Obama, the Nobel, and anger.
A good friend, (who I really like as a person and have always enjoyed his company and thoughts), has always had a real problem with Obama, from way back when he started as a candidate, and lately he has admitted that there is a racial component to how he feels. How much of what he thinks about Obama is racial, and how much is simple disagreement is hard to tell, since a prejudice by definition influences rational and objective thought, so you have to wonder if there is ANY rational basis to objections when there is prejudice present, but I always try to give him the benefit of the doubt when he raises specific points……
But he has REALLY gotten into a lather about Obama getting the Nobel peace prize, and after he sent another email that was frankly pretty clearly a bit silly and childish, I decided to look into what actually happened with the award, why they did it, and what I felt about it, so that I could respond in a meaningful way to my friend’s anger and outrage about the award, and Obama in general to some degree.
So here’s what he wrote to me (a bit out of context I admit, but you’ll get the general point), followed by my response, including some reference links.
ME: But remember, it’s not HIS fault it happened, he didn’t choose it. People that dog him for it aren’t thinking clearly, the choice is not for him to make. And I think people are behaving brutally stupid about it, the first feeling they should have, even if justifiably confused about it, is that they should be proud, and NOT do what the right is doing, which is to senselessly attack him for something that’s outside of his control. That part of this is shameful…..and it literally makes me feel bad about what’s happening in this country because of a few self-interested and callous scum who get airtime….
FRIEND: i think he’s a damned idiot (as you know) anyway
but if i were him i would just flat out refuse to accept it, since
he didnt do anything at all to deserve it and he damn well knows itit’s jsut a further coronation of him for doing nothing
also it jsut turns the nobel peace prize into a piece of toilet paper
which these stupid norwegian liberals are handing out since they’re so overjoyed that bakwardes america finally got a black president
So here’s my response –
Well, to call him a damn idiot is obviously idiotic, and while I can understand a negative knee-jerk reaction to the award, reading the ACTUAL STATEMENT from the Nobel people can be enlightening and explains a lot. Please attempt to actually read it before you slag it or him, at least in the context of the award anyway……
And again remember, THEY are the people that decide what agenda they want to push forward, NOT Obama.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html
And here’s a reasonable response to the right-wing teeth-gritting and hand-wringing – http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/10/10/obama_nobel_prize/index.html?source=rss&aim=/opinion/walsh/politics –
These are both reasonable statements to make, ESPECIALLY in the light of this statement from the Nobel people –
“Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.”
and
“For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.””
These are reasonable and even lofty, idealistic goals and purposes, which SHOULD be encouraged. We’ve done nothing for the last 8 years but allowed ourselves to be driven down into ugliness and insanity as a national stance, taking the rest of the world down with us. The level of the global agenda SHOULD be lofty and idealistic, I would argue that it’s the best kind of dialogue for world’s governments to have in the global context, and this kind of movement MUST be encouraged.
Taking note of their own direct statements that this is their intent, I can support the award, since it is VERY clear that the change Obama and his international stance has brought mostly DO reflect those ideals, and the changes they mention as a result are indeed true.
This anger towards Obama is misdirected, and in my view reflects a powerful need by a group of people in this country to vilify by any means available a person of color that does not fit the idea “people of prejudice” have of him and his race. And to the extent that many people are prejudiced, it needs to remain personal, and not be dragged into the public discourse. It’s a base and shallow response with ugly roots, and cannot be given any value in any context, no matter how peripherally it is applied, and no matter what illusions are used to disguise it.
And yes, I DO think that “people of prejudice” are not looking at this thing for what it IS, they are instead turning it into another outlet for their racist rage, without bothering to actually understand what has actually been done here. For me, that makes them “people of willful ignorance”, and I have a bias against that.
WB
Wade Biery
STILL
661 513-3727
still@stillmusic.com
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P.S. – What do you think, is it a good award or not?
Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instamapper STUFF!!
Heya, do you do Facebook?
Duh, of course you do, Digerati that you are, and if not go here and become one with the Borg!
Once you’ve done that, then you can FAN ME on Facebook to get a start, or to further your Facebook-itis if you’re already there….
