The Passenger

Thank You, Time Newsfeed

This is one of those "It's 110 in the shade" kind of days, full of scorching sun, bleak job prospects, and a travel hangover from the umpteenth trip back to Massachusetts from Brooklyn this month.  By all rights, I should be bummed. 

BUT, thanks to Time Newsfeed, I have come across this footage of a dog dancing the merengue.  And just like that, all is right with the world. 

God bless found viral videos....!

New Music Discovery: The Pepper Pots

I am a huge, huge fan of Sharon Jones and the Daptone label.  All the musicians involved in the Daptone family are clearly music fans - fanatics, really - who have lived, breathed, loved, and cried classic soul, r & b, and funk tracks from the past 50 years. These are folks who have worshiped at the altar of Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ike & Tina, Otis Redding - and who were determined to pay homage to these greats by keeping the spirit of that music going. Just as it's daunting for any contemporary rock band to dare try to measure up to the Beatles or the Stones, it's equally daunting for contemporary funk/soul acts to write and record authentic, gritty music that can measure up to the likes of Sam Cooke or Wilson Pickett.  That the Daptone crew has consistently pulled it off is no faint praise (for a terrific overview of Jones, Daptone, and musical director Gabriel Roth, check out this great 2008 piece from the New York Times).

Today's musical discovery, the Pepper Pots, has a touch of the Daptone magic, even though the band is not on the label.  The 11 piece ensemble, which hails from just north of Catalonia, Spain, has recently released their third disc, "The Pepper Pots - Now!" The disc was produced by Binky Griptite, a member of Jones' touring band and an ingrained personality in the Daptone roster, and he has helped focus the band's energy, songwriting, and presentation in what amounts to a quantum leap beyond their previous efforts. With Griptite at the helm, the Pots have essentially put together a modern-day Motown record circa 1965, with a vintage girl group sound, a relentless dance floor aesthetic, and an attention to detail that has all the hallmarks of a Daptone release.

"The Pepper Pots - Now!" has been lurking below the radar since its 2009 release, and the disc deserves far more attention than it has received. Below is one of my favorites on the record, and one listen should be enough to convince folks to head to Amazon and check this band out.... 

Highway

 

Thoughts On The Democrats, Conventional Wisdom, and the Midterms

Joe Klein published an interesting piece over at Time yesterday (Dems Depressed and Disheartened) in which he points out all the positive things Obama has done since taking office, how many campaign promises he's either fulfilled or is on track towards fulfilling, and how he is doing many things that Democrats have long dreamed off - and how in spite of that, there's a hardening public perception that the bloom is off the rose.  Given that Obama has helped overhaul healthcare, has responsibly wound down the war in Iraq, and has named two Supreme Court justices, Klein wants to know: why the heck do Dems have the blues??

It's definitely a question worth asking.  Ultimately, I think it boils down to sky-high, unrealistic expectations about what Obama and the Democrats could accomplish in their first two years.  And I don't believe that Obama necessarily brought this on himself, either.  The Bush years, after all, were dispiriting for the Democrats.  The national strategy, from the Democrats' standpoint, became less about doing the most good for the most people, and more about trying to minimize harm to as many as possible.  It was the necessary defensive strategy of a minority party (and, I'd argue, it was not the scorched-earth approach that the Republicans have adopted these past two years). 

From Obama's very first appearance on the national stage, during the 2004 Democratic Convention, he sounded all the right notes.  He spoke of unity, of common purpose, of pragmatic politics and principled compromise for the greater good.  And like many others, I thought that once he was elected president, there was a chance that maybe we actually would turn the page and the two parties would try to work together to tackle the significant problems the country was facing. 

In retrospect, I can see that I was naive in thinking the Republicans would work with President Obama.  Why would they give him bipartisan support and hand him victory after victory?  If a health care overhaul successfully covered millions more Americans and brought costs under control, who would ultimately get the credit?  If unemployment dropped and Wall Street was reigned in, who would be able to trumpet that to the nation?  From the Republican point of view, it has made more sense to block as much of Obama's agenda as possible, and then run against him and the Democrats as all sizzle, no steak. Politically, that may well be a winning formula, but it certainly makes for unconscionable governance.

