The Continual Right Wing Media Conspiracy

It is discouraging half of the country still believes in George Bush’s failed politics. It is difficult to muster hope in the face of this unchanging postulate. Even at the dawn of a feasible new political awakening of America, each day we will be faced with a fifty fifty chance of failure. Could anyone guess the stalemate in Washington only was a reflection of the hard line drawn in the earth of Americans? We the people, or at least fifty percent of us, still will adhere to a failed administration. What does this say about this faction? Are we ignorant? Do we not follow politics? Is it what Tom Brokaw said to David Letterman tonight? “People under the age of 45 still are trying to live their lives under the failed administration of George Bush.” The rest of America has their lives firmly cemented on a foundation built by Bill Clinton, Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan, or Jimmy Carter. How is it that the rest of us have been the ones to suffer through such an epic saga? It is because America has always been about the Baby Boomers. America did not look favorably at Generation X, hence it description. “Slackers” they were called, and only because the Baby Boomer generation would not allow a new generation to take the reins and begin to lead America. They kept the wealth forcing younger Americans to use credit they created. Where did all that credit go? All those billions of dollars went into someone’s pockets, and it certainly wasn’t Generation X or Generation Y. It wasn’t Generation Jihad. We were duped, and we still are being duped. Everyday we get up we face half a nation that believes things are still good. “We are fighting the commies,” (or is it the terrorists?). We not too long ago were paying four dollars for a gallon of gasoline, and oil companies were posting record profits. The presidential election starkly has shown the misgivings mainstream America has about electing a black president, and nowhere could it be more evident than in television media. While a few token broadcasts with reluctance aired joyful celebrations after the announcement Obama had won, the rest showed their anchors either exhausted or disillusioned. Is it that the media conspiracy driven by the extreme right sees for the first time their days truly are numbered? The time of uncensored and unchecked journalism bought as propaganda for a corrupt government is coming to an end? Previous qualifications of art and higher thinking, morality, and ethics will return to the airwaves with a newly revived focus on education. Talent once again will play a role in the performing arts? Spoiled rich children will be forced to find real jobs? No longer will Nancy Grace be able to rely on “Where is Caylee” for two months worth of shallow programming. There is no doubt the news media was dumbfounded, and their coverage reflected this sentiment.

The New Beginning of Romanticism

The stalemate in the American federal government only is a reflection of the division along party lines of the American people. With the recent election of Barack Obama to the United States presidency one would hope the “Campaign of Fear and Intimidation” would begin to subside. Right wing conservative media coverage has become ensconced in our televisions like a cuckoo, defying the desires of its patrons. Rupert Murdoch has dripped the American people in his urine like a cat staking its turf, yet after what should be the joyous affirmation of America’s first black president the uncertainty continues. Why is this? It is because the faction America adamantly has voted out will remain until Barack Obama has been inaugurated. Slowly and with methodology Mr. Obama will restore the confidence and pride of the American people. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Republican faction could be removed as easily as its leading president? While majorities have been established in both houses of Congress and in local and state governments, the American people have no where to go. The faction that has been behind the Bush regime is going nowhere, and therefore Barack Obama has only begun his great journey as one of America’s greatest presidents. Bill Clinton remarked on the David Letterman show that this is a great time to be elected President. If the president elect is intelligent and motivated and skilled in diplomacy and enactment of policy, it should be a great time. Could there have been a time when problems were in more need of solution? Of course the answer is yes, but anyone living today might not feel that way. We in the U.S. have been living in times of epic proportions, and it is getting old. While making history may seem great, as Mr. Obama himself commented, “The time I look forward to is waking up in the morning and making breakfast for my girls.” The era of “epic proportions” needs to end, and the American people need and deserve to get back to life at hand.

The New Furor

What is readily apparent at the wake of George W. Bush is “Old Money” is not going to be spent easily. The same saving philosophy, “Get what you can, can it, and sit on the can,” adamantly is going to persevere, its tentacles entangled in the infrastructure of America. Watching while millions of newly registered voters, formerly apathetic voters, and newly disgruntled youthful voters rallied in Chicago at the celebration of Barack Obaba’s election, “Old Money” scowled at the prospect of a black man managing the helm of the world’s former superpower. Even in light of the extreme hypocrisy of “Old Money” continually squandering its own nest egg over and over, spoiled, elite, and disassociated Republicans still were holding a torch for the KKK. “Damn boy, didn’t you know that white man rules in good old America? Squeal like a pig! Take them panties off too boy. Didn’t you know Texans with oil and cattle rule the range in America?” It is not without fervor these anachronistic views will die. Ignorance has ruled the White House for eight long years, and “Old Money” is not dying without a fight. What was frightening was a comment made on Anderson Cooper’s coverage of the election. While assessing future President Obama’s victory speech, this female anchor reflected Obama’s words were similar to the words spoken by the late Martin Luther King the day before he was assassinated. The cameras panned and fortunately the subject was changed. It is difficult to tell with long and laborious hours spent covering a two year long event if joy is the major emotion of a nation. From the face of Brent Hume it appeared closure was what America was seeking. “Is it over?” From Barack Obama’s speech closure was far from the result. Conversely the fight has only begun, and “Old Money,” no matter how genuine the diplomacy of the Obama White House, is not going down without a fight.

For Tom Delay to make such a slanderous comment as, “Barack Obama want to take away our personal liberties,” only solidifies the desperation of “Old Money.” It cannot be disputed that civil liberties have been compromised more in the Bush presidency than any time in recent American history. While using wartime executive privileges to enact these breeches of the United State Constitution, it would be difficult to fathom who the enemy is. America has been divvied a short hand of personal freedoms, the very things upon which this great nation was founded. It is difficult to see how we are the good and Extreme Islam is the enemy when by fighting Islam, the same oppressions have been created for us on our native land. Diplomacy has always been defined as the art of avoiding violence and war, but a diplomat first must be defined as someone that wants nonviolence. George Bush is not a diplomat. Conversely he is an aggressive imperialist with eyes only of foreign oil for his own domestic cartel. Both Exxon and Chevron have posted record shattering quarterly profits in the midst of a global financial melt down. How is this possible? How is it possible when “credit and liquidity” have evaporated Barack Obama shattered the presidential campaign contribution record? Evidently there is “liquidity” somewhere, and someone thinks it should go toward electing Barack Obama president. Bush has failed on an epic level, and probably he was coerced there by an administration of corrupt Capitalists. Still the ill-conceived and unconstitutional legislation of Eminent Domain and Warrantless Wiretapping were enacted by the stroke of his own pen, and there is no way Tom Delay can prove otherwise. Bullying of the Justice Department for political gain has never been attempted on a grander scale, yet desperate Republicans still shout “Socialism” with no understanding of their own words. A federal judge, in the ongoing effort legally to fight Warrantless Wiretapping, has said White House memos must be disclosed. The beginning of this unconstitutional act will be reviewed by a United States judge. While this is encouraging, the democrats all ready blocked this legislation in Congress. What did Bush do? He simply went around our governmental system and did it anyway, his way. Recent air strikes in Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan can be seen as the same. Hired thugs under names like Blackwater are carrying out the covert agenda of George Bush. This is nothing new as many can remember the name Oliver North and the Iran-Contra scandal. With “credit and liquidity” quickly evaporating and the prospects of living financially secure lives in native America waning, the national presidential campaign could not have come at a more necessary time. Iran humiliated Jimmy Carter by waiting to release the American hostages until after the new president was sworn in. What is to come of George Bush?

Old Skool Skateboard Trivia

The new Bennett Vector Re-Issue trucks are not as good as the old Bennett Pro's or Bennett Hijackers. The "pivot ball" that is part of the hanger has been engineered "too big." It does not pivot as freely in the "pivot cup." Therefore the "truk" does not turn nearly as easily as the old ones did in the late l970's. If you take a grinder and grind down the "knob" that goes in the pivot cup, you can get closer to the original engineering of the Bennett truck.

The new Re-Issue Tunnel Rocks wheels are too soft. Compared to a vintage OJ wheel or a Roadrider they are too soft, even for a 78a durometer. This makes them slow and they seem to slip on tight turns.

Abec ll is the best company to chose for old school skateboard wheels. They have their concept together, and their wheels reflect solid thought, concept, and engineering.

Redistributing Old Money

Who would know that the real face of the Republican party was that of a redneck from Texas? There once was a time that a Republican was represented by a businessman in a freshly pressed gray suit smoking a cigar in a posh men’s social club in Manhattan. Listening to Tom Delay speak on Hardball this evening shored up this image of the Republican party. Everything that came out of his mouth was a lie. Calling Barack Obama a Socialist for wanting to redistribute the wealth in America was enough. Could we just paraphrase Delay’s statement to say, “We’re the Old Money. We have always had the money, and we should keep the money. Screw everyone else.” It is this redneck, Texas, renegade attitude that has plagued this government and this nation for the last eight years. Bully the Supreme Court? Excuse me Mr. Delay, but you are mistaken. George Bush and his failed cabinet were responsible for bullying the Supreme Court. I am all but certain Barack Obama has had nary a thought about such. To utter dishonest and ignorant words on national television albeit at 3:00 a.m. on MSNBC is a desperate plea for the failing John McCain campaign. When we as Americans are left to lying as a last hope…. Well I think the fat lady truly has sung in this case. When a former House Majority Leader gets it this wrong, you can understand why he was not the Speaker. Indictments and convictions today are commonplace in American politics and finally it seems, “What goes around is coming around” for the first time in eight long years of political disaster. The recent bail out of Wall Street assures that all ready we are a Socialist nation. The severe penalties of greed in the public marketplace have been masked by a doting mother’s hand. This nation always has been Socialist, because when private business fails they look to our federal government to bail them out. If we truly were Capitalist then no such bailout should have occurred, whether the American home owner needed it or not. We have always been a Socialist nation disguised as a Capitalist one, because losing money is not in the real spirit of the “American Way.” With the good comes the bad and responsibility for one’s mistakes. If we were a Capitalist nation, Wall Street’s hands still would be empty, and we would be using George Bush's and Dick Cheney's money to finance the War in Iraq.

