Don't Stop Believing

Okay!  It's been a while since I last blogged but I haven't forgotten about it or lost interest.  Sometimes life just happens faster than the current I ride on.  Speaking of current, let's discuss current events.  Well it seems there are a few topics that jump to mind.  Oh, let's see?... (key Journey: Don't Stop Believing, classic piano intro..).  There's that debate on whether white power music was the leading motivator for one, Wade Michael Page to begin his tirade which left many innocent Sihk parishioners dead or wounded.  I would have to assume that hate breeds hate, and if one's main listening pleasure is hate-filled harmony that preaches disgust and supreme being, then yeah, maybe there is a case there (Just a small town girl...).  I was back and forth on this issue because I like to think of that reasoning as just an excuse to do something dumb.

 Back in the day, a man shot and killed a police officer after he had been pulled over.  In his tape deck, officers noted they ejected a 2Pac: 2pacalypse Now recording.  This particular LP contained violent and offensive lyrical content (born and raised in south Detroit!..).  A big fuss was made of it and it turned into an FCC v. First Amendment battle that eventually required record labels to display a "Parental Advisory" sticker on future records of this nature.  Oooh, scary.  WARNING, WARNING!!  But did Tupac really make this man shoot and kill an officer of the law?  No!  The man was just crazy; most likely in a dire economic situation, had a criminal history and probably had been subjected to violations of his rights on other occasions, due to profiling.  Yes, bad cops mess things up for good cops.  So don't blame the music.

However, if a charismatic, motivational speaker can help improve your financial health or leadership abilities  in seven steps.  If  Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. can gather hundreds of people to march, non-violently (and on and on...Strangers waiting...) from Selma to Montgomery.  If a loud horn blowing over an intercom system can make you walk out into a hallway, drop down with your head between your knees and cover your head.  Then surely, hate music can make a a crazy man like Page do what  he did in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.  Frankly, the thought of listening to white power music makes me want to do some damage of my own, but I have to decide whether it's in my best interest or not to do so.  And it isn't.

In a related story to the power of music...

The Russian punk rock group, Pussyriot was sentenced to two years each (there is three of them, one of which is hotter than the other two. What?) in prison after being found guilty of Hooliganism.  I wasn't aware that hooligan was a word that translated into Russian.  I thought it was an American word?  They were arrested  for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a church.  Well, I mean, (everybody wants a thrill...) couldn't they have performed somewhere else besides a church?  Like a school campus, or the Kremlin?  It's like, I'm all for them, ya know?  They've got a kick-ass name, I haven't heard their music but their concert and video pictures look pretty kick-ass.  They've an awesome guise.  I pretty much love everything about them without having heard a single bit of their actual music.  But it seems like they are getting what they asked for.  You're in Russia, honies!  But that's what punk rock is (and on, and on. Strangers waiting...).

Pussyriot has garnered support from all over the world; fans, artist, maybe some political powers, I don't know, I don't read every headline.  But you know when you've Madonna's public support; queue anything, you have the attention of the world.  That is also what punk rock is; to shake things up.  Take a stand against the oppression of government factors and restrictions.  Fuckin rage against the machine (living just to find emotion...).  Only, in Russia, you get two years in prison for raging, or hooliganizing.  Two years.  Two years?  I guess they'll have to change their name to Pussyquiet.  The trio were actually facing a three year sentence.  If that were the case, they'd have to change their name to Pussyrot (and I'll take a bow for that). 

Have you seen the youtube videos for "Guy on a Buffalo"?   It's like four different versions of this cowboy vigilante riding a buffalo.  What?!  Hilarious music to what seems to be an even crazier movie called "Buffalo Rider" (Don't stop believin'...).  And I do think some animals were hurt during the filming of this movie.

Speaking of animals getting hurt...

How about this years elections, huh?  I'm not crazy about politics.  I try to make a reasonable assessment of an issue and mix in my beliefs.  (Dont' stop believin'...) Throw in a splash of what my wife tells me and chase it  all down with one eye closed and my fingers crossed at the voting booth.  I mean, if both sides are even partially right, then rest is up to me anyway so... You want to know what I really think?  I'll tell you what I really think cause I'm fired up about this.

I think... (Don't Stop!)

Fade to black...and scene.