Cowboys to Girls/Bang Bang

My Love For The Boss

So I remember a smoke filled night several years ago at the original Swaggard house, when for some reason a debate broke out about the merits of Bruce Springsteen. Someone, whose name I can't remember, was down on the Boss and I remember Seger and several others looking at him as if he'd lost his mind. Well shortly after then Bruce released the 25th anniversary edition of Born to Run. I remember Seger picking it up and for weeks at work going on and on about how great it was. My virgin ears had never heard it, but I knew there was a road trip planned for the hills of Maryland, so I figured that'd be a good time to experience it. As we hit the highway Seger hit play and I heard what sounded like the opening score of a great American movie. The piano twinkling with the harmonica rising as I imagined the camera sweeping around in wide screen capturing this picture that Bruce was describing in intimate detail. And from that day forward I've been hooked and my love for Bruce has progressed.

A month later I found an old vinyl copy of Born to Run at an antique store in North Carolina. And that record would go on to soundtrack the next year of my life. There were cold winter nights where I made love while that record played. And then after a subsequent break up there were nights where I'd drink High Life while listening to "Backstreets" over and over. When the break up started to heal there were a many a nights where I'd drink Carlos Rossi while burning up the pitch on FIFA as Clarence's sax on "Jungleland" filled up my apartment. It was a record that could bring on feelings of love, sadness, friendship, and happiness all in the same moment.

After my love affair with Born to Run I moved to Born In The USA, The River, Greetings From Asbury Park, ect. On Saturday nights I'd stay up counting lines with Darkness On The Edge Of Town and wake up on Sunday mornings to The Seger Sessions and a cup of coffee. I once even gave my boss a copy of The Boss's greatest hits for Boss's day (he didn't seem to get it). And then when coming to North Carolina I got the pleasure of seeing Mr Obama twice as he strolled out to "The Rising" with 20,000+ singing "Na na nana nana na na" in unison.

He's scored so much of my life over the last few years. Early mornings and late nights. Love and lust. Heartaches and heartbreaks. Butterflies and long goodbyes. The forming of friendships and the unfortunate distance that happens as life rolls on and some move north and some move south. And for every circumstance that comes about Bruce always seems to have some sort of plain spoken advice laden within his songs.

So I guess this is my open love letter to the Boss. One he'll surely never read and one that I'm not sure why I'm writing. But it just seems like sometimes in life it never hurts to say thank you, even if the person whom the thanks is intended for never hears it.

So This Is Why He Never Hurts...

That's some serious reaction time there.

Blogama: Your Weekly Address

Today's focus, the housing crisis and announcing his HUD Secretary.

Freedom Concerts '09, Coming to a Town Near You (if you're in 'real america' of course)

Oh joy, it's that time of year again. Time to buy Christmas presents for all the good little boys and girls. And what better gift to give than a Sean Hannity Freedom Concert '09 gift set. For just $75 you get a Freedom Gift Box, one general admission ticket, a 2009 Freedom Alliance calender, a commemorative mug, and free shipping. And what a traveling road show they have. Mr "Some Gave All" Billy Ray Cyrus, Charlie Daniels and his band, Christian recording artist extrodinare Michael W Smith, General Oli North, and the singer of the Republican National Anthem (Proud to be an American) Lee Greenwood. Better yet Sean Hannity has agreed to duet on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" with Charlie Daniels at every stop. And just so you know, their official website says that you should "budget 3.5 hours for the evening of entertainment, inspiration, and challenge!". If you have any questions then feel free to email them to Freedom@PremiereCollectibles.com. And order soon, because with this much freedom tickets are bound to go fast.

Momma Laws

My sister Virginia, whom I believe owned the first Family Swaggard shirt, had her first baby a few days after my brother's. It took me a while to announce this because I did not have a picture of them both. The girl's name is Avabelle Love and she is my Goddaughter.

