I've been listening to...

Everybody disses Chicago...but they were'nt always the sappy middle-of-the-road adult comtemporary band they turned into. "Chicago VII" is rife with tasty jazz licks and some really good soft rock songs. My favorite Chicago song is on this one... ("I've Been) Searching So Long"...and their collaboration with the Beach Boys on "Wishing You Were Here" has always been one of their greats.

In my opinion, even though their first 10-11 albums yielded some very good music, "Chicago VII" was their best.

I'm on a Patti Smith kick after seeing her name in an issue of Art Forum International magazine. I realized that I hadn't given nearly enough attention to her stuff, and I have almost every one of her CDs. I mean to correct that oversight. "Easter" is the only one I'm very familiar with (one of the great albums of the late 70's...I think the title track of that album is very likely her finest moment).

Her merging of edgy rock music with spoken word poetry is not something that you hear a lot of artists do...and especially not as good as she does it.

There's not a moment on this entire CD that does not have the power to move me, to pull me into it's heavenly sound world and make me want to stay. I think it is certain that Sigur Ros will remain my favorite band until the day I die. Seriously, I have never loved a band more than I do this one.

But thats' no surprise...you all knew that.

Genesis: "And Then There Were Three"

I sort of remember being half-way dissapointed when this came out...probably becauseI was pissed that Steve Hackett had left the band. It was bad enough that Peter Gabriel had absconded, but I thought they still had something going, especially with the more prog oriented songs that I loved so much.

So "And Then There Were Three" got a lukewarm reaction, even though I do recall playing it quite often. About half of the album is filled with the kind of sappy love songs that characterized the band's later work as well as Phil Collin's solo career. The only one here that I think hits saccharine rock bottom here is "Snowbound". The others really aren't all that bad.

But the other half, the pseudo-prog songs, is actually quite good. The opener, "Down and Out" is solid...you know you're listening to Genesis before the first chorus comes around. Collins has always been a very good singer within the context of the band's sound...On this and some of the other songs he is a dead-on ringer for Peter Gabriel, and I don't think he's trying.

Phil also tries to inject some humor into the usually dead-serious prog genre, with "Ballad of Big", the story of a cattle rustler with a hot temper. "Scenes from a Night's Deam" also has a playful air about it, both lyrically and musically.

"Deep in the Motherlode" is another heavy prog outing, probably the most "proggy" on the album. This is the kind of stuff I've always wanted from Genesis, but unfortuanately they drifted away from it somewhat after this album. "Duke" may have shared a few similar elements with this version of the trio's music, but with the success of "Misunderstanding" it was inevitable that they would veer towards more mainstream sounds (though they did revisit the "good old days" in a powerful way with "Driving the Last Spike" from "We Can't Dance").

So basically "And Then There Were Three" marks the end of an era and ushers in a new sound for Genesis, one that would send them to the top of the charts and cement their reputation as primarilly a pop act. And a good one, even us old school fans have to admit.

That's my boy!

I just had to post this picture of my son.

It's just too cool not to share it!

Quack preachers live high on the hog fleecing sheep.

I read this morning that former presidential candidate and “700 Club” quack Pat Robertson has now endorsed Rudy Giuliani. Ouch. Personally I think Rudy should tell him, “Thanks, but no thanks. This is hard enough as it is.” I mean, I don’t think even the conservative Christian right claim Robertson as one of their own. He’s put his foot in his mouth too many times. Surely the 700 Club’s viewership is not substantial enough to make any real difference in Giuliani’s campaign?


There’s also a story on CNN.com about televangelists extravagant lifestyles being probed. Before the webpage with the story had even loaded I knew I’d be seeing Benny Hinn. Oh, yeah, that one was easy enough. Just as obvious as the five other TV preachers under investigation were just as obvious (including Creflo Dollar, Paula White & Kenneth Copeland).

I really think the “prosperity doctrine” preachers are nothing more than the snake oil sellers of olden times. They take the gospel and they pervert it’s words to mean what they need them to mean in order to fleece the sheep.