The New Messiah

It is refreshing for what seems like the first time in years to see Americans proudly doing their jobs without fear of political reciprocation. For the first time in eight years the FBI seems to be doing what they should have been doing all along. They are not concerned with the hypothetical “War on Terror.” They have been steered back on course by the recent financial down turn. Domestic issues are what have been lacking from the Bush regime. While a few busloads of Extreme Muslims turned his presidency on its ear, the problems facing every day Americans has not changed. Diverting Americans’ interests to the president’s interests has failed on a massive scale, and let’s hope media remembers it. Reading daily headlines about the War in Iraq cleverly skated over the issues crucial to the survival of this country. How are we going to drive our cars around with no homes, no energy, and no money? The landscape that scenario paints is almost epic in proportion. Long desert roads littered with junkers. Hasn’t this all ready been depicted in a film? Mad Max? The premonition we would be running our vehicles on pig shit was not that far reached, but we have to get through biodiesel first. Should corn farmers be lining up their howitzers for the incoming blitz of the Commerce Department? With all this in mind it seems clean energy is a wise choice as a philosophical base of America. Many ask the question why this decision was not made years ago. Al Gore was vocal in his opposition of the internal combustion engine, and that view labeled him as an extremist. It is not dissimilar to the predicament of building an interstate highway all along the Pacific coast. Like the citizens of Vancouver, they opposed such a plan in favor of maintaining a warm, clean, humanistic coastline. Who was such a plan to serve? The auto industry. Americans have been forced to worship the graven image of the automobile since its inception. We did it with glee, because anything can be spun to resemble our fondest friends, including evil. The automobile was not inherently evil, but the industries that support it must be kept to moderation. Anything to excess in life soon becomes a liability. Oil has become such a thing in the last eight years. England recently erected a field of wind turbines in the North Atlantic ocean. China has financed its own space program. Many other countries are excelling in ways America once did. Why is this, because the minds and hearts of the American people have been diverted to believe what our president believes. In doing so our interests have been shifted to his interests. Most Americans are not interested in a War on Terror. We have enough troubles in our own backyard. Those have not gone away. Youth violence, poverty, and homelessness have not waned in the Bush years. Instead media made a conscious decision to report predominantly on the War on Terror. As media shifted to this political agenda the mainstream of America quietly died. Our America, what has always been America, waned to be replaced by crystal-meth induced video games and horror flicks. This transformation was so quick and so stark, it continues to keep America on its heels. Only with a resurgence of patriotism founded in the recent presidential campaign has our soul been resurrected. The FBI is breaking up child prostitution rings, investigating corrupt politicians, and aiding in the prosecution of South American drug cartels. These things are beneficial to the American people domestically. The War on Terror is of no consequence to Americans in their daily lives. Why have we been living in this epic realm for eight long years? Is it because George W. Bush is the anti-Christ, and Barack Obama is the Messiah? Some think so. It will be nice when things can just get back to normal.

Oil Barons

When faced with the daunting prospect of creating new jobs, why is it every one in the nation is dumbfounded? Being “green” seems to be the logical answer, but it is difficult to buy into a “green” campaign when it has been launched by the same companies that created the problem. Likewise it has been difficult to buy into the current political campaign, because the majority of America’s problems in the last eight years have been created by the President. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” That has been the popular adage. Hypocrisy is a strong emotion, and as our emotions should do, it jolts us into a sense of reality. Without these jolts it could be human beings would just wander the earth like lost sheep. Animals have emotions too, and they can be extrapolated as their instincts. While their brains may be small, their hearts are big and this has allowed them to flourish for thousands of years. Somehow in the last decade the reason of emotion and instinct has been put asunder. Traditional emotions that have been unwavering for centuries suddenly changed rendering America a new frontier for the bleak of heart. The emotions that defined humanity, mainly love, were poisoned by a myriad of resources. How can it be that the very foundation of our artistic system was rendered impotent in such a short time frame? Everything the human being has thought about, felt, and stood for throughout history has changed, or has it? Maybe Americans really are not the fish out of water at all. Maybe the principles America has lived by since her birth still stand, and someone or some thing has attempted to change the rules. Maybe globalization diluted the American landscape so drastically we lost our roots. You would hope Americans would be bellyaching. You would hope good Americans full of Americanism would have been pacing their hallways, bursting at their seems, and yearning for a familiar playing field. Weren’t all the things we used to do as Americans substantial? Were we destined to talk on miniature microwave ovens? Were we destined to have three remote controls for the TV? Were our vehicles destined to have PC’s that communicate with the Department of Motor Vehicles. They are just cars, and they were built to serve us. How is it most products being sold today are the opposite? They seem to be being built to serve the manufacturer, the merchant, or the red tape. OBDll test? Thankfully with the recent downturn in availability of credit, the fundamentals of American life are resurfacing. Americans once again are standing face to face with survival, and we as a country are up for the task of succeeding. It is what we have done for over 200 years. It is not fair a passé of elite, wealthy, oil barons came in and changed the game.

American Totalitarianism

Life in the United States has not changed that drastically in the last decade, or has it? I don’t think the habits of the human race ever will be that different than what they were in the year 20 A.D. We are human, we eat, poop, drink, and have sex. Above all of these needs though is the need to think. Life without thinking is unpleasant no matter how pleasant the “vibe.” Vibe can get you through hard times, but it can’t get you out of the long run. Drugs, alcohol, sex, and food can be anodynes, but as any recovering addict knows they quickly wear off. “Hitting the bottom” isn’t pleasant. Thinking is what allows us to stay off the bottom. Being a bottom feeder for a time in one’s life makes us stronger. It let’s us know with fury we cannot live on vibe, because vibe is intangible. It was said on public radio a few days ago emotional responses are triggered by the body. The body as a living feeling being receives sensory information that triggers responses. There, I’ve said it. We are not androids. We are not Conservative Right-Wingers. We are not the Christian Coalition. We are human beings whether we like it or not. Whether we like it or not our minds are subject to alteration by a set of senses which in turn cause emotions. How we train our minds to deal with this information is how we create security in our own lives. Unfortunately we no longer live in the Garden of Eden. Original sin is all around us, and Eve constantly is offering us that apple. What are we to trust? If we trust our bodily senses it then would be easy to be manipulated by say… media, big business, or our federal government. If we cease to use our minds and don’t learn to be “Doubting Thomas’s,” we are fodder for the wolves. That is exactly what America has become over the last eight years with a little help from our friends. Not only have our only venues for enlightenment been weakened, we have been subjected to “A Campaign of Fear and Intimidation” by our own society. Media, business, and our government have inadvertently collaborated to dupe the unsuspecting American people. We have fewer and fewer places from which to learn wise behavior, and consequently we become at the mercy of our merchants, our employers, and our leaders. When faced with this threat we have become so dependent upon a mother’s tit, we no longer can stand up and exercise the very actions that have defined America from her inception. Rebellion? Revolution? Maverick? How can it be the entire philosophical foundations of being a prudent American have been replaced with irresponsible behavior on all fronts? When anyone raised an eyebrow and questioned immoral or unethical behavior the powers at be played the “Atheist” card. Time magazine did a cover story doubting the existence of God. How can this not be evil in its purest form planting the seeds of doubt in the furrows of our souls? There is a time in human life where man no longer should have to doubt himself. Religions provides this option, and it provides a finger in the dike that allows us not to have to worry about our existence on an epic level. Certainly any wise human being takes for fuel the negative experiences of their and history’s messages, but there reaches a time when as human beings we are afforded the “Right to the Pursuit of Happiness.” Once it was guaranteed in the United States Constitution. In eight years of the Bush Administration we have become “Doubting Thomas’s” but doubting the wrong things. Instead of questioning why our traditional infrastructure and way-of-life immediately were challenged by the new Conservative Right political regime, we were coerced to doubt our own lifestyles. Two centuries of planning, execution, and harvesting of the “American Way” were brushed under the carpet for an elite, selfish, rich few. These “Supremacists” put the Stalinists, Nazis, and Fascists on a whole to shame. While there actions were covert they almost were the undoing of the world’s greatest superpower, the United States of America. Hasn’t a lesson been learned? Solitary confinement in life is hell, but maybe that is where they belong anyway.

