Favorite Song of the Day (3.26.07)

Outsider by the Ramones

I am an outsider
Outside of everything
I am an outsider
Outside of everything
I am an outsider
Outside of everything
Everything you know
Everything you know
It disturbs me so

Everybody tried to push me
Push me around
Everybody tried to put me
Try to put me down

All messed up, hey everyone
I've already had all my fun
More troubles are gonna come
I've already had all my fun

Everybody tried to push me
Push me around
Everybody tried to put me
Try to put me down

I am an outsider
Outside of everything
I am an outsider
Outside of everything
I am an outsider
Outside of everything
Everything you know
Everything you know
It disturbs me so

Today in History: Coxey's Army, the first march on DC

There have been a few marches on DC over the years, but I saw on Answers.com that today is the anniversary of the "first significant popular protest march on Washington" (Wikipedia's words) -- a group of unemployed men led by Jacob Coxey back in 1894.

That website includes the following passage attributed to the Encyclopedia of American History:

During the depression following the panic of 1893, businessman and reformer Jacob Coxey of Massillon, Ohio, and his California associate Carl Browne designed a publicity march on Washington to support bills that would create new jobs. Coxey led a march of the unemployed, followed by reporters, from Ohio to the capitol, demanding large issues of legal-tender currency and money for roads and public improvements. Coxey left Massillon on Easter Sunday, 1894, with about five hundred men and arrived in Washington in time for a great demonstration on MAY DAY. His parade was cheered by an enormous crowd, but when he tried to speak from the Capitol steps he was arrested, fined, and sent to jail for carrying banners and walking on the grass on the Capitol grounds.

The Wikipedia article on the same subject includes a cultural tidbit that Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz, witnessed the march, and there's some critical thought that the story is a Populist allegory.

To me, the interesting (and currently relevant) point of discussion is what makes for a successful protest march (or vote, or movement). It's easy to mobilize masses of people against a war or other negative situation. The more difficult political tactic is to organize people to achieve something new. People who are angry can be easily mislead, but people who are informed by a vision of something better are empowered to make real change.

The Red Apple of My Eye Is Bigger than My Stomach

This week's restaurant outing took us (my trusty co-eaters Terry Feingold and Tom Mannis at my side) to the Red Apple Restaurant (Czerwone Jabluszko) on the city's Northwest side, for an astoundingly bountiful buffet of traditional Polish food (and some other items too).

For a very reasonable $8.49, you can stuff your gullet with all kinds of hearty stick-to-your-ribs (read fattening) foods. The decor is very homey, and has an appropriate central European feel. The waitstaff is very attentive and friendly, and you'll never have to worry about the dirty dishes stacking up on your table.

The meal starts with soup, and you have a choice of chicken noodle or sauerkraut -- I definitely recommend the latter -- then the free-for-all begins. There's a selection of salad bar items, if you want to fill up on vegetable matter (it also includes pickled herring, which Terry and Tom liked), but I went straight to the meat and potatoes.

The array of meat-related items available on the day we visited was impressive: pork shank, pork roast, pork schnitzel, polish sausage, chicken gizzards, veal stew, baked chicken, fried chicken, chicken roll, stuffed cabbage, fried fish, fried shrimp, fish cutlet. There's also mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, blintzes, dumplings, pierogis, sauerkraut and creamed spinach as side complements (click on the image below to see an animated GIF that shows the variety). My favorites were the stuffed cabbage and the pork roast in dill gravy, but everything was good.

I was approaching a state of food coma within minutes. My eyes glass over again just recalling the vast quantities consumed. The buffet includes ice cream, and there's a dessert selection of cookies, cake and pudding, but if you can make it that far, you're a better man (or woman) than I (Tom was).

The Red Apple has two locations in Chicago:

3121 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60618
Tel. 773.588.5781
~and~
6474 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60646
Tel. 773.763.3407

Thanks as always to Tom Mannis for the fine photography, and we'll be back on the food trail next week exploring the nooks and crannies of Chicago dining.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.23.07)

I Bleed by Pixies

as loud as hell
a ringing bell
behind my smile
it shakes my teeth
and all the while
as vampires feed
i bleed

prithee my dear,
why are we here
nobody knows
we go to sleep
as breathing flows
my mind secedes
i bleed

there's a place
in the buried west
in a cave
with a house in it
in the clay
the holes of hands
you can place
a hand in hand
i bleed

Today's gleanings from Wikipedia: Bio of Erich Fromm

In my Internet wanderings today, I came across the informational tidbit that Psychologist Erich Fromm was born this day in 1900. I admit not knowing very much about Mr. Fromm, but found the description of his world view quite interesting.

