Sheryl Crow - 'Wildflower'

By the way, Sheryl Crow's new record is as boring and middlebrow as her current public image as the once-and-future Mrs. Lance Armstrong. Wildflower is just as packed with dippy hippyisms as the goofy flowergirl cover would indicate. I guess we can be happy that Crow no longer wants be an aging pop tart, but the alternative is a good deal more dull and irrelevant.

'Jacksonville City Nights' Part II

I was reading over my posted review of Ryan Adams' Jacksonville City Nights and, after a dozen more listens, wanted to expand on that opinion. Basically, I think JCN is one of Adams' best records, not just a return to form but an indicator of great things yet to come. The Cardinals have congealed into a killer band, making great strides since JCN's predecessor Cold Roses (I'm not sure that JCN was recorded after Cold Roses, but it certainly sounds like the work of a more seasoned band). JCN demonstrates much of the shitkicking elegance of Whiskeytown's Pneumonia yet emerges as Adams' first legitimate all-killer, no-filler record.

Whereas Cold Roses was a stellar mix of all of Adams' notable traits - good, bad and occasionally indulgent - JCN is a fiercely focused and committed work, leaving behind any unnecessary guitar noodling or bombastic piano codas. Adams' critics always cite his need for an editor, and here he seems to have become his own best editor, not just trimming the number of songs but the content of the songs. Still 14 songs strong, however, JCN feels like just the right length. We've heard this incarnation of Adams many times before, but never has he so completely inhabited a persona on a single record. Not the least bit believable, the narrator of JCN bears no resemblance to pampered rock star Adams. Yet, like Gillian Welch, Adams' authenticity is found in the music, not the stories.

Here's hoping that Jacksonville City Nights is the opening salvo of a third phase of Ryan Adams' career, one that finds his grasp meeting or even exceeding his reach.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - 'Jacksonville City Nights'

You have to really love Ryan Adams to excuse the current amount of filler in his catalog (which apparently doesn’t include nearly all of what he would like to have released). If Adams has a particular Achilles’ heel, it must be his prowess in the studio, which renders most of his recordings highly listenable even when the material is complete and utter shit. Indeed, an entire album of single-take demos (Demolition) sounds as good as anything else he’s recorded solo. However, the bottom really fell out of Adams’ solo career with 2002’s release of Rock ‘N’ Roll and Love Is Hell. RnR was Adams’ stab at garage rock and LIH was his take on foppy, British pop. Neither album sounded like the work of the brash Whiskeytown frontman or the self-styled troubadour from Heartbreaker (Adams’ solo debut). Instead, what emerged was a clear picture of an artist desperately in need of an identity.

Adams received a blessing in disguise in the form of a severe hand injury during the tour to support Rock ‘N’ Roll. The subsequent break from touring and recording forced Adams to rethink his own guitar playing and inspired him to seek out a group of collaborators, not just a touring band. Guitarist J. P. Bowerstock coached Adams on his playing and became the lynchpin in The Cardinals, which also features bassist Catherine Popper and drummer Brad Pemberton (a former tourmate of Adams). The fruits of their labors have been realized in two releases this year – Cold Roses was released in May and Jacksonville City Nights is out this week. Whereas Cold Roses is a sprawling double album that references the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones, JCN is a hardcore country album that draws from Adams’ earlier days with Whiskeytown.

Cold Roses received strong reviews and was widely hailed as a return to form, but JCN is likely to divide critics again (though Adams’ fans are rarely anything less than rabid about any new release). In addition to a perceived glut of product, JCN feels more like Ryan Adams wearing a particular outfit (this one featuring fringed jackets and belt buckles). Though JCN is ostensibly “country”, it obviously sounds nothing like the current crop of Nashville acts. Instead, it is solidly stuck in the ‘70’s, even going as far as to feature countrypolitan string arrangements on several tracks. Elsewhere, JCN sounds like a Keith Richards solo record circa 1970. And therein perhaps lies the problem – while Richards has recorded some respectable solo records, they all lack the undeniable tension of a Jagger/Richards collaboration. Similarly, Adams has been without a credible foil since Phil Wandscher left Whiskeytown many moons ago. So Adams continues to cruise along on a laid-back vibe, which works okay here but better on Cold Roses. Cold Roses is also better able to stretch its 18-track welcome further on sheer variety and canny pacing, while JCN relaxes into a consistent 14-track groove rather quickly and predictably.

