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April 30, 2006
"I Hate Bill O'Reilly": the book
There’s a new book, titled Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O’Reilly, based on the web site of the same name. These paragraphs cribbed from amazon:
From Booklist
The title says it all. There’s definitely no love lost between O’Reilly, host of the FOX Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, and Amann and Breuer, founders of a Web site for which this book was named. Fashioned as an intervention to prevent O’Reilly from being any more outraged and outrageous than he already is, Amann and Breuer explore the myriad ways that O’Reilly attacks liberals but denies his conservatism, and disregards civil liberties and the simple truth. O’Reilly’s claim of “no-spin” objectivity is the primary target, as the authors cite numerous excerpts from transcripts of O’Reilly’s show to demonstrate his constant spin, contradiction, and misstatement. “The problem with simply calling Bill a liar is that one has to be aware of one’s lies for them to really be considered lies. We’re not sure Bill qualifies.” The charity ends there as the authors take O’Reilly to task for his sexual appetite (he settled a lawsuit by an associate producer who charged him with sexual harassment), his egomania (he makes constant references to his earnings, his ratings, his book sales versus those of his favorite targets, Al Franken and Hillary Clinton), and his outrageous statements (the nation’s poor should take a lesson from Hurricane Katrina and avoid poverty). Fans of O’Reilly will not be amused, but all other readers will find the book hilarious, though some may find the language occasionally offensive. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedBook Description
Bill O’Reilly is a man who believes he is a voice of reason. He calls for boycotting Canada, says Adolf Hitler would have been a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and thinks Hurricane Katrina victims seen carrying televisions should be shot on sight. Amann and Breuer – the creators of the hugely popular website www.sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com — take a close look at O’Reilly’s own assertions and arguments — taken from his TV and radio shows, books and columns — to expose him for what he is: a self-righteous boob and a sham newsman. The ongoing themes explored in Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O’Reilly are that O’Reilly is a bit crazy, not all that sharp and, as the authors put it, about “as self-aware as a legume.” The result is a hilariously funny book, a great read for anyone who enjoys seeing a puffed-up blowhard taken down a notch or two — whether they’re an O’Reilly hater, fan, or something in between.
Posted by gans at 6:35 AM | TrackBack
April 29, 2006
Rubber Souldiers to perform May 13 in Larkspur CA
That’s me on the left, Lorin Rowan in the middle, and Chris Rowan on the right.
On May 13th, we’re all going to perform at the Larkspur Cafe Theater in Larkspur, California. I’ll open, the Rowans will close, and in between we’re going to play as Rubber Souldiers, performing a set of Beatle favorites. Showtime is 8:30.
We’re sharing a band - David Phillips on pedal steel, Josh Kaye on keyboards, Josh Zucker on bass, and Jimmy Sanchez on drums.
Photo by Barry Toranto.
Posted by gans at 7:37 AM | TrackBack
April 28, 2006
Politicians & the gas crisis
Today’s SF Chronicle has two photos on the front page, with this caption:
House speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., departs in a hydrogen-powered car … after a news conference on gasoline prices in Washington - and then gets out and prepares to climb into a sport utility vehicle powered by gasoline…. Hastert and President Bush have called for an investigation into oil company profits.
The article, by Marc Sandalow, is titled “DRIVE LESS? POLITICIANS WON’T ASK: Republicans and Democrats rail against oil companies for the high price of gasoline — but they don’t dare suggest we change our ways”
Posted by gans at 8:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
andDave covers DGans!
andDave covers two of my songs in soundfiles posted on his web site!
Visit his Listening Lab page and you’ll hear “Shut Up and Listen” and “Down to Eugene.”
Thanks, Dave!
Posted by gans at 8:29 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 26, 2006
Vote for me, please!
My name is on a poll at jambands.com, asking the question
“Which of these artists do you believe most consistently fails to receive the critical praise it warrants?”
I’d appreciate it if you’d click on me! Here’s a link tothe poll.
As of this moment, I am at the TOP of the poll. That won’t last, of course, but it’s fun to be king for a moment.
Posted by gans at 1:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
Waybacks, Jerry Garcia in Humble Stumble
Roy Schneider’s Humble Stumble comic strip mentions The Waybacks and Jerry Garcia today.
I’ve met Roy a couple of times at the Suwannee SpringFest and MagnoliaFest. He’s a musician himself, and he’s used the Suwannee fests (with a different name) as a setting a couple of times.
I don’t get the strip out here in the Bay Area, but I read it online.
Posted by gans at 1:17 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
April 14, 2006
"When Fascism comes to America..."
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” - Sinclair Lewis
This image is also posted on flickr.com along with a complete collection of Grand Lake Theater marquees.
