2 Quick Music Plugs

I came across an article about those of us 40 and over, and our musical choices. I think I always recognized that the music of your teens and early twenties remains the music of your life, but I know I get tired of listening to the same stuff, over and over.

This article pointed out that there has never been a better time for us old guys to find new music--the Internet has re-opened up the music world to those of us who don't spend hours listening to the radio, or watching MTV, or its musical equivalents.

I occasionally go into iTunes and do a search for my favorite artists in the playlists section--the area where celebrities and regular people post thematic playlists-- then I check out the other artists they list, to see if I can find somebody similar to, but different than, my old favorites.

That said, check out www.pandora.com, one of the sites recommended by the article I read. It is simply great!

The founders started with a simple premise-- that music could be decoded like a genetic scientist lays out DNA. Indeed, they called it the Music Genome Project.

They've taken tens of thousands of songs and mapped out their content. For instance, they identify acoustic v. electric guitar, heavy drums or organ, harmonies, etc. But in a very sophisticated way.

So how does the site work? Simply and easily. You tell it the name of a favorite song or artist. They then build for you a "radio station" with artists and songs generally similar to your's. You then can just listen away, or you can help the station be "refined" by clicking a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on a particular song. This helps the site hone in on what you really like.

I started a station based on John Gorka, a great folk singer. Over the course of last weekend, I continued to refine the station by giving my input to songs. Nothing complicated, just a couple of clicks.

One of the choices you have during the playing of a song is to ask Pandora why it's playing this particular song. The one I'm listening to now was chosen because "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features folk roots, acoustic sonority, demanding instrumental part writing, thru composed melodic style and major key tonality."

Who knew my tatse in music was so refined? After tweaking first ten or so songs I don't think they've played a bad one yet. And I've found at least one artist I know I'll buy, and perhaps see in concert.

Pandora.com. Check it out. I give it 2 thumbs up!

And plug number two is for the delightful Nadine Goellner whose live CD is in pre-release. Check out her web site, listen to some cuts and see what you think. I'd give her more than two thumbs up, but, alas, I've only two hands!

San Francisco

Just got back from a week in San Francisco with my family.

We had a great time-- the weather fulfilled the quote I heard from my brother-- the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. In the City it never got above 65-- which was perfect for us!

99% of the vacation was great-- we did Napa and Sausalito; Muir Woods and US 1. Got to dip our feet in the Pacific and ride the ferry to Alcatraz. Drove for miles through the farms of the Valley. Great food, great music. More on all of that later.

As much as I enjoyed it, I could not recommend San Francisco to others, certainly not with small children.

I'm a New Yorker, old enough to remember Manhattan before Rudy Giuliani. And we're in New York so much these days I tend to forget what it was like.

Thank you, San Francisco for making me remember.

Homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks. Panhandlers every few feet. Scam artists. Mentally ill men screaming, and barking, at lines of tourist families waiting to get on a cable car.

And not a cop in sight.

We were there from Sunday through Saturday. We stayed a block off Fisherman's Wharf. We hit all the tourist spots. No cops. We finally saw a police cruiser on the street on Friday night. But other than that, nada.

I spoke with dozens of other tourists and the consensus was we felt unsafe and abused. I know I spent hundreds of dollars less than I would otherwise have, solely because there wasn't a place in San Francisco we felt safe simply walking around, especially at night.

I'm no wussy, and I'm not from the sticks. But within 5 minutes after we checked into the hotel room I had my old hardened "City stare" going. We witnessed one knock-down, an apparent purse-snatching, and were harassed by literally dozens of low-lives.

I was on vacation-- I needed this?

I've been in cities with worse crime--but never a city where there was such a lack of police presence, especially in tourist areas. I do believe NY's Finest have spoiled me, but I remember police/security presence on Bourbon Street and Beale Street, in Boston and DC, in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Chicago, too. They all had homeless and scam artists, but at least the cops offered some sanity and hope. You know, the "order" part of "law & order".

SF takes great pride in being a bastion of liberality. But it would do well do read a few chapters from the gospel according to Rudy.

Until it does, my suggestion is-- enjoy Napa and Sausalito; dine with care in SF itself-- and leave the kiddies at home.

Lyrics

Maybe because my teenage years were spent during the highwater mark of the singer/songwriter, the 70's, I have always loved lyrics. CrankyBeach, a fun blog, just listed 10 sets of lyrics--it's fun trying to pick them out.

A great line can make a song for me. Some artists, like my favorites John Gorka and Nanci Griffith, provide lines that catch my ear in almost every song. I often wonder whether, as they are writing, they have Eureka! moments, knowing the line hits home.

Some of my favorites from over the years:

Out on the road today
I saw a Dead-head sticker on a Cadillac

She checks out Mozart while she does Ty-Bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow

She was built like a fridgerator with a head

I couldn't bribe a wino
On what I used to make

Sometime it's hard letting you take your own chance
Cause Darling I remember when you first held my hand

I made enough money to buy Miami
But I pissed it away so fast

There's probably dozens more.

I think I'll rev up the iPod, beach myself on a chair with a frosty beverage and do some research. That's it, my dear wife-- I'm not wasting the day, I'm doing research!!!

Gay Marriage & the New York Court of Appeals

The New York Court of Appeals, in a split decision, refused to hold New York's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Instead the Court explicitly stated that this was an issue for the legislature, not the courts.

