Die Schwierigkeit mit der deutsche Bob Dylan Portal ist, daß Sie es täglich prüfen müssen, oder Risiko verpassend etwas. Diese Woche habe ich ein mp3 von Bob verpaßt, durch Wagenheber angeschlossen zu werden, der Weiß ist in Detrot auf der Streifen "Ball und Keks," verdammt es. Das Portal hat auch eine neue Anordnung des Mondlichts gehabt, das in Chicago aufgezeichnet worden ist, und jetzt es ist am offiziellen http: //www.bobdylan.com Gewebe, das ein unerhörter Diebstahl von ein Hartarbeiten schwarz hergestellter ist.
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My subscription to Salon lapsed a year or so ago, uncoincidentally, when they stopped running Real Life Rock Top Ten, which has resurfaced in the City Pages. (Joy! Rapture!) Salon seemed to be wheezing its last, but some excellent, obscure writers have taken over from the bigger names who jumped ship once the dot.com VC money was gone. For example, Paul Berman issues scathing commentary on the Bush administration, not to mention this widely quoted summation of what some call the Green Lie (i.e., that there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans):
I interpret the Green Party as a movement of the middle and upper-middle class, as actually having a certain satisfaction with the way things are -- which is to say, the reason you should vote for the Greens is because you want to feel the excitement of political engagement, the adventure of it, but you don't really care what it's going to mean for other people if the Republicans get elected. It's the sexiness of sheer political fantasy. The advantage of the Green Party is that you can feel good, like you're playing a role, but your own good feelings about yourself aren't going to do anybody else one bit of good.
Ouch! Have I mentioned that I think Nader's plan this time is to rack up as much support as possible, then throw it all to Kerry as the campaign winds down? That would rehabilitate his reputation, whereas he'd be a pariah forever if he indirectly elects Bush.
Now, Salon is taking up the case of Karen Kwiatkowski, who retired in 2003 from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel with 20 years' service. She's been slimed by right-wing attackers for exposing the incestuous atmosphere in which intelligence about Iraq was selectively digested for us by officials intent on seeing (or worse, pretending to see) WMD where none existed.
Kwiatowski must be something close to Bush's worst nightmare, politically: a highly articulate dissenter from the right, who observed first-hand the eerily named "Office of Special Plans" where the books on WMD got cooked. Among many disturbing encounters, she describes the following conversation with a Pentagon colleague and true believer named John Trigilio:
I asked John who was feeding the president all the bull about Saddam and the threat he posed us in terms of WMD delivery and his links to terrorists, as none of this was in secret intelligence I had seen in the past years. John insisted that it wasn't an exaggeration, but when pressed to say which actual intelligence reports made these claims, he would only say, "Karen, we have sources that you don't have access to." It was widely felt by those of us in the office not in the neoconservatives' inner circle that these "sources" related to the chummy relationship that Ahmad Chalabi had with both the Office of Special Plans and the office of the vice president.
What's at stake in the 2004 election is so much more than just who controls the levers of patronage and privilege in Washington. I believe this country is at a crossroads that will someday be viewed the way we regard the Civil War, when "better angels" prevailed despite moments of doubt and devastation. For over a year, I've been telling friends I believe Al Qaeda will do anything they can to influence the U.S. presidential election and get Bush removed. That's a sickening thought on many levels, made more real by the victory that terror seems to have won by inverting the Spanish election outcome. If they try the same thing here, an attack on our homeland could bring the opposite reaction: the most likely result, in my opinion, would be a Bush landslide. If that refusal to buckle under is what makes America great, it could also be our downfall. At what point does an obsessive need to display our military power become the ultimate expression of weakness? Maybe scariest of all, would a single country now stand alongside us if we uncover real WMDs at large?
The first Sopranos episode of Season 5 was more than alright. They teased us by showing Buscemi only in stills, they denied us Meadow, they pulled a predictable move by having NY boss Carmine stroke out, and yet there were plenty of good bits to compensate. Like the restaurant scene, where a bad tip turns into David Chase's trademark comic violence. Like the combination of delight and fear on Carmela's face when she realizes Tony's still jealous over her and Furio. Like Feech (Robert Loggia), who's already shaping up as a great foil for Uncle Junior.
But the best moment came when Dr. Melfi, after some mixed signals, spurned Tony's advances. His crude, out-of-control reaction was shocking but completely in character. On one level, Melfi exists to balance out all the supposedly damaging Italian stereotypes; as a consumate professional and good citizen, she's a credit to her ethnicity, blah blah. Or a credit to her gender, if you want to look at it that way -- she also counters the criticism that the show is misogynistic. She'd be too noble to believe except for the palpable kick she gets from vicariously experiencing Tony's business. Just like the rest of us voyeurs.
Going to see his Bobness tonite at the Aragon (aka Airagroin) Ballroom, a venerable place, to put it kindly. I saw my first Elvis Costello show there and my only Clash show, too. I haven't seen Dylan a whole lot, but the most memorable was a gig in Bristol, TN, a place that was pretty inspiring for him. We also pulled a Righteous Stage Rushtm to get a great view, and he was clearly having fun. Of all he's accomplished, maybe the greatest thing is that for the most part he doesn't take himself too seriously. His (allegedly) fallow periods seem to be when he lost his knack for self-deprecation, and his best ones -- including the last few records -- are when he's more casually great. Check out this body of work, in ten-year chunks.