Straight Outta Saint Paul

I was remiss earlier this month -- when posting about the music that was currently occupying my life -- in not mentioning Twin Cities hip-hop band (yes, band) Heiruspecs. The band -- yes, band! -- consists of two rappers (one usually serving as more of a beat box), a keyboard player, a bassist and a drummer. Their second album 'A Tiger Dancing' was released late last year and can be sampled here.

It's one of those albums that grows on you and slowly tries to push all other music out of your head. While oddities like beat box/Michael Winslow-impersonator Muad'dib simulating record-scratching and trumpet-playing with his voice capture a listener's attention, it's the solid, if often lighthearted lyrics and inventive instrumentation that have kept the CD in heavy rotation at KBOSS. It's catchy yet quirky stuff. But what would you expect from a band -- yes, band -- that counts Run-DMC, The Roots, Jay-Z and Spoon among its influences?

Fox News Guide to Right-Wing Enemies, Part 2

Bill Clinton: Former President Bill Clinton tried to make up for his truly abhorrent marital infidelity by shamelessly sucking up to the 'poor' and 'disadvantaged' during his term. As if affordable healthcare, a booming economy that created millions of jobs, healthy relations with our allies around the world, and eight years without going to war would blind us to his true character!

Hillary Clinton: Hillary Clinton sits slightly to the left of Friedrich Engels and slightly to the right of Karl Marx on the political spectrum. She will definitely be the Democratic candidate for President in 2008. If she wins, she will definitely raise the tax rate to 75%, outlaw the Bible, send shock troops to seize your guns, start marrying gays and human-animal couples on the White House lawn, empty the prisons, open the borders and begin killing newborn baby rabbits immediately upon taking the Oath.

NEA: First of all, we're not comfortable with the word 'endowment'. Secondly, they are always trying to tell us some toilet sitting in the middle of the room is art. We know what art is, like that great picture of those dogs playing poker.

Howard Dean: Eeeeee-yaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

Chris Rock: C'mon, everyone knows that Chris Rock is a racist, right? He hates black people. It's just a good thing they have compassionate, articulate supporters like Sean Hannity to point this out. By the way, to save room in this guide, this definition pertains to any black performer/politician/athlete/celebrity/academic who is not named J.C. Watts or Condoleeza Rice.

Jimmy Carter: The worst President we ever had. Before there were ultra-rich, New England elitist liberals who hated freedom and disdained the good, honest folks in the South and Midwest, there were elitist peanut farming Southern liberals who pandered to the good, honest folks in the South and Midwest by 'being one of them'. Oh, he's supposed to be such a great guy because he walked down Pennsylvania Avenue on his Inauguration Day, fought tirelessly for fair elections in Central America, brokered landmark treaties in the Middle East and the Soviet Union, oversaw important education, transportation, environmental and energy reform, served on a submarine in the Navy, was a nuclear physicist, won a Nobel Peace Prize and then built houses for poor people in Appalachia and started the Carter Center to mediate disputes in third-world countries after he left office.

You Know You're Watching Fox News...

when you find yourself taking David Duke's side in an argument.

The situations you find yourself in sometimes. I just had to watch The O'Reilly Factor last night because Mr. O'Reilly was finally going to get the story on what 'white nationalist' David Duke thinks about the Ward Churchill affair. Where was the biased mainstream media on this one, I asked myself. And why has the mainstream media stopped talking about Churchill's controversial quote just weeks after he uttered it? That's why I watch Fox News, people.

Questions raced through my head. What did Bill expect to hear? Did he want to tie Churchill's reputation to that of fellow 'extremist' Duke? Did we want to trash Duke and Churchill simultaneously? This couldn't be about boosting ratings, could it? Did O'Reilly want to compare hate speech with Duke? Has O'Reilly written a new book? Or maybe he thought Duke would feel right at home among all of the young, square-jawed Aryan men and women that serve as anchors at Fox?

Regardless of the reason for Duke's visit, I found myself spellbound as O'Reilly proceeded to show why he gets paid the big bucks, immediately taking control of the discussion and getting to all the important points: Was Duke formerly Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan? Had he said bad things about blacks and Jews? How did Duke think his hate speech compared to Churchill's? Oh, don't be so modest Bill, you can 'hate speech' the hell out of both those guys!

Duke sugarcoats his views when he can get a word in, but O'Reilly refuses to let him make any kind of point whatsoever. Duke tries to steer the conversation to First Amendment issues and America's need to take a look at its foreign policy if they want to prevent terrorism (and I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with David Duke on something). But this is not the story that Bill O'Reilly wants to broadcast. So after speaking over Duke a couple more times, he ends the interview.

And for the first, and hopefully last, time in my life, I find myself sympathizing with David Duke.

Hunter S. Thompson, RIP

"He's the only one that could have killed him." -- My old roommate Tim, upon hearing that Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide on Sunday.

America lost a great patriot this weekend. Part Thomas Paine, part Keith Moon, Hunter Thompson spent his life in constant search of what it meant to be American, and in a tireless quest to touch the spinning vortex of the American Dream.

He was iconic in a way that few, if any, have ever been. He fathered a style of journalism, was immortalized in two films and many biographies well before his death, and even had a political cartoon character styled after him.

One of his greatest works, 'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972' literally rewrote the rulebook on how to cover a political campaign, and serves as one of the most compelling accounts of an American election year ever put in print.

