Ramblings on Music, Texas, Etc.

It ain't summer yet...

... but it feels like fall.

I've had an ongoing debate with my semi-elated Republican co-workers about how much this Democratic "civil war" will really mean once we enter a general election cycle that includes debates about Iraq and the economy.  What I've observed is that Republicans are just hunky-dory listening to the media pound Rev. Wright and flag lapel pins into the ground, never too worried that, say, the Iraq War is the big looming debate.

John McCain's position on Iraq - even as it evolves day-to-day - is defensible in some ways and, I am convinced, at least comes from a genuinely principled core.  Unfortunately for him, his position is painfully detached from prevailing public opinion of the Iraq War.  So we Americans will be having a debate about it in 2008, and we will be deciding the best course for this nation.  And thank God we will actually have clear choices in front of us.

Of course, George W. Bush (aka "The Decider") decided he needed to lob some jabs at Barack Obama this week.  Probably because he's stupid, but maybe just 'cause he's an asshole, even to his non-buddy McCain.  Obama fired back with this:

Well I want to be perfectly clear with George Bush and John McCain – if they want a debate about protecting the United States of America, that’s a debate I’m ready to win, because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for.

"...in the Bush-McCain worldview, everyone who disagrees with their failed Iran policy is an appeaser. And back during his “No Surrender” tour, John McCain said anyone who wants to end the war in Iraq responsibly wants to surrender; he even said later on that he would be ok keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years, but yesterday he said our troops could be home by 2013. He offered the promise that America will win a victory, with no understanding that Iraq is fighting a civil war. Just like George Bush, his plan isn’t about winning, it’s about staying, and that’s why there will be a clear choice in November: fighting a war without end, or ending this war. Because we don’t need John McCain’s prediction about when the war will end – we need a plan to end it.

It is McCain's misfortune that he'll be running on the Republican ticket, and it is his greater misfortune that he's wrong about Iraq.  And that a majority of Americans disagree with him.  His latest 2013 ad campaign demonstrates a misguided belief in his own wisdom that smells a bit too much like our current President.

So there will be an election in 2008, after all.  And it might actually be about, ya know, stuff.  And truly, for McCain's sake as well as our own, I am deeply sorry that our President is a dick.

(As a side note, after reading excerpts from McCain's 2013 speech and seeing clips from his "War On Global Warming" speech, I gotta ask: who the devil are his speech writers?  Advice: fire 'em.  Really bizarre stuff.)

Summer Movie Madness

No, I haven't seen Iron Man, but it looks damned good.  This summer is shaping up to be pretty geektastic though - Indiana Jones (very nervous anticipation), The Dark Knight, Hellboy II, The X-Files.  But - and I'm embarrassed to admit it - this is perhaps the film I'm most jazzed about...

Fender Elvis Costello Jazzmaster

I've been looking for an excuse to get a Fender Jazzmaster for a long time, and it looks like Fender finally cooked up a good enough reason.  These are technically shipping now but probably won't be readily available until later in the summer -- just in time for someone's birthday!!

BTW, I did pick up Elvis's latest this week Momofuku but haven't even had a chance to listen.  Josh Hurst's review can be found here.

Bill Frisell - 'History, Mystery'

Josh drew my attention to Thom Jurek's review of Bill Frisell's latest album History, Mystery, and it piqued my interest enough to check it out.

Frisell is an artist who has drifted on and off my radar for a while.  I've got several of his Americana-tinged instrumental records from the '90's (Nashville, Blues Dream), but I haven't bought much of his stuff in a while.  Last year, he contributed to Lucinda Williams' West, and unlike many folks, I really loved his fretwork on that album.  I also bought last year's collaboration between Frisell, Paul Motian and Ron Carter.  It was a mellow affair but had a lot of great music.  Frisell is one of the few jazz guitarists who gets me excited, probably because his style really transcends the label of "jazz."

History, Mystery is a remarkable album.  He receives support from three string players and two horn players, as well as rhythm backup from drummer Kenny Wolleson and bassist Tony Scherr.  There are sprawling workouts sitting beside brief moody snippets, and several musical ideas recur throughout the 30-song, 2-disc cycle.  Some of the songs were recorded on tour, but Frisell gives the set a cohesive feel.  The album is highlighted by a jaw-dropping cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" - you just gotta hear it to believe it.

The same can basically be said of the whole album.  If you're looking for something a little different (at least different from what is usually covered on this blog), I wholeheartedly recommend checking it out.  And yes, it is available from the Nonesuch store with immediate access to 320-kbps MP3's while you're waiting for delivery.  Of if you prefer, from Amazon.

iMac, You are dead to me

Since our good friend Josh Hurst has recently made the leap to a Mac, I thought I'd give a quick update of what is going on with my iMac.

Three weeks into my "repair" adventure, my iMac has been declared DOA.  The bulk of this repair time took place at an authorized Apple repair facility, and they decided a new motherboard was needed.  It apparently took quite a bit of time to get that mother installed because it took a full week to get the damned thing installed (after some delay on the shipment of the tools and parts).  When I finally got the machine back, the fan ran REALLY loudly.  After two weeks with those bozos, I decided just to drop it in the lap of the Apple Store.  A lot of folks on the discussion boards refer to it as the "dreaded" Apple Store, but after that first repair experience, I don't think screwing around with third parties is such a great idea.

