In Your Ear

Kevin Wood / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

BOB DYLAN

Modern Times

Sony Music, 2,520 yen

The poet laureate of the baby boomer generation is back to show that he continues to age like a fine Bordeaux.

Like a good wine, as he has gotten older, Bob Dylan's bold, acidic edginess has matured to become more subtle, richer, mellower and more complex, with a more velvety feel on the palate.

It would be inaccurate to say Dylan is improving with age--you can't really improve on the delicious freshness of '60s Dylan nouveau such as The Freewheeling Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde--but his most recent work is certainly of equal quality, if different in flavor. He may not be as prolific as he was in the mid '60s and '70s, but the level of artistry on Modern Times is as high as anything Dylan has ever done.

Modern Times is the third in a trio of new classics by the old master that began with 1997's Time Out of Mind (winner of the Grammy for album of the year) a dark, austere meditation on death and aging.

Dylan's next album, the excellent "Love and Theft" was a lighter, more amusing, selection that mixed old delta blues, politics and gentle humor into a pleasing concoction that was doomed by its Sept. 11, 2001, release date to nearly vanish off the cultural radar, although it still managed to win a Grammy for best contemporary folk album.

Modern Times shows a clear and steady progression from both of these earlier efforts, with echoes of each.

Opening with the up-tempo 12-bar roots rocker "Thunder on the Mountain," Dylan serves notice that he can still keep up, even if the top-of-the-lungs delivery of "Like a Rolling Stone" has matured into a deeper, almost menacing throaty growl.

Back at the peak of his early fame a journalist asked Dylan whether he considered himself a poet or a songwriter, and he famously replied that he considered himself a "song-and-dance man." On "Spirit on the Water" one can almost hear the scrape of leather as he does a lazy softshoe to this lighthearted and jazzy seduction blues.

Dylan retools three blues classics, writing his own lyrics for the "Someday Baby," "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "The Levee's Gonna Break," and despite ill-informed accusations by some to the contrary, this is emphatically not plagiarism--at worst it is postmodernism, and more accurately, it is the folk process in action. Others have criticized Dylan for lifting a couple of phrases from obscure U.S. Civil War poet Henry Timrod, but he'd hardly be the first to quote without crediting the source. As Pete Seeger once said, such so-called plagiarism "is basic to all culture."

"Workingman's Blues #2" is not technically blues, but a piano-driven tune with an anthemic feel and typically ambiguous lyrics that could be read as a letter to a politician or a former lover. It is also the best vocal performance on the album--rich, warm and emotive without being over the top or sentimental.

"Nettie Moore" is a story song with minimalist backing--a bass drum heartbeat with guitar and violin accents showcasing Dylan's nuanced singing. The piece is reminiscent of Tom Waits, but smoother.

Modern Times ends with "Ain't Talkin'"--a great sinister, slithering, slow minor-key groove that harkens back to Time out of Mind. In terms of lyrics, the apocalyptic visions Dylan relates in an intimate growling whisper sound like lost verses from "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" or "Gates of Eden."

Modern Times has already reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard album chart, the so-called song-and-dance man's best commercial showing in over 20 years, making 2006 a very good year for Dylan.

(Sep. 30, 2006)


blog extra: The Wonderdog Institute of Dylanology delivers a slap upside the head of those who don't understand the difference between classical allusion, postmodernism and downloading term papers off the internet.

And then suddenly,

As Keith Olbermann and I were walking along talking about how you never hear Mike Wallace talk about his son, Obie rhetorically kicked Dubya in the balls again and again and again and again and again. It was amazing.

Stick a yellow ribbon on your SUV



The Asylum Street Spankers are to a certain extent an attempt by Austin, Texas to compensate the rest of the world for George W. Bush.
I just spent a week or so hanging out with these guys at the end of their Japan tour. See them, buy their album. Trust me, its fun for the whole family.

Update: The first time I trotted this out a week ago, it got a few hundred hits. This week I mentioned it on a few blogs and it got posted on Democratic Underground among other places and word on the video seem to have gotten out. I've had 1,200 hits in the last 24 hours - which is a lot compared to my usual 20 hits a day and the YouTube version is up over 100,000 viewings after only a few days. The band asks that you check out the video on YouTube so as to get the numbers up. While you're at it, go visit the Spankers site (see other links to your right) and BUY STUFF! Lots of stuff! Get their new album -"Mommy Says No!"- the review is further down the blog. You'll thank me later.

