October 2018 - Page 6 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Jackson Browne turns 70 (October 9)

“In a way, I don’t choose what I write about—my subjects kind of choose me,” Jackson Browne explained in 1993.

I’ve been following the career of Clyde Jackson Browne – Clyde? – for so long that it seems he’s always been around. Yet I’ve written about him relatively infrequently. And usually in relation to others, though I did a meme about him way back on 10 October 2005.

10/10? That’s one of the problems for me, that he has the same birthday, eight years later, as John Lennon, about whom I’ve written a LOT. His first claim to fame was that he wrote the bulk of Take It Easy, along with Glenn Frey, which became the Eagles’ first big hit.

The page noting his 2004 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “He emerged in the early Seventies as a soul-baring young folksinger whose songs dealt with riddles of romance and existence. In his middle period, he became a more extroverted rock and roller.

“Later work grew more topical in nature as Browne sang of political and social realities within and beyond our borders. ‘In a way, I don’t choose what I write about—my subjects kind of choose me,’ this vanguard singer/songwriter explained in 1993. “It’s a healing thing, a way of confronting what’s important in my life at the time.'”

Here are interviews: The Nation (2014) and Forbes (2017).

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed him as the 37th greatest songwriter of all time in its list of “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time”. I’ve never seen him live, save for a massive concert in June 1982. I do have a half dozen of his albums on vinyl, including the first one, whatever it’s called, and four on CD.

Listen to:

Very Best of Jackson Browne

Opening Farewell – Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne live

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine – Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne, from a Pete Seeger tribute album

Take It Easy – live with James Taylor

First Girl I Loved, from an Elektra Records tribute album, this track covering Judy Collins

I Love L.A. – Randy Newman’s 2013 induction into the Rock Hall, with Newman, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, John Fogerty

Coverville 1236: Cover Stories for Steve Miller, Randy Bachman and Jackson Browne

NSFW section

A Piece of the Pie -JB’s live attempt of a Randy Newman song that namechecks him, which Newman explains here

You @$$#013 You

Talking about politics sucks: voter suppression edition

Talking about them exhausts me because nuance often gets lost.

There was this story a couple months ago about voter suppression in Tennessee being overturned. I was speaking about it to someone about how small court fines could disenfranchise a voter.

A party listening in, not part of the conversation, chimed in, “Well, then that’ll get them to pay their fines.” I realized, of course, that they hadn’t read the story.

“The case was about the state confiscating driver’s licenses of people who had been unable to pay court costs when appearing for various misdemeanors. Losing their licenses severely impacted their ability to find or keep employment which would have enabled them to pay later.

“In some cases, desperate people would drive even without a license in order to work, and when caught driving without a license would then face further court costs in a terrible cycle which seemed almost designed to keep people indigent (and also disenfranchised)… Taking away driver’s licenses from people who are too poor to pay court costs is, in a very real way, a tool of institutional voter suppression.”

I realized that some people actually believe that allowing a citizen to be disenfranchised essentially for being poor. Damn, that’s why the US got rid of the poll tax via the 24th Amendment. See Carol Anderson – “ONE PERSON, NO VOTE” & THE IMPACT OF VOTER SUPPRESSION – interview on The Daily Show.

Moreover, this idea IRRITATED me greatly, and I suspect that the interloper could hear the disdain in my voice. I have the same contempt for a Supreme Court that sided with vote suppressors in Ohio to remove more than two million voters from the rolls simply because they hadn’t voted recently. Check out this story from Virginia.

This is why I tend to WRITE these things. Talking about them exhausts me because nuance often gets lost. “They did something, so they should be punished” often runs smack dab into constitutional rights and the ability of life, liberty and that pursuit of happiness thing suggested by the Declaration of Independence.

It’s not that I CAN’T talk about these issues, but rather I believe I’m less EFFECTIVE at it than writing about it. I can rethink and edit without too much emotional involvement.

If I DON’T talk about it, and I have an opinion – occasionally I don’t – wait a few days, or maybe a few weeks – and I’ll send you my thoughts in a blog post.

Seven comic book covers I’m supposed to tout

The commercial and artistic success of the X-Men, specifically the issues done by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin, sucked me further into the Marvel Universe

fantasy_quarterly I’ve been nominated by Eddie Mitchell, the Renaissance Geek, to post seven individual comic book covers that are significant to me to promote reading.

The rules say, “They are offered without comment in no particular order,” but I’m not particularly compliant. I’m also supposed to nominate someone else to take up the challenge if they’re a-mind to. So I nominate YOU because you KNOW you want to.

Fantasy Quarterly #1 – this is the first appearance of Elfquest. It was on crappy newsprint. Wendy and Richard Pini were VERY disappointed in it and decided they could do better themselves. They started WaRP Graphics which began a successful run of DIY.

The Pinis came up from the Mid-Hudson to FantaCo, the comic book store where I worked in Albany, and did regular store signings, quite possibly every one of the original 20 issues. I have to think that the Pinis’ success in part motivated Tom Skulan in FantaCo’s publishing adventures.

X-Men 137 – the commercial and artistic success of the X-Men, specifically the issues done by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin, sucked me further into the Marvel Universe. So much so that when FantaCo decided to publish a magazine about comic books, the X-Men were the obvious premiere topic.

