Rushing to Judgment

You'd have thought he would have learned his lesson by now. Now I guess he's learning the hard way...

Despite having just struck a deal with prosecutors last month for prescription painkiller fraud, a search of Rush Limbaugh's luggage at a Florida airport yesterday turned up another prescription in his belongings not in his name. This time though, it wasn't to feed his painkiller addiction, it was a bottle of VIAGRA. FOR RUSH LIMBAUGH.
I just threw up a little in my mouth.

All About The Boss at MSG

Thursday night I had the good fortune to be in attendance at Bruce Springsteen's only show for the Seeger Sessions tour at Madison Square Garden*. The show was nothing short of phenomenal. Bruce had us all in the palm of his hands for the duration of his 2.5+ hr show. He started off the night with a new track he's never performed before, may be something along the lines of an old Pete Seeger song with new lyrics, this is developing news for Bossfans. He played a solo acoustic version of "Bring 'Em Home" which was absolutely exceptional and moving. The audience deferred to Bruce by singing along softly at the start, then the spirit basically overcame us and we shook the entire arena.

"My City Of Ruins" was really something. It's been a standout at every show I've heard him play it, but in NYC it was positively profound. Bruce wrote this song in the wake of 9/11 for The Rising about the grief and loss experienced by those who lost loved ones that day as well as the universal grief and shock felt by the rest of us; it is essentially a song about giving yourself over in faith to heal when you don't feel like you can go on. This song felt so personal to the NYC audience. The crowd seemed to be waving their hands in the air by reflex as Bruce guided us, the audience, to unity through his song.

Here's a link to some videos of songs from this tour-
http://music.aol.com/artist/bruce-springsteen/5505/video









* Only show scheduled so far, that is. The way this tour is taking off, I don't doubt he'll come back around the States for another leg of the tour this fall.

About Last Night...

An exercise in risk taking really. Despite starting with the position that Rockabye might just be the most annoying song ever written in a pansy-ass sensitive singer-songwriter/tortured soul kind of way, I embraced the gods of chance and went to see Shawn Mullins at Johnny D's in Somerville last night. All I had to lose was the minimal cover. Hedged my bets slightly, afterall I have tremendous faith in Johnny D's booking staff, I love how intimate the venue is, and I had a feeling that he might be a great live act.

A risk that paid off in spades~

It was a thoroughly enjoyable show. He puts his heart out there and is very down-to-earth. A very talented musician and consummate performer. Somewhere between the first time he opened his mouth and hearing his amusing interludes giving us insight behind his songwriting process and adventures on the road, I was enraptured. The highlight of the show, besides simply hearing him talk, was an inspired cover of House of the Rising Sun. From last night on when I hear Rockabye I will no longer hear a narcissitic and masochisitic artist who thinks too much, but the heartbroken musings of a southern man who knows what he's talking about.

Don't just take my word for it, check it out yourself here.

FACE/ OFF

Various teams of doctors around the world are currently interviewing prospective clients for the first ever full facial transplant a la Face Off. Competition is fierce, and research teams are engaged in a "Face Race", as it has been coined, to be able to say they were the first transplanters of a full face. Critics (or ethicists, or reasonable people, depending on how you look at it; you say tomato...) are cautioning that the trauma of living with the entire face of a dead person would be so intense that full and informed consent to such a procedure may not even be possible. They may have a point here. As far as scientific milestones are concerned, this will be amazing. Besides what other procedures this could open the doors to, imagine what it can do to the careers of the researchers who get to the finish line first by completing the transplant. On the other hand, though, seems pretty risky to try to race through the various physical and psychological tests. There is something to be said for dotting all the "i"s when you are talking about replacing a person's face with the face of a dead person, and what about the dead person's family? If I remember correctly I think I remember either Nick Cage or John Travolta of them personally sawing off the face that was over their own facial area in the movie. I can't even wrap my head around the emotional trauma for the receipient or the donor's family, let alone the possible health complications. Face Race- maybe not such a good idea.

A real stand up guy

It seems as though the whole Bush "You gonna ask me that question in those shades" stand up routine/ press conference is the only thing in the news these days, which is more or less a good thing considering what else could be occupying the headlines. With all the shake-ups in the adminstration between the many tendered resignations, Rove's transitioning into a campaign-centered gig rather than actually administrating, and the new press secretary John Snow, GW thought it would be a good time to audition for the opening in the Official White House Stand Up Comedian position. And this debacle shows that maybe Laura is the one best suited for stand-up, not GW. His little routine here lacked both any degree of hilarity as well as any sensitivity to the visually impaired.

Of course, there is something to be said for the blind leading the blind. Afterall, I noticed that Bush's approval ratings according to today's polls are up to almost 40%. Perhaps those polled may have been moved by the apparent lack of wit on the part of the leader of the free world. The numbers may just reflect pity points, but there is something to be said Bushy's new polite-laughter-and-applause-invoking strategery.

**Note** In case you missed it, here's a link to Wonkette's coverage of the incident: http://www.wonkette.com/politics/media/the-rose-garden-press-conference-video-180777.php

These colors don't run

In celebration of flag day, I thought I'd share some information about this day in history:

On this day in 1777 The Continental Congress approved the stars and stripes design for our national flag. However, June 14 wasn't officially recognized as a holiday until President Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the day "Flag Day" in 1916.

Nationalistic sentiment also played a role in 1985 on this day as TWA flight 847 was hijacked by Hezbollah jihadists.

Also notable- nice day for tennis, happy birthday steffi graf!

sprung from cages out on highway 9

it finally feels like summer!
time to take that net and grab that beautiful butterfly :)

here's my inspiration for the day.


http://brucespringsteen.net/songs/BornToRun.html

I Mean Business...

Jumping on the bandwagon here.

Welcome to my blog! This is an experiment of sorts for me, and I imagine it'll end up being a mixed bag mostly. I don't know what to tell you to expect, but thanks for making it this far!