Update to the Update: Thanks to everyone who emailed this link around, I've had about 12,000 hits in the last few weeks. So as an added bonus here is more of God's Favorite Band: The Asylum Street Spankers

No. 29 on the ice, No. 1 in the polls
Despite the fact that Liberal caucus members and party movers and shakers don't see him as a top tier candidate, a Liberal Party Poll of the people who really matter - Canadian Voters - seems to suggest that Ken Dryden is the Liberals best hope for attracting votes. He has the best name recognition, the least negative reaction (As I feared, Bob Rae has the most negative reaction) and the best chance of pulling crossover votes from the NDP and Conservatives. And he is the only one of the leadership candidates to call for an immediate and meaningful reexamination of Canada's role in the Afghanistan War.

And the next person who tells me he is too smart for the job or shouldn't be elected party leader because he can't speak in 8-second sound bites had best be prepared to be cleared from the crease with extreme predjudice.

I want the smartest guy for Prime Minister. I want the guy who thinks things through before he speaks instead of shooting from the lip with glib, meaningless sound bites. I want a party leader who will bring more voters into the party, not divide the electorate. I want a party leader, leader of the opposition and eventual Prime Minister who is committed to the idea of Canada, who understands the soul of the country and where our national priorities must be. I also want someone who can win the next election before the current crop of neocon ideologues do anymore damage.
I've read the stump speeches, the interviews, the platform and now this poll -- I'm convinced.
Ken Dryden is the right man for the job.

Not again
How many times do we need to see this headline before people realize that alcohol and endangered species just don't mix. Please, don't drink and try to hug pandas.
Panda bites drunk Chinese man, man bites panda back at Beijing zoo

Coming soon to an Antiwar Demonstration near you...
Apparently the USAF want to try microwaving opponents like so many convience store burritos, but they want to try it out on civilian crowd in the U.S. first. I'd suggest Fred Phelps and his slap-happy band of dingbats would be a target both left and right could agree on.

Spiritual leader of the moment
An excellent interview with folk music god, social activist and all-round good guy Pete Seeger can be found here. Thanks to the Gazetteer for pointing the way.

It's official - I'm for Dryden

Having seen this in the Mop & Pail today, I guess I should come out and officially endorse Ken Dryden for the Liberal leadership. He's smart, articulate and has the right priorities both domestically and on foriegn policy. I like his writing, I like the way he thinks and I like his style. I don't think he's the long shot the media are painting him as being.
I'm troubled by Ignatieff's opportunism, lack of commitment to the party and endorsement of torture. Stephen Dion's an acceptable candidate, but one that might be too tied to the past Liberal government. I like Bob Rae and think he would be a good Prime Minister, I just don't think he can get the votes the Liberals need in Ontario because of the bad rap he got as premier. Gerald Kennedy is also an okay choice, but I don't think he will have a lot of appeal to swing voters and will be too easy for the Conseratives and media to paint as a screaming small L liberal.
Besides, none of them won six Stanley Cups and the '72 series against the Russians. That's got to count for something.

We have met the enemy and it is U.S.
They've done it to us again.
What the hell are A-10 pilots taught to fire at? Specific targets or just anything that moves within a 100 miles of the assigned target? Why would they strafe a group of uniformed men in a rear area camped around an armoured vehicle, when the Taliban generally have neither uniforms nor armoured vehicles?
If I were a Canadian infantry commander in Afghanistan, I'd have second thoughts about calling in air support. Of the 32 Canadians killed in Afghanistan, Pte. Mark Anthony Graham is the fifth killed by U.S. aircraft. Once is an accident, twice is coincidence -- the third time it's enemy action.


UPDATE: Our troops are clearly a bit demoralized and pissed off by this latest incident

"We should spray-paint a big circle around us, with an arrow that says 'Not here, asshole,' " one soldier said, packing up his sleeping gear.

What book has changed your life? -- All of them
Having been tagged by Dana over at the Galloping Beaver with the latest Blog meme on books, I've had to do some quick thinking to narrow down my answers to a short list of titles in response to the survey. I don't read a lot -- I read constantly. In bed, on the toilet, on the train, at the breakfast table, in bars and restaurants, park benches, even while walking sometimes -- I'm more likely to leave the house without my cell phone or wallet than I am to leave without a book. I'm sort of on hiatus as a book critic at the moment, but I still manage to read a book a week or more and usually have several on the go at once.

