The Good Place

 Back to TV as a topic, in this case a show which recently wrapped up its fourth and final season on NBC and shown on Netflix.  And yes, it has an especially morbid subject matter: the afterlife. 

Several people die, and wind up in “The Good Place”, a euphemism for Heaven, Paradise, or whatever you want to call the afterlife where you go if you lived a good and moral life.  Which strikes these people as odd, as while none of them were candidates for “The Bad Place”, none of them were particularly nice either.  Eventually, by the end of season 1, we find out what’s going on, and over the next three seasons the characters navigate the politics of the afterlife.  The humorous part about it is that the people ostensibly running this whole shebang don’t seem to have it properly organized.  Millions of years and countless departed souls, and only now – with the assistance of these helpful, if imperfect souls – are they finally getting the whole thing sewed up properly. 

I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t seen it, so I’ll try to keep my description brief and modest, though those of you reading this who have seen the show will know what I mean.

Eleanor (Kristen Bell, aka “Anna” from “Frozen”) (second from right in the above picture).  Garden variety selfish girl from Arizona, easily the least ethical of the group and the most puzzled as to her arrival.

Chidi (William Jackson Harper) (far right in the above picture).  A Senegalese philosophy grad student who cannot seem to make any decision.  He’s initially assigned as Eleanor’s soulmate.

Tahani (Jameela Jamil) (far left in the above picture).  An Indian girl, very tall, but also very vain – she can’t help name dropping.

Jason (Manny Jacinto) (second from left above).  From Jacksonville, FL, a big fan of Blake Bortles and none too bright. 

Michael (Ted Danson) (not shown).  The Angel assigned to watch over them.  His role changes as the situation does, but he remains sympathetic throughout, and eventually chooses to become mortal.

Janet (D’Arcy Carden) (center above).  Michael’s assistant, magically capable of granting wishes instantaneously, but needs a bit of help to get clues.  She has an evil twin.

The Judge (Maya Rudolph) (not shown).  Oddly, she isn’t God, but does have ultimate authority over the afterlife.

Shawn (Mark Evan Jackson).  Michael’s boss and frequent nemesis.

Ethics and morality are front and center here, plus the ultimate choice given to achieve – irrevocably – pure oblivion, or absolute death and peace of mind.   The bigger issue is that the souls in question achieve the prerogative to redeem themselves in the afterlife.   All four major characters are fairly young, none died of old age after living a life full of ups and downs and the ability to change ways after middle age became apparent.  Of course that also applies to children and babies who die well before they have the opportunity to develop a coherent moral system.

Since all of us are mortal, all of us ultimately will have to deal with the issues raised in what is otherwise a network (NBC) situation comedy.  That in itself makes the show remarkable, but I found it consistently enjoyable.  Now we’ll see what happens, won’t we?

Van Halen 2020

 The news on October 6 gave me this weekend’s blog topic.  Within minutes on Facebook, it seemed that literally everyone had heard of, and acknowledged, the untimely death of Eddie Van Halen, the famous guitarist for the band of his name.  I’m ill-inclined to simply tell everyone what they already know, so I’ll try to address the issue in a way that gives some form of personal perspective.

Those who know me personally know I grew up in Paris, France, attending high school at the American School of Paris, from 1982-1986.  These were the tail end years of the classic David Lee Roth era for Van Halen, though the first Sammy Hagar album 5150, came out when I was still at ASP.  As 1984 was the first VH album that came out after I got into the band, Diver Down must have been the most recent when I did, and my recollection is that it was Diver Down which was my introduction to the band.  I was shocked to read EVH saying he didn’t like the album, mainly because about half of it is covers long after the band learned how to write its own material – for which he blamed that singer guy, David what’s-his-name.