9/11, the American Holocaust

It is difficult while in the midst of adversity always clearly to see the truth. Evil, after all, manifests itself as good. This is the true test of exposing evil, separating it from the good like which it has modeled itself. The last eight years of the Bush Administration more clearly are becoming a testament to this fight against evil. While more astute American’s have been cognizant of an on going presence of evil, the Bush Administration has done an admirable job of disguising itself. Only in a very small pig’s eye could Americans realize the superficiality of Bush’s plan. Only a mind of such small proportions could step in such a huge pile of shit. Recently it was said in media coverage of the presidential campaign it mattered NOT how much of an intellect the president was. “If they can make sound, just, decisions in the face of growing threat then they are justified to be president.” This only is applicable in adolescence, a social growing period where teenagers not yet have been equipped with the tools to think through a social problem with their brains. The cultural history of America is streaked with such decisions based upon instinctual and emotional reaction rather then lucid reasonable thought. This process is the very definition of our educational system, an invaluable system which in essence should enlighten our youth to the virtues of NOT using their bodies to make decisions. Our current media network has done nothing but support this drastic loss of emphasis on this schooling process. Remarkably both systems, media and education, like almost every other program necessary to the well being of our nation, have been dismantled or obscured under the Bush Administration. Only in the recent days of the presidential campaign has this become so clear. We as American’s suspected the Bush Administration was this evil, but is has not been until now with a slight emergence of our former existence, that we see clearly the severity of the problem. The hypothesis that George Orwell’s “Newspeak” has become a reality is true. Media has been taken over by moguls, and their best interest is certainly not that of the America people. Like the Bush Administration their best interests are their own monetary ones. It is difficult to fathom a more ignorant cause. “We don’t care about the issues or what the people think. We only want to take and maintain power even at the expense of the entire country.” George Bush’s Holocaust was 9/11, and although on a smaller scale this genocide was equally as potent. It will go down in history as the earmark of his evil dictatorship as will the media conspiracy. Together the Bush Regime has wreaked American havoc not unlike other more tumultuous social travesties in other countries, it is just that it has been obscured.

The Scourge of Media in the United States

If I hear one more “Screaming Mimi” yell at me from that box how grateful I should be to be an American I am likely to commit a terrorist act. Otherwise I am a law-abiding Christian citizen. It is funny how such a box can provoke such a violent reaction. Isn’t this what Extreme Muslims have been yelling about the last 8 years, hypocrisy and provocation? When exactly did television journalism become immune from the Checks and Balances that once governed their profession? I guess these guidelines like all the others have been whisked by the wayside. Especially now with the “changing of the guard” coming and the eminent “lame duck” period of the United States Presidency, they think no one is paying attention. Who could not realize that media coverage of the presidential campaign has become nothing more than a juvenile, “He said, she said” yelling match with no apparent accountability. Under a moment of reflection that is understandable. The governmental regulations that once prevented these occurrences: lack of credibility in the media, responsibility on Wall Street, honesty in defense contracting, and the list goes on…. these Checks and Balances systematically have been dismantled like the Federal Office of Noise Abatement under the Environmental Protection agency. The can of worms has been opened for the noise, and it is coming from the television. Can we easily forget for the first time in United States history the Supreme Court Justices have been threatened with violence for not voting the way of the Bush Administration? Attorney General’s were fired from their jobs for attempting to expose and prosecute governmental scandal. The example has been set, and although we would like to believe with the hope of a new figure in the White House these policies have eased, they continue with fervor. It is schizophrenic. Americans would like to believe in the presidential campaign with our anachronistic sentimentality of patriotism, but we can’t. The rotten egg is and has been in the hen house, and the stink will not go away until inauguration day. Victims of the Bush White House are continuing to reap these diseased crops every time we turn on the television. It will take a long time to turn the country around, but let’s hope Barack Obama can do it. It should begin with mass firings. Choosing of a cabinet is something for which to look forward, but how will the “trickle down” fraud and deception be eliminated? This is in our private sector, and with media tycoons at the helm it may prove difficult. The test will be, “Who really is in charge of this country.” I hope Barak Obama can change that.

Puddles of Piss....

The current presidential campaign is nothing but a parody. When I turn on the television set, inappropriately our most convenient avenue of media awareness, I see a caricature of a presidential campaign. I see a soulless face with shark-dead eyes and horse teeth, and I see a Disney character that should be in the Jungle Book. That is just what I see. My mind, like is necessary on a daily basis in America, is responsible for filling in the gaps. The reality with which we are faced daily is too severe to fathom with our senses and our emotions. With the ruining of our environment the quality of life humans once were guaranteed upon waking has been replaced with neurosis. We no longer are afforded the pleasure of indulging our senses to live. The once important sensory sensations that defined the decade of the l980’s have been robbed in lieu of product. The entire country of America has become Columbus, Ohio and we like lab rats have become nothing but pawns of a corrupt government and a greedy private sector. The epic romance that defined the decade of the l980’s defies any intelligible interpretation from the youth of this generation, because they have not experienced that extreme pleasure. Define our culture with fashion? With music? With love? Jihad has taken this picture perfect depiction away with the planning of one major event, 9/11. Maybe it was time America grew up. Grunge musicians began screaming about the loss of our quality of life in the early l990’s. Did anyone of power really listen to Kurt Cobain before he killed himself with a shotgun? Has anyone taken the time to understand what the Grunge or Indie Rock movement stood for and about what they were concerned? Like the current media conspiracy that with stealth has bought our traditional media outlets and replaced them with a campaign of fear and intimidation, the message of these tormented youth was brushed under the rug by the groundwork laid by Tipper Gore. Ronald Reagan was responsible for eliminating anti-mainstream protest in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. AIDS did the rest by stymieing a brief period of homosexual revolution. Now “Pop Up Video,” once a television device that used to amuse us with the overindulgent antics of Rock ‘n’ Rollers from the l980's attempts to frighten us with its right wing, Christian Coalition-type, conservative morality. Almost every traditional avenue of our American entertainment has become a camp ground for fear-invoking indoctrination. Are the American people buying it? Are people watching this low brow filth on television? It is hard not to watch what has been such a standing tradition in Americana, yet we can’t. If we do and systematically do not disengage our instincts, our senses, and our emotions, we will self destruct. The images are so stark, so bleak, and so barren there is nothing left in America to fill the cavernous void of life. If you are not in love then good luck, because the playground with which we are left is nothing but a toxic waste dump. It seems appropriate in the last years of earthy existence we are reduced to dodging puddles of piss.

Under the Ruse of “Americanism”

What have we seen in the last 8 years to reinforce our perception of “Americanism?” Have we seen corner drugstores flourish? Have we seen any small businesses flourish? We saw the dot.com bust. We saw what was and should have remained a “small business” become fodder for Wall Street and investment capital. It popped. Have we seen our constitutional rights be upheld in defense of the common man? Have we seen the economy flourish? Contrarily we have seen our hard-earned American tax dollar be squandered by the Bush administration on an overseas war against an enemy that probably would not have surfaced had it not been for George W. Bush himself. It seems Osama Bin Ladin still harbors some of those childhood memories. Some think the apocalypse will happen in our lifetimes. I believe it is happening now, and the demonic elements that are prophesized in the Book of Revelations actually are what are occurring now. What else could define the lunacy and evil of today’s events? Maybe if you have a big bottle of whiskey, a fat joint, or a hit of crystal meth you can overlook the world’s reality. Is that they way we were intended to handle our lives? George Bush has continued to feed the American people drugs in lieu of solutions to problems, and like cheap mortgages and over-valued homes they have been but a false remedy to life’s ills. God is screaming. We are accused of being Anti-American if we to not ascribe to media’s shallow and immediate definitions of “Americanism.” Let the canker be lanced! Let the wound be penetrated and let the puss easily and readily flow cleansing the world from this propagandized assault on our reason. Human life is not the television. Human life is not “Reality TV,” Rupert Murdoch’s Australianized version of America, or a “Campaign of Fear and Intimidation.” Life should be able to unfold on a clean, neutral, and arbitary earth with no electro-magnetic infiltration, media propaganda, or eco-pollution. We should have clean air, clean water, and a quiet environment. We are afforded by the United States Constitution a right to the pursuit of happiness, but our federal government all but has vanquished this opportunity for the common man. We are losing our homes, our habitat, and our humanity. Has this price been worth whatever evil has been seeking?

Media Scams

1984 has long since passed, but as history has shown the immediacy of the internet cannot change the apocalypse. While George Orwell’s prophecy for a totalitarian New World Order may have passed in dog years, the ramifications of his idea and many other writers of science fiction are coming to fruition at an alarming rate. It is difficult for America to “get with the program” because a corrupt media is the liaison between Pro-America and Anti-America. How could it be any American would wish the ways of Extreme Muslim on our native soil? That idea is the antithesis of the “American Way,” yet unprovoked violence still continues in America. Is it that most Americans use a “gut instinct” to determine their political views? This was reiterated in the media concerning presidential candidates. “Is it important how much intellectual knowledge the President or Vice-President has if they are able to make lucid, heart-felt decisions under pressure and stand by them?” It is a reasonable point, but in light of America’s deepening economic burden it would seem the American people deserve more. Our crisis has moved past the Bay of Pigs. We are not worrying about the threat of the invasion of Communism by Russians. We are worried about financial corruption in our own backyards. The Capitalist system most Americans depend upon on a daily basis is in jeopardy. It seems this is what it takes to bring an ongoing problem in the federal government to light. Until economic issues effect Americans directly, they will not respond. The decade of “feeding candy to the baby is over.” No longer can the Bush regime administer insulin shots to pacify the “snake.” America no longer can continue issuing temporary anodynes to the public in place of sound economic solutions. What is interesting is the vehicle upon which these false prophecies have ridden. Propaganda. George Orwell’s prophecy of Newspeak has come true, and as Rupert Murdoch continues to buy American media pathways of honesty in reporting the news will continue to become obscured. Has it finally occurred that this evil practice will effect everyone, the rich and the poor? Is this what it takes, or will the “powers at be,” the ones with the money will continue to let America spiral into a black hole to be judged by Jesus in God’s second appearance on earth? All eyes seem to look toward that day of judgment. Is there any way to change the immediate path of destiny and circumnavigate biblical prophecy? If we in this lifetime want to continue on a path of human proportions, we will have to come to grips with our own shortcomings and find a solution soon, lest God come and strike us down. Can we not prove prophecy anachronistic, at least for the moment?