Blogama: Blogama

A blog post from the insightful friend of mine, Danny Lanzetta:

http://dannylanzetta.blogspot.com/

This Is How You Sell Conservative America On Clean Energy

Notice the keywords, Jobs, Made in America, Pickup Truck, No to Tehran, and more Jobs.

Gay Guys, Tornado Chasers, & Lester Bangs

I have been very fond of Philip Seymour Hoffman for quite some time. My first conscious recollection of him is the creepy guy from The Talented Mr. Ripley. He seemed to blow up after that. One reason I think I have a dude crush on him is that he is featured in most films by the consistently bad ass, Paul Thomas Anderson. One role I like in particular from those films was Hoffman as the gay guy from Boogie Nights. He also pulls off the gay guy from Capote (Capote), quite extraordinarily. Conversely, he can convincingly be the bad guy like a fraudulent mattress store owner in Punch Drunk Love and the villain from Mission Impossible 3. It is always a good feeling to know when going into a movie theater or rental store that you are spending your ever dwindling money on a film that will be good, or at least Phil will...feel will...feel wheel...

If Government Is So Bad Then Why Do You Want To Run It?

This is a point that has long been made by Bill Maher (and I'm sure he made it much better than I'm about to), but if Republicans hate government so much, then why do they want to run it so bad? Ronald Reagan famously said that"Government isn't the answer, it's the problem". Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, has been all over the news this week saying that the government is too dumb to manage the car industry and that investments in infrastructure are unnecessary. Idiot number one, Sean Hannity, goes on and on and on every night about how dumb congressional leaders are and get's all his Republican guests to nod their heads in agreement. Well if government is so bad and spooky and evil then how come you keep asking us to put you in charge? With that kind of mindset how do you expect to get anything positive done? By being Dr No like Senator Shelby of Alabama? If it is your fundamental core belief that government is the problem, then that means it's your fundamental core belief that government has no solutions, therefore you have no solutions, therefore get the fuck out. All you ever want is less regulation, less gun laws, and lower taxes, you know that "get government out of my way" mentality. But when it comes to social issues that don't affect you, you want to stick your nose and opinions in. No gays, no civil rights, no privacy, and of course more Jesus (the angry judgemental one, not the friendly forgiving one).

And another thing that goes along with this...how come everytime someone dares question our armed forces or the mission they are on you are immediatly accused of being "unamerican" and not supporting the troops, but yet Republicans can get away with bashing the government every single day of their lives and they are "patriots" for doing so? Hell, for 6 of the last 8 years they controlled all three branches of government, ran up massive amounts of spending, while at the same time railing against government incompetency and federal spending.

They have become a party that opposes everything and stands for nothing. And like the great Republican wordsmith Aaron Tippin once said, "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything".

How The (Mid) West Was Lost

When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 he told an aide "We have lost the south for a generation", anticipating the backlash that would follow. Well now it's 2008 and if the Republicans continue with their opposition of the rescue plan for the big 3 auto industry, then they will loose the mid-west for a generation. The Republicans are on retreat as it is. After the last election they no longer have any House members in the north-east and are relegated to being a mainly southern party with some representation through the conservative rust belt and out west. And if they continue with their opposition to saving the auto industry, after they wholeheartedly backed the bailout of wallstreet, they'll loose the remaining few seats they have in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. And they'll loose the precious electoral votes that come with those states as well.

And God forbid they actually succedd and block the bridge loan to the auto industry and it goes kerplunk. They'll be blammed for millions of job losses and for spurring into action the catalyst that turned our recession into a full blown depression. The ads will be so simple that they'll write themselves, "Republican Congressman X gave over a trillion dollars to wallstreet fatcats but nothing to mainstreet Americans".

And not only will they be handing over the economic arguments to the Democrats but they'll be giving up the national security argument as well. Just as we are beholden to the middle east because of our need for oil, we will become beholden to south asia for their technology and cars. The battery is the new oil, and the countries that hold the technology will hold the power. Yes the big 3 have made mistakes, and yes they have to change their ways, but now is not the time to put ideals before country.

