I hope that you all enjoyed my pictures from Siren Fest. I went with my friend Kristin and we had a great time, we got to see Elvis Perkins, Dr. Dog and the band that followed Elvis and the Dearland boys, The Detroit Cobras. This band has a total kick ass female lead singer who has got a great down and dirty rock and roll voice and she looks like the love child of Joe Strummer from the Clash and Jayne Mansfield! There music is garage rock that sounds like it could have been made in 1967, it is so good and rockin'!! Albeit Kris and I heard one song by Dr. Dog and we were very impressed with what we heard.
As I've been going on about over the last couple of months "Ash Wednesday" is my favorite album this year and Elvis and the boys in his backing band Dearland didn't disappoint at Siren Fest they totally kicked it!! And I got to meet Elvis and the Dearland boys and they were all very nice!!
We got there fairly early and so we had to sit out on the beach ride the rides, the cyclone five times and the Wonder Wheel five times, yes I turn into a ten year old at amusement parks, I love amusement park rides! So after the Detroit Cobras, Dr. Dog and chatting with Elvis and the boys, we were just about done for the day. I was sorry that I missed M.I.A. and the New York Dolls but by that time I was in the sun way too long and had to get back into Manhattan for the GNYC Show that evening.
Onto the next topic!
I'm sure all of you have read and heard that Lindsay Lohan was busted out in LA on monday morning for DUI and possession of coke. I honestly feel bad for this girl, it's obvious this girl is very sick and what is really sad to me is there seems to be no one in her family or in her inner circle of friends that can give her a reality check and get her the help she so needs, everyone seems more concerned with talking to the press rather then they do with poor Lindsay!! Her mother is the stage mother from hell who seems to be living vicariously through her daughter and her father just seems like a serious wacko, who also seems to be living off his daughter's fame.
Over the last couple of days the mother has issued about ten statements about the incident, the father has been on every talk show and the thirteen year old sister sent an email to some entertainment journalist talking about the incident and calling the father a liar! And the mom is in total denial she had some "family spokesperson" issue a statement saying Lindsay wasn't wearing her own pants and so therefore the coke wasn't hers and Lindsay herself emailed ET or one of those other entertainment shows saying the same thing. You'd think if any of these people really cared about her and her career and if her PR person was smart they would issue one statement saying "This is a private family matter and we'd appreciate it if the press would keep their distance at this time" or something along those lines.
She and I both grew up on the South Shore of Long Island, she a few towns over from where I grew up and her mother and younger siblings still live in that same town. And it seems like she comes from a highly dysfunctional family one of her uncle's was arrested a few years ago for filing false 9/11 claims and another one was arrested for assault.
Lindsay is a beautiful and talented girl, I hope that she is able to get the help that she needs and get everything together before it's too late!
Well this next post is a warning to all the ladies of New York, especially to the ladies who live in the LES and East Village area. I usually hate posting posts like this cause I don't like scaring people, but when I heard about this and I thought of how many times I have walked home alone after midnight, I got scared shitless. There is a sick fuck who is still at large going around the EV and LES areas attacking women as they walk home alone late at night. The last attack happened a week ago today and it happened on E.9th and 2nd literally right next to Vaselka. Try and walk home with friends or if you have to walk home alone and if it's steps from your house have your cell phone and keys out!! The link below is from last weeks NY Daily News detailing this guys MO and it also has a police drawing of the attacker.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/07/19/2007-07-19_serial_rape_sicko_remains_on_prowl_after.html
And here is the link for the Detroit Cobra's myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=22539643
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Various Things....
Hope you all had a lovely weekend!
Last week was a very social week for moi! I was meeting legends and discovering new places.
As I have mentioned I'm reading Pamela Des Barres latest book "Let's Spend the Night Together" were she interviews women who were muses to very famous rock stars, like Patti D'Arbanville who was a muse for Cat Stevens and Bebe Buell (mom of Liv Tyler) who was a muse for Todd Rundgren, Stiv Badors and Elvis Costello to women who flat out refer to themselves as groupies and are unapologetic about it such as "Sweet" Connie Hamzy (of Grand Funk Railroad "We're an American Band" fame) and to women who have made a unique mark on groupiedom i.e. Cynthia Plaster Caster.
The book is a really fun, a good summer read. I highly recommend it to any music lover. Anyway last tuesday there was a book party for Miss Pamela which my friend Denise and I attended at Arlene's Grocery, were we got to meet Miss Pamela!! She couldn't have been nicer, I told her about my blog and interviews and Denise told her about MEANY fest and hopefully she'll come back to NYC introduce some bands for MEANY fest. She signed our books and took a picture with us and once I get the film back I will post the picture.
Wednesday night, I discovered a new place for all us New York music fans called the Rockwood Music Hall. The smaller and medium sized music venues in New York City seem to be disappearing quickly, they either seem to close due to a dispute with the landlord (i.e. The Bottom Line, CBGB's, Tramps and now I hear the Cutting Room is due to close in Oct for this very reason). Or they get taken over by Clear Channel (i.e. Northsix.) or just get turned into bars for NYU kids (i.e. The Continental). With all these clubs rapidly disappearing, it just seems as if the music scene in New York City is disappearing and so when a new small/medium indie music venue opens it's always a good thing!!
The Rockwood mainly features alt folk type acts and acoustic acts. The room is a fairly small intimate room with good acoustics, it kinda reminds me a little bit of a cleaner Bitter End, and the staff is very friendly, which is a huge plus! Show your support for the indie NYC music scene by going to indie clubs such as the Rockwood, Arlene's and Fontana's, we can't let all the indie venues disappear cause that means the scene will disappear!!
The Rockwood Music Hall is located at 196 Allen Street b/w E. Houston and Stanton, check it out!
This weekend is Siren Fest at Coney Island and I will be there covering it!! Hopefully I will be able to chat with some of the performers on the bill.
Last week was a very social week for moi! I was meeting legends and discovering new places.