Here’s the link – http://www.facebook.com/pages/STILL/98453446469 –
I find I’m online a bunch doing all kinda stuff, in between takes in the studio, setting up licensing, looking at… (WHA?!?!), politicking, killing time in airports (the king-hell time-killer place in the universe, where time goes to die, like elephants), so Facebook gets a lot of attention right now….
I’m on Twitter too – here – I’m always giving things business on there too….I have an iPhone, therefore I must be iPhoney and use it all the damn time….
I have a cool little gadget on this page that when I turn on the app on my iPhone, my live position is mapped in real-time, and pretty accurately. I don’t have it on all the time, but when I play somewhere or am just out and want to run into friends I’ll turn it on for a bit so anyone that’s around can come hang….it’s very Big Brother yeh I know – but I can control when it’s on, so I’m cool with it…..
Anyways, gonna play a gig in Temecula coming up, I’ll fire out the info very shortly here, gotta get going, playing with friends in Palm Desert tonight, loud rocking and screaming, and we’ll be there too…..
Cya soon!
WB
Open Letter to Obama
An email from my buddy Harry O., which I’m just going to pass on except to say of course!
This was an open letter in the LA Times to the President from writer Anne Lamott. I’ve sent it to the White House and I suggest like-minded others do the same. What do you say…….?
Dear Mr.Obama
I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding since that election in 2008, during which 66,882,230 Americans cast their votes for you. Perhaps one of your trusted advisors has given you bum information. Maybe they told you that we voted for you — walked, marched, prayed, fund-raised and knocked on doors for you — because we hoped you would try to reunite the country. Of the total votes cast that long-ago November day, I’m guessing that about 1,575 people wanted you to try to reconcile the toxic bipartisanship that culminated in those Sarah Palin rallies.
The other 66,880,655 of us wanted universal healthcare.
You inherited a country that was in the most desperate shape since the Civil War, or the Depression, and we voted for you to heal the catastrophic wounds Bush inflicted on our country and our world. You said that you were up to that challenge.
We did not vote for you to see if you could get Chuck Grassley or Michael Enzi to date you. The spectacle of you wooing them fills us with horror and even disgust. We recoil as from hot flame at each mention of your new friends. Believe me, I know exactly how painful this can be, how reminiscent of 7th-grade yearning to be popular, because I went through it myself this summer. I did not lower my bar quite as low as you have, but I was sitting on the couch one afternoon, thinking that this adorable guy and I were totally on the same sheet of music — he had given me absolutely every indication that we were — and were moving into the kissing stage. Out of nowhere, I thought to ask him if he liked me in the same way I liked him.
He said, in so many words, no.
And Mr. President, that is what the Republicans are saying to you: They are just not that into you, sir.
This may have thrown you for such a loop that you have forgotten why you were elected — which was to lead your people back to the promises of our founding parents. Many of us no longer recognized our country after eight years of Bush and Cheney, and you gave us your word that you would help restore the great headway we had made on matters of race, equality and plain old social justice.
People, get ready, you said; there’s a train a ‘coming. And we did get ready. We hit the streets. We roared, whispered, cried, whooped and went door to door, convinced that even if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had not specifically dreamed of you, his dream of justice and equality and pride might come into being through your vision, your greatness, through the hope that your words gave us, through the change you promised.
He dreamed of a leader like you. Just like you. And something in the deepest part of this country’s soul heard.
After eight years of Bush, and then the Palin nomination, we were battered and anguished and punch-drunk. But in rallying behind you, we came back to life, like in Ezekiel when the prophet breathes the spirit of bearing witness and caring onto the dry bones, and those bones come back to life, become living people again, cherished and tended to.
We did not know exactly how you would proceed to restore our beloved Constitution. It seemed beyond redemption, like my kitchen floor did briefly last week after my dog, Bodhi, accidentally ate 24 corn bread muffins. You said you would push back your sleeves and begin, that it would take all of us working harder than we ever had before, but that you would lead. While acknowledging the financial and moral devastation of the last eight years, you said you would start by giving your people healthcare. You would do battle with the conservatives and insurance companies. You said in your beautiful way many times that this was the overarching moral and spiritual issue of our times, and we understood this to mean that you took this to be your Selma, your Little Rock.
