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Mike and I go along with the Black Rider
Last night was the first Tom Wait show in Atlanta since 1978, and it was quite interesting. The AJC has a nice review of it, along with photos.
I was quiet impressed by the band, two discreet percussionists and a discreet bass player make for a very smooth sounds where the instance of the sound doesn’t vary much from the concept of the sound. It was surprisingly true to the albums. Tom Waits in person sounds exactly as raspy and rough as all of his records.
He did most of the songs with a band, doing only one acoustic (with the band) and about three on the piano. It had much more in common with a play than the average rock show (which it wasn’t). The lighting and shadowing was well done and gave me many ideas for photography.
On the whole a good time. The only downsides were the oppressive heat inside the Tabernacle and the long (anti-scalper supposedly) lines. We spent a little over an hour outside in line, and about that inside waiting for him to start, which meant that we spent more time waiting for the show to begin than the show itself.
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War quote of the moment
…Thomas Ricks’ says the war on Iraq and subsequent occupation was ill-conceived, incompetently planned and poorly executed. I have no quarrel with that. What dismays me is that anyone expected any different. All wars are full of incompetence, mendacity, fear, and lies. War is big government, authoritarianism, central planning, command and control, and bureaucracy in its most naked form and on the largest scale. The Pentagon is the Post Office with nuclear weapons.
I’ve always thought that the odds of the government getting some large conspiracy right were much smaller than the odds of them getting some basic assumptions wrong. The complaints of “Bush didn’t get the war planning right” crowd is baffling too. How else was it going to look. In many ways Iraq is much better managed than any of our other wars, only better lit. How else is it going to look?
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It almost writes itself
Somehow I came across the book page for this book “Why Mommy is a Democrat“. There is a link to a review from some outfit called “The National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature“. To quote some of the review
Mommy is a tufted-ear squirrel who embodies and makes visual all the good things Democrats like to think they do, like playing by the rules, treating everyone fairly, and sharing their toys.
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Little lovable animals inhabit the very finely done colored-pencil illustrations, exemplifying abstract beliefs like tolerance and accessible health care.
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the representative multicultural-looking down-and-out young man who is barred from an expensive school, sleeps under a tree in the park, or looks in trash cans for dinnerThe jokes for write themselves. What I found strangest was the phrase “representative multicultural-looking”.
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Quote of the moment
A happy childhood is the worst possible training for life
Kinky Friedman -
Give your tickets to the dog faced boy
Mike and I are going to the Tom Waits show this evening. I’ll have a scouting report soon.
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Wholesome quotes for a Monday night
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It’s completely impossible. (2) It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.
My favourite definition of ‘Intellectual’ is: ‘A person whose education surpasses their intelligence.’
This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run – and often in the short one – the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.
The effects of technological innovations are typically overrated in the short run but underestimated in the long run.
In democracy it’s your vote that counts; In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
– Mogens JallbergIt was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.’
– Sam Levenson