Of course I got the first album, and VH II.  At some later point I got Women & Children First and Fair Warning, but could never keep straight which was #3 and which was #4.  1984 and the later albums we got when they came out, except for anything after For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

Live-wise, I didn’t get to see them in concert until Hagar was singing:  1988 (OU812 tour, Van Halen’s Monsters of Rock at RFK Stadium in DC) and 1991 (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour, November 1991, for which Layne Staley era Alice in Chains were the opening act).  Much later, in 2012, my brother and I caught a DLR-fronted lineup, with Wolfgang on bass, at the Verizon Center in DC (reviewed in more detail in my prior blog, “Van Halen 2012”, which was mostly about that show in particular rather than the band in general).  So no, I never saw the DLR & Michael Anthony lineup live.  And of course I didn’t see them open for Black Sabbath on the Never Say Die tour.

Roth vs. Hagar.   I have a slight preference for Roth, but Hagar certainly gets the job done on his own merits.  Each is so different as to be different to make a fair comparison.  The singer I completely zoned out on was Gary Cherone of Extreme. 

Influence?  Actually, slim to none.  My favorite two bands are Black Sabbath and AC/DC, thus Tony Iommi and Angus Young are my primary influences.  Sometime in college I discovered The Heavy Guitar Bible and blues/pentatonic scales, and once I learned those, all those Iommi and Angus solos suddenly came into focus – including “The Warning” and “Overdose”.   EVH is all over the place.  Here’s a guy with such an immense intuitive knowledge and natural talent that he essentially writes all his own rules for guitar.  I think I learned “Eruption” – all that double-tapping – and “Black & Blue”, and that was about it for learning anything by Van Halen on guitar.    

I read Hagar’s autobiography, and naturally Eddie figures in it.  Unfortunately, he had all sorts of issues which interfered with simply being a guitar player and keeping a band together consistently.   However, he didn’t die from a heroin overdose, or from alcohol-related issues, or even COVID19; it was garden variety cancer which punched his clock.  Whether we had V H tattooed on us and listened to the material every day, or were – as I was – shocked into reminiscing by his death and only now pulling out our Van Halen albums again to listen to in his honor, we all will be in mourning for awhile.  

Fender Stratocaster (Revisited)

 

Here was a topic I covered back in 2006, when my blog was on Myspace.  The earlier blog entries such as that one didn’t make the transition to Blogger, so I’ll redo it. 

Just this last Tuesday, I took my Gibson SG to the guitar shop in Falls Church, Virginia, Action Music, for a setup (restring, intonation, etc.) and saw they had various Stratocasters and a Twin Reverb amp.  A week or so before, I’d visited Fox Music – within walking distance, down Lee Highway, of Action Music – and saw they also had several Stratocasters – brand new (!) – as well as a Twin Reverb.  

Before I go on about Stratocasters, I’ll comment briefly on the Twin Reverb.  I’m a Marshall guy, with a 2554 Jubilee 25/50 watt combo (1x12”) and a Dual Reverb (4100) 100 watt head, 1960AV 4x12” cabinet half stack.  I love the rich, full distortion sound.   But for an amp with “reverb” in its name, the Dual Reverb (JCM900) has an extremely weak reverb sound, practically nonexistent.  A few years ago I tried out the Fender amp at Guitar Center, out of pure curiosity, and the reverb was incredible.  If there’s an amp that makes a clean sound good, it’s that one.  They started out at 85 watts, Fender boosted it to 130 watts, and then dropped it back down to 85.  If I ever wind up with another $1000 to spare, I might well buy one.  Not today.

To make matters even more interesting, marginally so, I put off finishing up the blog until after I’d done what I had to on Friday, which included a trip to Fairfax County’s courthouse.  I swung by the Fairfax location of Guitar Center, now re-opened, as it’s listed as the only Northern Virginia authorized Rickenbacker dealer.  Sure enough, high up in the rafters is a 4003 bass, and off to the side is a used Ritchie Blackmore signature Stratocaster: white, black pickups, scalloped rosewood fretboard and large headstock – for $949.  Of all the signature models, his is my favorite.  But I prefer my own Stratocaster, modified over the years (2000 to present) to my own specifications.