As I have mentioned I'm reading Pamela Des Barres latest book "Let's Spend the Night Together" were she interviews women who were muses to very famous rock stars, like Patti D'Arbanville who was a muse for Cat Stevens and Bebe Buell (mom of Liv Tyler) who was a muse for Todd Rundgren, Stiv Badors and Elvis Costello to women who flat out refer to themselves as groupies and are unapologetic about it such as "Sweet" Connie Hamzy (of Grand Funk Railroad "We're an American Band" fame) and to women who have made a unique mark on groupiedom i.e. Cynthia Plaster Caster.
The book is a really fun, a good summer read. I highly recommend it to any music lover. Anyway last tuesday there was a book party for Miss Pamela which my friend Denise and I attended at Arlene's Grocery, were we got to meet Miss Pamela!! She couldn't have been nicer, I told her about my blog and interviews and Denise told her about MEANY fest and hopefully she'll come back to NYC introduce some bands for MEANY fest. She signed our books and took a picture with us and once I get the film back I will post the picture.
Wednesday night, I discovered a new place for all us New York music fans called the Rockwood Music Hall. The smaller and medium sized music venues in New York City seem to be disappearing quickly, they either seem to close due to a dispute with the landlord (i.e. The Bottom Line, CBGB's, Tramps and now I hear the Cutting Room is due to close in Oct for this very reason). Or they get taken over by Clear Channel (i.e. Northsix.) or just get turned into bars for NYU kids (i.e. The Continental). With all these clubs rapidly disappearing, it just seems as if the music scene in New York City is disappearing and so when a new small/medium indie music venue opens it's always a good thing!!
The Rockwood mainly features alt folk type acts and acoustic acts. The room is a fairly small intimate room with good acoustics, it kinda reminds me a little bit of a cleaner Bitter End, and the staff is very friendly, which is a huge plus! Show your support for the indie NYC music scene by going to indie clubs such as the Rockwood, Arlene's and Fontana's, we can't let all the indie venues disappear cause that means the scene will disappear!!
The Rockwood Music Hall is located at 196 Allen Street b/w E. Houston and Stanton, check it out!
This weekend is Siren Fest at Coney Island and I will be there covering it!! Hopefully I will be able to chat with some of the performers on the bill.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Live Earth a review
The other day I wrote about how I felt about Al Gore's Live Earth and how I felt about big benefit shows, well today I'm going to critique the New York portion of the Live Earth shows since that was the only portion that I listened too.
The New York/New Jersey line up was pretty meh at best. There were some surprisingly good performances and some really bad performances!
John Mayer was the first set that I heard. And I know people like him and I'm told by musician friends that if I heard his more bluesy stuff that I would have a whole new respect for him, but honestly I just don't get it!! To me his music sounds like it's music made for really preppy people and soccer moms!! All though when I see him interviewed he seems like a really cool guy, but I just don't get his music and what the big deal is about it!! His set on saturday was kinda boring!!
I didn't hear Kayne West's set, but I did hear the presenters on Sirius talking right before Kayne's set saying how Kayne West demanded that his set be longer then anyone else's on the NY/NJ Earth First bill or else he wasn't going to do the show. I like "Jesus Walks" and "Diamonds" and I think "Gold digger" is a really funny song but from all that I have read and seen of him, Kayne West just comes across as the biggest psychotic most arrogant prick!! A few months ago on youtube.com I saw a clip of him from the MTV Euro awards going off on, (on stage mind you) on the band that beat him out for video of the year, going on and on about how brilliant he is. But then again I loved his "George Bush doesn't care about black people" rant at that Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, that was such a punk moment!! The look on Mike Myers face at that moment that Kayne says those words is just priceless!!
I heard Alica Keys' set and I'm sorry but I think she is soooo overrated!! She along with Sheryl Crowe, The Black Eyed Peas, Shakiara, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd or one of the members of Pink Floyd, The Who, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Wyclef and Madonna always seem to be on the bills for these big benefit shows!! I know the Who are on tour in Europe right now and couldn't do the Earth First show and I was surprised that Sheryl Crowe didn't do the Earth First show, cause I know the environment is her big cause. Maybe she did but I wasn't aware. Back to Alica...I didn't hear her do "Gimme Shelter" with Keith Urban, but even the most jaded of music writers on some of the music sites that I go on said that their version was actually pretty good and one of the highlights of the NY/NJ show.
Heard Fall Out Boy and the All American Rejects and their sets just proved why I'm not a big fan of either band!
One person that really surprised me was Kelly Clarkson, I've always liked her voice and I think she's got some great pop tunes. She is now doing more rock type material and usually when someone in the pop genre tries to go rock or says that they are rock (hellooooo Ashlee Simpson and Fefe Dobson!), it's like no honey there is nothing rock about you or your music, Kelly with her new stuff is proving that she always was a hard core rocker chick!! Her new sound kinda reminds me of old school Pat Benetar but edgier!! I really think with her new sound that Kelly can fill that void of Pat Benetar/Ann Wilson tough but glam rocker chick! She had a great set on saturday and I will now download her new album from itunes.
Okay I'm biased I know cause I'm such a fan, but I thought Roger Waters had the best set of the night! And apparently I'm not alone a lot of the critics thought he was the best part of the New York show!! I thought the Bleeding Hearts Band sounded really tight and I thought old Rog sounded great vocally and looked great as well!! I loved the fact that Roger has been using the Lower East Side Boys club choir to sing the chorus of "Another Brick in the Wall", means Rog fancies himself a New Yorker! Maybe we'll see him hanging out at Arlene's and drinking at Motor City soon!!
The other really good set of the night I felt was the reunited Smashing Pumpkins, even though it's just Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, I thought Billy sounded great vocally and they were just on saturday night!! I loved the new song that they did.
