Heartache With Hard Work

Florida – Aberdeen
Iowa – Dar Williams
California – Phantom Planet

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve always thought that Florida just didn’t have nearly enough effect on Presidential elections. Sure, 2000 turned into a battle over 500 votes in the state, and sure as one of about 8 swing states it gets unending attention for a huge chunk of every election-year, but they’re stuck with a useless primary.

The solution? Well, completely destroy the primary calendar by moving before the assigned February 5 date and try to bully yourself into yet another position of ridiculous authority. And in doing so, open the floodgates to every other random state to jump earlier and earlier, pushing Iowa and New Hampshire earlier, until they finally bleed into 2007. Iowa caucuses on Christmas Day, 2007, why not?!

Speaking as someone whose had more than his fill of talk about the importance of Florida to fill an entire lifetime, I find it difficult to muster even the slightest shred of sympathy for them. Given our broken Electoral system they already receive far more attention and effort than they ever deserved – scrapping for just a little more is the height of arrogance and a misguided sense of entitlement. Same goes for Michigan.

None of this should be construed to imply that I support the stranglehold of Iowa and New Hampshire (though as a current New Hampshire resident I do have to say I have really been looking forward to participating in the First Primary). In my mind there should clearly be a system of some kind that ensures a few small primaries to start the campaign – something far preferable to a single national primary. Of course, there’s no reason that it should always be the same few states – clearly a rotation system that guarantees many different states a chance in the limelight, which emphasizes regional, political, and social diversity should be the ideal.

However, this has to be planned out – the anarchy of every state rushing forward serves the interests of no one. Perhaps the only positive that may come from all this is that it will inspire the national committees to blow up the whole primary system and start from scratch.

On another note, the measure in California to split their electoral votes by district is yet another way of demonstrating the stupidity of our current system. The idea that splitting off 20 secure Democratic votes while leaving the winner-takes-all system intact in every other state should be ludicrous on its face. Beyond that, you still have the problem that votes would be aggregated by district. So if you vote in one district and your candidate loses by 20 votes, they still get nothing. It doesn’t actually create the ideal of “one person, one vote” any more than the old system – it just creates 50 new pockets for the unfairness to manifest itself.

Why there is even a question about any of this is difficult for me to understand. Anyone who cares about actually reforming the voting system should simply be encouraging states to ratify the agreement that they will simply distribute all of their electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally as soon as states adding up to at least 270 votes all agree. It’s quick, it’s simple, it easy. And it guarantees that individual “reforms” like California’s don’t unfairly tip the balance by creating a nationwide patchwork of conflicting systems.

I can’t believe this will actually pass in California, given that it has no advantage in terms of fairness and is clearly designed purely to help Republicans win elections. I do agree with lots of folks who have suggested that the real point is simply to force the Democrats to spend a bunch of money to fight it – money which otherwise could go to supporting actual candidates.

It’s all rather depressing.

Blinded by the Light – Bruce Springsteen

Congratulations to Clint Dempsey for an absolutely fantastic performance this weekend. Fulham drew 3-3 against Tottenham, but were absolutely played off the pitch for most of the game. Dempsey scored Fulham’s first goal to bring them back to 2-1, and provided a crucial pass and flick that set up the second and third goals. He also for long stretches seemed to be the only one on the team who still believed they could pull back a point from the match, helping to keep them in it, and give them the chance to exploit the few chances they had.

It was also his second goal in two games, which is great, especially since he missed a couple very easy chances to start the year. Here’s hoping that this performance (and his goal to save Fulham from relegation at the end of last year) are enough to give him the confidence to take his game to the next level.

Also, Liverpool look absolutely fantastic. I was skeptical before the season, but it’s tough to pick anyone else to win the league right now (bearing in mind, of course, that it’s only September).