Posted by gans at 1:48 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
New loop piece: "Up Late"
I’m off the road for a few weeks, and one of my tasks - along with learning how to use Dreamweaver so I can get my web pages out of the plain-text doldrums - is to get my home recording setup working once and for all. I’ve had a Pro Tools rig for a while but only recently started learning how to use it, and I have some new performance gear that I am integrating into a road case, as well as some other signal processors that I’m hauling out of the closet for use in the home studio.
Last night I got it all hooked up and started playing around, and came up with a loop jam that I recorded and then edited into something somewhat presentable that I call “Up Late.” It’s about ten minutes long.
Posted by gans at 4:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 10, 2006
When did you start/stop smoking?
There’s a “Two Cents” item on sfgate.com, asking “When did you smoke your first cigarette? Your last?”
My response is included.
Posted by gans at 12:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 9, 2006
Stop using Jesus as a political battering ram
Garry Wills in today’s New York Times:
THERE is no such thing as a “Christian politics.” If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: “My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here” (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.This is a truth that needs emphasis at a time when some Democrats, fearing that the Republicans have advanced over them by the use of religion, want to respond with a claim that Jesus is really on their side. He is not. He avoided those who would trap him into taking sides for or against the Roman occupation of Judea. He paid his taxes to the occupying power but said only, “Let Caesar have what belongs to him, and God have what belongs to him” (Matthew 22:21). He was the original proponent of a separation of church and state.
Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: “When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6). He shocked people by his repeated violation of the external holiness code of his time, emphasizing that his religion was an internal matter of the heart.
Posted by gans at 8:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 8, 2006
Mutilaudio
Digital audio art using speech and/or music as raw materials
MUTILAUDIO is an appropriative art form, using existing recordings as source materials. The tradition goes back centuries in various media, but the technological advances of the modern age have opened vast new realms. I started creating these works in 1985, using analog tape in various formats; since December 1992 I’ve been using a Sonic Solutions digital audio workstation, which has greatly expanded the creative possibilities.
There’s a collection of pieces on this page - enjoy!
And here’s an article I wrote for Wired about John Oswald, who calls his amazing audio art plunderphonics: The Man Who Stole Michael Jackson’s Face.
Posted by gans at 12:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
dumpdelay.com
dumpdelay.com is written by Susan DuQuesnay. Most of the pieces were published in The Fort Bend Star, a weekly newspaper in Tom DeLay’s hometown. According to the front page, “Susan DuQuesnay also maintains a website about Fort Bend politics (Tom’s home district) - and some semi-daily comments about Tom DeLay at www.brazosriver.com.”
Here’s a sample entry, from June 1 of last year:
Tom in TeeVee Guide Tom has been fumin’ like a 200,000 mile pickup truck that the writers of the teevee show Law and Order took his name in vain. There’s laws against that. I’m not sure where those laws are written down but you might start checking stone tablets and mountaintops somewhere.Law and Order had this teevee show where this detective guy was looking for a crook who shot a federal judge. With no clues or suspects, the detective said, “Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-Shirt.” Uh huh, it was humorous. Somebody got paid a lot of money for coming up with that line and – rats! – it should have been me.
In reaction, Tom girded-up his loins and, with a straight face, stomped his foot about the “manipulation of my name.” Oh gosh, that’s gotta be awful for Hot Tub Tom, the Hammer. Can you even imagine someone manipulating his name? I’m mortified, mortified I tell you.
He also called it “a great disservice to public discourse.” No, seriously; he said that. A man who once stood on the House floor and made fun of people “with foreign sounding names” said that.
Rumor has it that instead of suing the writers, Tom has proposed that he write and produce the next show - Law & Order: Filibuster Victim’s Unit.
After checking my TeeVee Guide, I have discovered some more shows featuring Tom this week. Oh, give it up – you knew I would.
Desperate Housewives – Tom DeLay drops by to lecture the floozie housewives on their wicked ways and then gets drunk and nakkid in their hot tub.
Bonanza – In a repeat of a little known episode, Tom DeLay plays a snake oil salesman who fights the Indians by stealing all their food, clothes, and money. Hoss gets pissed-off and calls Sheriff Ronnie Earle.
MASH – War. Go boom! Danger! Ooowies! Tom DeLay nowhere to be found.
Everybody Loves Raymond – except Tom. Tom DeLay hates Raymond because Raymond does not go to church enough.
Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf – Jack Abramoff buys Tom DeLay a trip to the Master’s. DeLay still can’t hit a nine iron straight and keeps referring to Tiger Woods as “The Gentleman from the NAACP.”