It’s so obvious, I really don’t know how anyone can fail to see it. They’ve turned religion into a big, weird self-help seminar with greed at it’s core.

Sure there are people out there who believe this stuff and have become successful, and it’s cool to give the glory to God. But they believe that their blessing was a direct result of something THEY did (“planting that seed of faith”). I just don’t think that’s how it works.

Even if it IS, I don’t think a “seed of faith” means MONEY. You don’t have to listen to these ministers for long to realize that cash is exactly how they define it. And for every one of the successful seed-planters reaping a harvest...from their own hard work, btw... there have to be a hundred seed-faith believers who work every bit as hard but whose circumstances prevent them from rising so high on the “blessing ladder”. The hardcore seed planters will say, “Oh well, your faith isn’t strong enough. Your seed was not sown in faith. You held back that extra little bit of seed that would have won your blessing” (even if that “extra little bit of seed” was a car payment or food for the kids or something that you absolutely needed…it sounds impossible that anyone would think that way, but I have seen and heard these televangelists suggest exactly that).

For the most part the main people who are prospering with the “prosperity doctrine” seem to be the purveyors themselves. Jesus was homeless, but most of these charlatans have mansions…I’m not saying that God wants us to be homeless. But surely there must be a limit to the extravagance of "ministers" whose fortunes are made from the sincere offerings of people who could only dream of having such wealth. Not to mention that everything they own was purchased with tax-exempt money, taxes that have to be made up by the tax-payers in general.

Prosperity preachers twist the words of Scripture to mean what they want them to mean. If you can’t see that, then maybe you deserve to be scammed. If I tried hard enough I could probably twist the words of Scripture to the point where they seem to advocate Satanism. All you have to do is pick out a few verses and twist them out of context.

I guess I do have a strong opinion about something other than the arts. Ha.

I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated with these televangelists. I scan the religious channels and it almost scares me that I recognize and can usually name almost every one of the main ones. Steve Munsey, Benny Hinn, Jesse Duplantis (whose “preacher/stand-up comedian” routine is hilarious, but it’s not his jokes that are funny), Rod Parsley, Paula White, Paul Crouch, T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Marcus & Joni Lamb, it goes on and on.

Usually I hear these guys babble and it pisses me off to hear them speak truth one minute then dilute it with bullshit the next. And some folks say, “well, yeah, there are some quacks there, but there are a few legitimate ones, too”. I agree, but you can probably count the “legitimate” ones on the fingers of one hand. The preachers who can buy huge blocks of air-time on TBN have probably already worked the prosperity angle with their own congregations enough to afford it. And there’s so much of the bogus junk on the network that the legitimate ministers stay away. They rightly want to distance themselves from the con artist superstars.

But what can be done about it? It’s very hard to…errr…”deprogram” someone who has been convinced that these guys are not only on-the-level but actually speakers of the truth. Very likely the best you can hope for is that they eventually see the light when all the seed they’ve planted fails to yield the desired harvest. Then maybe someone will blame them for not having enough faith one too many times, and they'll say FUCK IT.

It’s just so much fucking bullshit, and I’m sorry if that offends anyone, but it does bother me a lot.

And now I must prepare for my required monthly trip to Oklahoma City.

Love and peace to all…

jac

New Sigur Ros.

The new Sigur Ros album came out yesterday. “Heim/Hvorf” it’s called, I think. I can’t believe that I didn’t scrape up enough money to get a copy.

I was planning on doing some wheeling and dealing with a friend who owns a used & new CD store. I’m pretty sure I had more than enough to trade for the Sigur Ros album. If the trip to his store wasn’t such a long drive I probably would have gone (“long drive, to me, is anything over 30 miles). But it wasn’t just the drive that discouraged me…

I had been under the impression that “Heim/Hvorf” was going to be a CD/DVD set. I don’t know where I got that idea, They DO have a DVD coming out on the 20th so I probably got confused, thinking they’d be packaged together.