Bon Jovi played, while I'm not a fan of Jon or the band at all, I think its great that they are still around and on top and making music people still wanna hear and selling out arenas after twenty years..bless them for that!! For all you fans of the Jovi and Bruce Springsteen can I ask you why does both Jon and Bruce sound like they come from the Mississippi Delta when they speak?? I didn't know that people who grew up in central New Jersey, twenty minutes from Manhattan speak with hard core southern accents! From what I've read they both still live in Jersey, it's not like they both moved to Tupelo Mississippi!! But I guess that's like a certain someone who grew up in a small Michigan town and who now speaks with a British accent!! I had no idea people who grew up in tiny Michigan towns speak with English accents!! Jon and the boys seemed to have the crowd up and on their feet and having a good time during their set saturday night!!
The Police closed the show and they weren't great, but they weren't awful! And it was kinda lame when they brought out John Mayer and Kayne West to do "Message in a Bottle", I wished they would have killed Kayne's mike after a certain point cause all he kept saying was "YEAH YEAH YEAH UHH UHH" over and over again over Sting's vocals thought the duration of the song and it got really annoying! John Mayer looked petrified to be out on stage with the Police.
Roger Waters should have closed the show!!
As cliched as this is I always love it at these benefit shows when everyone comes out and jams together, I'm surprised they didn't do that at this show and I'm surprised there weren't more collaborations at this show. I always like that too when different artists on the bill do something together. It would have been cool to have seen a Roger Waters/Smashing Pumpkins collaboration.
I didn't hear or watch any of the other shows that were taking place around the world, but I did hear that in London The Beastie Boys, Spinal Tap and Kasabian were the best parts of the London show. While Madonna and Genesis didn't give the greatest performances.
The New York/New Jersey line up was pretty meh at best. There were some surprisingly good performances and some really bad performances!
John Mayer was the first set that I heard. And I know people like him and I'm told by musician friends that if I heard his more bluesy stuff that I would have a whole new respect for him, but honestly I just don't get it!! To me his music sounds like it's music made for really preppy people and soccer moms!! All though when I see him interviewed he seems like a really cool guy, but I just don't get his music and what the big deal is about it!! His set on saturday was kinda boring!!
I didn't hear Kayne West's set, but I did hear the presenters on Sirius talking right before Kayne's set saying how Kayne West demanded that his set be longer then anyone else's on the NY/NJ Earth First bill or else he wasn't going to do the show. I like "Jesus Walks" and "Diamonds" and I think "Gold digger" is a really funny song but from all that I have read and seen of him, Kayne West just comes across as the biggest psychotic most arrogant prick!! A few months ago on youtube.com I saw a clip of him from the MTV Euro awards going off on, (on stage mind you) on the band that beat him out for video of the year, going on and on about how brilliant he is. But then again I loved his "George Bush doesn't care about black people" rant at that Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, that was such a punk moment!! The look on Mike Myers face at that moment that Kayne says those words is just priceless!!
I heard Alica Keys' set and I'm sorry but I think she is soooo overrated!! She along with Sheryl Crowe, The Black Eyed Peas, Shakiara, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd or one of the members of Pink Floyd, The Who, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Wyclef and Madonna always seem to be on the bills for these big benefit shows!! I know the Who are on tour in Europe right now and couldn't do the Earth First show and I was surprised that Sheryl Crowe didn't do the Earth First show, cause I know the environment is her big cause. Maybe she did but I wasn't aware. Back to Alica...I didn't hear her do "Gimme Shelter" with Keith Urban, but even the most jaded of music writers on some of the music sites that I go on said that their version was actually pretty good and one of the highlights of the NY/NJ show.
Heard Fall Out Boy and the All American Rejects and their sets just proved why I'm not a big fan of either band!
One person that really surprised me was Kelly Clarkson, I've always liked her voice and I think she's got some great pop tunes. She is now doing more rock type material and usually when someone in the pop genre tries to go rock or says that they are rock (hellooooo Ashlee Simpson and Fefe Dobson!), it's like no honey there is nothing rock about you or your music, Kelly with her new stuff is proving that she always was a hard core rocker chick!! Her new sound kinda reminds me of old school Pat Benetar but edgier!! I really think with her new sound that Kelly can fill that void of Pat Benetar/Ann Wilson tough but glam rocker chick! She had a great set on saturday and I will now download her new album from itunes.
Okay I'm biased I know cause I'm such a fan, but I thought Roger Waters had the best set of the night! And apparently I'm not alone a lot of the critics thought he was the best part of the New York show!! I thought the Bleeding Hearts Band sounded really tight and I thought old Rog sounded great vocally and looked great as well!! I loved the fact that Roger has been using the Lower East Side Boys club choir to sing the chorus of "Another Brick in the Wall", means Rog fancies himself a New Yorker! Maybe we'll see him hanging out at Arlene's and drinking at Motor City soon!!
The other really good set of the night I felt was the reunited Smashing Pumpkins, even though it's just Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, I thought Billy sounded great vocally and they were just on saturday night!! I loved the new song that they did.
Bon Jovi played, while I'm not a fan of Jon or the band at all, I think its great that they are still around and on top and making music people still wanna hear and selling out arenas after twenty years..bless them for that!! For all you fans of the Jovi and Bruce Springsteen can I ask you why does both Jon and Bruce sound like they come from the Mississippi Delta when they speak?? I didn't know that people who grew up in central New Jersey, twenty minutes from Manhattan speak with hard core southern accents! From what I've read they both still live in Jersey, it's not like they both moved to Tupelo Mississippi!! But I guess that's like a certain someone who grew up in a small Michigan town and who now speaks with a British accent!! I had no idea people who grew up in tiny Michigan towns speak with English accents!! Jon and the boys seemed to have the crowd up and on their feet and having a good time during their set saturday night!!
The Police closed the show and they weren't great, but they weren't awful! And it was kinda lame when they brought out John Mayer and Kayne West to do "Message in a Bottle", I wished they would have killed Kayne's mike after a certain point cause all he kept saying was "YEAH YEAH YEAH UHH UHH" over and over again over Sting's vocals thought the duration of the song and it got really annoying! John Mayer looked petrified to be out on stage with the Police.
