Argle Bargle, Bafflegab, and Gobbledegook

Maybe you've seen this meme floating around the internets...

A conservative friend of mine recently shared it with me on FB and suggested that I teach it to my students at school.

Here is my (lengthy) response (for the tl;dr version, the title of this blog post pretty much sums up my opinion of the meme):

Teach this to 10 year-olds?

I guess I could teach a lesson on how to properly attribute quotations…

A cursory Google search for Dr. Adrian Rogers instantly showed that the attribution at the bottom is wrong.

Aside from that, Wiki notes that the good "Dr."/Pastor Rogers (b. 1931) spent most of his life defending the literal inerrancy of the Bible and once said some pretty inflammatory things about slavery.  He was pro-life, pro-death penalty, and pro-hetero to the point that he boycotted Disney because he perceived that they promoted homosexuality. 

In other words, his Southern Baptist Christian beliefs were completely antithetical to the West Coast Methodist beliefs I was taught at my church every Sunday.

And while all this doesn’t address the content of the meme you posted, it does raise a red flag for the reader to proceed with caution… 

Warning:  Bafflegab Ahead!  (I guess I could teach my class a new vocabulary word, bafflegab…)

Anyway, here goes nothing…

1.  “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.”

Seems like a bit of a straw man to me, as if freedom is strictly an economic concept.  Also, it implies that the economy is a zero-sum game where there is a set limit of money.  But, sure, let’s pretend those things are true and imagine “the total amount of money in America is, say, a hundred dollars, and one person owns $97 of those dollars,and you make a law saying that that one person has to give a lot of that money back to the government and the government will give it to all the people who just have a few cents, they would be more prosperous…”(emphasis added)

(Again, are we conflating wealth with freedom?  YMMV)

But if you’re thinking that’s unfair to Mr. $97, think about how the opposite has been true throughout history.  Governments have legislated the poor out of freedom by legislating the wealthy into (even more) freedom using “capitalism’s primary weapons: colonialism, imperialism, systems of taxation and slavery…The Spanish,the British, and now the Americans have been the most merciless and brutal exploiters of both human beings and resources in history…We in North America reside on land that was stolen from indigenous populations followed by brutal systematic genocide, and then followed by generations of institutionalized racism and exclusion.  Women, African and Native Americans were barred from the political process and any semblance of economic power until well into the 20th century.”

I do teach my students about The Trail of Tears, and even 10 year-olds tend to think Native Americans were treated pretty unfairly.

2. “What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.”

I don’t think that’s usually the case at all.  Everyone benefits from paying taxes for education (even if your kid goes to private school) because an educated work force helps our economy.  Everyone benefits from police and fire departments (even if they don't regularly call on them) because they keep our homes, businesses, and cities safe.  Everyone benefits from available health care (even if you haven’t used it - everyone will in their lifetime) because going to the ER costs all insurance customers.  These are but a few examples. 

Besides, that quote could be describing CEOs making hundreds of times more than their employees or even TARP, the program that used billions of our tax dollars to bail out AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, and the auto industry.

3.  “The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.”

While economically speaking, this may be true, why does it seem like individual welfare recipients are always demonized but not the corporations that cost our government billions?  Or do fiscal conservatives agree with politicians like Bernie that our current economic system tends to let corporations privatize profits while socializing their losses?

But, if we’re talking about laws the government makes, then #3 is not necessarily true.  The government can give equal marriage rights to queer folk without taking away heteronormative marriage.

4.  “You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

Would that that be true for cancer cells!  (Or our elites that want to divide this country into warring tribes of left vs. right all while multiplying their wealth.)  

Alas, you can multiply wealth by dividing it.  You can divide labor by creating different companies and that creates more wealth.  You can divide workloads to maximize efficiency and that multiplies wealth.  

But even if you couldn’t, you could still distribute wealth in a more just and equitable manner.  Our democracy is based on equality.  But capitalism doesn’t much care for (or need) equality – quite the opposite – it needs competition, winners and losers.  Our democratic government is there to check capitalism’s power, on behalf of all of its people.  When that check is corrupted by money, then equality and true democracy cease to exist.

5.  “When half the people…”

50%?  Really?  Again with the Us versus Them language, pitting citizens against one another… needlessly tribalizing us as a nation.  Once more, we could flip that around with the CEO/janitor scenario, but really, doesn’t this whole meme seem a bit silly now? 

Clearly, these Five Very Definitive Statements have all sorts of caveats. 

Basically, they are meaningless, pseudo-intellectual rubbish when scrutinized for more than a few minutes, hence the title of my post.

Let It Bleed

Hear, Here!

"Hail, Caesar"

Since I'm a huge Cohen brothers fan, a few days ago I wrote a comment defending their latest movie from criticisms by some viewers that "expected much more from the Cohen brothers" or said, "The plot never developed."

Here is my comment:

I'd be curious to hear what Cohen bros movies you do like... maybe you prefer their dramas? I hear ya about the plot, but I think the theme of competing belief systems embodied by the brilliantly funny characters trumped plot in "Hail, Caesar." (Laurence Laurentz? "Would that it were so simple," "Call me Laurence." Come on, Fiennes was a riot, as was the entire cast!) This theme of competing belief systems presented the viewer with questions like: Who holds more power in the secular world, the American military (Lockheed) or American pop culture (Hollywood)? Or who holds more power in the religious world, Catholicism/Christianity or Judaism? And who has more power in the political world, communism or capitalism? I was entertained by this "dialectic" (Haha!), a serious theme of competing beliefs (faiths?) interwoven throughout an ostensibly comedic movie, to the point that it subsumed the plot for me. That, along with the excellent characters/performances and the note-perfect re-creations of period genre movies (westerns, musicals, drawing-room dramas, etc), made "Hail, Caesar" a joyful, if not thoughtful romp.

