Halloween Humor

The Armpit Collection X

I Accidentally Touched My Head

A Fine Closing For a Fine Campaign

This is a hell of a two pronged closing message. First one of the finest "contrast" ads I've ever seen. And then below is the hopeful "we can do this together" message. This man's leaving no money and no voter on the table. I heard he's just moved 100 paid staffers into Georgia and has brought in Al Gore to close out Florida. And he even has B-listers out on the road for him. In North Carolina alone we've got James Taylor playing free shows, Ashley Judd meeting with women's groups, and the cast of the Wire and Usher doing backyard BBQ's. I guess this is what the first truly 21st century campaign looks like.

Blogama - TV

30 Minutes of Prime Time Television.

What was ABC running?



Formerly Prime Time...

Sent to me by Becky

Don't worry, folks, I plan on voting in the great state of New York.

Last 30 Days

Larry David: Waiting for Nov. 4th

From Huffington Post: I can't take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I'm anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I'm finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it's worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there's still a potential cure. With this, there's no cure. The result is final. Like death.

Five times a day I'll still say to someone, "I don't know what I'm going to do if McCain wins." Of course, the reality is I'm probably not going to do anything. What can I do? I'm not going to kill myself. If I didn't kill myself when I became impotent for two months in 1979, I'm certainly not going to do it if McCain and Palin are elected, even if it's by nefarious means. If Obama loses, it would be easier to live with it if it's due to racism rather than if it's stolen. If it's racism, I can say, "Okay, we lost, but at least it's a democracy. Sure, it's a democracy inhabited by a majority of disgusting, reprehensible turds, but at least it's a democracy."

[Read more, Huffington Post 10/22/08]

pigs

You know what I'm talkin about, New York's 'finest'- the butt-holes who have a license to toot in your face. Sick Motherfuckers!

You see I left my bag in the back of a cab because I got too..too. Ya know. I was snorting mushrooms outta my nose from the pizza 'with everything on it' I inhaled at lunch. At any rate, this bag was important to me. It was my dad's when he was my age, it had my iPod, my lease, important documents, notes, my badge, etc. in it. I called the cab the next morning when I came to. He said he dropped my bag at the 17th precinct on 51st btw 3rd and Lexington. I thought great, fantastic, I'll go down there to the station give em some hi-fives, talk sports, smile, pick up my bag.

I get to the station and immediatly the thunder and lightning strike down and the clouds roll in over head. I tell the woman at the front desk the situation. She's an old bitch with a mustache, but she pokes around here and there, nothin. In fact, there's no record of it. I tell her, I'll talk to the cab driver and come back later.

It's now 10:15 pm or so and I've come back and I have khalil (pronounced Kelly) with me, the cab driver. We walk in together, confident, like we have assault rifles and we might start flipping over desks and bullying. T-20 seconds later and Khalil is shot in the mouth, he's foreign and has a lisp. "Man down!" I scream. They isolate me in the corner and begin to rape me with me own rifle. "The bag wasn't dropped off here." "The cab driver's not telling the truth." "We wouldn't have thrown it away." "No you can't look in the trash." "The trash is gone." "We can't tell you who was working the desk." "You think we would throw it away? [disgust]"

Bloodied and exhausted, they kick me in the ribs and throw me out like a mangy dog. I crawl back in and demand the leiutenant. He comes over, "I just don't know what the recourse is," he says. I hear a Wall St. drunk in the back screaming, "Get the fuck off me!" The leiutenant continues, "It [the bag] was in harms way and then it came in here and was safe and then it went back out into harms way." Instantly an image of George W. flashes in my brain and I'm thinkin, What the fuck! What the hell does that mean! Yea, it was in harms way when it showed up here, you fuckin moonlightin liar! I tell him I wanna fill out a report immediatly.

What can I say, I'm absolutely and utterly disgusted with the police force. No responsibiltiy, no regard, No Class! A bunch of god damn derelicts! Now, let me get this straight. These people are allowed to carry a gun? And they want to make it illegal for me to pack one? Shhiiiiit, I don't think so Gilbert! I'm going to Wally World (Wal-Mart), who's coming with?

Poor Khalil's face up behind the desk and two pigs are eating his flesh and bone...I'm not surprised. Snouts all bloody and squeely.

