As strange as this may sound, I’ve been wondering what’s up with Palin’s hairdo. According to SNL’s wig maker, it’s a “French twist with a ’60s bouffant kind of thing, and bangs,†yet it lacks an identifying name. I suppose it’s safe to call it “The Sarah” at this point.
In the video above, Elizabeth Cook, who Nanci Griffith calls “this generation’s Loretta Lynn,” tears it up holler-style with her husband Tim Carroll.
But don’t be fooled by her footwork, this is a complicated and modern woman.
She grew up the daughter of musician/moonshiner parents, but Elizabeth also graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1996 with dual degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, and accepted a job offer from Price Waterhouse’s Nashville office. But her gift for music proved inescapable and the young accountant signed a publishing deal within a year.
Cook’s 2007 release, Balls, was produced by Rodney Crowell. “This is a very ‘indie’ album,”Crowell says. “In order to get it made, we all had to pull together and pitch in. But, Elizabeth brings out the best in people. Most of the record was performed live. There’s very little overdubbing and no layering. What I wanted was a snapshot of Elizabeth’s sensibilities. In the end, it was almost as if we filmed these songs.”
MP3 Offering: “Times are Tough in Rock and Roll” off of Balls
“Joe Bageant is the Sartre of Appalachia. His white-hot bourbon-fuelled prose shreds through the lies of our times like a weed-whacker in overdrive. Deer Hunting with Jesus is a deliciously vicious and wickedly funny chronicle of a thinking man’s life in God’s own backwoods.” —Jeffrey St. Clair
I picked up a copy of Joe Bageant’s book, Deer Hunting With Jesus, in the Atlanta airport recently. The author attempts to explain how the middle class vanished from American life by looking closely at residents of Winchester, Virginia–his home town.
In the chapter titled, “American Serfs,” Bageant argues that our public education system is a shambles for a reason.
Conservative leaders understand quite well that education has a liberating effect on a society. Presently they are devising methods to smuggle resources to those American madrassas, the Christian fundamentalist schools, a sure way to make the masses even more stupid if there ever was one.
Is it any wonder that Gallup Polls tells us that 48 percent of Americans believe that God spit on his beefy paws and made the universe in seven days? Only 28 percent of Americans believe in evolution. It is no accident that number corresponds roughly to the percentage of Americans with college degrees.
As you can see from the passage above, Bageant isn’t pulling punches. Nor does he have reason to. Once upon a time in this country, we believed anyone could reach for the stars. Maybe it didn’t work out for all, but it worked for many. Today, the deck seems brutally stacked against those without financial resources. This didn’t just happen, and it’s not a conspiracy.
Class is now the ultimate bifurcating factor in America. Obama is proof of that. That he’s black seems to hardly matter. That he’s Ivy League-educated is what people either reject or embrace.
p.s. See this great illustration inspired by the book on Flickr.
I enjoyed seeing Anders Parker play solo last Thursday afternoon at The Beast House in downtown Portland. It was also nice to sit outside on a bench and rap with the troubadour. This is what we talked about:
Q. How do you feel about Iron & Wine stealing your look?
A. (laughs) Only the few and the proud can grow beards like this.
Q. Where do you live?
A. I’m in Burlington, Vermont now.
Q. Does that have an impact on your music?
A. We just moved. My girlfriend and I just moved up there (from Queens, NY) in July. Since we moved up there, I’ve been in the studio. I have a studio in the house and I’ve been working on a new recordings, so in the fact that I have the space to do it, yeah.
Q. Do you mostly play solo, like today?
A. I’ve done everything from duos to trios to bigger bands, but lately it’s been mostly solo stuff with an occasional band tour.
Q. I noticed that you were recording your own riffs and then using a loop. What does that bring to your show?
A. In my formative years, I used to play a lot of open mics. I came out of that singer-songrwiter/folk/pop/songcraft school. It’s sort of a murky thing to define. I started out playing acoustic guitar in coffee shops and bars. I liked doing that, but I guess for more of an interesting experience for me and hopefully for the people listening I like to do a little bit more. There’s spontaneity to it. A lot of improv involed in it. Covering all those bases on an acoustic guitar, you can do it to a certain extent, but it’s another flavor, another tool.