Let me know what you thought about the movie in comments.

2016 Election: Devolution is Real!

This year will be the seventh time I've voted in a Presidential election since my first in 1992.

And besides the 2000 election, this will be the most significant and consequential contest in my lifetime.

The main reason being that four Supreme Court Justices will be in their eighties by 2020, so it's likely that at least one could be replaced by the incoming President, potentially shifting the court's balance of power.

But that's not all... 

In my lifetime, a Democrat has never succeeded a Democrat to the Presidency.

Think about that.

Republicans did it with George H.W. Bush succeeding Reagan, but Democrats never have.

We came close in 2000, but the 5-4 split favoring conservatives on the SCOTUS at the time prevented that.

Just think how different the aughts would have been with Gore succeeding Clinton:

No war in Iraq.  No tax cuts for the upper 1%.  A continued focus on Al-Qaeda that may have prevented 9/11.  An administration that would have made global climate change and research into renewable energy a priority.  Government agencies run by competent directors like James Lee Witt who showed what a helpful resource FEMA could be when natural disasters like hurricanes hit during the Clinton administration.  Imagine how different the response to Katrina would have been...

In other words, a Gore administration would have been a continuation of many of the programs and policies that showed government could function for the American people.

Alas, the 2000 election was very consequential.

Now don't get me wrong, neither Clinton nor Gore were perfect...

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," NAFTA, Welfare Reform, Mass Incarceration, and the repeal of Glass-Steagall (to name a few things) all happened under Clinton/Gore and were quite antithetical to liberal/progressive interests.

As a matter of fact, it was quite common during Campaign 2000 for liberals like Frank Rich of the New York Times and myself (at the wise old age of 27) to declare there to be absolutely No Difference between Candidate Gore and Candidate Bush, and so therefore, Go Nader!

Sigh...

Which brings us to the 2016 Presidential Campaign and the fight for the heart of both major political parties.

On the left we have an unapologetic Socialist versus an unapologetic Centrist.

I've read articles making the case for Sanders and articles making the case against him.

Each side has liberals I respect making their cases (Chomsky and Krugman, respectively).

But each of these articles were written prior to last night's Democratic town hall non-debate in Iowa.

And while what I saw may not change my primary vote, it certainly displayed each candidate's strengths and weaknesses more starkly.

Sanders' strengths speak to my progressive heart.  He is willing to forcefully call out the most destructive force this country has seen in my life time, income inequality.  He puts these values in action by not accepting SuperPac monies and is still competitive thanks to his ability to motivate the grassroots.  He has a consistent record of fighting for progressive interests, and his populist appeal excites people much like Obama did in 2008. 

Clinton's strengths speak to my pragmatic heart.  She's spent most of her political life on the national stage and has not withered or wavered.  She's a survivor.  She embodies public service despite 30 years of acrimonious, sexist, and demeaning attacks.  She has unimpeachable (sorry) foreign policy experience and has worked with leaders around the world for many years which means she's ready to go on day one, not needing any on-the-job training.

So I'm vexed. 

On the right, the rise of Trump shows us absolute, irrefutable proof that DEV-O were/are right:

Devolution is real!

And a President Rubio or Cruz as an alternative doesn't exactly disrupt our descent either.

Consider their crazy tax plans (and please keep in mind that conservatives routinely bemoan the size of both our national debt and deficit):

Trump's plan would cost $9.5 trillion over ten years, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Rubio's plan has "$6 trillion dollars of unfunded tax cuts," over ten years, according to Paul Krugman.  (Update:  $8.2 trillion according to CNN Money)

Cruz's plan is by far the most radical, with estimates ranging from the more "conservative" cost of $8.6 trillion dollars to the more "liberal" estimates of $16.2 trillion over ten years!

Just for a frame of reference, during the first Bush/Gore debate, Bush proposed $1.3 - $1.9 trillion dollars in tax cuts (depending on whether you used Bush's or Gore's numbers), and that was when our government was running a surplus!

We all remember how well our economy did after Bush cut taxes, and we got those $500 checks...

Obama has spent the last 7 years slowly but steadily fixing an economy Bush helped wreck.

But Democrats must pull off an historic win this November in order for our country to continue to reap what Obama has sewn.

Republicans winning the presidency would mean a government completely run by one party and the work of the last 8 years undone.

Can our country survive Republicans gutting the government again?

I love that the Sanders Campaign has kept the message of income inequality in the media since OWS.

That's awesome and commendable.  The issue affects all Americans every day.

But this election is about more than one issue...

Actually, I take that back.

But the one issue is which candidate can prevent President Trump?

Jenny Lens' Punk Photos from 1976-1980

Check out these fantastic shots of The Cars, The Clash, The Go-Go's, DEV-O, The Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, Van Halen, Blondie, Screamers, The Police, and more!!

Lot to Learn

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Radiohearts' new 7", "Lot to Learn" released by No Front Teeth Records in England has been garnering some really great press...

Check out Sorry State Records' review (with bonus ordering info!!)

Here's Keep Track of Times' kind words...

And the website, Veglam, also said some nice things,

as did Heatwave.

The blog, Just Some Punk Songs, was equally effusive... choosing the eponymous song, "Lot to Learn" as #10 in their Top Ten singles of 2015!!

Whew.  Thanks to ALL of you for your continued support!

Look for Radiohearts' first full-length LP coming in 2016!!

"I'd Rather Be Dead (For Now)"

The Bottled Spirits perform "I'd Rather Be Dead (For Now)" live at Alex's Bar opening for Hollygolightly and the Brokeoffs on November 22, 2015.

I Want to go to There

"The best field trip I been on was to the Nacho History Museum."