Here's a long excerpt from the Wikipedia article on him:

The cornerstone of Fromm's humanistic philosophy is his interpretation of the biblical story of Adam and Eve's exile from the Garden of Eden. Drawing on his knowledge of the Talmud, Fromm pointed out that being able to distinguish between good and evil is generally considered to be a virtue, and that biblical scholars generally consider Adam and Eve to have sinned by disobeying God and eating from the Tree of Knowledge. However, departing from traditional religious orthodoxy, Fromm extolled the virtues of humans taking independent action and using reason to establish moral values rather than adhering to authoritarian moral values.

Beyond a simple condemnation of authoritarian value systems, Fromm used the story of Adam and Eve as an allegorical explanation for human biological evolution and existential angst, asserting that when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they became aware of themselves as being separate from nature while still being part of it. This is why they felt "naked" and "ashamed": they had evolved into human beings, conscious of themselves, their own mortality, and their powerlessness before the forces of nature and society, and no longer united with the universe as they were in their instinctive, pre-human existence as animals. According to Fromm, the awareness of a disunited human existence is the source of all guilt and shame, and the solution to this existential dichotomy is found in the development of one's uniquely human powers of love and reason.

That interpretation of the Biblical story actually resonates quite well with my own. If you think of this and the other stories from the Bible on a metaphorical level, its significance as a historical document actually grows -- at least in my eyes. That our earliest ancestors were able to create and transmit through countless generations a story that symbolically captures the moment when humanity achieved consciousness is an amazing possibility to contemplate.

See also my post The Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge, and Evolution? from last July.

French Disclose Evidence of Unidentified Flying Woks

In case you've fallen into a false sense of security, here's news of the threat of flying cookware:

France's space agency puts its secret UFO archive on the Web
Associated Press

... the January 1981 case of the saucer-shaped object that a witness said he saw land in Trans-en-Provence, a village inland from the French Riviera.

Some 2.5 meters (8 feet) across, the zinc-colored object made a whistling noise as it landed. The witness later drew a picture: It resembled a wok with a lid and legs.

"The machine stayed a few seconds on the ground and then left very quickly but it left marks that were analyzed and allowed us to determine that the ground had been heated up, that the object must have weighed several hundred kilos (pounds), and that surrounding plants underwent biological changes," Patenet said.

"So something really happened. It really defies analysis." ...

Read the full article

No details on how the surrounding plant life was altered, but I'm hoping they were cooked until tender and had a nice ginger and garlic bite.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.22.07)

Don't Worry About the Government by Talking Heads

I see the clouds that move across the sky
I see the wind that moves the clouds away
It moves the clouds over by the building
I pick the building that I want to live in
I smell the pine trees and the peaches in the woods
I see the pinecones that fall by the highway
That's the highway that goes to the building
I pick the building that I want to live in
It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax alone with my loved ones
Loved ones, loved ones visit the building,
take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

Don't you worry 'bout me
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout ME

I see the states, across this big nation
I see the laws made in Washington, D.C.
I think of the ones I consider my favorites
I think of the people that are working for me
Some civil servants are just like my loved ones
They work so hard and they try to be strong
I'm a lucky guy to live in my building
They all need buildings to help them along
It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax along with my loved ones
Loved ones, loved ones visit the building
Take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

I wouldn't worry 'bout me
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout ME

We'll miss you Larry Bud Melman

Calvert DeForest, best known to TV fans as Larry Bud Mellman, died on March 19 at age 85 after a long illness.

He was a recurring character on Late Night with David Letterman, when the show traded more in the absurd and silly. I'll always be grateful to him for the laughs he created, especially at his own expense.

We need more like him who don't take themselves too seriously and realize laughter is usually the only way to get through this crazy world. I raise my toast on a stick in tribute.

Click here for the Wikipedia article on Calvert DeForest

Oh, the Calamari we could have had ...

Another missed opportunity for the furthering of culinary science:

Colossal squid may be headed for oven
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A colossal half-ton squid, believed to be the largest ever caught, may be destined for the microwave oven.

