The state is one of two in the country where the Google Arts and Culture app’s selfie feature — which matches users’ uploaded selfies with portraits or faces in works of art — is not available. Google won’t say why, but it’s likely because Illinois has one of the nation’s strictest laws on the use of biometrics, which include facial, fingerprint, and iris scans.
So in lieu of an art selfie, I will post a face-match I noticed myself a few years ago. I swear, I didn’t used to look like Michael Stipe, and he didn’t look like me. Somehow, in the intervening years, we converged. Maybe white guys lose all distinguishing facial characteristics as they age? (I’ll let you know.)
- This song is okay, but a little limp. Not much here.
- Why is this song still in my head after a couple of days?
- Wait, this is a really good song!
- Buy album
This cycle took me up through Document, their fifth album, after which I lost interest. You hardly needed to buy a record to hear R.E.M. anyway; they were all over the radio. I remember Stipe’s impenetrable lyrics angered me as a young songwriter. Now I like them. It’s funny how one’s tastes migrate over time. Young people get peevish over stupid shit. R.E.M. officially broke up in 2011. Reflecting on them now, I have to say I really miss their autumnal, Byrdsian guitars and madrigal-like vocal interplay. Nothing stays the same, though. Including not resembling Michael Stipe.
It’s hard to pick a favorite out of so many good songs. My band Constant Velocity, in an early incarnation that included a fiddle player, covered “Fall on Me” on the radio valiantly but badly live on the radio in Champaign back in the ’90s. Cuyahoga and Don’t Go Back to Rockville are hard to argue with. R.E.M.’s cover of Wire’s Strange is a very interesting departure from the chord jangling folk-rock for which they were celebrated. A nice, straight ahead riff-rocker which brings something different (Fats Domino? Jerry Lee Lewis?) to the original. It’s great when a band bridles against its own type-casting and pulls it off.
Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.
brendancalling
I was never an REM fan, but I have to give them props: Peter Buck was (and remains) a great supporter of the criminally under-appreciated The Fleshtones, and produced their 1993 album Beautiful Light.
And BTW, if you don’t know the Fleshtones… well, that’s expected.
buckguy
It’s pretty unlikely. The last Dems to win statewide races generally were very conservative. the immigrant populations are too new to vote in significant numbers. The kind of people attracted to the “New South” often are quite conservative. the level of corruption and the low standards for candidates in both parties is pretty dismaying. Atlanta fails to live up to its rep–basically very feudalistic and quite racist. I was never so happy as when I left.
BruceFromOhio
I was fortunate to see R.E.M. at an outdoor venue on a lovely summer evening on what eventually became their last show in my neck o’ the woods. They were simply marvelous, with such splendid showmanship and a playlist drawn from a catalogue that spanned generations. We sat on the lawn in the clouds of pot smoke under the stars and just had a great time.
Major Major Major Major
Google doesn’t actually do anything with the face scans though, from my reading of the TOS. At any rate, there aren’t any paintings that look like me, but there’s one that totally nailed it for a friend of mine.
Tom Hamill
Begin the Begin, the first song from Document, may have the best opening guitar lick ever on an album.
Tom Hamill
@Tom Hamill: whoops, that was from Document.
Major Major Major Major
The Decemberists basically made an R.E.M. album if you haven’t checked it out.
Doug!
I really wanted to like REM when I lived in Athens. I saw them at dinner probably 10 times (there was only one good restaurant there at the time), and one of my friends worked for them. But I don’t like many of their songs after their first few albums that much.
patroclus
Speaking of Illinois, our gubernatorial race is really heating up for the right to demolish Bruce Rauner this fall. There are 6 candidates in the Dem primary but the leading three are J.B. Pritzker, Christopher Kennedy and Daniel Biss. Pritzker has been running TV ads for nearly a year and is probably ahead just on that name recognition (and his family is well known in Chicago as billionaire philanthropists/hotel owners etc…). But Kennedy already has name recognition galore (son of Bobby, business leader of the Kennedy family, former President of the Merchandise Mart) and has been laying back. I’m for Daniel Biss (although anybody would be better than Rauner) – he’s the North Shore “progressive” candidate, is already a state Senator, was in the State House and is campaigning as the “middle class” candidate because his opponents are so wealthy. The primary is late March – expect to hear more about it.
PVDMichael
One of the best things about REM is that they are/were prolific live performers. In addition to their own magical music, they enjoy throwing experimental songs and totally rando covers into their sets. It’s a lot of fun (or deeply unsettling) to hear/see their take on “I Will Survive” or the theme to “the Barney Miller show”.
It’s not an REM production, per se, but one of my favorite songs of all time is Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant (from 10000 Maniacs) teaming up to cover “To Sir With Love”.
? Martin
Ah, but here’s the real question: If Jewish Steel is in the room with you and you’re having sex with a woman, are you bisexual?