LOL!

Obviously, my favorite line from my 5th graders' writing this year!!

The Thingz - Troubles Begin 12" EP Coming Soon!

The Empire Strikes Back

The title says it all.  Absolutely heartbreaking.

New Thingz Video Coming Soon!

Confirmation Bias

I agree with it because I already believe it.

Happens to the best of us...

I didn't share this map, but I saw it and agreed with its intentions.

But I must constantly remind myself:

"Be suspicious when something too closely matches your own world view"

Confirm or deny the rest here.

RIP Christopher Squire

:(

Hot Off The Press!

Thanks to multi-talented artist Julie Green for featuring The Thingz in her awesome blog, Patterns and Tones.

Julie asked us to perform a song acoustically inside a West Hollywood dry cleaning establishment a few Saturdays ago.  (I can only imagine how much hotter it would have been on a weekday, with the presses on...)

She also took these fun shots of us posed around the machines.

You can watch us perform a minimalist version of "Trouble" off our forthcoming LP, Troubles Begin, here.

30 Years of Purple Rain

Here's a cool Vibe article about Susan Rogers, the woman who helped record Purple Rain and was Prince's personal studio engineer from 1983 to 1988.

As the author of the article mentions, some of her stories could easily have been Chappelle's Show sketches!

Maybe for Season 4? ;)

The Newest Member of the Cordero Family

1972 American-made Fender Telecaster bass 
Thanks, Pops!!

"12 Ways to be a Completely Bitter and Miserable Musician"

I loved these so much, I had to share!

I'm sure I've been guilty of all of these at some point...

And really, this list could apply to any art form, (or human endeavor) not just music...

So stay grumpy and enjoy!

Rockit Man

There's really only one song that's responsible for my brief and unfortunate foray into break dancing...

I remember it was 1984, my last year of elementary school, and I couldn't escape breaking - all the kids with cable and MTV were doing it.

I thought it looked cool the way the dancers moved, like a cross between mannequin and machine.

I wanted in, so that summer I took a break dancing class through the La Palma Parks and Recreation Department that met in the gymnasium of my future junior high school and was taught by a dancer who said he was in the movie Breakin'.

He also said that Boogaloo Shrimp was his friend, but for the life of me I can't remember his name...

Suffice to say, no matter how hard I tried to "egg-roll" or "windmill," the closest I ever got to breaking or popping was an anemic arm wave...  

That summer, Future Shock, Heartbeat City, and 1984 were all in heavy rotation on my hi-speed, dual cassette tape deck, but there was only one song that made me wanna break out my cardboard and parachute pants to practice my "crazy legs," and that song was Herbie Hancock's "Rockit." 

I thought the scratching section was the best part.  I'd rewind the tape over and over again to listen to it... 

I'd even try to imitate it on the zipper of my hoodie!

Little did I know that it would be the first of many Herbie Hancock and hip-hop albums that I would buy...

Check out the fascinating history of how this innovative song and video were made here.

Da Do L. Ron Ron

Here's a fun, albeit long, Vice article about its author touring some of LA's Scientology buildings.

It definitely made me want to go to a few of the spots he mentions...

The Jurassic Park Movie Night seemed fun...

 And check out this awesome Battlefield Earth display!

Can you believe they keep an office for L. Ron in every building, just in case he needs a spot to work when he comes back?

There's more freaky stuff in the article, but I won't spoil it all.

I'm already planning my tour...  I'll use a pseudonym, like the author did...

And if they call me by my real first name, as they did to him, we'll all know it wasn't just his paranoia!

1998 was Great!

So many great movies released that year... and hardly an Age of Ultron among them... hmmm...

It's a (Small) Beautiful World!

Out with the Scold, In with the Skewer

Salon used to be one of my go-to sources for liberal/progressive news and information.  But then I started seeing more and more clickbait links with their over-heated, reactionary headlines, and I stopped looking at it as much.  The site seemed to be ramping up the outrage and becoming a shrill scold.

I guess Patton Oswalt had a similar experience:

It feels a little frustrating that a site like Salon that I used to always go to for great news, great commentary, did turn into a caricature of what a lot of really dumb conservatives used to say it was. That’s really disturbing to me because I don’t want it to be. And I’ve been saying this over and over again.

Apparently, unbeknownst to this non-Twitter subscriber, Oswalt and Salon had been going at it in tweet form for quite some time. The interview I linked to above, dubbed a "Peace Summit," is a pretty long sit-down with Oswalt and Salon's Editor-in-Chief, David Daley. They discuss a lot of different topics that require a bit of background knowledge of current events in comedy to follow, but I think Oswalt sums up the crux of his argument quite nicely here:

I hate to talk in terms of our side, this side, that side. But our side, the liberal progressives, the open-minded people –  I don’t want us to be the scolds and the shushers. That was always the role of neoconservatives and the religious fundamentalists, to restrict and remove words. I don’t want our side to be the one that’s parsing language.
It just really, really bothers me, if the liberal progressives have now become the scolds. We were the Grouchos! We’re not the Margaret Dumonts — and we’re turning into the Margaret Dumonts on a lot of levels. That lets the misogynists and homophobes and racists seem like the rebels: “Well, we’re saying what people can’t say anymore.” We should be having way more fun with language and jokes and going too far. If our side starts doing that, then I think we’re fucked in terms of moving forward as a society.

So what do you think?  Does Oswalt have a point?  Does Salon?

What can we learn from them both?

Vibe Merchants

Producing music fascinates me.  I love reading about all the crazy ways producers made classic recordings!  But whether I’m reading about it or trying my hand at it, I’m really just interested in learning to be better at it.  If producers are hired because someone likes their taste, I’d like to continue to refine mine by learning from the masters. 