But researchers say they don't want to cook the massive creature - just
defrost it so they can study it better.

Read the full article

But don't worry, I hear of big doings afoot in the neighborhood to explore the varied ways to prepare 17-year Cicadas.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.21.07)

Take Me Down To The Infirmary by Cracker

So, take me down to the infirmary
Lay me down on cotton sheets
Put a damp cloth on my forehead
Lay me down and let me sleep

I know the whiskey it won’t soothe my soul
And the morphine won’t heal my heart
But if you take me down to the infirmary
I won’t have to sleep or drink alone.

So, take me down to the infirmary
Walk a sound that's as blue as her eyes
Oh, sister magdelene won’t you fetch theDoctor’s flask.
He is going to need a steady, a steady hand

I know the whiskey it won’t soothe my soul
And the morphine won’t heal my heart
But if you take me down to the infirmary
I won’t have to sleep or drink alone.

So, take me down to the infirmary
Lay me down on cotton sheets
Put a damp cloth on my forehead
Lay me down let me sleep
Lay me down let me sleep

Did Judas get a bum rap?

There is a new book out that tries to tell the Gospel story from Judas's perspective. In it, it's not Judas who betrays Jesus. Here are a couple excerpts from an article in today's Washington Post about it:

Unorthodox Pair Converts Judas Tale Into a Page-Turner
By Sarah Delaney

Lord Jeffrey Archer, author of best-selling thrillers, former member of the British Parliament and convicted perjurer, has written "The Gospel According to Judas" with the academic help of the Rev. Francis J. Moloney, a world-class biblical scholar and former theological adviser to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. ...

In the book, Judas does not mean to send Jesus to his death; rather, he
hopes to persuade him, with the aid of a scribe, to return to the safety of
Galilee. The scribe, however, betrays Judas and, consequently, Jesus.

Let's skip the juicy tidbit about one of the authors being a convicted perjurer and the concept of the true traitor being a scribe or writer (ancient version of a blogger?), and focus on Judas himself. I'm sure you thought that the story of Judas was pretty straight forward: betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver then hangs himself in shame. Well, nothing is ever that simple is it?

It turns out there's been a lot of pretty heavy theological discussion about his motivation, his actual actions, and even whether he's a villain or not. If Jesus needed to die on the cross in order to save Man, and Judas played the critical role of getting Jesus crucified, does that make him a hero? Was he just a victim of fate -- a pawn in God's plan? The interpretation may depend on your views of the importance of intention, or the existence of free will. But then again, what if Judas knowingly, or with divine encouragement, acted to fulfill prophecy? Can an act of betrayal be noble, if that act is committed for the greater good?

If you'd like to read more, check out the Wikipedia article on Judas Iscariot. In it there is a list of the following theological questions concerning Judas's role in the Biblical story:

• Why did Jesus allow Judas to betray him?
• Did Jesus fail to foresee the betrayal?
• Was Jesus unable to prevent the betrayal?
• Did Jesus willingly allow the betrayal to go ahead?
• Did Jesus actively try to cause the betrayal to happen?

All of this brought to my mind the film "Last Temptation of Christ" (click here for the IMDB listing) directed by Martin Scorsese (it's also a novel written by Nikos Kazantzakis ). In it Judas (played by Harvey Keitel) recalls Jesus to his true mission -- sacrifice on the cross, salvation of Mankind -- after Jesus has given into the desire to pursue the life of an ordinary married man. That was the devil's last temptation of Christ, allowing him to see how his life would be if he accepted a different fate.

If you believe in a black and white world of pure good versus pure evil, all stories will have pretty simplistic interpretations (see any of George W Bush's speeches). If you live in the real world, and deal with real people and their conflicts and contradictions, you'll realize that there's always much more to the story.

