Karma Pot

I hate it when I go to coffee shops and cafes, typically in the Bay Area, Venice or college towns, and there is a little tip jar by the register [why am I being asked to tip someone who works at a register?] and the jar is labeled "Karma Pot." Usually, my first impulse is to take some money out of the pot, as I am entitled to some good karma, in my opinion. Or better, if they give me some money, they will get some extra good karma. And I will get some money, thus it is a win-win.

A few notes on the Replacements [big-haired alt.rock band from the 1980s.] The Replacements, called "the Mats" by insiders [or outsiders?], were the ultimate 1980s band. They were perhaps the most nihilistic band of all time. Moreso than the Velvet Underground. They literally rivalled ... oh, Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult for being negatively inspired, or passionately uninspired. What did the Replacements stand for? Hard to say. Most bands, in the great Rock and Roll tradition, rebelled against something. They stood in opposition to something. They were threatening. Or they expressed something akin to pure joy, a la Buddy Holly, the early Beatles, or Jonathan Richman. The Replacements? Not so much. They hated themselves, and didn't like others so much. They brimmed with a lack of self-confidence. They shoe-gazed before there were shoe-gazers. Were they funny? Yes. Drunk? Hell yes! Did they exude anything close to "Rock and Roll spirit?" Not at all. They were dead inside, and to prove it, they've written all about it. Again and again.

I still like them. But Westerberg came up with inventive riffs, funny lyrics and the band could play. But in terms of legacy? It can be expressed only as a negative, folks.

Here is why I think Obama will win in the general election. Every time a brash outsider has run against a TOPH [Tired Old Party Hack], the BO has won. Reagan beat Carter. Clinton beat Bush. Carter beat Ford. Kennedy beat Nixon. The guy with the fresh new ideas wins. We're a nation of fresh new idea lovers.