Everyone Hates Music Critics

I find this line profoundly hilarious:

One GOP aide unloaded on the conservatives, offering a more colorful view privately held by many other Republicans.

“These people aren’t thinking clearly. Their logic doesn’t pan out. They have NO plan. What concessions were they going to get if it failed? They were going to shut down the federal government over Planned Parenthood?” the source said, “It was totally reactionary. These people got elected to lead. Instead they got jerked around by the political equivalent of music critics. If these people knew anything about governing, they’d be in Congress, not lobbing bombs from the cheap seats and sending out fundraising emails.”

MORE: Wow, this post keeps giving!

So the very next line in this post is as follows:

The aide offered contempt for Pence in particular. “Pence is running for governor, and has to get through a primary, so his position is about as genuine as a $10 Gucci hand bag on Sunset Boulevard.”

To which epic asshole, RedState.com founder and, yes, CNN contributor Erick Erickson quipped:

I’ll first point out that Eric Cantor is well known to wear Gucci loafers. Second, I will pass comment on the sexual orientation of whoever came up with the Gucci hand bag line. Third, I would like to ask exactly whose side these Republicans are on.

In other words, "I'll just insinuate the aide is a fag instead of calling him one outright."

Which I find amusing largely because the gender of the aide is never mentioned and Erickson seems to dismiss the possibility that aide could be a woman out of hand.

He's also a homophobic dick, but you already knew that.

Of Course It Is!

Did you know that Florida's official state song is called -- I shit you not -- "Old Folks at Home"?

Juggaloes!!!

Since Juggaloes were a story of local note last year, I feel compelled to point people to a few pieces on the annual Gathering of Juggaloes, which was held in Illinois last weekend. There are some absolutely mind-blowing reports from the festivities that deserve to be celebrated in all of their glory.

First, here's the promotional infomercial that bounced around the internet prior to the event. Yes, infomercial: it's almost 20 minutes long. When I first saw it a month ago I thought I was going to watch 30 seconds of it, roll my eyes and then move on to something else; but, alas, I ended up watching the whole damn thing. Go ahead and try watching it: if you make it passed the first minute, you'll be sucked in for the long haul.



Next, and for a little historical perspective, here's a story from Vice Magazine chronicling the 2007 Gathering.

Lastly, is the phenomenal photography of Nate Smith, who went above and beyond the anthropological call of duty in documenting this year's event:

A general overview.
Portraits of Juggaloes.
Comedy at the Gathering.
The Miss Juggalette Contest & Juggalettes baring their breasts.
The art of nonverbal Juggalo communication.
The story of the Method Man and Redman set.
Midget wrestling at the Gathering.
An account of the infamous Tila Tequila set.
"The Michael Jackson Moonwalk BBQ Blowout Pajama Jam"

A Retraction

Yeah, that thing I may have said about music videos being too "dark" these days ... Never mind:



[via NYM]

Rush Blows

Well said:

Who doesn't like the rock band Rush?

Well, judging from the attendees of their concerts -- women.

Art Imitating Life ... or Something

Charles Homans looks at MIA's pretty lousy political stances (namely, her support of the Tamil Tigers), before concluding:

I think this is a more damning indictment of politics than it is of M.I.A. -- whose music is, all things considered, pretty great, if not quite up to the precedents of London Calling or It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Stitching an aesthetic out of politics is at the end of the day pretty harmless; assembling a politics out of aesthetics, not so much.

You're gonna want to check out where that link takes you.

UNKLE, "Follow Me Down"

This pretty much more for my own personal future reference then for anything else, but if anyone wants to comment on this video, by all means, I'd love to hear it.

UNKLE - Follow Me Down (feat. Sleepy Sun) from UNKLE on Vimeo.

Sorta NSFW. I wouldn't watch it if you work with kids.

I've Never Heard this Woman Sing...

...but the description of her accent brought a smile to my face.

Why Does Tea Party-Inspired Music Suck Balls?

This "music video" makes me want to drink anti-freeze.

Brian Eno + Nick Clegg

Go figure:

Britain's gone mad for Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg over the past week, elevating the onetime longshot to frontrunner status in Britain's election. As it turns out, like David Bowie and U2 before him, Clegg had help from a good producer.

Pioneering glam rocker, ambient composer and pop producer Brian Eno signed on with Clegg as an advisor in 2007. Somewhat bizzarely, the 59-year-old was brought on to advise the Liberal Democrats about youth issues, but once again, it seems like Eno spotted a trend before it got big.