In Fighting Is In Fashion

Video war erupts between Clinton and Obama
By Jeremy Pelofsky, Reuters
March 21, 2007
Ten months before the first 2008 U.S. presidential primary, a video war has erupted between supporters of Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, their opening skirmish on the new campaign battleground -- the Internet.
Read the article

Governor calls Limbaugh 'irrelevant'
Schwarzenegger's repudiation of the conservative talk show host comes as he is accused of betraying his party's values.
By Robert Salladay, LA Times
March 21, 2007
Read the article

Feingold calls Scudellari's Mom 'an amateur'
'What kind of Italian uses store bought pasta?', 'Noodles' Feingold snipes at 'Marinara' Marina.
By Pollo Con Pomodoro, RP Bulletin
March 21, 2007
Read the article

Spring has Sprung

From the Trivia, Facts & Fables section of Wikipedia's article on Vernal Equinox:

• One of the effects of equinoctial periods is their temporary disruptive effect on communications satellites. For most geostationary satellites, there is almost always a point when the sun is directly behind the satellite relative to Earth. The Sun's immense power and broad radiation spectrum overload the Earth station's reception circuits with noise and, depending on antenna size and other factors, temporarily disrupt or degrade the circuit. The duration of those effects varies but can range from an hour to a few minutes.
  
• Folk tales from various European countries claim that only on the March equinox day (some may add the September equinox day or may explicitly not), one can balance an egg on its point. However you can balance an egg on its point any day of the year if you have the patience.
  
• Although the word "equinox" implies equal length of day and night, as is noted elsewhere, this simply isn't true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal. Those days are commonly referred to as the "equiluxes" to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.20.2007)

Surgical Focus by Guided By Voices
(Click here to listen to a sample of the track on last.fm)

With surgical focus
She stared at me and said
I'm willing to reach out
Get in to your head
And i will keep you
And cleanse you
She glared at me and wept
A change is not going to hurt you
Not this time

And i've been waiting in line for this
Now that it's taken forever
I insist
Until i get it, i can't breathe
Climbing high upon the rocky cliffs
She flies
With surgical focus

Commemorating the 4th Anniversary of the War RP Style

A pensive silence at a candle light vigil outside the Heartland Cafe ...

Followed by raucous rock 'n roll at Red Line Tap, with Young Professionals (Dan, James, and Brian from Outlaw Family Band) ...

And then Chemtrails (with Brian sitting in on pedal steel) ...

Shameless Promotion -- Time to eat saucy fowl

Click the image to see it in larger form. Join us for some good food, friends, and fun.

Favorite Song of the Day (Iraq War Anniversary)

Take Your Ticket by Old No. 8
(I think there are a couple mistakes, but ...)

Take your ticket to the station, get yourself up on that train.
Give your luggage to the porter, grab your seat 'n watch the rain.
Can't you hear that whistle blowin', don't it play a lonesome sound.
Leavin' all your love behind you, to your duty you are bound.

When your wife kissed you goodbye, you told her she shouldn't cry.
But deep inside you wonder how it's fair.
Told them that you would serve, in the Army Reserve.
You gave them all the weekends you could spare.

Put your finger on the trigger, feel the gun swing in your hand.
Look on out across the desert, taste the sweat and smell the sand.
Can't you hear those rounds discharging. Don't it make you miss your home.
Leavin' all your love behind you, oh if only you had known.

Thought that if there was a war,
Somethin' worth fighting for,
You'd proudly help your country stand up tall.
But Uncle Sam he's an oil man, with no respect for human life at all

Rest your hand upon the coffin, wipe the water from your eye.
Bend and kiss your fallen brother, say a prayer and say goodbye.
Can't you hear his widow wailin', don't it make life seem so sad.
Thinkin' of yourself as lucky, just to have back the things you had.

Back when you were a boy, and your life was a joy,
You never could conceive of so much pain.
But Uncle Sam turned you into a man,
And tell me whose the one that stands to gain.

And who says that war is a cause, greater than all our laws?
Whose the one who makes the final call?
And Uncle Sam he's an oil man,
With no respect for human life at all.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.18.2007)

The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when

Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend

Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes

I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

Oh no, not me

I never lost control

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home

I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed

I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here

We must have died alone, a long long time ago

Who knows? not me

We never lost control

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

Who knows? not me

We never lost control

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

Marching for Immigrants' Rights on St. Pat's Day

My friend Rory (in the picture below with his daughter) called Terry Feingold on Friday to offer us an opportunity to march in Chicago's downtown St. Patrick's Day parade. Fresh off spectating at last week's Southside Irish Parade, we were pretty excited by the prospect of seeing things from the marchers' perspective.

When we arrived in the staging area, I was doubly excited to find out we'd be walking alongside the float of the Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform (CCIR). I marched in the downtown demonstration for Immigrants' Rights last May (click here to see one of the YouTube clips I took that day), and remember seeing their group among the many nationalities that filled the streets of Chicago.