Clouding the Issue of Socialism

If Americans were to judge the validity of the federal government’s recent bailout of Wall Street by the media, they would think it was a good thing. Certainly there was no news coverage that favored a negative view of the bailout. Does that not suggest that media in America today only is propaganda for the federal government, or is it propaganda for something else? Wall Street perhaps? That is a fitting example seeing as after decades of independent operation the Wall Street Journal flinched and was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. Has anyone stopped to think the Wall Street bailout by Americans’ tax dollars was not a good idea? That is because it was spun. The Wall Street credit bailout was instigated by the loss of homes via high risk mortgages designed by Wall Street minds. There was no accountability for the loss, only faint echoes of more strenuous federal regulation in the future. There was no Grand Jury hearing. There were no public trials for corruption. There were no media exposes of deviant financial doings. That hopefully all is to come. Hopefully the scourge of Wall Street, the greedy tendencies, and the irresponsible mortgages will be exposed so America can continue buying homes. Was the Wall Street bailout a good thing, or are we continuing to do the same thing Bush economics have done for the last eight years. Did the federal government bailout Enron? What did the federal government do in the Savings and Loan Scandal? How was it the House of Representatives fervently rejected the bailout one day, and a day later the legislation “passed Congress.” There was not apparent media coverage of what words were changed, who in the House changed their vote, or how the bailout specifically would help America. It only was a bailout, a re-filling of the credit coffers to get money moving again, money that Americans do not own. Credit. Liquidity. Our country has been operating under the guise of “credit” for over a decade now, and the jig is up. The Wall Street bust was a necessary Check and Balance for an economy gone awry, and it should not have been stymied by a simplistic token bandaid.

The Berlin Wall Has Fallen and the Cold War is Over

Trying to shed the dead skin of a bygone era is difficult. With what are we left to try to distinguish our existence? When traditional boundaries are broken, although new realms may appear, we are faced with the daunting task of continuing to define ourselves in anachronistic views. With the Cold War over, how is America to define herself? The metaphor of the coyboy and the Indian, while ironically appropriate, is not substantial enough to define America in modern times. Extreme Islam has clouded our fish water, and America is left squirming beached on the shore. Shouts of “Socialist” at Barack Obama’s recent campaign rally’s raise a necessary point in understanding the infrastructure of a Capitalist society. It would seem America is a childish naïve country a percentage of the age of the rest of the world’s nations. Although founded upon idealistic political principals the real history of the United States is dotted with controversial socio-political policies. That aside Americans should try to understand the sub-structure of Capitalism needs to be shored up, because the founding forces of big business are failing. The once stable free market system is teetering on its very brink of existence. American can not and should not be defined as a free range where people can get rich, although this is a common misperception. Without a business infrastructure that is honest it would be difficult for anyone to make money. The federal government, Wall Street pundits, and political candidates are shouting about “liquidity” never taking the time to explain that if Americans don’t have money they can’t spend it. This simple fact has been clouded in the recent decade just like the defining principals of America. If we can’t understand and redefine who we are as a country in the eyes of the world, can we attempt to understand the Capitalist system? It seems it should be the other way around. Capitalism once used to be the guiding light of personal prosperity. It was a system that allowed the oppressed to rise up, work hard, and prosper. Over time and under the Bush administration that has changed. The Cold War ended and a new generation began, and we have yet to come to terms with it. It could be defined Generation Jihad. It could be the metaphor of the cowboy and the Indian is still applicable, but it is more difficult to understand when “evil” is disguised. America is guilty of murdering her native people, and that alone gives us a clouded history. Slowly over time we are developing a newfound respect for Native American’s erasing a once popular depiction of the foundation of simplistic America. George Bush, with his simplistic views, still is trapped in this anachronistic definition. Any “superpower” must attempt to understand with globalization America has become multi-cultural, and proceeding stereotypes of “good guys” and “bad guys” have become obscured. The mainstream has disappeared or at least become disguised because America has not been successful redefining herself. The federal government has not engaged the American people to do so, because they do not care about the American people. Capitalism in the last decade has only exploited the American people leaving a vast chasm between Washington and Americans. The foundations of our country have been subverted by Wall Street. Why is this? The answer is multifold. Salaries have not keep up with inflation. Manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to India and China. Moving money around Wall Street has taken over as the major determinate of Gross National Product. Somewhere in the last decade making money America’s traditional way with factories has been replaced with “moving money around Wall Street.” Prudent companies kept their stock private immunizing them from the negative consequences of Wall Street hawking. Wasn’t this a more favorable example for Capitalism? It has been repeated in the recent presidential campaign the GNP has become determined by consumer spending, not the value of what we export and sell. If this is the case and consumer’s no longer have “liquidity” or “credit,” the GNP will plummet rendering what appears to be a recession. Although the last decade has defied the concept, Americans cannot and should not be able to spend money they do not have. It also has been repeated on talk shows that small businesses without access to credit cannot function. “It takes money to make money.” Does this not go against the grain of the concept of Capitalism and mean underneath the disguise of Capitalism we always have been a socialist nation? If you ask any employee of the Post Office, the military, or town hall what they believe, they could say we are a Socialist nation. Recent survey’s have shown the federal government does employee a great majority of Americans, but the Capitalist market remains free to those with entrepreneurial tendencies. Most Americans do not learn business practices in school. Not every American wants to wake up everyday and be forced to “sell soap” as Chevy Chase would say. Some of us are not Capitalist’s at heart and want to enrich our lives with art and the finer things in nature. We don’t think about money everyday. Why do such extreme stereotypes such as drug addicted hippies in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco have to represent this view? Americans have been spoiled by the laying of groundwork by honest Capitalistic Americans, and that systematically has been dismantled during the Bush Administration. 9/11 has attempted to redefine America, and it has succeeded. It is only that both governmental leadership and the American people have not succeeded in arriving at a new definition. It is difficult. What we should understand is that the traditional values of America should and still stand. Education for our youth, health care and social policies, good jobs, quality of life, low inflation, national security. All of these things should usurp the negative issues that are dominating media. Racism was a social ill confronted decades ago, and America is grown up enough to have settled that issue. With globalization such a highly-prized commodity in government and big business, the necessity of social programs to deal with the consequences should become paramount. The federal government is spoiled with no real understanding of their role in leading America. The cloudiness will only begin to clear when such issues are discussed in an open forum.

Pro-America or Anti-America, a Simplification?

Listening to Keith Olbermann blast from his soapbox about Sarah Palin tonight struck a nerve. Nothing in his tone gave me the idea that America could unify. In fact he seemed like an evil, greedy, peddler hawking his tonic on a dusty road in the 1800’s. “My tonic is best for all your ills,” and it turns out only to be liquor. I don’t know much about Sarah Palin, but I can understand Keith’s viewpoint. Maybe she is a soccer mom, and that is meant to be her addition to the tired and geriatric McCain campain. Certainly no one thinks the two of them would work together in any capacity after the election. That is not the way the American political system works. Al Gore said the veep job was the loneliest time of his life, and I believe it. When both candidates were soliciting Vice Presidential running mates, the majority of senior politicians irrevocably said, “No.” She was a token choice for a token job, disregarding the small point that if the president gets shot, she would become the President of the United States. It has happened, and some people believe Barack Obama is setting himself up for the same fate. Is bigoted America soaked in the blood of the Klu Klux Klan ready for a half-black president? I would have thought a woman would have achieved it first. Joe Biden and the secret service have to be cognizant of the possibility. Assassination is always a possibility, and as the first African-American president, he should be prepared. His image on the screen in front of all those needy Americans eerily is reminiscent of a Martin Luther King rally. With the recent loss of the American mainstream, who can say who is Pro-America and who is Anti-America? After sitting in the living room listening to Keith and watching new coverage of the election, I can only feel that I am Anti-American. I have watched the “ConditionofAmerica” drastically wane in the last 8 years to what seems like a point of no return. The electing of Barack Obama does not instill faith in me that things will change. Whatever these powers are that have led America down the path of unrighteousness are not going away. I assume they are the ones that still have the money, the “Old Money.” With the credit gone and lack of mobility of a younger generation of entrepreneurs, who else is standing there waiting to take the purse strings of America? “Old Money.” I am surrounded by it everyday, and it makes me sick. It is not based on intellect. It is not based on entrepreneurial concepts. It is not based on Christian faith. It is based upon blood money, the mob, violence, intimidation, terrorism, and oppression. Why do I feel Anti-American? I feel Anti-American because I feel oppressed by our socio-economic system. Does that mean I am a Socialist? The answer is yes, because although this system can become distorted and corrupt like any system that is abused, it is all ready the case in America. Who does not know this? The government employs over 50% of the people in America. Technically the definition of Socialism is governmental ownership of the means of production. It seems in these unstable times “regulation” or the overseeing of private industry and business will return. Once in this country this was common and necessary. Our recent political regime reversed that process, and look what happened. Without going into the myriad of unconstitutional legislation that has been enacted in the Bush administration, America has been steered down a dark and menacing alley dotted with evil. There is not one federal policy that seems it is looking out for mainstream America. They conversely have been implemented to serve the rich. How, looking at a man that raises 180 million dollars in one month, can Americans believe Barack Obama has the common man in mind? I have no health care. I have no retirement. I have what America is offering the majority of Americans. Is this going to change? Am I suddenly going to be offered affordable health insurance after Barak Obama becomes president? Is that massive private system based upon raising money for the wealthy suddenly just going to turn over and, “Fess up the drugs?” I think not. I have not heard one concrete idea in this campaign that suggests how millions of uninsured Americans will find proper health insurance and therefore care. Hillary didn’t know either, but at least she was passionate about the cause. I am Anti-America, because I no longer can remember what America was like when it cared about her people. I can’t remember when there was quality programming on television. I can’t remember when there used to be a corner drugstore. I can’t remember when it was not a crime to ride a skateboard on a public sidewalk or on government property. I can’t remember when teachers were well-paid and respected members of society. Now they are afraid for their lives when they enter the classroom. I can’t remember when there were no AC Traction diesel locomotives causing hum and vibration in the air. Pro-America? I am a musician and a composer, and I see nothing on a daily basis that motivates me to do anything other than sit on my ass and hate America. Should I feel differently?