Moreover, I was the editor of the X-Men Chronicles, soliciting the articles and the artwork. That included carrying a still wet cover by the late Dave Cockrum home on a train.

I compiled an index of X-Men appearances under the pseudonym Arro Verti, difficult in 1981 and it’d be overwhelming now. And I had to get the late Raoul Vezina to help create a Smilin’ Ed story related to the X-Men at the 11rh hour.

Amazing Spider-Man #121 – my first Spider-Man comic book. I didn’t know that civilians died in these things. Reading back issues in Marvel Tales, plus the then-current issues. Spidey became my favorite Marvel character.

I bought every appearance he was in until in early 1990s, when Todd McFarlane was writing the title; mon Dieu, I HATED those stories and gave up after three or four issues.

Moreover, I edited the FantaCo Chronicles highlighting the webslinger, and I still believe it was the best issue I ever put together.

Luke Cage, Hero for Fire #1 – it was the first comic book I ever bought since I was a kid. Dragged to the local convenience store by some Piscean I still know, I was surprised to discover a black superhero. And since it was a #1, I didn’t need to learn the backstory.

Oh, I’m supposed to do seven of these? Maybe some other time. (I told you I wasn’t very good at following rules.)

If I tend to believe her over him, is that partisan?

judge shall act Sure, Brett Kavanaugh would not be the Supreme Court justice I would prefer on policy. But I sincerely believe my current antipathy towards him stems from two issues:

1. I tend to believe Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegation regarding him. We still live in a legal system that fails to identify, prevent and redress the widespread sexual assault and mistreatment of women. “We must account for that failure in parsing these events and allegations. For decades, these systemic inequities have barred people from reporting assault and receiving justice.”

Blasey Ford’s well-documented records were generated long before Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Her compelling testimony of sexual assault reopened old wounds for other victims Her description of how memory works matches what I’ve experienced.

Prior to testifying, she received death threats. She wouldn’t put herself and her children in peril over a fabricated story about a sexual assault which would prevent only this particular conservative judge from being put on the Supreme Court.

The fact that some Democrats are surely “being political” about this does not negate her truth.

2. Brett Kavanaugh is a recognizable type. Greg Hatcher wrote Watching the Douchebro Death Spiral: I Was That Guy. Fillyjonk had an epiphany, as quoted by Dustbury: “Party culture”? Totally a thing.

Like his sponsor, Brett Kavanaugh seems to lie about almost everything, including stupid stuff, traceable stuff. Kavanaugh lied about getting into Yale only on merit. His grandfather was an alum..

Politifact fact-checked his Senate confirmation hearings and found him veracity lacking.

His 1982 calendar does NOT exonerate him, but rather, points to the fact that Brett is Mark Judge’s boozy friend Bart, a belligerent and aggressive drunk.

That woman on CNN who said, “Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school?” rather broke my heart. BTW, not me, for one. The passage of time doesn’t erase youthful mistakes in the criminal justice system, for most people of a different race or class.

I’m happy the Senate forced the extension of the FBI probe of Kavanaugh. If we’ve made any progress since the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas debacle, it as that the character assassination foisted upon Hill does not seem to be sticking as much to Blasey Ford. Meager progress in 27 years, but it’s something.
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Brett Kavanaugh: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford Testifies Against Brett Kavanaugh | The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – Nah, I don’t believe his response to the Blood Alcohol Chart question either.

NY Times opinion piece: An Injudicious Man, Unfit for the Supreme Court. “This was a job interview, not a criminal trial. Kavanaugh, in his fury and pathos, failed the test.”

M is for mass transit systems

“While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not.”

Northampton Subway Map When traveling, I tend to judge a city, in large part, based on the robustness of its mass transit system. When I lived in New York City for a mere four months in the summer of 1977, I became rather adept at getting around via the subways.

From the Citylab article Why Did America Give Up on Mass Transit? (Don’t Blame Cars): “One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the U.S. plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.”

In NYC, the aging infrastructure has caused much of the L line in Brooklyn to be overhauled. This will be a major disruption to the businesses in the area.

The Boston Globe notes: “Dozens of T stations are crumbling, corroding, and leaking, as revealed by a new, detailed inventory the feds now require transpo officials to keep. As reporter Adam Vaccaro writes: ‘…hundreds of MBTA properties — stations, garages, and parking lots — are in disrepair, from equipment that seems permanently broken to shabby surroundings that make the daily commute that much more unpleasant.'”

From the Citylab piece: “This [abandonment] has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not… [They slashed expenditures instead of] improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.”

I’ve gotten around fairly well without a car in San Francisco (1988), Atlanta (1995), San Diego (2003), and Washington, DC (2018). I can get around much of Albany sans motorized vehicle if I have to, though Sundays are tougher. Having a car in Toronto (2011) was actually a hindrance. The car was parked in the hotel lot, and we didn’t use it for five days.

Unfortunately, the American attitude, as Shooting Parrots pointed out, inspired an American company to come up with their Seat Saver’ range of fake food and drink spills “to discourage people sitting next to them on public conveyances.”

For ABC Wednesday