Autumn Souvenir

Evidently it was unreal. Someone please post this like, maybe now. Some photos:

Josh Rouse - I Will live on Islands... - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo .

And the man we voted for is finally stepping up to the plate. In the past week, he's delivered a passionate and forceful State of the Union, and yesterday, in an unprecedented move, took questions from the republican house. They tossed the usual "cut taxes" b.s. to get their base all hot and bothered, but the president quickly put them in their places through his unbelievable intellect and mastery of the issues at hand. Obama was forceful and called reps. out on their flat-out-lies. If this is the president we see for the remaining three or seven years, similar to John Kennedy, a weak first year will be outshined by firm leadership and the rallying of a country. I know these are still just words, but man does he appear to be turning a corner.

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One of my closest friends is a monster fan of Nick Flynn's writing, especially his first memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City . I read it last year and enjoyed it quite a bit, but having read almost nothing but memoirs for the past year, it was kind of lost in the mix of a number of good ones. Tonight we headed off to hear Flynn read from his new memoir The Ticking is the Bomb , which somehow juxtaposes Flynn's interest (obsession?) with U.S. torture at Abu Ghraib and the impending birth of his daughter. I told myself prior to the reading that I would NOT buy the hardcover, due to a commitment to curtail even my meager spending of late. I brought along my copy of Suck City which I'd have him sign. Following a wonderful reading, Flynn sat down with Stephen Elliott. Flynn was charming, engaging, thoughtful and witty. As the night came to a close, I went up to have my books signed (yes, plural) and had a few-minute chat with Flynn that was one of the more touching conve...

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Tonight, after a very tumultuous year, I once again saw the Barack Obama that I voted for in November of 2008. He was inspiring, cogent and determined. I know many on the left, myself included, are tired of just "words," but I'm going to keep the faith. I will waver, no question about it, but I want this man to transform and rebuild this nation, and despite a disappointing first year, I will keep pulling for him. I was obviously going to do that regardless of what I heard tonight, but his words and delivery only heightened that feeling. The only area that still baffles me is his continuing effort to work with republicans. I think it's fine that he repeated such efforts in this speech, but I hope that after he walked out of the chambers, he was aware that it is absolutely fruitless. I mean, the republicans didn't stand when he spoke of gays in the military and the fact that we're all equal. They're a party that right there admitted to homophobia. That is no...

Now this is a treat. My week is now gone. The Arcade Fire performance lends further evidence that they may indeed be the best live band in the world right now. ACL

Viewer discretion advised.

After a year of hanging around SF Animal Care & Control, I finally feel ready to adopt a dog. I've wanted my own pup for as long as I can remember and now feels like the right time. I have actually found two dogs that I'd love to take home, Athena and Marley. I've hung out with both on about four occasions and absolutely love them. As I furiously search for an apartment that will permit a pup, I've been simultaneously debating which one I'd adopt if I can land an apartment in time. Athena I settled on Athena. She's a six-year-old who was dropped off by her owner. She knows how to sit, shake, lay down, and is incredibly loving. The moment I saw her I wanted to take her home. And every time I've returned, she just gives me that look. One of the hilarious aspects of her personality is her complete lack of interest in playing ball. I take her outside and chuck the ball and it just bounces off her head. She couldn't care less. Then she runs up to me and d...

This "spending freeze" that Obama's set to announce at tomorrow's State of the Union is beyond baffling. Does this president have any idea what's happening in this country or is he only concerned with placating republicans, Wall Street and Rahm Emanuel? As I've said previously, I am no economic wiz. I've never had a moment of interest in "investing" in the market or whatever the hell people do to make nickels, but even the biggest economic dolt simply can't make sense of this. Some are claiming that Obama's starting to lose his base. Based on what I'm hearing/reading/making up, I think the base may be lost. There are the more moderate democrats who still stand with him, but the liberal part of the party (Yes, Barack and Reid, these people do exist and they, well, put you into office) are leaving in droves. Paul Krugman in New York Times today : Obama Liquidates Himself A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team...