Which is not to say that good stuff does not abound throughout JCN. Indeed, Adams knack for melody and hooks remains intact, and some of the lyrics are arguably better than much of Cold Roses. Norah Jones shows up for a duet that suggests a full collaboration with Adams might be worth exploring. The Cardinals are the closest thing to a real band Adams has had in quite some time, and their playing provides a compelling backdrop for Adams' songs. Though JCN can seem slavishly loyal to its influences, it still comes across more authentic than Gold, which was slavishly tethered to more dubious sources (California country-rock, Elton John, etc.). And Adams remains, for better or worse, one of the few artists around who can make anything sound good in the studio.

So your reaction to JCN might be most closely related to what incarnation of Adams you prefer. I couldn't care less about faux-garage-rock Ryan or Brit-pop Ryan (both circa 2002), but I like Deadhead Ryan and George Jones Ryan pretty damn well. Spirit-of-Gram-Parsons Ryan appears throughout both Cold Roses and JCN (perhaps more often on the latter), and Magnolia Mountain Ryan (the fictional guy that actually knows something about bluebirds and the Cumberland River) is a new persona that virtually takes over JCN. It's not clear whether these Ryans have half a chance of becoming the same dude, but in the meantime Adams has served up two fine releases (with a third yet to come).

And hell, even Pitchfork digs it:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/adams_ryan/jacksonville-city-nights.shtml

Tom DeLay: Still a moron

The quote in this Washington Times articles defies belief:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050914-120153-3878r.htm

Does Tom DeLay really believe that the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress have been trimming the fat from the federal government? Wow. I mean... wow.

The conservative Heritage Foundation has some ideas for DeLay:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm839.cfm

Tom DeLay: not just a crook, a moron

From the Houston Chronicle:

This morning, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to the Reliant Park this offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.

While on the tour of a shelter with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, ``Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?''

What a fuckin' idiot.

Professionals my ass

"Most of government runs on the basis of a combination of civilian leadership that's elected and career professionals that fill the jobs underneath them. And we're always trying to strike the right balance. But I think generally that overall principle has served us well as a government over the years. You've got to have people at the top who respond to and are selected by presidents, and you pick the best people you can to do the jobs that need to be done."
--Dick Cheney, today

Career professional? Is that what Dick Cheney thinks Mike Brown is?

Despite the administration's insistence that Brown and FEMA performed well in Florida last year (that would be swing-state Florida in an election year), the Sun-Sentinel takes exception to that claim:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdfemablamesep08,0,4560444.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial

Also, here's a rundown of how some of your tax dollars were managed by FEMA after last year's hurricanes in Flordia:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-femacoverage,0,6697347.storygallery?coll=sfla-news-utility

Professionals? Really? Even if you buy the party line that FEMA is not a "first responder" (I'll agree to that, though that doesn't explain Mike Brown's ever-present image on TV last week), is this the fuckwit you want managing over $50 billion in relief money?

Hell just froze over...

... I agree with Robert Novak:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20050908.shtml

"The Blame Game"

Not a game, in fact:
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/09/index.html#007608

Finally, something hilarious

Hang in there, Hurricane Katrina victims -- it will all soon be better:
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055712

Depressing water cooler topics

First, good news: The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the number of people housed in the three major shelters here (Astrodome, Reliant Center and GRB Convention Center) has dropped dramatically in the last two days. This is being attributed to people finding family out of town or making more permanent arrangements here. Whatever the reason, it is very reassuring to see many of those people getting out of their shelters and moving on to (hopefully) brighter situations.

