12 February 2012
ART IS AS ART DOES....and sometimes that guy Art does some pretty fucked up shit.
11 December 2011
REGARDING THE STATE OF MUSIC TODAY...the chart toppers suck
My dad Bpops and I were having a discussion today about music...he mentioned Glee,American Idol, etc and how those entities were misguiding people...my response was "yeah, huge corporate entities are devouring music from one end as legitimate ARTISTS are building a levee on the other"(I'm paraphrasing here but you get the point). He responded by saying that he couldn't think of a time in his life that some people didn't bitch about popular music and how some small corner of the music world was better and underrated. He went on to admit that he is a fan of LADY GAGA, acknowledging that alot of her music is genius sometimes obscured by all the artifice and stage-witchery....
I do know that many people in the Augusta area dismissed THE BEATLES out of hand at first blush....technology considered, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is not that far removed from "Papparrazzi"...a catchy verse followed by a rock solid hook...it's POP music after all....and truth be told, LADY GAGA is a very skilled musician....
I have two responses to that idea....well, really three because LADY GAGA irritates me with all her bullshit costumes....so number 2-one difference between THE BEATLES in their moptop days and GAGA at any point in her career is THE BEATLES could put their hands to instruments as a UNIT and reproduce their recorded music in a live setting without much of a discernable loss in quality...by and large, LG's music is manufactured by computers(and her stupid outfits are fashioned by demons posing as people who enjoy having a laugh at their client's expense...but i'm quite sure they sell it with flurry of pixie dust,a limp wrist and a "you GO girl, that outfit is utterly FAB-O")...number 3 in my response to Bpops requires a new paragraph because I intend to ramble...
ahem....number 3-with regard to musical talent among the current crop of popular artists charting on Billboard today(less of a REAL measuring stick of musical success than it has EVER been), NONE of them has half the talent(with regard to singing,songwriting, or performance) that is contained within the membership of any number of unsigned bands in THIS town or any other in the U.S. LMFAO has become famous with the most cloying,inane and half-assed attempt at even ATTEMPTING to make something that resembles music...I'm amazed that those idiots can tie their own shoes. JUSTIN BEIBER sings Christmas songs to his "shawty"...and he's WHITE....if only I had a large explosive device I could plant in the midst of the MTV Europe Music Awards show, I'd die a happy drummer.
Now I do realize that the very same year that NIRVANA broke, NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK was a hot act....and I realize that one of the best selling artists this year ADELE is the real deal....what alarms me these days is the absence of rock and roll....the absence of GUITARS....what encourages me is the fact that the guitars have not gone silent, they are still blazing....along with real drums and drummers and vocalists that don't NEED autotune....they have found safe harbor in genres that don't bust the charts under current musical trending(the vast majority of people who proclaim themselves "music lovers" just want to fist pump and dry hump in the club....Gym,Tan,Laundry=giant orange douchebag...)...genres like Americana,Metal,Indie Rock,Punk, etc. have not forgotten the power of that gigantic open E chord....and rarely is the term "shawty" uttered there....
Stak
P.S. who else finds GAGA repulsive?...
27 November 2011
WHAT IF THE WORLD WERE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN...chapter one
25 November 2011
I WISH I COULD SLEEP...
24 November 2011
LET'S GIVE THIS A GO AGAIN....I return to the personal blog
05 June 2008
OFF TOPIC THURSDAY.........dear Gawd! it's a revolution........
Welcome to Off Topic Thursday..........each week in this space, i choose not to limit myself to the subject of AUG music......so you'll take whatever gruel i hand ya.....and you will LIKE IT...............
At home we have a wonderful relationship with NETFLIX.........between that wonderful service and the library, we never ever have to be bothered with the vast majority of the tripe that is network television.......or any other television for that matter.......the world gets dumber by the minute watching MTV..........
NETFLIX has a wonderful feature called "Watch It Now"........and through that feature a large selection of movies and media are available to watch instantly on your computer..........and since my monitor is bigger than some tv's and gets a better picture than our tv, i use it alot..........
I just watched a documentary via NETFLIX called JESUS CAMP........it is without narration of any kind........it just films these folks as they talk and allows you to form your own conclusions about the subject matter..........i sat mouth agape through most of these proceedings.........it takes the viewer into the world of evangelical christians........more specifically, it shows how their children are trained(read indoctrinated)to become "warriors" in Christ's army....you see they go to summer camp....the brainwashing that proceeds is disturbing enough.........how warped is a kid going to come out if you don't let him make up his own mind?.........but there are several things even more disturbing about this doc...........
These misguided misguiders proceed to involve American politics into the brainwashing process.........it's interesting to see a 10 year old kid spout off about what's wrong with our country...........WTF?..........how on earth does HE know?.......there is even one segment at the KIDS ON FIRE summer camp in Devil's Lake,ND(how's that shit for irony) in which a preacher brings up a life size cardboard cutout of George W. Bush(ptooey) and has the kids pray over it...........IN TONGUES!.........i have never witnessed such horse shit in my life.........and there was that other moment in which a preacher screamed at the kids for an hour about abortion..........and how GW needed to get his Supreme Court justice approved so they could end abortion in America..........these are complex issues and far beyond the understanding of children.........shit, i'm still struggling to understand alot of things.........
The film also included a segment in which a kid named LEVI(imagine that) who harbors notions of becoming a preacher one day spent time talking to Ted Haggard after a service at Haggard's mega-church in Colorado Springs......Haggard tells the kid to "use" the cute kid preacher thing until he's thirty and that by then he will have something worth listening to on its own merit.........the kid looked pissed.......funny..........after the documentary was filmed, Ted Haggard was busted for paying to fuck young men in the ass and doing cocaine.............
You think that's disturbing?..........what about the children's minister who spoke with clear envy about how some muslim kids are raised from an early age to shoot guns, hurl grenades, and strap on dynamite vests in the name of Allah.........this bitch is looking for the same sort of dedication from our kids........kids who will be willing to "lay down their lives for Christ"..........it was kinda funny when this stupid cunt started talking about how Muslim kids are so devout that from the age of 5 they willingly fast through the month of Ramadon(sp?)....and that American Christians should be that devoted..........strange message coming from a cow that only fasts from one McDonald's to the next........
If you believe what these Bible thumping idiots say, then evangelicals are raising up an army to take over the government in this country......and their message of intolerance and cruelty is heading towards you like a Mack truck.......if you're part of the movement, you're okay.......if you're a young man or woman, you're okay........be sure and join the military so you can be a part of the Republican death machine........and if you're a fetus, you okay.....they will protect you..........if you don't fit into those categories.......you're on your own.......
God bless us every one...........Jesus wept..........
See y'all at the rock show.......
Stak
04 June 2008
BACK TO BATTLE!...........i need my personal space too!
Look how big that Aidan has gotten........and if that photograph doesn't give you a clue as to the vibrancy of his personality, then you are blind......as a bat.....fruit bat, whatever.........I've decided to return to this page.......i've spent the last forever working rather hard at a music-centered blog(if you read a few posts down, it'll all become clear).........my music blog does not give me much lee-way to do some of the sillier stuff i was fooling with here.........plus i just like the name of this monkey cage........plus it was way fun to get into my cups and post goofy shit with Trixie late at night(remember the dysfunctional super hero draft?)...........
I don't suppose anyone.......or many.......will read this blog going forward.........guess what..........don't.give.a.fuck.
Rock it like you're in love with your life........
Stak