Phoenix with a Headache: Videos and a Touch of Writing

1. Matt 1, 2. Spaghetti Meatballs, 3. Dusk at Maroon Lake, 4. Kevin Max, 5. Winter Dress, 6. Photography is not a crime, 7. Richard Alley - Writer - 09-18-09 - 030/365 of Portrait 365, 8. Thats what true friends are for..., 9. Bonnie is very personable. Sometimes.

I still don't get why so many people don't like I'm Only a Man. Perhaps because it's Emery's most original work? Honestly, The Weak's End—and, to some extent, The Question—sounded like so much other music out there that, at times (and after a time), it became a chore to listen to. I'm Only a Man is a breath of fresh air infused with hints of New Wave/post-punk influences layered under cleaner and better guitar work, more driving bass and drums, and outstanding vocals. If you listen to music with an appreciation for the music, and not a set of expectations for what one particular band must sound like, then I heartily recommend this album. You will not be disappointed.

Highlights: "Rock-N-Rule," "After the Devil Beats His Wife," "Can't Stop the Killer," "From Crib to Coffin."

Unfortunately this album seems to have been a fluke, with Emery reverting to their 2005 sound for While Broken Hearts Prevail, and coming full-circle to their 2004 sound for In Shallow Seas We Sail—and becoming wholly generic once again.

What starts out sounding like an above-average pop album quickly transforms into a stellar masterwork that blends all sorts of music into an impressive, beautiful piece of art. And though Stereotype Be certainly makes a strong impression upon first listen, the album merits if not demands countless subsequent listenings so that all the musical nuances might fully be explored. From the buzzing Middle Eastern-esque "Existence" to the evening desert epic "Dead-End Moon" to the slow, haunting album closer "I Went Over the Edge of the World," Kevin Max's Stereotype Be is a musical whirlwind that seamlessly blends pop production with elements of progressive rock, Middle Eastern influences, spoken word, and even rap to create an overlooked new-millenium masterpiece. Anyone who passes up this album is without doubt doing himself a great disservice.

Highlights: "Dead-End Moon," "The Secret Circle," "Blind," "Deconstructing Venus," "I Went Over the Edge of the World."

Do you have ears to hear? Do you have eyes to read? "He Who Has Ears to Hear" was written for CRW 3110-01, my advanced-fiction workshop, and has now been published on What's White Is Really Grey!

BUY RAVEN SONGS 101 ON AMAZON

While Kevin Max's voice is unparalleled, oftentimes the impact or meaning of the words he's singing is weakened by the surrounding music. The spoken-word pieces he put on Stereotype Be and Crashing Gates had a lyrical punch that was never quite matched by the songs that greatly outnumbered them. From the get-go you know that Raven Songs 101 is an entirely different beast from what Max has done before. The album maintains a kind of lurching momentum, swaying between building up and slowing down. The music and sounds are the bare minimum—they sound nothing like "I Went Over the Edge of the World" or "Crashing Gates"—and while this is off-putting at first, it ultimately works in keeping the lyrics at the forefront and keeping their punch strong. Raven Songs 101 is a hard, haunting pill to swallow, but it is most definitely a rewarding listen worth every penny spent.

Highlights: "Black Leather and a Microphone," "Swing," "River," "Time the Fever to a Boil." 
 

Wake Up, Idiot! Round 2 (26 January 2008) – 47:36
1. Project 86 – "The Forces of Radio Have Dropped a Viper into the Rhythm Section"
2. Ace Troubleshooter – "Make It Right"
3. Bleach – "Get Up"
4. Skillet – "Cycle Down"
5. Radiohead – "I Might Be Wrong"
6. Gnarls Barkley – "Crazy"
7. Kevin Max – "Dead-End Moon"
8. Modest Mouse – "We've Got Everything"
9. Jimmy Eat World – "Bleed American / Salt Sweat Sugar"
10. dc Talk – "The Truth"
11. Blindside – "My Alibi"
12. Switchfoot – "Love Is the Movement"
 

"The Forces of Radio . . . " is to jolt me awake, "Make It Right" is supposed to make me move, and "Get Up" is supposed to keep me going. The rest were just tacked on so I wouldn't burn a CD with a mere three tracks.

