Pearl Jam Rocks Out Seattle, Finally!
25 Sep 2009 1 Comment
in Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Mike McCready, Music, Pearl Jam, Seattle, Stone Gossard Tags: Backspacer, Ben Harper, Boom Gasper, Easy Street Records, Tom Tomorrow, West Seattle Food Bank
How incredible is a new Pearl Jam record/cd release at Easy Street Records in West Seattle and their first Seattle concerts in something like 5 years to start a week? Seattle finally is the place to be for a Pearl Jam fan!
Saturday night was the Pearl Jam “Backspacer Bash” & Midnight Sale at Easy Street. Also a non-perishable food collection for the West Seattle Food Bank, who they made an incredible (and I’m sure well needed) haul for. We got a Pearl Jam tote bag and raffle ticket for our goods and there was a long line all night.
People were in from all over. When I got off the bus I met a couple of young women taking pictures of the Pearl Jam mural on the Easy Street wall, who were in awe that I actually lived in Seattle (not knowing how rare Pearl Jam plays here), one from Australia, the other from Italy. I pointed them in the direction of the QFC a block away because they wanted to buy some food to donate.
I hung out most of the time in the West 5 overflow location (with Pearl Jam music playing and winning numbers relayed as well). I headed back to Easy Street as it was getting closer to midnight, and was standing in line in the dining room area around the corner from the counter as they were calling the final numbers. I was saying to the guy next to me who also had an early number that they hadn’t called any of ours, when I heard them finally call one and realized it was mine.
I won the Pearl Jam vs Ames Bros book, 3 posters, spacemen stickers and temporary tatoos. Then I waited my turn and bought the new Backspacer cd and the Pearl Jam Live at Easy Street cd (which they also sell online, for folks who don’t live in Seattle). Which I know begs the question – did the guys show up? No, but Eddie sent us a text message through the store clerk. He said the band had their last practice session that night and he just put the kids to bed and was turning in himself, but was there in spirit and in the speakers.
As you can see, they were selling massive quantities of the album – the record (err, vinyl as they call it these days), as well as the cd! I thought I was being old-school calling it a record release, but it really was.
So, I was (and am) still getting to know the album by the time of the concert Monday night (which was the one I had tickets to). I went with my friend Merri Ann, who couldn’t make it to the album release Saturday night because she was doing a triathlon that started 7 am Sunday morning with friends and family. Swim, bike, run. . . or if you’re me, sleep in! All my friends are more healthy than me. I had fan tickets, so they were good seats (while I wish my number were lower – Pearl Jam rewards their long time fans by doing it by seniority, except for a random drawing for the first 2 and I think 9th & 10th rows).
Ben Harper and Relentless 7 opened. A lot more blues and harder driving than his folk rock I’m more familiar with. Here’s a clip I found (actually from night 2):
So Ben and his band got us rocking good before the boys came out. Time for a short break and to notice the Tom Tomorrow spaceman design was on Matt’s drum kit, which was really cool. Tom Tomorrow, who does the This Modern World cartoons, did all the artwork on the new album.
So, the lights dimmed and out came Pearl Jam, for the first time at Key Arena in years:
They opened with Long Road. Perfect: “I have wished for so long, how I wished for you today. . .”!
The new songs sounded great, and they played a lot of them that night. We had the premier of the Backspacer album. A lot of hard rockers and just beautiful ballads. The album just really flows.
Amongst the Waves, which had already captivated me on the cd, was just gorgeous live:
During the first encore, they brought out a string section that included Matt Cameron’s wife, April on viola to accompany them on Just Breath and The End.
Official Pearl Jam Photo by Karen Loria
Boom Gasper, of course, accompanied them on the organ for many of the songs. They also had a horn section for The Who’s The Real Me during the second encore.
Old songs – wow, from their catalog they played about everything I wanted to hear. Standards like Daughter, Even Flow, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Rearview Mirror, Do the Evolution and of course, Alive. Also – Off He Goes and Given to Fly, Save You and Life Wasted, Inside Job and Indifference! Wow!
Here’s Do the Evolution, and remember, this is during their second encore:
As we were clapping after their first encore and they had already played long and hard, Merri Ann asked me, in disbelief “They’re not going to play a second encore?”
As any die hard fan knows, “Of course they are!”
On the way back to the car she asked “How old are these guys?” Well, they’re all at least a few years younger than me, but I think they’re all somewhere in their 40s now. “They play a second encore every night?”, still in disbelief (and this from someone who swam, biked, ran a triathlon the day before). : )
Official Pearl Jam photo by Danny Clinch
They are incredible, and seem totally rejuvenated at this point. I mean, they’ve always played so long and hard, but the leaping in air; Matt’s intensity at the drum kit; Stone’s headbanging with the mop top hair; Mike’s playing with crowd and his solos as always, incredible; Jeff with some funky moves and Eddie still sounding great, I think in spite of the cigarettes and massive quantity of wine he consumes on stage (which he does share with the crowd).
Only problem – I didn’t have enough money to see both shows!
Though maybe I shouldn’t be so greedy. It’s just . . .they so rarely play Seattle!
Links:
Pearl Jam Goods Section: http://www.pearljam.com/goods
-for cds, t-shirts, the Ames Bros poster book, memberships (to get those good seats and a annual Christmas record single by about July) and. . . official bootlegs of all their concerts, on cd or as a download (I’m not sure how long it takes them to get them up there, but the Seattle shows will be coming).
Easy Street Records: http://easystreetonline.com/
-you can get the Pearl Jam Live at Easy Street cd here if you don’t live in Seattle. If you do live in Seattle, come on down to either location for the cd, and check out their website for in store concerts and special events.
Got Some – New Pearl Jam
09 Jun 2009 1 Comment
in Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Music, Pearl Jam, Seattle, Stone Gossard Tags: Backspacer, Gorge Amplitheatre, Key Arena, The Showbox, Tonight Show
Pearl Jam has a new song they debuted on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, another second song they previously debuted at a secret filming session at The Showbox, and rumor has it that the album is coming out and they’ll be a two nights at Key Arena toward the end of September.
Wow! You’d think their fans would be happy! Well, I am! Actually, probably most of their fans are. Although, you wouldn’t believe how much one performance of one song can be dissected by their loyal fans, not the music critics! Then there’s the other, mysterious song and all the circumstances around it. . .
First, the Tonight Show videos. I’ll give you the links to their website, as, due to technical restrictions, I can’t post any video to my free Word Press blog other than YouTube videos (and, oh yes, NBC pulled the illegally posted ones on YouTube, something else fans griped about).
*6/14 Update: I found I can add NBC videos via Vodpod and added the video below as well!
Got Some is their new song, from the upcoming Backspacer album (which shares the name of the band’s turtle who won the Great Turtle Race):
“Pearl Jam: Got Some Performance on The Tonight Show”, posted with vodpod
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/musical-performance-pearl-jam-060109/1116201
Oops! Looks like they pulled the bonus song video of Rocking in the Free World from the Tonight Show site (played after the actual show finished recording). Something new for fans to complain about.
I’ll say it again, having just watched Got Some a couple more times (and just discovering NBC’s full screen version more or less works on my antiquated computer) – Wow! I love the song, the band sounds great, and is playing great together (a lot of dueling guitar riffs, too). Lyrics? I’m starting to make them out. A valid complaint, but this is rock and roll. This leads to interesting mis-heard lyrics like “four or five virgins and a pelican” . . .
Here are the lyrics for Got Some from the message board, with a few changes in parenthesis to as near as I could make out (which for all I know, may be as accurate as “four or five virgins and a pelican):
Edit (lyrics without repetitions):
Every night with the lights out
where you gone
What’s wrong?Every time you can try
but can’t [say no]
[What’s wrong?]I got some if you need it
Get it now, get it on, before its gone
Let’s everybody carry on
Carrying on
Turn it up, [turn] it off, before its gone
Let’s everybody carry on
Carrying onThis situation, which side are you on?
Are you on the rise, are you falling down?
Let me know…..c’mon let’s go yeahI got some if you need it
This situation, what side are you on?
Are you dropping bombs, are you getting out?
Have you heard of diplomatic resolve? YeahPrecipitation, which side are you on?
Are you drying up, are you a big drop?
Are you a part of [a pool] detrimental?Got some
Carry on
Oooh, It’s political, which I think is great, but it’s another thing for the fans to argue about. Yes, I think he is calling President Obama (and, I think, the Congressional Democrats) out on backing down and I think specifically, for still fighting in Iraq (and, in my opinion, Afghanistan, though I don’t want to project that on what Ed’s saying if I’m not sure).
Now, the amazing thing on the criticism on these lyrics on the message board, mostly from the right, but sometimes from the left, are the people who have this “you’re either for me or against me” Bush era nonsense mentality, and think because Eddie is criticizing Obama for backing down on certain issues that means he’s totally turned against him. Apparently, they believe if you vote for someone for President, you’re then supposed to blindly follow them; instead of being an educated and engaged citizen in a participatory democracy.
I happen to think President Obama has done a lot of good already, and is turning around a lot of the bad, Bush era, policies. I also think he’s the best we could get, even of the Democrats, at least, the best we could get who’s electable. That being said, there are a number of areas where I have concerns, where Obama is carrying on with the same bad policies of the Bush and, in some cases, Clinton administrations (using some of their same economic advisors who helped bring us the current mess – see the Nation’s Reagan Didn’t Do It - and mind you, The Nation is a liberal magazine, who like me, would love to blame things on Reagan).
In addition to the war in Iraq still going on and the expanding of the war in Afghanistan, Obama is backing down from accountability for the torture done under the Bush administration, hesitating on closing Guantanamo, keeping the military commissions, and worse, Alternet reports torture is still going on under the Obama administration under the guise of “forced extraction teams.”
So, yes, Obama and the Democrats need to get some. It’s kind of obvious what the some is, once you make out the lyrics; but to sanitize it I’ll say – guts, courage. . .
OK, enough politics. There were plenty of other things for the message board and blogs to complain about and dissect, not that I really want to go into them all here. I think one of my favorites, and the one that makes me go “Huh?” is that Eddie looks old. Actually he doesn’t look old at all. He looks like a guy in his mid-forties who’s in pretty good shape. OK, he’s old if you still expect him to look like he did when the band started out 18 years ago. None of us look like we did 18 years ago. Well, then again. . .more on Stone later. My grey is creeping in though, so much for me. . .
Here’s Black from the Pinkpop festival in ‘92?
Stone’s hair was another thing that got a lot of comments. He’s growing it out and got a little headbanger action from it. One guy said he looked like a 20 year old playing with a bunch of 40 year old guys. We’ll see if he grows it out to where it was in ‘92!
Here’s Stone with some serious hair action going at the Green River reunion (sorry I missed that one) from Pearl Jam’s official Flickr site (photo by Anna Knowlden):
Awesome!
Now, on that second song they debuted at their secret Showbox gig. Surprisingly, the most controversial issue about their recording of the song The Fixer was not that it was recorded for Target, who has big-box store rights to the initial release of the Backspacer album (see the Rolling Stone article). The issue that drew the most angst, and sadly, too many hard feelings on all sides of the issue, was that the band (or the band’s management) insisted websites including music blogs take down illegally made copies of The Fixer, which is their first single from the new album, and is due out in July.
There’s a real generation gap here. . . First, full disclosure, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon this whole melodrama if I wasn’t actually looking for sneak listen to the track myself. Hoping to catch it before it disappeared. OK, so I’m no saint. Here’s the generation gap though – I figured that, of course, the band’s going to take these down quickly. Some of their younger fans were quite irate that they asked them to do it.
I think the situation has finally run it’s course, but it’s sad, because passion for music fueled the hard feelings on all sides (and you’d hope it’d bring them together). I had already discovered I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, a music blog named after a Pearl Jam lyric long before all this happened. It’s well written and a great place for new music.
It all started when Heather Browne, the author of the blog, posted a “stealth audio clip” of The Fixer. Then Pearl Jam’s lawyers contacted her to have her take it down (and this is the third time this has happened with a Pearl Jam song, something that made her mad; and those of us of a previous generation go, huh? She was told posting unauthorized recordings was wrong on two previous occasions and still kept doing it?). So she announced she was breaking up with the band. Several of her fans said they were breaking up with her, but more agreed with with her against Pearl Jam on this “censorship.” Then Pearl Jam’s fan club, Ten Club, calls her, apologizing for the way they handled it, asking how to make amends, but not before (oops), referring to her writing as a “shitty blog”, then stating how important fans and sites like hers are to the band.
Some one needs a refresher course in customer service. Sadly, his response, no doubt was partly fueled by his love of Pearl Jam’s music (and probably only reading the one, uncharacteristic, ranting entry against the band). Heather did acknowledge at that point Pearl Jam did have the right to release their music as they see fit, and it isn’t censorship. So it was over, except for 110 more comments to that post. . .
You know, I stopped watching soap operas years ago, because they drive me crazy!
Meanwhile, back to something I whine about re the band (hey, I told you I was no saint. . .). Rumor has it that Pearl Jam may actually be playing Seattle!!! Yes, there are rumors they’re going to be playing Key Arena toward the end of September, right as the album is coming out.
Of course, you’d think living in Seattle, they’d play here all the time (and some of their side bands do, though not Ed solo). No, the Gorge (Amplitheatre, halfway across the state), is not Seattle, at least for those of us without a car.
Not that I don’t wish I had a car so I could go see them when they play the Gorge (oops, there goes my carbon neutral sainthood, aided by poverty). It is a beautiful setting, and it’d be awesome to see Pearl Jam there.
Their opener from their first of two nights at the Gorge in 2006:
Maybe it’s time for some bio-fueled concert buses to the Gorge from Seattle and Spokane?
Closing of the same show (which is available in it’s entirety on their “Life at the Gorge” box set). Got to love Mike’s closing on Yellow Ledbetter and the Hendrix set!
These shows at the Gorge are epic. I’d like to see one some day. Still, hoping for Key Arena. Yeah, it’s kind of sterile; but I can get there and back by bus. . .
I’m hoping the rumors are right. Wow! Pearl Jam might actually play Seattle!
Mike’s other band!
Told you it’s been awhile. . .
Another Flight to Mars with Mike McCready & Friends
06 May 2009 3 Comments
in Charity, Crohn's Disease, Duff McKagan, Duff McKagan's Loaded, Flight to Mars, Kim Virant, Mike McCready, Music, Pearl Jam, Seattle, Shadow '86, Stone Gossard Tags: Crocodile, Guns N' Roses, Showbox, Ticketmaster, Velvet Revolver
I can’t get enough of Mike McCready’s guitar playing, as I continue being spoiled living in Seattle and getting to hear Mike and his rock star friends at ridiculously low prices in intimate nightclub settings for charity. Spoiled, except for the fact his main band never plays Seattle these days. No, the Gorge isn’t Seattle, at least for those of us without cars. Shouldn’t those of us who leave a small carbon footprint be rewarded? ; ) OK, so really I don’t have a car because I’m too broke to have one and would have to live in it if I did, but still. . .
On to the show! After missing out on a reprise of Tom Morello playing the newly reopened Crocodile for $15 because a friend was in crisis, I jumped at the chance for tickets for Mike’s latest fundraiser at the Showbox (at the Market) for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, even though I was in Boston for Amnesty International’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the time (yeah, I still need to blog about that one). Tickets only $20, except Ticketmaster tacked on almost $15 in “convenience” charges (still a bargain, but come on, a 75% profit on charity tickets?!!).
You really got to appreciate the guys in Pearl Jam for their attempt to fight Ticketmaster on fan rip offs, even though it cost them at the time. Mike’s my personal hero for being willing to go so public with his ordeal with Crohn’s disease, most recently pushing for public restroom access in Washington state for those who suffer from Crohn’s and similar diseases. Whatever I have is milder than Crohn’s, but on a bad day – you got to go, when you got to go!
It was a dark and stormy night. . . No, really, it was rainy and very windy as we waited in line Saturday at the Showbox (at the Market), the original Showbox, across the street from Pike Place Market. It doesn’t get more Seattle than that!
What can you say with a show that opens with Shadow ‘86, Mike’s Hendrix tribute band? Mike’s guitar playing is absolutely amazing, especially when he’s playing some Jimi! Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower, and of course, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and many others. Mike was having a great time with his band mates, Chris Friel and Rick Friel, who were also great, as always. Kim Virant did come out again for this show, this time to sing the lead on Angel.
Here’s the full, official Pearl Jam video of Shadow ‘86 playing Voodoo Child (Slight Return) at the November 3 (night before the election) concert I went to at the Showbox (at the Market) last year. I’ve previously posted a fan clip showing Mike playing the guitar behind his back. That man is incredible!
Oh, yeah – Stone Gossard came out and joined Mike with Shadow ‘86 to sing David Lee Roth’s Just Like Living in Paradise, a song choice that got a bit of flack from some of the fans and one of the guys in Duff McKagan’s band, but Stone was having so much fun with it!
Duff McKagan’s Loaded was up next. McKagan (better known from Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver) lives in Seattle these days, even writing for the Seattle Weekly’s blog, Reverb, not to mention a hilarious column on dating tips for men for the paper, just in time for Valentine’s Day this year. Now who would have thought a rocker like Duff would be a romantic? Of course, the last part, for future daters of his daughter is especially funny. You thought the DeNiro character was scary. . .
It was great having an all rock and roll lineup this year, or at least what I call rock and roll. I wasn’t that into the Feral Children that the younger crowd was into last year. What the heck, I’m pushing 50 (only one year from my AARP card as of tomorrow), so I don’t have to pretend I understand young people’s music these days.
Duff and the boys in the Loaded band have the in-your-face rock star attitude. I’m sure this was the kind of rock show my father was always worried I was going to. . .
Mike McCready came out with Flight to Mars, his UFO tribute band, rocking us past 1 in the morning. Great band and lead singer, Paul Passereli, they were all over the place and having the time of their lives. All the bands were just having a blast. I love club shows!
Rock Bottom was just the ultimate. Their version Saturday night was epic (the clip from a gig two years ago above isn’t epic, but will give you an idea). They went into the lengthy solos. Kelly Van Camp did a terrific and epic solo on the drums. Then, just imagine this one, Mike McCready in another jaw dropping incredible guitar solo, with his shirt off and tattoos showing, bathed in blue spotlight, just a few feet away.
On the one hand, I wish I had brought my camera, because it would have been an incredible shot (then again, I’m not the greatest photographer). On the other hand my thought for the evening, that I wanted to enjoy the evening and focusing on taking pictures does take some of the focus off the taking in the show, and maybe I wouldn’t have been as mesmerized by his playing, if I was trying to get the perfect shot.
Here’s one I found on Flickr, from Bridget Christian’s photo set of Flight to Mars playing at El Corazon back in August:
Both Duff McKagan’s Loaded and Flight to Mars did their versions of Iggy Pop’s I Wanna Be Your Dog, which the guys in the crowd (and it was mostly guys in the thick of it up front where I was) were really into. There’s a lot about guys I still don’t understand. . .
Loaded’s version from Osaka, Japan in2001:
The winner of the auction to play with Mike and Flight to Mars, Jeremy (no kidding), came up and was trading riffs with Mike and the band on their version of I Wanna Be Your Dog. That’s got to be a Guitar Hero fantasy moment! Jeremy was pretty good, and no, I don’t think Jeremy was wicked ; ) . Although, I did see the band was treating him with a lot of respect. I think that had to do with the size of his bid, though.
Another great evening. I love living in Seattle! Still, I may have to move to Boston or Chicago to hear Mike’s other band. . . It really sucks when one of your favorite bands doesn’t play in your city, especially when they live in your city. It’d be like Springsteen not playing Jersey (and he even still plays Asbury Park, where he started out). Come on, Seattle audiences aren’t that bad! We were really rocking Saturday night!
I always feel silly asking a band to play your city, but then again, this is silly.
Please, Pearl Jam, play Seattle!
Rockin’ Out the Vote at the Showbox
09 Nov 2008 Leave a Comment
in Mike McCready, Music, Pearl Jam, Seattle, Stone Gossard, Tom Morello Tags: Boots Riley, Bruce Springsteen, Get Out the Vote, Guantanamo, Iraq Veterans Against the War, IVAW, Northwest Veterans for Peace, Shadow '86, Showbox
So, last Monday night I was rocking out to Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Tom Morello at the Showbox at the Market for their Get out the Vote concert (even though staying out past 1:00 in the morning isn’t the best way to get out the vote, especially when you still vote at a polling booth like I do). What can I say? The price and line up were right. Sleep, who needs sleep?
I dragged along a couple of my friends from our local Amnesty International group, Merri Ann and JoJo (who saved a place early in the line and got us up close to the band, being who he is).
They started off the evening with Pearl Jam’s new video of the 2004 Vote for Change Tour. Needless to say, the filmmakers’ enthusiasm dwindled after that election. It was great to see it now (and evidently, the only way we’re going to see either Eddie or the full Pearl Jam line up play in Seattle these days, ironically enough).
Then Governor Chris Gregoire kicked things off. Glad to see her win against Rossi. Jim McDermott came out to speak later. Like most mortal politicians, they pop in before bands or between sets. Only Obama can have Stevie Wonder open for him!
Stone played with his Hank Williams tribute band, The Hank Khoir. He was having a lot of fun with it, including honky tonk versions of the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up and Prince’s 1999.
Here’s the two steppin’ version of Start Me Up:
Mike McCready tore it up once more with his Jimi Hendrix tribute band, Shadow’86. One of his band mates making his Ralph Nader support clear, on the back of his t-shirt and stickers on his pants pockets, playing mostly with his back to us!
A little confession, I was watching a live video link (posted on the Pearl Jam message board) of one of Mike’s Shadow ‘86 tributes (that I was shut out of seeing live) instead of listening to Joe Biden during the Democratic Convention. Admittedly, Joe probably can’t play guitar behind his back, or dress a moose (don’t try both at once, now), but I’ll have to check on what a Vice President does and get back to you about whether that seems to be an important qualification to Joe Six Pack or Joe the Plumber. . .
Fortunately, the American public seems to think the job entails more important things. Maybe Hey Joe would be more appropriate right now, but here’s Mike and Shadow ‘86 playing Voodoo Child (with a behind the back solo from Mike):
I’m not that into hip hop, but loved Boots Reilly’s energy. I’m sorry to say I missed the name of the comedian, who’s take on King 5’s Jim Foreman’s misadventures being put out in extreme weather and WTO conditions was very funny. It made me feel more forgiving of Jim’s “batten down the hatches”, fearful across the street coverage of the demonstrators demanding their rights at the jail to know Jim had a very bad day at WTO (hopefully not as bad as the comedy bit).
More some other time, but I get tired of WTO being called a riot. I was out in it wandering around for, I think an two and a half hours after our boss let us out early, looking for my friends from Portland’s Northwest Veteran’s for Peace up for the day before meeting them at the original time and place (before I had a cell phone, though that was one of the demonstrators tools). Do I look like I’d survive in a riot?
Okay, my most recent picture is with a clown statue. . .
Fortunately, I didn’t get any of the worst of it that day (although like everyone else I breathed in the toxic cloud of various tear gas/pepper spray and whatever other noxious crap they aimed at the demonstrators), but got quite the civics lesson when we tried to get city council to hold the police accountable at two marathon hearings to the wee hours of the morning afterward.
Tom Morello. I’ve heard about this guy ever since I missed his show for Amnesty International’s Annual General Meeting in Portland in 2006. In fact, I heard about that show twice this week from Amnesty members (not including Merri Ann, who told me what I missed at the time, and turned to me at the show Monday and said, hey, isn’t that the guy who played the Portland AGM?). I don’t remember him as headlining the show, but he’s the one I hear about. Now I understand why.
He tore into songs like One Man Revolution, Whatever it Takes, The Lights Go Out in Spidertown and this updated for the Bush Administration version of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap:
God, what a hell of the last 8 years. Did you ever think this would happen in America – rendition, torture, elimination of habeas corpus? At least, done out in the open? That is the problem. Our hands have really been dirty for some time. Another war for oil? Well, that one’s expected (and again, that’s the problem).
Then, Katrina, did you ever think we would leave Americans stranded while the flood waters rose?
Midnight in the City of Destruction:
I lost my guitar, my home, my hope and my good fortune
I lost my grandfather, two neighbors and my friend
I pray that God himself will come and drown the president
If the levees break again
Now we’re standin’ at the crossroads waitin’ for instruction
And it?s midnight in the city of destruction
Guantanamo again:
There’s a secret prison somewhere south of 60
And in that secret prison there’s a secret cell
And the prisoner’s bound and burned, blinded and beaten
Still that secret prisoner keeps his secret well
Turn out the lights ’cause for one night that’s enough, son
It’s midnight in the city of destruction
I needed an exorcism of the Bush years. Scary thing it, it isn’t quite over yet. What more can he do wrong?
Oh, yeah, the economy in shreds. Yes, Tom did do Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, and he really did it justice. Not to forget Tom’s touching tribute to his Aunt who he wrote Saint Isabelle in honor of.
Both the comedian and Tom joked about the people that come up to him to tell him they beat him at Guitar Hero. Now, Tom didn’t seem to broken up about this. I’m thinking he probably makes a few dimes off of it (well, hopefully more). But, just in case you’re tired of those wannabes, Tom, I have the solution: challenge them in real life to – Guitar Hero: The Reality Show. Oh, yes, that terrible trend in America that thrives on someone’s public humiliation. I’d think less of you, Tom. But I want my cut for coming up with the idea!
Tom brought some members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War up on stage to join him and all the other bands for the finale of This Land is Your Land. He described the scene in Denver, at the Democratic National Convention. The police with all their pepper bullet or whatever noxious or injurious weapons drawn. All the other demonstrators fell back. The veterans held their ground. In formation. 15 cops walked away. They couldn’t fire on the veterans. Then the vets started marching – toward the police line. The police were a little freaked out. It wouldn’t look good, firing at veterans. It’d be like Chicago ‘68. At the last minute, Obama’s people intervene, and agree to talk to them and that Obama will consider their opinions about ending the Iraq War.
I agree with what Tom said near the end, about it still not being over, that even with Obama in office we still need to keep pushing. Obama is going to be such an improvement – especially over the past 8 years. He’s not perfect on all issues, and he’s going to need reminding on others. You can’t be complacent.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Did I vote? I mean rockin’ past 1, catching the bus around 1:30. Actually, then sending off messages of concern about a local human rights case too close to home both before going to bed and getting up a little early. I think I might have got 2 1/2 hours of sleep.
I did vote my final time in a polling place – needless to say, not first thing in the morning. After work, on a pouring rain night, I got off at the post office, walked to the church my polling place was moved to and found it pretty packed where it used to be a ghost town. I filled my ballot out on a table (where people were studiously going through their voter guides; I already had my cheat sheet from looking at it at home). I walked over to the machine you feed it into, where my final polling place vote was actually recorded by a television camera. (No doubt, saying – last of the dinosaurs, check out that hippy hat!)
Then the beauty of it being called so early – we finally won! Seriously, lack of perfection or not, this was a victory for the people, who mobilized and fought like they never have before. Now, can we stay mobilized and not go complacent again?
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