Roger Waters should have closed the show!!
As cliched as this is I always love it at these benefit shows when everyone comes out and jams together, I'm surprised they didn't do that at this show and I'm surprised there weren't more collaborations at this show. I always like that too when different artists on the bill do something together. It would have been cool to have seen a Roger Waters/Smashing Pumpkins collaboration.
I didn't hear or watch any of the other shows that were taking place around the world, but I did hear that in London The Beastie Boys, Spinal Tap and Kasabian were the best parts of the London show. While Madonna and Genesis didn't give the greatest performances.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I was just on myspace checking out a friend who is a musician myspace profile, I was on his picture pages and I was reading some of the comments about his pictures. Not to sound like an old fuddy duddy but I was generally disturbed by the profile pictures and comments about my friend made by girls who are fourteen and fifteen. In their profile pics these girls have faces full of make up and are making Paris Hilton come hither type poses and the comments they gave to my friend are like "I'd hit that, but then you would go to jail", "UR SOOOO HOTTT" and "Hunk" and "I <} U".
While I was discovering music when I was that age, at the same time I was still pretending I was Leisel in "The Sound of Music" and Maria in "West Side Story" up in my bedroom by lipsynching to "I'm Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "I Feel Pretty". And if I did have a crush it was on the guy who was either a junior or senior who played in the local band and even then I couldn't imagine being that sexually forward at that age with that guy and I really couldn't imagine being that sexually forward to someone who was in their twenties or thirties at that age!
I was talking to another friend who manages a performer and she was telling me that this performer always gets suggestive messages sent by fourteen year olds on myspace all the time! She says that he gets messages like "Hi Hottie, holla back at me" all the time!
But I guess this is something that has been going since rock started! It all started with Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his thirteen year old cousin!! At the moment I'm reading the new Pamela DesBares book "Let's Spend the Night Together" (fantastic read by the way), in her new book Miss Pamela speaks to various women who were muses for famous rock stars and groupies! One of the women that she speaks with is a woman by the name of Lori Maddox, who became a groupie at thirteen, lost her virginity to David Bowie at thirteen and started dating Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame at fourteen!! Lori Maddox was part of a group of teenage girls in LA who in the 70's when they were still in junior high partied with all the major rock stars who passed through LA at that time! There was also a magazine at the time dedicated to this group of underage girls called "Star Magazine"!!
I understand having music speak to you when you are a kid, but I just don't get being so sexually forward with a musician who is a good fifteen years older then you when you are fourteen!! Discover music!! If you are that into it pick up an instrument, learn to sing, start to promote local bands at your school or blog about music!!
While I was discovering music when I was that age, at the same time I was still pretending I was Leisel in "The Sound of Music" and Maria in "West Side Story" up in my bedroom by lipsynching to "I'm Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "I Feel Pretty". And if I did have a crush it was on the guy who was either a junior or senior who played in the local band and even then I couldn't imagine being that sexually forward at that age with that guy and I really couldn't imagine being that sexually forward to someone who was in their twenties or thirties at that age!
I was talking to another friend who manages a performer and she was telling me that this performer always gets suggestive messages sent by fourteen year olds on myspace all the time! She says that he gets messages like "Hi Hottie, holla back at me" all the time!
But I guess this is something that has been going since rock started! It all started with Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his thirteen year old cousin!! At the moment I'm reading the new Pamela DesBares book "Let's Spend the Night Together" (fantastic read by the way), in her new book Miss Pamela speaks to various women who were muses for famous rock stars and groupies! One of the women that she speaks with is a woman by the name of Lori Maddox, who became a groupie at thirteen, lost her virginity to David Bowie at thirteen and started dating Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame at fourteen!! Lori Maddox was part of a group of teenage girls in LA who in the 70's when they were still in junior high partied with all the major rock stars who passed through LA at that time! There was also a magazine at the time dedicated to this group of underage girls called "Star Magazine"!!
I understand having music speak to you when you are a kid, but I just don't get being so sexually forward with a musician who is a good fifteen years older then you when you are fourteen!! Discover music!! If you are that into it pick up an instrument, learn to sing, start to promote local bands at your school or blog about music!!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Earth First....
As I sit here and type this entry I'm listening to coverage of Al Gore's Earth First Concerts on my Sirius Satellite Radio. For all of you not in the know Al Gore has organized this one massive concert all around the world in cities such as London, New York (all though technically it's in NJ cause the NY part of the concert is being held at Giants Stadium), Rio and Berlin which is being held today as we speak. The gist of these concerts is to make the masses aware of the issue of global warming and what they can do to try and stop it. I'm listening to the New York coverage of the concerts anxiously awaiting the performance of my beloved childhood hero Mr. Roger Waters, one of the masterminds behind Pink Floyd.
As I sit here listening to AFI, Ludacris, Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects and John Mayer I often wonder if these performers do these benefit shows cause they really believe in the cause or if they do it cause it gives them good PR and it's the cause de celeb this year?? Does Fall Out Boy drive off in their chauffeur driven SUV after the Earth First Show?? And were does John Mayer fly off to after the Earth First Show?? And are the All American Rejects going to make sure that all the empty booze bottles in their dressing room are going to be recycled??
What bothers me is that in recent years causes have become trendy, in 2004 it was P. Doofy's "Vote or Die" Campaign, I have yet to see him keep up the whole "Vote or Die" campaign and have the people that he used in that campaign never bothered to register to vote , he wasn't out there in the 2006 midterm elections and I haven't seen him do anything for the 2008 presidential elections as of yet, if he was really committed to the cause he have been out there getting young people to vote no matter what the election was for. The in 2005 it was all about Africa, there was the 20th anniversary of Live Aid which coincided with the G8 conference, honestly does David Beckham and Mariah Carey know anything about what the G8 does and third world debut?? The funniest quote I saw on this subject was from Noel Gallagher from Oasis, he said something along lines of "Yes once Bush and Blair hear Annie Lennox sing "Sweet Dreams" they are automatically going to wipe the debut of some African nation clean". I bet the reason why half those people did Live Aid 8 was because Angelina and Brad made helping Africans trendy and they can be trendy too by performing or being at Live 8!! Will Al Gore help make global warming 2007's cause celeb?? Next year will Paris Hilton make the rights of women in prison 2008's cause celeb by organizing a global concert??
