6,000th post.

It's absurd, but I like round numbers. Hell, I like the fact that the 6,000th post is on 4-6-2006. I wish I'd thought ahead and posted the last one at 1:02:03 Wednesday morning.

So that's the end of the Covington Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks especially to my fine cohosts, The Wizard, and The Man of Wealth and Taste.

I'm not going anywhere... the fight against the Republican War on Reality goes on. I'll still be reading you all and commenting elsewhere. Mostly I'll be hanging out over at the Wizard's new place.

I'm just turning to some other long overdue projects, and I've found from long experience that I won't focus on the big projects if I don't set aside the news-addiction for a while.

Last plugs:

Read the Wizard
Read The Man of Wealth and Taste, and go see his bands.

Read Nathan's books
Read Kyle's books
See Brad's comedy
Buy Darin's art
Read Mark
Read Elisabeth's Mom
Read Stephanie
Read Wes
Read DarkSyde
Read KatieG
Read Travis
Read Louis
Read JenJen
Read Brian
Read PZ
Read Radio Free Newport

In fact, just copy the links on the right and read them all.

So... thanks for all the fish!

- Jim

Well the mouth is open
And the noise comes out
Ain't no reason for it
Just a need to shout
It's malnutrition
We could fall apart
It's never delicate
Just something from the iron age

We shake it up
And we break it down
The sound of a satellite
Saying get me down
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Hear the voice of America
In your home town

Well the film is running
'til the film runs out
There's no point of focus
It zooms in and out
It's information
And it leaves no mark
It's just as permanent
as painting in the iron age

We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time

- Shriekback, The Fish Below The Ice.

I paid my dues/Time after Time...

I am, I have to admit, a bit sad. I have spent hours here, sounding off ideas, posting things that I think are great, or piss me off, and really examining myself, my attitudes and experiences, especially in the light of others who may or maynot agree with me. This is how I have grown, become a richer, more empathetic person.

When I first met Covington, I was a snarkly nihilist with no faith in anything other than my experience in this world. I was a theory freak...living entirely in my head, without regard to the world around me. I felt I could summarize everything based on the thinkers I admired; Sartre, Nietzsche, Derrida, etc., yet I failed to truly understand them. I always felt these folks intuitively, because I was able to see their respective theories at work in the world as I perceived it. But it was my perception that failed, because, despite my sometimes overbearing God-complex, my perception was not the World. In defending my assertions to others who do not share my worldview, I have become aware that some of it was not defensible, and this forced me to re-evaluate my assumptions-not the most pleasant thing. We like our boxes, right?

And bad mistakes...I've made a few...

This made me re-read and re-think, and I discover that my solipsism was, in fact, a failure to understand that theory is a hermeneutic for understanding the world, not the world itself. I have a responsibility to give these tools to others, in short, to paraphrase De Beauvoir, I have a responsibility to propagate freedom in the world. No room for smug dismissals, especially because, as a citizen of these United States, the stakes are so high.

For this alone, I thank you all...

It's been hard for everybody since 2000, but it, in some way, has renewed my faith in the essential human truth: We will walk to the edge, spit a loogey into the abyss, and go "Nahhh."

So, as Covington passes into memory, I dedicate the above image and text to the founder of this feast of ideas. If you are a regular, you know my obsession with Freddie Mercury, and this bears some explanation: To me, Freddie Mercury is passion, talent and the wide open possibility that an individual can do something, and connect and inspire others. When enough people are so touched, then real changes can happen. This, perhaps, is the best and most important lesson.

Cheesy...perhaps. Heartfelt. You bet. Covington, dear friend, thank you for letting we join in. Everybody who has posted, gotten pissed off, or maybe learned something, thank you.

So where ever you are, raise a glass.

And we'll keep on fighting, 'til the end.

'Gospel of Judas' Surfaces After 1,700 Years

The varied complex and contradictory stories about "The Original Hippy" just got even more complicated. (5,998th post of 6,000)

The war on science.

Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming. The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans are not getting the full story on how the climate is changing.

