Sky Blue Sky

It has been confirmed that Wilco, with the release of their latest album, Sky Blue Sky, is the one of the most accomplished, talented, and visionary bands, and probably the most that are currently producing music.

This latest album, at times, recalls some of Tweedy's alt country roots with Uncle Tupelo, the only thing missing, of course, is Jay Farrar's angst-ridden baritone. But, the album successfully executes an about-face from their last, A Ghost is Born.

I proclaimed Ghost was the best album of this generation, and I still believe firmly in that proclamation, it was nothing like anything we have ever heard, it was electronic noise and aformulaic rock and roll set to contemplative and deeply personal lyrics. Yes, Yankee Hotel Foxtrort (their preceding album)was also very experimental but it lacked any hint of pop sensibility, its lyrics were very declarative rather than emotive, and for that reason its easy to remain detached. Ghost picked up where Foxtrot left off and added something so personal and memorable that the album felt like a shadow of the soul.

But, this blog is not about A Ghost is Born, its about Sky Blue Sky. My only complaint is that the entire album is extremely easy to listen to. Does not sound like a complaint I understand, but let me explain, there were moments in Ghost and Foxtrot that were extremely off putting, they hurt your ears, they made you uncomfortable, because they did not fit the mold of "music." But, I loved it. Does it not make sense that art should be (or maybe I should it is alright for it to be) disconcerting, because such is life and such is the spirit of man. Sky Blue Sky at times breaks formula and achives this but for the most part it all feels good and it all makes you tap your feet.

But musically and lyrically this is Tweedy and his bunch at their best. Songs about love loss and broken dreams set to expertly executed pop melodies. But, Tweedy's style of writing and his groaning voice constantly remind you that although these things are eating away at him he is to aesthetically driven to let these emotions consume him, instead he turns them into 12 songs of contemplation and celebration of the ups and downs of life.

Go out and buy the album......or download it.

The Arab is the Nigger of the World

It seems to me that the driving force of American policy toward the Middle East, primarily the Arab states, has been the force of racism. Ironic, because this very argument is enough to garner an accusation of me being and anti-semite, but here goes.

The trouble began when Palestine was divided and Israel was created. For some reason Palestinians took not so kindly to Westerners divding their country for their own political gain. Throughout the second half of the second century the Middle East was plagued with wars that germinated here and there, largely because of the World Powers (U.S., England, USSR, a handful of European countries) who wanted to maintain a presence in the resource-rich Middle East.

1: Suez Crisis, Israel invades Sinai Peninsula in response to Egypt nationalizing the canal and not allowing Israeli ships to pass. French and England collaborate, the U.S. acts as the dumbass with his hands tied. (Egypt did possess Soviet arms, is it possible that U.S. tried not-so-hard because of their fear of the rise of Soviet prominence in the region).

2:1967 6 Day War: Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli transportation. Egypt once again gets demolished by the new-kid bully on the playground, Israel. This time Israel conquers the occupies the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Sinai and Gaza. A U.N. Resolution (Resolution 242) was passed that called for the withdraw of Israel from occupied terrirtories, they did not comply.

Okay okay I am going to stop with the history lesson, because it is admittedly biased. But, one little fact that is straight up, no spin, in your face fact is that Israel did not comply with the Resolution to withdraw from the occupied territory, a resolution that all the powers (inlcuding the good old US of A) of the world agreed to. Israel still today occupies some of these territories. Carter's Camp David Accords did not budge Israel, Clinton's Camp David Redux also failed, and the Road Map to Peace has been a Road Map to Israel non-compliance.

The Arab camp deserves their fair share of criticism, but in history their has been evidence of their attempts to compromise, only to face the stubborn retort of Israel. The reason I write this blog, is that for some reason Israeli non-compliance for half a century has only been answered by the United States' continuing support, but non-compliance on the part of Iraq for less than a decade, results in their country being destoryed and the order and peace being so buried under the rubble that their seems to be no restoration in sight.

Why is this? The only thing I can gather is that The U.S. (perhaps sub-consciously) thinks the Arabs are dangerous, and that they are also incapable of ruling themselves. Israeli aggression is never condoned, but it is never reprimanded either, instead we just tolerate it as a logical response to those thugs in the Arab world. All these things are, in one easily recognizeable word, racism. American will constantly keep their hands in the affairs of the Arab states because they do indeed present alot of wealth , but if we gave them the respect to act diplomatically, and politically in world affairs on their own accord we could develop ties that would allow us to benefit from a symbiotic relationship, but instead we think them unable to act respectable in public. Undoubtedly, they will turn to jihad, so lord knows we better not give them any unsupervised power, and we must always lock the doors when we drive through their side of town.

Top 5 Music Moments

Top 5 musical moments in film.

1) As Time Goes By (Casablanca).

2) Singin' in the Rain (Singin' in the Rain)

3) In Dreams (Blue Velvet)

4) I Will Always Love You (The Bodyguard)

5) Singin' in the Rain (A Clockwork Orange)

How Man Does Envy The Birds

Flight has been the fascination of mankind. The fascination has been democratically distributed among all ages, classes, and all men past and present. Homer put his gods to the skies, Da Vinci drew his helicopters, and Orville and Wilbur took the first steps. But, its not just about the technology of flight, its about the adventure, the spirit, the need for something thrilling that seems to be a common bond for all people.