Oh, and from white people twitter – Frog on a Spoon
? Martin
@PVDMichael: That’s my wife’s favorite as well.
JohnO
@patroclus:
Biss will get my primary vote. Not sure how and why IL D’s seem to have settled on Pritzker, but if I can avoid voting for rich people the rest of my life I will.
Of course [insert D here] in the general.
There was a day over the course of my lifetime during which Rauner would’ve had a big future in GOP politics…he’s good at the wolf in sheep’s clothing thing, but my understanding is that R’s aren’t very fond of him either because he has a tiny bit of soul.
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: that’s nothing compared to how you weigh owls.
Doug!
Also, living in Athens I hear this story “It’s funny, I was at X and a homeless guy walked in…” that I knew to finish with “And it was Michael Stipe.”
rikyrah
@patroclus:
Rauner’s gotta go!!
Jewish Steel
@patroclus:
@JohnO: Daniel Biss will be knocking doors next weekend with a local candidate whose campaign my wife is managing. What a good guy! Team Biss!
Matt McIrvin
R.E.M.’s lyrics seemed to get both more audible and more comprehensible over time, but past a certain point it made their songs less interesting. I think I liked their middle period best.
satby
@JohnO: Rauner has been a disaster as governor. I’m somewhat neutral in the primary but a friend was at an early candidates forum recently and he came away disappointed in Bliss, who he supports. He said Bliss seemed a bit unready and stumbled through a few answers. This friend was a major wilmerite, so that makes me even less favorably inclined to Bliss. “No matter who, vote blue” definitely the case here.
Jewish Steel
@Doug!: I was in a band with a guy who sounded just like him. I think that accounts for 50% of my affection for the band.
@brendancalling: They brought Camper Van Beethoven to light nationally by touring with them. For that alone I am grateful to R.E.M.
dww44
@buckguy: So, how long since you left? As life long resident, I see signs of change on the horizon. If, by some miracle, we elect a woman governor, you will know that things have changed.
If that doesn’t happen, we’ve got a white male Democrat running for Secretary of State. Name of John Barrow and was a former US Congressman until the GOP legislature redrew his district enough times to make him ineligible and/or voted out. The latter happened and he could use some Act Blue support. Getting a Democrat into the statewide seat would represent a major plus for us.
Doug R
R.E.M. was one of the few bands played by EVERY rock station, college to commercial.
catclub
1. without the glasses, I don’t think there is much similarity.
One nose is much more bulbous.
2. Cool paisley shirt, though.
Jewish Steel
@Doug R: True! That is why I find it hard to form an opinion of them that is not ensnared in nostalgia. R.E.M was everywhere for 10+ very formative years of my life.
Jewish Steel
@catclub: A Christmas present from my wife! I got a bunch of them. I dress like it is 1971.
ruemara
I won’t use the app, I’m a Google fangirl and I don’t like it when their AI tags people from my photos and automatically connects to their account. Giving them bioinformatics willingly seems silly.
eemom
Recall that in 2015, Dump and Cruz played End of the World As We Know It at some event they did together, and Stipe fired back: “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
Good times.
cleek
well shit, now i have to rework the avatar my brain cooked up for you.
REM was great, then OK, then PleaseStop
JohnO
@satby: I’m not at all concerned about Biss’ public presentation just yet.
I’m sure Pritzker and Kennedy are better on TV and in front of crowds in general.
Most of the people *I* know get nervous in those situations, and it’s an easy thing to overcome with practice. I don’t see much space between actual policy positions of the D candidates, so for me it’s all about casting a (so-called) “regular guy” vote in the primary.
delk
hmmm… I’m eating an Italian Beef as I read this. Not a very good one either, maybe a C+. Oh well, it was convenient.
Wild Cat
@brendancalling: REM’s first album was great, but for me, their success helped Buck bring The Feelies back to the studio and stage.
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: agree on both counts.
@ruemara: “google won’t use data from your photo for any purpose and will only store your photo for the time it takes to search for matches”, according to the app. They’re probably just choosing to remain litigation free in the states and countries where it could theoretically be an issue, since this isn’t well-understood legal territory.
clay
What’s wrong with all of you people? Lukewarm on R.E.M.? Unconscionable!
They are an all-time great, and while they may have lost a step when Bill Berry retired, it was only a small step.
DougJ
@brendancalling:
Buck is a big Big Star guy too
(((CassandraLeo)))
@eemom: They’ve always been solid liberals AFAIK. They’re almost inaudible, but go read the lyrics to “Ignoreland” sometime. (Note: quite a bit of profanity here.)
I think my favourite R.E.M. album is either Automatic for the People or one of the first two.
And Georgia will probably be a purple state within ten years at most.
