NaBloPoMo

Our World

James – Our World

Back in October I went to see Johnny Marr with James opening. I was familiar with James, knew and liked the singles from way back when, but I never really listened to them much. So it came as a surprise to me that nearly half the crowd came to see James with Johnny Marr. They wore old tour t-shirts and knew all the words to all the songs.

To prepare for the show I listened to their most recent album on the way to work. There are a number of timely songs, like this one, which made me appreciate them more than I had before.

I’d also heard that a big part of a James show is frontman Tim Booth’s dancing. He did dance in a kind of trance-like way sometimes but the thing that really struck me was the grasp he has on the audience when he ventures off of the stage. He did this a couple of times. Standing on seat backs and holding people’s hands for support, or out in the aisle right up in front of people. He would hold people’s hands aloft, like they were going to take a bow together, and he would stare into their eyes with this smile on his face, never breaking his gaze. It was kind of incredible to watch. At first people were excited or a little nervous but the longer he stood there, a foot in front of them, smiling, and just drawing them into his eyes, it was like he was imparting a message about his love for humankind, and in that particular moment his love for the person he was communing with, all with his eyes.

I’m glad they were on this tour with Johnny Marr because I don’t know if I would have gone to see them otherwise. It seems unlikely they’ll be back here any time soon but keep it in mind.

Joe McCarthy’s Ghost

Minutemen – Joe McCarthy’s Ghost

Welp, the cabinet appointments are rolling out and it is just one jaw-droppingly bad pick after another. We thought it was appalling last time but now? A friend shared a post that said, “at some point he’s going to start nominating inanimate objects and fictional characters.” I replied that we’d be better off if he nominated Clint Eastwood’s empty chair for Secretary of Defense. Instead we get a Fox News personality who hasn’t washed his hands for ten years because he doesn’t believe in germs since he can’t see them.

Then there’s the Russian asset in charge of intelligence, the pedophile for attorney general, the toady hawk for the UN, the evangelist as the ambassador to Israel. I haven’t heard yet if RFK Jr ended up getting the gig for public health destroyer but a guy with a brain eating worm who sounds like he gargles battery acid is going to fit in perfectly with this crowd.

The only qualification needed for these jobs was complete loyalty to president pompadour. If the media would like to begin salvaging their reputations they could start by planting little seeds of infidelity in the ranks. Talk about how Elon is really in charge and Donny is just his useful idiot. All you have to do is prime the pump and stand back.

Back in March 2018, the New Yorker ran this cartoon that has really stood the test of time.

My only hope with this clown car of an administration is that the infighting and back stabbing will mean we rid ourselves of some of the worst people in government when they inevitably get canned. Trump loves nothing more than firing people.

W.M.A.

Pearl Jam – W.M.A.

This morning I was really feeling the anger stage of grief about the election. By the time I headed home after work I was back in the depression stage, after cycling through all of them throughout the day.

But in the car on the way to the office, I was making my way through the early Pearl Jam albums. Young Eddie Vedder with his barely contained rage. YES. More of this, please. When I got to this song, with those drums pounding and Eddie belting it out, I felt stronger than I have this whole past week.

I am probably going to keep pinballing around between denial, anger, and depression for the foreseeable future. One thing I really have to do is limit my news and social media intake (she says while posting on social media). Every time I hear about some new cabinet appointee, or some plan to destroy fill-in-the-blank, it sends me reeling. There’s nothing I can do about those things and losing my footing is really not helpful.

Geneva Strangemod

Glyders – Geneva Strangemod

I had to start work at 7:00 this morning and I am wiped. It’s not just being tired from a long day, it’s that plus the impending disaster exacerbating everyone’s problems, and the usual lack of sleep.

It doesn’t help that it’s dark when I’m driving home from work. I have an online friend who lives in Chile where it’s coming into summer. She posts pictures of bushes full of flowers with a deep blue sky and you can just feel the warmth and you know it smells gorgeous.

Something about this song has a vibe that kind of matches with those summery scenes. Maybe I will try listening to this while I fall asleep in hopes of peacefully drifting off.

Mind Your Own Business

Delta 5 – Mind Your Own Business

People can fuck all the way off with their calls for returning to respectful debate. Nope. The Christo-fascists have absolutely no intention of being respectful or honest and I will not aid them in their takeover by giving them the veneer of legitimacy.