Employees and contractors working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with a U.S. Geological Survey scientist working at an NOAA lab, said in interviews that over the past year administration officials have chastised them for speaking on policy questions; removed references to global warming from their reports, news releases and conference Web sites; investigated news leaks; and sometimes urged them to stop speaking to the media altogether. Their accounts indicate that the ideological battle over climate-change research, which first came to light at NASA, is being fought in other federal science agencies as well.

Interview with Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith.

We’re not tending to talk about all of the deal-breakers that lurk in the mainstream theology of Islam. We’re pretending as though they’re not there, and we’re invading countries and creating constitutional democracies, apparently in ignorance of the fact that a majority of the people still want their neighbors killed for thought crimes. Until you change peoples’ minds on this subject—until you get them to run a different moral calculus, where cartoons cease to be the thing that most animates them, and a genuine compassion for other peoples’ suffering is the real gold standard of their morality—I don’t see how putting the structures of democracy in place will help anyone. You need a civil society before you have a democracy.

[...]

Leftists, secularists, religious moderates, and religious liberals tend to be very poorly placed to recognize that when somebody looks into a video camera and says, “I love death more than the infidel loves life,” and then blows himself up, he’s actually being honest about his state of mind.

This is not propaganda, this is not politics and economic desperation masquerading as religion. People are really being motivated by the content of religious beliefs, and there are people who are really willing and eager to blow themselves up because they think they’re going to get to paradise.

Religious moderates and secularists don’t understand that because they don’t really know what it’s like to believe in God. They don’t know what it’s like to be sure God is there to hear their prayers , that He has dictated a book, and that the book is perfect in every syllable, and it’s a roadmap to paradise. And fundamentalists understand what it’s like to believe these preposterous things.

As in everything, don't take everything he says to heart. There are also many issues about which he is dead wrong.

Darin is experimenting with selling an original artwork on Ebay.

More on the efficiency of universal health care for the consumer.

Some of my nephew's leukemia meds cost more than $90 per pill. Most of that money isn't going into research, it's going into astronomical CEO pay packages, and into lobbying against universal health care.

What else could have been done with the $Trillion that Bush's Iraq invasion cost us.

I recently saw another figure that puts it in perspective... it would cost less than $250 billion to replace every municipal water supply in the United States. Unless, of course, republicans are in charge of assigning the contracts to their cronies.

Scooter Libby is now claiming that he was personally given specific permission by Bush himself through Cheney to burn CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Mr. Libby is said to have testified that "at first" he rebuffed Mr. Cheney's suggestion to release the information because the estimate was classified. However, according to the vice presidential aide, Mr. Cheney subsequently said he got permission for the release directly from Mr. Bush. "Defendant testified that the vice president later advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE," the prosecution filing said.

"Special Asshole Rights" and the term "politically incorrect."

I often like Maher, but I certainly am quite sick of the fact that everyone excuses themselves for their behavior because they feel that their pose is more important. "I know I'm being a tool, but I don't think of myself as a tool, so it's just ironic humor when I fuck with people for my entertainment."

We are exactly what we do. Nothing more, nothing less. Our self image is irrelevant, it's our behavior that defines us.

Remember the Far Side cartoon "Great Moments in Evolution"... the one with the fish gathered around staring onto the beach where their baseball had landed? (5,990th of 6,000 posts)

What the hell is going on?

More child sex troubles at DHS. Frank Figueroa, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s program to stop child predators (Operation Predator), today pleaded no contest to charges he exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl. According to the victim, “Figueroa pulled up a leg of his shorts, exposed himself and masturbated for about 10 minutes” in front of her.

For the 11th time, Pelosi's motion for an investigation into corruption related to the Abramoff scandal is shut down by the wholly foul GOP.

Followup to the Duke University gang rape.

APRIL 5--Shortly after an exotic dancer claimed she was raped at a Duke University lacrosse team party, a member of the squad sent an e-mail announcing that the following night he planned "to have some strippers over" and would be "killing the bitches" as soon as they walked into his dorm room.

[...]

The e-mail from McFadyen's account notes that, after the strippers were killed, they would be skinned while the author was "cumming in my duke issue spandex."