History.   Up until the 1930s, there were no electric guitars, only acoustic.  In the ‘30s, pickups – the electromagnetic device which captures the strings’ sound so they can be amplified - were invented, and slapped on acoustic guitars.  However, two men, Les Paul and Leo Fender, realized that a guitar with pickups doesn’t need an acoustic chamber and can, in fact, be simply a solid plank of wood.  Les Paul developed his own model, brought it to Gibson, but they laughed at him.  Leo Fender, oddly enough not a musician himself, developed the Telecaster (originally called the Broadcaster) and his invention, the first solid body electric guitar, introduced in 1948, was a hit.  Gibson realized their mistake and brought back Les Paul, who gave them the guitar which bears his name, in 1952.  In 1954, Fender upped the game with an improved model, the Stratocaster.

Initially the Stratocaster had three single coil pickups, a tremelo/vibrato bar, and was available in two color sunburst with a maple neck (to my eyes, a pale yellow).  By the late 50s, solid colors (e.g. black) became available; in 1959 the rosewood (dark brown) fretboard was introduced.   By 1965, Fender was in bad health and sold his company to CBS, the TV network.  That company enlarged the headstock, a design which lasted from 1966 to 1981.  Since then the standard headstock has been small, with various reissue models available.  The Strat also became available with double coil pickups (aka humbuckers), which are usually associated with Gibsons. 

Single vs. Double Coil.  Single coil pickups are thinner, more of a twangier sound, whereas double coil pickups have a thicker, meatier sound.  However, overdriven sufficiently, even an otherwise insubstantial single coil bridge pickup will sound almost as nasty as a humbucker.  Jimmy Page likes to remind people that the classic sunburst Les Paul he’s so often associated with, wasn’t on his agenda until Led Zeppelin II, and the first Led Zeppelin album, including “Dazed and Confused”, was recorded on the Telecaster he was using in the Yardbirds. 

Famous Players.   Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Robin Trower, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Dave Murray, Don Felder, Uli Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, among many others.  Hendrix took right handed Stratocasters, flipped them over, and played them left handed (although there were lefthanded Stratocasters by then). 

Vs. Telecaster.  I never liked the Telecaster and have never even played one.  The lack of an upper horn, the headstock shape, etc., it still looks like Leo’s first practice attempt at a solid body electric guitar, which is what it was. 

Vs. Gibson.  As noted below, most of my guitars are Gibsons, which is Fender’s main US competitor.  Fender can and does put double coils on Strats, and Gibson has its own single coil pickup, the P90, which went on Les Pauls before the humbucker came out, and continues to feature on Specials and Juniors.  I like both companies’ guitars, and see no reason why anyone’s collection has to be exclusively Fenders or Gibsons absent budget constraints or an arbitrary preference.   

My Strats.  By now I’ve had several of my own.  I have 5 guitars: 4 Gibsons (Firebird, Explorer, SG, and Les Paul) and one Strat.  I’m not inclined to acquire more than one of any model, but rather pick what I consider the best version of that model, and the Stratocaster is yet another example.  So my progression was as follows…

1.         Applause Stratocaster Copy.  In September 1985, following my brother’s cue, I started learning to play guitar: first song I learned was “Saints & Sinners”, by Whitesnake.  And almost immediately I fixated on the Stratocaster.  But US made versions were expensive, and I had only just learned to play.  So I worked at the Visa Section of the US Embassy in Paris over Christmas holiday 1985-86 – under the guidance of a French guy, Bernard, who turned me onto Hawkwind - and in January 1986 I bought this.  Cherry sunburst with a maple neck.  Not great sounding, and the only “Strat” I ever had with a maple neck, but I was happy for awhile.

** Copies.  I may as well address this issue here.  The Stratocaster may well be the most copied guitar in the world.  In addition to faithful copies like my Applause, companies such as Ibanez, Jackson, and even Gibson have produced Strat-shaped guitars by the thousands.  Our own first guitar was an Ibanez Roadstar II, black with three single coil pickups.  I’d just as soon have a real Stratocaster, even if it was made in Mexico and not ‘Merica (California).  As Fender’s quality control went up and down over the years, some feel that there are many copies which exceed Fender’s quality.  Maybe, maybe not.  That being the case, I’ve never owned a Squier, which is Fender’s budget brand. 

2.         Fender Stratocaster (made in Japan).  By fall 1986 I was at college, University of Maryland, College Park.  My parents agreed to buy me this for Christmas 1986.  It was a Fender Stratocaster, made in Japan, black, rosewood fretboard, small headstock with standard logo.  It had a locking tremelo.  I liked it, and considered it a major improvement over the copy.  Eventually, though, I wanted a US made model.

