rock and roll musings by Tim Byrnes

News of the World/For the World etc.......

     Hey all. Been a busybyrnes these last weeks and must apologize for neglecting this page. Practical (read: boring) matters have swept me up like a current event at work. Seems that by simply standing there for 2 months I find myself suddenly the second in command, if only throiugh attrition. That is: everybody except the store manager and myself have quit. So, I now find myself the assistant manager of the lonliest convenience store on the planet; still working graveyard shifts only now these shifts have been streching further and further into the rosy glow and amphetamine letdown buzzing hours of morning.

     Which is to say, I'm tired, America. All the freaking time. But the money's not bad for the prairie and even though I've been too tired to post much here, I've also been too tired lately to feel sorry for myself, which apparently is a lot of the problem, that and my not believing in anything.

     So, what's to talk about and why would anyone listen? Much like the the motto of mountaineer, I trust this will be read simply because it is here. Not that my typed opinion carries any more weight than the next underachieving, middle aged flag of failure flyer but, like everyone else, I'm special.

     Like everyone else.

     Anyway, Virginia Tech. What can I say that hasn't been said already? I've purposely avoided watching any of the videotape Cho sent NBC. I'm afraid I might see too much of the black heart I play at on display in full truth. I was gonna write a snotty little column about how 'we' as a culture are responsible for the violence. Even had a snappy title: 'America, Behold Yr Son'. But, as mentioned, I couldn't/wouldn't watch his madness on parade as there's still a part of me that loves the sound of being at the end of my rope and in a weak moment might find myself yet again rooting for the bad guys just because I'm angry.

     I no longer want to entertain that person. I feel for the dead and I fear for the living. Business as usual.

Posted by: timbyrnes at 17:50 | link | comments (31)

Nappy Headed Faggots

      I never thought I'd find myself coming to the defense of the likes of Imus and Ann Coulter, but the brouhahas (brouhahai?) raised over recent comments by both has led me to this keyboard w/spleen all a-ripe for venting. Coulter's remark ("I was going to conclude my remarks w/some thoughts on John Edwards, but apparently you have to go to rehab if you use the word 'faggot'") while, to my mind at least funnier than Imus' 'nappy headed hos' (and how many times have we all heard that phrase in the last week? Maybe enough to drain it of it's power? Naw, not for this Crybaby Nation) remark, but I find both equally harmless.

     I find it interesting that Coulter's remark went in and out of the public conciousness/news cycle awfully quick, especially when compared to the shitstorm of righteous indignation and now loss of livelihood thrown at Old Imus. Now what might that mean? Maybe gays have a better sense of humor than blacks? Or perhaps it's just that America is more willing to quickly forgive a hot blonde than it is to cough up some compassion for an old white man.

     Again, send all hatemail to timbyrnes@antimusic.net.

     The questions I have, apart from where might a 66 year old white man have learned the phrase 'nappy headed hos' (I don't know, hmmmmm HIP HOP, perhaps)?, is this: where the hell do Al 'Tawana Brawley' Sharpton and Jesse 'Hymietown'  Jackson get off calling this particular kettle black. Or gay. Or, you know what I mean. Is this really the most important issue in American race relations today. That an old guy made an extremely bad joke/comment on the radio? One for which he has taken immediate responsibility and apologized for repeatedly?

     These basketball players know that they are not 'nappy headed hos', don't they? Does anyone actually think they are because of a radio comment? I'm so sick and tired of the 'words have power' argument. Yeah, words like 'you're fired' have power because they change yr life. An inadverdant insult, no matter how unthinking or, to use the medias favorite word 'deplorable' (although I'd personally save that adjective for lines like 'Mission accomplished' and 'You fight a war w/the army you got, not the army you want', but maybe that's just me.) is just that; an insult. Get over it.

     Now it seems that Imus' firing has become the focal point for a supposedly honest and open debate about racism in America and that would be a good thing if it were actually honest and open. But as long as you've got the flawed berating the flawed, as is the case w/the Sharpton/Jackson Axis of Victimhood vs. Imus' slip of the tongue - and really that's all it was, the man's philanthropic accomplishments (should) speak for themselves, then it's all just more media bloviating, postured outrage and airtime for everybody until the next nonstory comes along.

     I mean, aren't we still enmeshed in a questionable war in Iraq? Don't we have a questionable Attorney General problem? Wouldn't know it to watch our newsmedia this week. From where I sit it's not what you say, it's what you do and throughout this mess I'm obviously more impressed w/Imus' handling of the situation. He admitted his mistake, apologized and has sat quietly throughout the slings and arrows of hypocrisy flung at him by Sharpton and Jackson. Perhaps he'll man up and tell the both of them to shut the fuck up, 'cause I really don't think he can be pushed much farther. I'd respect that, even though it'd cause Imus a bigger ration of shit, but at this point what does he have to lose.

     Call for Snoop Dogg's firing. Or Jay Z or Eminem. Call for the record companies to cut loose all their million selling misogynists. Either go all the way or (and this one's for you, Imus) shut the fuck up.