In hindsight maybe if an 18 year old kid sees Ludacris in a "Vote or Die" ad and hears P. Doofy go on about how important it is to register to vote and goes out and registers to vote because of that, or if these Earth First concerts make someone watching or listening become conscious of the environment.... maybe these benefit concerts and celeb campaigns aren't such a bad thing. And I know there are some celebs who walk the walk and aren't attracted to a cause because it's "trendy" at the moment, they believe in it and they use their celebrity to raise awareness and money for it. But what I question about these massive benefits is if the message gets out to the masses and how committed are the celebs involved. I realize part of what goes into making these bills for these benefits is finding acts that are going to appeal to people of different ages.
I also wonder if the money from all these benefit concerts really goes to wear they say it's gonna go?? I read that there were some issues with the money raised from the first Live Aid.
But more importantly does Al Gore know how much greenhouse gases the stage equipment from today's shows are burring off?
Then again as a music writer I want to be there in person to cover the next big benefit concert and if that is Chickenaide 2008 concert to save the little chickens in cages organized by Shakira and Midge Ure then so be it!!
As I sit here listening to AFI, Ludacris, Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects and John Mayer I often wonder if these performers do these benefit shows cause they really believe in the cause or if they do it cause it gives them good PR and it's the cause de celeb this year?? Does Fall Out Boy drive off in their chauffeur driven SUV after the Earth First Show?? And were does John Mayer fly off to after the Earth First Show?? And are the All American Rejects going to make sure that all the empty booze bottles in their dressing room are going to be recycled??
What bothers me is that in recent years causes have become trendy, in 2004 it was P. Doofy's "Vote or Die" Campaign, I have yet to see him keep up the whole "Vote or Die" campaign and have the people that he used in that campaign never bothered to register to vote , he wasn't out there in the 2006 midterm elections and I haven't seen him do anything for the 2008 presidential elections as of yet, if he was really committed to the cause he have been out there getting young people to vote no matter what the election was for. The in 2005 it was all about Africa, there was the 20th anniversary of Live Aid which coincided with the G8 conference, honestly does David Beckham and Mariah Carey know anything about what the G8 does and third world debut?? The funniest quote I saw on this subject was from Noel Gallagher from Oasis, he said something along lines of "Yes once Bush and Blair hear Annie Lennox sing "Sweet Dreams" they are automatically going to wipe the debut of some African nation clean". I bet the reason why half those people did Live Aid 8 was because Angelina and Brad made helping Africans trendy and they can be trendy too by performing or being at Live 8!! Will Al Gore help make global warming 2007's cause celeb?? Next year will Paris Hilton make the rights of women in prison 2008's cause celeb by organizing a global concert??
In hindsight maybe if an 18 year old kid sees Ludacris in a "Vote or Die" ad and hears P. Doofy go on about how important it is to register to vote and goes out and registers to vote because of that, or if these Earth First concerts make someone watching or listening become conscious of the environment.... maybe these benefit concerts and celeb campaigns aren't such a bad thing. And I know there are some celebs who walk the walk and aren't attracted to a cause because it's "trendy" at the moment, they believe in it and they use their celebrity to raise awareness and money for it. But what I question about these massive benefits is if the message gets out to the masses and how committed are the celebs involved. I realize part of what goes into making these bills for these benefits is finding acts that are going to appeal to people of different ages.
I also wonder if the money from all these benefit concerts really goes to wear they say it's gonna go?? I read that there were some issues with the money raised from the first Live Aid.
But more importantly does Al Gore know how much greenhouse gases the stage equipment from today's shows are burring off?
Then again as a music writer I want to be there in person to cover the next big benefit concert and if that is Chickenaide 2008 concert to save the little chickens in cages organized by Shakira and Midge Ure then so be it!!
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Violets
The Violets: 21st Century Flower Children
By Amy Grimm
Last Monday evening I had the distinct pleasure to sit and chat with Brooklyn based band the Violets at Old Devil Moon Restaurant a great down home Southern restaurant in the heart of East Village and the Monday night meeting place of the Violets. As I walked in I was warmly greeted by Mr. Magenta (guitar and lead vocals), Lady Purple (keys and vocals) and Lord Crimson (drums) all looking very bright and very techno colored in their outfits reminiscent of the east village circa 1985 complete with Mr. Magenta wearing a Duran Duran concert t-shirt. After the punk rock looking waitress with tattoos running up and down her arms and a nose ring took our order the Violets and I got down to business. We talked about their music, their philosophy on music in general and getting music out to the masses and their version of Shakespeare’s “Tempest” which will be performed at La Plaza Cultural Park in August and I’m told is Shakespeare meets “Dynasty” on a cruise ship. And also about their monkey side kick Mr. Monkey who hosts their cable access TV show “ The Violet Hour”.
MM: Lord Crimson has his pulse on the Warholian idea of being in a city and he is reading a book right now about Warhol….and really that is a good way to encapsulate our approach to the whole rock thing, not just music but really playing and pulling strings with the media and with the hoaxes and publicity stunts, probing new territory.
AG: What bugs me about the New York Scene in Brooklyn and on the Lower East Side is it tends to be trust fund hipster kids who think they are cooler then thou. How do you guys see the New York scene and how do you see the Violets fitting in to it?
LP: We’re sticking out like a sore thumb right now, we are fun and positive.
LC: There is a lot of anger, nasty sarcasm which is absolutely not the Violets..
