Appetite for Tribute Bands ... and a big fat bass

HELLOOOOOOO LADIES!!! (if you don't get it, you never will.) Tonight, I will delving into that dark, murky underworld also known as The Realm of Tribute Bands. To be honest, I'm frightened, as my only experience with these animals comes courtesy of the movie Rockstar. The threat of a grown man, clad in nylons, wig and lipstick bringing the bottle down over my head is all too real. Steel Dragons, be damned. Tonight will be different. Mammoth (Van Halen) and Appetite for Destruction (really? you need me to explain that one?) bring their guitar-driven circus of aural desecration to the Downtown in Farmingdale. I will be there, and I will be drunk. Bring the kids. Review tomorrow.

Yesterday, I bought a big, red bass guitar. Yessah. Truth of the matter, I couldn't even hear a bass in songs until a few years ago. I guess never listened well enough. Now that I've come to enjoy and appreciate the subtle, funky essential that is bass guitar, and in an effort to expedite my own musical endeavors through the recording process, the purchase was a no-brainer. The weapon is a Squier P-Body, Affinity series, humbucker - blood red with a white pickguard. Victor Wooten, look out. It's only a matter of time now.

The Fog Rolls In ...

At work.

Looking around these days, it seems that everything, including the air around us, lacks transparency. As I look across the lake, the trees in the distance are cloaked in an unnatural film of muck, and as I search the internet for campaign finance records, I find only the haze of an oppressive summer day in Manhattan. Where did we get lost along the way? When did this fog roll in around us all, objectivity becoming an impossibility? When all one wants is an answer, where does one look? Code, spin, disinformation, misinformation - the Big Lie, wrapped in a bow, labeled the Truth. Whether it's published campaign fundraising records, or the White House Press Secretary explicitly contradicting himself with no remorse, the Answer is shrouded in bullshit. The tendency of society has shifted - tolerance for the Big Lie has superceded tolerance for each other. When the fog finally lifts, I'm convinced the collective shock will be so great, and reality so hardly believed, trust will be rendered to some abstract concept practiced by some ancient brotherhood civilization eons ago.

::Introducing Placido Guerra::

Lately, my mind has been so consumed with the course of current events in such a way as to inhibit my ability to share my thoughts with whatever godless souls actually read this rag. It is to my own delight, and surely yours as well, that I am cerebrally saturated at the moment and I need to release a little pressure, for survival's sake. With that pressure comes the glorious introduction of Placido Guerra, a man who has answers, a man I like to call a friend. He shrouds himself in mystery only to surface spontaneously, as if from a secret subterranean lair, while bearing gifts of Enlightenment, and basketball. He is a man of principle, which in turn makes him sexy ... devious, if you will. To the heart of this beast. In the context of the ongoing investigation into the Bush administration's involvement in the outing of a CIA officer's cover, some in the MainStreamMedia have chosen to politicize something that is not political in its fundament, but criminal. John Gibson, host of Fox News Channel's The Big Story With John Gibson, chose to step in a perilous direction towards Eternal Damnation (or the scientific equivalent of said Damnation) in his perspective segment "My Word". The video clip is ... well, you watch it & comment. Saying a lot, Mr. Guerra was especially perturbed by Gibson's invective, enough so to prompt a correspondence from that reclusive extrovert. Here is your first, glorious Introduction to Placido Guerra.

Herr Gibson,

I just saw footage of your hilarious satire piece "My Word" in which you advocated giving Karl Rove a medal for outing a CIA officer's true identity. I found this suggestion quite amusing - mayhaps it was the utter absurdity of your whole piece in which you smear Joe Wilson, a former ambassador to Iraq, with a zombie-like fervor. You're observations are crude and of a taste most closely summarized as egregious. Your comment calling Mrs. Wilson "little wifey" was especially enchanting, in the most derogatory sense of course. Without addressing your baseless ad hominem attack on the Wilsons, which I fear may afford them a most unjust credence, I would like to point out an error made in your reasoning.

You espouse the sentiment that "You wouldn't send a 'peacenik' to see if we we go to war? To see if we need to go to war? Would you?" You scoff at the notion of Peace like a dog smelling something too vile even for its own nose. It is logical that war is the last resort for governments to resolve disputes on the macro level. To ensure that war is really the last resort, it would then geometrically follow that people thoroughly invested in Peace would regulate its maintenance faithfully. To entrust war to those who derive a deranged carnal pleasure from its execution, those whose inclination towards carnage is essential, is analogous to entrusting your teenaged daughter to a serial rapist, or perhaps a molester of children.

War is anathema to Civilization. For one to prefer its exercise is perverted in the eyes of that God we acknowledge watches over us every time we recite that Pledge of Allegiance to America. So as one who takes pride in being bound to America, human Progress and Virtue, I take offense to the fact that you who regresses, who desires destruction over diplomacy, has the ear of whoever can hear you and the mind of those who listen to you. It is a sad day for democracy, this day, when people like yourself, those of a foul and utterly backward ideology, regularly have our collective ear. Speech like yours should bring a tear to our collective eye, for it is truly a period of mourning. However, I warn you that the period of grief is fleeting. Peace, and Progress, demand that we don't weep in vain of their name, but fight for their very essence. So while I feel shame to know we are of the same genus and species, I take solace in the fact that the People will wake up, and when they do, beware their thunderous tread.

With Disgust and Contempt,

Placido Guerra

TWEAK!!!

I would like to bring up an article in today's New York Times regarding drugs, namely methamphetamine. The article details just how big of a problem meth has become in America. What struck me the most was how little we hear about meth in politics or in the news, save for stories of violent crimes that attribute the mayhem to the gak. It is absolutely astonishing that the government has not taken legitimate action to quell this epidemic when even the production of the drug is perilous, with the threat of explosion imminent . What offends even more than the fact that "many counties reported that half their jail populations were incarcerated because of methamphetamine" is the ongoing facade of a Drug War that sets its narrow sights primarily on marijuana. Operation Pipe Dream, which targeted makers of glass, notably Tommy Chong (who was jailed) and Jerome Baker, was a crusade of little substance against the wrong substance. What the fuck kind of a drug war is this when terminally ill people are persecuted for using marijuana, but a legally blind eye is turned to the awesomely addictive violence enabler known as meth, aka glass. This is just one of the many incompentencies illustrated by this Administration. What is it that makes those in power so blind to the real troubles in the world? Stop worrying about whether or not ExxonMobil or Pfizer will meet their profit expectations and fucking do something that actually benefits the People, you abominable bastards! My point is read the article - sorry for the rant, I just wanted to bring this to light. Yeah, fuck you and your horse.

Bad Moon Rising

Today, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced she will be leaving the court after 24 terms. This turn of events, the first Court vacancy in 11 years, opens the door for the Bush administration to appoint its first Supreme Court nominee. No doubt we are in for a bloody confirmation battle, as Bush has shown time and time again that he is unable to do anything to benefit the majority of the American people. It is extremely probable that he will appoint a nominee who will support turning back Court rulings that have guaranteed rights to women, workers, and minorities. It is essential that we follow these proceedings as they are anticipated to begin next week. There is no fucking way we can stand by and let Bush pack this Court with such closed-minded individuals. Call your Senator, write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, talk to your peers ... get loud - let's make some fucking noise and let people know that we won't sit idly by while these scurvy bastards try to pull the hood over our heads. The dark clouds are looming on the horizon - it will certainly be interesting ... to say the least.

Update - For more information, discussion, and action opportunities about this and other important issues - go to www.dailykos.com or click the dailykos link on my blog.