Jeffro
I’m the only person I know who really likes MONSTER.
gbear
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, after I got rid of my longish hair, I always used to have people coming up to me after sets and saying “You look just like the drummer from Cheap Trick!!”, to the point where Bob Stinson and Chris Mars or Tommy Stinson (I can’t remember which one. I don’t remember much at all from that night at the St. Croix Boom Company in Stillwater MN) from The Replacements ran up on the stage right after our set to tell me that. Radio DJs would mention it. I finally grew a beard so that I wouldn’t look like him any more, and then he grew a beard, so I still look like Bun E. Carlos.
patroclus
@JohnO: There have been at least some differences on issues. Biss, a mathematician, has taken a very strong position on there being no essential difference between the study of vector bundles and matroid bundles. In my view, neither Pritzker nor Kennedy have taken a position on this important distinction and my guess is that they don’t have a clue about what Biss is saying.
trollhattan
My phone backs up to Google Photos and I keep a smattering of other shots there, too. It/they auto-create collages, albums, date-specific slide shows and whatnot, beginning a couple years ago. They blew my mind about a month back offering up a movie about my dog sourced a from year’s worth of stills and videos and adding titles and a music soundtrack. Day-umn.
Jewish Steel
@cleek:
hahaha. That is perfect.
@JohnO: I saw him speak at a local dinner last year. He was pretty smooth. Somewhat Obama-like in his delivery. Professorial. I thought at the time he should run for something bigger. He did.
HeleninEire
WTF?
Johnnybuck
@Tom Hamill: Life’s rich Pageant, the best REM album.
clay
@Jeffro: Not the only person, no.
But my favorite* is New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Surprisingly eclectic for a band that far into their career.
*That’s for the Warner Bros. years. My favorite for the IRS years is Lifes Rich Pageant.
James E. Powell
@Tom Hamill:
Sorry, that would be Whole Lotta Love.
Roger Moore
@ruemara:
ITYM biometrics, not bioinformatics. That said, there are real advantages to taking advantage of their biometrics. I find it very helpful when Google can automatically recognize the people in my photos, even when their ability to do so starts to get eerie*. Maybe it’s because they don’t seem to try to inform other people when they’ve been tagged.
I personally think the fears of a gigantic biometric database are greatly overblown. It’s impressive that Google can tag people in photos with reasonable accuracy, but that’s because they can depend on a whole bunch of additional context beyond the facial appearance. They know the same people are likely to show up in my photos again and again because I hang out with the same people. That massively restricts their search space. If they had just a head shot of somebody devoid of any other context, they would have a much, much harder time figuring out who it is correctly. There are just too many people who look similar enough to be confused in pictures.
*I was very surprised when Google correctly tagged a photo of my niece at age 6 or 7 even though all the other photos of her I tagged were when she was 8+ years older.
Eric S.
@JohnO: This is the direction I’m leaning a well. Bliss in the primary, _____-D in the general.
Jewish Steel
@Johnnybuck: That’s my favorite too.
Let’s also give Stipe some credit for “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?” A song based on an assault of Dan Rather is maybe the strangest mainstream song we are likely to see.
raven
The stories I could tell you. (A Chicago boy living in Athens for 34 years).
raven
Here’s the fellas doing a promo fo them Dawgs! Stipe doesn’t much care but Mills is a big sports guy.
Shana
@Jeffro: You’re not the only one. I like Monster a lot too.
REM and I grew up at the same time. I’m about the same age as they all are and their music just fit with my life and attitudes so well. They’re really my favorite band.
I think what made them so relevant for so long was that they all stayed in Athens for so many years. They didn’t all move to LA or NYC so what they wrote about in their songs weren’t filtered through those places. Once Michael Stipe really started being the big city guy the lyrics stopped being interesting and that was what did it for me. While the music could still be good the lyrics stopped being relevant. Did we really need songs about teenage models? Or airports?
JohnO
@patroclus:
I know it’s weird but the fact that he’s a math guy comforts me. Math being the opposite of irrationality, except for those pesky irrational numbers themselves.
I’m about all filled up on irrationality.
If I were your benevolent dictator formal logic would be required curriculum material starting no later than Jr. high.
Shana
@raven: Feel free to share….
rikyrah
I will be using my air fryer for the first time this weekend. Any suggestions for crispy fried chicken?
James E. Powell
@Doug R:
Yeah, but that was only after Document with the hit single The One I Love came out. Before that it was college radio. I remember bringing the albums to parties when I was in law school because people had never heard of them. When the label “alternative” became common in the late 80s, it basically meant “bands you only hear on college radio.” Now it seems to include everyone who isn’t pop.
raven
@Shana: You know a lot of it is just regular people stuff. The family will come to my neighborhood eatery now and then and enjoy themselves without getting gawked at much. Not hassling Stipe is a big sport here to the point that I feel sorry for him at parties because he ends up sitting by himself. His mom is really nice and I regretted not ever talking to his dad before he died since we were in Vietnam at the same time. They do a lot for education in the area and are all around positive for the community.