FOX News – Tom DeLay good. Liberals bad. Rinse. Repeat.
West Wing – Special guest appearance by Congressman Tom DeLay. He says that he IS the Federal Government and C J Craig punches him out. Cold cocks him. Kicks him. Stomps his butt. Grinds her high heel into his foot. Whacks him upside the head for good measure. She wins an Emmy.
Gilligan Island – in this overlooked episode, Tom DeLay comes to the island and tries to set up sweat shops and a rudimentary sex tourism industry.
The Apprentice – Tom DeLay and Donald Trump get into a self-image contest. Neither wins, but the fallout of ego juice and bad hair-dos covers three states.
Will and Grace – Grace lands a job decorating a major hotel chain. Will must try a case against a really hunky opposing counsel. Jack attempts to date the offensive line of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom experiences a terrifying lower abdominal tingle.
Judging Amy – and everybody else, the DeLay way! Tom DeLay visits to demonstrate how to slap down a judge. Episode two will be seen on Law and Order.
Hope and Faith – DeLay’s medical care package for America.
The King of Queens – Tom refuses to appear on this type of “activist show”.
Antiques Roadshow – Carlton Pierce III informs Tom that his antiquated political beliefs are worth “not a damn diddle.” His hair, however, is discovered to be a highly sought-after collector’s item.
This week on Star Trek: “I AM THE FEDERATION OF PLANETS!”
Extreme Makeover – Ty’s team gives Tom an extreme makeover by giving him a soul and a heart.
Medium – Tom enlists the help of Patricia Arquette to combat the unholy ghost of LBJ and Barry Bonds.
The Amazing Race – Can Tom outlaw boobies before the Johnson family reach Paris?
The Tony Danza Show – Tom’s appearance is so shocking that I am forbidden to discuss the specifics. I’ll offer three words: Fire, Brimstone, Bacardi
O’Reilly Factor – Loofah, falafel, and hot tubs - tales of latent homosexuality masquerading as insipid male conquests.
Fear Factor – In a moment of primal justice Tom DeLay forced to eat a live bug and a gallon of DDT to keep his House seat.
I just have one thought for the week. Why does Tom make this so easy for me?
Posted by gans at 7:54 AM | TrackBack
April 6, 2006
Al Franken vs. the Thin White Puke
Al Franken’s Midwest Values Pac web site has the transcript of a speech Al gave, sharing the dais with Ann Coulter. An excerpt:
Let me give you an example of Ann lying by omission.Also in her book Slander, Ann tells her readers that Al Gore had a leg up on George W. Bush when applying to their respective colleges. Harvard and Yale. Ann writes:
“Oddly, it was Bush who was routinely accused of having sailed through life on his father’s name. But the truth was the reverse. The media was manipulating the fact that – many years later – Bush’s father became president. When Bush was admitted to Yale, his father was a little-known congressman on the verge of losing his first Senate race. His father was a Yale alumnus, but so were a lot of other boys’ parents. It was Gore, not Bush, who had a famous father likely to impress college admissions committees.”
What does Ann omit? Well, that Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush was also a Yale alum and had been Senator from Connecticut, the home state of Yale University. That Prescott Bush had been a trustee of Yale. That Prescott Bush had been the first chair of Yale’s Development Board – the folks who raise the money. That Prescott Bush sat on the Yale Corporation for twelve years. That Prescott Bush, like George W. Bush’s father, George H. W, Bush, had been a member of Skull and Bones. That the first Bush to go to Yale was Bush’s great great grandfather James Bush, who graduated in 1844. That in addition to his father, grandfather, and greatgreatgrandfather, Bush was the legacy of no less than twenty-seven other relatives who preceded him at Yale, including five great great uncles. Seven great uncles. Five uncles, and a number of first cousins.
Now why did Ann leave out these somewhat relevant facts? Ann grew up in Connecticut. Ann, did you really not know that Prescott Bush had been your senator when you were born?
Ann, is it possible that when Prescott’s son George H. W. Bush became president, it totally escaped your notice that his father had represented your state in the United States Senate? Did neither of your parents mention it in passing at the dinner table? Did no one at home in Darien make any comments about the new president’s lineage?
Understand. This isn’t sloppiness. This is deliberate. For Ann’s purposes – to claim that the media that was manipulating facts here – Ann herself had to manipulate facts – in such a shameless way. This is what she does.
Read the full transcript here, and post a comment if you’re so inclined.