As the usually liberal Newsday opined, the Court got it right.

I've already written about my support for gay unions.

Newsday, with no hint of irony, stated: "Social institutions evolve from the ground up, as individuals change their behavior. Any effort to impose a different vision, without popular support, rarely succeeds."

Of course, this is the point of the tens of millions of Americans who have opposed social tinkering by the courts, including the hottest-button issue of them all--abortion.

Simply put, when decisions are made unilaterally by judicial fiat the effects linger for decades.

When issues are resolved by the ballot or by the duly elected legislature, they are grumblingly accepted.

Take for example gambling. For decades this was a social taboo, feared and reviled by many as worse than drink. The raising of the very notion of a state-run Lotto forty years ago would have been the death knell of a politician's career.

If a court had held that gambling prohibitions were unconstitutional, there would be temperance leagues galore picketing every Lotto agent, casino and OTB. Instead our legislatures have, with the help of changing societal norms, bit by bit extended this "vice" throughout our communities with nary an opposing word.

I've said it before: if abortion had been legalized through legislative action instead of judicial meddling, it would be as controversial as legalized gambling.

Gay rights activists are right on this issue; time and a growing national tolerance are on their side.

Ken Lay, RIP?

So Ken Lay of Enron infamy has died.

I know it's declasse to speak ill of the dead, but I've never been accused of being too classy.

I don't know what awaits Lay now. I do know what I wish for his family and estate.

I hope they are stripped of every asset. I hope his widow winds up packing bags at a Winn-Dixie. I hope every piece of jewelry, every article of clothing, every piece of art, every bank account is cashed in and paid to investors who were swindled.

I am sick and tired of white-collar criminals stealing millions or more, living lives of riches and power on the stolen money, and then when caught, paying "restitution" which while it may appear large is far less than was stolen. The result? They and their families live lives, both before conviction and after, that they could never have enjoyed if the thief had played by the rules.

Like the Mafia guys who look at prison as a cost of doing business, an awful lot of people would make the trade of decades of opulence in exchange for a short stint in a federal camp. Guys like Lay distort the system. They are enemies of capitalism as surely as any bomb-throwing anarchist ever was, and perhaps moreso. Nothing but total devastation will be a deterrent. Unfortunately we see more Michael Milkens, coming out of jail with millions still in the bank, than ex-cons on the down and out. And that's wrong.

Maybe it's jealousy on my part. I remember well two attorneys, a little older than me, who in an extremely short time built a huge law firm. They were living the high life, and their arrogance was legendary. How great were they, how smart, how stupid and inept were we who trailed in their wake? Except it turns out they got their business through systematic payoffs. Oops. When the house of cards fell was anyone able to take from them, and their families the expensive vacations they had already enjoyed? Or the personal tutors and private education their children had received? Or the summers at the country club? Were they stripped of all assets--or did they keep their fat pension plans? Did the people they got jobs for, relatives and friends, by using their influence, lose them? Did the contacts that their money had bought go away, or the doors they opened for themselves and their family close? Some maybe, but not most. Friends help friends, even after scandal.

Bottom line, aside from whatever money they kept, their time at the top gave them and their families advantages that never disappear entirely.

So while Lay's death is sad for his family, I hope the feds and the plaintiff's attorneys pick the estate and the family that enjoyed those ill-gotten gains, clean.

North Korean Missiles

I know it takes decades for history to reach a judgment on a presidency. I hope to live to see the day when Bill Clinton receives the recognition as one of the worst presidents in our history.

Forget Monica, the scandals, etc. The real story is the multitude of major problems he failed to address at all, or which he swept under the rug.

I believe 9-11 will ultimately be laid at his feet.

Certainly North Korea should be. His use of Jimmy Carter to negotiate an agreement with North Korea in 1994 may eventually rank up there in the top 10 with Neville Chamberlain's assessment of the Nazi's intentions.

When Carter came back Republicans uniformly screamed that the "agreement" was a joke and that North Korea would violate it. Clinton and his cronies implied that Republicans were irresponsible warmongers who didn't understand the sophistication of diplomacy.

Carter's response, from an interview on CNN:

JUDY WOODRUFF: .... Are you absolutely persuaded that the North Koreans are going to honor this agreement, that while the talks are going on that it's not just a matter of buying time on the part of the North Koreans, that they will not secretly pursue the program they were pursuing earlier, nuclear program?

JIMMY CARTER: Judy, I'm convinced. But I said this when I got back from North Korea, and people said that I was naive or gullible and so forth. I don't think I was. In my opinion, this was one of those perfect agreements where both sides won and got what they wanted and there were no-nobody blinked, nobody had to yield.... I think the most important lesson is that we should not ever avoid direct talks, direct conversations, direct discussions and negotiations with the main person in a despised or misunderstood or condemned society who could actually resolve the issue. And we went through this for ten years when nobody in our government would meet or talk to Yasir Arafat. The Norwegians did, and they were the ones that brought the peace agreement last summer....

Jimmy Carter, interview with CNN (upon his return from North Korea), June 22, 1994

Notice Carter's reference to the peace accord with Arafat? That one lasted about a minute, too.

Clinton could have done something with this nut in Korea, just as he could have nailed down Saddam, and Osama, long before they festered into large malignancies.

He didn't and we're paying for it. The story of Nero fiddling while Rome burned keeps coming to mind.