No Drought No More
The musical era of my youth began with the British invasion, although I also remember the early ’60’s stuff courtesy of my older sister- that was her era. She came of age in Ike’s Administration and JFK’s Camelot, while I did in Ho Chi Minh’s America. Anyway, I like that REM song. It puts me in mind of the early sound of The Who, in fact.. I suppose that’s what happens as people age: everything and everyone begins to remind a person of something, or someone, they knew once before.
JohnO
@Jewish Steel:
That one, “Begin the Begin” and “Can’t Get There From Here” are still in my Turn It Up rotation, but the later stuff interested me less.
Gotta give the band props, though. They did good for themselves.
Cacti
REM is definitely one of the top 5 all-time bands…
From Athens, Georgia.
Jewish Steel
@James E. Powell: A totally skunked term by the ’90s. Everything was suddenly “alternative.” But if everything is alternative…
cleek
@brendancalling:
he’s also not below playing small clubs in support of musicians who aren’t multi-platinum successes.
http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=1497 , http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=5304
raven
The Boss and Stipe doing Man on the Moon is nice but Because the Night really does it.
raven
@Cacti: It’s warming up today!
tybee
@dww44: barrow used to be my congress critter but they gerrymandered him right out of office. took at least two tries and maybe three. used to see him on the streets downtown in savannah. good guy. would vote for him in a heartbeat.
raven
Billy Bragg, Michael Stipe and Natalie perform “Hello in There” by John Prine in Glasgow, a first concert stop before heading to the former Soviet Bloc just after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
raven
@tybee: He’s a fucking jerk.
mad citizen
Love this thread, REM, Camper van, feelies–all great! My best friend looked very much like Mike Mills in 1987 88, and weirdly dated a young lady in Bloomington whd also dated Mike Mills. We were backstage at Market Square Arena after the Orange tour show, and Mills and my friend shook hands. No one commented on the doppleganger aspect. They have since diverged in looks.
Roger Moore
@JohnO:
Irrational numbers aren’t irrational the way people think. It comes from “ratio” meaning fraction (i.e. numbers that can’t be expressed as fractions) not “ratio” meaning reason.
tybee
@Jeffro: +1
raven
@mad citizen: Saw Cracker last week here.
JohnO
@raven: Most excellent. Never saw that one before and have always loved that song.
Was dragged (British invasion guy at 18) to a Springsteen concert by my roommate in Champaign IL in 1979 before anyone knew who he was (Assembly Hall was curtained off and about 1/3 full) and by the time they finished with the Detroit Medley after 4 hours my dick was knocked in the dirt.
Saw him 5 straight times he came through after that, including a show at Soldier Field that my mom stood in line for to insure good seats. :-)
mad citizen
There used to be a great website/theory on how every white man eventually looks like Kenny Rogers.
tybee
@raven: nah, not my experience.
cleek
@delk:
few things are as disappointing as a bad roast beef sandwich. the baby jesus cries, when the beef is more gristle than meat.
JohnO
@Roger Moore:
I know…kind of an untalented math aficionado. Was OK at it. Loved this book even though well over my head.
raven
@JohnO: Yep. I lived there then and had no clue who he was either. Here’s a shot of Garcia and Weir there about that time (photo credit to Chef Ra).
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Jeffro: I love Monster. Also, there are some gems on New Adventures in Hi Fi.
Served
@JohnO: I’m leaning towards Pritzker right now because his campaign has been very well organized thus far, and it’s essentially a policy wash between him and Biss. Biss’s recovery from his running mate stumble is impressive, but he hasn’t convincingly execute “a different kind of campaign” like he is posturing as the middle class candidate.
Pritzker is ready to destroy Rauner in the campaign (it is very personal), and no matter who emerges from the Dem primary, it’s going to be a very ugly 10 months of campaigning. We need to take that office back, no matter what.
raven
@tybee: His ex is my pups Ophthalmologist and, as you know, he was on the city council for a long time before he became the last white congresscritter in the south. I’m glad you had positive experiences.
clay
@raven: I saw Springsteen and R.E.M. together on the Vote for Change tour in 2004. Probably my favorite show, ever. in addition to the highlights you mentioned, Nils Lofgren came out during R.E.M.’s set to play on “Country Feedback”.
Here you go!
catclub
@Jewish Steel:
It isn’t?
Jewish Steel
@raven: Great shot!
@mad citizen: You can see that is exactly the direction in which I am headed. Stipe too, for that matter.