Finally, Clay Buchholz is my new hero. A no-hitter in only his second major league start in September in a pennant race. And this wasn’t a lucky fluke either – he had one of the sickest curveballs I’ve seen all year. The Sox are doing their best to avoid putting this thing away (including getting swept in New York this week), but it’s hard to feel too pessimistic when something like this happens.

Anything, Anything – Dramarama

I ask a question of you, gentle readers: why is this song so firmly embedded in my own personal zeitgeist? From what 80s pop culture movie or TV show did it burrow its way deep down into my subconscious?

It’s a great song, though, isn’t it?

Apparently, Dramarama reformed and even released a new record a couple years ago. Who knew?

Just a quick word that there’s a limited-time free download of the first single from the new Bruce Springsteen record Magic. It’s called “Radio Nowhere,” and it pretty much kicks ass.

Actually, I don’t think Bruce has rocked this hard since the mid-80s, and as much as I’ve enjoyed some of his work since then, it is great to hear the whole E Street Band with the freedom to blow out the speakers.

Some might suggest that it’s a little derivative, with a guitar riff that instantly calls to mind “Jenny (867-5309)” but in my mind that’s nothing to complain about. And sure, the general theme has been done before (particularly on a couple masterful tunes by Dar Williams and Tom Petty – see below), but once again, that’s only part of its charm. The Boss has seen and done it all, made some brilliantly unconventional records – this time he seems keen on showing that he still remembers how to rock.

It’s a big new song from a major label so I’m not going to post it here, even if they are giving it away for free (better safe than sorry, I think), but you can easily get it for yourself at the iTunes store so head over there immediately and download away.

The full record is scheduled to be released on October 2 and I have to say I am very excited. Until this week I didn’t even realize he was working on a new record, which makes it all that much more of a wonderful surprise.

Are You Out There – Dar Williams
The Last DJ – Tom Petty

Drum Of Glass – Monomen

Ah, the 80’s. A terrible decade in so many ways, and even musically a little lacking, but you simply cannot deny the power of a good synth-rhythm, a lesson that the Norwegian band Monomen appears to have learned well. A little New Order here, some Eurythmics there – you get the idea. Or better yet, imagine Interpol if they weren’t quite so depressed and if you were playing a 33 at 45 speed.

There’s nothing complicated going on here, but really that’s what makes it so good.

The Man Who Sold the World – Nirvana

I got angry about Rudy Giuliani spitting in the wind of historical accuracy on the subject of Vietnam a couple weeks ago. I thought that I would be able to put it behind me, but then our current president, Mr. 27%, had to go and make the same historically inept analogy (in direct contradiction with his past statements that the Iraq/Vietnam analogy should not be deployed):

Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of Americas withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘re-education camps,’ and ‘killing fields.’

And he topped it all off by referencing Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, a scathing attack on the misguided Western presence in Vietnam, to what purpose I have no idea. But let me just say that I wish Bush had only ever gotten his hands on enough power to do the same amount of damage as Alden Pyle did. Pyle was a bit-character, emblematic of a larger problem. If not for Bush we might never have had the larger problem of Iraq to even deal with.

Anyways, some very good takedowns of this insane Cambodia myth at Lawyers, Guns and Money and Obsidian Wings.

* * *

Scared Straight – The Long Winters

In other news, another Republican who has been pushing anti-gay legislation is caught in a gay sex scandal. Frankly, I’m not even that sure why people are still astonished about things like this. Clearly, some percentage of the people on the right have to be gay. There are a lot of gay folks out there, and not every one of them is going to prioritize sexual identity over every other issue. But you cannot possibly be openly gay and succeed politically with the GOP right now.

Honestly, I find it more sad than anything else. I really think that if a lot of these people felt like they could freely and openly express their sexuality without condemnation of consequence, they could live healthy, normal sexual lives and develop happy relationships. Instead, they’re forced to hide a crucial part of their identity – so no wonder it tends to come out in the most depressing and furtive forms.