I enjoyed the first third of this book, but as the pages turned, I reached a point where honestly, I just wanted Ms. Karr to stop talking. I know that part of addiction and recovery can be quite self-centered, but Karr takes it to a new height. There are certainly pieces of this critically-lauded memoir that strike a chord, but as a whole, I found Karr's unending narcissism to overshadow even the good parts. I don't know what the comparison to "wait until video" is for books, but whatever it is, do that. Maybe it's "wait for the paperback," but honestly, there are so many better memoirs focused on addiction and family. Lit by Mary Karr, Memoir, 2009: 7.1

My waning interest in sports has been covered ad nauseum on this blog. However, there are times when the game can mean more than money, arrogance, corporate-sponsorships, greed, drugs and the rest of the things that have played a part in turning professional sports into something akin to a Wall Street corporation with muscles. Like the Yankees following the 9/11 attacks, the New Orleans Saints are one of those stories. Following Hurricane Katrina, you may recall that there were actual calls to just let the city go. A city so deep in history and Americana was almost left to die. A lackluster, and almost non-existent government reaction, certainly didn't help. As far as I know, the city still has a long way to go. But today was their day. I have friends who call New Orleans home, and a few months ago we met up in San Francisco. I asked one of them how important this Saints run was to the city of New Orleans. His reaction really said it all. He didn't really put it into words, but...

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, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

I won't claim to have a handle or comprehensive understanding on every issue, but I do have somewhat of a grasp on a good portion of the issues. As far as a barometer, since this is the first time I've done this, if I were to have graded George W. Bush each year, he would have received an F eight consecutive years. And I don't mean that sarcastically. He may have received better marks on specific issues (AIDS in Africa), but his overall marks would have totalled eight consecutive Fs. Now to Barack: Health Care: He still may get something through, but this has been very close to a failure. It's been his #1 priority for well over six months, he's exhausted the country with the back-and-forth, and he's yet to really show even a sliver of leadership. I mean, we don't know where he stands on the public option? And he went to big pharma and big insurance first? That's the antithesis of change. Grade: C- Economy: He stabled the Dow, but as Son Volt's lea...

The democrats still have a 59-41 advantage, something that the previous president was never close to, yet he passed legislation that nearly destroyed civilization so easily you often wondered if there was even a democrat in the entire city of Washington. But this current government, run almost single-handedly by the democratic party, can get almost nothing done, whether it's 60 or 59. As has been the case with the democrats ever since George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000, we simply do not have a democratic party strong enough to drive through its principles, or for that matter, really anything. So instead, the electorate turns to the party that will push through policy change, despite the fact that those policies benefit 0.01% of the population and will lead to the complete destruction of the world before the next season of Mad Men begins. Now one year into the Obama presidency, can anyone tell me his position on health care? The environment? Alternative energy? The wars? Edu...

There are times when I listen to this band and seriously think that they are the greatest thing ever to happen in music. This box set Keep an Eye on the Sky is so phenomenal that words just can't do it justice. I know it's a bit pricey, but oh boy, just go out and buy it. Many of the demos of the songs that made it on their records are so raw and full of emotion that it's hard not feel as though you're sitting in on the recording sessions. And although they went on to re-record these tracks, had I been in the room, there would have been a loud, "Perfect! Done! Fucking shit!" coming from my mouth. I mean, how on EARTH were these guys not enormous. Ok, forget enormous, why the hell aren't they talked about in the same breath as say The Kinks, The Who, The Velvet Underground and say, The Clash. I won't lump them in with The Beatles or Stones, simply because they didn't have the output, but Big Star are one of the greatest bands ever. It's okay to...

I will offer up my own take on the president's one-year anniversary in the coming days, but Arianna Huffington's take in today's Huffington Post nails it just about perfectly. "Hope" Has Been a Bust, It's Time For Hope 2.0

People can change anything they want to. And that means everything in the world. People are running about following their little tracks. I am one of them. But we've all gotta stop, just following our own little mouse trail. People can do anything. This is something that I'm beginning to learn. People are out there doing bad things to each other. It's because they're being dehumanized. It's time to take the humanity back into the center of the ring and follow that for a time. Greed, it ain't going anywhere. They should have that in a big billboard across Times Square. Without people, you're nothing. That's my spiel." - Joe Strummer It's a wonder it took me this long to get around to watching this documentary. I won't claim that Strummer's music has impacted me as much as others, but as I age, something about Strummer's music and art, both with The Clash and The Mescaleros, seems to grow within. The more I replay the records, and the ...

Given that my last template no longer works, I'm trying out some new stuff.

It turns out that I will be unable to make the trip to Portland next weekend for the Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard show. If you are in the Portland area, or if you're not, and would just love to attend this show, here's my little offer: The total charge for the ticket was $35.70. The ticket is yours, as long as you're willing to make a donation of at least $30 to Oxfam for its relief efforts in Haiti. The cynic may say, "But how is that really a deal? I'm only saving about $5?" Well, I would say: In addition to enjoying two mid-tempo rockers, you will feel good about donating to a relief effort that needs all the help it can get. Lastly, we will go simply on trust. I won't ask for proof that you sent cash to Oxfam. I will just ask that, well, you send the damn money. If you're interested, please e-mail me at ccsbandwagon at gmail dot com. First person to respond gets the ticket.