Klein argues that, in spite of Republican opposition, Obama has still accomplished a great deal. But one thing he hasn't been able to accomplish was to change the tone in Washington. I believe that Democrats across the country have been disappointed that his election didn't herald a new way of doing business, and a more civilized national conversation.  Maybe the two-party, adversarial system of government that we have makes that an impossibility.  All the same, the American voters would do well to think about Obama's accomplishments so far, and to contemplate how much better off the country would be if the Republicans were truly willing to work in a cooperative, bipartisan fashion. 

WTF

Can someone PLEASE explain how this guy won a primary....?

The Alvin Greene saga has got to be one of the strangest political stories this country has seen in a long, long time.  Period. 

It's The Distraction, Stupid...

We are currently just under three months from the mid-term elections.  The unemployment level (which I am painfully aware of) hovers around 9.5 percent.  States across the nation are dealing with budget crises and a lack of adequate funding for such necessities as emergency rooms, teachers, police officers, youth centers, elderly services, mental health services, etc.  In short: there is a plethora of very serious issues to discuss and debate in this election season. 

Instead of the debates we need, however, we once again find ourselves in a time where folks are getting, as President Obama once put it, "wee wee'd up."  Rather than focusing on plans for economic survival and revival, rather than discussing whether the Democrats should be allowed another two years to turn this ship around, rather than debating over whether it was Republican policies that have led us to this low point in the first place, we are arguing about an Islamic mosque in New York.  

Or, as I see it, we are arguing about this year's gay marriage. 

It seems to me that whenever the Republican forces are short on ideas for policy, there is always some hot-button cultural issue that they can create a buzz around and exploit for electoral gain.  Yes, there are plenty of decent, non-xenophobic New Yorkers who still have pause at the thought of a mosque being built near Ground Zero; I do not agree with their sentiment, bu I was not living in New York in 2001, and I mercifully did not lose anyone.  I will recognize that those who were there, who did lose loved ones, may have a very different, more visceral response to this issue. 

Yet, when politicians like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Mike Huckabee - all potential candidates for the GOP presidential ticket in 2012 - start stoking the fires by proclaiming that building a mosque near Ground Zero is tantamount to the victorious terrorists planting their flag at the heart of their American carnage, it seems that we're losing the plot.  Even though we're nearly a decade removed from the 9/11 attacks, the memories are still fresh, and anything that brings those memories back to the surface is certainly going to dominate the conversation.

Which is exactly what the Republicans want.  Beyond platitudes of restoring the economy or wanting to repeal the health care legislation of earlier this year, the GOP has not given any specific prescriptions of how they would govern more effectively than the Democrats.  The GOP has not conceded that their legislation during the Bush Administration may have contributed to the economic meltdown we've been dealing with, and they certainly are not suggesting that they would do anything different to prevent that sort of calamity from repeating itself.   

Of course, that doesn't really matter.  What matters is that the GOP whips up enough of its base, and enough independent voters, into thinking that the Democrats are weak on national defense, and that President Obama will roll over and let terrorist sympathizers march in and own a piece of lower Manhattan. This is what will drive voters to the polls.  And by working the hot-button, emotional issue, the Republican party once again distracts from the substantive issues, and the nation is once again deprived of the debates we could truly benefit from having.    

CORI Reform Comes To Massachusetts - But The Jury's Still Out

Last week, Governor Deval Patrick signed the long-sought CORI [Criminal Offender Record Information] reform legislation into law. Supporters of CORI reform have been pushing for this overhaul for years, arguing that the law as it stood was untenable for those seeking to re-integrate into society upon their release from prison.  Governor Patrick himself summed it up succinctly by stating: “Sentencing in the commonwealth has become about warehousing people. Once released, the misuse of the CORI system makes it nearly impossible for some people to get work, a place to live and back on their feet.”

During my years as a mayoral aide in the Greater Boston area, I saw the negative impact of the flawed CORI laws up close and personal.  I had a number of grown men coming into the office, breaking down in tears due to their inability to get work, to put food on their table, to provide for their families, and to make something of themselves. These were people who had run into trouble earlier in their lives, had done their time, and now simply wanted a shot to get on the straight and narrow.  Yet the economy was already sluggish and inhospitable towards job hunters without a criminal record;  for those with a criminal background, the challenge became that much more daunting. For the vast majority of the folks that came to us literally begging for assistance, there was very little we could do, and it was heartbreaking. 