Two articles in Tape Op magazine about a few of these masters recently caught my attention… 

My take-away from both articles was vibe. 

Good producers set a vibe for creativity to flourish and optimum conditions for musicians to do their best work. 

The first article interviewed the multi-instrumentalist/producer/engineer, Jon Brion as he was working on the soundtrack for P.T. Anderson's magnum opus, Magnolia.

Brion discussed playing a session where the producer, T-Bone Burnett, set a good vibe:

It was a song about Texas... we played a take and it wasn't great. It was completely proficient, everybody in the room was proficient. There was no question that everybody could play and there was no question that everybody wanted to do the right thing for the song. Nobody was hot-dogging anything, but it didn't feel right. People came in to listen and it was a take that maybe a lot of people would have even kept, because it was proficient. Everything was right, not in a clinical way. It was right, it just wasn't magical. T-Bone looked around the room and said, "You guys have all been to Texas, right?" We all nodded and he said, "Do you know how when you're standing in Texas and you look around and see miles in every direction?" He starts leaning over the board and making this big sweeping motion with his arms. We all nodded. He said, "That's how it has got to be." We proceeded to march in and in one take we played the shit out of the thing. That's not an accident, that's not a bullshitty little thing. That's the real thing. To me, one of the biggest jobs of production is "taking" the people who go into the room. I think it's the most important part of production.

Coincidentally, the other night I was watching a doco on Elvis Costello in which T-Bone Burnett seemed to reinforce Brion's opinion that good producing entailed “taking” a room of people and setting the right vibe, but this time the tone was set by a veteran jazz bassist.  Apparently, Burnett was producing one of Costello's songs with Ray Brown on bass, and not unlike his directions to Jon Brion about Texas, just before a take, Ray Brown turned to the musicians in the room and said something to the effect of, "Don't none of you play any ideas."  In other words, the implication was don't play tons of notes or licks -- don't play for yourself -- play for the song.  Or as Kendrick might put it, "Bitch, don't kill my vibe!"

Another interesting part of the Brion interview was when he talked about the (d)evolution of music production starting in the early '60's and the benefit of intimacy when playing quieter:

I used to listen to records and go, "Why are all these '50s jazz records perfect?" We figured out some way to record musicians in a room in an appealing fashion. It's not truly realistic, but give us a sense of what it was like to be there. It's like looking at a good photograph. I started thinking about why records started sounding like shit in '63 or '64, and they did. All the early British rock records sound like dog shit. They have no bandwidth. Eventually I realized that when musicians started playing louder, the old mics couldn't handle the level. So, they invented dynamic mics, which you could put right up on guitar amps and drums. Then, things sounded shitty again, they could take the level, but they didn't have the bandwidth. Then people figured out ways of doing the hyper-real sound, which became popular in the '70s. You've got dynamic mics right up everything's ass and then you've got EQ and different things to get the sound together and thus began the era of hitting a snare drum for a day.

Ouch!  No wonder recording budgets were so bloated in the '70's.  (Aside from the blow, of course… but I guess that’s just another way to induce good vibes, no?)

The second Tape Op article was a 1999 interview with Phill Brown, who produced my two favorite Talk Talk records, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock.  Brown described the vibe in the studio making those two records:

It was very, very psychedelic. We had candles and oil wheels, strobes going, sometimes just total darkness in the studio. You'd get totally disorientated, no daylight, no time frame.

Brown started out in the 1960's as a tape operator at Olympic Studios in London and worked his way up to producer, but he still considers himself an engineer, mostly:

I guess I see my trade as an engineer. Even though I produce things and co-produce things I see what I do as an engineer. I tend to work the same whether you give me credit as an engineer or a producer. It's hard to say. The kind of producers I worked with originally were people like Jimmy Miller or Steve Smith … who were producers who set up a situation and controlled things but they were vibe merchants. Jimmy Miller was this incredible kind of energy and drive and force. He made the session feel like you wanted to be there and make music. But he wasn't a hands on producer...

Jimmy Miller, the "vibe merchant" Brown mentioned, produced two of my favorite (and arguably best) Stones records, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, the latter (in)famous for the vibe created while recording it in the basement of a mansion on the French Riviera as depicted below.  (Miller's the one lying on the floor.  You can also go here for more pix.)

Brown got the job working with Talk Talk after a... ahem, talk with Mark Hollis, their lead singer, about studio vibes:

I dropped him off at the tube station. As he got out of the car he said, "What sums up Olympic in the '60's for you?" I said, "It's got to be one o'clock in the morning, November 1967." It was a Traffic session I did. I was 17 years old and it was a new job. That particular night we were doing "Mr. Fantasy" and there was just this fantastic atmosphere with low lights and people were a bit out, wasted. I mentioned this to Mark and he said, "Oh, cool." After a few weeks I got a phone call saying he'd like to get involved. And we met up and went into the studio Mark said, "Let's set this up as if it's one o'clock in the morning, November 1967!"

These guys knew it, as did Brian Wilson...

It's all about good, good, good, good vibrations!

We're All DLR!

I only knew about this photo shoot tangentially, from the We're All Devo video collection when Rod "The Man" Rooter suggests to his daughter, Donut, that he could hook her up with Numero Uno, the lead singer of his "mega metal band, The Evil Clowns," and points to the picture below... (watch here)

"El vomito," Donut responds.

At the time, I didn't realize the poster was a Helmut Newton shot of David Lee Roth with someone else's face pasted over it.  I also didn't realize that it was included in the first million copies of Van Halen's third record, Women and Children First, since I'd bought mine used, years after its release.  And I certainly didn't know that this photo shoot almost broke up the band back in 1979.

You can read all about it in the first link provided above...

