On the beach

Election season is driving me nuts.

I like to think of myself as relatively aware of current events, trends, contemporary politics and thought. I know I'm not the most informed citizen, and there is a certain point where logic and knowledge fail me. Just like everyone else, I have to go with my gut. Seeking humane solutions over violent ones, you know, that sort of thing.

I look at the posts in this space and how they've evolved over time. In election season 2004, there was a lot of material about debates, candidates, policy, and so forth. Since that time, I've posted primarily about rock shows, fun dollar-bin records, offbeat news, and distressing reactions to environmental problems.

It's not that I only care during election season, and the rest of the time I'm throwing my hands up in the air and saying, well, let's party. But I'd hate to think I'm succumbing to theater-as-news, campaign tactics playing out in media, and the other by-products of free discourse that we unfortunately have to endure every couple of years. (Yes, that's exactly what Gay Pastor Ted and Flailing Rush are all about, and here I am reacting to them.)

Well, then, here's something to chew on that's underrepresented in mainstream news this season. It comes courtesy of my amigo in the South Bay, who notes that Halliburton is building detention centers "in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S.", while the President has taken the power to declare martial law in the event of a "public emergency." I see.


FMFM: Time Fades Away, the "Holy Grail" of all Neil Young albums. I've had an intact copy of this, with the original poster, for at least ten years, but never quite realized how sought-after it really is. It came up in conversation this week, and I learned that there's actually a petition to release it on CD.

Although I don't really think people would show it quite so much love if it had been freely available all along, there's a lot to like on Time Fades Away. The three piano songs are all jewels, particularly "Journey Through The Past," while the electric material is wildly over-the-top, noisy, rough, out-of-tune, and passionate. Apparently it's a relic of a tour Neil himself would rather forget, but he really ought not to keep it off the market completely. (In the meantime, let's just say my copy can now be duplicated easily.)