I’m not trying to apologize for Craig – I think the fact that he was willing to run campaigns on moral values even while privately violating those principles is despicable and deserves our condemnation. But I wonder if we can make this story a little bit more about the problems with the categorical anti-gay morality that causes people to behave this way and less about playing gotcha with one guy, or even one side of the political divide.

Also, I fear that part of the story on something like this inevitably ends up being people on the Left framing the closeted gay guy in terms like “see, he’s not so moral after all” which only contributes to the idea that being gay is at all relevant to any moral issue. The problem is not that he’s gay, or that he may have solicited sex (and as far as I can tell, the evidence on that isn’t even that great) – it’s that the contemporary approach to issues of sexuality requires people to hide who they are.

Partisan gain is nice, but I’d be far happier if we could just have a world where people of all sexualities felt accepted within the Republican Party.

* * *

Unsatisfaction – Men Without Hats
(“I may not know what’s right, but I know this can’t be it”)

Lots of folks are all ga-ga over the latest speech by John Edwards. Choice quote: “We cannot replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.”

Like most things Edwards I find it hard to put in words what I dislike about it, but it just rubs me the wrong way, with all its implications that the differences between “moderate” Democrats and “moderate” Republicans are not that big. It reminds me a little too much of Ralph Nader.

Plus, he followed all this up with this comment: “Nothing I said yesterday has to do with other presidential candidates. They need to move on from thinking about themselves and think about what’s important to the country.” Which is patently and obviously false, and strikes me as just the sort of smug, self-satisfied mentality that infuriates me about him (and made me so angry about Nader, too).

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t really disagree with him about any of this, and it certainly takes guts to say it. But there’s a difference between me thinking it and him saying it. After all, I’m not running for President. I’m perfectly free to be outraged by systemic things, but I’m just not sure it’s the President’s job.

Mostly this is because I find the obsession with Presidential elections as the pinnacle of all politics to be a little disheartening. We’ll win some, they’ll win some – it’s just the way of things. But these cultural and social realignments which really drive basic institutional questions of justice and fairness stem from something far broader than which privileged rich person manages to get elected.

I’m not saying who is President doesn’t matter – of course it does. But it mattes a lot more to me that it be someone from the Blue Team than which particular person it is.

I like Edwards just fine, but I’m not sure I approve of a campaign premised on trying to make Democrats feel bad for supporting a different Democratic candidate. But that’s just me. And if Edwards does win the primary, I’ll support him wholeheartedly, and hope that his vision of a transformed America does take place.

* * *

Oh, and Alberto Gonzales is quitting, about six months too late. Whatever.

Paul Cézanne – Le lac d’Annecy

All the Walls – Courtney Brown

An unnamed village somewhere in Latin America. It is the rainy season, which means a late afternoon deluge that bleeds into a cool, quiet evening. I sit back in a gently swinging hammock, drink in my hand, and watch the quarter moon peak in and out from the strands of clouds. The only sound is the distant crash of the waves on the rocks and the few fluttering bugs that brave the still-damp air, occasionally seen but mostly registered through the gentle fluttering of their wings.

Why am I here? There is no simple answer. Fear? Perhaps. Maybe it is simply a desire for solitude that can only be achieved in a land where time often seems to stand completely still – where there is no past or future but only a limitless now. Maybe here, amid the gentle skittering percussion, a moment of respite can be found.

It is a dangerous thing: to seek to forget. Who are we if not our memories? Existence is a physical presence, but my being is locked inside my head in an endless chain of equivalences and memories. My body resides in this moment, but I only truly live in the past. To forget is to erase my self, to become forever lost in the haze.

Perhaps there is something beautiful about that – about sacrificing identity and ego and transcending this mortal existence. But I am not prepared to disappear. The pain cuts deeply, but I cannot let it go. It is become part of me. I came here to escape, but find myself all the more trapped.