I hate to sound like a betrayed 7-year-old, but you said. And we believed you. Now you seem to have abandoned the dream. That is why moderates and liberals and progressives like myself all seem a little tense this summer. It is time to call your spirit back. We will be here to help when you get back from vacation. We want to help you get over the disappointment of Mr. Grassley’s cold shoulder, of Mr. Enzi blowing you off, even that nice Olympia Snowe standing you up. We can and will take to the streets again, march and hold peaceful rallies, go door to door, donate to any causes that will help get out the truth of what a public option would mean. But we need you to shake off the dust of the journey and remember the promises of Dr. King, and we need you to lead us toward what is no longer so distant a shore.
Do it for Teddy Kennedy, boss. Do it for the other Kennedys too, for Dr. King, for Big Mama, for the poorest kids you met on the trail, the kids who go to emergency rooms for their healthcare, do it for their mothers and for Michelle. Just do it.
Trusting you, Mr. Obama
Fucking L.A. clubs…..
****Please click on title of this thread, which will take you to the actual article, where a representative of the club and I have both responded to the thread with more thoughts. It really doesn’t change my position at all, but in fairness I’d like to make sure you hear his side too.******
L.A. clubs……
Been playing in them for years, been helping them draw in tons of people, in every kind of band from covers to large touring acts……played in almost every one of them over the years, some of which have had numerous versions/owners etc…..been drunk partying, watching friends’ bands, chasing girls, being seen and seeing all that stuff….spending tons of money in them……BUTTTTTTTTTTTT…….
Also been getting treated like shit, enduring the worst class of soundmen on the PLANET, (and that’s saying something, cause there’s plenty of shitty soundmen to go around, believe me), getting the most back-handed “go fuck yourself” treatment by people who present themselves as “Music Lovers” but in fact can’t STAND musicians (sometimes understandable – but that’s another topic) and hate the fact that musicians get the girl, are cooler than them, aren’t money-grubbing freaks and are generally fine with it…..never getting a place to park that reflects the fact that we have to carry in 1/2 a ton of equipment so we end up struggling it down a dark alley in the middle of the night hoping that vampires don’t get us….having to pay full L.A. nightclub prices for shitty drinks even when you’ve filled their shithole up and they’re making so much money they could wipe their asses with it….enduring the most out of date crappy gear that doesn’t work, mics that REEK of someone else’s ass or mouth (can’t tell the difference) and if you ask for another mic they’ll take it in back and make SURE it smells of someone’s ass….their’s…..blame YOU when the gear that’s already 20 years out of date doesn’t work, or they don’t know how to MAKE it work (happens a lot that I know more about the gear than they do, but they won’t let you help them to get better at their job, even if you’re nice about it), blame YOU when the place is empty, even when they call you the day before begging you to fill the slot just vacated by their brother’s shitty band and then vibe you all night like you let THEM down….like it’s YOUR job to handle their promotion for them…..
You know what, you get the point right? As a musician in this town you’re treated like a steaming pile pretty much most of the time by pretty much most of the clubs, and you basically have to just take it and even slurp it up most of the time, because if you say a thing you won’t be playing there again until you’re Springsteen and wouldn’t do it anyway.
Ok, so what’s new about this? Nothing. Why this rant then? There’s nothing new to see here people, move along etc etc…..
Tonight is a good buddy’s B-Day, and he’s playing in 2 bands at a place called Molly Malone’s, one after the other, (they’re all friends, and friends of mine) and I was heading down to see him, hangout and buy him beers, and generally have a good time celebrating and seeing friends I see way too infrequently…..
A little setup….. Molly Malone’s is roughly about 80 miles from my house as the odometer reads, which in L.A. is easily an hour and a half driving time, and gas is about 15-20 bucks round trip, not a lot but it’ll get you to a movie….