Q. What drives you to create? What inspires you to write and perform?
A. I just find music endlessly interesting. There are a lot of metaphors, but it’s kind of a river. There’s always something to learn. As a writer, there’s something about that spark of writing a tune. It’s hard to define. There’s a mystery to it. There are certain skills you can learn and techniques and what have you, but that actual spark of a song coming or showing up at your door is a pretty wild thing.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your work and what you’re up to?
A. I’ve got a bunch of records I’m recording, right now. That’s what I’ve been doing the past two months. Finishing all these records that have been half-fininshed. I’ve used this year to write and record.
Anders Parker’s “14th & Division (Live)” was released by Portland label, Bladen County Records on August 14th. Parker is also a member of Gob Iron with Jay Farrar.
Campaign Manager, Rick Davis, defends the McCain camp’s zealous protection of Governor Palin: “She’s not scared to answer questions. But you know what, we run our campaign, not the news media. And we’ll do things on our time table. And honestly, this last week was not an exemplary moment for the news media. So why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called ‘the news media’ that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?
[via Talking Points Memo]
The Oregonian is reporting on efforts being made to establish a Major League Soccer franchise in Portland.
At a news conference today, City Commissioner Randy Leonard and Henry Merritt Paulson III, owner of the Portland Timbers and the Portland Beavers, stated their intentions to help turn the Rose City into a big-league sports town.
Paulson is applying for one of two MLS expansion teams that will begin play in 2011. If he succeeds, he wants city help making $40 million in improvements to PGE Park downtown and building a new home for the Triple A Beavers. A new minor-league park could cost $35 million.
This type of appeal to the city and its taxpayers happens all over the country, year in and year out. I’m not a big soccer fan, but this type of growth is good for Portland, so I’d likely agree to a tax hike. Yet, I’ll also offer that Portland has unique corporate sponsorship opportunities in this category, with Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and Jantzen all based here. Ideally, a mix of public and private support will get the job done.
The Oregonian has an interesting piece on the solar business and how important tax credits are to the burgeoning industry.
According to the story, Portland’s Tanner Creek Energy faces a module shortage and record-high prices as they rush to erect solar systems before the 30 percent federal tax credit for solar-system owners expires at year’s end. Solar advocates say such subsidies are crucial until new technology and mass manufacturing reduce costs.
Faced with the loss of these tax credits, many in the solar industry fear a crippling slowdown right as momentum is rising.
On the other hand, Tim McCabe, director of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, is unfazed by predictions of a panel surplus and slowdown.
“The interest level in Oregon, with our business-energy tax credits, is extremely high with solar manufacturers right now,” McCabe says.
Last Saturday night we made the wise decision to attend the early show at Doug Fir Lounge. Portland band Blue Skies for Black Hearts played an acoustic set, followed by another acoustic set from Oakland’s Rogue Wave. I’ve been listening to Rogue Wave’s Out of the Shadow for some time, but I’d never heard Blue Skies before. Both bands appealed to me, particularly in the intimate confines of Doug Fir’s basement.
Recently, PerformerMag wrote a cover piece on Blue Skies and provided some insight into their new album, Serenades and Hand Grenades, released on Portland label King of Hearts Records.
(It’s) an album that’s thick with nods to the punchy beat of the British Invasion bands and the rootsy rock of Tom Petty, but doesn’t feel out of place next to likeminded indie pop bands like The New Pornographers. Though the album was recorded digitally in ProTools, Serenades has the warmth of an analog, direct to tape session — something the band pulled off by recording everything live, using a real plate reverb rather than touching up the tracks after the fact, and finally being able to afford the technology necessary to help get the sound they wanted to hear.
Speaking of sound, singer/guitarist Pat Kearns served a brief stint as a live sound engineer for bands like Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie, and has worked as a producer and engineer for bands from all over the Northwest, including The Soda Pop Kids, Exploding Hearts, and The Very Foundation.
Colorado’s acoustic jam scene will have a massive audience tonight as Yonder Mountain String Band takes the stage at Mile High Stadium just prior to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.
Also scheduled to perform at the event are: will.i.am, Stevie Wonder and Dave Matthews Band.
The convention anticipates 75,000 people in attendance, and a huge international and national media audience, for the acceptance event.Â
This 2008 Democratic National Convention is the first convention to be held in Denver in one hundred years.