3.         Fender Stratocaster, ’62 Vintage Reissue (made in the US).  I gave my Jap Strat and my Strat copy to my guitar teacher, Joel, who sold them for me, in June 1990.  I used the money to buy this, a US-made reissue model:  black, rosewood fretboard, three single coil pickups, small headstock with “spaghetti” (pre-CBS) logo.  Very nice, much better than the Jap Strat.  I made no modifications to this.  By January 1990 I had purchased my first Marshall, the 1x12” tube combo, 2554 Jubilee edition, so I had a nice combination – in addition to the Gibson SG ’62 reissue I’d bought in May 1989. 

4.         Fender Stratocaster, Fat Strat Deluxe (made in Mexico).  My current model.  By summer 1999 I’d fallen in love with the larger, CBS-style headstock, and saw this at the Ozzfest:  black, black pickguard, humbucker in the bridge position, rosewood fretboard, and the large headstock.  By January 2000 I succeeded in trading in my Vintage Reissue model for this – at Guitar Center in Seven Corners - and have been happy ever since.  I replaced the stock humbucker with a DiMarzio Tone Zone zebra coil (one black, one, white), replaced the stock tuners with locking tuners – just pull the string through and it catches, and stays in tune better than stock tuner – and the standard Fender tremelo with a Super Vee Blade Runner.  Pepper Keenan, in DOWN, can be seen playing what looks like one in the live video, “Diary of a Mad Band”.   Humbuckers on a Strat?  Yep, some of us like it that way, especially through a Marshall….

DOWN

Searching my blog archives, I see I haven’t reviewed this band yet.  They could be considered a supergroup, as the band members had already achieved some notoriety in other bands already, Crowbar being the most prominently represented (and I have NONE of their albums).  They have three full length albums, two EPs, and a live album/DVD.   I never got a chance to see them live in person, but recently they played a live streaming show in which they played NOLA, the first album, in its entirety. 

Of the component bands, I have all of Pantera’s albums and have seen them as an opening act at an Ozzfest, never as a headliner.  I have all of Corrosion of Conformity’s albums and have seen them several times fairly recently after Pepper Keenan returned - never as a three piece and never as the pre-Pepper punk band.  It was Blind and “Vote with a Bullet” which aroused my attention back in the day.  Crowbar I saw fairly recently opening for the Obsessed.  I was unaware they were from New Orleans until the band took the stage with fleur-de-lys symbols pervasive and the drummer wearing a Saints jersey.   With the exception of Crowbar, with whom I’m not familiar, I would actually compare Down’s material favorably to Pantera and Corrosion of Conformity, if only slightly so.  Anyone who likes those bands – or who likes Crowbar – should certainly enjoy Down. 

1.         NOLA    (1995).   Temptation’s Wings; Lifer; Pillars of Eternity; Rehab; Hail the Leaf; Underneath Everything; Eyes of the South; Jail; Losing All; Stone the Crow; Pray for the Locust; Swan Song; Bury Me in Smoke

Lineup:             Phil Anselmo (vocals) (Pantera); Pepper Keenan (guitar) (Corrosion of Conformity); Kirk Windstein (guitar) (Crowbar); Todd Strange (bass) (Crowbar); Jimmy Bower (drums) (Crowbar).

Tour 9/20/95 to 12/30/95.  No DC or Baltimore area show.

2.         II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (2002).  Lysergik Funeral Procession; There’s Something on My Side; The Man That Follows Hell; Stained Glass Cross; Ghosts Along the Mississippi; Learn From This Mistake; Beautifully Depressed; Where I’m Going; Doobinterlude; New Orleans is a Dying Whore; The Seed; Lies, I Don’t Know What They Say But…; Flambeaux; Dog Tired; Landing on the Mountains of Megiddo

Same lineup except with Rex Brown (Pantera) on bass instead of Todd Strange.

Tour:  4/28/02 to 5/25/02.  No DC or Baltimore area show.  They toured Europe for this album and recorded various shows – see below. 