My god, it's gettin bad.

San Ildefonso Pueblo's "Black Mesa"

The Found Magazine Guy

Easier with Practice

This is a film by a friend of Emily's, Kyle Alvarez (who shot Boo Ya and Bee Bop). The film is about Davy Rothbart, the Found Magazine Guy - also heard on This American Life. You might notice the lead actor, he's from Jarhead and Bobby. Should be an interesting movie, Kyle raised like a bazillion dollars on his own to get this movie made and there's a pretty good chance you'll hear about it in '09. Be sure to visit the website up above, great Video Blogs and all kinds of fun stuff.

Oh, it was shot in the 505

What happened to ‘real’ TV characters?

From The Marquee Blog: Twenty years ago this week, “Roseanne,” a TV series about a working-class family facing daily challenges with a blue-collar brand of humor, premiered on ABC. Today, with the state of the economy so bleak, more and more families — like “Roseanne’s” Conner clan — are clipping coupons and forgoing luxuries, making the message of the show perhaps more relevant today than ever.

And yet today it seems as if every character on television is upscale. While wealth is not synonymous with love and security, television has all but abandoned blue-collar characters. Modern-day shows tend to mock the working class and lack the soul that “Roseanne” once expressed so exuberantly.

What happened to shows about people who don’t have Birkin bags or slick luxury cars? The character of Naomi on “90210” seems to have a Chanel bag for every day of the school week. Members of the “Gossip Girl” cast can often be heard click-clacking along Manhattan sidewalks in Christian Louboutin heels.

[read more, The Marquee Blog]

On the Cross

The Armpit Collection IX

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies

In light of a previous post, I figured I'd share my favourite Kinks album. I first heard this record around the time I was introduced to Holly Golightly (she actually covers a view Davies tracks on the aforementioned), upstairs on NattyBo's phonograph at the corner of Cary & Lombardy in Richmond, VA. It was the piano/horn combo of track 2 that got me. "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" is pure dixieland country-rock that encompasses the paranoia and pressure of modern society, that which I've truly come to know here in NYC. After writing and singing "I'm a 20th century man and I don't want to be here," I wonder how Ray Davies feels having made it to the 21st C. It's like Paul turning 64. Most of the lyrics on the album are quite a drag: life complications, alcoholic memory loss, jailed women, losin' land, losin' weight, no security, it's all pretty weird actually - and real! "Holiday" is a notable track on the lighter side, "I'm leavin' insecurity behind me," great creed for a vacation. Listen for the album's great guitar interplay in a variety of tones, piano & keyboard work, and harmonies.

This is one of those albums that doesn't have a bad track. Some are stronger than others, but each represents a piece of the greater work. A true piece of art really. In the trough of great country-rock records from the late sixties/early seventies, this one doesn't stand out commercially or critically. There are many records in the same vein as this one, reaching some form of a climax in American roots music. These Brits did it just as good as any of the others.

Notables (and feel free to Comment with additions):
The Basement Tapes
Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed
Harvest
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The Band
American Beauty and Workingman's Dead

On Undecided Voters

"I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?" To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

- David Sedaris, author

Kinks in Site

It would be interesting to see the Kinks reunite because they are about the only band from their era whose original members are still living. The lead singer, Ray Davies, will already be touring this winter, including stops at NY and D.C. A while back, Jay introduced me to the Kinks and I will never forget the first time he played me Berkley Mews. The song is somewhat rare and as far as the internet is concerned, I have only been able to find it on YouTube. YouTube does not get enough credit for its audio archives.

Grandma's Dead: Breaking Bad News With Baby Animals

Have you ever had to tell someone embarassing, horrible news and thought, "Hmm... sending bad news on postcard with cute baby animals on it; that's how I'll tell 'em!" Well this hilarious new book, "Grandma's Dead: Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals," might be just the book for you! It's a book of postcards, full of pictures of baby animals. (I believe that alone - postcards with baby animals - is probably a million dollar plus industry in America.) But these postcards contain the most devastatingly funny news: "God's Isn't Real," "You're Mother Spent Your College Money on Coke," or "Your Band Sucks."

