Motor Primitives in Austin, TX

>>> It's official! <<<

The Motor Primitives will be playing Austin, TX during the SXSW 2009 Music Convention at a Red Gorilla event sponsored by Broadjam.com on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 6:00 P.M. at the Blind Pig.

Uff da, that was a mouthful. I hope it made sense. Anyway, if you or anyone you know is going to be at SXSW '09 (South by Southwest), plan on being at The Blind Pig on Friday, 3/20/09 from 6:00 - 7:00. All Red Gorilla events, including this one, are free to the public.

We'll probably play this song:

A sign of the times.

Recently seen in our yard.

An anonymous art critic wrote "... clearly represents the elusive and fleeting nature of peace in a violent world..."

Another claimed "... signifies the artist's internal conflict over his/her latent Homosexual and Oedipal tendencies, while also drawing attention to the artist's fear of fluffy bunnies..."

A third said "... Dang! It's freaking cold out! Gods, I hate snow! When is spring going to come? I hope those stupid groundhogs were wrong! Hurry up and take the stupid picture! ..."

I just thought it was a cool picture. What do you think?

A tip o' the hat to Pagan Sphinx for her "Shadow Shot Sunday" blog posts, which have inspired me to pay more attention to shadows.

Stimulus, anyone?

Okay, all you Republicans, tell me why you oppose President Obama's stimulus plan. He's already compromised more than I think he should, given the fact that he won the election (had it gone the other way, the Republicans would have called that a mandate) and the Democrats have a majority in both the house and the senate. You say you want more tax cuts. Who will benefit from your tax cuts? Certainly not the unemployed. What is wrong with spending on programs that will not only create jobs, but will also result in services that benefit the country? I just don't understand what the problem is. Spending on infrastructure will have the dual benefit of creating jobs, which will then result in taxable income, and providing the country with much needed services. Tax cuts will not help the unemployed. The nation needs increased spending on infrastructure, which will create jobs and provide needed services, and all you Republicans are voting against it because the plan doesn't include enough tax cuts. Are you people morons, or what?

President Obama has said that we all need to work hard and sacrifice to get through this crisis. I say that the middle class and the working class have been sacrificing for decades, and the people who have benefitted from their sacrifice have been the wealthy. It's time for the wealthy to sacrifice a little. Or maybe a lot. Or maybe a whole lot. I'm so sick of the way it has been working. "Bail me out and screw the middle and working classes!" It's the American Way. I, for one, would find it very refreshing if President Obama told the Republicans to go to hell, that he is going to do what is right for the people, not what will benefit the wealthy. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice.

Appliances-SFB: Washed Up

Next up from the Appliances-SFB video archives is "Washed Up". For any music geeks reading this, in this song we get a little fancy-shmancy with a meter of 5/4 for most of the song and switch to a sort of swung 4/4 during the choruses. I always found this song to be a lot of fun to play.

Some of you readers have commented that I don't need to make excuses for the audio quality. Okay, I hear you. I guess I just wanted to make it clear that this is an old recording and I did the best that I could with the source material. In my opinion, the bass is mixed a bit too loud relative to the other instruments and the keyboard and guitar not loud enough, and this is not my doing. This is just the way the show was mixed when it was taped how ever many years ago it was. I wouldn't want anyone to think that because I was the bass player I made it louder than everything else. So. Enough of that. I won't mention it ever again. Happy?

Washed Up...

Tales of the Coffee Man

The school where Ms. Geranium teaches, which also happens to be our neighborhood school (both of our kids went there), does a monthly coffee fundraiser. Basically, parents, teachers and anyone else who wants to can order coffee from Just Coffee™, a local organic, fairtrade coffee wholesaler. The school gets to keep a percentage of the sales and people get to help the school by buying something they would probably be buying anyway. It's more or less a win-win situation. The only catch is that a) someone has to organize the whole thing (that would be Ms. Geranium) and, b) someone has to pick up the order, divide it up and deliver it to the appropriate places, mostly classrooms. That job usually falls on me, in large part because if I don't do it, Ms. Geranium will have to and she actually has a job. Even before I joined the ranks of the unemployed, I would usually take an extended lunch break to make the delivery, but now that I'm not working, it's that much easier.