Anyway, word came back two days ago that a host of other problems exist in the guts of my iMac.  Frankly, I'm attributing most of these to a botched repair job from the first repair attempt.  Anyway, they've ordered me a new iMac with the same specs, and it is expected in a few more days.  An attempt will be made to transfer my data, but my backups should be solid.  The whole experience has me a little disilllusioned about Apple products.  BUT - three weeks with my PC at home has reminded me why I switched in the first place.  And if Apple is willing to replace my machine entirely, I have to give them kudos for their service.  I imagine this would've taken two weeks less if I'd only gone to the Apple Store in the first place.  There just isn't a lot of recourse with third parties on warranty repair.  The guys at Apple seemed a whole lot more concerned about getting my computer fixed that the goobers at the authorized reapair center (I'm withholding names here, but if you want to know who the third party was, drop me an email).  If you don't live near an Apple store, hang on to your shipping box in case you need to send it in to Apple.

Josh has apparently discovered that his Zune is incompatible with his new Mac.  I wish I was surprised.  Steve Jobs might be a proprietary asshole, but at least Apple recognizes the need to interface with the rest of the world.  Bill Gates obviously doesn't share that philosophy.  Besides, iPods have about 70 percent of the market share for MP3 players.  Don't mess around with Zunes.

UPDATE:  Since we hatched the topic in the Comments section, here's a pretty recent head-to-head comparison of Zune 80 vs. iPod Classic.

T Bone Burnett on 'All Songs Considered'

T Bone Burnett is the guest DJ this week on All Songs Considered.  You can hear music from his new record Tooth Of Crime, as well as tracks from Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Sam Phillips and more.

T Bone's new album was released this week, and it's been getting heavy rotation at The Ramblings.

UPDATE:  This is a freakin' awesome interview with T Bone, especially if you're interested in his ideas on record production and his musical inspirations.

The Sam Phillips Reader

In honor of the impending release of Sam Phillips' new album Don't Do Anything (June 3, Nonesuch), I thought it would be useful (okay, maybe not useful) to put together some links to some great Phillips articles from the past few years...

• Salon - The Ghost of Pop (June 2002)
• Acoustic Guitar - Forbidden City (July 2002)
• Looking Closer - Jeffrey Overstreet interviews Sam (September 2004)
• Overstreet reviews Fan Dance and A Boot and A Shoe
• NPR - Sam Phillips in concert at Carnegie Hall (okay, listening not reading)
• PopMatters - Review of Fan Dance
• All Music Guide - Mark Deming reviews Fan Dance and A Boot and A Shoe
• First impressions of Don't Do Anything from Josh Hurst and Jeffrey Overstreet
• My 2004 review of A Boot and A Shoe (btw, hindsight would now push it up to my No. 1 album of 2004)

Also worth tracking down is No Depression #51, which has a fantastic feature on Sam.  Yet one more reason to mourn the demise of No D.

If you spot any other good Sam Phillips reading, send it my way and I'll get it posted.  That should keep you busy until June 3!  Look for my own review of the new album in the coming weeks.

Emmylou on the Beeb

BBC Radio program(me) The Ticket has a great interview with Emmylou today.  She discusses the new album, and we get to hear some great clips from the new record All I Intended To Be (due June 10 on Nonesuch).

But this post is really just an excuse to use this outstanding photo by Rocky Schenck...

'I'm Not There' (DVD)

I haven't quite finished it yet, but the last two nights I've been watching I'm Not There, newly released on DVD.  Wow - what a great film.  It's a big, bold, unwieldy concept, but the movie doesn't allow that to weigh it down.  Todd Haynes has created one of the strangest tributes to a musical icon ever, and it more or less renders moot all future musical "biopics."

The DVD is packed with extras.  Haynes provides a commentary, which I haven't listened to yet, but his Far From Heaven commentary is one of my all-time favorites.  And there are tons of cliff-notes-style extras for us non-Dylan-maniacs.  The real revelation in the film is Heath Ledger, who is amazing as the Dylan-portraying actor who ends up with the "real" life (it's really too complicated to explain).  He actually ends up being the emotional anchor of I'm Not There, once again reminding us what a loss his death is.

(You can read DVD Talk's much more complete review here.)

UPDATE:  Finally finished the film last night, and re-watched it with Haynes' commentary.  Just an awesome movie, given added depth by his thoughtful commentary.  He even reads full passages from material that inspired certain scenes and characters.  I realize that you shouldn't need a guided tour to appreciate a film on its own terms, but in this case, I strongly recommend listening to Haynes.  Believe me, you will get much more out of the film.  But on its own terms, I loved it on first viewing anyway.

UPDATE II:  And for what it's worth, after a long time of trying to resolve whether No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood was the best film of 2007, I have to decidedly give that honor to I'm Not There.  And post-DVD, I'm pretty sure Blood edges out No Country for No. 2.

Clintonia

Also know as the alternate universe where arguments from the Clinton campaign make sense.  Let me paraphrase the arguments I recently heard from her two primary talking heads.

Terry McCauliffe on Meet The Press:  "Hillary Clinton is more electable because polls show that many of her supporters will vote for McCain in the general election."  -- followed by "But I am confident that Hillary's campaign is not damaging to the party because I'm sure it will unite behind the eventual nominee."

Howard Wolfson on Today yesterday:  "It would be a travesty to have a nominee decided by only 48 states."  -- followed by "But really the only states that matter are Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia."

I guess if you paid me enough, I might also spout complete and utter bullshit on national television.  Feel free to correct me if I've missed something.