“Today, though, I want to talk about the pop-cultural root of all evil and aggression, which is not Scattergories, not Grand Theft Auto, not the music of The Screwed Up Click. It is the insidious, grudge-fueling, wrath-provoking waste of four hours that is the Parker Brothers classic Monopoly. The evil is right there in the title! Would you play a game called Anti-Trust? In which your goal was to drive up the price of gas and force everyone to take public transit? I say ye nay. We as a people have agreed for some insane reason to sit down with our families and try to drive them out of their homes. The republic is built on the sacred bond between citizen and property, and this game is about taking it away! How un-American is that? I mean, you might as well drive that little pewter car over the little pewter dog!”
I’ve known Brian for nearly as long as I’ve been alive; certainly as long as I can remember. He and my dad worked together at the Topeka Capitol Journal beginning when I was around 4 years old. When Brian and his family moved out to Oregon it was due to his encouraging dad to interview at the Eugene Register Guard that we relocated as well, undoubtedly completely changing the direction my life ended up taking.
Thanksgivings at the Lanker house and Halloween with Brian playing the part of “Mogo” and “terrifying” the many kids that gathered each year at the Newnham’s house remain among the best memories I have. Brian’s eye for beauty and love for life were evident in the art he created and the food he loved. Brian and Lynda’s kitchen is still my favorite I’ve ever been in.
While his book “I Dream a World, Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America” may be his best known work, for me I’ll always treasure the autographed poster of Paulina Porizkova that he gave me after shooting the 1984 swimsuit issue for Sports Illustrated as well as the accompanying story of dinner with she and husband Ric Ocasek (no way!!!). Years later I was able to relay the story back to Ric when I met him at CBGB while on tour with my own band. He remembered the dinner with Brian and laughed when I presented a picture of myself in drag, signed, for him to give his wife as a thank-you from 16-year-old me.
I’m very sad to hear of Brian’s death this past Sunday and would have dearly loved to be able to see him just one more time. Thankfully my own kids got the opportunity to jump all over him (well, Rowan did most of the jumping) five years ago during a trip back to Eugene. My thoughts are with Lynda, Julie, Jackie, and Dustin. Love to you all. Goodbye Brian.
While I may not be the biggest fan of the song, I could not be a bigger fan of the singer. I think I need to upgrade that PC; It doesn’t seem to be able to keep the video and audio even remotely in sync. Regardless, the girl can sing. She has a solo in her Honors Chorus concert tonight, and landed a role as a “Silly Girl” in her school’s performance of Beauty and the Beast. Just that many steps closer to her dream of being either a rock star or to perform on Broadway. Sigh.
There were five records my parents have had for as long as I can remember: Tommy (The Who), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles), Chrysalis (Chrysalis), After the Gold Rush (Neil Young), and Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel). So here are my favorite songs off each of them:
Dr. Root’s Garden – Chrysalis
Don’t think for a second that these people are not very strange.
Don’t Let it Bring You Down – Neil Young
One of the most beautiful songs ever. Even when I was three I knew that.
A Day in the Life – The Beatles
Fours years and eight albums after their 1963 debut. What the holy hell? My parents bought this just a couple of months before I was born. I’ve never not heard this record.
I’m Free – The Who
First I’d heard of drugs, sex, pinball, and cults. I wonder if two years old was a bit young…nah. Though Uncle Ernie totally freaks my kids out today.
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
I have absolutely no idea what I though this song was about when it was released (I was four). I’m not entirely sure I do now.
I just installed the Wordbooker plugin on my blog and am testing to see what happens over on the Facebook side when I publish a new post. Probably fucking break everything.
They got more popular later and “Throw Your Arms Around Me” is a quite lovely rock ballad that I used to sing to my kids at bedtime (along with “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd, “Love My Way” by Psychedelic Furs, and “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison), but for my money it was all about this song and video from Hunters and Collectors. I saw the video on television back in the mid ’80s and it made me feel like I’d found something totally weird that nobody else got. Turns our I was pretty much right. The record this song is from is full of really odd, stripped down industrial funky oddness from Australia that, were I to hear for the first time today, I honestly don’t know what I’d think. It all feels so sun-baked and hallucinatory and still, to this day, makes me feel kind of weird. Good weird. As if there were any other kind.
And more good weird in this video for “Betty’s Worry or the Slab” that came out a couple of years later. “I was looking for seasoned dreams to rip from your fingers.” Indeed.
There haven’t been many bands in the past few years that have kept me interested for four whole albums the way that Metric has. Sure the last (and most popular) record, Fantasies is far more polished and electronic than the previous ones, but I love ‘em all. I tried to sell @bbarbot, @feadog, and @bikeboy389 on Metric after band practice one night and totally failed. My failure has bothered me ever since so I’m giving it another shot here.
I’m sure the explanation is as simple as she grabbed the wrong notes before hitting the studio, but this is an amazing crash and burn. It would be painful to watch if she weren’t such an awful person.
First, her opening statement to the televised debate:
Then her exit from the studio and the most inelegant ducking of a direct question ever:
Regarding here unconstitutional immigration laws it should be noted that the Pew Hispanic Center just released a report showing that the “annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the U.S. was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005.” So what’s the issue?