Though Thompson was primarily known for his outrageous, albeit somewhat exaggerated, appetite for drugs and booze, what he ultimately will be remembered for is his incisive and unequivocating account of a remarkable era in American history, laid down in several classic works.

For the last thirty-odd years of his life, Thompson was a national treasure, at once hermetically sealed in his reclusive Aspen ranch and out amongst all of us.

Alas, the Bush years proved too much for a man so closely in tune with our national character. As Thomas Paine once said, "These are the times that try men's souls." May Hunter's soul now rest in peace.

Fox News Guide to Right-Wing Enemies, Part 1

France: Replace all references to 'France' or 'French' with the word 'Freedom' -- e.g. Freedom Toast, Freedom Kiss, Freedom-Cut Panty Hose and actor/comedian Freedom Stewart. Jury still out on changing The O'Reilly Factor bumper sticker to 'Boycott Freedom'.

The Media: Also known as 'The Mainstream Media' or 'the Liberal Elite Media' or 'The Establishment Media'. It is comprised of everything that was known as 'The Media' prior to 1994. The standard bearers for this quasi-terrorist (OK, at least terrorist-sympathetic group) include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, Time magazine, Newsweek magazine...aw fuck it, the list is too long to recount. Suffice to say, if it isn't run by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Richard Mellon Scaife or Rupert Murdoch, it's 'the Liberal Elite Media'.

San Francisco: A city known as 'Baghdad by the Bay' can't be trusted. Some important questions must be answered. Have they used weapons of mass destruction on their own people? Are they gaming the UN oil-for-food program? We could sit around and try to figure out the answers to these questions, but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud...or a bunch of gay married people. Plan for preemptive strike. Also home of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- the big leagues for 'activist judges'... and we think they support terrorism.

Activist Judges: Otherwise known as 'judges'. May also include 'activist justices'. Not to be confused with 'active justices' like avid goose hunter Antonin Scalia or avid aide gooser Clarence Thomas.

SpongeBob Squarepants: Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Who's ten times as dangerous as Liberace?

College Professors: They sit in their ivory towers and brainwash our children with their radical liberal ideas. And do you know how many elephants were sacrificed to build those ivory towers? As Republicans, we like elephants. They'll work for peanuts and don't unionize. And they come from Asia and Africa, which are far off places that we don't really understand...but we like. Wait, is the Middle East part of Asia or Africa?

AARP: This is a terrible ultraliberal organization started by insurance companies to sell stuff that you can get just as cheap from the United Seniors Association or at least that's what noted historian, sociologist and consumer watchdog Art Linkletter told me. What?! You say he's just a former Hollywood actor?!

Hollywood: Hollywood actors and directors are morally bereft, out-of-touch, camera-hungry loons who are waging a battle against America and its family values. There's really no reason we should even entertain their views on politics unless they are named Arnold Schwartzenegger, Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston, Ron Silver or the aforementioned Art 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' Linkletter. Oh, and of course that pretty girl from Law & Order that's married to the football player.

NAACP: They don't really represent coloreds -- I mean black people. If those people would just stop blindly voting Democrat and look around the President's Cabinet...wait, where are you going Colin?

Michael Moore: He's a liar, he's a liar, he's a liar, he's a liar.

What I've Been Up To

Sorry about the hiatus. The pressures of workaday life have really got me down.

So much to talk about, but so little time. Let's let this suffice for now:

I have been doing some thinking about starting a wiki (basically a blog that can be edited by anyone who accesses it) displaying the live music, comedy, etc. that the Boss recommends for his reading audience. It would be like a download of my much-heralded social calendar (which, as of now, only exists in my bright yellow, college-ruled, one-subject notebook). Then, of course, all of you could add your own recommendations to the list. Fun right?

Well, I'll get working on that. But for now, here are a few acts that I have enjoyed recently:

The Perceptionists -- Hip-hop act from Boston featuring Mr. Lif, Akrobatik and DJ Fakts One. Saw them at a warehouse/live-work space in West Oakland called LoBot. Risked life and limb walking there from the BART station at night. It was worth it. Check out their new album (and first as The Perceptionists) called 'The Razor'.

The Herms -- Rock 'n roll outfit from right here in San Francisco. Many say they're the next big thing. They should get more exposure opening for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at Great American later this month during Noise Pop. So far, they only have a self-made EP. But I hear a studio release may be imminent.

Arcade Fire -- I missed their show(s) at Great American Music Hall. To add insult to injury, the night I went down to try to get tickets outside the venue I failed, and then went on to the Hemlock Tavern, where I would leave behind my bag with two phone adapters, an iPod adapter and about 50 CDs! I've been listening to the Arcade Fire's CD, Funeral, quite a bit and getting more and more bitter about that night. They are slated to play on Sunday (not this Sunday, keep reading...) at The Coachella Music Festival (sometime in early May) in Indio, east of L.A.

Jesse DeNatale's residency at the Red Devil Lounge -- Saw him play with Jonathan Richman a week ago. Matt Gonzalez showed up to read poetry. This part of the show sonded interesting, but then the almost-mayor copped out and read other people's poetry. Jesse was great as usual. He's playing every Wednesday night in February with different guests every week. This week he's joined by Steven Yerkey and Ralph Carney and word is that there will be some music industry muckety-mucks there to check out Jesse. Next week, he'll be with Mark Eitzel (check out his site, it's great!) and Bone Cootes. Maybe the best of all the shows.