And now, these random sounds of bugs and waves and the flickering of old light bulbs coalesce, and where once there was only chaos, patterns begin to emerge. Noise becomes music. And I discover that although I sought temporary solace, I do not really wish to forget. Rather, I wish to be forgotten, to pass out of history, to live inside the song, where memory is pure and untouched by reality of loss.

Ordinary – Courtney Brown

Is this purely fiction? Of course, but then, what isn’t? We lie to ourselves every second of every day in our belief that meaning is there to be found. But it is a necessary lie. Noise becomes sound, endless chaos becomes life, and it is precisely our stubbornness – our refusal to accept the basic truth of entropy – that enables our existence. Our lies are monumental in scope and entirely mundane in practice, and so it must always be.

And so I remember – what else can I do?

Courtney Brown is a graduate student in the Electroacoustic music program at Dartmouth.

Australia has a lot going for it: compulsory voting, koalas, a unique status as the only country to also be a continent, and so on. But I think I may have just discovered my new favorites thing about Australia: The Triangles, especially their newest record Seventy-Five Year Plan.

It’s all here: the twinkling bells, a gloriously big sound, stray instrumental interludes from all over the place, and melodies so pure that you can’t help but think they sprang out from an alternate universe of sunshine and lollipops. These songs soar, unencumbered by the weight of gravity which presses down on mere mortals like you and I. It’s everything good ever done by I’m From Barcelona on vacation with the optimistic half of Pet Sounds.

But don’t be fooled by the sweet exterior – this is not mere fluff, and they’ve got more than enough edge to keep you honest.

Will It Float – The Triangles

“Will It Float?” in particular is so recklessly happy that it almost blinds you right out of the gate, only revealing itself in full the more you listen. It’s the sound of an endless summer afternoon, before your quite sure if it’s love, when you can’t help but keep glancing out of the corner of your eye to see if she’s looking at you, too. Or maybe it’s a lifetime removed from that day, memories faded and cracked by time but still held together enough to remember the way it felt to touch her gently on the cheek. Either way, I challenge anyone to listen and not feel something.

I still haven’t even heard the whole record, but I’m so impressed with what I have heard that I can heartily recommend it, and look forward to picking up my own copy as soon as I find a way where I don’t get hammered by the exchange rate.

And, as if the music itself wasn’t enough, they’ve also got one of my favorite band websites I’ve seen in a long time, including a ton of free MP3s, a list of songs they’ve covered, and some ruminations on marsupials that somehow end up discussing the likelihood that there really is a Loch Ness monster. Sheer brilliance.

Every song on their site is worth your time, but a couple that really stand out are show-stopping dark-twee version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and the Polyphonic Spree-as-interpreted-by-the-cast-of-Fraggle Rock wonderment that is “Applejack.”

Applejack – The Triangles
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – The Triangles

Seriously, do yourself a favor and download “Applejack” – you owe yourself three minutes of undiluted happiness at least once every day.

Welcome, Ghosts – Explosions in the Sky

Coming in at #3 on the list of the best atmospheric post-rock albums of 2007 (behind 65daysofstatic and Pelican), but still well-worth a listen, is All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, the new record from Texas band Explosions in the Sky.

The whole record is a jigsaw puzzle, and it can really only be understood as a complete work. Each piece sitting alone reveals very little, but when when given a broader context, a complete picture emerges.

Loud/soft dynamics, layers of tension, swirling guitars, machine-gun-like percussion and the obligatory 13-minute epic, it’s all here. I suppose the worst thing I can say about it is that it does nothing to surprise. I keep waiting for that “ahhhh” moment, and it never quite arrives. The closest is probably the gentle release about halfway through “It’s Natural To Be Afraid,” far more powerful in my mind than overdrawn finale.

Still, for a record that hints at a full sonic and reflective arc, the lack of defining moments is troubling. To return to the puzzle analogy, it’s as if the last 5 or 10 pieces are missing – you can make out the whole picture and fill in the gaps for yourself if you want, but it remains vaguely unfulfilling nonetheless.