My favorite picture of the Newton shoot, on the grounds of David Lee Roth's palatial, Pasadena home. (Click on it for a larger image)

All The BS

Check out The Bottled Spirits' new website and get all the BS!!

LA Record

Lots of Long Beach artists in this issue of LA Record, plus a nice review of The Thingz latest LP, Red Future on page 76!! 

Thanks Dennis!

Jake & Elwood

Great Blues Brothers picture collection here.

"BLT Blues"

 

Enjoy!

For Doom the Bell Tolled

The story of the birth (or renaissance) of my favorite MC, MF DOOM...

How to be a Good Band Girlfriend

Lol, those pix tho!

Yeah, man!

Whip(lash) It!

While I haven't seen the movie Whiplash, two articles about it recently caught my attention.

The first is by New Yorker film critic (and apparent jazz aficionado), Richard Brody who writes, "The movie’s very idea of jazz is a grotesque and ludicrous caricature."

The second is an interview with esteemed jazz and studio drummer, Peter Erskine who summarizes it thusly:  "I'm disappointed that any viewer of the film will not see the joy of music-making that's almost always a part of large-ensemble rehearsals and performances. Musicians make music because they LOVE music. None of that is really apparent in the film, in my opinion."

Having played in many ensembles over the years, both large and small, I can definitely attest to this idea:  music-making SHOULD be fun!  And I certainly haven't been doing it for the money - I've been doing it because I LOVE it!

In their respective reviews, both Brody and Erskine call BS on the JK Simmons' teacher/band director character, Terence Fletcher.

According to Erskine:

A conductor or bandleader will only get good results if he or she shows as much love or enthusiasm as the discipline or toughness they dole out. Being a jerk is, ultimately, self-defeating in music education: for one thing, the band will not respond well; secondly, such bandleaders are anathema to the other educators who ultimately wind up acting as judges in competitive music festivals -- such bands will never win (the judges will see to that).

As someone who dropped out of band his sophomore year of high school partly due to having a "jerk" band director, I completely relate.  Zig Kanstul, our band director, would always find new and exciting ways of telling us we were shit musicians.  While his opinion was probably right, it didn't make it right to say those things, and it certainly didn't inspire me to be a better trumpet player.  Maybe he never heard the expression I tell my students now, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!" 

According to Brody, not only is Fletcher a tyrant that "hazes [Andrew, his student] with petty rules that are meant to teach military-style obedience rather than musical intelligence," he justifies his techniques by embellishing the oft-told story of Charlie Parker getting a cymbal thrown at him to suggest that Joe Jones (the drummer) was trying to decapitate Parker.  As Erskine notes:

The misrepresentation of the Jo Jones throwing the cymbal at Charlie Parker's feet anecdote may well lead people to thinking that Jo Jones did indeed, as JK Simmons' character avers, try to decapitate Charlie Parker at that epochal jam session in Kansas City where a very real Charlie Parker attempted to play some of his double-time / new harmony improvisation and more or less flubbed it. Papa Jo eventually tossed a cymbal towards Charlie Parker's young feet in a "gonging" motion to get him off the bandstand. Jazz masters could be tough, but the movie gets that story all wrong.

While this was a pivotal moment for Charlie Parker as a musician, Brody says the movie completely misses the lessons he learned:

Brody (10/13/14):  Here’s what Parker didn’t do in the intervening year: sit alone in his room and work on making his fingers go faster. He played music, thought music, lived music. In “Whiplash,” the young musicians don’t play much music. Andrew isn’t in a band or a combo, doesn’t get together with his fellow-students and jam—not in a park, not in a subway station, not in a café, not even in a basement. He doesn’t study music theory, not alone and not (as Parker did) with his peers. There’s no obsessive comparing of recordings and styles, no sense of a wide-ranging appreciation of jazz history—no Elvin Jones, no Tony Williams, no Max Roach, no Ed Blackwell. In short, the musician’s life is about pure competitive ambition—the concert band and the exposure it provides—and nothing else.

Interestingly, Erskine notes that Andrew's "winning" drum solo performance at the end of the movie is very old-fashioned:

If the film takes place "now," any drummer playing like that at a competitive jazz festival --especially one in New York City -- would get a cymbal thrown at their feet by the ghost of Papa Jo Jones, or I'd do it for him.

Brody also addresses the one line I knew from watching the trailer (and, incidentally has, so far, put me off of seeing the movie):  the idea that "the worst thing you can tell a young artist is 'Good job,' because self-satisfaction and complacency are the enemies of artistic progress."

Brody (10/13/14):  There’s nothing wrong with “Good job,” because a real artist won’t be gulled or lulled into self-satisfaction by it: real artists are hard on themselves, curious to learn what they don’t know and to push themselves ahead.

Indeed, as a practicing musician, I know all too well the self-loathing that accompanies a performance I deem personally sub-par.  But I also understand that playing music is a journey and that there's always more to learn and improve upon, regardless of how good or bad a performance may be to me or others.

As a teacher, I've often looked to Peter Johnston's book, Choice Words, as a guide for inspiring students through my language to not only take ownership of their learning, but to feel empowered to imagine new possibilities for him or herself as a life-long learner.  One of Johnston's mantras is Praise the work, not the student.  In other words, teachers should say, "Good job" or "Nice work" because it praises the process and honors their effort, rather than praising the student with, "Good boy/girl," since its opposite implies that the student is somehow a "bad" person.

Ultimately, as Erskine says, a music teacher's job is...

To inspire his or her students to get the MOST out of music, by GIVING the most to music. To, yes, inspire and instill a sense of discipline and responsibility, but to show students the rewards of concentration and playing well and working as a team.

