VOTING Questions

Election Day is Tuesday, and you’ll be sure to discover on Wednesday that fewer people vote in off-year/non-Presidential years than will vote next year, as shown here (PDF), here and here. It’s ironic, I think, because one has a much greater voice in municipal elections than in the Presidential race. Even next November, more people will vote at the top of the ticket, and ignore the “lesser” races.

I’ve been involved in “get-out-the-vote” pitches before. My last strategy, sort of a reverse psychology thing, was “don’t vote – mote power for me”. So:

1. Are you voting on Tuesday? Why or why not/ I am, just so I can kvetch about the results.
2. What would it take to get more people to vote? (Electronic voting, instant runoff voting, bribery – somewhere in the Southwest, they offered a random voter a cash prize for voting, which turned out to be of dubious legality.) I think IRV’s a good idea in multi-candidate (3 or more) elections, but it won’t solve the ennui problem.
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Pulse Poll of the Democratic candidates for President, with videos delineating a couple of their positions.


ROG

ROG

Follow Up

Since today is my fifth semianniversary (or is demi, or maybe hemi?), but in any case, 2.5 years, I thought I’d write a little about things I’ve written about in the (usually recent) past.
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If you listen to Gordon’s podcast where he answers questions, you’ll hear me asking him some irreverent question about Raymond Burr, inspired, no doubt by a picture of Burr as Ironside on Gordon’s blog a couple weeks back. It made sense at the time.
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The scariest Halloween costume I saw was this woman dressed up as a baby, all in pink, smoking a cigarette. Truly frightening.

Ken Levine wrote: “We had a dentist who gave out toothbrushes [for Halloween]. Thank goodness he wasn’t a proctologist.”
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In the Supreme Court stay of execution this week, the lawyers for the defendant said, “It is clear that irreparable harm will result if no stay is granted.” Well, yeah. If a lawyer says it, it’s legalese; if anyone else had said it, it’d be d’oh-worthy.
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I’ve mentioned more than once about why I left the Methodist church I had been attending for over 17 years, of which I was a member for most of that time. Now, it’s come out that the pastor, who was at least in the center of my departure, has retired, and not willingly; here’s a letter from an apologist of his. My wife and I had to at least briefly think about what this meant to us. We’re happy where we are, but we do miss some of the folks at the old place. What made it easy for me, though, was hearing about some internecine fight over whether someone who opposed the pastor should now chair the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. And I realize that I don’t miss the grief.
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My sister Leslie wrote to me: “San Diego has been hit hard, thousands of homes lost, I could see the fire from outside my front door, so we were packed up and ready to go in the event of an evacuation, but thank God, we were spared.”

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Yeah, I’m happy that the Red Sox won; I picked them to win in six. The TV grid for the FOX network said the game was in a three-hour slot, but the games didn’t even start until 8:30 Eastern Time, and they all ran more than 3 hours. I’m thrilled by the sweep, because it means more sleep. I’d watch the game as long as I could stay alert, then record on the DVR programing up through 1:30 a.m., then wake up and watch in the morning. The key to watching the playback is to make sure that when I turn off the TV, to set it first to some non-sports station that does not have morning news; I recommend the Home & Garden Network.
I’m still in shock that Boston College beat Virginia Tech last week; I tuned in with five minutes to go, and BC was losing 0-10, so I figured the curse of the 2nd place BCS team was holding. I couldn’t believe it when the FOX baseball announcer said that they had won 14-10.
But my Boston rooting does not extend to the NFL Patriots, though I can’t explain why; it predates the Bellicheck cheating incident. I’m rooting for the 7-0 Colts to beat the 8-0 Pats this weekend. Can we have a 16-0 team and a 0-16 team (Miami) in the same season?

Confirmation of my feelings about the Cleveland Indians mascot.
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Yes, I know that an Albany guy appeared on Jeopardy! last week; I haven’t seen it, I haven’t read about it, so please don’t tell me about it.
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Smashing pumpkins on the ground
Makes bicycling difficult, I’ve found.

All of the US State Laws Concerning Bicycling.

Info about Critical Mass bike rides in Tucson (several posts) and here in Albany (October 29).


Cranksgiving! Race start: 9pm, Nov 17; registration/sign-up starts 8:30pm
A charity race where ALL the $$ goes to direct action. The Homeless Action Committee is on the streets doing work night after night. You WILL NEED a lock and a bag for this one. Ride any uni or bike or trike you like; as long as it’s got wheels and pedals and is you-powered, it’s all good. You will not be turned away for excess spandex or your lack of white belts.
Pre-registration via email to soze@fork-bomb.com is encouraged for planning purposes.
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Re: me feeling autumnal – The Stress Pig – Open the link, turn on the sound (but not too high) then, JUST CLICK ON HER NOSE. She may come in handy when you are having one of those days.
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My prayers/good wishes go out to ADD and to Gordon’s mom.