A book that changed my life
As the title of the post says, all of them have played their part to a greater or lesser extent -- you never step into the same river twice blah blah blah-- but if I have to pick just one it would probably be the late great Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Twenty years ago I wanted to be Thompson. I acted like him, tried to copy his style of writing, even spent time typing out pages from his books to get the rhythm of how he wrote (A trick I learned from him, having read that he used to type out pages from the Great Gatsby for the same reason.) He was the first to make me realize that journalism could be fun, funny and intellectually dangerous. This book is one of the reasons I do what I do for a living. And it is funny as hell.

A book I've read more than once
Almost all of them. I often go back and reread favorite books, especially those by favorite writers, sometimes for the story, sometimes just for the quality writing. When reading stuff for review, I find I often need to read something lighter or heavier (or more often better) to cleanse the mental palate. Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" never fails to entertain and provoke and I used to make a point of rereading it once a year in my teens and twenties. But more often now I go back to what I consider the classics: Papa's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Kerouac's "On the Road", all Raymond Chandler and J. D. Salinger's books and I've worked my way through Lord of the Rings four or five time and Patrick O'Brian's entire 20 volume Aubery-Maturin series.

What book would you take to a desert island?
A survival manual might be good idea. Dana already stole my idea of the complete works of Shakespeare. Dafoe's "Robinson Crusoe" is temptingly ironical, but if it has to be fiction I'd take either "Ulysses" or "Gravity's Rainbow." Either James Joyce's or Homer's "Odyssey" would do me fine as I've read both, but never really fully deciphered the former and the latter is one of the all time great stories. The Thomas Pynchon is one I have started several times and always got distracted by some shiny object halfway through and put aside to finish later. Later has not yet arrived.

A book that made me laugh
Spider Robinson's first two collections of pun-filled sci-fi bar stories "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" and "Time Travellers Strictly Cash." While the series kind of went slowly downhill in later installments, I've read these two over and over again and still get dirty looks for sniggering to myself on the train. I've recently discovered the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse, which have been making people laugh for about 70 years and with good reason. Also Penn Gillette's "Sock" and Jerome K. Jerome's ageless "Three Men in a Boat".

A book that made me cry
Big, tough, cynical, macho Hemmingway-reading newspapermen who've seen it all don't cry.
Dave Eggers "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" brought tears to my eyes several times. The novel (and movie of course) "Old Yeller" made me cry as a kid. And I'm not allowed to read "The Velveteen Rabbit" to my kids anymore or they will start calling me a crybaby. I can't get past about the second page before the waterworks start, by the end I'm usually sobbing to hard to be understood when trying to read it out loud. And if it doesn't do the same thing to you, you must be some kind of souless cyborg with an icemaker for a heart. Now let us never speak of this again.

A book I wish had been written
"Manifest Destiny this, you fascist Yankee scum!
The Liberation and Annexation of the USA and how we solved all their problems" by the Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau

(some day, some day)


A book I wish had never been written
"Mein Kampf," "The Fountainhead" and anything published by Regnery.

Books I am currently reading
Paul Auster's "The Brooklyn Follies", Paul Krugman's "The Great Unravelling" and David Gilbert's "The Normals"

Books I've been meaning to read
"Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" has been sitting on my two foot stack of "books to be read soon" for about a year now, but I keep getting distracted by shiny objects like the latest Robert Parker Spenser novel or a suddenly discovered old copy of "Catcher in the Rye" in the same pile.

What turned me on to fiction
Like most kids, I had stuffed animals when I was little, but my favorite thing to sleep with, my verison of Linus' blanket was a well-chewed copy of my puppy book, the title of which I don't even remember. My mother still has it, but I think I may have chewed the cover and title page off. Other kids had soothers, I had this book. My parents read to me often and by the time I was in school, I was reading the Hardy Boys and Encylopedia Brown and comic books like an alcoholic locked inside a liquor store overnight. I'm surprised I don't have a permanent dent in my forehead from falling asleep with a book on my face.

Final thoughts
I love listening to music almost as much as reading and so the ipod that holds my entire music collection (I'm up past 7,000 tracks now, and most of my record collection is in storage in Canada and has yet to be downloaded to the archives) came as manna from heaven. I like vinyl and cassettes and was a slow convert to digital sound, but carrying around all the recordings I own in a box the size of a deck of cards and having access to just about anything else at the push of a button is pretty hard to beat. If Steve Jobs wants to lock in my vote for man of the millenium, he'll perfect an adaptation of the ipod for books. With solar batteries and access to the entire Library of Congress online with free downloads of stuff in the public domain. I love the feel of pages in my hands, the physical feel of a real book, but having my entire library stored in one book would be the best of all possible worlds.