It was also frustrating. I saw the pain, the frustration - in some cases, the humiliation - in the faces of these people, and I wondered what they might resort to if they couldn't eventually find work. Would they fall back into old, bad habits? Would they take work that wasn't entirely legal?  Would they start looking for something to dull the pain?  Would they eventually lash out at a society that seemed to place them in an un-winnable situation? And did this really mean that someone should essentially face a lifetime of punishment, no matter the size or severity of the crime?

The hope is that the CORI reform will address at least some of this.  I haven't had the opportunity to read the fine print yet, but I've noticed that one key component of the reform is that job applications will no longer ask applicants whether they have been convicted of a felony. One imagines that answering "yes" to that question would immediately disqualify an individual from further consideration, whereas now an applicant will at least have an opportunity to explain any past legal issues in the context of a face-to-face interview.  The information will still be available to prospective employers, and serious crimes such as murder will be a permanent, prominent fixture on a person's record.  This all seems like a step in the right direction, though.  Once the economy starts coming back to life and the hiring process perks up, we shall see....

Waiting For Mavis

Next month, music legend Mavis Staples is releasing her next studio album, which is being produced by Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy.  It promises to be an event for Wilco fans and soul enthusiasts, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

As part of of the anticipation for this, I've been going back and listening to some of the singer's earlier work, and I don't think it gets much better than the Staple Singers' "Top Of the Mountain."

03 Top Of The Mountain

This track is taken from 1968's "Soul Folk In Action," when the Staple Singers were moving further away from their gospel roots and getting a little bit more gritty in their song arrangements.  The song is from the standpoint of someone who is working her way up from a rough upbringing, and is confident that hard work and persistence will ultimately lead her to a better life.  Or maybe it's about struggling to be a good person despite the tough times, looking out for one another, and making it to heaven as the ultimate reward. The lyrics are purposely ambiguous, and in a time full of civil rights headiness and "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" type anthems, the Staple Singers were marching in lockstep with the times. 

On the other hand, you can leave the lyrical analysis aside, listen to Mavis storming through the vocals, get lost in the solid back beat, and let the whole cut completely draw you in.  It's what those soulful pipes are best at, and it's why next month's disc should be a winner....

 

My Ears Are Bleeding

One of the stories making the rounds on the Google News aggregate today is that the Beach Boys are suing Katy Perry over her atrocious "California Gurls" single.  The coverage notes the fact that the Beach Boys had a hit with "California Girls" over 40 years ago, and beyond the titles and the subject matter, the two songs are quite different lyrically and melodically. 

The stories have also noted that Mike Love and Brian Wilson are distancing themselves, as individuals, from the lawsuit, and both have praised Perry's music. The article I've linked to quotes Brian Wilson's statement, released through his manager, that reads: "I love her vocal. She sounds very clear and energetic."

As a Brian Wilson fan, I should be disgusted by this sentiment.  But as a Brian Wilson fan, I am also taking comfort in recognizing that Brian Wilson has probably never actually heard of Katy Perry or her God-awful single.

"Institutional Breakdown" v. "Nah, It Was Just Designed That Way." You Be The Judge!

Over at the New Yorker, George Packer has written a lengthy think-piece on everyone's favorite dysfunctional deliberative body, the United States Senate.  Entitled "The Empty Chamber (Just How Broken Is The Senate?)" Packer's article seeks to address precisely how this prestigious congressional body has gone from world-wide renown to being the equivalent of legislative quicksand. 

While the ghost of Senator Charles Sumner might take issue with Packer's argument that the Senate has steadily declined in function and civility since its peak in the 1800s, Packer does make a compelling argument that there has been an erosion in the upper chamber over the past several decades.  Among the many points he makes:

• The rules governing the Senate are arcane remnants from a time when the life of a United States Senator was much slower and more deliberative. The same rules and procedures that served to accommodate legislators 200-plus years ago are now being misused (and abused) to stifle debate in the new millennium.  
• The slower pace of the Senate was originally envisioned as an antidote to the faster-paced, more partisan atmosphere of the House of Representatives; it was hoped that the hot-button issues would be given a chance to be properly deliberated and considered in this environment. However, Republicans like Lamar Alexander have contorted this to suggest that the Senate "....was created to be inefficient.”
• The hyper-partisanship in the upper chamber has gained alarming momentum in the past three decades, and has made it all-but-impossible for senators to reach across the aisle and find common ground.
• The need to fundraise has - surprise! - robbed senators of the time needed to educate themselves on the bills they're voting on, to forge social and working relationships with each other, and to engage in meaningful exchanges with each other.  Furthermore, senators are encouraged to engage in hyper-partisanship in order to appeal to potential donors.