In this week's New York Magazine feature "The Approval Matrix" the book scored in the lower right quadrant, earning high marks for "Low Brow/Brilliance," close to Britney Spear's comeback! Oh yeah, and my gf and her buddy, Ben, wrote it. I'm very proud of her, she's a Peach. (click for larger picture)

[source]

True Blood

So, I don't know if anyone has caught onto this show yet, but I must say that it is absolutely fantastic. It's created by Alan Ball, the man behind 6 Feet Under (for any fans of that show), and comes on Sunday nights at 9pm. In case you're unaware the basic premise is about the integration of vampires into mainstream society. It's set down in Louisiana, down in the swamp lands, and has this very spooky, gritty, and yet charming feel. Also of note is the fantastic selection of music, perfect example being last episode when Femme Fatale was playing while two characters were sniting vampire blood in a rundown trailer. It's part horror, part mystery, part love story, and part drama. So, all that said, if you have HBO and haven't seen the show yet I highly recommend it.

http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

Daddy Laws

Gracelyn (Jimmy) Page Laws, my newest niece, was born Thursday.

Rhyme Time Links

boozer, snoozer, loser, user, cruiser, bruiser, accuser, abuser

This is the Kind of Shit We Have to Deal With Here In North Carolina

The Republican party of North Carolina is fucking disgusting. Monday morning I'm heading down to their offices and verbally railing on someone in the kindest, most polite yet factually forceful way I can. Now I know what you're thinking "But Brad, you have to work Monday". Well fortunately thanks to the economy I lost my job Tuesday so I know have free time on my hand. And not just I lost my job, the whole fucking hedge fund I worked for went belly up from the stock market doing cartwheels. So Monday morning I'm going to ask why, in a time when people are loosing their jobs left and right, and in a time when folks like my dad whose been disabled since '84 can't get healthcare, why are they spending their time talking about Godless Americans and socialist muslim sandniggers taking over the country. What a disgrace the Republican party has become. Abe Lincoln must be rolling over in his grave.

The Armpit Collection VIII: Double Dip

John Lennon - Mind Games and Walls & Bridges

Both records produced by Lennon himself with all the maturity of a legendary songwriter and musician. It's actually hard to describe the songs on these two records because they both offer so much in terms of actual music and writing - texture, balladry, arrangement, philosophy,goofiness. You won't hear too much of about the critical success of these albums. Imagine and Plastic Ono Band are typically held in higher regard in the Lennon solo catalog. It's kind of sad in a way because as great as those two albums are, Mind Games and Walls & Bridges strike me as more intelligent musical pieces, deeply personal and exciting. A grown man making grown up music, probably sounds boring to some, but I'm takin' 'em with me.

Nuevo

At 7am, fans begin to blow, pilots begin to fire their burners and slowly, very slowly, balloons lift off. At low elevations the winds tend to be southerly, but at higher elevations they tend to be northerly. Balloonists use these winds to navigate in a vertical box: they ascend slightly from the launch park, move south, ascend further, move north, descend, and repeat the box or land back in the launch park or quite nearby. This is referred to as 'The Albuquerque Box.'

Late Night Last Night

In cased you missed it, Conan O'Brien was really funny last night especially Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the debates (below). Conan also mentioned that the song, "Stayin' Alive" may actually be good for the heart.

RIP Levi Stubbs

My favorite soul group frontman of all time, Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops has just passed away at the age of 72. I can't tell you how many countless hours of my life have been spent listening to this man. I always remember as a kid asking for a Temptations greatest hits cd and when Christmas morning came I openend it and instead of the Temps I got The Four Tops. I was so dijected until I put the disc in and my oh my was I blown away. That man's voice, the social consciousness of the songs, the arrangements, it was pure unadulturated soul. And ever since then I've been in love and awe of Levi's voice. I highly recommend picking up some of their albums if you don't already have any.

Rise of the Machines

Banking crisis is among us. Why? Because we're on a path to becoming slaves to the machine, fucking Matrix-style, man. This article has me somewhat convinced our suppression is inevitable.

Here’s a frightening party trick that I learned from the futurist Ray Kurzweil. Read this excerpt and then I’ll tell you who wrote it:

But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. ... Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won’t be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.

Brace yourself. It comes from the Unabomber’s manifesto.