John Lennon Died 28 Years Ago Today

Photographer Allan Tannenbaum, November 26, 1980, just a few weeks before Lennon passed away. (source)

New Banner

Nathanael made a new banner for the kiddies! Brad, you've been immortalized (until we change the banner again). Congratulations!

Tonight A Star Is Born

For anyone who dares say boxing is dead, then you have not seen this man. Manny Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines, just made "The Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya quit on his stool after the 8th round in what could easily be described as a mauling. In a years time "Pac Man" has moved up 4 weight classes, destroying 3 great fighters on the way, becoming the first man to do so since the great Henry Armstrong performed the feat back in 1937-38. Oscar was the far bigger man, had a 4 inch height advantage, but it was no match for Manny's speed, power, and skill. And at the start of the 5th round Oscar had a cringe of fear on his face as his eye was swelling shut and he knew his carer was going down in one of the biggest upsets the sport has ever seen. So turn on your Sportscenter in the morning and tune into HBO next Saturday for the replay of the fight, because after tonight "Pac Man" is a legend.

Blogama: The Weekly You Tube Address

Blogama: On-Deck

"...before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President."

"And the President ends up carrying a lot of people's grief in his soul during a presidency."

"I think it was a repudiation of Republicans"

"Remember, I was the guy in 2000 who campaigned for change."

READ THE TRANSCRIPT

(you're definitely gonna watch that video on the first page, about the do-over)

Did anyone see W.? I did, real interesting feels about W. now at this point.

New York I Love You (but your bringing me down)

So I'm not sure if anyone here besides me picked up last year's fantastic LCD Soundsystem record "Sounds of Silver" but if not I'd highly recommend it (especially if you can find it on vinyl). The main brain behind the band (James Murphy) is known as having "the best record collection in all of music", and he puts it to show making tunes that range from Prince to VU to Can in sound. But at the end of it is this fantatic little piano ballad. Best song I've seen Kermit lypsing since him and Fozzie teamed up for Rainbow Connection.

Holly Relevancy Grammy's!

Call me crazy but this year's line up of Grammy nominees is quite impressive. And who leads the pack for most nominations you may ask? Lil fucking Weezy with 8 nominations for his record That Carter III! How awesome will it be watching him and his tatted up face walking up on stage all night long. Get your 7 second delay ready. Not only that but there's Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, The Boss, MIA, Gnarls Barkley, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Neil Young, The Raconteurs, Beck, Al Green, John Legend, Nas, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, and a Louvin brother (Seger will be happy with that one). Bout time these award shows started recognizing talent. Now I'm just hoping that they'll go that next step and book some of this talent to perform on the show.

Myspace Suicide

Look on the bright side, Myspace suicide!!! I just deleted my Myspace account (though I was told it could take 48 hours to take effect). Does that mean I'm in myspace purgatory? I hadn't logged into my account in over a month, and missed it little. I started seeing it more as liability than anything else. I wonder how many people/strangers stumbled upon my page, and read what I was about? I'd much rather someone stumble upon this blog, than my retarded myspace page full of what bands I like, cool pics of me, and my astrological sign... I don't know, maybe I'm just getting older, and having my computer remind me I have 179 friends just isn't as appealing as it used to be... Or maybe I am just tired of Rupert Murdock and his evil empire, I want nothing to do with it. I'm sure you know, that old bastard owns Myspace. Rupert's biographer was recently quoted saying:

"...I think it is--if you’re on MySpace now, you’re a [expletive] cretin. And you’re not only a [expletive] cretin, but you’re poor. Nobody who has beyond an 8th grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people." (source)

Hahaha! Plus everyone knows Facebook is waaaaay better. See you there!

Presidents, Pirates, & Postcards From Hell

In America, Barack Obama comes right before Miley Cyrus but after the World Wrestling Entertainment. A new breakthough connection between President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald has been discovered...[read more] I'm sure the Warren Commission is already on it!

Apparently pirates are thriving right now, particularly around Somalia. It's easy money, easy drugs, and easy women.