You're Welcome

A classic correspondence:

Indications of the harm [Elvis] Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls (of whom I have direct personal knowledge) whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph. They admitted that they went to his room where this happened. It is known by psychologists, psychiatrists and priests that teenaged girls from the age of eleven, and boys in their adolescence are easily aroused to sexual indulgence and perversion by certain types of motions and hysteria, — the type that was exhibited at the Presley show.

There is also gossip of the Presley Fan Clubs that degenerate into sex orgies. The local radio station WKBH sponsors a club on the "Lindy Shannon Show."

Whole thing here.

Thursday Morning Link Orgy

Batter hits his own Mom with a foul ball during spring training game.

Peabody's are announced. [via MC]

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's high school basketball jersey was amazing -- and looked a lot like Marquette's in the late 1960s.

CFR primer of Chechan terrorism.

Should humanists avoid piling on the Catholic Church during the child abuse scandal?

Victorian Era sex! [via A&LD]

Toby Keith wasn't interviewed by Sarah Palin either ...

Sinead O'Connor

Ripping up a picture of the Pope on SNL pretty much ended her career, but it turns out she was on to something.

Ooops.

Biggie Smalls & Miley Cyrus

This is why the internet exists:

[via RNB]

Rock You Like a Hurricane

Das Scorpions are kaput.

Holiday in the Sun

Contrarianism Fail

If you want a good laugh, check Sean Hackbarth's absurd attempt at music criticism, which can be summarized as follows:

Skid Row was, like, totally better than Nirvana.

It's a bold statement that Hackbarth does nothing to justify. My favorite part is when he blames "supposedly smart people" -- i.e. fags who have discerning taste -- for the over-exaltation of the seminal Seattle band ... 'cause real 'Mericans prefer the lyrical styling of Sebastian Bach, or something.

Thank God this lousy argument has already been made.

Oral Roberts

I can think of no better encomium:

Teenage Fan Club & De La Soul: "Fallin'"

A Few Unorganized Thoughts on the Juggalos

• Juggalos are no more a "gang" than the Kiss Army is a paramilitary organization.

• Gangs have hierarchies, leadership and even business plans -- I doubt you'll find any such organization among the Juggalos.

• That being said, and just like a gang, it's likely that the "Juggalo community" is one of the few communities these kids feel welcome in.

• The most logical answer for why the Juggalos have recently adopted the sundial downtown as their hangout is because the New Moon coffee house across the street has an open mic night on Tuesdays. Ergo, the open area across the street is a good place to retreat to when the music starts to suck and/or shit gets boring (as it tends to frequently do when your an adolescent).

• Also, is it any surprise that kids who are so attention-starved that they wear outlandish costumes and ghoulish make-up would chose one the city's most visible corners to congregate?

• Is it any surprise that the Juggalos started hanging out at the Sundial during a summer when school's out and there are minimal summer jobs for young people?

• The nice thing about outdoor teen gathering areas in Wisconsin is that they rarely survive the winter. By the time, spring rolls around, kids are looking for a new place. That's just the nature of being a teenager.

• While there's very little scientific research done on the "Juggalo demographic," there's a consensus that Juggalos tend to be young, white, male, under-educated and from working or lower class families with little structure. Who else would think dressing up like retarded clowns and rapping about necro-bestiality would be cool?

• The OPD deserves a lot of credit for deciding to air out their grievances with the Juggalos in a public forum instead of doing it after an incident of some kind late at night. We can think of times in the past where subcultures were not treated with this level of courtesy (or in such a timely nature), which lead to simmering tensions between the two parties. We can't help but wonder if Chief Greuel read this New Yorker article from earlier this summer that describes a criminologist who is having success reducing recidivism by preemptively asking criminals to knock off all that crime.

• Did anyone else think this meeting was a small town version of COIN strategy?

• Likewise, good on the Juggalos for going to the meeting. Hopefully they will learn that expressing yourself honestly and with good faith in a public forum is far more productive than emulating these douchebags.

• These kids gathering in public is actually better than them operating in garages, basements or other unsupervised places where they can actually get away with illegal or harmful behavior.
  

• Which brings us to probably the elephant in the room: this is largely about aesthetics. Because these kids look like walking billboards for Prozac, they're basically a form of human blight. That's just the reality of their appearance. I wouldn't want them hanging around my neighborhood just based on their image alone and nor would most people.

• The Insane Clown Posse is the single worst musical act of all-time. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about any aspect of their entertainment product. Eventually, some of these kids will realize this and the shame of this youthful indiscretion will haunt them for the rest of their days.

And now back to my fishing trip...