Now here's a depressing tidbit from the office water cooler. A colleague today said he heard that many of those Astrodome residents were pretty ungrateful, offering this quote, "We're used to grits, not gravy!"

Okay, does that sound like something someone would actually say, or does it sound like something some racist cracker made up? If you're the type of person who went down to the Astrodome to serve food, do you think that would be your lasting impression (if it's even true)? The media has shown almost nothing but super-grateful Louisiana residents on camera. And frankly, if some of the evacuees are a little snippy, don't you think they sorta have a right to be, given their ordeal? I just can't believe that someone who would serve food to those people would broadcast one or two negative comments (again, assuming it's not just some stupid urban legend).

I'd like to attribute those sorts of "guess what I heard!" comments to something other than covert racism, but it's hard to come up with any. The local media (well, fuckin' Channel 2 anyway) has been fanning these flames ever so subtly ("Are your neighborhoods safe, while our police are busy in the Astrodome?").

There's already plenty of blame-shifting around here to the state and local authorities, and I think the conservative apologists of this town are having a hard time coming to grips with reality. The sad fact is that the government - top to bottom - let down the people of New Orleans and it needs to be addressed.

The other sad fact is that maybe people with NO emergency management experience are completely unqualified to run FEMA. And that maybe we should put qualified people, not political buddies, in positions of importance. Just maybe.

Irrelevance Watch

Head over to the National Review today to see how disgustingly out-of-touch the party-liners have become.

Among today's articles:

• Where's Randall Robinson's Apology? (who?, you're wondering - me, too).
• A Defense of Price Gouging
• How would Kerry have handled the crisis?
• The 2008 Republican Convention should be in New Orleans

Really? The Republican Convention? Not a single home has been repaired, but NR is already talking up conventions (blessing a city with the RNC is apparently considered the highest endorsement).

The problem with these articles is that they reveal the depth of denial so prevalent among the establishment of the far right. Every feature today just skirts around the issues that everyone else is talking about. Even ultra-right-winger Michelle Malkin is smart enough to call for Mike Brown's firing. Not once since this crisis emerged has the National Review bothered to ask tough questions about the failures of the government at all levels. Even Bill Frist, in an interview on Today this morning, had the balls to admit that the federal government dropped the ball (well, that really only requires a brain, not balls necessarily).

Here's the gist, as far as I'm concerned. Our government is dysfunctional, possibly more dysfunctional than before 9/11. The Bush Administration has fed us the illusion that we are safer under their leadership, and many of Bush's supporters are now dismayed to find out just how thin that claim is. A refusal to own up to this bungle (after so many other unaccouted-for bungles), could spell the end of the Republican control of the government.

Or better yet: this crisis could spell the end to business-as-usual, where a Senator from Alaska can tack on a $250 million bridge for 50 constituents to the pork-laden Highway Bill, and the President actually signs it. It's time for our citizens to seize back control of our government, our money and our national priorities.

This can't be true, can it?

http://www.nola.com/weblogs/print.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/print076556.html

If this story is true, Bush should just fire his entire staff and start over. He could promote some college interns and get better advice than what he's getting from his roving band of incompetents.

Things have gone over the edge when I'm wishing that Cheney would just take over.

Limbaugh, et. al. -- Goodbye.

Here is Rush Limbaugh's response to Jack Shafer's column in Slate on Wednesday:

"The whole purpose of this story for Mr. Shafer and these stories on these lower level websites that hopefully they think will percolate to the mainstream press is to eventually indict the American way of life, to indict the American culture, to indict the American society as inherently unfair and racist."

Oh yeah, you fat fucking bastard? If this is not an indictment of the American government and our society, what exactly is?

To those who have actively promoted the systematic dismantling of our safety nets, your era of semi-relevance has officially ended. See you in hell.

Katrina Refugees Headed to Houston

The Superdome survivors are being relocated to the Astrodome in Houston this week. Here is the link to the Houston Food Bank (additional links at the bottom of the page):

http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/Katrina.htm

Please help!