Here's looking forward to hearing about his upcoming stay in prison. Note that it's certainly possible that one of his little buddies sent the email, either as a "joke", or as a drunken attempt to pin the rape on someone who didn't do it.

Or it could be exactly what it looks like - southern racism, misogyny, and rich white privilege peaking in a group of complete psychopaths.

Listen to Chris Matthews cock-gargling Tom DeLay when they think the tape isn't running.

Astronomers say they have spotted a cloud of alcohol in deep space that measures 463 billion kilometres.

Don't get too excited... it's methanol, not ethanol.

Ouch. 9,000 year old dental drill found.

As we're pulling into the station on this blog, it's a good time to refresh our memory of the most concise and accurate prediction of the Bush years.

Bush: "Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over." - The Onion 1/17/2001

[...]
During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.

Asked for comment about the cooling technology sector, Bush said: "That's hardly my area of expertise."

Turning to the subject of the environment, Bush said he will do whatever it takes to undo the tremendous damage not done by the Clinton Administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling. As a sign of his commitment to bringing about a change in the environment, he pointed to his choice of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior. Norton, Bush noted, has "extensive experience" fighting environmental causes, working as a lobbyist for lead-paint manufacturers and as an attorney for loggers and miners, in addition to suing the EPA to overturn clean-air standards.

Bush had equally high praise for Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, whom he praised as "a tireless champion in the battle to protect a woman's right to give birth."

"Soon, with John Ashcroft's help, we will move out of the Dark Ages and into a more enlightened time when a woman will be free to think long and hard before trying to fight her way past throngs of protesters blocking her entrance to an abortion clinic," Bush said. "We as a nation can look forward to lots and lots of babies."

Continued Bush: "John Ashcroft will be invaluable in healing the terrible wedge President Clinton drove between church and state."

[...]

If you didn't see these last 6 years coming, it's time to stop blaming everyone else for your refusal to pay attention to the obvious.

Feingold on gay marriage.

The tactical politics of contraception.

Time to get the fuck out.

E. was sitting at the other end of the living room, taking apart a radio he later wouldn't be able to put back together. I called him over with the words, "Come here and read this -- I'm sure I misunderstood…" He stood in front of the television and watched the words about corpses and Americans and puppets scroll by and when the news item I was watching for appeared, I jumped up and pointed. E. and I read it in silence and E. looked as confused as I was feeling.

The line said:

وزارة الدفاع تدعو المواطنين الى عدم الانصياع لاوامر دوريات الجيش والشرطة الليلية اذا لم تكن برفقة قوات التحاالعاملة في تلك المنطقة

The translation: "The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area."

That's how messed up the country is at this point.

We switched to another channel, the "Baghdad" channel (allied with Muhsin Abdul Hameed and his group), and they had the same news item, but instead of the general "coalition forces" they had "American coalition forces." We checked two other channels. Iraqiya (pro-Dawa) didn't mention it and Forat (pro-SCIRI) also didn't have it on its news ticker.

We discussed it today as it was repeated on another channel.

The back door draft.

Actually, this is likely going to lead to a universal draft, since the number of kids willing to sign up for an indefinite deployment as cannon-fodder in oil wars is a fraction of those who were willing to sign up for 2 year terms of service.

Hysteria alert over black metal song lyrics a kid posted on Myspace.

(5,978th post of 6,000)

Kerry proposes an ultimatum to get most American troops out of Iraq.

Make no mistake... what he's proposing isn't going to stop a sectarian civil war. It's just going to get our troops out of the middle of it. Frankly, there's no way for anyone outside of the Iraqis themselves to end the escalating sectarian civil war. Unfortunately, what's likely going to happen is that with continued backing from both the US and Iran, the Shiites are going to make a stab at genocide of the Sunnis. We cannot let them continue to use American backing to do it.

The permanent bases that Bush wanted in order to stage an eventual invasion of Iran are now going to become bunkers and targets we're afraid to leave because the power vacuum will result in an effective Iranian annexation of Iraq, while with us there it's just going to continue to be us footing the bill for Iranian domination of religious politics in Iraq.

I finally got around to reading The Wizard of Oil, the Koufax winner for "most humorous post." Hilarious.

Massachusetts moves toward universal health care.