Before tossing your donations to the Yele foundation, you may want to read this from The Smoking Gun.

As the days pass, I'm sure more and more people think, "I'm sure the UN and the US now have things under control." Well, we're now long into day four and this is the latest from the United Nations: The United Nations said it had fed 8,000 people, while two million to three million people remained in dire need.

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You've probably noticed that certain things aren't populating on the blog. For example, the date that once sat to the left of each blog title is gone. In addition, the search box appears to be history. I've asked around in forums and such and it appears to be something with Wordpress and hosting of background images. I really have no idea what that means, but some kind forum folks are offering up advice on how to get it fixed. I guess this has impacted many bloggers. I may need to change to a new display altogether. Pretty fonts and stuff aside, the content, at least for the most part, should continue to appear, as I work feverishly with my staff of me, on getting this fixed. In the meantime, donate some cash to Haiti.

Now this is how it should be done. Actually, this is going leaps and bounds ahead of how it should be done. I'd been eying Tim Easton's Porcupine vinyl special-edition for months now. It's priced at $40 plus $5 in shipping so I'd hesitated for months. After growing to really like the record, I finally made the plunge. I've been a fan of Easton's dating back to the Haynes Boys and all of his records, most notably, the classic Special 20 , get regular spins, and likely will for years to come. Yesterday, while continuing to battle some sort of flu, I left the apartment for a bit to take some photos. As luck would have it, I stopped into a bakery for a muffin, and not one hour later seemed to have been hit by a major case of food poisoning. Perhaps that sounds hard to believe, but yep, that's what happened. When I finally made it home, feeling as though I could barely stand (literally), there sat the package from Easton. Although I was in too much of a fog to r...

There are those moments when I'm very proud of my country, this is one of those times. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy

Courtesy of Talking Points Memo: Again, you can donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting HAITI to 90999.

Simply text HAITI to 90999.

The Huffington Post provides a long list of relief organizations in need of donations.

They obviously caught wind of their mistake. And like most companies where service comes last, they've decided to just halt people's downloads. I was midway through downloading the Stax/Volt set when I was tossed errors on all remaining tracks on all box sets. However, of little surprise, they've still charged me 48 credits. How can a service that's been around this long make such a ridiculous service mistake? I have sent a note to customer service which I'm guessing will be responded to sometime in 2037. I've asked for all of my downloads. Once it's cleared up, I'm canceling my account with eMusic. It was a fun five years, but their service has really gone south of late. No wonder they're seeking out a buyer.

If you're on eMusic, you may want to stop in today. They've just added a ton of Warner content. I just picked up four box sets: Neil Young Archives, Coltrane/Atlantic recordings, Stax/Volt singles and Only in America for 48 credits. I believe that's over 400 tracks.

For the first time, Uncle Tupelo's swan song.

I spent about five hours today walking around the city taking pictures, stopping into a few spots for coffee, sitting in parks, high-fiving folks and various other activities. Today is the first day in months that I broke out the SLR. For a while now, every photo (or 99% of them) I've posted on flickr (link above) has been taken with my iPhone. Now I'm going to spend some more time with the fancy one. Though I'm still not sure which takes better pictures, or rather pictures more to my liking. , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

Man, there are a lot. But off the top of my 'fro, these are the two artists who have me on edge:

On January 19th, the Eels will release their eighth studio album and second in about seven months. As the years have passed and Mark Oliver Everett has moved into his mid 40s, his understanding of human emotions and handling of societal conventions only becomes more and more honed. End Times is another excellent record. I was fairly late to the Eels fan club. It was about 2000, four years past their first release, that I was introduced to the band. 2000's Daisies of the Galaxy was a favorite of that year but it wasn't until 2005's Blinking Lights and Other Revelations that the Eels jettisoned up my favorites list. I went back and poured over Everett's 1998 heartbreaking Electro-Shock Blues , an album that recounts aspects of his sister's suicide with almost jarring honesty. Last year's Hombre Lobo was a fine album, and although it's still early (as I've exclaimed many-a-time, it often takes me months, if not years, to fully understand/appreciate a re...

