Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Let there be snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

T R E 4 5 O N

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You are here: Home / Music / It’s Always Shitty In Indianapolis

It’s Always Shitty In Indianapolis

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Just spent the night on the town with my fraternity brother from 20 years ago. Had a great night, spent a lot of time listening to music from the 80’s (echo and the bunnymen, the hoodoo gurus, tears for fears, julian cope, romeo void, etc.), and now am off to bed. Been listening to a lot of the Stranglers the last month or so for reasons I can not explain (I just got the urge to listen and so it happened), so I will leave you with this:

Good song.

Reader Interactions

68Comments

  3. 3.

    Suzanne

    Because Spawn the Younger has been sick and I have a deadline, I have to go to work tomorrow. This sucks ass. I suppose being a trophy wife would have been a better career move. WTF was I thinking marrying an enlightened, egalitarian male.

    Anyone heard from Gex?

  4. 4.

    sharl

    Oooh, Golden Brown is one of my favorite earworms!

    @Warren: NOT TRUE! It’s about toast… the international transport of properly prepared, tasty toast. I read that in YouTube comments, so it’s guaranteed Truth!

  5. 5.

    sharl

    @Suzanne: She popped in here earlier today. No change in status for Kate; everyone’s apparently now in that awful, gray waiting period.

    She did leave this Facebook link though, and someone left this Give Forward link (which already exceeded its goal some time ago).

    It looks like Gex has lots more company now, in terms of folks being around Kate, so there is that.

  7. 7.

    Alison

    God, I hate when the way you’re feeling/thinking makes you feel like a total asshole. I find myself really wishing I could call/IM with my best friend because I’m in major need of a big FEELINGS-VENT, but he’s visiting his grandfather who is dying, so obviously I don’t want to bug him. But even the fact that I thought “Damn, I wish I could talk to him” made me feel like a total jerk. I hope I’m not.

  9. 9.

    ? Martin

    God, I love that photo on the front of CNN of the folks running away from the gun show. Such brave, bad-ass gun owners, fleeing for their lives – one laying on the ground. If any of these assholes ever found themselves in their fantasy scenarios, they’d all shit their pants before they could ever find the trigger.

    Guns don’t replace courage.

  13. 13.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    Fuck the Toronto Maple Leafs won their season opener…interesting to note that since the NHL season is starting on MLK Jr holiday weekend, the last time the Leafs even played in the Stanley Cup Finals, MLK Jr was still alive.

  15. 15.

    Bob In Portland

    Always liked The Stranglers’ cover of “Walk On By”. And my favorite heroin song was “Another Girl, Another Planet” by The Only Ones.

    And don’t the Replacements get any respect in this joint?

  16. 16.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bob In Portland: The ‘Mats get plenty of respect by the right people. Does this help?

    Oh yeah, Husker Du is fine, but they never matched what the ‘Mats could do on a good night.

  21. 21.

    TG Chicago

    Funny, a cover of the Stranglers’ “(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)” came up on a playlist as I was cleaning this evening.

    In other news, I quite like Drive Like Jehu’s song called “Golden Brown”. I don’t think it’s about heroin or a girl.

    “I ain’t burned I’m / golden brown”

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    I got my first direct benefit from PPACA today — I refilled my BCP prescription at CVS and paid zero dollars as my co-pay. It was kind of disorienting, actually.

  25. 25.

    ? Martin

    @Mnemosyne:

    I refilled my BCP prescription at CVS and paid zero dollars as my co-pay. It was kind of disorienting, actually.

    Tyranny can feel like that.

  27. 27.

    Joey Maloney

    If you think Indy sucks now, you should’ve seen it in the mid-70s when I was in HS there. Horrible fucking place to grow up. Only place I’ve ever been where the Rocky Horror Picture Show audience was drowned out by screams of “kill the faggot!”

  28. 28.

    Joey Maloney

    FYWP. To repeat, redacted:

    If you think Indy sucks now, you should’ve seen it in the mid-70s when I was in HS there. Horrible fucking place to grow up. Only place I’ve ever been where the Rocky Horror Picture Show audience was drowned out by screams of “kill the [archaic-term-for-a-bundle-of-sticks]!”

  29. 29.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Tomolitics:

    80s were not all bad

    Since when were they supposed to be bad? Although things did trail off badly after about 1984.

    I saw the Stranglers in Sydney at the old Hordern Pavilion in 1985.

    The audience kept calling out for Golden Brown and the band kept yelling back “Fuck Golden Brown”.

    Eventually the audience started to spit at the band and then the band started to gob back.

    All in all, it was a fine night.

  30. 30.

    emma

    Sentinel lymph node biopsy came up clean. So..

    YEAH!!!!!

    But unlike the lumpectomy this sucker really hurts. So I am awake at an ungodly hour considering another pill.

  32. 32.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Lots of dissing of us Hoosiers goin’ on around this blog.

    Let me just point out that Indy is one of the more liveable large cities in America. It has wonderful art museums, history museums, a first rate children’s museum, and hosts the national offices of the NCAA. It is home of the Indy 500 race at Speedway. And in the middle of the oval is a museum with cars from the entire history of the race, including the one with the first review mirror. I don’t go the race, but I have been to carb day every year for the past five or six years, to watch the final practice, and enjoy the hoopla. Had a pit pass every time, and have quite a nice archive of photos, including up close shots of the winners a couple of years, taken standing with my toes an inch from the line that keeps me out of their pit area while they are being prepped for the final hour of practice.

    The downtown area has been kept vital, the government complex is beautifully architected, and to the west of that complex new development has been carefully controlled, making walking along the canal and around the buildings all the way to the river quit a joy.

    There is always something negative to be said about any place. Just get me started about my home town, Birmingham, Alabama, which has essentially withered and died over the past fifty years.