Dave Wanted Some Fleet Foxes (13 March 2009) – 40:09
1. The Smashing Pumpkins – "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
2. Fleet Foxes – "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song"
3. Fleet Foxes – "Oliver James"
4. Fleet Foxes – "He Doesn't Know Why"
5. Fleet Foxes – "White Winter Hymnal"
6. The Smashing Pumpkins – "1979"
7. Levek – "Skinny Bike"
8. The Beach Boys – "Sloop John B"
9. Blue Öyster Cult – "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
10. Rush – "Vital Signs"
11. The Who – "Pinball Wizard"


Waiting for Relief (14 March 2009) – 85:41
1. Tears for Fears – "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
2. Arcade Fire – "Keep the Car Running"
3. Jars of Clay – "Love Is the Protest"
4. Franz Ferdinand – "Turn It On"
5. Jimmy Eat World – "Bleed American / Salt Sweat Sugar"
6. Smash Mouth – "Then the Morning Comes"
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Road Trippin' "
8. Adam Again – "River on Fire"
9. Pearl Jam – "Black"
10. Oasis – "Falling Down"
11. Queens of the Stone Age – "The Sky Is Fallin' "
12. Neon Horse – "Crazy Daisy"
13. Tait – "Electric Avenue"
14. Boston – "Peace of Mind"
15. Beck – "E-Pro"
16. Mute Math – "Chaos"
17. Pink Floyd – "Keep Talking"
18. Kevin Max – "Stay"
19. dc Talk – "Red Letters"
20. Adam Again – "Don't Cry"


The Soundtrack That Never Got Played (20 March 2009) – 52:06
1. Wolfmother – "Joker & the Thief"
2. Queens of the Stone Age – "A Song for the Dead"
3. Franz Ferdinand – "Lucid Dreams"
4. Jars of Clay – "Revolution"
5. Kevin Max – "Out of the Wild"
6. Led Zeppelin – "The Song Remains the Same"
7. Oasis – "The Masterplan"
8. Radiohead – "Exit Music (For a Film)"
9. Jimmy Eat World – "Get It Faster"
10. The Dave Brubeck Quartet – "Unsquare Dance"
11. The Police – "Murder by Numbers"


The Soundtrack That Really Never Got Played (22 March 2009) – 55:51
1. Mute Math – "Typical"
2. Aerosmith – "Back in the Saddle"
3. Arctic Monkeys – "Brianstorm"
4. Van Halen – "Panama"
5. Gnarls Barkley – "Would-Be Killer"
6. Deep Purple – "Space Truckin' "
7. Led Zeppelin – "We're Gonna Groove"
8. The Smashing Pumpkins – "We Only Come Out at Night"
9. Smash Mouth – "Walkin' on the Sun"
10. ZZ Top – "Cheap Sunglasses"
11. Oasis – "Some Might Say"
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Dani California"
13. Pink Floyd – "High Hopes"

Mr. Speaker, the end of the war is not near. I might ask, are the troops coming home from Iraq as promised? Not quite. Sixteen months is too quick, so the plan now is to do it in thirty-four months. The administration claims all the troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Sure they will. We’re told that 50,000 U.S. troops will still be in Iraq in August of 2010, and we’re supposed to cheer. We’re told that they won’t be combat troops, so we’re to believe that means they won’t be exposed to any danger. If they are non-combat troops, does that mean they are bureaucrats, policemen, teachers, or soldiers without weapons?

This will hardly satisfy the Iraqis, who resent any foreign troops at all in their country. A U.S. puppet government protected by 50,000 American soldiers is not the road to peace. Would the Iranian-friendly Shiite majority not be motivated to take advantage of the instability we have created? Will the 100,000 Sunni militants we arm and subsidize continue to obey our wishes?

It sounds to me like a powder keg exists with the indecisiveness of our Iraqi policy. There is no intention to close [down] the dozens of military bases that now exist. The world’s biggest embassy will remain in Baghdad and incite continued resentment toward the American occupation. Our soldiers will remain easy targets of the rightfully angry nationalists. Our presence will serve as an incentive for al-Qaeda to grow in numbers and motivate more suicide bombers.

An indefinite presence, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan, will continue to drain our financial resources, undermine our national defense, demoralize our military, and exacerbate our financial crisis. All this will be welcomed by Osama bin Laden, just as he planned it—and actually more than he had hoped for.