The release of a Sigur Ros album is a much anticipated event as far as I’m concerned. But I really had my heart set on watching that DVD. So the plan is to wait until the 20th and get the CD and DVD together.

The only reviews I’ve read so far are on Amazon.com. I should check out some REAL reviews soon. There were only two of them posted as of yet. The first was a glowing, enthusiastic, positive one. The second had good things to say about the music but bemoaned the fact that it’s a 2 CD set but is almost short enough (short enough?) to fit on one. He also complained that some of the songs were not new material. I’ve heard the album in it’s entirety on MySpace and it’s true that there are a few songs from their other albums. However they are different versions, outtakes and what-not. I don’t mind that, especially since what I heard of them sounded really good. I’m excited about the live acoustic material, too.

I’m excited about the whole album, to be honest, and even more anxious for the DVD. So I guess I’ll be scraping up a little more cash for the 20th…

Likes/Disllikes

About a week ago I posted here that I thought I might have found my daughter, Aubrey,on MySpace. I have not seen her in at least 20 years, on MySpace. I think I mentioned that I was going to send a friend invite to her and hope that it really was her.

It really was.

I was ecstatic beyond words when she accepted it and added me to her " friends list". Since then (about a week ago) we have communicated via MySpace messages and IM. It's been great catching up on her life and blabbing to her about some of my memories. Of course I want to be a part of her life, but it will be slow process, I know that.

For now I am just glad that I've found her. It's good to know that I've got grandchildren.

Yesterday she sent me a list of her likes & dislikes, so of course I wrote my own list. And it's only natural that I'd want to post it here:

I had a lot of fun filling out this "Likes/Dislikes" list.

LIKES:

Music:

Right now my favorite band, hands down, is Sigur Ros. I've come to the point where I think there's good stuff as well as junk in every genre (except Broadway Showtunes---that's ALL junk). There's a long list of bands/artists that I love on my profile but if I had to narrow it down to three I suppose They would be Sigur Ros, Mark Kozelek (and his bands Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters), and Autechre. I would burn you a CD of stuff I like and send it to you , but I really don't think you'd like much of it. I don't know...you might.

TV:

With each passing year I seem to watch less and less TV. I hardly ever watch sports. I watch a lot of news and news commentary shows, though I get bored when they don't have anything new to offer."Survivorman" is cool. Sometimes I watch re-runs of "All In The Family"...I didn't "get it" as a child when it was first aired, but now I do and I think it's hilarious. I like a few country music videos. I've probably seen every eposode of "M*A*S*H" at least 10 times but I still enjpy the re-runs. Not a whole lot else.

Movies:

I like movies that are intellectually challenging and/or emotionally powerful. "Reign Over Me" was the best movie I've seen in months. "Stay" (that one turned me into a Ryan Gosling fan), "Magnolia" (NOT "Steel Magnolias"...I really don't like "chick flicks") , "Memento",
"Frailty", "Sin City", "300"...I know they're pretty "rough", but I like Quinton Tarrantino's movies. And just about everything directed by Cameron Crowe (especially "Vanilla Sky" and "Almost Famous"). "Radio", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Good Will Hunting", "Crash"...Ingmar Bergman's films.

Books:

The Bible, of course. I also like to read the Hindu holy book Srimad Bhagavatam. Currently I'm on the third installment of Robert Jordan's 11 book "Wheel of Time" fantasy series. I love anything by Charles Dickens (I think "A Tale of Two Cities" and "David Copperfield" are probably his best). All of John Irving's Books are favorites (especially "A Widow For One Year" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany"). "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers. I like a lot of Stwphen King's books. John Irving's "Rabbit" books. "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass. Books about bands and artist biographies. And I'm quite proud to say that I have read "War and Peace"!!! I may even try to read it again someday.

