Tea & Crackers | Matt Taibbi reports on the TeaParty for Rolling Stone Politics

I hope Matt Taibbi is getting a book deal.   brilliant, merciless.

“In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American  revolution, one that will “take our country back” from everyone they  disapprove of. But what they don’t realize is, there’s a catch: This is
America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change. (…) it’s only a matter of time before the uprising as a whole gets castrated, just like every grass-roots movement does in this country. Its leaders
will be bought off and sucked into the two-party bureaucracy, where its platform will be whittled down until the only things left are those that the GOP’s campaign contributors want anyway: top-bracket tax breaks, free trade and financial deregulation.”

Tea & Crackers | Rolling Stone Politics.

fantastic concept and execution

…unlike most artworks on social or political themes, these markers don’t merely speak to the small group of viewers that seek out such work in galleries and museums; instead, they gently insert themselves into the public realm.  ”Are they real?” is a question viewers frequently ask, meaning “are they state-sponsored?”  I love this confusion and hope to slip a message in while people are mulling it over.

These markers are just the kind of public art I really enjoy: gently assertive and non-confrontational, firmly thought-provoking and pretty to look at and just a little bit subversive.

Gentle, Public Activism: Magnusson’s I-75 Project » Sociological Images.

just the movie for Saturday night

we just finished watching the opening ceremonies of the World Equestrian Games on TV – looked great.

now is time to settle with a movie.  what to watch, what to watch…

got it!

Sharktopus (2010) (TV).

he’s coming for ya…

I stood 20 feet from Ralph Stanley as he alone on stage…

…sang O Death
if that doesn’t put me a bit closer to heaven, I don’t know what would. a transcendental experience.

some pics from the show: Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys @Oktoberfest, Christ the King Church

more pics at flickr

because music posts need music, here’s a totally unrelated song. funniest bluegrass song ever and shoutouts to Carter Stanley and to Bill Monroe.

The BlueGrass Widow by Robert Earl Keene Jr.

Dan Savage’s itgetsbetterproject in YT

updated 20100924@15:28 – what this post needs is a theme song. take it away, Jill

Dan Savage has done many good things (remember Santorum?) and spearheaded many worthy causes, but the itgetsbetterproject is likely to be his crowning achievement.

take a bow, Dan.  in memory of Billy Lucas, the many more suffering today, and of all of us who made it out alive. *

* I’m not LGBT, notthatthere’sanythingwrongwiththat, but I can’t help thinking that the itgetsbetterproject also applies to the nerds, the weirdos, the outsiders, the do-not-fits, all of us great unwashed who look back on our high school years as far from “the best times of our lives”

If you’re gay or lesbian or bi or trans, and you’ve ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, “Fuck, I wish I could’ve told him that it gets better,” this is your chance. We can’t help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don’t think they have a future—and we can help them….READ MORE about the It Gets Better Project, in Savage Love, here: http://bit.ly/bYtxBd

via YouTube – itgetsbetterproject’s Channel.

using audio files from elsewhere in WP posts

if your music files are hosted elsewhere, be your own server, *cough*TypePad*cough*, or if you just grab a music link and would like to use in it a WordPress post, here’s how:

basically all you do is open an audio tag – /%20then%20insert%20the%20music%20file%20link%20location%20–%20%5Baudio%20%20/%20and%20close%20the%20tag%20-%20audio%20musicfilelinklocation

with this result

http://musicfilelinklocation

found in this WP Support article: http://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/

thanks to WP for providing this option. there is also the option of paying $35/year to host music files in WP, or going to box.net, or…

[this is sad] Justin Townes Earle Heading To Rehab

Justin Townes Earle Heading To Rehab | American Songwriter.

“If you’ve been following the saga of singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, you know that he was arrested for battery, public intoxication, and resisting arrest last week, following a show at Radio Radio in Indianapolis.

Earle, who was released on bail, announced today that he will be suspending the remainder of his current tour dates, and will be checking into a rehab facility.”

so sad to hear;  JTE just released his best album to date, Harlem River Blues.

[

Harlem River Blues

Wanderin’

Subscriptions in WordPress and managing subscriptions

first the graphic version (click to embiggen)

and the long wordy one,

there is a easier way.   on the top of the page there is a dark gray bar – look for “Subscribe” and click on “Subscribe to blog”.  this is available on any WP blog, I think.
on the same bar there is “My Subscriptions” where you can click to either read your subscriptions, and also “Manage my Subscriptions” – the default is to send an email when there is a post, but you can change it to no emails, or emails from some of your subscriptions only.

The Grinderman grinds again

via the lovely and talented Brown Amazon

Nick Cave’s dirty detour : The New Yorker.

In the eighties, it looked as though Cave might become a darker, underground version of Elvis, but that time has passed, partly because his interests have changed. Now his profile is pleasantly complicated; in the past thirty years he has channelled a dozen different versions of the male psyche. To the rock audience, he is a highbrow front man who also writes novels and soundtracks, and pals about with artistes who wouldn’t be caught dead at a rock show where the audience is forced to stand.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2010/09/20/100920crmu_music_frerejones#ixzz10HQsowkd