Despite many Americans' miconception, the immigration debate affects much more than the Latino community. Chicago, international city that it is, is home to immigrants from all corners of the Globe. We in Rogers Park are well aware of this, as we live and work with immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa as well as Central and South America.

To further illustrate the cross-cultural nature of the issue, members of the Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC) joined CCIR at the parade. Their contingent included a percussion and dance ensemble that was a big crowd favorite. They connected with CCIR during last year's immigrants' rights demonstrations.

According to CCIR's website, there are 40,000 undocumented Irish in the United States. The contributions they and other hard-working immigrants have made to our economic and cultural life are numerous, and our society should offer them the easiest possible path toward full citizenship.

Here are some links to more information on CCIR, KRCC, and the fight for immigrants' rights:

• Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform (CCIR)
• Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC)
• Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
• Chicago campaign heats up, By Blathnaid Healy, from Irish Echo Online, March 14-20, 2007 issue
• Chicago immigration activists ready Washington push, by Antonio Olivo, Chicago Tribune, March 5, 2007
• Irish could play role in fight for immigrants' rights, By Mark Brown, Chicago Sun Times, March 9, 2006

Favorite Song of the Day (St. Patrick's Day)

If I Needed Someone by Van Morrison
(Click here to listen to a 30 sec. snippet of the song on last.fm)

Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You
Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You

To see me through the daytime
And through the long, lonely night
To lead me through the darkness
And on into the light

To stand with me when I'm troubled
And help me through my strife
As times get so uncertain, I turn to You
Turn to You, in my young life

Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You
Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You

Someone to hold onto
And keep me from all fear
Someone to be my guiding light
And keep me ever dear

To keep me from my selfishness
To keep me from my sorrow
To lead me on to givingness
So I can see a new tomorrow

Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You
Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You

Someone to walk with
Whoa, someone to hold by the hand
Someone to talk with
Someone to understand

Yeah
Yeah
To call on when I need You
And I need You very much
To open up my arms to You
Feel your tender touch

To feel it and to keep it
To keep it right here in my soul
And care for it and keep it with me
Never to grow old

Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You
Lord, if I ever needed someone
I need You

One more time, again
Lord, if I ever needed,
needed some one
I need You
Lord, oh
If I ever needed some one

Go get yourself a Piece

Terry Feingold, Tom Mannis and I made our weekly excursion for culinary exploration today. Our goal: to sample the fabled New Haven style pizza. The purveyor of said fare is Piece, located at 1927 W. North Ave. in the funky (that's a complimentary adjective) Wicker Park neighborhood.

We got the "plain" variety (red sauce, parmesan, olive oil, and diced garlic -- no mozzarella) with clams. Here's a pic of said slices (credit to Tom Mannis for the excellent photography in this post):

They also offer a "white" style (no sauce, but mozzarella), and a traditional "red" (mozzarella included). The crust was crunchy and quite tasty. The sauce was very good, and the garlic and clams a very nice combo. The large was more than enough for we three hearty eaters. Tom and Terry were both quite taken by the friendly wait staff.

They also brew their own beer, and I washed down my slice with a pint of Dysfunction Ale, which was a nice hoppy pale ale. It's definitely worth a trip, if you're looking to get out of the 'hood.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.16.07)

The Glittering Prizes by Television Personalities
(Click here to hear a 30 sec. snippet from Last.fm)

In the past I always tried
But I never got amongst the glittering prizes
I put it down to confidence
Or something trendy like an emotional complex

But pretty soon I'm going to change
But pretty soon I'm going to change
But pretty soon I'm going to change
You won't recognize me

Glittering prizes for me
Glittering prizes for me

I wear a clean shirt every day
And I quite enjoy my job as an office boy
But the novelty begins to fade
'Cause I never get the chance
To play with the executive toys

But pretty soon I'm going to change
But pretty soon I'm going to change
But pretty soon I'm going to change
You won't recognize me

Glittering prizes for me
Glittering prizes for me

A very special nite out on the town

We've got quite the cool music scene happening here in Rogers Park right now, and if you haven't picked your butt up and headed out to one of the local bars yet, time is a wastin'.

Last nite, I was among a couple dozen folks at Duke's (6920 N. Glenwood) taking in the amazing performance of James Weigel and Andy Levenberg. It was one of those moments in life when you realize you're experiencing something special. Of all the people out and about in Chicago last night, I wouldn't trade places with any of them.