At the end of his piece, Brody makes his strongest criticism:  the movie is not even about music - it's about authority:

Certainly, the movie isn’t “about” jazz; it’s “about” abuse of power. Fletcher could as easily be demanding sex or extorting money as hurling epithets and administering smacks...

Ouch!  Indeed, Erskine notes:

I can't imagine [USC Dean of Music] Rob Cutietta putting up with an ounce of the behavior portrayed in the film. But, like I said: it's fantasy, it's Hollywood.

Sadly, it sounds like these are far from the only shortcomings of the film.  From "a drummer crawling out of a major car wreck and then somehow managing to get himself on-stage to play, bleeding and injured," to Flecher testing his student's ability to play a tempo (Erskine:  "Give me 4 beats, not just two -- YOU don't even know the tempo with that kind of a count-off, Mr. Band Director."), both Brody and Erskine agree that the movie is desperately lacking.

Brody (10/13/14):  There’s nothing in the film to indicate that Andrew has any originality in his music. What he has, and what he ultimately expresses, is chutzpah. That may be very helpful in readying Andrew for a job on television. “Whiplash” honors neither jazz nor cinema; it’s a work of petty didacticism that shows off petty mastery, and it feeds the sort of minor celebrity that Andrew aspires to.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice!!

No Saint Stands Alone

Does Selma "snub" Mrs. King?

You decide.

The Beastie Boys' "9th Symphony"

I'll never forget my buddy reviewing Paul's Boutique for our high school newspaper and giving it a B- after we listened to it ONCE on my turntable and agreed that, while WAY better than Licenced to Ill, it still wasn't THAT great...

Of course this record would later change my life completely... expanding my taste in music exponentially...

And ever since that "missed connection" that was the first time I heard Paul's Boutique (Seriously, how could I MISS those "Funky Snakefoot" snare rolls that set off the second track, "Shake Your Rump" like a pack of firecrackers??), I've often thought, If only my buddy had kept that original, quad-gatefold pressing of the LP...

Oh well, recently, having thought that I'd seen everything related to my favorite Beastie Boys record, I discovered this:  a visual companion to Paul's Boutique!!

Ijeoma Wins the Internets!

This is how to deal with internet trolls...

After all, What Would King Do?

The Bottled Spirits Video Shoot

The Bottled Spirits performing "Blue Line Transit Blues" on the Wardlow Station platform the night of our video shoot.

Video by Roger Klinkers

The Mustangs' Last Ride

New Year's Eve, 2014, at the Coronna's Going Away Party

Best of 2014

This is pretty cool... 

A raving review of Radiohearts' EP, "Nothing at All!"

Also, we're #52 (out of 249) on this best of Oct. 2014 list...

And to top it off, the eponymous song, "Nothing At All" made an end-of-year, 2014 Top Ten List!!

Check out our music here.

Thanks, it's been a great year!!

ICYMI

THE THINGZ IN THE LA WEEKLY!!

The Thingz
ALEX'S BAR
For more than a decade, The Thingz have been one of Long Beach’s catchiest garage-punk bands, but their music often has been overlooked, perhaps because in their early days it was so supremely and defiantly silly. Back then, just about every song was about food (“Manicotti Massacre”) or the life aquatic (“I’m Glad I’m Not a Mollusk”), but even the trio’s goofiest tendencies were fully powered by Jason Cordero’s relentlessly punishing drums, bassist Kim Morris’ punchy bass lines and the controlled savagery of guitar riffs from her husband, Mike Morris. The Thingz finally come into their own on their new album, Red Future. Most songs clock in at a Ramones-y two minutes or less, yet the group reveals new emotional and sonic range with balefully uplifting anthems such as “Not Mean (Just Soured)” and the unexpectedly rootsy and morbidly poignant “Julia Brown.” — Falling James

99% Perspiration

Love the book, Songwriter's on Songwriting, especially this excerpt from Leonard Cohen on the value, and indeed, the intense labor of the creation/revision process...

My immediate realm of thought is bureaucratic and like a traffic jam. My ordinary state of mind is very much like the waiting room at the DMV… So to penetrate this chattering and this meaningless debate that is occupying most of my attention, I have to come up with something that really speaks to my deepest interests. Otherwise I nod off in one way or another. So to find that song, that urgent song, takes a lot of versions and a lot of work and a lot of sweat. 

But why shouldn’t my work be hard? Almost everybody’s work is hard. One is distracted by this notion that there is such a thing as inspiration, that it comes fast and easy. And some people are graced by that style. I’m not. So I have to work as hard as any stiff, to come up with my payload. (emphasis added)

So true, but what wonderful "work" it is!

You're to Know Your Audience

As a teacher, it's my job to be a grammar snob.

But this article really put my snobbery in perspective for me... 

It's all about your audience... who's reading what you're writing...

Know your audience (Especially, if you don't know your 'yours!')

The Thingz on TV!!

Check out our TV debut from last Friday, November 7!

Gotta admit: I felt a bit like Bobby Brady when the cameras started rolling!

The Bottled Spirits in LB Municipal Cemetery

 

Thanks, again to Kirk Dominguez for the awesome photo!

FANCY (Uniform Song)

 *UPDATED 12/7/14: 

As you may or may not know, LBUSD has a district-wide uniform policy.  While most of our students and parents understand the economic and safety implications of this policy and abide by it, some students (and parents) need encouragement...

To that end, I decided that I'd use the 2013 Song of Summer, "Fancy," to encourage compliance...

Here's my version:

First thing first: tuck your shirt in

Got this gotta go to school for working

And I’m still in the learning business

In my uniform I’m ready for my lessons

You should always come dressed for success

Don’t worry what to wear so you can do your best

Khaki pants, khaki skirt, khaki shorts,

Blue shirt or green – you know you’ve gotta choice!