Today was delivery day. I enter the school, sign in and start my rounds. Of course, first stop is Ms. Geranium's room, partly because it pleases me to begin and end at her room and use it as a base station for my operation, but also because many people don't fill in the "Your Child's Room Number" part of the form, and I can ask her "what room is Bizktrygdslynka Qlakwiczpgglfggl in?" (Many parents don't seem to have the knowin' of the writin' good these days.) I also enjoy saying hello to the kids in the school, some of whom were once in Ms. Geranium's kindergarten or first grade class and are now fifth graders. It's also nice to see the members of the staff who I may know as former teachers of my kids, or, in the case of one teacher, is a former band-mate of mine. The kids always greet me enthusiastically -- "Hi, Mr. Ed" or "Hi, Coffee Man." Sometimes they all crowd around saying "I like coffee! Can I have some coffee?" or "Are you Ms. G.'s husband?" Once (and I'm sure this made Ms. Geranium feel quite good) a kid asked "Is she your mom?"


As I was arriving with the coffee, one of Ms. G.'s kids ran up and said "I made a picture for you!" On the right, there is a tree with a monkey in it. To the left, there is a crocodile with a fox riding on its back. The fox is carrying bananas on its back and a book in its mouth. It all has something to do with a story about how the fox and the monkey somehow tricked the crocodile into carrying the fox somewhere to get bananas for the monkey. I suspect the crocodile probably intended to eat the fox and/or monkey, but that's pure speculation on my part. Anyway, I was quite touched.

One of the positive aspects of being un- or under-employed has been the opportunity to be a part of the school community, if only in a very small way. I always get a kick out of it.

Appliances-SFB: Mr. Ugly

This one was probably one of our most popular songs. What more is there to say? Call me Mr. Ugly...

End of an era?

Hard to believe, but he's finally gone. Hopefully the next time I post about the little criminal, he'll be on trial for war crimes, treason, etc., etc., but right now I just need to say one last thing about Li'l Criminal Bush.

For quite a while, as Bush approached the end of his term, people were continuously writing and talking about his "failed" administration. Those people who think he was a failure are fooling themselves, or just not paying attention. The problem is with the basic premise that Bush actually wanted the wars to end, or that at he wanted what was best for the country. The truth is, he never gave a rat's posterior for anything or anyone besides himself and his cronies. Failure? Anything but. The only thing I can think of that he failed at was privatizing Social Security. He succeeded at everything else he put his hand to, thanks, in part, to the complicity and cowardice of the Democratic Party. Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan? Endless war equals endless profits for Halliburton, Blackwater, KBR, the Carlyle Group and more. What incentive is there to end the wars when he, his daddy, Dick Cheney and their pals will continue to rake in the cash as long as we're pouring tax dollars into war. He succeeded in raping the Constitution and giving more power to Corporate America. He succeeded in diverting the wealth of the nation to the ultra-rich at the expense of the middle and working classes. Bailout of the banking system? The largest theft in U.S. history. A shrinking middle class and broken economy is yet another opportunity to consolidate power and wealth. The list goes on and on, and I haven't even mentioned the thousands upon thousands of innocent people he has killed or the lives he has destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everything he has done in his time as president has given huge sums of money and more power to the wealthiest at the expense of the nation as a whole. Failure? I really don't think so. I bet he's feeling pretty good about his accomplishments right now.

Many people are puzzled by the lack of pardons at the end of his administration. I figure it could be due to one or both of the following:

a) He doesn't feel he owes anyone anything and they can all go to hell for all he cares. Feed 'em to the sharks!

b) Remember those signing statements of which he was so fond? Maybe he doesn't need to pardon anyone; they're all going to be protected by some some act or other that he snuck in while everyone was paying attention to the search for WMD, trying to buy duct tape for their windows, or something.

I have a feeling that we won't know the full extent of the damage he's done for years to come, if ever.

I am now removing this photo from my sidebar. I don't ever want to see the fucker's face again unless it's at his trial.