Nubian Dave
ZL & Waz
Originally uploaded by Ghostly Penguin Display. I don't suppose I've done much of an update about life in a long while. The three cat / two chinch household is working out well although the new kitten is a little more energetic than the rest of us. She's made friends with everyone except Rosebud, who seems to resent the fact that we have a younger, newer black cat. You can see more photos and video of Zoe Louise here if you're so inclined.
Last night Karla and I went to see Robyn Hitchcock on his I Often Dream Of Trains revival tour. He played every song from the album except, tragically enough, "The Bones In The Ground" and "Furry Green Atom Bowl". Is there a trend of older musicians doing shows based on one of their classic early albums? I know Elvis Costello did a "My Aim Is True" show last year and They Might Be Giants have been doing similar things. I suppose in today's economy you gotta do what you gotta do.
There's a documentary called Boogie Man showing on PBS right now that I can't recommend highly enough. It's about the life of Lee Atwater, who in the 80s was kind of like Palpatine to Karl Rove's Anakin except he was everything that Karl Rove is not. He was legitimately cool and charismatic, and even once made an album with B.B. King. He was also an evil, underhanded con-man who perfected the dirty campaign tactics that worked so well in their time. (He later repented and apologized on his deathbed. That's not a spoiler, they tell you at the beginning of the movie.) His influence was still strongly apparent this year in the "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama is friends with terrorists" ads and whisper campaigns. Guess what? It doesn't work anymore and maybe never will again. Older people can be fooled by that stuff, but everyone who grew up in the internet age knows how to use Fact Check, You Tube, Media Matters, Daily Kos, etc. Lies do no have the same reach they once had. (It took less than 12 hours before we all knew that "Joe The Plumber" was not really named Joe, was not a licensed plumber, would receive a tax *cut* under Obama and had not even been paying his taxes to begin with. ) Anyway, my point is that the Lee Atwater movie is fascinating and you should see it if you have the chance.