Making sure my clothes look great, never sloppy

Clean top or I’ll put it in the laundry

Feet together, arms at your side

Can’t hide that Bulldog Pride!

I’m so fancy – you already know

I’m in uniform everyday I show

I’m so fancy – don’t you waste your dough

Remember every day – dress code!

In case you were wondering, the school I work at, Bret Harte, has a bulldog as a mascot, although I have (and will) change the lyrics for another school/mascot upon request.

Now, if I could only embed the audio somehow... *(FTFY)

Next up, "I'm all about the books, 'bout the books, no TV!" :)

The Bottled Spirits at LB Folk Fest

Thanks to everyone who came to the 2nd Annual Long Beach Folk Revival Festival!  We had a blast!!

Roald Dahl Quotes

To commemorate his 98th birthday last week, this website has compiled 13 Roald Dahl quotes*...

I especially like the ones about reading and books... Those'll probably end up in my classroom this year!

*Tip o' the energy dome to Moms for sending the link to me... love you!

e e cummings

Humanity I Love You

Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both

parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard

Humanity i love you because
when you’re hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you’re flush pride keeps

you from the pawn shop and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house

Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it’s there and sitting down

on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity

i hate you

Postmodern Jukebox

Yep!!

Advice from Bill Waterson

A few weeks old, but an excellent comic and article about the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, one of my favorite comic strips...

This quote hit pretty close to home...

to persist in the face of continual rejection requires a deep love of the work itself

Amen!

THINGZ on KXLU!

Last night The Thingz were invited on the "Stray Pop" show hosted by Stella on KXLU.  She interviewed us, then let us spin some of our favorite records, just like real DJs!  As you can see from the picture, we had a blast... thanks again, Stella!!

Bright Star

Edie and Steve have a new musical!

Time for a trip back to a Whale's Vagina! lol

A Daunting, Rewarding Task

I never thought I'd be quoting Andrew W.K. or know him for anything other than this:

But the other day, Brad Houser (whose bass guitar skills I will have the pleasure of listening to in-person, in Austin tomorrow, at what's apparently a one-night-only Critters Buggin reunion!) posted a surprisingly thoughtful Andrew W.K. article that addressed divisive politics in this country.

Apparently, the Village Voice has an "Ask Andrew W.K." column (or blog) and a "Son of a Right-Winger" wrote in to ask how he, a "liberal democrat with very progressive values" was supposed to "deal with" his father, a "super rightwing conservative."

W.K.'s response perfectly encapsulated feelings that I've had about partisanship for several years now.

It's rather long, but a few parts were especially remarkable.

First, his admonition to not reduce the complexities of life to black and white or "binary" systems reminded me of the dangers of tribalism and how the elite benefit from dividing us into two warring camps.

W.K. (8/6/14):  This is the fatal flaw of binary thinking in general. However, this flaw isn't just ignored, it's also embraced, amplified, and deliberately used as a weapon on the very people who think it's benefiting their way of thinking.

But he really hit it out of the park toward the end when he spoke of the daunting, but ultimately rewarding task of trying to understand people with different opinions.  In the end, we are all human, and we all (mostly) want to live.

WK (8/6/14):  So we must protect and respect each other, no matter how hard it feels. No matter how wrong someone else may seem to us, they are still human. No matter how bad someone may appear, they are truly no worse than us. Our beliefs and behavior don't make us fundamentally better than others, no matter how satisfying it is to believe otherwise. We must be tireless in our efforts to see things from the point of view we most disagree with. We must make endless efforts to try and understand the people we least relate to. And we must at all times force ourselves to love the people we dislike the most. Not because it's nice or because they deserve it, but because our own sanity and survival depends on it.

Indeed, our very existence depends on the Golden Rule, that exhausting task to love.

Criticizing with Kindness

this is actually a sound psychological strategy that accomplishes one key thing: It transforms your opponent into a more receptive audience for your criticism or dissent, which in turn helps advance the discussion.

As a liberal who likes to engage conservatives in policy discussions, this is extremely useful advise...

Read more about it here.

Live Mummies!!

If you've never seen this, stop what you're doing, and spend the next half hour* experiencing some of the greatest rock and roll ever recorded... seriously, this should be in the Smithsonian of Rock on infinite loop!

*or just FF to 22:32 for their cover of Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge!"

LA LA LAND

Pre-show view from the Redwood Bar & Grill, DTLA, 7/30/14

RIP Idris Muhammad

The first time I heard Grant Green, "Alive," I was blown away by his drumming... tight, melodic, and funky as all hell... Sad that I never got to see him perform live...

At least Idris and Grant can finally jam together again! 

Here's a nice article from his New Orleans hometown paper...

Aww, gee, shucks...

Lights Go Out Zine issue #28 . . .

"THE THINGZ - Red Future EP

Limited Edition of 200 12" vinyl with hand printed sleeves from Long Beach surf punks , the Thingz. I'm a fan of this band after hearing their last release 'Step Right Up' and their quirky sound and this release not only looks amazing, it sounds it too. Opener 'Down and Out' (reminds me of 'I Want Candy' by Bow Wow Wow) is a great start, catchy and right away gets you interested in this record. 11 tracks of garage inspired 50's sounding surf punk rock that's seriously infectious. The riffs are hugely catchy too, the lyrics are fun throughout and it can't help but put a smile on your face. With hints of UK band Chester too, this is always going to sit well with me. I admit it, I love this album, it's just pure fun and if all music was as happy as this (and wasn't ska) then this is very good thing."

Listen to it here.

Gospel of Bill

"Ultimately, the message in my material is a call for understanding rather than ignorance, peace rather than war, forgiveness rather than condemnation, and love rather than fear" - Hicks

Here ends the reading from the Gospel of Bill.