James usually sings and plays dobro and guitar with SexFist and the Outlaw Family Band. Andy currently sings and plays guitar with Chemtrails, and was a founding member of the band Old No. 8.

Their set included songs from each of their bands' usual play lists, as well as some interesing covers, such as John Prine's "There's a hole in daddy's arm" and Ween's "Piss up a rope".

The Bad News: James will only be playing with Andy for two more weeks, so don't miss it. The Good News: Charlie Pierce, also of Old No. 8, will be back playing with Andy in April. So join me at Duke's every Thursday nite until further notice. I'll also be there this Saturday to check out Super Mini Trio, yet another fave.

Other local shows to check out, or be left out:

Chemtrails - Mondays at 10pm at Red Line Tap (7006 N. Glenwood)
Sex Fist - Tuesdays at 10:30pm at Red Line Tap
MWC - Wednesdays at 10pm at Red Line Tap

Go to the band sites for specific show info, as things change. And feel free to send me any info on other bands.

Favorite Song of the Day (Ides O' March)

Away from the Snakes by Tim Fite
(lyrics faithfully transcribed by a lonely goat.
I'm not sure if Blogger will censor them.)

heaven's to betsy the man's out to get me
he's raisin' my rent and he's takin' my money

while the rich get rich
well us poor don't get shit
except shit on by rich men,
shit on by women,
and shit on by everyone shitting

is there a place where i can go
away from the snakes and the liars?

heaven's to betsy the man's out to get me
he's poking my wife while he's pounding my money

while the rich get rich
well us poor don't get shit
except shit on by rich men
who shit on their women

is there a place where i can go
away from the snakes and the liars?
down by the lake where the wild wind blows
free from the weight of desire

that's what i'm talkin' about...
money
you ain't got it, but you want it...
fuck

is there a place where i can go
where the rich don't get rich
and the poor don't get shit on?

is there a place where i can go
where the rich don't get rich
and the poor don't get shit on...
by everyone shitting...
everyone shitting....
everyone shitting....
everyone...
shitting

Conspicuous Pizza Consumption

My friends and I have an excursion planned tomorrow to go try New Haven style pizza at a joint in Wicker Park called Piece. I once worked with someone who grew up in Connecticut and always raved about the "white" pizzas with clams. So, after many years, there's a local place that offers me a chance to see if it measures up to the hype. It's the small things that excite me.

Now I find out that the folks in NY have invented yet another type of pie. This one is a bit on the pricey side however, and honestly sounds pretty disgusting. Below is an excerpt from the Guardian Unlimited story about it. Cultural note: I guess Londonners must have their pizza delivered via moped.

Not available on a moped near you - the $1,000 caviar pizza

"This won't be for everyone, but there are people in New York who can afford it, and once tried, they'll be back for more," said Nino Selimaj, the restaurateur behind the somewhat unimaginatively-named Luxury Pizza. "It is delicious," he told Reuters.

The feast will be available at his Nino's Bellissima in Manhattan. The pizza will be topped with creme fraiche, chives, eight ounces of four different kinds of Petrossian caviar, four ounces of thinly sliced Maine lobster tail, salmon roe, and a bit of wasabi. Unlike the typical pizza, the topping will not be cooked, as it would spoil the fish. Two Wall Street business types have already gone for the idea.

That's certainly not what I think of as NY pizza. No use being rich if you can't find creative ways to blow your dough.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.14.07)

The Giant of Illinois by The Handsome Family
(Click here to listen to a snippet on Last.FM)

The giant of Illinois
died from a blister on his toe
after walking all day
through the first winter's snow.

Throwing bits of stale bread
to the last speckled doves,
he never even felt his shoe full of blood.

Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow
and he felt himself soaring up through the falling snow.
And the sky was a woman's arms.
The sky was a woman's arms.

A boy with a club foot

had sat next to him in school.
Once upon a summer's day
they went wandering through the woods.

They spotted a sleeping swan
on the banks of a muddy stream
and they stormed it with rocks
till it collapsed in the reeds.

They lay out on a green lawn
full of chocolate and lemonade,
but under the blue bowl the giant was afraid
because the sky was a woman's arms.

The sky was a woman's arms.

Hillary's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

This was reported on CNN today

Sen. Clinton dodges question on gays, immorality

Sen. Hillary Clinton sidestepped a question about whether she thinks homosexuality is immoral Wednesday, less than two weeks after telling gay-rights activists she was "proud" to stand by their side.