MM: And boredom…boredom is cool!
LC: We’re more about embracing or at least I think we are…everyone’s uniqueness.
The freakier you are the cooler it is. But I wouldn’t have a problem if the entire crowd in the room were hipsters, in a way what we are writing about has all dual meanings and the fact that they are standing there would be as interesting sort of play while we were up on stage cause we don’t have anything negative or anything bad to say.
AG: I would almost rather be around a band from New Jersey then I would some snot nosed hipster from Brooklyn cause I find that while some of the music that these bands from NJ play may not be the kind of music I’m into, I often find that they are grateful to be up on stage at a place like Arlene’s and they bring people and they are cool and there fans are cool, I find their approach towards playing in the city refreshing …
LC: It should be about theater and fashion and…
MM: What I think is that a lot of the freaky people become spectacle in Williamsburg and what I would really hope is that the scene catches up to the needs of the people who feel free and feel unique…. every generation needs the rapture of either music that let’s them feel loose or the rapture of cutting loose every weekend to dance or the rapture of drugs. This generation really doesn’t have any rapture it’s all like a very weak pulse…..
LP: What is going on with the hipsters right is like what was going with the flower children… it’s stale but if something can grow out of it.
MM: What would be great is if we can get thirty year olds like my brother…who are making money and maybe are married with kids to come out to see our shows, hipsters I would love to have in the audience but they don’t have the money and they don’t open their minds to things, their young kids they don’t have their shit together and I would really like to see us catch on and if we have people who are mature in the audience we’re gonna get open doors and if we can get rich people in our audience and if we can get industry people…then we can really get the message of “Air to Breathe” out there a “Shake this Monkey” kind of thing and enthusiasm out.
LC: Absolutely….. enthusiasm and your life doesn’t have to be this way…your inner child is ready to come out and you don’t have to be negative and there is also a lot of feelings in the song that when I hear and play it on stage I get chills up my spine. It’s like when I first met Mr. Magenta and Lady Purple, I walked into the room and it was the weirdest audition I ever had, it was like I bring my sticks, I meet you at the studio, I sit down and we kinda rock it nine times out of ten the people in the room are jackasses….if it blends great I’ll work with you no big deal, I used to play with five or six bands at the same time all different styles…I walk in the room and Mr. Magenta was like come to my house and I was think wow that is strange…I asked him should I bring my drum sticks and he was like nah come to the house…I come to the house and he hands me a drum and Lady Purple is there and there is a keyboard and it was like here are our songs and just start playing them and just start playing with the drum. And it was very organic and it was like here is the feeling and if you can jive with this head space then you can jive with this. And once we got into a studio and started playing it was like WOW!
MM: We’ve had other musicians play with us and we’ve learned having shot videos and having come to Old Devil Moon every Monday, the three of us have a chemistry that the only thing missing is for us to feel out the fourth or fifth person to put on top of this triangle of getting along…
AG: Chemistry is important
MM: Yeah it takes a while and we’re looking at people who are potential rhythm guitarists, but you need people who are old enough to know rock and roll and you can’t be 22 and know that, I’m sorry. And one of the big challenges to be in rock is not to get old and the truth is I wouldn’t be able to be what I’m now without experience and wisdom. It’s one of those things that the core commercial interests make it all ephemeral.
LC: A lot of people say the influences of what we do are very easily spotted and the sounds might be but even people who come to shows who will say well you know what it sounds like but yet it doesn’t sound like anything else that anybody has played or anyone has played and your fabulous. And the thing about that headspace is what we’re talking about hipsters really and the whole feeling of the 80’s was really about exploration it was all about bands trying to be completely opposite from each other but not in a way that was resentful or we’re gonna be the anti-Cure, no WOW that is awesome and look what we can do.
AG: That is what was so great about the CBGB’s scene back in the day, you had all these different bands and there was this great comrade between them.
MM: Absolutely….the pressure you feel even at a place like Lit which is a very hipster place. Last Friday before our show there I was feeling pressure and you can’t let that shit get to you, you have to shine. And we’re so unconventional we have a slide whistle, we have crazy costumes, when you get up on stage people are waiting with their judgments and when they see people who don’t care about that judgment it’s kinda like their whole cynical motives oporanti is called in and they have to take us on different terms.
LC: When you get on stage they are just enamored and they are like WOW. And the sound that we have more recently has been more fuller and tighter, even at the gig on Friday there were no monitors behind me I couldn’t really hear, everything is played….. I just know exactly where. The guy in the back of the room was like let’s go upfront to see the Violets play and someone else was like they are on stage already, he thought it was the DJ playing a record….and it was like no that’s them!
AG: When you have that, that’s totally something!
MM: And that is what I like about being in a band….back in the day me and Lady Purple tried for so long to try and what we did live in the studio and when you think about that the Beatles stopped touring because of that…. it’s not going to have the same feeling live. What we’re finding is that…this is our sound…with the guitars, the cords, the drums, the keyboards…everything is very minimal and everything has a nice quality. The keyboards are a big part of our sound.
As we finished our delicious southern meals the Violets told me more about their TV show “The Violet Hour”, Mr. Monkey and “The Tempest”… Once we were finished I bid adieu to my 21st Century flower children friends and headed off into the New York summer night with a smile on my face being around the Violets and hearing their music makes me very happy!
To hear the Violets unique sound and upcoming shows and projects check out their myspace page linked below.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=7641708
By Amy Grimm
Last Monday evening I had the distinct pleasure to sit and chat with Brooklyn based band the Violets at Old Devil Moon Restaurant a great down home Southern restaurant in the heart of East Village and the Monday night meeting place of the Violets. As I walked in I was warmly greeted by Mr. Magenta (guitar and lead vocals), Lady Purple (keys and vocals) and Lord Crimson (drums) all looking very bright and very techno colored in their outfits reminiscent of the east village circa 1985 complete with Mr. Magenta wearing a Duran Duran concert t-shirt. After the punk rock looking waitress with tattoos running up and down her arms and a nose ring took our order the Violets and I got down to business. We talked about their music, their philosophy on music in general and getting music out to the masses and their version of Shakespeare’s “Tempest” which will be performed at La Plaza Cultural Park in August and I’m told is Shakespeare meets “Dynasty” on a cruise ship. And also about their monkey side kick Mr. Monkey who hosts their cable access TV show “ The Violet Hour”.