Food:

Mexican is my favorite. I like it at nice restaurants and I like "fast food Mexican" even better. Soft tacos at Taco Mayo drenced in their Taco Sauce is the best. Italian is real good, but I mainly stick to the standards---Pizza and Spaghetti. When it comes to pizza I like just about any topping except mushrooms, anchovies and pineapple. Cheesburgers and tater tots from Sonic. Whoppers from Burger King. Schlotskys Original sandwiche. Ruffles potato chips with french onion dip. Frito chili pies. BLT sandwiches. Lots of salad ( favorite dressings are Italian and Catalina...I'm burned out on Ranch, but the Ranch they have at Pizza Hut is delicious and I always eat that when we're there.

And finally here is the list of THINGS I CANNOT STAND:

Condescending people & snobs
Aggresive drivers
Seafood
Cigarettes
Far Left-wing politics
Far Right-wing politics
Hypocrites
Commercialism
Phony people
Religous zealots
Excessively rich TV preachers
The cult of celebrity
Hollywood actors who think I care about their poltical opinions
Red tape
Radical Islamic militants
People who delight in bashing the president
Disney/Pixar movies
Morning-show Radio DJs
Dean Koontz's books
Long drives
Shania Twain
Howard Stern
Viagra commercials on TV
Just about ANY commercial on TV
Reality shows
MTV
Gangsta Thugs
Pierced noses, tongues, nipples and belly buttons
People who don't think for themselves
Drunks (especially beligerant ones)
Junkies
Politics and/or excessive patriotism in the pulpit
The obsession with sex in out society
Cats
Body odor
Bad breath
Intolerance
Injustice
Insincerity
Insufficient funds
Vermin
Parents who don't take care of their kids
Kids who disrespect their parents
"The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart
"The Colbert Report"
Tabloids
Hominy, squash, eggplant, asparagus, black-eyed peas
High gasoline prices
Eggs
Compulsive liars (and lying in general)
Bars and "clubs"
The popularity of NASCAR
Racism
Gratuitous sex and violence in movies and on TV
Computer "Errors"
56K connections
Greedy people
People who are too concerned with other people's sexual orientation
Diet soda
Romance novels
Fights and brawls
Junk e-mail and spam
Licorice
2 % milk
Garrison Keiller and "A Prairie Home Companion"
Soap operas
Benny Hinn
Senator Ted Kennedy
Nancy Pelosi
Michael Moore
High stakes Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments on sports channels (it's not a SPORT)
"Girls Gone Wild"
Having to tune my guitar

Alice Cooper: "Welcome to My Nightmare"

They played this Thursday night on the local classic rock station. They've got a thing they do called "The Classic Rock Album at Midnight", in which they give the listener a break from all the commercials usually so pervasive and play an album in it's entirety. Most of the time it 's something banal (Foghat, Ted Nugent) or a record you already have memorized ("Led Zeppelin IV", "The Wall"). But last week, with Halloween midway through, they played some "scary" themed albums, and you can't do that without at least one Alice Cooper album.

Now. personally I would have chosen "Killer" or "Love It To Death", but I guess I can see why they picked the one they did, with the "Nightmare" motif already embedded in the title.

"Welcome to My Nightmare" is not one I listen to all that much anymore. I'm sure I spent plenty of time with it back in it's day, but anymore I prefer the harder edge rockin' Billion Dollar Babies-backed songs to the more ornately theatrical Bob Ezrin produced extravaganzas. Those epic conceptual pieces grew tedious and musically deficient before too long, but maybe Alice was just so happy to finally be solo that his enthusiasm transferred to this one, which really is quite good.

My favorite tracks here have always been "Devil's Food" and the "Steven" trilogy. "The Black Widow" still sounds great, and Cold Ethyl" is funny. There's only one song that I don't like. "Some Folks" is the kind of Vaudeville crap that has always grated on my nerves. Even so, it's kind of cool to hear him do his "crazy man rant" at the end, which he hasn't really done since "The Ballad of Dwight Frye".

"Welcome to My Nightmare" will probably never be one of my all-time favorite Coop albums, but it's a good 'un and it sure sounded good on the trip from OKC to my home (since I don't have a CD player in that car).