Clinton was asked the question by ABC News, in the wake of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace's controversial comment that he believed homosexual acts were immoral.

"Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said.

I guess she wants gays to stand by her side, just not too close.

Favorite Song of the Day (3.13.07)

Waitin' for a Superman by Flaming Lips
(Click here to listen to the track on last.fm )

I asked you a question
but I didn't need you to reply.
Is it gettin' heavy??
But then I realized..
is it gettin' heavy??
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be.

Is it overwhelming

to use a crane to crush a fly?
A good time for a superman
to lift the Sun into the sky..
cause it's gettin' heavy,
well I thought it was already as heavy as can be.

Tell everybody
waitin' for a superman
that they should try to

hold on best they can.

He hasn't dropped them,
forgot them or anything..
it's just too heavy

for a superman to lift.

Is it gettin' heavy????
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be.
Tell everybody
waitin' for a superman
that they should try to

hold on best they can.

He hasn't dropped them'
forgot them or anything..
it's just too heavy

for a superman to lift.

Do the expedient thing?

There's been a lot of coverage today about General Peter Pace's comments in defense of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, so I'll keep this brief (cause who cares what I think anyway, right?).

I found two paragraphs of interest in the Chicago Tribune's coverage of the story (Gen. Pace regrets comments about gay acts being 'immoral' but doesn't apologize)

First the easy one ...

"In expressing my support for the current policy, I also offered some personal opinions about moral conduct," Pace said in his statement. "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views."

So, he's not apologizing for believing that homosexuality is immoral, he's just apologizing for making the mistake of expressing that belief. I know the "fascist" term gets thrown around quite a lot (and I even engaged in a bit of that free-for-all on the local Rogers Park Bench blog recently), but isn't that a little too close for comfort to the Nazi's characterization of gays as degenerate? Do we really want military leaders in this country who take that point of view?

Then there's this seemingly innocuous little tidbit ...

An Obama spokeswoman said the senator agrees with retired Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the Clinton administration, who wrote recently that he favors the repeal because the military is having a tough time recruiting and training troops.

I may be reading too much into that, and maybe the paraphrase was poorly worded or taken out of context (based on my limited experience of dealing with the mainstream media for the Ginderske 2007 campaign, neither is unusual), but that's a strange argument to make in favor of a repeal. Let's allow gays into the military, because we need fresh bodies?

Shouldn't the argument be that gays, as citizens of this country, have full and equal rights with all other Americans, and therefore should be allowed to participate in every aspect of our society including military service? I know politicians start parsing their words very closely in election years, but if the Democrats are ever going to do this thing right they need to be a little more committed to their convictions.

Chicago's Southside Irish Parade

In my many years in Chicago, I'd never made the long trek down to Beverly to see the Southside Irish Parade. I'm a northsider, so that's been a ready excuse -- but you know the old saying about everyone having one.

Anyway, I'm quite glad I finally got to experience it first hand. It's something everyone in Chicago should do at least once. Below are a few shots I took of the pageantry. I've got many more in a Picasa web album, which you can view via the link below.

View all the photos from the festivities

Favorite Song of the Day (3.12.07)

Sad Song by Velvet Underground

livin' on borrowed time
I'm in love with Mary Queen of Scots
fourteen hundred ninety three
and everything's like it should be
i'm gonna stop wasting my time
Henry the Fifth would have broken my heart

sad song sad song
dooo oooh
sad song, sad song

livin' on borrowed time
I'm in love with Mary Queen of Scots
fourteen hundred ninety three
and things just like they ought to be

primrose and kilts
primrose and Spain
forget me not
my Queen of Scots

sad song, sad song
dooo oooh
sad song, sad song

The War of "Tera"

Wired magazine did a little piece in the March issue on what the "tera" measure represents. In addition to bytes, watts, and flops, their graphic tries to put the amount of a "teradollar" in perspective.

Interestingly enough, the Iraq war is listed as costing about one teradollar, so every other cost in the graphic represents the equivalent of the prosecution (persecution?) of W's little adventure in geo-politics.

Below is the list, since the graphic is a little hard to read online. You can also click here to go to the full magazine article.

• 45,095,828 new Toyota Priuses
• 31.3 times the endowment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• 1 I-phone for nearly every person in Europe, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
• 8% of the US GDP.
• 22.7 times Warren Buffet's estimated net worth.
• 3,265,220 new American homes.
  