3.         III: Over the Under (2007).   3 Suns and 1 Star; The Path; N.O.D.; I Scream; On March the Saints; Never Try; Mourn; The Tides; His Majesty the Desert; Pillamyd; In the Thrall of It All; Nothing in Return 

 After Dimebag’s death in 2006. Same lineup as II.

Tour:  9/27/07 to 10/14/08.  This tour went much further, including overseas AND Baltimore (10/31/07 at Sonar).

₊          Diary of a Mad Band (CD/DVD).  Live album recorded in London on the II tour in 2006, but released after III (no songs from that album played).  The DVD portion has different songs filmed in different cities (the band members’ clothing abruptly changes during the songs).

4.         IV Part 1 (The Purple EP) (2012).  Levitation; Witchtripper; Open Coffins; The Curse Is A Lie; This Work is Timeless; Misfortune Teller

Pat Bruders (Crowbar) took over on bass from Rex Brown.

5.         IV Part 2 (EP) (2017).  Steeple; We Knew Him Well; Hogshead/Dogshead; Conjure; Sufferer’s Years; Bacchanalia.

Bobby Landgraf on guitar in place of Kirk Windstein.   The band did not tour either EP.  Having listened to them again I’d say there is a substantial drop off in quality from NOLA/II/III and the IV EPs; while the first three albums were enjoyable, I found the IV EPs to be big time MEH.   Your mileage may vary.

Stoner Jesus.  If there is an iconic image associated with the band, it’s the Stoner Jesus, often featured on t-shirts – and a pint glass.  Browsing through the song titles will give you some idea that herbal remedies are popular as subject matter and among the band members.  Anselmo has a bad reputation as a heroin addict, not sure about the rest.  Overall the musical direction is Lynyrd Skynyrd dialed up as heavy as you can make it (too bad Raging Slab aren’t around anymore:  RIP Elise Steinman).  

Mitt Romney

 

I was going to talk about him last week, but this 9/11 thing interrupted.  We all remember that, don’t we?  Anyhow.  I got an email from a GOP fundraiser claiming that “we don’t need another Mitt Romney”.  Hello, SPAM FOLDER. 

Romney is currently a US Senator from Utah; the other is Mike Lee, who also went to Brigham Young (BYU) and leans Libertarian (or so the Interweb claims).  His prior stints were Governor of Massachusetts from 2002-2006 and the Republican candidate for President in 2012, unsuccessfully running against Barack Obama.  He’s the last Republican candidate I voted for, for President.

Son of Michigan governor and AMC (the car company that gave us the Javelin, Gremlin and Pacer) President George Romney, he was born in Michigan and served time in France in the late ‘60s as a missionary for the Mormons.   There he learned to speak French.  He came back, finished college at BYU, then went to Harvard Law School & Business School, and became a business consultant with Bain.   His track record is mostly positive, though with some missteps here and there.

As governor of Massachusetts his major accomplishment was a state health insurance program which closely resembles what Obama got enacted nationally:  RomneyCare (see also: ObamaCare).  Though a Mormon and a Republican he kept away from being too right-wing and Jesus-y, an important issue in highly liberal Massachusetts.  The last MA governor to run for President was our old friend Michael No-cock-is, who was easily defeated by George H.W. Bush, in the first election I voted in, 1988, the only one in which the candidate I voted for actually won (!).    

As senator from Utah he’s the only GOP senator to vote FOR Trump’s conviction after the House impeached the Orange Fuhrer.   I suppose he might have done so to win favor from Utah Democrats and independents, knowing his GOP comrades in the Senate – including my prior favorite, Rand Paul – would all vote to acquit.  I like to think he really believed Trump should be convicted, and voted accordingly.  He’s also marched with Black Lives Matter.   As a frequent nemesis of Donald Trump, he’s earned some scorn from fellow Republicans, but respect and admiration from Democrats and independents. 

