Five Before Chaos

The return…

2008-12-04T16:09:46Z

Ok, I have returned. Nothing is more satisfying than hitting the “save” button after your last spellcheck on the last paper of the semester. I shocked myself by getting it done two days before the deadline. And although I don’t have my panties in a wad about all this transition stuff like others in the blogosphere seem to, I’m ending my self-imposed moratorium on politics.

To speak of the transition, I guess the reason I’m not all up in arms here is that I’m really not surprised by any of it. Sure, having Gates stay on certainly adds more creedence to the “GOP stronger on defense” bullshit, but from another standpoint I can understand keeping him on for a little while longer. I’m not surprised by his picks, as I never bought into the lie that Obama was some sort of progressive beacon of light. And he hasn’t picked any hard right-wingers. That said, I don’t appreciate the Obamabot STFU brigade either, but they’re easy enough to ignore.

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CD Release Party this Sat. in Montpelier

2008-12-03T19:09:51Z

Yes, I’m still in self-imposed grad-school exile until the end of the week, but I’m sure you’re all doing fine without me. But I wanted to let those of you in Vermont know of a show you should check out if you’re looking for something to do this Saturday night (the 6th), at the Black Door in Montpelier, it’s my former roomate/collaborator Erin McDermott and her band, the Dixie Red Delights, with their CD release party for Bear Hoot, their first CD. It’s in the Americana vein, so if that’s your thing, you should go check it out. And yours truly did the album artwork. I’m attending some event dealing with monetary reform down in Massachusetts that afternoon but if I get back in time, I’ll be there, too.

Seven Days has a review of the CD here. She makes fun of Vermont hippies, that’s never a bad thing.

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From the Grindhouse: The Worm Eaters

2008-11-28T17:16:41Z

Very disgusting, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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Random thought of the day

2008-11-28T17:10:31Z

Electing a conservative is like hiring a carpenter who thinks hammers are evil.

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Still kickin…

2008-11-27T23:47:17Z

Sorry for the disappearance, once again crunch time for school and just got hit with a nasty cold., you know, the kind where it feels like someone filled your head with concrete. That, and promising to stay away from politics for a while makes it kinda hard to blog, ya know? No worries, I’ll be back to normal shortly.

Happy Turkey Day.

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Friday Nite Funk/From the Grindhouse- The Four Tops/Shaft in Africa

2008-11-21T15:27:13Z

A double treat here for you…

Levi Stubbs, the leader of the Motown legends The Four Tops, recently passed away. Here’s one of their groovier tunes, albeit a lesser known one, Are You Man Enough?, from the film Shaft in Africa.
There’s no real “video” for this one, but it’s a great song… corny lyrics, strings, incredible vocals, and an unbelievably slammin’ bassline by Wilton Felder (from the Crusaders). I love playing this tune on bass, it’s a bit challenging, but a blast to play. A bit of trivia… the Four Tops was one of those rare groups that actually had all of its original lineup intact for almost 40 years.

As a bonus, here’s the trailer for Shaft in Africa. This trailer is friggin’ awesome in every way possible, classic blaxploitation. And the movie was pretty good as far as those films go. It really was the baddest Shaft of ‘em all:

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