THAT is the new issue the Democrats need to put in the forefront again. The platform as it stands is excellent and a model of how the governance of this country can return to sanity. Social security, antidiscrimination, equal rights, privacy, peace, justice, environmental responsibility, and the prosperity that working towards those goals gives us is the democratic agenda as it stands. However, Clinton's first priority, the one that failed to pass when it got torpedoed, is still the issue that can level the playing field for small businesses and American business in general, is far more efficient than the broken system we have now, and it's the fair, moral thing to do. Universal health care is the next new national priority... everything else is a repair job on the devastation resulting from six years of republicans gone wild.

At least unify that long, just try to get that done, before shattering back into the impotent chaos of a thousand specific causes. There is no democratic cause or constituency that wouldn't benefit by universal health care. It helps us all because it helps America and Americans.

More republican family values.

Brian J. Doyle, DOB 4/7/50, the Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., was arrested this evening at his residence in Silver Springs, Maryland, on 23 Polk County charges related to the use of a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. Doyle's arrest is the result of a joint investigation by the Polk County Sheriff s Office, working with Florida’s 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jerry Hill s office, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General s Office.

[...]

On many occasions, Doyle instructed the victim, whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, to perform a sexual act while thinking of him, and described explicit and perverse sexual acts he wished to have with her, in addition to sending her numerous obscene .mpg files (digital movies). He also had sexually explicit telephone conversations with a detective posing as a child on his office line and cell phone. He attempted to seduce the girl during their online chats, encouraging her to purchase a web cam so that she could send graphic images of herself to him, and promised her that he would likewise send nude photos of himself.

Bad beside manner.

Casual racism on talk radio.

It's never too late to be a teenager.

Take that, boomers. We'll see your peter pan syndrome and raise you three buckets of self-indulgence and with a paste of narcissism on top. Did you really think your self-obsession couldn't be handily beaten by the first generation to get buried in credit card offers before we got real jobs?

I'd find this author's description of the phenomenon more attractive if it was more about self-employed hipsters taking off for Costa Rica, and less about trend-addicted New Yorkers spending $1800 on an outfit meant to copy the Olsen Twins.

I think I have too bad an attitude about the "I am what I consume" brand of self-definition to embrace the intent of the article, which is to celebrate the breakdown of the generation gap.

Oh, and on the subject of pre-distressed jeans, when I was young I once had someone ask me where I got mine since most of my jeans had the same signature frayed tear on the outside of the left thigh. The 1980 Pinto I drove until I was out of college had a rusty, sharp-edged bolt sticking out of the driver's side door frame. I've still got a scar on my leg from the damn thing.

The only things I've ever bought "pre-distressed" have been used cars.

Well that's not quite true. I've got a used 6" S&W .357 that gets cylinder lock unless I just use .38's at the range. So much for impulse buying guns at pawn shops. I don't think that's the kind of "hipster cred" the author is describing.

I do have to admit, I loved this line:

So why would anyone dress up anymore? A suit says, My mother made me wear this to go to a bar mitzvah.

That is something I notice thinking, working downtown... unless it's clearly a $2000 suit, when I see someone in a tie, my first thought is usually "there's someone who gets told by someone else what to wear."

Republican family values. (5,970th post of 6,000)

PHOENIX — The son of state Senate President Ken Bennett admitted in court Monday to assaulting middle school boys with a broomstick in their rectal areas, but a judge allowed charges against him to be reduced from 18 to one, and he may avoid jail.

Three of the 18 victims, all boys between the ages of 11 and 15, are from Tucson, and the families are angry that 18-year-old Clifton Bennett and co-defendant Kyle Wheeler, 19, were not charged with sexual assault.

Also, the families said Bennett is being treated favorably by the court system because of his father's position in the Legislature. Bennett's plea would allow the court to classify the aggravated-assault conviction as a misdemeanor, which means he could go on to become a teacher or counselor and would never have to disclose the so-called "brooming" incident.

Bennett and Wheeler pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in court Monday. Bennett pleaded to one count and Wheeler to two.

Nice. Even the money for rebuilding hospitals and clinics in Iraq got stolen by American contractors.