MM: Lord Crimson has his pulse on the Warholian idea of being in a city and he is reading a book right now about Warhol….and really that is a good way to encapsulate our approach to the whole rock thing, not just music but really playing and pulling strings with the media and with the hoaxes and publicity stunts, probing new territory.
AG: What bugs me about the New York Scene in Brooklyn and on the Lower East Side is it tends to be trust fund hipster kids who think they are cooler then thou. How do you guys see the New York scene and how do you see the Violets fitting in to it?
LP: We’re sticking out like a sore thumb right now, we are fun and positive.
LC: There is a lot of anger, nasty sarcasm which is absolutely not the Violets..
MM: And boredom…boredom is cool!
LC: We’re more about embracing or at least I think we are…everyone’s uniqueness.
The freakier you are the cooler it is. But I wouldn’t have a problem if the entire crowd in the room were hipsters, in a way what we are writing about has all dual meanings and the fact that they are standing there would be as interesting sort of play while we were up on stage cause we don’t have anything negative or anything bad to say.
AG: I would almost rather be around a band from New Jersey then I would some snot nosed hipster from Brooklyn cause I find that while some of the music that these bands from NJ play may not be the kind of music I’m into, I often find that they are grateful to be up on stage at a place like Arlene’s and they bring people and they are cool and there fans are cool, I find their approach towards playing in the city refreshing …
LC: It should be about theater and fashion and…
MM: What I think is that a lot of the freaky people become spectacle in Williamsburg and what I would really hope is that the scene catches up to the needs of the people who feel free and feel unique…. every generation needs the rapture of either music that let’s them feel loose or the rapture of cutting loose every weekend to dance or the rapture of drugs. This generation really doesn’t have any rapture it’s all like a very weak pulse…..
LP: What is going on with the hipsters right is like what was going with the flower children… it’s stale but if something can grow out of it.
MM: What would be great is if we can get thirty year olds like my brother…who are making money and maybe are married with kids to come out to see our shows, hipsters I would love to have in the audience but they don’t have the money and they don’t open their minds to things, their young kids they don’t have their shit together and I would really like to see us catch on and if we have people who are mature in the audience we’re gonna get open doors and if we can get rich people in our audience and if we can get industry people…then we can really get the message of “Air to Breathe” out there a “Shake this Monkey” kind of thing and enthusiasm out.
LC: Absolutely….. enthusiasm and your life doesn’t have to be this way…your inner child is ready to come out and you don’t have to be negative and there is also a lot of feelings in the song that when I hear and play it on stage I get chills up my spine. It’s like when I first met Mr. Magenta and Lady Purple, I walked into the room and it was the weirdest audition I ever had, it was like I bring my sticks, I meet you at the studio, I sit down and we kinda rock it nine times out of ten the people in the room are jackasses….if it blends great I’ll work with you no big deal, I used to play with five or six bands at the same time all different styles…I walk in the room and Mr. Magenta was like come to my house and I was think wow that is strange…I asked him should I bring my drum sticks and he was like nah come to the house…I come to the house and he hands me a drum and Lady Purple is there and there is a keyboard and it was like here are our songs and just start playing them and just start playing with the drum. And it was very organic and it was like here is the feeling and if you can jive with this head space then you can jive with this. And once we got into a studio and started playing it was like WOW!
MM: We’ve had other musicians play with us and we’ve learned having shot videos and having come to Old Devil Moon every Monday, the three of us have a chemistry that the only thing missing is for us to feel out the fourth or fifth person to put on top of this triangle of getting along…
AG: Chemistry is important
MM: Yeah it takes a while and we’re looking at people who are potential rhythm guitarists, but you need people who are old enough to know rock and roll and you can’t be 22 and know that, I’m sorry. And one of the big challenges to be in rock is not to get old and the truth is I wouldn’t be able to be what I’m now without experience and wisdom. It’s one of those things that the core commercial interests make it all ephemeral.
LC: A lot of people say the influences of what we do are very easily spotted and the sounds might be but even people who come to shows who will say well you know what it sounds like but yet it doesn’t sound like anything else that anybody has played or anyone has played and your fabulous. And the thing about that headspace is what we’re talking about hipsters really and the whole feeling of the 80’s was really about exploration it was all about bands trying to be completely opposite from each other but not in a way that was resentful or we’re gonna be the anti-Cure, no WOW that is awesome and look what we can do.
AG: That is what was so great about the CBGB’s scene back in the day, you had all these different bands and there was this great comrade between them.
MM: Absolutely….the pressure you feel even at a place like Lit which is a very hipster place. Last Friday before our show there I was feeling pressure and you can’t let that shit get to you, you have to shine. And we’re so unconventional we have a slide whistle, we have crazy costumes, when you get up on stage people are waiting with their judgments and when they see people who don’t care about that judgment it’s kinda like their whole cynical motives oporanti is called in and they have to take us on different terms.
LC: When you get on stage they are just enamored and they are like WOW. And the sound that we have more recently has been more fuller and tighter, even at the gig on Friday there were no monitors behind me I couldn’t really hear, everything is played….. I just know exactly where. The guy in the back of the room was like let’s go upfront to see the Violets play and someone else was like they are on stage already, he thought it was the DJ playing a record….and it was like no that’s them!
AG: When you have that, that’s totally something!
MM: And that is what I like about being in a band….back in the day me and Lady Purple tried for so long to try and what we did live in the studio and when you think about that the Beatles stopped touring because of that…. it’s not going to have the same feeling live. What we’re finding is that…this is our sound…with the guitars, the cords, the drums, the keyboards…everything is very minimal and everything has a nice quality. The keyboards are a big part of our sound.
