Tuning Rap / The Old Laughing Lady (Intro) 22 The Old Laughing Lady 23 Broken Arrow Dont Let It Bring You Down - Neil Young

Wilco: Through the Years

Not something you see very often. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum appeared with the Elephant 6 Collective at the Knitting Factory on 10.11.08.

Bob Dylan : Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol 8 Columbia, 2008 Bonnie "Prince" Billy : The Letting Go Drag City, 2006 Damien Jurado : Caught in the Trees Secretly Canadian, 2008

I first read Murakami in 2000 or so. My introduction was the mesmerizing and dreamlike The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , a novel that carries the reader through a world of reality, imagination, horror and understanding. It's a book that's nearly impossible to encapsulate in a review, due to its unlimited interpretations. Following this classic, I've gone on to read seven or eight more by Murakami. Following Albert Camus and Richard Russo, he stands among my favorite authors. Where Camus has left an imprint of a lifetime on my view of it all and Russo touched on my sensitivity around small-town life, Murakami opened up my imagination to events as massive as a world war and as mundane as a neighbor's cat roaming an alley. There's nothing Murakami can't explore, and there's nothing that's without meaning. Last night in Berkeley, Murakami did a short reading followed by a conversation about his writing process, Japan, fiction, non-fiction and responsibility, and

I don't know anymore, but he's starting to remind me of this fella....

hard knocks - big light a rock n' roll fantasy - the kinks planets - teenage fanclub these city lights shine - glossary sing me back home - the flying burrito brothers little white cottage - jay bennett & edward burch strange form of life - bonnie "prince" billy blind luck - peter case breeze - apollo sunshine lost coastlines - okkervil river chicago promenade - jason isbell it's a dream - neil young

Hip Hops Pioneers

Following the first debate, despite the polls, I did not think that Senator Obama won handily. On the contrary, I actually thought that McCain may have had a slight edge; not on the issues per se, but on the overall feel. I felt as if McCain seemed more on the offensive and more stalwart, two characteristics that a good portion of the American public relate to. I found Obama's command of the issues and nuanced views to be far superior, but something about the overall tenor caused me to think that McCain had done well. Tonight could have not have been more different. After nearly two years of "critical" debates, tonight was Barack Obama's most impressive performance yet. Not only did he show an unbelievably elastic knowledge of just about every issue covered in every newspaper over the past five years, but his cadence, delivery, thoughtfulness and overall make-up were stunning. This was not a man in training, but rather a man who is ready this very minute to take over

The slow-motion clip of Langford cutting through invisible blockers is comedy genius.

Traditional Terrain

The weekend began with a raucous night of music Friday with The Gourds in North Beach. Before a crowd of Oracle suits (private party), I was treated to one of the best Gourds sets in perhaps a decade. They covered most of their catalog, including obscure favorites such as "Up on High" and "When Wine Was Cheap". A two-hour plus double-set reminded me, once again, that music can send a jolt through us that can quickly abridge the trials of the day. Saturday was a trip to Golden Gate Park to see Gary Louris & Mark Olson, followed by Nick Lowe. The former were good, but this reunion of sorts, still seems to be lacking the honest bond that existed between these two while co-fronting The Jayhawks. Nick Lowe took the stage alone and had the thousands spread over the grass gripped. The set closer, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding", was delivered with such truth and subtle delivery, that I'm certain a few tears were shed. It wa

Interview with Okkervil River at TIMF -

Regardless of your party affiliation, Sarah Palin's spectacle tonight should be universally viewed as the most embarrassing performance in the history of presidential or vice presidential debates. Gwen Ifell threw out softball after softball and not only did Palin deflect each question, but she rambled through nonsensical tangents that nary a human could comprehend. This woman is almost unable to construct a sentence. And for this, John McCain's presidential aspirations should now go down in flames. If Governor Palin were to take over the helm as the leader of the free world, it is unimaginable what could transpire here and abroad. As far as Biden goes, I viewed his performance as fairly good. He is clearly well versed on just about all issues, but his demeanor can be somewhat off-putting. Is this important to me? Well no, but to many Americans his mannerisms are likely a turn-off. At one moment he seems relaxed, while the next his head appears to be on the verge of imploding.

10.1.08