I'll pass this poll/meme on to:
JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie
MD at Man Descending
Scout at Harper Valley
Mudhooks at the Mudpuddle
and of course the host of Friday Archeology Blogging, Bazz at Oi Thump

Karma's a bitch
Ah the glorious, glorious schadenfreude I feel when I read stories like this one: Ontario Court freezes Black's Assets
Apparently things are getting worse for the the former Canadian newspaper baron, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving pompous, thieving bastard.
The last line is especially telling: "He has also acknowledged in court filings that he has borrowed money from Lady Black."
Awww, poor Lord Tubby of Fleet Street. Remember that saying about being nice to people on the way up, because you're gonna meet them again on the way down? I guess they covered that idea at Upper Canada College after they tossed Connie out for stealing exams.

Viva Olbermann!

Keith Olbermann kicks Donald Rumsfeld's lying, facist ass around the block.

"For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve."

"Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire “Fog of Fear” which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have — inadvertently or intentionally — profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.
And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer’s New Clothes?"

Hit'em with the chair, Keith!

the edjemacation president

From the Toronto Star:

Students told `Yale Shmale'
Lakehead unveils edgy PR campaign that takes aim at Bush's Ivy League roots
DANIEL GIRARD
EDUCATION REPORTER
Consider it a weapon of mass attraction.
Lakehead University is poking fun at U.S. President George W. Bush and his Ivy League alma mater in an edgy new guerrilla marketing campaign intended to lure students to its Thunder Bay campus.
Dubbed "Yale Shmale," the $100,000 promotion features an image of Bush — Yale University, Class of 1968 — on posters that will be plastered on construction sites and other outdoor locations across the Greater Toronto Area.
"Graduating from an Ivy League university doesn't necessarily mean you're smart," reads the second of two posters set for
release, "Choosing Lakehead does."

Why doesn't Yale use him for recruiting?
Probably because they have no trouble attracting students -- after all, there are a lot of legacy applicants from the families of wealthy alumni out there.
While it might be in poor taste to insult the leader of another nation in your advertising campaign,you have to hand it to Lakehead University for having the sheer brass as an institution to kick the president of the United States square in the nuts. You also have to wonder how someone with the nearly universal (The Assrocket and his ilk excepted) reputation as a moron necessary to make such a campaign effective - no one is looking at that picture and wondering what it says about W - could get elected.
How long before we see a post at Blogging Tories or in the Rightwing Wankosphere down south using this to "prove" that universities are packed with godless communists who hate America?

Thought Police polishing jackboots in Japan

It's amazing what you don't read about in the Japanese press. Anywhere else a newspaper's editorial complaining about political content of a magazine forcing the closure of the magazine, would be a story. Here, the papers barely mention the firebombing of the home of a critic of the prime minister, and the prime minister and his expected successor do not publically condemn the act. War atrocities -- down the memory hole!

Canadaville, La.
I've never been much of a fan of either Frank or Belinda Stronach, but I have to hand it to Frank Stronach for reaching into his admittedly deep pockets and helping out people who needed help. And this isn't some kind of self serving non-donation where all the money will have to be spent buying things from the company store, I don't how he gets anything for his $10 million but a warm feeling and a tax writeoff. Nice going Frank, The Woodshed salutes you.

In Your Ear

Kevin Wood / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS

Mommy Says No!

Buffalo Records, 2,500 yen

The eclectic Asylum Street Spankers--self-described as "God's Favorite Band"--have once again defied expectations and classification with their latest release. Admittedly, almost anything might have been expected from a band known for blending 1930s blues and jazz novelties, punk, country and even gangster rap into a heady acoustic string-band stew of hot licks and belly laughs. But for a band whose lyrical preoccupation with sex, drugs and booze led to albums with such titles as Nasty Novelties, Dirty Ditties and the Amsterdam-inspired Spanker Madness, an album of original children's music would have been low on the list of probabilities.

Though often delightfully juvenile in the past--earlier efforts such as "The Scrotum Song" spring to mind--the Spankers have never exactly purveyed kids music. Mommy Says No, while ostensibly a kids album full of songs about superheroes, closet monsters and training wheels, is eminently appealing to anyone who remembers their childhood.