By now I’ve gotten fairly jaded about politics, especially about Republicans.   Sadly, some degree of compromise and pragmatism is necessary to get things done in the real world, so it’s hard to consider any politician as being truly conscientious and principled – except at the extremes of the left wing (Bernie Sanders, Paul Wellstone, Ocasio-Cortez) or right wing (any particularly noxious right-wing, Jesus-y Republican).  And with Trump as President, too many Republicans seem to feel that they have to swallow their distaste for him and support him unconditionally.  Now, more than ever, it’s hard to identify any Republican as really being decent. Having said that, Mitt Romney strikes me as the GOP senator who might most plausibly be considered honest and principled.   In fact, in terms of strength of character and integrity, Romney has likewise surpassed Rand Paul in my regard. 

Getting back to his JD/MBA.  I tried doing that back when I was a senior at UMCP applying for law school, but what I was told is that while law schools will take applicants right out of college (about 50% of my colleagues at GMUSL seemed to be recent college graduates, and my former boss Jerry was only a year out of UPenn before going to USC Law) business schools preferred applicants with some prior real world experience.  The other deal is that Romney had a good background at Bain, but also as governor of Massachusetts.  So it struck me that here was a guy who knew what business ideas and concepts translated to politics and which did not.  The main problem otherwise successful business comrades have when they switch to politics is that they don’t realize that many subordinates can’t simply be fired for failing to follow orders – employment at will is not the way the federal bureaucracy works.  And if anyone could understand this, it would be Romney.  So we have a guy who is (A) successful in the private sector, (B) successful GOP governor in a Democratic state (like Gary Johnson in New Mexico – in fact, Romney considered endorsing Johnson in 2016, he obviously couldn’t do so in 2012 when they were running against each other) and (C) someone who has character and integrity. 

I’m not a resident of Utah, so I’m not in a position to vote for him as senator, though I’d hope he’d follow Nixon’s cue and run for President again notwithstanding his previous loss.  In fact, I’d happily vote for him over Biden if he was the Republican candidate, just as I did in 2012 over Gary Johnson, who for me is the strongest Libertarian candidate to run for President.  Of course, that’s not the situation.  I suppose the best we can hope is that he’ll take the party nomination in 2024.  

We’ll see, won’t we?

Nine Eleven

 

Wow, the date itself gave me the topic!  How convenient.

At the time I was working as an attorney for an older, experienced sole practitioner attorney in Fairfax, Virginia, hereinafter “Bill”.   Bill was down in Richmond that day for a bar meeting.  One of the secretaries came in my office and told me, “a plane hit the World Trade Center”.  [North Tower, 8:46 a.m. EST]  A reporter suggested this might be an accident, but the footage showed the plane flying directly at the tower.  Soon enough, the second plane hit the second tower [South Tower, 9:03 a.m. EST], the third plane hit the Pentagon [9:37 a.m.], and the fourth plane crashed in western Pennsylvania [10:03 a.m.], brought down by the passengers themselves storming the cockpit, one passenger calling his wife to advise her the circumstances and to say goodbye to her.

My girlfriend at the time, Leila, lived in Pentagon City and worked in Rosslyn, a commute which took her past that face of the Pentagon, but she was at the office when the plane hit. 

I think I speak for everyone who remembers that day that we were ALL angry and upset.   This galvanized everyone, even Democrats who didn’t care much for President George W. Bush.   When he decided that we would liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban and track down Osama Bin Laden, he had pretty much unanimous support.   That’s why I’m puzzled by some people on the Book of Faces alleging protests in support of the people responsible for 9/11.

Where I live, Skyline at Bailey’s Crossroads, has a large segment of Muslims.  Whether they’re Sunni or Shi’ite, I don’t know.  None of them have given me any problems.  Nationwide, Muslims are 1% of the US population, 3 million out of 330 million.   The Fort Hood guy and the Boston Marathon bombers were Muslim, but we have plenty of homegrown, non-Muslim screwups blowing things up and shooting people. 

The liberation of Afghanistan went fairly smoothly (October 7 to December 7, 2001), but the Taliban simply retreated to the hills, and in parts of neighboring Pakistan, and continue to cause problems – helped by bounties from their erstwhile opponents the Russians.  Osama Bin Laden himself was taken out in 2011 by US forces – under Barack Obama’s administration. 