Recently, I have toyed around with the idea of a documentary on the human fascination with flight. We take to the skies to keep world commerece spinning, but we also take to the skies as dreamers.

For this blog I wanted to hear about your flying dreams. If you feel personally attached to your dream as a vote of confidence I will first divulge mine:

The entire dreams are usually varying, but the way in which I fly is always the same. I stand on the ground and have to concentrate very hard and I begin to really believe, wholeheartedly know that it will work, and I start to move my arms similar to treading water and slowly I begin to lift. I keep concentrating, it is almost as if I am mentally causing my body to become less dense than air, and I start to swim through the air. After I begin to cruise I don't have to think as hard anymore, but the interesting thing is that initially I have to think so deliberately about what I am getting ready to do, it almost lends itself to making the dream more real, because dreams usually don't involve much contemplation while in the dream state.

And, I'll give you one specific example, the most recent dream.

The first thing I remember is that I am outside of a school building, people my age are all just sitting around and drinking and smoking and everything is moving slowly, a guy that was on my high school soccer team is there, and he is talking to Milla Jovovich from Dazed and Confused. Everybody seems real peaceful and then a security guard bursts from the doors of the school and he has a puppy. He is jerking it about by the scruff of its neck and the puppy is screaming uncomfortably loud, suddenly the screaming turns into a loud alarm, almost like an air raid siren, people start funneling out of the school. The security guard goes back into the school and he comes dragging a student out by the scruff of his neck; the student is screaming in pain, much like the puppy, as the security guard yells at him, "Why did you not come out during the alarm!" Milla Jovovich pleads with the security guard to let him go, she tells him that the kid is deaf, but he just continues to shake the kid by the scruff of his neck. Then...people start running.

I run around the corner of the school and all of a sudden I am running along a ridge that overlooks, and runs parallel to, a large area of pasture with cows grazing. As I look down upon the cows I begin to notice other creatures running amongst them, they stand upright but they are covered in fur like a primate, their faces are scarred, red, devolved human faces with big sharp teeth (in the face they look sort of like the bad wizard from Conan The Destroyer when he turns into a man ape, sorry no google image)

They move fast onto the cattle and devour them, I look ahead of me and see them killing people running in front of me, when I look back down to the pasture I see these creatures as they see me running along the ridge, one by one their heads jerk spastically in my direction, then they begin to move like a pack of wild dogs, rehearsed and in unison, they are stalking me.

I keep running and I begin to approach a tree line where there is only a narrow path way through, the creatures have gathered there and they wait for me. I begin to concentrate on being able to rise into the air, I begin to believe that my arms will push the air below me and that action will lift me into the sky. The creatures begin to clamber toward me, twitching and growling. They are only ten yards away now and I push my arms down and up I go, I barely rise over them, and one of them claws me on the shin, but that is the only damage they can achieve, I fly over the tree line and on to safety.

Back in Time

I felt like a teenager back in the seventies. Although it was before my time I hear stories of kids playing hookie and sneaking in to theaters to see the B-Movies that their mother and father probably knew nothing about. It was 1:00 in the afternoon and the heat was almost unbearable, so I went to a theater in Charlotte and bought a ticket for Grindhouse--don't tell my mom.

Bad editing, bad image quality and bad sound were the recurring aesthetic and what a wonderful aesthetic it was. However, I should say that much like the films that Rodriguez and Tarantino were paying tribute to this film too was heavily flawed (and I don't just mean the missing reels).

Tarantino's Death Proof was a different story, but Rodriguez's film ended up being just another bad film. In my mind an homage should sift through the rubbish and celebrate the remnants of artistic ingenuity, unfortunately for Tarantino, Rodriguez simply showed us the rubbish. In a combination of ultra-violent zombie flick and cheap sexploitation Planet Terror hit on many of the technical themes, but overall he simply made a new bad movie. The exploitation of women and the cheap thrill of exploding zombie goo was not considered or studied, instead it was just the vision, a vision that I don't really care to see anymore. Rodriguez should have consulted his buddy Quentin for some tips on the homage film.

Perhaps, it is unfair to compare the two films because it is is hard to find redeeming qualities in the films that Planet Terror was charged with emulating, whereas, the car chase films that Tarantino undertook have become art-house fair. But, still Tarantino's film (like all his films) possessed something different. It was first and foremost a Tarantino film, sure it was made in the affecionate memory of old, B-movies, but in the end he made a film that was his own, that nostalgiacly recalled a type of filmmaking that has passed. On point writing, superb acting from Kurt Russel (if you can believe it) and the ever-charming Rosario Dawson. Real stunts, real stuntmen, making movies used to be real work, for a lot of real people. Movies used to be a lot of blood, sweat, and metal. Now they are a lot of money, megabytes, and sequels.

There has been talk that Grindhouse will be relesed as two separate films--I hope so, I want to watch Death Proof again, but would like not to take another trip to PLanet Terror.