Yes, Theodore Kaczinski was a homicidal psychopath and a paranoid kook, but he was also a bloodhound when it came to scenting all of the horrors technology holds in store for us. Hence his mission to kill technologists before machines commenced what he believed would be their inevitable reign of terror.

Obama Bucks

The latest mailing from another Republican group. Apparently Obama's not good enough for dollar bills, but he's good enough for food stamps.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html

Why?

Why are the people in the top clip so afraid of the guy in this bottom clip? Is it his radical love for Sinatra and Jay-Z?

The Great Debate - Batman vs. Penguin

I'm a big fan of the original Batman television series. In 4th grade I had a pet gerbil that I named Burgess, after Burgess Meredith the actor who played the Penguin (and later Rocky's trainer Mickey). In one famous episode, The Penguin runs for mayor of Gotham City and the only candidate who can stop him from stealing the election is Batman himself.

I wasn't the first to notice this correlation, but try to watch the above clip owithout thinking of Obama as Batman and John McCain as the purposefully misleading and aspersion-casting Penguin.

The Penguin experiences a post-debate bump in the polls after his command performance, but Batman ends up winning in a landslide.

Table Top Debate

hope v. faith

John McCain Says...

"SEE YOU TONIGHT! GRRRRR!"

[source]

Cardinology

Alright, I know I'm the big Ryan Adams mark on the page but, I must say, after hearing this I'm pretty excited for the new record. I mean it's been a friggin year since he put out a new record. Whatever happened to the days of 3 a year?

Nevertheless, sounds like Ryan making country music, which is always a good thing. The Cardinals is the best thing that could've happened to that boy.

Katt Williams

Zane, my friend from D.C., had Gay Street laughing hard over some Katt Williams YouTube clips yesterday. I had heard of this dude before but I never sat down and watched him.

400 Arab Letters and The Disgrace of John McCain

In addendum to Matt's post below is this, the follow up interview with the "He's an Arab" woman...Audio's kind of hard to hear, so I recommend the transcript which you can find here. The woman says she obtained a 3 page pamphlet of information from someone working at the local McCain campaign office. That's why she thought he was an Arab.

Also is this story on Time.com about Jeffrey Frederick, state GOP chairman of Virginia, who is telling McCain volunteers that are going door to door to draw a direct link between Obama and Osama.

And this story of former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, McCain campaign Co-chair, who called Obama "A guy of the street" and brought up his past drug use.

And then there's Cindy McCain, who just this week accused Obama of putting her soldier son in danger, accusing Barack of running "The most negative campaign in history".

And that's just stuff from folks working for John McCain, that's not even touching all the whacko's at McCain/Palin rally's shouting "Off With His Head" and "Terrorist" and "Kill Him" and "Treason" and the man holding the monkey doll with the Obama sticker on it and on and on and on.

John McCain, a once honerable man, has allowed the same people who smeared him in 2000 to now bismearch and destroy his honor. The same people that in 2000 accused John McCain of having an illegitamite black daughter are now the ones running his campaign, and John is complicit in it all. You know there's that little told story about the time the VietCong finally broke John McCain, where he finally at one point gave in. Well now in the face of falling poll numbers, the far right wing of the Republican party has finally broke John McCain again.

Decency in the McCain Campaign

Looks like he retained some of his honor, trying to tame the flames he earlier fanned. None of this would be an issue if the American people weren't so dumb!

W.

In theatres Oct. 17th. This is required viewing for all those In Plain Site.

New John Lennon Biography

my Dad sent me this article:

There is an enduring legend, largely fuelled by disgruntled ex-employees with axes to grind, that, in his latter years, John Lennon became a virtual recluse.

Holed up in his vast apartment in the Dakota, a forbiddingly gothic mansion block in New York, the most famous member of The Beatles supposedly came to resemble Howard Hughes, the eccentric tycoon who never cut his hair and nails and lived in a sanitised hotel suite for fear of catching germs.


Inviting as this image is, it just isn't true. What is true, however, is that the John of these times was a very different person from either the zany pop star or the drugged-out, spaced-out, wild man of rock he had been. For the first time in his life he had responsibilities.

When he and his wife, Yoko Ono, got back together in 1975 after a 14-month separation, they renewed their wedding vows. Dressed in white, in a candlelit ceremony in an all-white room surrounded by banks of white carnations, it was as if they were being born again.