JohnO
@Served:
I get it. Just sick of guys (they’re almost always guys) from Moneyville dominating politics, and once again I don’t care what kind of “campaign” he runs–that is all filtered eye-of-the-beholder-and-media stuff in the first place–I want a guy who knows what it is like to have to consider money as a factor in day-to-day life.
Money covers a lot of problems. I don’t think Rauner’s attack ads on Pritzker reveal Pritzker to be anything but a normal guy, but I don’t think a lot of voters are going to see it that way, for they are stupid and uninformed.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@JohnO: …is 1979 a typo? Born to Run was 1975 and it went to #3 on the Billboard charts. Pretty sure Springsteen was a household name by then.
raven
@clay: Awesome!
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: of course not, watergate wasn’t until 1972.
raven
@Jewish Steel: Wilson was a great photographer and it pains me that we can’t get access to his stuff. He died more than a decade ago and I think his sis has them. He not only did incredible band shots but his films were nuts (I was in some and haven see them in 40 years). A
HeleninEire
Watching my President, Barrack Obama on Netflix with Davis Letterman. My feelings are hurt. Glad I’m gone. Sorry.
wE HAVE POSSUM VISITORS
@Doug!: We used to hang out at The Globe and the Georgia Bar in the early 90’s. Michael Stipe was notoriously cheap, but Peter Buck was a down to earth guy who would do impromptu songs and just converse.
Served
@JohnO: Yeah we’re still in inside baseball mode. This Rauner porch scandal could end up being a doozy, too, but it’s not something to count on this far out.
I also would be in crawl over glass mode to vote for Biss to replace a retiring Durbin.
raven
@(((CassandraLeo))): Yea but people his age were less into him than younger folks. I didn’t really know who he or Petty was until the early 80’s I’m and old brit/soul/ San Francisco guy and that stuff was elsewhere.
Yutsano
@raven: Sheesh. The closest I get to any of this is Ben Stein almost ran me over with his bike in Santa Monica in 1997.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@HeleninEire: I still don’t think I’d be capable of watching that without crying, so I’ve held off for now. I’m sure it’s a fucking fantastic interview, though.
@raven: Ah, fair enough.
Jewish Steel
@catclub: It is in my closet. It’s funny, I think male musician fashion is kind of stuck in 2003. When I go play shows with my band, all the other chaps (they’re all chaps) wear drainpipes, black shirts, and combat boots. Maybe that’s because it’s downstate IL and, as a friend put it to me long ago, culture moves slowly down here.
raven
@wE HAVE POSSUM VISITORS: Ha, yea that’s him in the corner. So many of my friends worked the bar and bitched about how he’d take advantage. The alley outside the GA Bar was one insane place, probably one of the reasons I’ve been sober for 25+ years!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Jewish Steel: Buck also produced The Jayhawks latest album, Paging Mr. Proust – yes, the Jayhawks are still around and that album is excellent if you like their thing. Since Olsen left, the Jayhawks’ vocal harmonies have morphed from closer to Everly Brothers-esque to more Byrds-esque but they still put out quality music and are excellent live. Also the Jayhawks were chosen by Ray Davies (of The Kinks) to be his backing band on his latest album which must have been a total thrill, as Davies is true rock royalty.
I loved Camper Van Beethoven back in the day. They were very irreverent and zany…when did pop music lose its sense of humor? I still have my Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart concert tee. I only break it out on very special occasions these days. Saw REM on the Green tour and that is the only time I’ve ever seen them live. They were great. The Indigo Girls were the opening band – they hit it big shortly thereafter.
trollhattan
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Yeah, that and simultaneous Time and Newsweek on BTR’s release.
clay
@raven: The crowd went absolutely nuts.
I’m not an Athens long-termer like you, but I spent a good five years there — and indeed they were good. But I always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came to R.E.M. sightings. I did see the drummer and (then) bassist for Drive-By Truckers come into my workplace once! (I worked at the Barnes & Noble on Atlanta Hwy — in the music section, appropriately!)
SenyorDave
This is a BFD:
A top adviser for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign was allowed to keep his job after Clinton learned he had been accused of sexual harassment, The New York Times reports.
A 30-year-old staffer made a complaint at the time against Clinton’s faith adviser, Burns Strider. She said Strider had displayed inappropriate behavior: kissing her on the forehead, rubbing her shoulders and sending suggestive emails.
Hillary Clinton Reportedly Kept An Adviser Accused Of Sexual Harassment On The Payroll
Clinton’s campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, suggested to the candidate that Strider be removed from his position, sources told the Times. But he stayed, according to the report. He was docked pay for several weeks and ordered to attend counseling. The woman who made the complaint was moved to a different role.
Strider later went on to work for Correct the Record, an independent group that supported Clinton’s 2016 presidential run. He was fired months after he started that job amid accusations that he harassed a female aide, according to the Times.