Two years later, upon GWB’s insistence (later disproven) that Saddam Hussein and his regime were involved in the 9/11 attacks, we invaded/liberated Iraq.   There, the much-vaunted Republican Guards vanished into the hills and we took the country fairly quickly – March 1 to May 1, 2003.  Then a protracted guerilla war erupted, presumably those Republican Guards taking to the hills instead of facing us directly.  Saddam Hussein himself was captured in December 2003, hiding in a bunker in the ground. 

Aftermath.  As noted, 9/11 certainly unified the country behind GWB and public support for the liberation of Afghanistan was fairly widespread, if not unanimous.   Saddam Hussein’s connection with 9/11 was somewhat more tenuous.  Ironically, one of the justifications for the invasion, that Saddam had “weapons of mass destruction”, later turned out to be bogus, and Saddam’s own generals, when our invasion began, asked him to deploy these alleged weapons – only to be told by him his hints of having them were merely a bluff to prevent the US from invading.  D’oh!   I do recall that support for the Iraq invasion was far less widespread than the previous operation in Afghanistan.  Partly this was due to tempers calming down over the two year period between 9/11/2001 and 2003, and partly was a suspicion that GWB was overplaying his hand on the matter.  Much of the goodwill we earned on 9/11 was squandered by our invasion of Iraq.  Having said that, I’m not seeing any domestic sympathy or support for the Taliban in 2020 or any time earlier – or for Al-Qaeda, for that matter.

Conspiracy.  Yeah, I zone out on the conspiracies that “9/11 was an inside job”, “jet fuel can’t possibly melt the internal structure of the WTC tower”, etc.  I put those in the same category as “the Civil War was about states’ rights” for credibility.  Getting back to that Suicide Pact book I’m reading, I’ve yet to reach Posner’s analysis of the Patriot Act; if 9/11 was orchestrated by the CIA or US forces as an excuse to impose a form of fascism on us, ostensibly to fight terrorism, we’d see something like a fascist regime in our country.  As yet, that hasn’t happened, but much of what Posner talks about concerns holding alleged terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Circa 2020 the main fascists are the President and his “he’s an asshole who gets things done” supporters who believe both the President and the police to be infallible.  Anyhow.

All Them Witches

 It’s getting harder to figure out what to write about on my Friday blogs.  I’ll think of something, check my archives, and realize I’ve covered the topic already.  Today’s entry is #755, so I’ve had 754 previous ideas.  Fortunately new band bands come out periodically, allowing me to address them, including this relatively new band from Nashville, Tennessee, All Them Witches.  Their first album, Our Mother Electricity, came out in 2012.

Like many of these newer bands – I’d compare them closest to King Buffalo (from Rochester, NY) and Elder (from Boston, MA) – they vary the songs from mellow to heavy and back again, avoiding getting too monotonous, and the singer/bassist, Charles Michael Parks, actually sings, which is a good point.  His Rickenbacker has the top horn cut off, so we’ll see if this band gets big enough that Rickenbacker makes a CMP signature model.  I know they have an Al Cisneros (Sleep & OM) model.  The guitarist is Ben McLeod and the drummer is Robby Staebler. 

I was fortunate enough to catch them at the Rock’n’Roll Hotel in Washington, DC, on March 23, 2019.  Setlist:  Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird; 3-5-7; Diamond; 1^st vs. 2^nd; Fishbelly 86 Onions; Workhorse; Charles William; When God Comes Back; Rob’s Dream; Alabaster; Swallowed by the Sea; encore:  Blood & Sand/Milk and Endless Waters.

Their newest album, Nothing As The Ideal, was recently released.  I preordered it and received the CD (I reserve vinyl for material released before 1988, as only such material, originally recorded for analog reproduction, will make the transition to premium vinyl).  Excellent, similar to the prior releases, though I fall short of being able to distinguish it, for better or worse, from such albums.  For those of you with Spotify, those releases are available on that medium. 

With the COVID still preventing live shows occurring, and the Clutches and Downs being the exception and not the rule, I won’t hold my breath for ATW to tour this album in the US or have a live online show.  I will play NATI over and over again, and as yet I haven’t gotten fed up.   :D