John had come home from what he referred to as his 'Lost Weekend' with all the demons seemingly exorcised from his system - the drunkenness, the sexual ravenousness, the jealousy and possessiveness. Everything but the insecurity and self-doubt, the products of his Liverpool childhood, that nothing and no one could change.

• Abridged extract from JOHN LENNON: THE LIFE by Philip Norman, published by HarperCollins at £25. © Philip Norman 2008.

Religulous America

After seeing Bill Maher's HILARIOUS "must-see" movie Religulous, I wanted to share this NYT Opinion article with you. From The Pew Research Center:

“The clear exception to this pattern is the United States, which is a much more religious country than its degree of prosperity would suggest. Despite its wealth, the United States is in the middle of the global pack when it comes to the importance of religion. Indeed, on this question, the U.S. is closer to considerably less developed nations such as India, Brazil and Lebanon than to other western nations.”

A hard rain's a gonna fall.

Radical Work Links

I made this list last week while sharing my go-to websites while I'm at work. Figured I'd share 'em with you. Enjoy!

http://www.cnn.com/
This is a staple, I check it probably 100 times a day. Always excited to read "BREAKING NEWS."

http://www.nytimes.com/opinion/
I may not have time to read the entire NYT.com, but I always read the Op-Eds. It's essential to keeping up on things.

http://news.yahoo.com/i/964
Yahoo News "Most Popular." This site has pics and headlines no respectable news site would link, like DEAR MARGO and "Babies Know Happy Songs from Sad Songs."

http://www.puttingthingsinplainsite.blogspot.com/
This is a fun blog written by some guys I know. You know most of them too.

http://gawker.com/
This is my lunchtime reading now that I don't eat with work buddies. I always liked Gawker more than Russo anyway.

http://www.dealbreaker.com/
This is a Wall Street tabloid/blog, may not interest you, but can be funny like a story about the Lehman Brother's CEO hiring bodyguards so his former employees don't kill him.

http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/
3 Quarks Daily is a "sophisticated" blog introduced to me by Shahab, links stories about poetry, science, arts, philosophy, and politics. David Byrne and Richard Dawkins read it.

http://boingboing.net/
This is like a science/nerdy blog. I don't read it religiously, but it's interesting when work isn't.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nypdblotter/nypdblotter.htm
It's thrilling to read about people who get stabbed near your apartment.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/
Written by the Freakonomics dudes, also can be boring

http://www.emilymagazine.com/
This is a personal blog written by Emily Gould (of former fame). Very introspective and diaryesque. Drama comes up time to time.

http://thesearemymemoirs.blogspot.com/
This is a personal blog written by Josh David Stein (of Gawker fame, now he writes for the Post). He's Emily's ex. However since he's been engaged he doesn't blog as much as he used to.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Liberal bullsh*t, but I still read it time to time.

http://lovefortheloveless.blogspot.com/
Probably one of the funniest blogs I've ever read. It's a friend of my roommate's who mostly blogs in code about her fat, Jewish sister. Good writer too.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/
This is a New York City Metro affairs blog, mostly dealing with local politics and whatnot


HONORABLE MENTIONS: New York Magazine website, Vanity Fair website, Slate website.

good lord

Here's a pretty funny mental image from a New York Times column by Gail Collins:

Remember how we used to joke about John McCain looking like an old guy yelling at kids to get off his lawn? It’s only in retrospect that we can see that the keep-off-the-grass period was the McCain campaign’s golden era. Now, he’s beginning to act like one of those movie characters who steals the wrong ring and turns into a troll.
During that last debate, while he was wandering around the stage, you almost expected to hear him start muttering: “We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious.”

Parker/Stone vs Lucas/Spielberg

I don't know if anyone caught South Park last Wednesday, but if you didn't I highly recommend it. The last few years the show has just gotten better and better and well, they always seem to find that line somewhere and jump WAY over it. Enjoy the clip!

Raining Cats & Dogs

Cash in Site

elvis/prison

Don't It Make My Bull Balls Blue

Someone's gone and painted the Wall Street bull's balls blue. A fitting metaphor for lack of relief. Twice as interesting because the bull itself is an example of guerilla art -- Arturo Di Modica didn't have the city's permission when he installed it himself following the 1987 stock market crash. Another chapter in the history of a great piece of public art.