Spitzer is who I'd really like for President in 2008, but here's hoping he'll be appointed Attorney General.

Deconstructing the right wing attacks on reporter/hostage Jill Carroll. (post 5,967 of 6,000)

The Hammer gets nailed.

Interesting moment tonight... 01:02:03 04-05-06.

50 greatest independent films.

37 posts to go until 6,000. And that seems like enough for this... a lot of you have known for a while that I'm going to be shutting down the blog this month and turning my energies to other projects without the pseudonym. 6,000 posts seems like a nice round number - you know, one for each year since the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the Earth.

The Man of Wealth and Taste already has a blog here, and the Wizard will be posting a new address soon.

Bias

Evidentally, at ABC News, the desire to refute the charge of "liberal" bias in news is so great that they suspended the Executive Producer of Good Morning America over two year old e-mails blasting Bush...

But this "bias" revealed itself as the same Producer took out after Madelaine Albright for an inexplicable "jew shame".

At any rate, what purpose would leaking these now, two years after the fact? Seems a bit weird.

Trey Ellis weighs in over at the HuffPo...

No Shit...

"Some conservatives contend he really isn't really one of them.

They point to Bush's immigration stance, mushrooming government spending and soaring deficits on his watch and his failed attempt to put White House lawyer Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court. Some complain about the growing cost and attempted "nation building" of wartime Iraq.

'A lot of conservatives have had reservations about him for a long time, but have been afraid to speak out for fear that it would help liberals and the Democrats', said Bruce Bartlett, a Treasury official in the Reagan administration. Such concerns are no longer very relevant, he said."

Well...

Whatever respect I had for John McCain vanished in Lynchburg, Tennesse. Just what we need, another shill for the Religious Right.

What? Nobody wants this job?

"Unconvinced that the administration is serious about fixing the Federal Emergency Management Agency or that there is enough time actually to get it done before President Bush's second term ends, seven of these candidates for director or another top FEMA job said in interviews that they had pulled themselves out of the running."

Naturally, the acting FEMA head Paulison will leave the heavy lifting to Capt. 9/11. If you live on the coasts, my advice to you would be "Watch the fuck out".

Not so Instant Karma

I guess, Kathy, as Ginsberg might say, your candidacy sticks in the throat of God. Or more likely, everybody knows you are an accessory to theft, you heartless bitch. Enjoy your freefall.

Censure

I can't believe that more Democrats won't get behind this.

I know in the grand scheme of things, they are the good guys, or at least the better guys. Why do they continue to lay down and let these assholes have their way with them, and us? This is a serious question, one that gives me serious pause. Help me out here, folks...

In the Mainstream: Or How to watch the NeoCon project Implode

Political Suicide...This, Mr. Graham, may be a bit of an understatement.

"An Associated Press/Ipsos poll published today showed that a majority of Americans, 56 percent, favor giving undocumented immigrants the right to apply for some type of legal, temporary worker status. The poll found little support for a border fence, with just 32 percent saying it would work, and 67 percent saying they have no confidence that it would reduce the number of illegal immigrants. "

The only people in this country that aren't immigrants live on reservations. What's more, the Mexicans are the direct decendents of the aboriginal people of this continent, you know, the ones we treated so well.

This attempt is nothing more than white man hubris, pure and simple...excuse me, white man fear.

The OHxINxKY show last night was absolutely astounding. I could kick myself for leaving before the end, but couldn't afford to be brain-fried and hung over at meetings this morning. Next year I'll take the next day off work. Great audience, too. When's the last time you've see an audience at the Southgate totally absorbed in the performances instead of trying to get laid?

Considering how hard the GOP works to disenfranchise minority voters, especially in the last two elections, the country isn't yet ready for the Voting Rights Act to expire.

Speaking of God, Trav over at Wirecan gives us a pictorial history of the current war on Christians.

Hilarious.

Well, so much for that "god" theory.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.

Hilarious viewer-made Chevy ad. from a Kos diary.

What one of the founding members of Delta Force has to say about Bush's war.

Besides saying that Bush lied to get us into war for personal reasons, and in the process doomed us to World War III, he says:

Q: What do you make of the torture debate? Cheney ...