Posted by gans at 5:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 5, 2006
Jammin' in Jamaica (2)
More from Jamm in Jamaica:
eKoostik Hookah had a personnel shakeup recently, with Ed McGee departing and founding member John Mullins returning. The Hookah fans at Jamm in Jamaica were very happy with the music they heard, and so was I. Here’s Steve Sweeney:
When they launched into “Cumberland Blues,” I jumped onstage to sing along, and then they invited me to stick around for another song (using Vince Herman’s acoustic guitar); Mullins and I sang “Wooden Ships.”
Friday, March 31, was the full-day festival with all the acts. I opened that day with Andy Goessling of Railroad Earth playing soprano sax. Andy plays a zillion instruments in RRE - Dobro, banjo, guitar, mandolin, soprano/alto/tenor sax, flute, etc. When we play together, I always want him to play soprano; I know lots of mandolinists and guitarists, but I don’t get many opportunities to play string-band music with a woodwind guy, and he’s so good at it. He stayed with me for my entire set.
My wife, Rita Hurault, took this picture of Andy and me onstage in Negril:
jambands.com has a short item about the festivities today.
Posted by gans at 9:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
But I'm not giving in an inch to fear...
Mark Morford has a great rant in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. His point of departure is a new TV ad for home security systems, but Morford (correctly, in my opinion) recognizes it as another entry in the relentless campaign to Keep America Scared. Fear is good business, as the Republicans in particular and the entire world business culture know so very well. I’m fucking sick of it, and so is Mark Morford:
Jogger watches clean-cut yuppie husband disappear down street, stands up and drops his chin and his eyes turn evil and his face turns shadowy and he immediately pulls a black hoodie up over his head and turns toward yuppie couple’s walkway and begins to RUN FULL SPEED straight at yuppie couple’s front door and KICKS IT IN FULL FORCE OH MY GOD NO!Ah! But yuppie wife remembered to arm fancy new security system! Alarm sounds! Beep beep beep! Intruder-rapist-jogger stops dead in his tracks! He is bewildered by all this crazy beeping and immediately turns around and runs off before he can get anywhere near blond trophy wife to (presumably) attack her with chain saws and eat her eyeballs and steal her pretty Franck Muller watch and laugh maniacally!
…
That yuppie utopian all-white dream house? That’s America, silly. Your overpriced security system? The Patriot Act. The “war on terror.” Wiretapping. Rumsfeld’s black and lethal heart. The trillion-dollar destruction of Iraq, a country that had little to do with angry rapist-joggers but who the hell cares because they’re all dark skinned and hateful and Muslim anyway, right? Of course they are.
…
I am sick, made nauseated, made furious by the relentless plays on phony childish fears. I have had enough of insidious horror movies and schlocky cop dramas and inane TV commercials right along with their ideological brethren in the NRA and the Department of Homeland Security and the sneering GOP, all of whom make hollow attempts to invent more dangers in the world for their own violence-laced agendas. I am done, furthermore, with a villainous Republican-poisoned government whose sole agenda for the past five years has been to force the bitter cement of counterfeit fear into every joint and cranny of fluid and luminous life, all while brutally ignoring all the genuine problems and woes of the planet (global warming, poverty, abstinence programs, Ashlee Simpson, etc.). They are cretins and ideologues and they deserve a deep sense of shame.
Read the whole column.
Posted by gans at 8:57 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 4, 2006
Jammin' in Jamaica (1)
(photo by Rita Hurault)
The music business is a great way to not make a living, but what adventures!
Just got back from Jamm in Jamaica, a week in Negril with several of my favorites: Donna the Buffalo, Railroad Earth, Hot Buttered Rum, the new/revived edition of eKoostik Hookah, The Big Wu, Matt Butler’s Everyone Orchestra, and Vince Herman. This wasn’t a frenetic festival with multiple stages - there were several sets each day, with every act having days off in between performances until the final day, when we all performed in one long and splendid show. Each band brought fans from their region and elsewhere, so we all got to hang out on the beach with old and new friends, and we all got to play for each other’s audiences. There was plenty of time for hanging out and jamming, too.
I had the pleasure of sitting in with Donna the Buffalo (see photo above), Railroad Earth, Hot Buttered Rum, and Hookah, and in my sets I was joined by members of all those bands as well. And I played in the Everyone Orchestra, too - a highlight was singing “That’s the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it” with Jeb Puryear of DTB.
And when Tara Nevins of DTB had a problem with her acoustic guitar, I happily lent her mine:
More photos on my flickr page: Blue Sunset, Tim Carbone Plays the Drums, and more to come.
Big thanks to Jeff Spencer and his partners for inviting me to this excellent event, and I hope we get to do it again next year!
Posted by gans at 8:08 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Making fun of creationists
Dan Piraro makes fun of creationist cartoonist Johnny Hart (“B.C.”) in his Bizarro panel of April 3.