Summer Plugs

On a more trivial note, I suppose, I have to plug a few things. I haven’t posted on new albums and things in awhile, so I’ll take a few lines to spread the word on some notable releases.

First of all, if you’re a Drive By Truckers fan (and if you aren’t you should be), it’s a pretty good time to be one. Patterson Hood, co-founder and one of the lead singers/guitarists for DBT released his second solo album two weeks ago, “Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)” and CNN is already calling it the best record of the year so far. It’s a great album, backed by a full band on most tracks (unlike the at home solo recordings of Hood’s last non DBT outing). All are great sounding fully formed songs that are lyrical character studies of a wide range of humanity. Great music with good lyrics. Pick this one up the old-fashioned way (you know, at a record store), because the packaging is nice and the liner notes are very insightful. The record should hold you off until July’s CD/DVD combo release of DBT’s “Austin City Limits” live show and the upcoming fall release of a DBT B-sides, rarities and outtakes compilation

Also noteworthy recent music albums are the great power pop rock songs from French rockers Phoenix’ third album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” Also, for seriously bouncy perfect pop music check out “Manners” by the band “Passion Pit,” a throwback to 80s synth pop that remains sounding fresh. And, Morrissey’s latest album “Years of Refusal” may very well be the best and most cohesive work he’s put out since leaving the Smiths almost two decades ago.

In other mediums, if you are even a casual comic or graphic novel fan and you aren’t reading writer Jason Aaron and artist R.M. Guera’s excellent “Scalped” series from Vertigo/DC, you are sorely missing out. It’s available in 4 collected volumes (Indian Country, Casino Boogie, Dead Mothers, Gravel in Your Guts) and new single issues come out every month. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever read, a completely new and wholly American noir tale. The only thing giving “Scalped” a run for it’s money on intensity, depth and originality is the relatively new “Unknown Soldier,” another Vertigo title by writer Joshua Dysart and artist Alberto Ponticelli. “Soldier” is a thoroughly researched and eerily visceral take on Uganda and Congo political, war and civilian issues complete with child soldiers, violent civil wars and the re-imagining of the old DC character, the soldier clothed in full bandages. It’s available monthly, the first collected trade is scheduled to come out on September 1st, so mark your calendar and earmark your ten bucks because it’s more than worth it.

Last of all, with movies like “Star Trek,” “Wolverine,” “Angels and Demons,” “The Hangover” and “Transformers 2” raking in dough hand over fist, (good as some of them may be) it’s evident that the months of big, dumb, summer movies are upon us as the critical darlings are held back for the fall and winter. These big flicks are usually fun popcorn fare (Wolverine and Hangover were, I can’t speak for the others I haven’t yet seen them), but if you’re an indie, old-school horror or ‘80s underground film fan don’t forget to show director Sam Raimi a little love for “Drag Me to Hell,” his messy grand return to B horror schlock. I’m catching it this weekend hopefully, we owe him a bit of support for the “Evil Dead” films (even if he did drop the ball on a few aspects of the Spider Man films when he went big budget).

That’s all for now.

Guns, God, Government

In America, especially in the south, if you want to anger someone those above 3 topics pretty much are a way to do so. Perhaps in many areas, guns most of all.

A startling piece on Sunday nights “60 Minutes” profiled the brother of a girl who was shot and killed at VA Tech. The brother, to make a point, attended a Virginia gun show and within an hour had purchased a dozen guns, many of them assault weapons, without having to provide an ID or go through a background check. Virginia is a state with few gun sell restrictions, and the gun show loop even allows people in the parking lot of gun shows to sell weapons directly from the trunk of their cars. The brother of the VA Tech victim was asked if he was even once asked to show identification. He responded that it happened a few times, but each time he refused and was told that for 50 dollars more (or a trip to the parking lot to purchase the gun outside) they would go ahead with the sell.

The sells of guns have shot up dramatically this year. Due to the recession say some, and to the Obama presidency say others. In past recessions, people have stocked up on canned goods and blankets. This time around it’s guns. Gun lobbyists have stated that people are right in thinking that were there a complete economic meltdown, there would be nothing better than guns to get them prepared to survive and gather food (quite a bit of Doomsday Prophecy). As to the Obama presidency, conservatives fear he will bring back the Clinton ban on assault weapons and seek to close the gun-show loophole.