I hope the band plays “Two Hits and the Joint Turned Brown.” Although “Finally Saw the Light” would also do nicely.
We just completed a nine day journey cross country by car from coastal South Carolina to Portland, Oregon. On day one, we stopped for lunch in Asheville, NC to say “hi” to Gary and Katie. We then pushed on to Lexington, KY for the night. From the hotel we walked first to Mexican food and top shelf margs, then over to the historic Red Mile for harness racing. In the morning we found our coffee place downtown, before heading out to horse country for a tour of the distillery where the world’s best bourbon, Woodford Reserve, is made.
From the limestone hills of Kentucky, we headed north for Cincinnati where our wonderful hosts, Dave and Tera Ackerman, plus their kids, dogs and friends entertained us in their fine Craftsman-era home. That was fun. Day three took us northwest to Chicago where Casey and Gwen opened their Ravenswood apartment to us for the night. Stef came over and we walked down to Pizza D.O.C. on Lawrence to meet Liz and Buban for dinner. Pizza D.O.C. rocks, as does having dinner with friends one hasn’t seen in years. There was more drinking at two Lincoln Square bars after dinner–hey, this is Chicago we’re talking about here–before retiring to Casey and Gwen’s.
Sunday we dropped in on Evil Vince for a visit, before heading west. When Chicago started to give way to the fields of corn, I started to feel good. I felt even better when we crossed the Mississippi River and drove through the picturesque hills of Iowa. The sunset and simultaneous moonrise, as we were pulling into Omaha on night four, was stunning. We grabbed some salad, pizza and wine for dinner at a patio table in the Old Market before heading over for a free night on points at Hilton Garden Inn. In the morning I met with Shawn at his work place and had a chance to talk to his boss about picking up some copywriting assignments. We then met my aunt Leanne for lunch at Kona Grill in West O before heading for the Sandhills on Highway 2. We stopped in Halsey–where my grandpa and I used to go deer hunting–to mail some letters. At Seneca, we pulled over to see the Middle Loup River up close. A local gentleman directed us to his “rickety” cable and plyboard bridge over the river, a kind gesture we greatly appreciated.
We looked for a dinner spot in Alliance but decided to head on to Scottsbluff for the night. When we got there places were closing, but The Gaslight in Gering took us in and made steaks for us. I love Nebraska and Nebraskans. On day six we took the back way to Laramie, seeing the North Platte River near Fort Laramie. In the college town of Laramie we ate a kind hippie lunch at Jeffrey’s Bistro before heading over to Martindale’s for some new pearl snaps and a straw hat. That’s Laramie in a nutshell–part hippie, part cowboy.
We pushed westward on I-80 to Salt Lake City, where DK was entertaining his family rooftop at American Towers. DK and Anina recently purchased a truly outstanding 19th floor apartment in American Towers, with south-, west- and north-facing views. In the morning we headed up City Creek Canyon for a hike, then ventured across the tracks to Red Iguana for a mole festival at one of the nation’s best Mexican joints.
We were tempted to stay another night in SLC, but opted instead to drive five hours further west on I-80 to Winnemucca, where I thought we’d rent a cute little cabin or roadhouse room for the night. Instead, we looked at several flea-bitten options before settling in to the Days Inn. Thankfully, the grocery store had a Peet’s Coffee in it, so we fueled up in the morning and headed onto one of the loneliest stretches of two-lane road you’ll find anywhere in America. North of Winnemucca about 40 miles, we turned left onto Highway 140, which goes for many miles before delivering one to Oregon and the homey little town of Lakeview. Jerry’s Restaurant in Lakeview made us perfectly prepared hash browns to go with our sandwiches and iced tea. We then took more country roads toward Crater Lake National Park, a park we’d never visited before. After you enter the park, you climb up several thousand feet to the rim of the ancient volcano and peer into the pearl blue otherworldly lake. Wow.
We took Highway 138 north from the park and wound down the canyon with the North Umpqua River as our guide. Another major wow. We caught up with the interstate highway system again in Roseburg and punched it up to Eugene for the night, where we dined on Thai food and infused ginger-cranberry cocktails. We made it to Portland by mid-day on Friday and began to settle in.