"Cats are cute," Sarah sternly e-mailed me today, "but make with some politics, already! I want to hear from a horses mouth where a true-blue, Edwards-supporting, white male, is throwing his support. Did you ever think you would be so very pigeon-holed?"
Hey, Sarah, I work in the music business — it happens all the time. "You mostly cover pop, right?" "You're the metal guy, right?" Etc., etc. And just like with all things musical, I'm a little difficult to pin down politically, which is why my vote for Barack Obama in the California primary might not have been counted. I was raised in a couple of decidedly left-wing households (even donated my allowance to the '72 McGovern campaign), but I've been so put off by the spineless ineptitude of the Democratic Party since 2000 that I officially changed my affiliation to Independent a several years ago. But I like Obama for President — not as much as I liked Edwards, but a damn sight more than I like Hillary Clinton.
Yes, it's great that there's a woman who's a viable candidate for the Presidency — but is THAT woman the best we can do? Hillary's "It's my turn" hubris has been hard enough to stomach in itself, but I really feel like everything that comes out of her mouth has been focus-grouped and calibrated to the nth degree; even if she genuinely believed in something, she wouldn't come out and talk about it until her opinions had been properly vetted and framed by James Carville and the rest of her husband's former support staff. Her unwillingness to stand up to Bush on Iraq OR Iran was inexcusable — and, as my pals at Re:generator just pointed out, how can we trust someone to be "ready on Day One" when she (and her campaign) only recently realized that Texas's delegate selection process is way fucked? Not to mention that her willingness to don both Yankees AND Cubs caps in public speaks volumes...
I could go on (yeah on!, as Moulty once said), but I'd really rather talk about Faces of Jade, a weird little album that I found for a buck at a Chicago thrift store in the early days of 1990. The front cover alluded to the possibility of grooviness within, and the back cover indicated that the band hailed from Ohio circa '71, so I thought I might be in for some Raspberries-esque power pop magic. Alas, the stuff on side one was so bland and wimpy, it made Emitt Rhodes sound like Foghat, so I merely filed it away with such other thrift store disappointments as Vanilla Fudge's The Beat Goes On and the first Candymen LP. And then, nearly two years later, it resurfaced during a playing of "The Game".
As I mentioned in a previous post, "The Game" was something I often played with my Lava Sutra bandmates, where we'd randomly reach into another person's record collection, and were honor-bound to play at least a track off whatever album we pulled out, no matter how horrible. When Jason pulled out Faces of Jade, I immediately winced with the memory of my initial Jade let-down, and warned him not to expect much. But when he put on the first track of side two, our minds were instantly, irrevocably blown.
By far the best and most interesting track on Faces of Jade, "My Mary (More Than Ever)" seems to have been recorded entirely backwards — but with the vocals done phonetically, so that the band actually sounds like they're singing real lyrics. I can only imagine how much time it must have taken to pull this off, but the effect is magical, melancholic, and somewhat disturbing at the same time. Words can't really do it justice, though, so I highly recommend you take an aural gander for yourself...
The rest of side two? About as interesting as side one, I'm afraid. I later sold the album on eBay to some collector in Greece for about eighty bucks — a nice mark-up from what I originally paid for it, though I hear that copies are now changing hands for upwards of $300. Then again, you just got to hear the record's best cut for free — ain't the internet grand?
I sometimes find our similarities scary and while I have not (and will not) change my party affiliation from Democrat, I voted for Edwards and thought he was the best choice. I am now leaning Obama and I am finding Hilary very tough to stomach. At least we wont have to see Romney don a Red Sox cap.
Posted by: Chris Perry | February 19, 2008 at 06:55 AM
Or Giuliani in a Red Sox cap — that was a real low point, even for Mr. 9/11...
Posted by: Dan E | February 19, 2008 at 07:20 AM
Thank you!
For both the post and the vote for Obama.
And stern?!? I'll show ya stern....
Posted by: Sarah Parker | February 19, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Holy *(@#*!! That Jade track is outstanding!!!
Thank you!
Posted by: stu | February 20, 2008 at 06:02 PM