So he went on to harass women afterwards. Assuming this is true she should be raked over the coals.
raven
@clay: It’s still open and I used to got there all the time! I once found one of the DTB’s dog in the Kroger parking lot on Super Sunday and tracked the dude down and got him back with his pup!
JohnO
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Might have been ’78 on further review, but I know for sure there were no more than 5-6K there because of the curtains, which remain a vivid memory because it turns out that was the only time I was ever in there when it was curtained off.
This was central IL in the ’70’s, and I grew up in central IL in the ’70’s, and believe me there is a cultural lag. Things didn’t get around quite as fast back then. It was the Darkness Tour for sure. My roommate had spent the last year with headphones on singing all the songs on “Born to Run” badly and loudly. LOL
That show remains the most surprising and great one of my life, and my first one was Zep at the old Stadium in ’77. :-)
Matt McIrvin
@mad citizen: Not unless Kenny Rogers wears a piece, which I suppose he may.
raven
@(((CassandraLeo))): Check the music on the Petty Live album, lot’s of Motown and British Invasion stuff.
trollhattan
@SenyorDave:
Would you like fries with that nothingburger?
Major Major Major Major
@SenyorDave: it doesn’t sound like a BFD to me, but I’m sure it will be treated as such, and don’t you worry, she’ll be raked over the coals regardless.
raven
@JohnO: Did you hang at the Record Service?
donnah
I’ve always loved REM; my ID at the WOXY (Bam! The Future of Rock and Roll!) chat board was REMGrrl.
I read once that when they first started touring, REM had a tour bus and the sign on the front of the bus that usually says the band name read “No one you know”.
Alain the site fixer
@rikyrah: let me know how that works! The day before my mom died, as I was shopping at the hardware store to prep for her return home the next day, I saw one and bought it (using her card) as a Christmas present for me from her. Little did I know that would be it forever. I haven’t made anything with it yet except frozen fries and they were quite good. And now I must go find a tissue.
rikyrah
More evidence @realDonaldTrump and his #GOP will lose an entire generation of Asian American voters who are freaked out by the racism and xenophobia that we are witnessing now. #FridayFeeling https://t.co/qQ0zc6rRAH
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 26, 2018
BREAKING: Judge rules that @ICEgov cannot summarily deport a group of 92 Cambodians. Many of our clients came to the U.S. in the 1970s as small children to escape the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. All of them have due process rights under the Constitution.
— ACLU (@ACLU) January 25, 2018
(((CassandraLeo)))
@clay: Lucky. The only “famous” person I met when I worked at B&N was Katherine Harris, and since I was still on the clock, I didn’t even get the pleasure of reaming her out over voting rights/the Bush dumpster fire of a presidency. Stephen King used to come in all the time but I never got to meet him. One of my former co-workers is now a published author with at least three books under her name, but not on the level of being a household name or anything.
clay
@raven: Yeah, we visited Athens a couple summers back, and stopped by the B&N. My old music manager still works there! (Jimmy Bryant, great guy.)
And, good Lord, living in Jacksonville, Florida… do I EVER miss Kroger!
raven
@Matt McIrvin: He lived in Athens too!
(((CassandraLeo)))
@JohnO: Springsteen evidently puts on one of the best shows in rock. Envious of those who saw him in his prime. I’m a bit too young to have done so.
@raven: Will have to do so, thanks. Definitely sad I’ll never see him live now.
JohnO
@raven:
Don’t think so. Doesn’t ring any bells. We had no wheels…was it w/in walking distance of campus in 78-79?
rikyrah
Can someone explain why this guy in Kansas is running as an Independent for Governor? What party did he used to belong to?
Major Major Major Major
@Major Major Major Major: update: my friend who is a fantastic barometer of the conventional wisdom has shared this article and said it makes her look very bad. ?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@SenyorDave: I voted for HRC and admire her tremendously, but for me, she’s in the past. What consequence does this story have for what we need to do now?
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Major Major Major Major: I’m sure this story will be very damaging to the Clinton administration, one year in.
JohnO
@(((CassandraLeo))):
I blogged it in a little more detail 10+ years ago. Note that even then I thought it was ’79!
clay
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I love the Indigo Girls; that must’ve been a great show!
Indigo Girls are the most famous alumnae of Emory University, which I attended. (Yes, even more famous than Adam Silverman!) So they were often around, giving local concerts and being spotted around the area; I got to interview one of them when I wrote for the Emory newspaper. Great musicians, great activists, great people.
Major Major Major Major
@(((CassandraLeo))): considering it’s from 2008, we’re actually in year one of the Obama administration—Hillary was president ‘09-‘17.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@JohnO: Cool. I’ll give it a look now.
@Major Major Major Major: Oh, good point. Why does anyone even care now, then?
