What are the feelings you left behind?

Started a landslide in my ego
Looked from the outside to
the world I left behind.
-U2 “A Day Without Me”

There Was A Time Before We Were Born

Home is where I want to be
But I guess I’m already there…
Guess that this must be the place
I can’t tell one from another

-Talking Heads”This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”

Boredom, Boredom

Someone’s boring me. I think it’s me.

-Dylan Thomas

A Forest

Come closer and see
See into the trees…
Suddenly I stop
But I know it’s too late
I’m lost in a forest
All alone
The girl was never there
It’s always the same
I’m running towards nothing
Again and again and again and again
-The Cure “A Forest” (1980)

Mourning In America

Today is Veterans Day. For one freakin’ day out of the year please ignore the anarchist tendencies of 24HPP and thank your lucky stars so few have done so much for so many. Yes, this is the first post in a week. No, we’re not going off line or turning political. Besides, Veterans Day isn’t political. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. It’s human. Call a soldier you know. Give to a charity. Think about the issues. Whatever you do, don’t let the day pass unnoticed.

Update: Athens man honors neighbors. Incredible story.

Lamb Jam: Joe The Plumber Edition

We think we know what we’re doing
We don’t pull the strings.
It’s all in the past now
Money changes everything.
-The Brains-”Money Changes Everything” (1979)

No matter how good people feel about “Joe The Plumber” being totally discredited the ice cold fact of the matter is that there are literally millions of real Joes in the United States. They’ve been screwed by the Democrats and screwed by the Republicans (and those are just two very easy to find examples). Yet both parties still claim the working class as their own. They’re served the Kool Aid of God, Guns and Guts or Lower Taxes and Health Care.

I’ve never been a fan of that old slogan “No War But The Class War” but it sure seems like the parties like it. But far from merely setting up the easy dichotomy or rich vs poor they pit economic brother against brother.

It’s “Joe The Plumber” vs. union drivers; teachers vs. subcontractors; the upper middle class vs the middle class vs. the lower middle class; and on and on…

And it’s nothing new and it’s nothing that will change as a result of whatever today’s election is. Sure, one candidate seems likely to be vast improvement over what the US has been through in the past 8 years but that could all change. Sure, it’s unfair to ask for guarantees and that’s not my point. The point is to remember that a politician’s job is to get elected. The real deal is what we’ll see after the dust settles.

So, with that, here’s to settling dust.

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Notes on the songs:

I’ve included one of my absolute favorite songs of all time on here: The Brains original version of “Money Changes Everything”. In his “Real Life Top Ten” for 1979 Greil Marcus wrote, after placing it at number 10, “This damned single ranks higher than I’ve place it but if it were anywhere else I couldn’t end with it, and there’s no other way the decade could end.” (January 14, 1980; New West Magazine)

Almost 30 years later, these are my sentiments exactly.

MP3: Oingo Boingo-Wild Sex (In The Working Class)

MP3: The Jam-That’s Entertainment

MP3: Pulp-Common People

MP3: The Flying Lizards-Money

MP3: The Brains-Money Changes Everything

Lamb Jam: Laugh To Keep From Crying Edition

And here we are.

With only one shopping day left until a new POTUS is chosen. The anxiety people feel every time this rolls around is palpable. Nerves are shot; people get irritable. I consciously didn’t pay attention to this presidential race until a few months ago. No way I was going to spend another 15 months or so following a political race. Don’t even attempt to get on my case about this. I used to be a total news/political junkie until I finally woke up to the fact that you could take almost any headline from the past four years, remove the names and dates, and you’ve essentially got the same world from before I was even born (i.e. search your local newspaper archives with the words China, scandal, war, Middle East, energy, shortage and economy to see what I mean).

That said, I’m not going to encourage you to go out and vote. Those of you who will, will. A lot of you won’t. Especially those members of what constitutes the notoriously unreliable “youth vote”. But if you’re inclined to vote just make sure you actually get out there and do it.

So, on this day before “the DAY”, I don’t want to shrug at the gravity of the situation but a more serious post is planned for tomorrow and I don’t have it in me to get into it right now.

Jam on it.

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For Flag wavers, real Americans and the silent majority:

MP3: The Goldwaters-Row Our Own Boat (1963)

MP3: Rob Stanley-Morning In America

(Be sure to check out Rob Stanley’s Rockanomics.com: ” The pro-American, pro-Military, conservative online rock journal and music community will relaunch this fall 2008. We’ll be jam packed with music reviews, downloads, interviews and articles — about our military heroes, their tremendous successes in the war on terror, and how the changing pop culture effects your life. Plus, there’s great trivia, discussions, blogs, and a special 9/11 tribute. We’ll be taking on the pathetic bands, magazines, newspapers, and media that constantly slams the country and the president — the global warming quagmire, terrorist sympathizers, conspiracy theorists, and lowlife politicians that undermine our country. “) In other words, AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!

For Lefties, Pinkos and Latte Liberals:

MP3: Ariel-A Wartime President Song

Love Me, I’m A Liberal!