Some of the points Packer raises in his article aren't surprising; it stands to reason that a senator who has to spend ever-greater amounts of time chasing re-election money will therefore have less time to engage in the business of being a senator.  It stands to reason that the less time senators and their families spend in DC with one another, and the less they socialize with one another, the less likely they are to find common ground and be willing to work together. It stands to reason that the more senators are forced to play to the extremes of their parties bases, the more difficult it becomes for compromise to be forged.  

Some of the points are less obvious, though.  For example, Packer notes that the Founders designed it so that each new session of Congress is allowed to set its own rules.  The arcane rules and parliamentary procedures that made sense in 1800, but that are now used to grind all legislative business to a halt?  They could be revamped and revised to allow for greater productivity and real debate - if only a majority of the senators would actively support such revisions.  

The public accountability afforded by the C-Span cameras, which first arrived in 1979, has allowed people across the country to view the World's Greatest Deliberative Body in action - but televising the Senate has also increased heated partisan rhetoric and playing to the cameras, and has helped undermine meaningful give-and-take on the floor. 

The Republicans have abused many of those old parliamentary rules and procedures to gum up the system in order to shut down debate on (or kill) legislation they disapprove of - but many long-serving Democrats are hesitant to support doing away with these parliamentary rules, lest the Democrats one day be in the minority again (and in need of those same tools). 

Taken in all, Packer paints a frustrating portrait of a chamber that is being held hostage by its own members and a sense of institutional inertia, and there truly seems to be no easy fixes.  The losers in all this, of course, are those idealistic lawmakers and their aides who have come to Washington to do the People's Work. And the biggest losers are the People, themselves....

The Perfect Was The Enemy Of The Good

Earlier this year, the music world was buzzing over the re-issue of the Rolling Stones' classic 1972 disc, "Exile on Main Street," because of the inclusion of several "new" tracks.  With a couple of exceptions, these tracks were slightly (and not-so-slightly) doctored and worked upon so that they'd be suitable for public consumption.  While some of the hardest of the hardcore Stones fans were a little wary of a 66-year-old Mick Jagger adding vocals to tracks that a 27-year-old Jagger started, this Stones fan was quite satisfied with the results.

But it got me thinking: how often is it that musicians several decades beyond their peak productivity suddenly look through the treasure chests and release something that proves to be worth the wait?  The Stones have now done it, the Beatles very successfully did it with their Anthology series in the '90s, but is anyone else really sitting on anything worth salivating over? 

No sooner had I started pondering this than I stumbled across my answer.  It just so happens that John Fogerty, the songwriting powerhouse (and the unmistakable voice) behind 60s roots-rockers Creedence Clearwater Revival, has been sitting on a vintage release for decades. After splitting from CCR circa 1973, Fogerty put out a couple of excellent solo discs ("The Blue Ridge Rangers" in '73, and "John Fogerty" in '75)...and then seemingly went quiet for the rest of the decade.

However, it turns out that he recorded a follow-up to "John Fogerty" in 1976, although "Hoodoo" was never officially released.  Fogerty, who has earned a reputation as being a perfectionist in the studio, is said to have decided at the last minute that this disc wasn't up to his standards, and the record was indefinitely shelved.  It's a pity, because the record is actually quite enjoyable, and it stems from a time when he still had the vocal chops of his CCR days. Not necessarily a classic, but definitely worthy of release.

The only bootlegged copies floating around are multiple generations removed from the clean studio sound that one might hope for, but I'm attaching an mp3 of the kick-off track, which still sounds pretty cool. Here's hoping Fogerty eventually relaxes his perfectionism enough to release a crisp, clean version of this music....

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