A Day In L.A.

Yesterday, Bobby Hartry, my brother-in-law, Myke Harrison, and I spent a day in L.A. having lunch at Venice Beach, hangin' out @ TrueTone (a boutique guitar shop) in Santa Monica, and taking in the musical genius that is Jon Brion. It was a great night. Jon was on the top of his game which, as those of you who have witnessed it know, is amazing. We decided to stay for the second set, which featured guest appearances by Fiona Apple and Robin Hitchcock. Their performances were outstanding and were followed by Jon's finale of "Here We Go" from the Punch Drunk Love soundtrack. It was Myke's first time seeing Jon and he was pretty much in awe. He described himself as "giddy" which, for a soft-spoken Canadian, means that he was grinning a lot. We crashed at Bobby's at about 2:30 a.m. and then I dropped Myke off at LAX @ 5:30 a.m. for his trip back to Toronto. It was sad to see him go, but we had a great couple of weeks with him here in California. Hopefully, he'll come back to stay next time.

The Death of Multiculturalism?

This is a great article about "tolerance" of terrorists run amok from another of my favorite columnists, Mark Steyn.

And Then They Came After Us

This is another outstanding article by one of my favorite columnists, Victor Davis Hanson. VDH has a unique talent at clarifying issues. In this case, he discusses the canard that recent terrorist attacks were brought on by American foregin policy. Here's a sample:

"So it is was becoming clear that butchery by radical Muslims in Bali, Darfur, Iraq, the Philippines Thailand, Turkey, Tunisia, and Iraq was not so tied to particular and “understandable” Islamic grievances. Perhaps the jihadist killing was not over the West Bank or U.S. hegemony after all, but rather symptoms of a global pathology of young male Islamic radicals blaming all others for their own self-inflicted miseries, convinced that attacks on the infidel would win political concessions, restore pride, and prove to Israelis, Europeans, Americans — and about everybody else on the globe — that Middle Eastern warriors were full of confidence and pride after all."

You should read the whole article--it is excellent.

Weathering the weather

It's been hotter than Hades over the past week or so. Kids are a bit whiny and everyone is a little tired/lazy. Thank God someone invented air conditioning.

Aftermath

Darren Varieur made his re-debut with the band tonight and did a phenomenal job (as he always does). However, LTA was in for bit of a RUDE aWAKEning at Rude Dog tonight. Turns out that someone who used to regularly frequent the bar died last week and the place was packed with his depressed/angry/drunk friends who had just come from his wake. Needless to say it wasn't the best vibe for a rock concert. We tried to be sensitive to the situation and played a bit mellow at first. The crowd seemed very receptive to our first song "Is Seeing Believing?" But, after that the response was so-so. I think we piqued their interest for a bit and then they remembered why they were there and got more drunk (although, the bouncer said that nearly all the regulars stayed through our set--well beyond the time that they usually leave--so that was a good sign). Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (white version) made a brief appearance during "Nothing Can Separate Us," so it was nice to see him. Mike Sanchez' other band, Gadgetcar, was supposed to play 3rd, but got bumped to 4th (last) and he got very upset and almost left. But it appeared that he and his other band mates worked it out and they ended up playing late into the evening.

Tonight's gig

I'm off to play with LTA in Covina. I'll let you know how it went.

LTA Gig info

Lower Than Angels will be playing on Friday night July 22nd @ 9:30 p.m. The gig will be at Rude Dog in Covina. The street address is 114 N. Citrus Avenue.

Another terrorist attack in London

occurred today. Obviously, I am grateful for the limited damage done, particularly with respect to casualties. The title link is to an excellent article in The Guardian newspaper written by Norm Geras regarding people who look for "root causes" for atrocities like those committed today and on 7/7 in London.

Supreme Court nominee

President Bush nominated John Roberts for the impending Supreme Court vacancy. I've been doing some studying up on him and he sounds like a good pick. Apparently he's well respected, exremely intelligent, and of good character. My hope is that, if confirmed, he will strictly interpret the constitution and refrain from legislating from the bench. Here's to hoping he's not a stealth liberal (ala Souter). That would be a disaster.

Lower Than Angels--Band Reunited

Last night LTA rehearsed for the gig mentioned below with the original line-up for the first time in several years. The line-up includes Wade Varieur on drums, Michael Sanchez on electric guitar, Dean Tapia on bass, Darren Varieur on electric guitars and vocals, and Larry Hampton on electric guitar and vocals. We had a blast at rehearsal and are looking forward to gigging again. Over time, as gigs are booked, I will post dates, locations, etc. We hope to see you there.

An upcoming LTA gig

Lower Than Angels has a gig on Friday July 22nd @ 9:30 p.m. in West Covina. I will try to post the name of the venue and directions tomorrow.

Mark Steyn asserts that Islam incubates terrorism

in his excellent opinion article published in a recent issue of The Daily Telegraph. Here's a snippet:

"Terrorism ends when the broader culture refuses to tolerate it. There would be few if any suicide bombers in the Middle East if 'martyrdom' were not glorified by imams and politicians, if pictures of local 'martyrs' were not proudly displayed in West Bank grocery stores, if Muslim banks did not offer special 'martyrdom' accounts to the relics thereof, if schools did not run essay competitions on 'Why I want to grow up to be a martyr'.

"At this point, many readers will be indignantly protesting that this is all the fault of Israeli 'occupation', but how does that explain suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where there's not a Zionist oppressor for hundreds of miles? Islam has become the world's pre-eminent incubator of terrorism at its most depraved."

Lower Than Angels reunited

This is a compilation record that a group of friends and I recorded a few years ago. Some of these same friends have regrouped with me to do some shows in Southern California and work on new material. I'll post details of the upcoming shows as they are finalized. Look forward to seeing you there! By the way, here's a link if you'd like to get a copy of this CD.
http://www.vineyardmusic.com/usa/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=77

Terrorists or "bombers"?

I should note up front that I'm politically conservative, but (I believe) I'm fair and open-minded. I respect people with different opinions, as long as they are reasonable and respectful, as well. Today I had a conversation with a couple of co-workers regarding the London terror bombings. The general consensus was that we are amazed at some liberal politicians in the US and UK who are trying to figure out which point of view gives them greatest political advantage/leverage over their opponents with regard to terrorist attacks. It's incredible to me that their hatred of America, G.W. Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, etc. can so blind them to the truth that they can't even bring themselves to call bombings in London or Madrid, civilian beheadings and daily car-bomb attacks in Iraq, the murder of school children in Breslan, terrorist acts. In fact, the BBC initially called the attackers "terrorists" before scrubbing it from their Web site a day later and changing their identification to "bombers." Some liberal politicians and MSM (mainstream media) would rather blame Bushitler, or America, or Britain's involvement in Iraq for the killings rather than what is apparent to everyone with common sense--Islamofascist terrorism. It's disgraceful. Check out Hugh Hewitt's great post on this issue here http://www.hughhewitt.com/#postid1791

Before I forget

I just had to add this image to this Web site somewhere. It's genius.

My first blog post

Welcome to my blog. I'm looking forward to many interesting discussions about music, politics, religion, and other cultural phenomenon.