Have I really been this out of the loop? I've recently cut back my news intake to close to nil, but how did I miss this one?? A few days ago, I received my monthly credit card statement (the only card that I still have open) and much to my shock, my APR jumped from 9.99% to 24.99%. I have held this card since 1996 and have been late on but a few payments. Tonight, I finally got around to calling customer service. I took a few deep breaths before getting my new pal on the phone. As I explained my situation, he quickly responded with, "Sir, your new rate is actually 29.99%." "Oh really? Wonderful!" I responded. It turns out, at least according to this young chap, Citibank mailed me a letter in October which outlined two options: 1) cancel my account or 2) accept a 29.99% rate. I don't recall ever seeing this letter. I'm sure they popped it into one of those letters that appears to be junk mail so their customers would just toss it. When my new buddy said t...

"I talked to him every day. There were some very hard conversations and then we'd be laughing our asses off. That was Vic. He had a very different balance between light and dark and life and death than many people do. Throughout his life, even when he was a kid, he had experiences up to the edge of death his whole life. And he had experiences his whole life, and I'm not talking pathologically, of really intense highs and really intense lows. And he lived in those moments very, very deeply. And he processed them very artistically, in a way, to have been privileged to have been next to him, to see some of that, is one of the great pleasures of my life." What an absolutely beautiful thing to say about someone.

Thanks for the heads up, L.

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The movie was better than the critical consensus, but as was the case with No Country For Old Men , there are certain authors who just shouldn't be transferred to film. Cormac McCarthy is one. His books are far too open to interpretation and imagination. Not every piece of art has to have a finite meaning. Actually, good art shouldn't have it at all, aside from perhaps how we see/view/experience it. No Country For Old Men and The Road are both phenomenal books. They should've been left that way. I'm set to read Blood Meridian in the coming weeks. If I love it as much as those mentioned, and it goes to screen, I'll have learned my lesson. Despite how grating Oprah is in everything she says, this interview is worth watching. It's in seven parts so keep watching after the first segment.

That you meet two neighbors for the first time outside the local coffee shop and within five minutes talk turns to the band Freakwater and Leroy Bach? I'd guess pretty slim, but it can happen.

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, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon . When Bruce Springsteen included the below song on his post-9/11 album The Rising , most figured it was obviously a reference to New York City. Bruce kept fairly quiet on the matter, but unlike most tracks on the record, this song was actually written before that fateful day. It could obviously apply to many a city or neighborhood, but the song was written for the small shore town of Asbury Park, New Jersey; the town that put Bruce on the map. Asbury Park was dying and Bruce, through his words (and his wallet) helped to restore the city that gave him so much. I've never really known where to call home. Despite spending the first 18 years of my life in New Jersey (with the exception of an early-life jaunt to LA for a few years), aside from visiting friends and family, I've never really been drawn back to Northern New Jersey since leaving. Having witnessed divorce and a lot of the confusion that comes along with such a separation, it j...

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I've written so much over the past seven years about the impact of The Wrens' phenomenal record The Meadowlands that there's no need to recycle another hyperbolic love story. Wait, I have written about it a lot, haven't I or do I just toss it atop every list? Whatever the case, The Wrens (Charles, I'm guessing?) have expressed gratitude for me putting them at #1 on my Huffington Post list of records of the decade. I met the entire band after their show at Slim's on December 3, 2005. They signed a copy of their first record, took a photo with me and we talked about New Jersey at length. Although I've taken a photo here and there with artists I dig, since entering my thirties about 28 years ago, I often avoid interacting with my favorite artists. There's something in the fear of being let down. I'd rather the music just serve its purpose. But The Wrens, like, well, almost every musician I've met, were absolute class acts. For them to include me ...

I will be here

Last year's goal was 26 books and I came up one short. If I hadn't been sick, I would've finished my first of this year in time to meet the goal. My goal for this year is thirty. Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon, Fiction, 2009 : 8.7

Jon Stewart: Eddie Vedder covering "My City of Ruins":

I am having major top ten withdrawal. 1. Looked out a window 2. Had a cup of coffee. Two actually. 3. Listened to Son Volt. 4. Listened to bands other than Son Volt. 5. Walked. 6. Turned on a light. 7. Blinked. 8. Sat down. 9. Answered a phone call. 10. Thought about stuff.

It turns out that I have more frequent flier miles via American than I thought. I called yesterday and I can travel anywhere within the U.S. and almost anywhere outside of the U.S. gratis. Although I was considering Hawaii, since I'm not really a thong-wearing beach guy, I'm not sure it's the right destination. I'm leaning towards somewhere in Europe or Asia. Oh, and I've already traveled to the following: London, Amsterdam, Italy, France, Belgium, Festus, Missouri. Here's what I'm looking for: -Historical significance -Not a party scene -Relaxing -Not touristy -Off the beaten path If you have any tips or recommendations, please feel free to comment or e-mail me at campbellcj at gmail dot com.