Empty Chambers

Australian alt.country wannabe Kasey Chambers has been hyped, such as hype is in the No Depression world, for neigh on a decade now. And why are we hyping her when true talents like Kathleen Edwards, Caitlin Cary and so many others essentially get hung out to dry?


I take particular exception with Ms. Chambers as she has the peculiar inability to come up with an original song title ... for example, she has songs named "Runaway Train" [no, not either the Soul Asylum or John Stewart/Rosanne Cash song], "Surrender" [nope! not Cheap Trick], "Pony" [no, not Caitlin Cary], "Nothing At All" [Nay! not the Heart song!] and ... "Cry Like A Baby" [Not a single Boxtop involved in this one], ... how about "The Captain" ... perchance the Doobie Brothers hit? You'd be wrong! Please, Ms. Chambers, let's try to do at least one original thing in your career.

Physician's Full Employment Act

The sage continues.

So, to deal with my out-of-control rheumatoid arthritis factor numbers, my pulmonary specialist is referring me to a rheumatologist. Which seems logical ... except for the fact that my sister-in-law, Dr. House, thinks my docs are incorrect [not exactly her words] and that my rheumatoid factors and pertussis aka whooping cough positives are both false. Which means that I have ... what? Who knows. And of course, I haven't gotten to the referral to the orthopedic surgeon. This whole things just seems suspicious.

I tend to believe that there are "unified field" theories to explain the medical mystery, and I think that that is what my SIL, Dr. House, is getting at. Something autoimmune related, perhaps. Maybe sarcoidosis? Who knows.

On the good news front ... the Angels swept the Red Sox this weekend at Anaheim. Life doesn't get better than that.

Stuff I Dislike

Okay, let's get the party started.

1. Jon Stewart. Not a fan. I don't find him funny, or witty, or a particularly good interviewer. He is, however, a fairly good judge of talent. Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, Steve Carrell, and Ed Helms come to mind.

2. The Films of Christopher Guest. On the whole, I find his humor elitist. Genius, but elitist.

3. Baseball's All-Star game. What a piece of crap. Who cares!

4. Musical artists who (a) refuse to license their work for commercials and/or movies, and then publicly act like they possess some higher level of morality, and (b) artists who don't sell their work digitally. I've gone over this before, but please let's get on the bus.

I like how videos and mp3s have sort of fostered the reemergence of the single as the most important unit of music. Because it is. Artists who focus on "albums" are just deluded. Even the greats - Bowie, Neil Young, Van Morrison - were at their best when they were singles-focused. Domino, Suffragette City, Cinnamon Girl anyone?

They're All Wasted

Apparently, the Who have a song in their canon entitled "Teenage Wasteland." I'm surprised the "author" of this piece didn't rename the song "They're All Wasted," instead of its real name.

I have a friend who constantly chides me for not reading newspapers. After reading crap like this again and again, I am thinking he may have a point. There are no fact checkers on the internet. Only dogs.

What Gives?

I'm in Napa today, hanging out for the 4th. As many cities do, they have a 4th of July festival. And so they have street vendors, kids' activities, and they hired a band to entertain the assembled throng. A really bad band of guys in their 40s and 50s, playing lame Chicago-style blues. Old white guys playing bad blues, that's pathetic.

Napa is a strange city. I would expect it to be more like San Luis Obispo, upscale with some sense of uniformity to it. But Napa really seems to be a lot more low-end than even say Petaluma or Santa Rosa. Napa reminds me much of Monterey: one or two really nice streets, a cute downtown and then a lot of shop turnover in the downtown area, and a lot of small blue collar businesses on the periphery. But all in all, aside from being located in some of the most valuable agricultural real estate in the world, it is unimpressive. The town deserves better.

I go on a wine tour tomorrow. I don't particularly like wine, or wine snobs, but sometimes I do things just to do them.

One last note ... for some reason, I was researching the chart history of Nilsson's cover of the Badfinger song [and perenial chart topper] "Without You" [a song cobbled together by the two suicides in the group, Pete and Tom, who really couldn't live, if living is without you.] What I found interesting is that (a) the song was a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and (b) the songs that preceded and succeeded it in America were "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young, and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack, two great songs, brilliantly done. In England, the songs that preceded and succeeded it were "Son of My Father" by Chicory Tip and "Amazing Grace" by the Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Ah, they do things differently across the pond, now don't they.