For the rest, go here.

Muisc = More Life

Every Wednesday, I have the privilege of singing and playing guitar with all the 5th graders at my school.  

This is why I do it. :)

Long Beach Folk Revival Festival 2014

Very honored and excited that The Bottled Spirits have been invited to perform at the 2nd Annual Long Beach Folk Revival Festival on Saturday, September 27! 

Look at that line-up!!  Frank Fairfield!  Tom Brosseau!!

Gonna be a good time!  Get tickets and more information here.

"Why Concerts Aren't Fun"

File this article under:  Disagree.  That's not me!  Duh, dance!!

Tenure

I don't know who this blogger is, but I ran across his post about tenure for print/tv media "journalists."

It seemed to combine two of my favorite topics:  education reform and media decline.

Basically, what does it take to get fired from the NY Times?

And don't say plagiarism because Jason Blair resigned!

Don't Date a Teacher!

Ha!

Media Narratives

Today's SCOTUS 5/4 decision reminds me that elections have consequences. 

Specifically, that the effects of the 2000 election still linger and will for many years to come... 

Putting aside conservative justices that made today’s Hobby Lobby vote possible (as well as George W. Bush's presidency), there remains a mainstream media practice that quite possibly was the real decider of the 2000 election:  the “journalistic” technique of employing narratives to typecast presidential candidates.

Remember the cast of 2000? 

The Straight-Talking Maverick, John McCain… (recycled in 2008)

The Authentic Texan, George W. Bush… 

And, of course, the out of touch, inauthentic, know-it-all liar, Al Gore. 

Our mainstream media (not Fox), began this “War on Gore,” as Bob Somerby has dubbed it, some 20 months prior to the 2000 election and arguably made the race so close that the SCOTUS had to step in.

Now, 14 years later, another script is being cast. 

For the past two weeks, the same type of poisonous narrative that was created by our press corp about Al Gore is currently being written, but this time not about an actual, announced candidate.

This time it’s forming around a presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton.

She hasn't even announced if she'll run yet, but framing Clinton as too rich/out of touch has already begun in the Washington Post and by people like Diane Sawyer on TV, conveniently ignoring the millions of dollars a year pundits like her make for reading the “news” or giving their opinions on TV.

The hypocrisy is one thing, but for heaven’s sake, there are 29 months before our next presidential election!! 

In fairness, most pundits have played by The Clinton Rules for the last 29 years, so there's that.

But was there really NOTHING of substance Sawyer could have possibly asked the former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State? 

Instead of asking about her troubling speech fees, could Sawyer have asked Clinton about her "Too Small to Fail" campaign that tries to close that 30-35 million word gap that many students from low-income and low literacy backgrounds have by the age of three, a deficit that undoubtedly feeds our academic achievement gaps, not to mention national drop-out rates? 

Or would that not fit the narrative of Clinton being a big, rich phony?

Yes, elections have consequences, but so do these media narratives. 

My question is, in this age of social media, will these caricatures work again?

Psuedomaturity

Interesting article in the NY Times about "cool kids" in middle school and how their popularity wanes and leads to self-destructive tendencies ten years later.

HOFFMAN (6/23/14):  A constellation of three popularity-seeking behaviors characterized pseudomaturity, Dr. Allen and his colleagues found. These young teenagers sought out friends who were physically attractive; their romances were more numerous, emotionally intense and sexually exploring than those of their peers; and they dabbled in minor delinquency — skipping school, sneaking into movies, vandalism.

As they turned 23, the study found that when compared to their socially slower-moving middle-school peers, they had a 45 percent greater rate of problems resulting from alcohol and marijuana use and a 40 percent higher level of actual use of those substances. They also had a 22 percent greater rate of adult criminal behavior, from theft to assaults.

Sadly, I have/had 5th graders that could be described as "psuedomature."  I sure hope they figure it out before it's too late!

"It Deserves Your Attention."

“When you collect vinyl, it's much harder than just collecting MP3s, for example. It's expensive. It weighs a lot. You have to maintain it. Even when you listen to it, you can't just put it on and forget about it. It deserves your attention. I think people who collect vinyl have that respect for the music."

Truth.

"Try to contribute to the horror as little as possible."

Excited to be going to see Devo perform "Hardcore Devo Vol. I & II" at the end of this month!

Here's an interview with Jerry talking about the shows...

Duty Now, Spuds!

New Classroom Quote

"Literacy is the habit of paying attention and trying to figure things out." -Somerby, The Daily Howler

Roll like Spicoli

Ever wanted to roll like Spicoli and book your favorite band?

Find out how much money you'll have to blow here!*

*YDNFTF makes no claim to the veracity of this article nor the accuracy of these prices... :)

MC Thesaurus

Find out how your favorite rapper compares to Shakespeare and Melville on this handy chart!

Using the "number of unique words used within [an] artist's first 35,000 lyrics," Matt Daniels compared them to the first 35,000 words of 7 famous Shakespeare plays and the first 35,000 words of Moby Dick.

Wu-Tang Clan scored close to Melville, while my favorite, MF Doom, scored higher than Shakespeare!

"Hard Days"

Here's a video of a Bottled Spirits original, filmed by Cesar Serna....                                           Enjoy!!

"Snapshots From The Epicenter"

Kirk Dominguez and Jenn Kitner

So grateful to Jenn and Kirk!  I've had the pleasure of working with these two talented photographers a number of times over the past few years...  Now I'm even more flattered to be featured not once, but twice, in their excellent exhibit, "Snapshots From the Epicenter" at 4th St. Vine in Long Beach.

Read more about it here.

A thousand thanks again, Jenn and Kirk!!

Home Studios

These are sexy!