More likely, the outcome will be that greater than 50,000 Americans will be in Iraq in august of 2010, especially when the contractors are counted. Violence will accelerate. We will be an occupier at the end of 2011, and we will remain a pariah in the Middle East. The war in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be much bigger—unless the dollar follows the path of the dollar-based world financial system, and collapses into runaway inflation. In this case, the laws of economics and the realities of history will prove superior to the madness of maintaining a world empire financed by scraps of paper.

Our military prowess, backed by a nuclear arsenal, will not suffice in overcoming the tragedy of a currency crisis. Soviet nukes did not preserve its empire or the communist economy. This crisis demands that we quickly come to our senses and reject the foreign policy of interventionism. Neither credit coming from a Federal Reserve computer nor dollars coming from a printing press can bail us out of this mess—only the rule of law, commodity money, and liberty can do that.

Mr. Speaker, let’s consider reinstating the Constitution before it’s too late.

( Read more... )

So let's all sing, sing a song of love
Sing until our throats bleed
And if this could could speak he would say
I don't need anybody, I don't anyone
I don't need your guidance home
Watch as I build my empire
Watch as I rise and fall
Watch as I fight all alone

Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?

• The Raw Story – “Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent by declaring indefinite state of war”
• Salon.com – “Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis”
• Salon.com – “Federal government involved in raids on protestors”
• Twin Cities Indymedia – “Illegal police raid on anti-R.N.C. convergence space in St. Paul”

That star-spangled banner still waves. . . over the land of the un-free and the home of the content and cowardly.

The Dialogue of Excuses
It’s too much work.
Everything’s too much work.
The world just needs to slow down.
It’s unbelievably slow, and yet it’s not slow enough.
I’m so tired.
You’re always tired. Everyone’s always tired.
Physically.
Many are beyond tired—exhausted, sick, dying.
Mentally.
Many have tackled problems much greater than a story.
Spiritually.
Paul somehow managed to write all those letters, for one.
I am wrestling with God.
Undeniably important, but should it stifle your output?
Constantly.
You’ve been wrestling for two years. Didn’t seem to be an issue two years ago, or last year.
It’s drained me.
You were drained when you took your first job, but you wrote the pilot.
I have no sense of direction.
Seek it.
I don’t know how. Or where.
Several people—Jorge, Erin, Pastor Chuck, Dave, Adam, David Story, Papa D, the C.O. kids, and so on.
I can’t call them now. I’m in Orlando.
Coward.
Afraid of disappointing everyone around me.
What you’re afraid they’ll think will suspend your work and threaten your salvation?!
I’m petrified.
Crack your Bible, then. Pray.
It’s too much work.
I’m so tired.
Physically, mentally, spiritually—because I’m wrestling with God.
Constantly.
It’s drained me.
I don’t know what to do.
I can’t call anyone for guidance.
I’ll disappoint everyone around me.
I’m petrified.
Then you are hopeless.

"Hidden, Hidden"
Adam Again
Dig

See
The way I feel
Is hidden, hidden
The way I feel
It's time
If you'd reveal
What's hidden, hidden
Is it time?

What have I missed?
Make me a list
I can try, but you resist
Stir my soul, dig me a hole
I can't move what you control

Still
I'm afraid to hear it
It's hidden, hidden
I'm afraid to hear it

I feel fine, sevens and nines
You can offer, I'll decline
Drop my guard, heavy and hard
I will treasure what you discard
Hit me in the head, send me to bed
I forgot what you just said
Make my day—send me away
Send me away, send me away

Yes, we ought to talk about it
What I need to say is
What I mean to say is
I don't want to talk about it
Though I can see the future
I prefer to close my eyes

Show me a sign, boggle my mind
Water burns as I decide
Teardrops stained, pleasure and pain
You are different, I'm the same

What have I missed?
Make me a list
I can try, but you resist
Save my soul, dig me a hole
I can't move what you control

I feel fine, sevens and nines
You can offer, I'll decline
Drop my guard, heavy and hard
I will treasure what you discard
Hit me in the head, send me to bed
I forgot what you just said
Make my day—send me away
Send me away, send me away

I fear
That it could destroy me
When you reveal
What's hidden, hidden