Can You Smell the B.O.?

The recent presidential political campaign is an eyesore. It seems as it is unfolding in cyberspace like a big horrible video game. Characters move, strategies are formed, and conclusions are reached, but there is no soul. How is it a black man could seem soul-less? The black man through the slavery experience is the soul of America. Although the British invasion of Rock ‘n’ Roll brought a different kind of retrospective Tory and Wig soul to America, the black man through jazz music gave America her soul. The disappearance of New Orleans from the map of cultural America along with the soiling of American pop music through mind-numbing propaganda has left America soul-less. There is no way possible Japanese video games, trash television, and a blatant disregard for the infrastructure of this county by presidential politicians can instill a sense of security in in these insecure times. All that can be hoped for is a shallow denial and blind allegiance to a man that seems to in epic terms define what America is looking for in a leader. It is true no matter what pundits say, we do not know Barack Obama. It is true he has not had the experience in office in the public eye to prove the American people can trust his judgment. He is such a schizophrenic image, how is anyone to know what he will do? Typically mainstream America considers his education “Ivy League,” and it is. Are we expected to, for this presidential campaign only, to suspend our stereotype of Ivy League business tycoons? We can’t fault a black man for doing well for himself in a mostly white America, but where do his interests lie? Taking off the jacket and tie and rolling up the sleeves is a common campaign device meant to appeal to the “down home folk.” Jimmy Carter did it. Barack Obama has in his favor the black vote, because everyone knows there will be nary a black man who will vote for a white candidate given the choice of a black man first. It is a stereotype, but some stereotype are true. North Carolina will prove the point. Hillary lost, because there are a lot of blacks in North Carolina. I can’t get past the idea that this man did remarkably appear from seeming nowhere and was propelled into the campaign from some unknown source in California. Barack who? He is like Beck, who won a Grammy award for “Two turntables and a microphone” with no prior exposure in mainstream music America. Can America trust such an entity with their sole fate? It is difficult to get past this. I was a Hillary supporter, and I was comfortable with that because we knew who she was. We don’t know Barack Obama. We know John McCain a little better, but what they are saying in continued sound bytes isn’t telling anyone how they are going to help the state of America. Only Bill Clinton was intelligent enough and cared enough about the job to be able to express concrete concepts concerning the inner workings of our social, political, and economic systems. I am still waiting to hear a remote hint of a substantial idea. Is this the way all presidential campaigns have been in the past, or has the sheer ignorance of television programming just severely lowered the bar? I think the latter is true, because I can’t watch television anymore. Not only can I not look at the made up faces with their hair and make up, but I can’t listen to the annoying whine of Katie Couric’s voice. Is this who we chose to which to listen on the evening news? Does anyone even watch the news anymore? It is the theatre of the absurd, where life relishes the weak and misguided. We as overweight uneducated Americans revel in our mediocrity, and take what is dished out on national television. It is an abomination and the presidential candidates should aspire to give us more.

SIDS and the Second Great Depression

Recently a Kaiser Permanente study confirmed running a fan in a room where a baby sleeps reduces the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It is alarming that such a simple safeguard, putting a fan in a baby’s room, can increase their chances of living by 75%. Additionally pediatricians concluded other simple safeguards can help. Putting a baby on its back, opening a window, and buying a firm mattress for the crib also decrease the risk of SIDS. Drugs are not needed. There are no cumbersome prescriptions. In fact the pharmaceutical industry need not be involved. Is this the current state of the medical profession in America today? It took almost a decade for them to figure out home grown country doctor cures can save a baby’s life? It almost parallels the discrepancy in the American economy. All the Wall Street hype cannot save a country. What can? Only honesty. Thank God with the changing of the guard in the White House right around the corner, the smoke is beginning to clear. Almost two decades of smoke and mirrors have crippled the world’s superpower, and for what? Personal monetary gain. The world would be a lonely place with no people. People come from babies. Maybe if we have begun to care about babies again, we will begin to care about American adults. Simple solutions have been available the entire time George Bush has been in office, yet systematically they have been circumnavigated. Some believe there are simple holistic cures for cancer, including Dr. Lorraine Day. Others feel if cancer is cured, like a simple budget in a business, money allotted for its study will be lost. What is more important, saving the lives of the American people or empowering the wealthy through deceptive paper trails? It seems as the “Second Great Depression” might just be the Fight Club America has needed. Finally the bullshit has reached such mass proportions it can no longer sustain itself, and ironically enough there is nothing left to sustain it. The "credit" has been squandered irresponsibly. American salaries have not kept up with the cost of living, and the jobs that once produced those salaries have been outsourced. We have no economic infrastructure. It long has been known America's ports are full of incoming goods, but there is a stark lack of any product going out. NAFTA was the precursor of this tragedy, and it was one of Bill Clinton’s worse failures. As a result the peso collapsed under the stress of Wall Street's predictions of grand profits based upon cheap labor. Unfortunately South American society was not ready for assembly line work. Similarly India and China have shown signs of a similar phenomenon. While China’s socio-political system did decide to invest in its own middle class, America pedaling American goods out of factories in Asia is not that easy. Wouldn’t it have been better to keep America’s jobs in America for Americans? It seems corporate executives decided the salaries and benefits Americans deserved and demanded through labor unions were too high a price to pay. Instead they abandoned their own work force that once bought their products in favor of a newer potential superpower. Globalization emerged. Fuck America. Now it has backfired in grandiose fashion and Tyler Durden is laughing his ass off. Because there is no credit left America magically will be transformed into a "who can make it in a free market and who can’t" socio-economic system. Long live the Republic! Nuts and bolts now are the issue of America, and it is refreshing. No more cattle futures, stock portfolios, and mutual funds. It will be Glenn Miller, “Po Boy Sandwiches,” and Hoover Boxes. We can dispense with the financial dribble and get back to life. Isn’t it grand?

Conditions of the U.S. Economy

If I read one more news story about the worsening United States economy I think I will explode. For eight long years we have listened to the hyperbole of President George Bush. It has taken eight long years for the populace finally to, with the force of reality, see his hypocritical agenda. With a smooth Texas drawl, a naive "Good Old Boy" demeanor, and sheer will single-handedly he brought this nation to its knees. Not only were we in our modern era privy to belligerent terrorist attacks on our native soul, our capitalistic economic system was forced to fail. The quintessential foundations of our country were skewed, misrepresented, and purposely disguised for personal monetary gain. The democracy and republic now truly will be tested. Will America stand up for their rights, or will we continue to sit complacent on the sidelines devouring fast food, fast television, fast internet, and immediate gratification? Our educational system tragically has failed at its core level leaving America's younger generation flailing in debauchery. The words on CNN ring true, finally. "Are we asking our young people to die for our country with no understanding or responsibility for what our country is?" Yes. Unless the elderly concede to "pass the spoils" of responsibility to our youth, then the country will continue to fail. As the humorous adage insinuates, "You cannot drag a trailer behind a hearse." Even consent to pass wealth to the younger generation is not enough to save education. Our economy isn't understood. How can any politician fix the economy if they do not posses the intellectual skills to understand it at an aesthetic level? Simply put PRODUCTS MUST BE PRODUCED AND SOLD FOR A PROFIT FOR CAPITALISM TO SUSTAIN. The United States must begin producing goods and services for export. No longer can Republican corporate mongers speculate about the rewards of the "Asian Market." China and India themselves are not politically strong enough to support an independent Free Market system. The East is littered with clan-like religious, social, political behaviors that fail to transcend simple human weakness. Without a higher vision of quality of life based upon a Christian work ethic, Capitalism will fail. Greed, lust, and hatred seem to be too strong among the populaces of the world.