The gun lobby fiercely argues against  bringing back the ban on assault weapons that was in place under Clinton and repealed under Bush. As for waiting periods, that gun show loophole that allowed the VA tech brother to purchase multiple weapons without waiting was responded to by a NRA spokesman in VA with “the second amendment doesn’t say anything about a waiting period before your right to bear arms.” No, the second amendment doesn’t mention waiting periods, or the right to bear assault weapons, nuclear bombs or hazardous material for firebombing either.

A great book on this subject is “Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can’t Win the Battle Over Guns”  by Mark V. Tushnet.  It’s really quite a balanced book, written by a Law Professor at Harvard who claims to be rather disinterested in the debate on personal levels, feeling it’s not a priority on his list of national concerns. He debates both sides and ultimately concludes that each has winning and losing arguments and that the debate must be resolved outside of the constitution, with information and decisions based on further sources because the constitution  doesn’t fully answer this question for us in this day and age. We thus have to look at court precedents, modern interpretations, changing atmospheres as well as original intent.

What truly seems like common sense though, is that regardless of whether the founding fathers intended the right to bear arms with a well armed militia for personal, state and national protection to extend to a personal, private ownership of any citizen at any time or if the original intent is currently fulfilled by having an established national guard and technological advances that negate the necessity, there are a few factors that fall outside of the second amendment when it comes to guns.

No matter what, common sense should tell us that had the forefathers predicted AK47’s in inner cities being used by street gangs or in drug cartels moving throughout the world, there may have been some warning and restriction. There should be no argument against bringing back the ban on assault weapons—at least no logical, sensible, compassionate argument. Military grade weapons have no place in the hands of a private citizen. They exist only to destroy large numbers of people in short spans of time. As for increased background checks, extended waiting periods and closing the gun show loop? Yet again there is no decent argument against these things. Someone going to a gun show should have to provide ID and undergo a background check, the same as they would if they were to go to a gun shop. As for folks to be able to legally sell weapons out of the trunk of their car in the parking lot at such gun shows, it’s almost enough to make one feel lawgivers in Virginia simply aren‘t thinking clearly.

The problem is, as Tushnet points out, for many people this issue is bigger than just guns. Many feel it is a part of the “culture wars,” liberals vs. conservatives, cities vs. rural areas and so on. We need to get past that and make solid judgments in regards to issues that affect the health and safety of everyone living in this country.

Oddly many of those in the south who want no gun restrictions and pride themselves on carrying concealed weapons also are deeply religious, or at least historically so. I understand hunting, especially to provide food. I understand target practicing as a sportsman. Beyond that, carrying weapons with the intent to use them if necessary on another human being is however a form of violence. I’m sure that’s a comment liable to make many angry, yet I have to stress I don’t feel that such an action makes someone a violent person. I completely understand the feelings, emotions and drives that cause many to carry a weapon or keep one in their home solely for “home protection” and to, in theory, keep their loved ones safe (the stats show that simply keeping a gun in your home increases your chances of dying by gunshot dramatically, but that‘s another story). I also know that many jobs require people to carry weapons strictly for the protection of self and others with the intention to shoot to kill if necessary. Yet to invoke the God aspect from the title of this article, carrying, buying or owning a weapon for any reason other than to hunt for food or target practice for sport is a, albeit possibly subtle in some cases, form of violence. Christianity is rooted in nonviolence, so it’s simply odd that many Christians are so vocally pro-gun. Regardless of the actions of the church in low-points in history and the attitudes of many who call themselves Christians, Jesus spoke of complete non-violence yet many of those that praise his name today follow it with “pass the ammunition,” at least metaphorically. I understand self-preservation, defense and a desire to be prepared. Yet can’t those that want guns for that reason view them almost as a necessary evil and not be so enthusiastic about them? Can’t we all agree that restrictions on the sell of and type of guns can be imposed to help curb needless violence? Yes there are many factors that lead to the violence that permeates society, American society in particular. Yes, there are other avenues that must be explored. Yet a step in the direction of moving guns to the area of hunting, emergency and sensibility only is direly needed.

Many notable advocates for non-violence have addressed the issue of the limits of pacifism. A future article on this site will be concerned with how various leaders in the field, Gandhi, MLK and the Dalai Lama have dealt with this issue. That’s it for now.

Celebrating Mediocrity

My brother commented on one of my articles recently suggesting I make a list of hit films, books and songs that, although very popular, are not good in the artistic or critical sense; in other words, what’s my top ten hit media items that I feel are really just crap?

Well, this isn’t really that. This isn’t a countdown of what’s the worst popular junk in systematic dissection, this is more an article about the enthusiasm for mediocrity as a whole.