Usually sultry and seductive songstress Christina Marrs plays against type and captures the innocent playfulness of children with the opening track "Be Like You," setting the tone for an album that stylistically covers the waterfront. Marrs' sweet voice also adds additional impact to the superhero love ballad "Sidekick." Marrs' coconspirator in fronting the Spankers, Wammo, leads the band through a handful of call-and-response tongue-twisters on "Lunchbox," kicks out the punk jams on the title track and explains what binds the universe together crooner-style on the hilariously over-the-top lounge jazz opus "Boogers."

Asked in an e-mail exchange what prompted the band to do a kids album, given their predilection for bawdiness, the ever sly singer and poetry slam champion wrote, "We figured people have been making kids to our records, so we might as well make one for the kids."

Wammo also doubled as producer and has done the band proud. Mommy Says No sounds crisp and warm, with a wagonload of smart musical touches, some subtle like the toy piano on "Be Like You," and others more obvious, such as the excellent use of Marrs' spooky musical saw on "Closet" and the romping New Orleans-style brass band led by clarinetist and longtime Spanker Stanley Smith. A compilation of Smith's best, Since I Met You Baby, will be released on the same label in September.

Instrumentally, the Spankers are in their usual superlative form, with relatively new member Sick showing off some serious fiddle and mandolin chops, and guitarist Nevada Newman indulging in some fancy, er...picking on "Boogers" and seizing the spotlight on the catchy "Super Frog."

If this album has a shortcoming, it may be that it's too cool for kids. But don't worry, they'll grow into it.

The Asylum Street Spankers will be touring Japan next month. (See Gig Guide.)

TOM PETTY

Highway Companion

Warner, 2,580 yen

There are plenty of nice jangly guitars on Tom Petty's third solo outing without the Heartbreakers and his first release since 2002's The Last DJ.

Highway Companion is built around a travel theme, with journeys--some mental, some emotional, some physical--providing the basis for each of the songs. While not as immediately catchy as Full Moon Fever or Wildflowers, the new album is more intimate and very much driven by Petty's guitar and raw voice. Former Traveling Wilburys bandmate Jeff Lynne has once again produced, but with more restraint this time around, letting Petty's simple guitar riffs and unpolished vocals stand on their own merits. Put the top down, crank up the volume and head out on the highway.

Special blog-only feature

God's favorite band
is coming to Japan

The Asylum Street Spankers will be making their triumphant return to the land of the rising sun in September. Quick, somebody call Kirin Breweries and tell them to start an extra couple of batches and book me a suite at the Betty Ford Clinic for October.

9.9.06 Saturday Sayama, Japan Hyde Park Music Festival
9.11.06 Monday Kanazawa, Japan Mokkiriya Jazz Bar
9.12.06 Tuesday Osaka, Japan Shinsaibashi Club Quattro
9.13.06 Wednesday Hiroshima, Japan Club Quattro
9.14.06 Thursday Kyoto, Japan Taku Taku
9.15.06 Friday Nagoya, Japan Tokuzo
9.17.06 Sunday Tokyo, Japan Shibuya Club Quattro
9.18.06 Monday Yokohama, Japan Thumbs Up

(Aug. 26, 2006)

Even broken clocks are right twice a day
Mark the day on the calendar, because you aren't likely to see me write anything praising WalMart very often, but they did the right thing this week in dumping former civil rights activist, UN ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young as a spokesman after he made unbelievably racist comments. Essentially, Young said it was a good thing that WalMart was squeezing out all the so-called mom-and-pop operations because those little shops were selling shoddy merchandise to blacks and were run by Jews, Koreans and Arabs. Young should be ashamed of himself for such bigoted bullshit and WalMart was right to end its relationship with him. Unless this becomes massive headline news, (which it won't as long as there are 10-year-old murder cases involving blond six-year-olds to obsess over) Wingnuts will use this to complain that the left doesn't police its own. Of course if Rush had said it and Walmart had fired his ass, they would screech "political correctness" until the cows came home or the chickens came home to roost or whatever.

Teh funny
What the wingnuts see when they see the New York Times

When the levy breaks
This should help the White House, FEMA and Michael Brown restore their reputation to the lofty heights they deserve - Spike Lee has made a four-hour documentary on Hurricane Katrina. I can't imagine it will be anything but complimentary and understanding of the difficulties faced by White House in leading the response to the crisis. Bush will be wishing he'd used Michael Moore's 9/11 film as a campaign ad by the time this movie is over.