How have people not learned this yet? NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO OR SAY, they will just make shit up and put words in your mouth, and spin them up through the vast right wing echo chamber. No one is eating the pets, no one is having surgeries at school, we do not have an open border, the list goes on. You cannot debate lies, which is all they have.

How about, instead of returning to civil discourse with fucking Nazis, we tell them to go to hell. How about people who don’t want abortions just don’t have one, but the rest of us can still access a medical procedure safely. How about people mind their own fucking business instead of policing bathrooms.

I am so far away from being polite to anyone who either voted for a con man of the highest order, votes third party, or just sat it out. I am not charitable. All the bad shit they have planned? I want it to happen to the people who chose that, thinking it wouldn’t happen to them. I am not some ‘I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy’ kind of person. I do wish it on them and I hope it happens to them first. This is beyond schadenfreude. I will take no joy in it. But they deserve it.

Walking Wires

High Vis – Walking Wires

I spent a bunch of time on the road today and I needed something to take my mind off the state of the world. Most of the time I don’t want the algorithm picking tunes for me but I thought it might produce a playlist that wasn’t going to make me more freaked out and anxious. It was a pretty good mix and I added a few songs to my favorites so I can go back another day and check them out. This was one of the songs that was new to me, and I’m bummed to discover that I just missed them playing in NYC last week.

Yuk Foo

Wolf Alice – Yuk Foo

I keep going back and forth between total despair and blinding rage. And in between I have to do my job and give my family emotional support. I kind of bailed on making food the past two days, who felt like eating anyway.

I can’t believe this is only the third day since the election. It already feels like weeks. I can’t take it if we are going to slow walk to the gallows over the next two and a half months.  I am too physically wrecked to actually do it, but a part of me really wants to smash things. If I were to go to one of those places where you can destroy things with a sledgehammer, the only thing I’d probably destroy would be my back. It’s all of this repressed grief stored in my muscles. Maybe I will have to take up running or something, just to move it around so it isn’t weighing me down. I have had to lie down every day since Wednesday, just for a few minutes, because it’s so heavy. I’d rather get it out.

Seeing Red

Minor Threat – Seeing Red

I had a couple of rough moments today. I managed to keep it together, and getting outside at lunchtime helped a lot, but I still need to limit my social media time. I don’t have the attention span for much though. Short, sharp, shocked songs kind of match that mood.

Racist Friend

The Specials – Racist Friend

You have to start somewhere. You know how, when all the bad shit started happening the first time around, people would say things like, this isn’t who we are, Americans are better than this, and so on. Apparently, no, this is who the majority of the country are and this is, sadly, as American as apple pie.

They are also bigoted, wildly sexist, and just straight up stupid. Nothing will become cheaper and there will not be better or more jobs, they will not be better off financially… I have to stop before I allow myself to think about how really horrific it can get.

I have a theory that the main reason Cheeto ran in the first place was because he couldn’t stand when Obama made that joke about him at the White House Correspondents dinner and everyone laughed. He stormed out. How dare a Black man show him up. Ever since then it’s been one long grievance parade.

I am trying to stay off the doom scrolling but I have checked in here and there on my people. In the process, I am seeing a number of people placing the blame on the Dems abandoning the working class. Well, nothing says abandon the working class completely like putting Elon in charge of anything. Are you telling me that there are people who felt so sure that the Democrats were bad on economic policies that they wouldn’t vote for them, knowing full well that would mean the Tariff King, with his failed businesses and bankruptcies and billionaire buddies, would become president? Make it make sense.

Or the privileged people and their self-righteous stances. I know there is a genocide happening in Gaza. The chances of that ending are gone now. In fact, way more innocent people, in places all over the world and here in the US, will also die. You knew that would happen and you are willing to destroy everything in hopes of some magical coalition of leftists taking over. Ya. Man, if you can make it happen, bravo. But I will not be holding my breath.

I will be taking care of my people. I will cut the rest of you out of my life. We may not have legislative power, or judicial power, but we can withhold our company, our good will, and our money. Stop buying stuff on Amazon. I left Twitter a long time ago but for fuck’s sake, if you are still there, leave. We are going to see a whole lot of people and companies obeying in advance. Keep your eyes open and stop spending your money there.