There’s a recent TV commercial for McDonald’s, a company I loathe almost as much as Wal Mart. In the commercial two young guys are in a traditionally “trendy” looking coffee shop. Both are wearing glasses, one is reading a book. Both speak in low, stereotypical “pretentious” voices. One says to the other “did you know McDonald’s sells coffee now?” The other says “well what are we doing here then?” He whips his glasses off saying he doesn’t really need them. He says he’s tired of sitting in coffee shops and talking about “films” and that he really just enjoys “sitting and watching football.” The other agrees but concedes he actually does need his glasses.

So really, this commercial is showing that there is no need to go to a trendy independent coffee shop where poetry readings and acoustic open mic sessions are  held and where people discuss art, film and philosophy. No, now you can go to McDonald’s and get a dollar cappuccino and take it home to sit on your couch and watch football till your brain drips out your ear from the numbness of average, ordinary mediocrity.

I’m not going to get into a criticism of football. I’ve written about baseball often on this site, if you click on “baseball” at the bottom of the page and read back at all of my baseball articles from last year you’ll even see at least two that comment on why I feel baseball is a superior sport to football on various levels. That’s not something to get into yet again here. I don’t loath football, I’m just not a fan. Perhaps it’s somewhat silly for me to equate baseball as a symbol of positive American values and football as a symbol of negative American values, but it’s mainly just for fun in my case. No, I’ve been known to watch a super bowl occasionally (I’ll definitely tune in to the halftime show this year because Bruce Springsteen is my favorite musician of all time). Not everyone who watches football is a symbol of mediocrity, but the idea that there’s nothing better for the average guy than to sit on his couch and watch football all day, possibly eating fast-food, is a bit of mediocrity celebration.

On a smaller scale, much of what is incredibly popular is insanely mediocre. Your typical active rock radio station plays the most uninspiring new rock imaginable (Nickleback anyone?). Hip Hop stations play the same club jam and pop rap hit like “Live Your Live,” “Apple Bottom Jeans” (Re-Remix), or a mash up between Justin Timberlake, Akon and Bow Wow. Country stations wallow in mediocrity. Alt-country, classic country or even slightly edgy country will not be on the radio–instead get ready for Toby Keith, Big & Rich or any number of other brain numbing works. A slew of mediocre books were turned into mediocre films over the past months ( Marley and Me, He’s Just Not That Into You, Confessions of a Shopaholic). I’ve mentioned authors that churn out sub-par work on a regular basis that manage to sell truckloads worth of books (James Patterson post-the first five Cross novels, Nicholas Sparks, many would say “Twilight” ).

The point is, quite often very unintelligent, unoriginal, and utterly crappy material becomes very successful, be it music, movie or book. I can list a lot but there’s really no point. Why do such things appeal to so many people? Many would say that they are safe, middle of the road affairs that appeal to the lowest common denominator so that they can reach the widest group of people. Typically such things don’t require too much thought, too much absorption and concentration or any measure of taste cultivation. Really, the best of any medium quite often requires the reader, listener or viewer to participate in the process a bit by thinking, involving themselves in the field to better understand the author or artist. So what makes this troublesome is not that people like “crap.” People are different, they can like anything they want to. What’s problematic is that the better work is too often buried underneath mediocrity, pushed out of stores to make room for the top selling garbage, and ignored by the radio stations, TV stations and book stores.

An Appreciation of Stephen King

Stephen King released “Just After Sunset” this past year, his latest collection of short stories. It’s a mature, literate work. King is a master of introducing characters so viable that you are able to care about them within a page or so in a short story, care enough to involve yourself in the dilemma that awaits them over the span of 10 to 30 pages. Much different from King’s first such collection, 1979s “Night Shift.” “Night Shift” was macabre, gory borderline shock horror. Here, the tension and terror is often more subdued or realistic. When supernatural territory is approached it’s not always in the horror sense, such as the ghosts that inhabit “Willa” and “The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates” Rather than a scary experience, although there are moments of terror (the psycho chase through “The Gingerbread Girl” or the OCD Lovecraftian monsters of “N.”