So I’m on my way down in the Valley and realize I have no cash, which is fairly normal with me, since we like to use cards and build up miles, and what troll bridge DOESN’T use them these days anyway right? But in an epiphany of cynicism, it occurs to me that it’s possible there will be a cover charge (of course there will be, since obviously they can’t make a dime on $10 beers…DUH!?!?!), so I call down to find out what the situation is….and yep…..there’s a cover charge, and nope, we don’t give a SHIT that you don’t have cash, if you don’t have that cash, you AIN’T GETTIN IN THE DOOR, NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND! And you’re a DUMB ASSHOLE TOO!! (Ok, I made up that last bit, but you could hear it in every syllable that splattered out of his mouth onto the phone.)
ACCKKK!!! “So you’re saying that the X amount of money I was planning on spending at your very fucking far and very full of itself bar in honor of my friend’s B-Day, is money you DON’T WANT, RIGHT?”
Right.
Ok, I should own that ultimately this is my fault, I should have had some cash yeh? But it’s an honest mistake to make in the modern world that the REST OF US ADULTS live in, we’re not in high school anymore, and I’m not buying pot, I’m going to a club……where you’d think this could come up oh I dunno…..like EVERY FUCKING NIGHT!?!?! How many people don’t use cash as a rule?
LOTS, I know them.
So I suggest they could charge my card for the entrance fee, and the reason he gives for NO!! is that the cash is where the money to pay THE BAND comes from….as though there’s a chance in hell that the bands will crack the ludicrously high minimum number of people, and NOT as a group which these bands are, but as individual bands…….so the idea that they need to pay the bands is laughable on the face of it….and ball-crushingly stupid in this context……(my guess is they just take the money off the books and act like it never crossed their radar, for tax and drugs purposes, but I’m just guessing…) and so ultimately, though he never said it, me and the money I was going to spend in their club buying myself and my buddy Dave beers, could go stick our collective dick in an exhaust pipe.
So, as a guess I’m gonna say that the cover charge was $10, and that I would have spent a minimum of $50 inside and would have gladly put the cover charge on the card so $60….lessee…..$60 minus $10…err…….humph…….oof…..ok, I get a net loss of $50 for the club, what’d you get?
Sounds like a great idea to me, why isn’t EVERYONE doing this, including Disneyland?
Because you LOSE money, and make people hate you, that’s why most businesses don’t do it!
Bars are notorious for financial shenanigans (like how I got a term related to Irish stuff in there?), so I think my guess about taxes and off the books income isn’t far off…..
Speaking of Irish, here’s a few Irish clubs off the top of my head that I either KNOW for sure or have a strong feeling DON’T do this – O’Briens in Santa Monica, Finn’s in Santa Monica, and Ireland’s 32 in Sherman Oaks, that’s off the top of my head, and BTW, these are ALL places that I would rather go anyway, but it’s not where my friend was playing tonight.
So since I didn’t want to call around to friends asking to borrow the cash (how fucking LAME would that be?), and I don’t even HAVE an ATM card, (and haven’t EVER needed one till now since the 80’s ended or dinosaurs died), I left messages on my friend and his wife’s phones apologizing for my mistake and headed back the at this point luckily only 60 miles home.
I’ll admit it again, ultimately this is my fault for not being totally prepared……but let’s remember the modern world I at least live in, and that I wasn’t going HUNTING or to ANTARCTICA and therefore needed to be ready for anything from snow to Indian attacks for fuck’s sake, I was trying to go spend money in a club. Who apparently didn’t want it.
Fine, that won’t be a problem they’ll have to face from me again, and it won’t be because next time I’ll be prepared….my preparation for going to that club will be to make sure I don’t. Even though I’ve played there with Dillon O’Brian, Ken O’Malley, and some other people with Irish names who may or may not be from Ireland or even Irish. Many times over the years.
I just wanted to pass my experience along, share the knowledge, and the story….I feel better now….
Some plugs for some places that have always been cool and I enjoyed being there…..
Genghis Cohen has always been kind and decent, and their gear and soundmen always work and are at least good and sometimes very good. Previously mentioned Ireland’s 32 – totally unpretentious non-full of themselves just cool people hang there, I recommend it highly if you just want to go have a beer and watch some music in the Valley…..there’s a sound guy that used to be around named Swan (who also sings his ass off in a Led Zeppelin tribute band) he was always cool and very good at his job……etc etc….there ARE some cool people and places out there…..it’s just the Molly’s isn’t one of them.