A: (Interrupting) That's Cheney's pursuit. The only reason anyone tortures is because they like to do it. It's about vengeance, it's about revenge, or it's about cover-up. You don't gain intelligence that way. Everyone in the world knows that. It's worse than small-minded, and look what it does.

I've argued this on Bill O'Reilly and other Fox News shows. I ask, who would you want to pay to be a torturer? Do you want someone that the American public pays to torture? He's an employee of yours. It's worse than ridiculous. It's criminal; it's utterly criminal. This administration has been masters of diverting attention away from real issues and debating the silly. Debating what constitutes torture: Mistreatment of helpless people in your power is torture, period. And (I'm saying this as) a man who has been involved in the most pointed of our activities. I know it, and all of my mates know it. You don't do it. It's an act of cowardice. I hear apologists for torture say, "Well, they do it to us." Which is a ludicrous argument. ... The Saddam Husseins of the world are not our teachers. Christ almighty, we wrote a Constitution saying what's legal and what we believed in. Now we're going to throw it away.

So much for Red America.

Article here.

Village Voice review of Wussy's album Funeral Dress

See them tonight at the Southgate House!

WUSSY
Funeral Dress
(Shake It)

In which Chuck Cleaver—Ass Ponys, you remember, they still play out around Cincinnati—joins unknown Lisa Walker, multi-instrumentalist Mark Messerly, and amateur drummer Dawn Burman for 11 three-minute songs, all about perfect, one after the other after the other. Small, but about perfect, with Walker handling the human detail and Cleaver tossing off metaphors—a sideshow horse, a shunt to drain the fear from his brain. It's an ideal partnership—vocally and lyrically, Walker grounds the old guy and he lifts her. The band sound is more Velvets than Burritos, yet country still. It's as if they've reduced all of white Ohio to an articulated drone, unlocked a silo or warehouse of hummable tunes, and worked out the harmonies. A.

(Click Pic For Info)
March 30, 2006
Southgate House

Remember the Surplus?

Using unmanned drone aircraft for domestic surveillance.

The Enquirer article on the OHxINxKY gig.

Shepherd's 2nd Story Concerts and Johnson's local music Web site IseeSound.com decided to present the bands as a means of getting the word out about the abundance of local talent. "It started with a thread on the Cincymusic.com boards where someone was asking which bands were going this year and then posted a laundry list of groups," Shepherd said.

"Like last year, when five or six local bands went, it got me thinking that this is a big deal. It is the music festival of the year in the country and every year for the past three or four there have been bands locally who've been picked. I thought, 'Why not put a bill together and use the publicity that they were picked for the pre-eminent showcase in the country to get people from the suburbs to come and check out bands in their backyard?'"

Because of scheduling conflicts, not all the bands that played Austin this year will perform at the show, which will feature sets from locals Peter Adams, Wussy and the Minni-Thins, as well as popular Indianapolis singer/songwriter Otis Gibbs and country blues act Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. (Over the Rhine, the Sundresses and Moth also performed in Austin). Shepherd said the plan is to do the post-SXSW show every year.

Johnson said he came on board after Shepherd asked if ISeeSound would lend its name to a local show Shepherd wanted to book by his friend Gibbs. "I said sure, and then it occurred to me that we could do a local showcase with the bands that were playing down there" Johnson said. "What I noticed was that there wasn't really a big deal made about it locally. People weren't talking about it and I don't know if they don't understand what a big deal it is to play at SXSW."

Another impetus was found in Shepherd's desire to clear up what he said is a fallacy about gigs by local bands. "There's a huge misconception around here that if a band plays in local bars that means they're no good," Shepherd said.

"That's completely wrong and some of the best talent in the country is playing bars here locally every night. The idea is to give bands their due in their own time and in their own city."

Is this an April Fool's Day story?

It's possible that Google would have a contribution to make to genetic research, after all, they certainly are experts in the collation and indexing of large amounts of data. Still, these accusations are a little far out... especially since the technology to do this kind of index is probably farther out than any patent term.

Tonight's the show...
















(Click Pic For Info)
March 30, 2006
Southgate House

Scalia shows what a good Catholic he is.