The Modern Juke Box

Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Ludwig von Beethoven all had differing style periods. It stands to reason over a lifetime of experiences things change. You grow as a person and an artist. The world changes, and the artist/musician must adapt. Many people do not know that twelve tone serialist Arnold Schoenberg began his composing career squarely in the Romantic Period. His Gurrelieder is a an epic oratorio with none of the clangerous tone clusters of Milton Babbit, but it is a far departure from his serial works. Stravinsky too dabbled in the twelve tone row and like Schoenberg finally established a style that people could mistake for no other. America’s style periods desperately are awaiting a change, as is the country. While Barack Obama recently became the Democrats pillar of change, there has yet to emerge a reckoning force in the field of popular music. Maybe it is because television has set the wrong example for true change in music. Nowhere in the history of America was music trite. Music like life was a pinnacle of effort embodying the struggle for survival. Tabloid television single handedly has undermined the potential for viable popular music, because like Karioke it has suggested music is nothing more than a passing fad. It is something youngsters do to pass the time. George Gershwin didn’t feel that way. In Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the century the piano was the center of attention in American families. There was a desire and need for good piano music that could be played in the parlor. As a result of this demand the American songbook developed at the hands of Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, and Hoagy Carmichael just to name a few. The demand for music is what created the product. Tabloid television has lowered the standard of demand setting the wrong example for the proliferation of viable popular music. If the model seen on national television every week suggests becoming a musical artist is nothing more than lady luck, then who will expect more? We in America are being brainwashed and dumbed down for acceptance in and as a universal group. It’s a “group thing.” Music is being used a adolescent candy to sell other products and popularity. If anyone cares to look those products also have taken a nosedive in integrity. We with the emergence of the cell phone, iPod, and Blackberry have become a trite superficial society enamored by bells and whistles rather than the substance that should be in them. This trend began with the personal computer and not yet has ended. When the effort switched to the means rather than the idea, popular culture began to suffer. All through the decade of the 1980’s music technology flourished. Companies such as Yahama, Roland, and Korg pushed the envelope of music-producing technology. As a result the music benefited. The new sounds quickly were absorbed into the music market and became competitive. This creative and competitive drive pushed the boundaries of popular music. When the gears shifted and the personal computer industry took over, music got lost. What should be the goal of technology, to play the music cheaply or to produce it well? American Idol is playing it cheaply. America is still waiting for someone or something to produce it well.

Artistry

There are definitive downsides to being an artist or an intellectual. Being an artist means you feel things more deeply than others, or rather you have made a conscious choice to deal in the aesthetic of feeling. This viewed in the realm of modernism may seem anachronistic, but feeling a particular event used to be the building block of art. Human beings have the remarkable ability to toggle between the two separate and different sides of their brains. One is affective, a word that means dealing with emotional interpretation, and one is cognitive. Certainly it is plausible to create in depth understanding of a subject with only cognitive study. To create an artistic rendering of that understanding is different. That could be considered talent, this spiritual affectation that belies easy definition. The human soul that utilizes the affective side of the brain is a large synthesizer that is affected by experiences. This is what allows us to become educated by making mistakes and learning from their consequences. To say the least after years of service the soul can become plagued or taxed, and that could be mental illness. It stands to reason after years of abuse or negative synthesis, the mechanism that controls response can become loose causing short circuits. It is a daunting process to change your soul when it becomes diseased, but in the journey of life it can become necessary. Jody Foster recently starred in a movie where she witnessed a heinous crime walking with her boyfriend. It was tragic and as tragedy does demanded her bereavement process. While often times this process accompanies a death in the family, it too can be triggered by other losses in one’s life. It could be said growth or wisdom can come from completing and understanding the bereavement process. In her situation the bereavement process along with her unchanging environment were strong enough to cause her mental duress. It is easily understood, because the soul is a fragile vessel and needs nurturing. Needless to say America does not provide the type of kid gloves necessary to survive easily when this happens. Our Capitalist socio-economic system is rigid and unchanging as our lives become. When our existence in it becomes soiled thus it is not easily cleansed. To cleanse our souls sometimes we need to shed our skins and start anew, and that means changing ourselves. As Jody did in this movie, she simply changed and became a different person. This might be the easiest way to jump start a weeping soul, which comically is reinforced by the notion that electro-shock therapy actually helps an ailing mind. There can reach a point when the human soul can take no more. On a much smaller scale crying can relieve some of this tension, but after years of negative reinforcement releasing water through the eyes may not be enough anymore. Artists have chosen a difficult vocation, because it requires that one harbor and store a lifetime of affective experiences. There can be a time when those experiences become anachronistic. In a nutshell the passing of enough times renders the experiences out of date or not relevant to the current time period. Modernization could be considered this sometimes difficult process of attempting to purge your soul of expired emotional data. After all one cannot continue to carry garbage forever. The trucks of our souls simply are not large enough.

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina

President’s Bush’s recent visit to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to inspect personally the barracks conditions that were posted on You Tube is but a drop in the bucket. When BRAC generals arrive in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the southern town grown hydrophonically on Interstate I-95, they equally will be as disappointed. BRAC commissions are scrambling to try to prepare for the onslaught. Bragg Boulevard, the main thoroughfare from Ft. Bragg to downtown, is going to be closed. Highway 13, a rural road that leads to Greenville, is going to be extended across the base. All ready the military installation is ripping at the seams. Chain link fences have been put up. Razor wire is coiled along the perimeters of official looking compounds. They moved “Iron Mike,” the seminal statue of military men hoisting the American Flag, from along Bragg Boulevard to somewhere inside the camp. Most of the inhabitants of Fayetteville don’t know what the hell is going on. For years and years they have lived there with full access to the military base. It was part of Fayetteville, and Fayetteville was a part of it. There were no boundaries. The city built the All American Expressway so people could get home from work faster. It was a huge vast expanse of sandy pine trees, and there was no need to disguise this was where army soldiers train. Most of the residents of Fayetteville were either actively enlisted or veterans of the military. It was part of their family. Now with the recent surge in terrorist activity, Ft. Bragg has been buttoned down. Once open throughways now are flanked by surveillance kiosks. No longer can you motor to the PX to buy cheap liquor and cigarettes. (That’s Post Exchange) No longer can you use the back roads of Ft. Bragg to travel to Pinehurst, North Carolina. (The Special Forces Command Center is out there!) Now in the modern age of terrorism the Defense Departments has seen fit haul in 30,000 more troops, batten down the hatches, and live and let live. What kind of a life is that? Thousands and thousands of military troops going and coming to Iraq, and this is what they get? The “Old Fayetteville” commission decided to clean up downtown. What once was a symbolic landscape of military extra-curricular activity became…. well? Downtown. A few restaurants and a movie theater. My, times have changed. It used to be military towns had prostitutes, strip clubs, bowling alleys, massage parlors, and chain restaurants. When did the needs of soldiers at war change? Did something suddenly happen when Corporal Brasler decided he would rather go to a coffee shop than a strip club? Did coffee suddenly become an able replacement for the need for female companionship? I don’t get it. Men fight. Men die. Men get to let off steam. Living in Right Wing Conservative America is no way to reward troops for a job well done in Iraq. Neither is shipping them back to a stench infested, back woods, suicide parlor. If we really had the best interests of our troops at heart, they would replace Fayettenam completely and start from scratch. Drug Trafficking. Gang violence. Combat. It seems if America could recognize that men want women, we wouldn’t have these problems.

Groove is in the Heart, but Really in the Body, Because Dance Comes from the Body…

Being at war with Iraq is setting precedent. When all the country reads, sees on television, or absorbs in everyday life is war, then it can become difficult to see anything else. Nature vs. Nurture simply states that we are a product of two things. One is our environment, and the other is our own learned perceptions about life. With recent dramatic developments in DNA research it has been all but proven that babies are not born with a blank slate. Genetics wouldn't mean anything as a science unless some DNA information is being “threaded” through bloodline. At a more distant time in history bloodline was important in family. It was the primary entity upon which was placed the decision for betrothal in a family. The Caste system in Indian by which recently a pregnant daughter and her husband were murdered by her own father is a good example of this desire for power through genes. Isn’t it interesting that recently celebrities such as Madonna and Angelina Jolie have dispensed with this notion that bloodline is important in forging a family? Did they never take the time to think that the genetically encoded information in their adopted children could be deviant? While saving a baby from starvation is admirable, what will be the long term ramifications of adopting a possible aberrant bloodline? There could be disease. There could be mental illness. There could be “extreme” behavior. Nature vs. Nurture is true and strong, and no matter how positive a child’s environment they are always predisposed to their preceding bloodline. That is not to say that every adopted child from a third world country will be a Frankenstein. It just means that if you are gambling with world genetics your chances of hitting a specific jackpot are less likely. With globalization, P.C., and the other slew of conservative right wing ideas flourishing today, it seems no one has taken the time to pontificate the possible problems of combining cultures and therefore bloodlines. While there is nothing wrong with multi-racial interaction and it should be applauded, it seems care should be taken in examining the inherent possibilities of mixed blood. Immediate gratification today has overcome almost every possibility of sustaining tradition in the United States. It really is like we are on the plains of the Wild West shooting from the hip. Are we that desperate for our survival? Schooling attempts to teach society a set of rules that have been shaped over time by others. They attempt to allow us to circumvent grievous mistakes by learning what can happen in the future if we are not prudent. The recent change of economic infrastructure in the United States has taken its toll on our traditional sense of values. How could it not when changing technology says, “You are no longer qualified to work in our company. Your skills are obsolete.” This is a ludicrous notion, and the quest for “smallness” has all but suffocated our society. Dad’s are losing their jobs, and we are shrinking what used to be our American lives into nutshells. If they make personal computers any smaller, we will have to miniaturize ourselves next to be able to use them. What is this quest to shrink the proportions of human life? Who cares how small a P.C. can become if the human being is going to remain the same size for centuries? Are we as Americans going to be subjected to body wrapping to inhibit the growth of our trunks? One reason why I refuse to use a cell phone is because the buttons are too small for human hands and fingers. Who decided this was the appropriate ergonomic model? Squint and use a needle to write E-Mails? No thanks. There was nothing wrong with the world’s traditional model of existence, and when we run out of petroleum and food it will be of no consequence how small a computer chip is. What will be important is how to grow food, build adequate sustainable shelter from the elements, and how to continue our own bloodline in the face of seeming insurmountable odds. This is what the settlers in Jamestown had to do, and the Lost Colony proves it is not an easy task. True Native Americans having braved the elements in primitive living may have been more qualified to survive. There have been many science fiction movies that depict the future state of America. Waterworld, A-1, Mad Max, and the Terminator all attempt to project an image of America in the not to distant future. All of these movies suggest world supplies of food and fuel will run out, and we will be left at the mercy of Mother Nature. It seems we might begin now trying to work with her than against her.