      (dedicated to the memory of Kurt Vonnegut, a true American hero)

Posted by: timbyrnes at 17:49 | link | comments (3)

Of Dolls and Divas: She Got a TV Eye On Me

     It snowed here in Fowler on Easter Sunday, which leads me to thinkin' that when he rolled back the rock and stepped out the cave, our lord and saviour didn't see his shadow. OK, OK, I'll give god and her sales staff a rest and write about music. I spent much of this winter snowbound and housebound watching way too much television. What can I say, radio out here sucks (can't even pull in NPR!) so my window into the musicx world lately has been limited to MTV. VH1, CMT and PBS.

     All I can say is thank Lester for PBS!

     Between 'Austin City Limits' and 'Soundstage' I've lately seen performances by the always incandescant Leonard Cohen, an embarrising display of assumed superiority from Chris Martin and his lackeys in Coldplay, a Bill Laswell-organized musicfest featuring a transcendant Pharoah Sanders and a heartbreakingly dissapointing Buckethead. Boy, if that boy ever writes an actual song he might have something, but right now he's just another weedwhacker w/a bucket on his head.

     'ACL'  was also my introduction to the Killers, who I was prepared to write off as just another bastard son of Green Day, but was won over by their humorous anthemicism and million dollar choruses. Sounding ever more like Roy Orbison as produced by Bowie on their new 'Sam's Town' CD, these guys are keepers.

     'Soundstage', last month, aired an hourlong performance by the rconstituted New York Dolls which made this old man very happy. Johannsen and Sylvain, still dapper at the ripe old ages of 106 and 109 respectively, were joined by the 30 year Johnny Thunders in training Steve Conte (he was in the ill fated Sid Vicious Experience along w/Artie Kane and Jerry Nolan, 2 ex and now dead Dolls back in 77 where I saw them through a drunken haze at Max's those many years ago) and a backline of session guys who knew not only the notes, but the spirit of the old tunes.

     And the old tunes sounded better than ever thanks to 21st century sound technology and the fact (I'm guessing) that no one on stage was trung out on heroin. What was surprising to me was the strength of the new tunes. In a just world (HA!) 'Take a Good Look at My Good Looks' would be a hit, as well as 'Beuty Shop'. Maybe some hip, young band (Killers, can ya hear me?) will take the Dolls along as opening act on a major tour, thus giving America and the world a chance to see what it missed the 1st time.  The Dolls are still a Rolling Stones you can respect, it's just a shame so few of us know this.

     Anyway while PBS offers long form, live looks at artists as vaied as Leonard Cohen and the New York Dolls. most of my music now comes from the short attention span mainstreams of MTV, VH1 and CMT. CMT, or Country Music Television, and as a result Country Music itself, has become like the Great Southern Rock Graveyard where most new acts seem to worship at the feet of all that is Skynyrd and seem to go no further back. Having never been a fan of Southern Rock, I'm left cold by most new country acts - 'old' country acts like Cash, Jones, Nelson, Haggard and Hank have always been punk rock anyway, right?- and, as a radical atheist/leftist you pretty much know where I stand on the whole Dixie Chicks/Toby Keith divide. However there's a song from a movie starring the oafish Keith called 'Broken' sung by newcomer Lindsay Haun that's just flat out beautiful. Great song, great performance and even the video appearance of not only Keith but Burt Reynolds (!) can't detract from the song's power.

     On the MTV/VH1 tip, I don't know. Maybe I've seen them so many times my critical thinking is shot or maybe I'm mellowing w/age (again HA!), but some of my favorite songs of late have been by bona fide megapop stars. I guess when one is removed from the underground, one finds what one can to love above ground. In any case I've got to say that both Fergie and Christina Aguilera have brightened many a morni9ng w/their latest vids - and yes, I'm watching w/the sound on.

     1st up, Fergie. I love the Black Eyed Peas and I suspect that Will I. Am is the brains behind 'The Duchess' too because, like B.E.P., you have to wade through some crap to get to the meaningful ( ".... right here we got terrorists living w/the FBI and the CIA, the Crips and Bloods and the KKK) but man, it's some catchy-ass crap! So after wading through the ear candy of 'London Bridge' and 'Fergalicious', the patient listener/viewer is rewarded w/"Glamorous", a pop gem about being famous and remembering 'back in the day'; a promise to not be changed by the "   glamorous, the flossy flossy'. She also thanks her fans, which to my knowledge hasn't been done in song since 'Saturday Gigs' by Mott the Hoople (ahhh, now there was a band). The Glamorous vid itself is like 3 vids in one, intelligently cut and constructed and featuring my favorite line of the week courtesy of guest star Ludicris: 'Plus I gotta keep enough lettuce to support yr shoe fetish' w/honorary mention going to : ' If you ain't got no money take yr broke ass home'.

     Now as far as Christina Aguilera goes, this'll probably shock any regularreaders left but right now she's my early pick for Artist of the Decade. No, really. From the ultrapop of 'Genie in a Bottle'', the haunting 'Beautiful',the bouncy 'What a Girl Wants' to new stuff like 'Hurt', 'Candyman' and her AMAZING performance of 'This is a Man's World' at the Grammys, she's consistently hit the mark again and again balancing the playful, the professional and the powerful w/equal measure of chops and grace. In a popworld of damaged divas like poor Britney and that Queen of Pitch-Correction Beyonce, Aguilerea shines as a massive talent and the obvious heiress to Madonna's 'throne'.

     And, as is the case w/Fergie and Madge, let's face it: the woman is fine.

Posted by: timbyrnes at 19:37 | link | comments