England Out Again
So England, for the sixth straight major international tournament dating back to Euro ’92, had the lead in a knockout round match and ended up losing, this time 6-5 on penalty kicks to host Portugal after it ended 2-2 in extra time. And again, the English are up in arms, bemoaning their bad luck and blaming David Beckham and Darius Vassell for their PK misses. But, as they’d say in England, that whingeing is bollocks. Here’s why:

1. Six straight defeats snatched from the clutches of victory is not bad luck, it’s a pattern. The press and the public in England put so much pressure on the national team that they ALWAYS play scared. They consistently have some of the best teams on paper, but everybody plays to not be the guy who fucks up. They never go in for the kill when they take the lead.

2. Karma is a bitch. All the hooliganism over the years has angered the football gods. What was the best thing to happen to the organizers of USA World Cup ’94? That England failed to qualify, so the Americans didn’t have to worry about battalions of riot police and security at matches. So it’s really no surprise that England never seems to catch a break in a big match.

Anyway, I’m pulling for the Scandinavian teams at this point, Denmark and Sweden are playing quality, athletic, clean, team-oriented football. And their Villa-based players don’t hurt in drawing my support.
- posted by Liebs @ 7:45 PM 0 comments

 
Music I’m Listening To At The Moment
There are a few CD’s I’ve recently “acquired” that I’m enjoying. Here’s the rundown.

Nick Drake, Made To Love Magic – Is there a higher power? Really? Then explain to me Nick Drake. How could music so utterly beautiful come from complete misery? Would a caring, sentient supreme being do that? Everything happens for a reason, you say? Fuck you, I say. Set of previously unreleased outtakes and demos, I really dig this version of “River Man” without the strings.

Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News – Still liking “Float On”, but the rest is a bit too nerd rock for me. Sometimes lo-fi glam, sometimes very Jayhawks-ish.

Young Heart Attack, Mouthful of Love – If The Darkness were from Texas and had a chick second lead singer, they’d sound a lot like Young Heart Attack. Is coed cock rock possible? Wailing about knocking boots and gettin' high, blatantly ripping off the synthesizer from “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, making nice with their inner Black Sabbath – Daddy likes. And they do a cover of MC5’s “Over And Over” (arguably one of the greatest rock songs of all time), that though inferior to the original, still blows the fucking doors off.

Velvet Revolver, Contraband – I was so much looking forward to this record, but it’s a lot more boring than it should be, which is a damn shame if you were at the sweltering Stone Temple Pilots show with me at the Brixton Academy in August 2001. There’s just not enough straight-ahead balls-out rock, and really the only power ballad that’s decent is “Loving The Alien”. But “Slither” and “Illegal i Song” kick ass.

Snow Patrol, Final Straw – Yet another of the next wave of UK bands that haven’t really broke over here yet. Which is a shame, since Snow Patrol, Feeder, Elbow, South, and a few others are a hell of a lot better than the bland American bands currently crudding up the works. Yellowcard, New Found Glory, Story of the Year, Hoobastank? Shite. Anyway, Snow Patrol certainly have a lot of Beach Boys and early R.E.M. influences, and “Chocolate” is a lovely song, even with the senseless title. To make a cycling reference, Snow Patrol is an able domestique of the UK rock peloton.

Ryan Adams, Love Is Hell - Unlike Nick Drake, the misery of Ryan Adams is just obnoxious and annoying. And he walks a fine line between being consistent or repetitive. I think he’d also be better off editing himself more, I’d prefer hearing a couple really great albums than a lot of decent ones. I just can’t see myself years from now still playing this one a lot, unlike the old Whiskeytown classic Strangers Almanac. But I dig the jangly distorted guitar at the end of “English Girls Approximately”, there are a few great tracks, and his cover of “Wonderwall” confirms that I was right in the argument with my bandmates that we shouldn’t do a faithful Oasis cover but go mellow with it. It’s so hard being right all the damn time.

Franz Ferdinand – The latest darlings of the UK rock press, it’s a quality album but on the whole over-hyped. I guess you could call it retro new wave. Sounds a lot like Blondie, The Minutemen, maybe even a little bit of Duran Duran and The Pixies. “Take Me Out” is definitely the best of the lot.

The Von Bondies, Pawn Shoppe Heart - Detroit outfit known more for lead singer Jason Stollsteimer getting his ass kicked by a variety of sources, including Jack White, than for their place in the garage rock revival. They don’t compare to The Strokes, but I’m liking this one better the more I listen to it. It’s got oodles of raunchy guitar riffs, but the chicks should sing most of the songs. Though I can’t deny a band with the lyric, “I’m not that social/Just a good drinker.”
- posted by Liebs @ 8:51 PM 0 comments

 
Gipper No More
So Ronald Reagan died yesterday. He seemed like a decent man, certainly compared to a lot of other conservative politicians, and I know from having dealt with it with my relatives that Alzheimer’s is not a fun way to go. But the lionization of his presidency by the media yesterday is making me sick. This is a president who deregulated Wall Street and the Securities industry, directly leading to the S&L scandals and all the corporate fraud that today we seem to think is expected and usual and normal. This is a president who dismantled the system of mental hospitals in this country, even after having nearly been killed by a deranged man, directly leading to an explosion in the homeless problem in cities across the country. This is a president who levied budget cuts on NASA and put pressure on that administration so much so that they rushed the launch of Challenger on a cold morning against the wishes of many of its engineers, resulting in tragedy. This is a president who worked with Saddam Hussein, the Contras, Manuel Noriega, despots who ruled for the advantage of American business interests but certainly not for the advantage of the common people in their struggling countries. This is a president whose idea of tackling the drug problem was “Just Say No” – no rehab, no treatment, if you were already addicted then fuck you – and wrote laws making penalties for crack cocaine orders of magnitude more severe than those for powder cocaine, sending inordinate numbers of young black men to prison and convincing Middle America that building prisons was more important than building schools. This is a president under whose watch the public education system crumbled, teen pregnancy rates skyrocketed as the Christian Coalition made birth control taboo, and white flight decimated urban areas. And I’m sorry, but his role in ending the Cold War has been VASTLY overstated, he was in the right place at the right time, especially considering how Gorbachev’s moves were a COMPLETE surprise to the CIA and all of the western intelligence community. Look, I don’t expect the media to ever rip on a former president who has just died, but a little fuller picture of his presidency should be warranted. I’ll be interested to see how balanced the coverage is when a real leader, President Jimmy Carter, passes on – which hopefully won’t be for decades, much to the betterment of struggling third world nations and countless millions.
- posted by Liebs @ 8:08 AM 0 comments