American Music War

No one in the band seems to know what swing is. They think that syncing to a machine is what music is all about. They don’t realize you can “loosen up,” have a drink, and relax when you play music. Instead the feeling is antagonistic. On the bandstand no one seems to want to cooperate. The drummer clearly says, “Don’t talk to me during the set.” Don’t talk to him when he is playing? You are playing a “pick up,” improvisatory, informal set of music, and the drummer says you can’t talk to him while we are playing the set. “It’s spiritual man. Like wow, Jesus is speaking to me through my music, and we wouldn’t want to interrupt Jesus.” Bullshit. This completely negates the entire purpose of jazz music, communication. It completely reinforces the inappropriate concept of ego. In the field of jazz music, the only way to create a coherent sound is to listen to one another. Unfortunately this is a lesson novice musicians don’t learn for years. “Let’s all stand on stage and scream at each other without listening to what the other person is saying.” Maybe in a slim definition of the Avant-Garde you could get away with this. In the intimate setting of acoustically realized art music, this is unacceptable. I learned how to be a good piano player by learning to listen. I stopped trying to think what to play with my brain and instead began listening to the music as it happened. This way you engage the part of your brain that is responsible for instinctual learning. If you listen to what is happening in context with a large arsenal of historical sonic knowledge, then you will know what to play. It will present itself to you. As the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared.” I was unpleasantly shocked when I began working on cruise ships. No one listened. No one cared what you played. They just want to get laid. Fuck you. It took many years to realize that I could no longer listen to the members of the band with which I was playing! Are you listening? Stop listening! Everything they play will be a hindrance or deterrent to the creation of viable jazz. Everything they play will be a challenge, a duel, or a threat to your own salvation. Welcome to the Wild West of Cruise Ship work. I had to stop drinking, because now if the music wasn’t in your brain and your fingers, you couldn’t play it. It didn’t matter that it was in your soul and psyche. Those things don’t exist working on a cruise ship. Slowly I learned to expect the worst. The bands wouldn’t swing. No one knew tunes. No one could improvise over chord changes. Worst of everyone seemed to think the concept of “styles of music” was passé. It became music war, and that is what it has been every since.

Jazz

I tend to forget, because I am an older man, “swinging” has always been something of an elusive art. Miles Davis said it. “You either have it or you don’t.” Duke Ellington said it. “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” Miles said, “Playing with a drummer that doesn’t swing is like death.” With all these things in mind it would be easy to understand why the gamut of cruise ship musicians don’t swing. There has always been a feud between the jazz and classical camps at music school. Even at major universities each aesthetic seems to battle for its own worthiness. That is ludicrous, because jazz music would not exist without its European counterpart. Because jazz is art music, and art music is complex it incorporates all of the things upon which European “classical” music are based. Form, harmony, melody, and rhythm are equally as important in both vernaculars. The difference is jazz music “swings.” What is this elusive thing? Swing is a feel. It is a definition of rhythm that feels good. It is not strict. It is not oppressive. Swing by nature infects rhythm with a feeling embodied in the human body and soul. Without the experiences and feelings of the human being, jazz would not exist. While it can be documented in manuscript, it cannot be composed. Not really. Charles Mingus, Fletcher Henderson, Oliver Nelson, and Gil Evans were pretty successful composing jazz music, but without the rhythmic interpretation provided by the jazz musician the music would not swing. Therefore it can’t be jazz. Many “new school” musicians would argue with that. They constantly ask, “What is jazz?” and usually clarify their opinion by saying it is “anything.” That is ridiculous. While labels in music can be discriminatory, labels are needed to define components of an aesthetic. There are many sciences. There are many languages. Hence it is logical to assume there are many styles of music. Calling jazz “anything and everything” relieves the musician of the responsibility of understanding and learning a specific style of music. Defining a style of music is not rocket science. First the shallow depiction of music on the radio and television today has to be dispelled. It might be easiest to use the major “style” periods of European orchestrs music. It would be difficult for a new school music pundit to dispute the history of Western music. Broadly defined there was Medieval Music, Renaissance Music, Baroque Music, Classical Music, Romantic Music, and 20th Century Music. Each of these types of music was different from the others, and they have to be classified according to some definitions. Form, phrasing, articulation, counterpoint, harmony, texture, color, mood, and tempo are a few. Why cannot we use the same definitions for jazz music? I like to think of jazz music as, “A swing-based improvisatory music based upon the 32 bar A-A-B-A form American popular song and the 12 bar blues.” While there are symphonic types of jazz (such as Charles Mingus’s Epitaph) and many big band repertoires, this describes what jazz musicians play in a small group. They must learn the melody and chord changes of a song, then learn to “improvise” a new melody over the existing chord changes. This “solo” has the capability to be a work of art in itself as John Coltrane showed in his music. A “solo” in jazz music can be akin to telling a story. That is an easy way to describe it. Dexter Gordon was good at doing this. While Miles Davis did push the boundaries of this definition, it is a good place to start. To understand the gamut of jazz music you must start from the beginning in the l920’s and move forward. There isn’t an easy way to jump in. Like any art form you must have a clear understanding of what came first to be able to understand what comes later. Miles shaped jazz music in three distinct ways pushing its boundaries. He like many jazz musicians got tired of playing “tunes.” He conceived the “Cool School” where jazz music takes on a reflective refined state. (Some say this was a reaction to the boisterous rhythms of Charlie Parker’s, Dizzy Gillespie’s, and Thelonious Monk’s bebop) Miles also brought “modality” into the harmonic spectrum. This superimposed one scaler sound over what would normally be a progression of differing chord changes. Again this creates a type of pastoral soothing Eastern vibration. Further Miles dispensed with “swing” rhythm all together and created “fusion.” Fusion was a type of rock jazz that used elements of music that began to be popular with the inception of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He liked Sly and the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix and often credits them with influencing his music. Obviously these influences change the early definition of jazz music. Like any good thing it needs to expand and evolve. For novice musicians they often find the burden of learning standard tunes unmerited. “Why can’t I just go out on stage and play?” The answer is without some substance in your playing, who is going to want to listen to you? Young, dumb, and full of c-m is not really enough in a vocation as complex as music. While there is an improvisational and therefore spiritual component of jazz music, it is not enough to carry a musician through a successful journey of jazz music. Using the earlier definition of jazz makes the jazz players job more clear. He is a singer of songs. Just like a vocalist would try to communicate the message and feeling of a particular song through their singing, an instrumentalist attempts to do the same thing except with no words. To be a successful jazz musician you have to know songs, lots of songs. You must KNOW the songs, therefore have memorized or learned the songs by heart. You cannot create authentic jazz music when you are reading music out of a book, because there are too many obstacles in the way of your own communication. You must learn the fundamentals first and well to be free enough to express your own opinion in music. With all of this definition the notion of “swing” rhythm still is obscure. It might be one reason why jazz is an art form. You can’t necessarily to to music school to learn to play jazz music. You must experience it first hand. Seeing as jazz music developed in the brothels and on the streets of New Orleans, how is a modern jazz student going to learn his craft? It has always been listening to the recordings. Luckily the recording industry began in the l920’s in America, and someone thought jazz music was worthy enough to be documented aurally. Quintessentially it is the only true way to document jazz music because of the swing feeling. Many people believe jazz music is the music of the devil. Both Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia felt jazz music represented some heathen culture. They were not acquainted with the raw, primitive, tribal custom of Africa. The feeling of jazz or its rhythmic feel came from the tribal heritage of African drumming. Gunther Schuller, a past president of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, was the first to notate the rhythm of this African drumming. It is notable because it is the first known-to-be-documented example of polyrhythm. That simply means that although the drummers are playing together, they are playing in differing time signatures. The magic that all of these feels work at the same time is what creates one type of magic in jazz music. Now that we have defined jazz music somewhat it can be easily understood a musician with a ‘traditional’ university music education may have no clue how to play jazz music. The aesthetic is completely different from the art form of playing orchestral-based music. Because American popular music recognizes jazz as a major component of its heritage, it equally should be taught in our nation’s music schools. Without that education modern commercial musicians severely are lacking in the skills they need to be successful. A traditional orchestra music education fails greatly teaching the variety of necessary styles inherent in American commercial music. Cruise lines should draw a line in the sand and require a comprehensive and diverse knowledge of musical styles stemming from the jazz experiences. Otherwise, like the rest of America, the oppressive front of the Extreme Right will continue to brainwash our senses with tight ass, conservative, unfeeling propaganda.

