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by Wufnik

In thinking about technological change, and our relative inability to often recognize the transformational technologies at the time they come along, consider the electric guitar. Particularly the solid-body electric guitar invented by Les Paul, who passed away Thursday at the age of 94. The NY Times story does him justice – he was just messing around and came up with this thing because he couldn’t find it anywhere. And I don’t imagine that in his wildest dreams he could have foreseen the impact it would have; certainly no one else did at the time.

But in retrospect, it’s clear that the electric guitar is one of those things that changed everything. First came rock and roll, which led to the sixties, when led to the breakdown of everything…. No, wait, first came rock and roll, which led to drugs, which led to the breakdown of everything…. No, darnit, let’s see, first came rock and roll, then came… I can’t remember. Full story »

My new Democratic congressman, who barely bested an entrenched Republican, has disappointed. Rep. Eric Massa, NY-29, has parted with his most cherished, pre-election promise. He has gained power; now, like all members of Congress, he wishes to keep it. Now he’ll take the “tainted” money other politicians do and fabricate a specious reason for doing so.

Flip, from 2007:

I promise that when I am elected to Congress, I will always put the American public above everything else. Unlike 99.9% of Congressional Candidates, I have never accepted a single cent of Corporate PAC money … [emphasis added]

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Apparently, there are people in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin who still live under rocks.

According to Time magazine, “a Harry Potter fan vandalized 80 local traffic signs to make them read STOP VOLDEMORT.”

And local police had no idea what it meant.

“It took a 7-year-old to tell us what it was,” said Police Chief Jeff Suter. “We thought it was just some type of new tagger.”

On the plus side, I am glad to know there’s a place in the world I can move to if all this “Jon & Kate” nonsense gets any worse.

More awesomeness from Playing for Change. Happy Saturday.

Is a brain in a synthetic body still human? Is there such a thing as too much horticultural knowledge? Is there such a thing as too much Jane Austen? Is there a link between the JFK assassination and 9/11? Anyone have any good reading suggestions for someone going through a midlife crisis?

For answers to these burning questions and more, check out what the Scrogues have on their nightstands these days.

Brian Angliss: I’m reading two things right now—the manga Ghost in the Shell and an old copy of Numerical Recipes. Full story »

After three decades in jail, former Manson Family freak and would-be presidential assassin Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme is free. Full story »

Saturday it’ll be forty years since the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began.

To my fellow Boomers, for so many of whom (like me) Woodstock was such an existential moment, Bob Dylan’s question seems relevant: How does it feel?

To younger generations who see Woodstock only through the prism of history and who find the Boomers ‘ fascination with and smugness about this event alternately inscrutable and unbearable, John Sebastian’s explanation  seems fitting: It’s like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll.

Here are my stories. Make your own narratives….

August 15, 1969: A couple of friends and I have seen news reports and heard from friends about this fantastic thing happening up in a place called Woodstock, New York.  We recruit an older friend (19 – we’re 17) to drive and tell our parents some bullshit about a camping trip. We start to NY about 5 PM with high hopes. Full story »

Results: Wow. In another major upset, Prog-Metal masters Queensryche dispose of both The Allman Brothers and #8 seed The Grateful Dead. What a long, strange trip our search for the greatest band of all time is turning out to be. The numbers: Queensryche 41%; The Allman Brothers Band 29%; The Grateful Dead 20%; T. Rex 9%; Bon Jovi 1%. Queensryche advances in the Hollywood Bowl region.

Next we move to the Red Rocks region, where the first band I ever fell in love with wades through yet another minefield.

• #6 Queen: Listen
• Jefferson Airplane/Starship: Listen
• The Cars: Listen
• Suede/The London Suede: Listen
• Kate Bush: Listen

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For an early 90’s “Dead Head” i was probably among the exceptions. Never mind my cynicism, bitterness and general distaste for joining anything. I was second generation. The turn on was a peer playing “Workingman’s Dead” and me realizing that i already knew the words in my mother’s voice. My first tape was scavenged from my stepfather’s (i’ve known him my entire life, only the context of the relationship has changed) tape collection. 12/14/71 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, he’d been at the show. It wasn’t rebellion in my family. But before my first show, an honorary uncle sat me down for a pretty serious talk. He stressed that seeing the Dead wasn’t about getting wasted; it wasn’t the scene. It was about seeing the show. The rest of it just came along with the communal-libertarian way it was.

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The Deproliferator

If Israel and Iran are playing rock, scissors, paper with their nuclear-weapons programs, Israel wins hands down. Kinetic beats potential energy to the punch and Israel is already armed.

On August 3, the Times of London published a story titled Iran is ready to build an N-bomb — it is just waiting for the Ayatollah’s order. (Since the Times is a Murdoch paper the reader is advised to proceed at his own risk.) The Times team writes:

Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times. Full story »

And so, as i predicted in December, it came to pass that GMAC was given bank-holding company status and GM declared bankruptcy. Chrysler did too, but as always Chrysler is an afterthought. With the benevolence of the taxpayers and their representatives ushering GM through a very quick bankruptcy process, something called “The New GM” has emerged phoenix like from the ashes of a house fire it set by falling asleep with a lit cigarette. We’re treated to headlines of how wonderful the new company will be and optimistic scenarios of returns to profitability in the near term. But let’s put the word “new” into its proper, governmental, context. When the CEO says “new”, hear your Congressperson saying “reform” or your presidential candidate saying “change”.

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Results: The last match featured very little suspense, as #10 seed CSN established an early lead and maintained it throughout. The numbers: #10 Crosby Stills & Nash 47%; The Yardbirds 20%; The Dave Matthews Band 13%; Blondie 10%; World Party 7%; Hall & Oates 3%. CSN advances to the Great 48.

Next our search for the greatest band of all time shifts back to the Hollywood Bowl region, where one of the most popular touring bands of all time faces another tough pack of opponents. Full story »

Hi – I’m sitting in for Dawn this week. Here’s your pic:

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You definitely better not Full story »

If you’ve been off-planet for the last few months you may have missed the news: Jon & Kate have split, and in the process migrated from the relative banality of the TV listings over to the hyper-banality of the tabloids. I’m still not sure what the future holds for the popular “reality” show, but whatever it is, Gosselin family 2.0 equals Jon minus Kate.

It occurs to me that these events represent something significant in our culture. Since about 1980 or so we’ve been in one of our periodic “childrens is the most preciousest things in the whole wide world” phases. (For more on the generational cycles that produce this dynamic, see Generations, 13th Gen and Millennials Rising by William Howe and Neil Strauss, two men whose work I have referenced a number of times in the past.) In the previous generation (Gen X), children were an afterthought for most parents, who had been socialized in far more self-centric times. Full story »

Results: Despite some informed debate as to whether or not Bob Marley truly belongs in a Tournament of “Rock,” the godfather of reggae nonetheless outdistanced his challengers by a significant margin. He now moves on to the Great 48. The numbers: Bob Marley/Wailers 64%; Thin Lizzy 18%; Joe Jackson 11%; Joe Walsh 4%; Luke Haines/Auteurs/Baader Meinhoff/BBR 4%.

Up next, our search for the greatest band of all time moves to the Red Rocks region, where #10 seed CSN squares off with one of the more intriguing sets of competitors we’ve seen to date. Full story »

I’m a fairly responsible person. Now. True, it wasn’t always so, and when I was a young man it bothered me greatly to hear my parents or sisters or neighbors or former teachers or Monsignor Berns (I was Baptist, so it really wasn’t any of his business) comment on how irresponsible I was. That hurt. It was true, but that only added sting to it, and so when I was 25, I decided to do something about it. I decided to become responsible. Full story »