Here’s some free stuff fer ya!
FREE STUFF – gotta like that headline…..
A bit ago I sent out an email asking if people would like to have Non-vocal versions of my cds, which I’ve been putting together for some licensing things I’m doing and thought maybe some folks would be into it. Well it turns out a whole lot of people are into that, so I put it together, and I have a download of it for you ready to go.
Download it here. (Right-click and “save”, or control-click and “save”)
I gotta say, most of these tracks sound really good as instrumentals, and a large number of them sound AMAZING, I was kinda stunned how good they sound. Standouts are “The Lady’s Song”, “Blessed”, “Rainbows” and several others, these tracks sound ridiculously good to me, I think you’re gonna really like this, maybe more than you would think…….
I’ve also stuck into the download packet a song that I did as a kinda spur of the moment thing….it just popped out of my head one day like I was invaded by an alien, and although it’s VERY not what I normally do, it’s also really kinda cool, and I think you might like that as well, it’s called “A Walk in the Sunshine”. Very stream of consciousness lyric, very odd vocal sound and style (after a late night playing morning voice mixed with a vibe I was getting into that day)……it’s pretty out of left field, check it out.
A coupla other things…….you may have noticed I’m not really doing a lot in the “STILL” world, and that’s not really an accident. I’ve been doing other things a lot lately, and I’m finding that “STILL” as it has been going for some time now is not as interesting to me as it used to be. While putting together these mixes for the non-vocal versions I kinda re-discovered how much I loved the music I was doing at those times, they’re like children to me, (Ok, now that I have a child I can actually say Not Really, but kinda like pets you really loved or so), and I’ve missed them a little, but it’s good to have them out of the house as well. I’m NOT saying I won’t do any other STILL type thing in the future, in fact I think it’s very likely I will, but I’m into some other things right now that are very interesting to me……..
So what are they….?
I’m in a band that is yet to be named or announced officially, and all I’m going to say about it is that the guys are truly awesome players with killer backgrounds, the songs and style are very different and yet somehow familiar, it’s kinda difficult to describe, and that when we all get in a room, it’s like we’ve played together for years, yet in some of the guys cases we literally met only days before recording, but it just works and sounds really amazing. Every one of these guys impresses me in different ways, even the one I’ve known for most of my adult life has surprised me in this project………things are moving along very nicely and I hope to be more specific and have something for you to hear fairly soon, possibly summer’s end-ish or so (there’s people in the band that are doing a lot of touring right now, so we have to make time when we can)……
I’ve been doing a lot of playing and writing for different things, if you’ve heard the new Amy Grant song “She Colors My Day”, 
that’s me on bass on that, (cool video here) I’ve been doing a bunch of work for people’s recordings over the Internet from my studio here, I love that the tech has allowed us to be anywhere and still feel connected as musicians (though nothing beats playing together, and probably never will)…….Awhile back you may have seen me mention a band called “SilverMoney” that I played on the tracks for the record, I have high hopes for the CD, it’s really slamming “female singer rocking Evanescence meets something that keeps trying to punch somebody” type stuff that I really had a blast recording with my old friend Kelly Moneymaker and my newer friend Dan Silver – check it out here. And some writing I’ve been doing has been focused at more TV/film type work, and a lot of it is surprising me with how fun it is and how cool a lot of it comes out.
I’m doing something coming up that’s SO FUCKING COOL that I’m not even gonna talk about it, but it’s amazing and I’m very excited, and I will tell I promise……but not right now….and no, you probably won’t guess….but you can try, you never know…..but to have such awesome friends who put me into some truly amazing things, I’m pretty lucky.
Ok, enough gabbing, throw money at me through PayPal (still@stillmusic.com – at PayPal) if you like the new version and want to put my girl through college because of it, or just want to give me a dollar….I’ll take it….of course you MUST follow me on twitter because everything I say is SO INCREDIBLY INTERESTING……..
I’ll talk at ya soon, keep having a ball, I know I am/will….
WB