From Gothamist

A Wild Man Still Chipping Away

You may not know Chip Taylor, but you know his song. “Wild Thing.” For forty years it’s been a raucous staple of every self-respecting bar band, guaranteed to make hearts -- and beer-soaked voices – sing.

That’s his song. This is his story, cobbled from recollection, musical discussions and magazine articles, most recently in Mojo.

Chip Taylor was a staff songwriter in the production-line pop music industry of the mid-‘60s when he wrote his biggest hit. Two and a half minutes of raw horn dog, mush mouth pleading atop the lumbering crash of three chords and a licentious beat.The seminal hit by The Troggs assured Taylor’s fame and fortune.

But he was no one-hit wonder. He had a string of successful pop and country songs, though none matched the success of “Wild Thing.”

A year or two later, Taylor heard a bar singer playing a slowed-down rendition of his song and had an inspiration. He took the same three chords, with minor alteration, and turned them into the bittersweet morning-after ballad, “Angel Of The Morning.” It was a huge hit in 1968 for Merrilee Rush and The Turnabouts. It was a huge hit again in the early ‘80s for Juice Newton. Reggae rapster Shaggy turned it around in 2001 as “Angel” and it scored again, worldwide.

It inspires me that the same guy who conceived the lyrics “Wild thing, I think I love you, but I wanna know for sure” also wrote “There’ll be no strings to bind your hands, not if my love can’t bind your heart” and in the process told flip sides of the same story.

But that’s only part of Taylor’s story.In the ‘70s, he lost his enthusiasm for the music business and dropped out to become a professional gambler. He was good at it, so he kept at it. For nearly two decades.

Until he realized gambling wasn’t satisfying his soul and he needed to return to music. In the early ’90s, Taylor started performing as an alt-country artist, and in 2001 he hooked up with 20something singer and violinist Carrie Rodriguez in Austin. A year later, they released “Let’s Leave This Town,” the first of several collaborations on Americana-style Taylor songs, tuneful, wryly whimsical and socially aware.

In July, he released a powerful new solo album, “New Songs Of Freedom,” that is getting positive reviews. Here are a couple of sample verses, from “Dance With A Hole In Your Shoe”:

“Now hate everybody that’s not like you

And the hate can come back, and they can hate you too

And everybody can hate somebody and berate somebody and negate somebody

And take somebody and shake somebody

And dance with a hole in your shoe. …

“… But if you learn from somebody that’s not like you

And they can come back and they can learn from you too

And everybody can learn from somebody and turn to somebody and say thank you, buddy

And, hey buddy, my sock’s all muddy

I been dancing with a hole in my shoe.”

Forty years after staking his claim to fame -- and with an extended pause to pursue a different muse -- Chip Taylor is back from/to the wild, still untamed, with stories to tell, thoughts to share, songs to sing. He’s worth listening to.

One other thing. Chip Taylor was born James Wesley Voight, brother of the actor Jon Voight of “Midnight Cowboy” fame. His niece is Angelina Jolie.A muse, if you ask me.

“Wild thing, I think you move me …”

Welcome Dalton Fleming

I would like to formally welcome the newest Plain Site contributor and my good friend, Dalton Fleming. It took a lot of persuasion and sometimes straight coercion to convince this dude. The one thing I can tell you about the D man is that as the rock N roll that we all know unfolded, he was there down in front and probably passing a J. As you know, some jobs in this country ask their employers to refrain from any involvement with public political forums-Dalton is brazenly laying his livelihood on the line with his name in Plain Site.

All The Sad Trading Men

"Ted realizes that the guy on St. Mark’s Place who sold him the “limited edition iPhone” was not an honest salesman."

As you may know, the stock market has been in the shitter for a couple days now. All over print and digital media there have been displays of traders around the world pulling their hair out, screaming in agony, etc. Yesterday I found out these photos were stock photos! We're not even getting same day "freak out" pics! That's bullshit. Then today I came across this blog/joke site, and it's pretty, pretty funny.

SELL! SELL! SELL!!!

The Return of R&B?

