...is one twisted, twisted man. He's been doing work on Daedelus's new album, and someone released one of their tracks to the Internet. I've been playing it like crazy around the house the last few days, and tonight I finally sat down and figured out the lyrics:
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to generate buzz for William Shatner's album. His music album.
Buzz buzz buzz.
I mentioned earlier a rant about the future of my old hometown. I still need to write that down.
Now, Rapid City is slowly decaying, but it keeps popping up in the news. One of South Dakota Public Broadcasting's reporters won a big-time award for its reporting--specifically, for this piece about contaminated water in the Black Hills. Nic and I are always talking about how much better SDPB is than, say, the local NPR affiliate, which doesn't actually have a news department, and it's nice to know our braggadocio is being regularly validated by the national news media.
The Rapid City Journal doesn't get quite as much critical acclaim--the Sioux Falls Gannet rag routinely beats the pants off them in the state awards show--but its political reporter Bill Harlan did a guest stint on the big NPR call-in show not too long ago. He even got hassled about the mess with the new 'voter ID law' that has the Native American tribes so infuriated. It was a nice segment.
But that's about all, really. I wish I could comment on the Daschle-Thune nonsense, or the fact that Larry Deidrich is still a jerk, but I am now a registered voter in Story County, Iowa, so I'm busy exploring the blotchy surface of Iowa politics. I think I might be voting for a Green candidate in September, and he might be my boss's nephew, and he might even be completely nuts. But what the hell? The incumbent has had his seat locked up for six years, and the challenger is little more than a stage prop. You can tell the people who vote straight-ticket Democrat every year, no questions asked, by looking for the "Art Small for Senate" lawn signs around town.
But OK for now.
~
LATE-BREAKING SOMETHING-OR-OTHER
Speaking of Bill Harlan: apparently he has so much time left over from TALKING TO POLITICIANS in his duties as a POLITICAL REPORTER that he helps run a South Dakota political 'blog. It--like most other editorial content generated by the paper he works for--is "right-leaning" and not of the highest quality. But then, I'm hardly one to talk, so! Snap.
I licked those damn robots, though.
Anyway, "Mount Blogmore" is a hell of a lot better than the one-trick pony we had before, so you might as well check it out.
After work on Tuesday, I snuck off to another show at The Mews in Des Moines...
FRANKENIXON
Ehh. It's Frankenixon. They finished just before we got there, and we didn't feel too bad about it. They'll be around for a while.
MIRAH
She played with her sister (??), who played the violin and one of those keyboard-harmonica dealies and some guy, who played drums, poorly. The first half of the set was pretty much phoned in... which is understandable, because they drove all the way from Wall, South Dakota that very day. Starting from there and driving for ten hours, just to go hang out with Iowa hipsters... I have done this. It's not the most enjoyable experience, so I'm sympathetic to the kids' plight. I'm assuming, however, that the Monday-night show at Common Grounds in Rapid was excellent. Someone should check me on this.
Tara Jane O'Neil
She didn't give a damn about Des Moines either. Played some good music, though. Joining her on stage was "[her] wife," who apparently enjoys the submissive role in their relationship. "I'll just set up this $2,000 worth of synthesizer equipment and spit-shine your boots, Ms. O'Neil."
GOLD
There was also a part where the Mirah troupe got on stage with Mrs. and Mrs. O'Neil and they all... um... jammed for ten minutes. The result had neither rhythm, harmony nor melody, so I suppose it was not, technically speaking, music. They were all in the same key, but that's about all I can give them on that one.
That review sounds pretty harsh, but it's been a long day. Really, Tuesday evening's show was not unenjoyable... just a bit disappointing, like opening a tin of flavored truffles and discovering all the tasty filling sucked out. But, again, this is all I expect from Des Moines, and I don't regret the trip at all.
~
System notes: