President Obama

I can hardly contain myself. There just wasn't any way that the GOP could suppress enough votes to make a difference this time...keep in mind that there were over a million votes that weren't counted in the 2004 election. It had to be a landslide this time...otherwise, they might have pulled it off.

I feel like this country might have a chance of surviving now. I don't feel ashamed to live here. The world now sees that we are not all completely stupid.

I've been pretty sick for the past couple of days, so I'm a little bit out of it. All I can say is that I thought that we might never see the day when we could have hope of ending the killing and profiteering in Iraq, close Guantanamo, and have a constitutional scholar in the White House that can give us our civil liberties back.

Here's to hoping that we may actually see Bush and Cheney prosecuted for war crimes.

Halloween...wear a Palin mask.

Yes, it is. I'm celebrating at El Rancho Grande tonight. I'll be playing an acoustic set. I'm sitting in the VW dealer waiting for some repairs to be done on my car...Fox news on the television...the dickheads on the screen are incessantly talking about Republican strategy and how McCain is doing so well, even though he had to bus in 4,000 school-age kids to fill out a rally the other day...they're talking about all this "momentum" that he and Sarah Palin have, even though every poll shows that almost 60% of the folks think that Palin is unprepared, the majority think that McCain has no message and is relying on Ad Hominem attacks, etc. Fox news people now talking about how Obama is now best friends with a "PLO spokesman" and that the LA Times is covering it up by refusing to release a tape of Obama speaking at a dinner held in said spokesman's honor. Hmmm, who is this person? Let's see...oh! It's Rashid Khalidi! Oooh, he sounds like a terrorist! Scary! Let's see what the Washington Post has to say about this evil-doer:

"Mr. Khalidi is an American born in New York who graduated from Yale a couple of years after George W. Bush. For much of his long academic career, he taught at the University of Chicago, where he and his wife became friends with Barack and Michelle Obama. In the early 1990s, he worked as an adviser to the Palestinian delegation at peace talks in Madrid and Washington sponsored by the first Bush administration. We don't agree with a lot of what Mr. Khalidi has had to say about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the years, and Mr. Obama has made clear that he doesn't, either." (full article)

There are people who trust the word of Fox like a child trusts a parent...yeah, still. There are even folks like this in the big city...I work with some of these poor people. I try to reason with them, I try to get them to read, I beg them to research the retarded talking points that they regurgitate. The response is always the same: "Shut up. John is a war hero, therefore he knows how to keep us from being attacked by terrorists...and Sarah is just like us! A real Washington outsider!"

Wait a sec! I thought I was writing about how much fun I was going to have tonight! Let's all have some candy.

Shit! ELECTION ALERT! Mike Fuckin' Ditka is speaking at a Sarah Palin rally in PA. WTF! Now she's talking about the Iron Dog race that her husband was in...now she's showing off her coveted Down's baby, all dressed up in a Halloween costume...it's a fucking elephant costume...right into the baseless attacks on Obama's character...right into saying "maverick" seven times in one breath...seriously. She wants us to know that she doesn't "run with the Washington herd" and that she really is ready to "shake things up" in Washington. Yeah, they're still saying that shit. We need a leader "with truthfullness." Are you fucking joking, Sarah? I love the truthfulness that Sarah exhibited after that Alaska ethics investigation stated clearly that she broke the law. Her response to that was simple: she said that she was glad to be cleared of any wrongdoing or violation of law. God damn it, they are lying and almost half of us are willfully ignoring it.

Oh, right! I'm going to have fun tonight! I'm going to play music and sing and forget that this country is on the verge of ceasing to exist! USA! USA! USA!

I love the Church

The Church |MTV Music

NYC, CMJ

June Star played at Googie's in NYC last Friday as part of CMJ. It was a tiny crowd that we thinned out, as we usually do. It's good feeling when you play some place where you know your draw is very weak and you end up playing to a full room. It's an even better feeling when, after you've played your first few songs, the room clears out a little bit, and you're left with a bunch of new friends. I like friends. Music is the best.

Lou Reed, Berlin

I just listened to the recent recording of Lou Reed performing his album, Berlin. I really like this recording. I like how Lou sounds as an old dude. The vocals on this one are really awesome, I recommend it, especially if you've heard the original album. They're both great. My favorite on the album so far is Sad Song. There's a DVD of the concert, too...I bet it's great. I'm going to get it. iTunes link...

Hit Me Like A Train

(listen)

Hit me like a train would have
well
you walked up and waved
breathless out on 13th street
well
wish I could have stayed

If there's something that you need
well
I'll bring it to you
Hope that you remember me
well
Like I think of you

I won't run
and I won't hide
and I won't lie to you

Put It In A Box

(listen)

Put it in a box
I won't need that now
Maybe in a while
I'll take it back out

Maybe it's a book
or maybe it's some clothes
I'm not really sure
I am not home

Yes I got your note
I'll come by at ten
Put it in a box
So you can move again

Put it in a box
I won't need that now
Maybe in a while
I'll take it back out

Yes I got your call
I don't think I can show
Put it in a box
Take it when you go

Amelia

(listen)

Amelia I’m not qualified
To give advice
He’s your man
Open up your swollen eyes
He’s your man
He’s your man

Maybe you’re misunderstood
You’re too old
He’s too good
All excuses in a line
Have you tried
Apologize
Standing in the checkout crying
Who knows what
You know why
How could you believe that lie
He’s your man
He’s your man

Amelia I’m not qualified
To give advice
He’s your man
This is how it all unties
Don’t think twice
He’s your man
You think that being with me now
Has got to be a choice somehow
So if our health and time allows
We’ll meet again
He’s your man
Amelia
He’s your man

Video post time!!!

Ahh, youtube, I love thee. So much goodness. So much lovin...

Light Of Day

(listen here)

Drift in by the light of day
Drift in by the light of day
fold that picture up
and put it away
Drift in by the light of day

Tell me everyone’s ok
I hear everyone’s ok
Someone called the cops
We all ran away
So far everyone’s ok

Mia said the band was late
Manda fell asleep by eight
Everyone showed up
Like all in a state
But I hear we’re all ok

Make the call
And we’ll all come down
Everyone knows where
We will all
light up like match sticks
It gets around
Though silently

Annabelle and Ida Joe
Both hoped Josephine would go
Violet called her up
And she said hello
Are you coming
I don’t know

Everyone skipped out of class
Laid their blankets in the grass
Lit their cigarettes
As the day crawled past
Ready for that last broadcast

Drift in by the light of day
Drift in by the light of day
Fold that picture up
And put it away
Drift in by the light of day

Waking In The Dark

(listen here)

spinning grinning pinning your heart
I haven’t got a heart
I haven’t got a heart
I don’t know where to start
I haven’t got a heart

I’m writing your name out
I can’t calm down, waking in the dark
And you wouldn’t send the message back if you were smart
I haven’t got a heart

I’ve got to put this well behind me
I want you so much, don’t remind me

Believing the whole thing
I can’t walk around
You screwed me into the ground
Don’t reach for the telephone
This mess is best left alone
I haven’t got a heart

How many times has this happened to me
Another storm is slowly forming

I see you now
I see you now
oh I can't take you

iPhone 3g! Pandora! Yesss!

I got up early last Saturday and stood in line for the new iPhone. It was worth it. I bought the first version of the phone last year, and loved that one. The first thing that enticed me this time around was the GPS thing. There isn't a turn-by-turn application yet, but there will be soon. For now, you can see yourself on Google maps, which is kind of fun.

Anyhoo, the awesome surprise was the Pandora radio application. I downloaded it from the iTunes app store (for free!) and it does what one would assume. It loads your Pandora presets and plays songs for you, just like your iPod would. The load times are really fast over the 3g network, so you can plug it into your car and drive around listening to it. It even shows you the cover art. Of course, you can press a button to buy the song that is playing from iTunes. Pretty sweet, though. A free streaming music service, simple as that. If there's one thing that keeps me in writing mode, it's hearing music that is new to me. The two Pandora channels I've been listening to are the Only Ones channel and the Book Of Love channel. Lots of 70's melodic punk-ish stuff and lots of super-electronic 80's pop. Wonderful!

Andrew's new hipster shoe.

ooh, nice.

...and we're off!

what am i gonna do now (listen here)

what am i gonna do now
what am i gonna do now
never did why but you still say how
you gotta work this out
what am i gonna do now

winter came and gone
now it's all I want
for to step right back
and to close my mouth
snuff that danger out
what am i gonna do now

now the yield ebbs and flows
subdivisions grow
will the hurt get gone
as the birds move south
heave and push your plow
what are you gonna do now

righteous men will take
all that you can make
and they name your god
as you hide your doubt
as your demons shout
what are you gonna do now

Julie got drunk near
Coney Island pier
as her husband cried out
she fell right down
drifted out to drown
what am I gonna do now

this town is all chains and rust
and it don’t remember us
but I see your face through the curtains now
so you can take your bow
what am I gonna do now

inspiration

I'm getting ideas thrown at me, and I'm thankful. I was brainstorming with my roomie, Danny, and we decided that some kind of gnarly all-falsetto dance-funk should be in order at some point.

I feel a great desire to create some truly silly music, so maybe if I keep my mind at least close to some sort of weird shit, I can make my own weird music. These are the strange clips that kicked my ass and freaked me out today:

50 songs in 90 days.

I'm going to use this page to document what is likely to be a crazy three months. This year I participated in February Album Writing Month...the idea is that a whole bunch of fools get together on this website and attempt to write and record 14 songs in the month of February. I accomplished that goal and I was quite pleased that I even came up with 14 tunes in a month.

So here is the ridiculous endeavor that I'm about to attempt: 50 songs in 90 days. When I initially saw the thing, I was thinking that I could never do such a thing. I kept thinking for another day or two about how damned crazy it was. Then I suddenly changed my mind and thought it was a perfectly fun idea. Upon further reflection, this is obviously not going to be non-stop fun and amusement for those committed to writing those 50 songs, but I am convinced that some good songs will undoubtedly be written by everyone who reaches that 50-song mark.