I took quite a few creative writing and literature classes in my early college years and I usually found that the professors of such courses typically viewed Mr. King with disdain. Some of this I attribute to personal jealousy, in that many of these professors were aspiring writers themselves. But I think a lot of it goes along with the idea most critics hold, be they informed, balanced reviewers or snobs, and that is that someone who sells so many books can’t be technically or artistically great. It’s the literary equivalent of a middle of the road multi-platinum crap band, like Creed or Nicleback. Sure they sell millions of records and concert tickets, but anyone with real taste or knowledge of music rarely thinks they’re a very talented, bold, artistic or serious band. It’s somewhat understandable, judging by other millions-selling authors—James Patterson, Danielle Steele, Nicholas Sparks, and other like minded novelists who sell boatloads of books featuring recycled characters, inane dialogue, bad prose and predictable plots. Such books are pop fiction that fail to resonate critically or artistically. But, simply because a novelist writes pop fiction or sells millions of books doesn’t automatically place them in the same category as the prior mentioned writers. The same goes for music or any other medium. The Beatles may be one of the few music groups that managed to simultaneously be the best at what they do and the most popular in their field, but later artists managed to balance popularity that resulted in sold out shows and platinum record sells with artistic credibility and critical approval: Springsteen, U2, Outkast. In literature, what was pop fiction in its day enjoyed by the general reading public was later considered classic literature: Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, “The Lord of the Flies,” etc.
Which brings me to Stephen King. He deserves to be considered one of the preeminent popular authors of the 20th century (and he’s still writing into the 21st!). He’s written an avalanche of novels, most of which have sold millions of copies as well as have received pages of praise from diverse publications. Just a list of solid, entertaining and well received novels he’s produced in his career are worth noting: Carrie, Christine, The Shining, Pet Sematary, Misery, Cujo, Hearts in Atlantis, The Tommyknockers.

Above and beyond those solid novels are the examples of books he’s released that have transcended genre and can hold their own in a list of best novels of the 20th century.
“The Stand” is King’s crowning achievement. The best apocalyptic multi-genre epic modern popular fiction has to offer. Large in scope, full of entertaining characters readers grow attached to and it stands up to multiple readings.
“IT” was rightfully called “The Moby Dick of horror novels.” For a novel that sticks to the horror genre very closely “IT’ still opens itself up to great characters and large scope. It’s the best and scariest strictly horror novel King has ever written, possibly one of the best horror novels of all time in its own right.

”The Dark Tower” series that has consumed King for most of his career is the best epic fantasy series since “Lord of the Rings.” Ranging from western to crime, horror to sci-fi, romance to comedy and breaching into meta-fiction by introducing King as a character himself in the later volumes, The Dark Tower series is a bold, creative and uncompromising work that is a joy to read. All seven volumes add up to make this a multiple thousand page adventure, and none of it is wasted. For die-hard fans, an added plus was always that many of the non-Dark Tower novels and short stories that King wrote during the years he was working on the series included references to and nods to the Dark Tower series. So that even one of the only novels that has ever really “flopped” as far as ambition and creative success for King, “Insomnia,” is much more appreciated when read by a Dark Tower fan.
In his later years, King has produced many books outside of the normal area he typically has covered. “Dolores Claiborne,” “Hearts in Atlantis,” “Lisey’s Story,” “Rose Madder,” and “Bag of Bones” all are emotionally deep novels that, although some do possess supernatural aspects, do not rely on the fantastic to resonate with meaning and capture attention. They are simply mature, developed novels.

In addition to novels and short stories, and screenplays, two notable nonfiction books have been written by King: “Danse Macabre,” a great nonfiction overview of the horror genre covering excellent books and films and personal anecdotes in their regards, was released fairly early in Kings career. “On Writing” is a terrific book that’s part autobiography and part guide for new fiction writers. Both are classic works in their respective focus.

All in all, I just realize that despite mainstream popularity and a fair amount of critical snobbery, Stephen King may very well be looked back on as a classic writer someday. As my home library grows in the size of nonfiction and reference works that I keep on hand I’ve begun to downsize much of my fiction. Typically I get most books from the library if I can find them there. If it’s a nonfiction book that I find will take me awhile to fully absorb or one I will need to re-read and reference in the future, I make a note to own a copy, but most fiction is unnecessary to own. I like nice editions of graphic novels, nice copies of classic novels and personal favorites, but most modern authors don’t produce novels I feel the urge to own nice copies of and return to for further readings in the future. There are a few exceptions: John Irving, Dennis Lehane, Sinclair Lewis, and especially Stephen King. I’ve read King since I was 13 years old, and it’s nice to revisit his books occasionally, and the more I downsize my fiction collection, I always find room for his work.