    But I felt compelled to say a few positive words.

    And besides, as someone pointed out, John is from West Virginian. Jeeze, people, going to Indy for him is like going to Paris, France!

    SO, if John has some time to tour around, there is really a lot to see.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suzanne:
    @sharl:

    Kate died at 2:14 this morning, according to the Facebook page. She was clearly much loved. Condolences to Gex, and may Kate RIP.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Saw that. Picture of Kate a few entries down (re benefit performance). She looked like someone you would enjoy knowing.

    Too young.

    Thinking of Gex and friends and family.

  41. 41.

    LGRooney

    I recently lamented to my wife that all pop songs were not written by Ian McCullloch and Will Sargeant. Of course, Roland Orzabal (TFF) is another one from the 80s who was/is tremendously underrated for his songwriting, musical composition and as a musician. RO knew what the bell he was doing with the strings.

  43. 43.

    Maude

    @emma:
    #30 SO glad it was clean. Always take the pill unless it’s before the time. For that bit of advice, I’ll send a bill.
    It’s just that pain escalates.

  45. 45.

    sal

    Saw the Stranglers in East Lansing back in the day. A half dozen or so women were outside the club protesting, not being fans of the song ‘Peaches’. When the band was leaving, two of the women followed them onto their tour bus to yell at them some more. The band told the driver to head on out for the next stop. They let the women out at Grand Ledge, about 20 miles away. The women tried to have the band charged with kidnapping, but the prosecutor said hey, you got on the bus, and no charges filed. Great band.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    My parents were Hoosiers, and the best thing they ever did for us was to relocate.

    At a family reunion, I remember the sad faces on my younger cousins as they discussed how Fort Wayne, IN had recently been selected as the least intelligent city in the US. (Men’s Health Magazine, about 2005; Newark NJ, Laredo TX and Las Vegas left Fort Wayne in their dust.)

    Them that had jobs seemed to be working in Ohio.

  48. 48.

    danielx

    @HeartlandLiberal:

    We deserve some dissing in general, since we elected Evan Bayh (twice), Mitch Daniels (twice) and have now upped the ante by electing Mike Pence, who’s so dumb he ought to be watered twice a day. His nickname ought to be Legume; his ignorance is so obvious it glows in the dark.

    @Punchy:

    Like every state, it does have portions that are akin to a third world country. (Get Cole started on West Virginia some time.) Equally, it has portions that are very nice…the main problem here is that the state’s economy is, or I should say was, based on heavy manufacturing – cars, appliances, you name it. The manufacturing jobs went away, most of the people didn’t, and a lot of them are still wondering what they’re going to do.

    One does not get elected or re-elected by telling your constituents that their best economic alternative would be to move elsewhere, so state pols are still lying their asses off about a manufacturing renaissance. No jobs in the small to medium sized towns and cities that used to assemble autos, manufacture components, etc, hence a serious rise in meth manufacture, substance abuse and other fun pursuits…

    But if you think Indiana is akin to the third world, you haven’t spent much time in the third world. There are areas that are poor, giving rise to wonderful jokes like “Every Indiana girl’s dream: a double wide in Gas City”…got to look for the upside where you can find it.

  51. 51.

    mir13

    Someone say wankah? Come on, isn’t anyone gonna own up?

    Live X-cert is still an exceptional LP. They also used to catch hell ‘cos they could actually play, so they had to be extra belligerent to deflect attention away from that.

    Ah, punk rock. We barely knew ye.

  54. 54.

    cincyanon

    The Beatles influence is so strong it’s almost like Paul McCartney and George Harrison started a band after the break up and came up with “Golden Brown.”

  55. 55.

    mir13

    @Thlayli: Don’t forget “I’m Waiting For The Man” by The Velvet Underground. ‘Cos you know, sometimes it’s more about the journey than the destination.

  59. 59.

    PLH ~ NYC

    @Tim in SF: Actually, what happens is that there is a bar of 4/4 thrown in after 3 bars of 3/4. I’m trying to learn the finger-style version I posted above.

  61. 61.

    FlyingToaster

    Indianoplace was never my favorite spot; it was the closest major airport to Bloomington, where I did my time.

    If you’ve ever read “Across Five Aprils”, the observation about the Indiana landscape is true; about 15 miles or so south of Indy the glaciers stopped, and you have hills and rivers and scenery and lakes and stuff. Otherwise, its flat and filled with corn.

    For single grownups in Indy outside of race season, it’s not easy to find out what’s going on. I did my google-fu, even remembering some of the places I should be looking, and still could only find cheerleading competitions and gun shows.

  62. 62.

    Citizen_X

    @John Cole:

    Golden Brown is about not just heroin, but a girl.

    The Committee for Layered Meaning thanks you.

    It’s always a good time for the Stranglers.

  65. 65.

    The Sailor

    I grew up in Indiana on the line where the glacier stopped. (Basically, SR 44.)
    From there north it’s so flat you can almost see Chicago sky scrapers (you can literally see Indy buildings 50 miles away), and from there south it gets hillier and hillier with beautiful scenery.

    Bloomington is an oasis of sanity in a sea of ignorance.

    Mr. Brownstone by GNR is a pretty good heroin song.

  66. 66.

    Chris

    I will forever love Bloomington and IU.

    Also, the Hoodoo Gurus at the Cabaret Metro on Clark near Wrigley, in Chicag, back in the day. Hell yeah.

  68. 68.

    sharl

    Thanks (again) for imbedding Golden Brown, Mr. Cole! Until I find my old Stranglers CD, I can listen to this here, where it’s free of ads, rather than YouTube, where they start off with a damn ad with EVERY PLAY. I’m gonna leave this here post on a separate tab, at least until the next time I crash my browser!

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