Ska Christian band, Sonseed, performs “Jesus is my Friend”.

Sonseed would be the perfect opening band for Spinal Tap.

A Space In Time

Well here we go..a welcome change of pace from the Political Non-Sense..of recent days.

Taj Mahal from 1968..with his insane band..

Jesse Ed Davis on guitar..Carl Radle on bass..and I believe..Chuck Blackwell holding down the drum..just barely.

Can’t say enough about Taj..look at his discography over 40 years and you will see a truly startling diversity and commitment ..from this group..to Natural Blues..to Ali Farke Toure.. and beyond..he’s been the Main Man.

This is from the era of the Rolling Stones “Rock and Roll Circus” video..a must see..

but this clip is from the States somewhere..and just dig the tribute to Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” throughout the song..and Jesse’s riffs’..

I really loved Taj bursting in before the guitar solo with a Howling Wolf growl..
“if you can’t get a wife..
get a bear..”.

( personally, I think Captain Beefheart heard the same thing somewhere..and it showed up on “Wild Life’..on Trout Mask Replica..).

In any case..great energy..listen,enjoy, and go surfing.

An especially good use of “going to the tape” occurred last night on the Daily Show, cutting straight through the unholy amount of BS currently being lobbed on the airwaves. Do the network and 24-hr news channels even have a TiVO?

If you want some great commentary about the Republican convention, I highly recommend reading Matt Stoller over at OpenLeft.  He’s on the ground in St. Paul and has been putting together some great pieces.  For example, here’s him describing the “Security Theater”  of the police state in St. Paul…

The soundtrack of this convention so far is helicopter noise, kind of like the final scenes in Goodfellas.  Amy Goodman has apparently been arrested (video is here), and the police are detaining lawyers and medics as well as people doing actual property damage…

The city is on ridiculous lockdown, with humvees in the streets, officers patrolling with shotguns and machine guns, and the national guard out.  I expected Harrington to announce that he has not yet ascertained the identity of the Batman but that he is working hard and the city of Gotham is safe.  Video soon, and a full set of pictures is here.

New site in the works.

Did you hear this..?
no, I didn’t either..had to search it out.

as stated before..
on a level playing field..
my choice for President.

Mr. Kucinich.

[UPDATE] (from Jacob)

First off, RIGHT ON Dennis. Secondly… John Kerry’s speech needs to be highlighted as well. It was without a doubt the best speech of Wednesday night, if not the whole convention. While most of the network channels cut away after Clinton spoke, presumably so more heads could talk at a camera obnoxiously loud, trusty ‘ol PBS and C-Span stuck with the podium and gave us Kerry.

I still can’t believe this guy lost to Bush.

Last weekend saw Golden Gate Park transform into another one of those 3-day music mecca happenings. Outside Lands was comparable to Coachella… if a bit colder, less sunny, and attended by a generally tame (re: older) populace. All things considered, for a first time event it went off very well I thought. They made good use of the space (though Beck on a side stage was near disaster), set times came and went with Swiss precision, and who can argue with Radiohead christening the park as the first ever nighttime performance?

We worked the water/gatorade stations again as a means for free entrance, but of the acts I did get to catch, highlights included:

*Radiohead playing through major technical difficulties as only such professionals could.
*Nels Cline’s guitar fireworks with Wilco as they closed the weekend on the Twin Peaks stage.
*The Walkmen and Rogue Wave’s “fully solar powered” sets.
*Toots & the Maytals, M Ward, Broken Social Scene all putting big smiles on the crowd.

But once again, stealing the festival for me was Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings giving the tightest, funnest, most crowd-pleasing set of the entire weekend. The audience participation alone, with Miss Jones bringing up and serenading on stage a few goofy concert goers, is enough to win over even the coldest of hearts. Click below the jump for a couple videos of Sharon & the Kings getting down to business, as well as more pictures.
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USA, USA, USA

If you’ve never seen Air Guitar Nation, I highly recommend it. It’s hard to believe that it’s real, but these guys are serious. (via boingboing)

It is time for an Olympic update.

8 gold medals… Phelps himself admitted that everything had to fall perfectly in place to achieve this unimaginable feat. Everything, excluding his goggle problem in the 200 butterfly, did fall perfectly in place. Winning the 100 fly by 0.01 and great last relay legs by teammate Lezak in both 400m freestyle and 400 medley provided Phelps with those perfect conditions necessary to move ahead of Spitz in the record books. As demonstrated through a segment by NBC on the unusual size, shape and proportions of Phelps’ body, he is a man designed to excel at this sport. 

Now there is Usain Bolt…

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