It makes one consider what else we could have accomplished with some different leadership doesn't it? I like to try to imagine what great things we could do as a society if we focused our tremendous resources and capacities on attacking the problems that afflict the least amoung our brothers and sisters, such as poverty and homelessness. I know it's just a crazy dream, but I'll keep hoping. Wasn't there a guy a while back who advocated just that -- someone named Jesus, who a few people now-a-days claim to do the work of?

Troubling news ... and the attempts to suppress it

My friend Agnes Varnum posted a link to the following story on the Re:New Media blog ...

France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence
by Peter Sayer, IDG News Service

The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday. ...

(Click here to go to the original Re:New Media post, which includes a link to the full article)

The article describes the possible implications of this law for those citizens who attempt to record and thus prevent police brutality.

Over the past couple months, on two separate occasions, I've been prevented from recording public meetings here in Chicago because I didn't have press "credentials." I don't know what US or Illinois law says specifically about this, but it raises some interesting quesitons if it is actually legal to prohibit the public from performing acts of witness. What justification can there be for this except to limit coverage to those who are in some sense "state sanctioned"?

In my particular case, I was prevented from video taping a Cook County Board hearing at which protestors were testifying against the proposed across-the-board service cuts that threatened public health and safety. Camera crews from the local news outlets had free reign to tape and interview anyone they wanted.

Who would you trust more to present an unfiltered version of events -- a Fox News affiliate or a community activist? What qualifies as "legitimate press" in an environment where mainstream media is increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer entities, most mega-corporations who lobby and fund our elected representatives? Are we gradually being led down the path to state-controlled media?

A Graphic Defense of Freedom

I was one of the millions who went to see 300 this past weekend. Overall I enjoyed the movie and I've got a general fondness for films based on graphic novels -- in this case the book of the same name by Frank Miller (it's available on Amazon).

The history behind the events portrayed in the screenplay is quite interesting, although it's definitely not claiming to depict things as they actually happened. The action is well choreographed and although it can be quite violent and at-times gory, it is artfully done and never struck me as gratuitous.

In short, the story is of the Battle of Thermopylae where Leonidas, king of Sparta, made his heroic stand with 300 soldiers against the innumerable armies of Xerxes, king of Persia. On their face, the ideas provoked by the movie are quite simple and the emotions it evokes are quite primal. Some may see in it some synergy with the neo-conservative's mantra that "freedom isn't free."

The Greeks are portrayed as battling the mysticism of the East in order to protect the reason, enlightment, and democracy that, at least in the abstract, form the pillars of western civilization. The fact that the Spartans are attempting to beat back the invading forces of a foreign empire, however, complicates the apparently simple comparison to the invasion of Iraq and the greater "War on Terror."

I would argue that the story's caution to be vigilant and willing to sacrifice even our lives to defend intellectual and physical freedom can be applied to our current situation in a much different way. The threats to personal liberty, civil rights, and democracy are multiple and in many ways most directly originate from internal forces -- including the policies enacted by the neo-conservatives under the guise of that self-same War on Terror.

I watched the DVD of V for Vendetta this weekend as well, and it's a film that deals very directly with this post-9/11 paradigm. Fear, anger, and the desire for security are very powerful human emotions and unprincipled and unaccountable governments can use these as weapons to manipulate an unguarded populace into trading away their hard-won civil rights. In the movie, based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (also available on Amazon), a right-wing cabal orchestrates a series of biological attacks in England that are blamed on foreign terrorists and used as a pretext to install a fascist govenment that couches its rhetoric in nationalistic and religious terms.

Inspired by Guy Fawkes and wearing his mask throughout the film, V, the protagonist of the story, plans to blow up Parlaiment (as Fawkes had tried in his Gunpowder Plot) in order to shake the people from their complacency and complicity, and enable them to cast off the chains of oppression that they had willing allowed their elected officials to put in place. I see it as a cautionary tale along the lines of Octavia Butler's science fiction novel Parable of the Talents.

Both of these films deal with questions of freedom and the threats to it. That we need to safeguard our freedoms is something on which most of us will agree. The point of argument is how best to accomplish that in troubled times. Clearly understanding the nature and motivations of those who wish to "lead" us in that fight is one important defense against trading away the very liberties we hope to protect.