ROG

ROG

Lyle turns 50


I have a very specific recollection of the first time I became aware of Lyle Lovett. I was watching the Today Show one morning in 1989, and Lyle and His Large Band performed “The Blues Walk” and “Here I Am”, the first two songs from Lyle’s third album. Afterwards, Bryant said something like, “That’s country music?” Soon, I got Large Band, which I loved, the swing-infused side one, contrasted with the more countrified Side 2. I especially enjoyed his cover of “Stand By Your Man”, which would be used to great effect in the movie The Crying Game.

From then on, I was Lyle-obsessed. I got the first two albums. The first album features God Will, which was later covered by country artist Patty Loveless – the albums are adjoining in my collection. Pontiac is a good album, but a bit melancholy. Joshua Judges Ruth supplanted Large Band as my favorite, with the great song Church. I Love Everybody was a slightly lesser effort which came out during his Julia Roberts period, but features Record Lady. The Road to Ensenada, which is still my favorite Lyle album, features That’s Right(You’re Not from Texas).

It was a long time from Ensenada (1998) to what I felt was the next “real” Lyle album, My Baby Don’t Tolerate (2003). In between, there was a double album of covers, a live disc, a greatest hits album, and a collection of songs for which he contributed to soundtracks. Tolerate had some good tunes, especially the title track.

I’m very fond of the new album, It’s Not Big, It’s Large. I can”t say where it’ll end up fitting in my Lyle pantheon, but it’s already top 4. I think it’s enhanced by the DVD that came with the album which gave me a greater understanding of the songs.

I’ve also seen him as the closing act at the Newport Folk Festival in Saratoga Springs at some point in the last decade with Nanci Griffith, Joan Baez, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Alison Krauss, Bruce Cockburn, Marc Cohn, and Lucinda Williams. Great show! And I’ve seen him as a non-singing performer in movies such as The Player and TV shows such as Dharma and Greg.

He’s even name-checked in a couple songs, such as Mary Chapin Carpenter’s I’m Lucky.

Happy birthday, Lyle. You’ve brought me much enjoyment.

Main Releases


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Robert Goulet died recently. I actually have two Goulet songs in my collection: Sunrise, Sunset from some Columbia compilation LP and You’ve Got a Friend in Me from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack. Actually, I like them both, FWIW.

ROG

An Annual Tradition


Since it’s Halloween, and I always associate the holiday with bats, I thought I’d give my annual report on the flying mammal in our lives. Some of you may remember that we had had live sightings in our home in 2001-2005 and again in 2006

Actually, Carol saw one at school in the winter months, most unusual.

I saw one in the boys’ locker of the local YMCA back in July. I immediately went to the front desk and the center director and a custodian trapped it quite efficiently. I was razzed by my friends for leaving, but it wasn’t fear of the animal as much as fear that someone else coming into the locker room might be freaked out. It’s likely that the bat came down a HVAC vent that was being cleaned out.

My wife has unbridled optimism. Our bat last year arrived on August 1, and since we’d each seen a bat elsewhere, she figured we were safe. But on the night of August 24/25, in the midst of a return of hot and humid weather that had abated for a couple weeks, she (but not I) was awakened by something. Yes, it was another bat. As it flew into the guest room, carol closed the door and stuffed a towel under the door, and went back to bed, but probably did not sleep well. Come morning, she and I went into the room, with badminton racquets at the ready. We saw nothing until I hit my fall jacket that was hanging on the door, and down fell the bat, slightly stunned. Immediately, carol put her racquet on it, and we managed to get the beast in a shoebox, just as Lydia came into the room.

We taped up the box, I poked holes in it, and Carol eventually took it to the health department. A few days later, it was confirmed not to be rabid. But it HAD been alive, something that the person opening the box was…surprised to find. The drop-off place was unstaffed and the form we usually fill out in these cases was not there. So, oops, sorry.

Yes, we had netting in the possible entrance points, and we THINK we won’t have one next year. I’ll let you know.
ROG

ROG

Underplayed Vinyl: Jefferson Airplane


For the longest time, perhaps into the early 1980s, I thought Surrealistic Pillow was the first JA album. Not so; Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, with Signe Anderson as the female vocalist, got all the way to #128 in the Billboard charts in late 1966. But it was the second album, with Grace Slick, formerly of the group The Great Society, that created the required alchemy. Here’s a bunch of YouTube clips – some are performance videos, others pastiches.
1. She Has Funny Cars

2. Somebody To Love (a #5 single in 1967)
3. My Best Friend
4. Today
5. Comin’ Back To Me
6. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds
7. D.C.B.A.
8. How Do You Feel
9. Embryonic Journey (used on the last episode of Friends, I understand)
10. White Rabbit – went to #8 on the charts

11. Plastic Fantastic Lover

The album went to #3 and spent 56 weeks on the charts. I always thought the strength of this album, and of the group generally, was the strength of the various vocalists/songwriters: Slick, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner and Jorma Kaukonen.

Grace Slick turns 58 today.
ROG

ROG
Ramblin' with Roger
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