Cruise Criminals of Music

There are two shows. One is called “Piano Man.” Although you are the piano player in the band, you are not the “Piano Man.” Another cruise line you have worked for also had a show called “Piano Man.” The music was better, but the lead trumpet player sat directly in front of you with his bell pointed at your head. He did not swing. All of his figures were syncopations playing off the beat. Your job as a piano player is to play “on the beat.” When the loudest instrument in the band is playing right in your ear “off the beat,” it is not easy to do your job as the “Piano Man.” Most people would quit. This new “Piano Man” is the male production singer. He sits at the acoustic piano much of the time, but the M.D. fails to tell you if he plays or not. For the first half of the contract the sound engineer does not mike his piano, so you play his “Piano Man” parts on your digital piano. When the sound man changes the new engineer mikes his piano. He comes to you in a panic and says there is a “chorusing” effect. (He also is a keyboard player) It is created because you and the “Piano Man” are playing the same parts. No one could ever hear this before, because they didn’t mike the real “Piano Man’s” piano. To solve the problem you instigate a meeting with the “Piano Man,” and ask him what he is playing. You write this in on your music and begin to leave out what he plays. This should have been done on the first tech run of the show five months ago. The M.D. that “brought out the ship” failed to do this creating havoc for five months between the “Piano Man” and you. The second show is pop/opera, and is a gay romp. The grooves are all electronica. The drummer in the pit is using a Roland V-Drum kit. He does not use any of the sounds that are recorded on the tracks. He uses a live high hat with electronic cymbals. It is not miked. He never studied the grooves on the tracks, and plays like a machine. He should have been fired. Your most difficult music in this show is Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s opera Turandot. It is an aria. (In opera there are two types of singing. Recitative is spoken language set to music. It is linear, florid, and continuous. Aria is more sedate and expressive. Its rhythm is like a hymn.) It is extremely unusual to use an aria in a commercial production show. The reason is chamber and orchestral music are expressive and breathe. Commercial music relies upon a groove. To realize an aria in a commercial context with a CLICK TRACK, all of the changes in tempo (rubato) must be calculated and programmed into the computer. In this production show City of Dreams understanding and playing these tempo markings in Nessun Dorma was the major task of the piano player. There was only one simple line of melody to play, but there were tempo changes every two beats of music. This is the most unconventional music notation conceivable, and no commercial keyboard player in a pit orchestra of a production show should ever be required to do this. Doing this means you must memorize over thirty tempo changes for one short piece of music. (This is not music) No musician in history has ever been required to do this. After attempting to follow a rubato click track completely exposed with two vocalists that have no click track, you’re required to play a techno synthesizer part with the bass playing off beats to your downbeats. Like the “Piano Man” show where the lead trumpet player is playing his syncopations in your ear off your beat one, this bass player is doing the same thing. It is commonplace in ship production show writing to use the piano player as the metronome. The arranger does not use a live piano player to record the keyboard parts in the studio. Instead they program the keyboard parts with the computer using a standard MIDI file extraction from their notation program. It is left untouched or quantized with a specific rhythmic feel generating a Casio Drum Machine type feel. The feeling of live music does not exist in the track, and the arranger requires that the other live players record to this track negating the possibility of any real musical interaction. This stiff, sterile, uncompromising music erroneously has begun to set the standard for commercial music production in America. Because there are only three venues of live music left in the vocation of music (Broadway, the military, and cruise ships) cruise ship work has taken over as the major trend. With the influx of Disney into the Broadway orchestra pit, live music production has suffered. The use of a computer in music production has ruined the craft of music in a few short years. Jazz music, the underground, renegade, and rebellious music of Bourbon Street brothels, is what created art in music in America. It added humanity to an aesthetic that easily can become nationalistic propaganda. America was the unique place that allowed this music to come to fruition. The flooding of New Orleans and the subsequent loss of American musical heritage greatly is effecting the temperament of the nation. The drugless anodyne to life’s tragedies slowly is being murdered at the expense of right wing extremism. Music quintessentially represents the human things that need to occur in life. If this magic could be incorporated into the cruise ship experience instead of a stifling bureaucratic political game of music, then it stands to reason everyone would benefit. Keeping the pleasures of music at bay because of novice movers and shakers is a crime.

Cruise Ship Gigs

When you sign on the person meant to meet you at the gangway, show you around, and get you started is new. They have no clue what to do, so as a result neither do you. They sit around smoking cigarettes. Your roommate is a French-Canadian beatnik. He smells like ass. He hangs his dirty underwear all over your closet of a room with no air conditioning. He does not shower for over a week and consequently you have to complain to the Musical Director. He gets angry when he finds out you complained about his stench. Later in the contract he cock blocks your only romantic action. You share a room, so without roommate consent you can’t get laid. The new drummer and bass player called you a homophone and a racist. The bass player is “in the closet” and is not responsible for his own sexual orientation. As a result he takes his anger and frustration out on you as well as wanting to sleep with you. You get transferred off the ship, because they decide your vibe is too “straight.” The M.D. tells you at 5:00 p.m. to pack your stuff. Your are leaving the next morning at 6:00 a.m. You are being transferred to a non-smoking ship, so you will have to quit smoking cold turkey. Most people would quit now, but you do not. You have to pay for your taxi ride from the airport to the new ship. You have to carry all your luggage by hand to the furthest berth on the dock. None of the scores of bell hops or taxi drivers offer to help you. This is your punishment for being "straight." When you sign on the ship the new M.D. thinks you are an asshole, because you are being transferred. He couldn’t care less that you are there, until you prove yourself musically. Although the band members like you because you play well, the band does not swing. This is your first encounter with pop/jazz. It takes the full month and a half to figure out what to play on the piano. You strum like a guitar. When you leave, although the band members still like you, you curse the bass player. He hears you and is offended. You will run into him again. When you get to your third ship, they are prepared for you. They have a preconceived notion you are an asshole and give you a hard time from the beginning. You almost get fired the second night of the cruise, because the guitar player runs the band. He says you have to kiss his ass. He cannot play the shows authentically, so that is why they have to ride your ass. You have one Dixieland set a cruise that kicks your ass from here to eternity, because the band doesn’t swing. (If jazz doesn’t swing, it is reggae.) The drummer takes offense to this comment, although it is true. He gives you a hard time, because you don’t play like a banjo player. In spite of all the bad playing, you shed the Dixie repertoire, transcribe some licks, and nail the set. It is the most musically difficult thing you have ever done. The tempos are blazing fast and you have to play “stride” piano and say, “Yes, massah.” The big band sets are sickly sweet, and you only have one 90 year old couple that dances. They don’t care that you can play jazz and improvise. They want Lawrence Welk. The new lead trumpet player and your roommate is an alcoholic. He drinks beer 24/7 and is drunk all the time. He rarely sleeps, although he nails the shows. His best friend is the guitar player, and of course he hates your guts. You are able to escape the carnage by developing a hernia. Because the company pays for your operation, they send you to the smallest ship. Your cabin is at the stern and over the diesel engines. When you port the entire rear of the ships shakes violently. Your roommate hates having a roommate and yells at you for not being quiet as a mouse at night. The M.D. is expecting your visit, because this happens every time. You change cabins hoping to get a smaller person, but the new drummer is your roommate. He is a large black man with racks of drum videos. He stays in the cabin 24/7 the entire time he is on the ship. You concede and let him sit there, because at least he is practicing the gig. The production shows are hard Broadway music. You have to shed them constantly. The M.D. makes you read the shows cold in full view of the rest of the band. You are humiliated, but your persevere. In spite of the suspect music, you enjoy the little ship. There are some girls to hang out with. The band on your next ship is the best. The band plays New Year’s Eve, because the “back lounge” band got fired. They videotape the gig and play it on ship’s television. The trombone player can play the trumpet like Maynard Ferguson. The two sax players are from New Orleans, but they still don’t swing. The rhythm section is the best in the fleet, before the drummer leaves. When the new guy comes, he tanks the band. He looks like Jesus and plays like a pussy. His excuse is he has beaten cancer. Luckily you sign off. The M.D. on your next ship is a manic depressive. He drinks constantly and blacks out for days at a time. He is irresponsible on the bandstand and wastes everyone’s time. He has a band of older musicians, but he can’t hand the responsible. The band is ready to explode at any moment, because the drummer plays like a pussy. (Now it is becoming a trend) He is dating the dance captain, so the cruise line will not fire him. A good band is being wasted, and everyone is frustrated. You develop another hernia from the stress and sign off. The M.D. gets yelled at by the Cruise Directo, because everyone thinks you quit. You decide to return to your first ship after the surgery to see if it is still gay. Your roommate is the only gay person in the band. You have to file a sexual harassment complaint against him after three months of hell. The band is good for an instant. You start to get attitude from the bass player and drummer like the first time. Things don’t change. You stick it out for two months. You have never been to Alaska, so you decide to take that ship. As soon as the M.D. goes on vacation the band has a good time. It is a constant party, and the band is drunk all the time. The shows are the hardest in the fleet, so you have no fun. Eventually the drummer bursts into your room drunk at three in the morning and pushes you up against the wall. He threatens you, so you decide to sign off early. The M.D. is an alcoholic and smoothes it over with the office to make it look like you are taking early vacation. Because you don’t want to “go on a long vacation” like the M.D. keeps suggesting, you do a vessel transfer. They lose your luggage, and you go over a week without clothing. The ship is docked in Jacksonville for the superbowl. You have to go to the mall to buy clothes. Jesus is the drummer. Now he is the M.D. He religiously writes down everything you say from the minute you sign on. When he gives you your evaluation when you sign off the ship, both he and the Cruise Director suggest you quit the company and become a school teacher. You change cruise lines and fly to San Diego. The ship is small and dark. The walls are paper thin, and your can hear the person turn over in the bed in the next room. Your roommate is an asshole and expects you not to breathe when you are sleeping. He has gland problems. He changes clothes five time a day. You steal wood from the carpenter’s shops to seal up the holes in the bunk beds. You stuff the remaining spaces with towels to absorb your breathing. The bass player and drummer develop an attitude and complain about you to the M.D. and Cruise Director. You have a meeting. The male production singer and the head cruise staff person are a couple. They are gay, and the C.D. is a woman. When she signs on the ship, she tells everyone to quit if they don’t like her. I did.