John Legend “Green Light” Featuring Andre 3000 NEW MUSIC VIDEO


Okay, I'm starting to notice a trend here of really good R&B. Is it possible that it's actually making a comeback? I think that with Amy Winehouse's "Back in Black", the late 70's sampling of 90's rap, Kanye's digging up of old soul for his samples, producers like Mark Ronson aiming for a sound from a generation past, and a really promising group of musicians who actually write their own stuff, are all mixing together to create a climate where R&B can really thrive. Sure we'll never have the days of Marvin, and Reverend Al, and Teddy Pendergrass again, but I'd damn sure settle for some solid records from John Legend, the new soulful Kanye, Chris Brown, and Amy minus the smoking crack out of a light bulb. Now if soul and R&B can save it's self then hopefully country music can save it's self next!

And according to the below, it seems as if drugged out British rock'n'roll is back as well!

Autumn Flowers

"Mr. Hobby, you have flowers down in the lobby," a man on the phone tells me yesterday around 3:30pm. OOOooooo, no one's ever sent me flowers before!!! Receiving flowers from your girlfriend at work is definitely funny if you're a guy, but they do the trick. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

The T Word In Plain Site

At this rate the N word can't be far behind!

Sports In Plain Site

-Lance Armstrong has the ball to cycle the Tour de France again.
-If you are not cheating in sports, you are only giving 100%.
-Yo Gabba Gabba! Dancy Dance Time with NBA's Amare Stoudemire:

Honorable Mention: Lil Wayne Blog, Marvin Gaye

To Go Along With The New Banner

Is it just me, or does it feel dirtier than it usually feels during election season?

This makes me feel better though

So many things wrong with this...

Mayor Mel Kuhn Wins Drag Queen Contest in Blackface



Arkansas City, Kansas mayor Mel Kuhn found himself amid a heap of controversy after dressing in drag and blackface at a fundraiser for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Mel performed as the character “Smellishis Poon” and actually won the contest. His backup dancers were the “Red Hot Puntangs.”

He says he got the idea from the movies "Norbit" and "Big Momma's House," which feature black men portraying black women.

The mayor told a newspaper, The Arkansas Traveler, that he really wasn't in blackface. He says he looked more like a gypsy. A woman who saw the performance says Kuhn was "really just tan."

New Banner

Nathanael graciously sent me a new banner today for the website. I think he said it best in his email:

"hopefully this is no longer relevant come the fifth of november.
enjoy."

Stones In Site

George Jones, one of my favorite country singers, recently released Burn Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets which includes the sweet track, "Say It's Not You", with Keith Richards:

I put together all the Rolling Stones songs available on Deezer for your listening pleasure (set to shuffle once you hit play):

I always wondered why original bass player Bill Wyman quit the band, but now I know.

Creep

I know this is probably one of the weirdest videos put together. As you know, I'm a huge Radiohead fan. "Creep" is not one of my favorite songs, it's from Radiohead's earlier stuff when they were the British band riding on the grunge wave. Regardless, this video kinda "creeped" me out. Totally partisan, but, you know, it's amazing what music can do to the scene. Please follow along below. Thank you.



I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice when I'm not around
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell I'm doing here?
I don't belong here

Ted Leo and The Pharmacists

Hot damn, after seeing them at Alley Katz and The University of Richmond, The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, and Gallery 5 last summer, one of my favorite live acts is coming to my hometown of Durham, North Carolina. Also he's coming to you as well New Yorkers (Bowery Oct 25th). Leo shows are cheap, loud, hot as fuck, political, heavily Springsteen influenced, and a great excuse to get stoned. I highly recommend it.

http://www.touchandgorecords.com/tour_dates/index.php

(By the way, does anyone know the name of that studio they're playing in. I think that's the one Bruce used for The River. He recorded something there just not sure what.)

Banksy in New York

[source]

Another Way To Die

Religulous

Bill Maher's new flick, "Religulous," comes out this weekend (in select cities, like the one I live in, ha!), but alas, I will be in an unselected city, Hagerstown, visiting my family this weekend. I haven't seen it, but I'm already highly recommending it. Another good movie I saw recently was "Burn After Reading," the new Coen Brother's film. V v good, seeing John Malkovich get pissed off and punch Brad Pitt in the face is always a treat.

Sex & Gasoline by Rodney Crowell