Cacti
@SenyorDave:
How are things going with the RNC finance chair today?
clay
@(((CassandraLeo))): If you have a chance to see Bruce, do it. I saw him in 2016 — on my 40th birthday, no less — and his performance is as great as it’s ever been. His 70s shows were probably more rambunctious and full of that youthful energy, but his shows today are cathartic, uplifting, and (dare I say?) spiritual.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@(((CassandraLeo))): The Boss is still worth seeing if you get the chance. I saw him last summer in Nats stadium and he was still fantastic. He played for at least 3 hours without a break.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@(((CassandraLeo))): Too bad the YouTube stuff got DMCA’d, but really cool write-up. Would’ve loved to have been there.
@clay: @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Yeah, I think I’m going to try to see him if he comes our way again. I can’t imagine him still touring forever.
JohnO
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Still the best value in show biz for my money.
Raven
@JohnO: yep, it was above McBrides and then in the middle of the block across from the Co-Ed. It was a commie worker controlled collective.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@JohnO: A more important consideration than ever given how expensive tickets are getting. He rarely plays for fewer than three hours, from my understanding.
Gin & Tonic
@SenyorDave:
I agree completely. I think she should resign the Presidency by Monday at the latest.
Major Major Major Major
@(((CassandraLeo))): i mean, it’s good that we know, even if it is only an apparatchik from a failed presidential campaign ten years ago.
As for why anybody cares, well, you know why.
JohnO
@(((CassandraLeo))):
The band is primo, and so is he. I dunno if it’s genuine (who does) but it sure does seem like he’s having a lot of fun out there. This will give you a little sense if you bother to take the time.
It’s just hard not to see him as a good dude somehow, at least for me.
patroclus
@SenyorDave: We already know that she sent and received e-mails. I think impeachment proceedings should be started immediately!
JohnO
@Raven:
I remember McBrides, so am a little surprised but I was a seriously naive kid from a little farm town.
Roger Moore
@JohnO:
You might enjoy Numberphile, then. I find it a very enjoyable way for a math aficionado to learn more about cool stuff happening in math.
Chyron HR
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
It gives Their Revolution ammunition against “the Clinton Wing of the Party” (ie any sitting Democrat who doesn’t immediately resign their seat so Their Revolution can run for it without a primary).
piratedan
@brendancalling: obligatory musical calling out deserves a response…. yes, I have the EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79udf50tqCE
raven
@JohnO: It was quite a tribe in those days, we were the first hippie softball team and the rednecks hated us until we started kicking their asses!
JohnO
@Roger Moore:
Thank you! Bookmarked!
clay
@patroclus: Wait. She sent… AND received?!?
Why is this only coming out now???
HeleninEire
Yeah. My boyfriend.
tobie
@Chyron HR: Isn’t it strange how the one story Our Revolution does not seem to be interested in is how Bernie, as a sitting senator, helped his wife get loans from a Vermont bank based on false loan guarantees? Talk about influence peddling! If it were Hillary, Our Revolution fans would have strung her up already for being in bed with financiers.
raven
@JohnO: Here’s a trailer for a doc about music in CU
JohnO
@raven:
LOL…that is beautiful, and very reminiscent of the joy my ragtag collection of street basketball players enjoyed beating uppity frat teams at IMPE like they were red-headed step children.
Our team name (and professionally produced jerseys) was “Fags on Acid”, a little known tune from back then that our spiritual leader and music junkie suggested.
Hilarious.
Major Major Major Major
Trying to imagine how much I would care if Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign’s ‘faith advisor’ had been caught sending gross emails. Or if the NYT would make it a top headline.
Roger Moore
@SenyorDave:
Why is this a BFD? It sounds as if the campaign took the allegation seriously, investigated it, and disciplined the perpetrator when they found he was guilty. They didn’t fire the guy, but there’s nothing out there that says firing is a mandatory response to sexual harassment. What the campaign didn’t do was to cover the incident up, ignore the victim and protect the perpetrator. It light of later events it sounds as if their attempt to get him back on the right track failed, but that doesn’t mean it was a mistake to try.
He later worked with an independent group that supported Clinton, but that both legally and practically says nothing about Hillary. As an independent group, they are legally supposed to be completely separate from the Clinton campaign. She wasn’t supposed to be involved with Correct The Record and it would be an actual scandal if she had been able to tell them to fire the guy.
JohnO
@SenyorDave:
Impeach!
Big deal? Wasn’t everyone still groping in ’08?
HRC honestly has to go down as the most comically persecuted politician in the history of mankind to date.
OGLiberal
@Major Major Major Major: Buck played guitar on 2 or 3 of the songs on that album.