Best Books (that I read) 2008

My “Best Books of 2008” is misleading, I’ll inform you up front. I was able to make such a list in regards to music and comics, my film list noted the few exceptions and kept the ordering out of it until a later date, but as for books, this time around it’s far too difficult for me to rank the best print had to offer in 2008. Ideally, I would list from 10 to 1 the best in fiction and the best in nonfiction. Well, although I did a lot of reading this year I can count on two hands the great fiction books I read (and on one hand the ones of those that were actually first published this year). In nonfiction, quite a few of my favorites were published this year, but towards the end of the year I began reading in depth in a few certain areas and most of those books weren’t published in 2008. So, what follows here are a few of the notable books I read and recommend from the 2008 publishing year, and the rest are books I read that were published in years past that I read for the first time this year and also recommend.

So, presenting the best books (that I personally read in) 2008 (unranked and in no particular order):

* Case of a Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Story by Abbe Smith
I think for every reader that has treaded through “Gideon’s Trumpet” as an assignment in a journalism or law class should follow it up with “Case of a Lifetime.” “Trumpet” is a wealth of knowledge concerning the workings of the Supreme Court, trials and trial lawyers but it’s also dry and a bit plodding in narrative structure. Smith doesn’t produce anything startlingly ground-breaking with “Case of a Lifetime” but it is very engagingly written and it’s highly informative concerning what makes a good trial lawyer, the typical cases and daily work such a lawyer is apt to face, and it’s also a heartbreaking study in the ways in which the system is apt to fail and let people down. A phrase like “Case of a Lifetime” evokes an image of once in a lifetime, make or break success. Smith flips that on its head and uses is very literally–in this book it’s a case she spent her entire career working on in one form or another. It’s an approachable work that is told from someone who knows what they’re talking about, and for anyone who wants a non-fiction yet readable account of the legal system a typical worker is likely to face, I’m sure you could do much worse than this one.

*Somebody Scream!: Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power by Marcus Reeves
Reeves, a lifelong music journalist, released one of the best hip hop history books of all time this year with “Somebody Scream…” Each chapter is an essay on a specific group or artist that best defined and excelled at a particular time. The first chapter covers the early days, followed by a Run DMC chapter leading all the way through to an Eminem chapter at the end of the book. Reeves focuses each essay most heavily on the artists earliest and most important work, thus progressing the book chronologically, but each chapter does cover each artists full career as well. Reeves does a good job of balancing his work, neither going too easy on much of hip hop’s less positive aspects nor berating it too hard unnecessarily. This book makes me wish Reeves would delve deeper and release a weighty, genre defining tome for hip hop much the way Gioia did for Jazz and Guarlnick has done for roots, country and rock and roll.

* The Fall of the Evangelical Nation by Christine Wicker
Wicker has spent a  career covering religious issues for several newspapers. She grew up in an evangelical church and uses this book as a balanced exploration of the faith, what drives it, what it has to offer, and profiles many of the good hearted and well meaning members such faith contains, as well as what factors are not so great in the modern Evangelical church and how some of those factors are leading to a coming decline and/or “fall” of the large mega-churches.

*The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save our Economy, our Climate and Our Country by John Podesta
Podesta, a Clinton cabinet member, early Hillary supporter and now Obama’s transition chief, released this book early this year detailing the history of progressive politics, his own family history with it and profiles of many leading progressives like both Roosevelts and Clinton.

* Money Shot by Christa Faust
Hard Case Crime is a book label that publishes out-of-print or hard to find 50s paperback novels as well as new noir tales written by new authors.  Christa Faust penned the best new noir novel Hard Case released this year with “Money Shot.” For 5.99 you get a nonstop thrilling suspense novel with a gritty pulp cover, that’s hard to beat.

* Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire by Rajmohan Gandhi
A dense, comprehensive tome. Granted, my brief library borrow only gave me time to grace the surface; it needs to be a book to own and spend time with to fully appreciate.

*Just Before Sunset by Stephen King
Just now picked up a copy, the first few tales show promise of yet another great King short story collection.

Other top rated books I’ve read this year, though not published in 2008:

*The Last Week by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan
“The Last Week” is a detailed account of Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem from his arrival to his crucifixion. This was one of the most enlightening and inspiring theology books I read all year. By far the best historical Jesus overview I’ve read, and I read nearly a dozen along those lines this year.

*The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright
Borg and Wright follow a point-counterpoint series of essays in which Wright presents a more traditional yet intelligent interpretation of Jesus while Borg presents a more revisionist, liberal and “modern” interpretation. Very insightful and entertaining.

*The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Decades old yet still just as powerful. I just now read the book in its entirety for its first time this year, and the article it inspired is back a few pages on this site, “We Like Our Icons Clearly Defined.”

*20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
The best modern collection of short stories I’ve read in years, from terrifying to absurd, heartfelt to moving.

Well, those are just a few I recommend.