Mike J
A friend of mine was playing at the Antenna Club in Memphis one night when Michael Stipe came in. Radio free Europe was a regular part of their set, so they played it. Afterwards, Stipe told him, “I liked your lyrics better than mine!” Which may or may not just be something he said to the 4,000 different bands he heard do his song, but it was nice.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: Immigrants fleeing Communist countries were some of Reagan’s staunchest supporters during the 1980s. It’s one of the reasons the Republicans had the vast majority of the Asian-American vote back then–really until the Republicans started getting more explicitly xenophobic in the 1990s. This is the Republicans turning their backs on a traditional constituency.
James E. Powell
@Jewish Steel:
Exactly. I kept arguing that once a band had its second platinum album, it could not credibly be called alternative. I never won any of those arguments and I believe, to this day, there are people who refer to U2, Smashing Pumpkins, and Green Day as alternative.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: Mathematical YouTube is for some reason a treasure trove of great content. There’s also Vi Hart, Mathologer, Henry Segerman, and many others.
Frankensteinbeck
@tobie:
Sanders tells them that the rich are evil, a Manichean enemy that is the root of all our problems and must be destroyed. Rather like Trump, it doesn’t matter what he does, he’s the only game in town who is willing to openly name The Enemy.
Raven
@JohnO: hell yes!
Roger Moore
@Matt McIrvin:
Asian Americans have also been changing because of immigration. IIRC, a higher percentage of Asian American citizens are first generation immigrants than any other group, including Latinos. There has been a lot of immigration from Asia since the 1990s, and that has had a profound impact on who Asian Americans are.
burnspbesq
For me, “Pretty Persuasion” is right up there with “A Million Miles Away,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” and “Whenever You’re on My Mind” as the best guitar-driven rock songs of the 80s.
James E. Powell
@Major Major Major Major:
This is the best analogy I’ve seen so far on this matter. Apt & accurate. But, sadly, I don’t think it will have any impact on the NYT’s Perpetual Clinton Smears campaign, the cable shows Clinton Feeding Frenzies, or the trolls who must be getting paid by someone because what kind of person would you have to be to troll Balloon-Juice for free.
Shana
@raven: That seems so sad. He always seemed like he’d be the most interesting of them to talk to.
Shana
@JohnO: I saw Springsteen at the Assembly Hall in 1980-81 for The River tour. Lucked into 2nd row seats due to the student lottery. On that tour the place was packed. One of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen.
raven
@Shana: You know he was “painfully shy” back when they got started. He’s pretty outgoing now but I guess that comes with being “up in the spot light. . . “
raven
@Shana: I quit going there when they made a big fucking deal out of making people sit down during an Airplane show in the 70’s. About that time most people I hung with were moving toward country music courtesy of the New Riders, the Dead, Amazing Rythmn Aces, Little Feat ea al. . .
Shana
@JohnO: It was in Campus Town, a few doors away from Mabel’s.
raven
@Shana: It started in the Union as the Graduate Student Record Service and then moved over to campustown. I had the contract to do the floors when it was above McBrides, huge ol wood floor.
Suzanne
R.E.M. Is my favorite band of all time. I know every album by heart. Seen them twice, one time on the most glorious night at the Hollywood Bowl. My favorite wedding gift was the 25th anniversary vinyl of Document. I framed it. Fuck that registry shit anyway.
Automatic was the first CD I ever owned. My mom got me a CD player for Christmas when I was 12, and my grandparents got me two CDs: Automatic and some shitty Amy Grant Christmas record. The Amy Grant went in the resale bin after a couple of obligatory listens. My mom then gave me a CD of Achtung Baby the same day. So two out of three ain’t bad.
debbie
REM was my #1 favorite for years. I used to jump all over the furniture listening to Pretty Persuasion, and Murmur is still one of my all-time favorite albums.
Tom
Fables of the Reconstruction is my favorite R.E.M. album. Not their best, which is either Murmur or Automatic for the People. But Fables and Life’s Rich Pageant were my entryways to the band. Had them both on a single cassette, and they’re now forever linked in my head.
frosty
@raven: Really? I’m only a couple years younger than you and I bought Born to Run and Petty’s first album as soon as they came out. ‘Course I had my brother, a New Yorker and huge Springsteen fan egging me on for BtR. Petty I found on my own.
Now? I don’t have a clue who’s out there. The local college radio station played a bunch of good stuff in the early 2000s but I haven’t heard anything that grabbed me in the last few years.
Don K
I’m jealous that Chicago radio played REM. Here in Detroit, by 1981 we were deep into Classic-Rock Hell (although nobody called it classic rock at that point. I had to rely on new hires at work fresh out of school and a buddy who was a grad student to turn me on to anything new. Or there were my trips to visit a friend in Los Angeles, when I could listen to KROQ. We did get a late new-music show on CBC that I would listen to after late nights at work, but the first taste we had locally was the advent of 89X from Windsor around 1990.
different-church-lady
Michael Stipe didn’t used to look like Michael Stipe.