As we finished our delicious southern meals the Violets told me more about their TV show “The Violet Hour”, Mr. Monkey and “The Tempest”… Once we were finished I bid adieu to my 21st Century flower children friends and headed off into the New York summer night with a smile on my face being around the Violets and hearing their music makes me very happy!
To hear the Violets unique sound and upcoming shows and projects check out their myspace page linked below.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=7641708
Monday, July 2, 2007
"Sicko"
My interview with the Violets will be posted on Weds.
This past friday night I went and I saw Michael Moore's new film "Sicko". I've always really liked Michael Moore's films, I'm glad he does what he does and he does it with great humor.
The film is a look at the health insurance industry in the US. Moore spent the better part of a year interviewing people who have worked for insurance companies and have had health insurance horror stories, for instance he interviews one woman whose insurance company paid for her operation but later reneged the claim when it was discovered that she was once treated for a yeast infection.
Other people he interviews for the film include a man whose daughter was diagnosed as being hard of hearing at nine months old, his insurance company would only pay for one cochlear implant for the baby's right ear this man and his wife were told that cochlear implants for both ears would be "experimental", when this man read that Michael Moore was doing a film on the insurance industry he wrote the insurance company and said he was going to tell his story to Michael Moore and this insurance company wouldn't want their CEO on camera. Once they got his letter they agreed to pay for the other cochlear implant for the baby. Another man he talks to had an accident with a buzz saw and because he wasn't insured it would have cost him $60,000 to have both his ring finger and his middle finger re attached. He opted for re attaching his ring finger for twelve grand. Moore speaks with a woman who lost her 18 month old daughter, in a hospital emergency room, she brought her daughter in with a high fever and a throat infection and was told because this hospital emergency room was owned by a insurance carrier that wasn't this woman's insurance carrier she would have to take her daughter to another hospital miles away. When the woman refused to leave until her daughter was treated, she was bounced from the emergency room and they took her daughter to this other hospital miles away and the little girl died in transit. The same emergency room that refused treatment to this woman's daughter and is owned by a California insurance carrier is also dropping off patients who can't pay their bill to a homeless shelter in downtown LA. The film shows a clip of the CEO of this insurance company being interviewed about this and he says this shelter is the best place for these people.
Another thing the film does is demystify universal health care, Moore goes to England, Canada and France and examines their health care systems and finds out the universal health care isn't the bottom of the rung medical care as some in US congress would have you believe. The film also points out that the British, Canadians and the French have lower rates of cancer, obesity and infant mortality rates and a higher life expectancy then the Americans do. Moore goes into the myth that taxes are higher with universal health care and in France that's not the case but he doesn't mention anything about that in England. I thought I read that the UK has very high taxes and very strict tax laws can any of my friends in the UK verify this?? Another way the film demystifies universal health care is it tackles the myth that doctors in England, France and Canada don't make as much money as doctors in the states do. He interviews a doctor in England and you see clips of the doctor driving in his Lexis and at his half a million dollar town house in London. This English doctor mentions that they are given bonuses by the English NHS to get their patents to stop smoking and on a healthier diet.
The scariest and saddest part of the film is when he speaks with three 9/11 rescue workers, one a young woman who was an EMS worker and two men who were part of the NYFD. One of the men has grinded down his teeth so badly from nightmares and panic attacks that he needs false teeth and he was told that even with insurance it would cost him fifteen grand, the other man a young guy is on an oxygen tank he can barely breathe and has spent thousands on medical treatment and the EMS woman can't walk five feet without having a asthma attack, she had to move out of the city with her children because her insurance claims have bankrupted her. When Michael Moore hears that the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have great medical care he takes these three rescue workers to Cuba to see if they can get treatment at Guantanamo Bay, when they are refused, Moore takes them to a Cuban hospital were after months of being misdiagnosed and put on all the wrong medications, they are told point blank what is wrong with them and given the proper medications.
My aunt's brother who is a union electrician volunteered his time at ground zero to help in the rescue effort and he for the last six years has been in and out of the hospital with what they thought at first was lung cancer. I haven't heard if there was a final diagnosis but I know lung cancer was what they though he had and he is a young guy in his early forties. I also know at one point my Uncle's restaurant did a fundraiser for this guy cause his health insurance claims were sky high.
In my case there were many years were I was without it and it was very scary when I got sick, I just always hoped I never got sick enough were I had to go to the emergency room or have a hospital stay! Knock on wood I have it now and a few months ago, I had a very bad panic attack which landed me in the ER and I'm afraid now if I ever have to go for an operation my insurance company won't cover me because of that or if I ever need to switch insurance companies I'm afraid I maybe turned down because of that.
Wither we are liberal, moderate or conservative we can all agree that our god given right as humans is proper medical care without the red tape! It's sad and scary that a supposed third world communist country (Cuba) has FREE and very good medical care for all of its citizens and the US ranks number 19 just ahead of Slovenia in medical care for it citizens.
"Sicko" is very powerful and totally worth seeing!
This past friday night I went and I saw Michael Moore's new film "Sicko". I've always really liked Michael Moore's films, I'm glad he does what he does and he does it with great humor.
The film is a look at the health insurance industry in the US. Moore spent the better part of a year interviewing people who have worked for insurance companies and have had health insurance horror stories, for instance he interviews one woman whose insurance company paid for her operation but later reneged the claim when it was discovered that she was once treated for a yeast infection.
Other people he interviews for the film include a man whose daughter was diagnosed as being hard of hearing at nine months old, his insurance company would only pay for one cochlear implant for the baby's right ear this man and his wife were told that cochlear implants for both ears would be "experimental", when this man read that Michael Moore was doing a film on the insurance industry he wrote the insurance company and said he was going to tell his story to Michael Moore and this insurance company wouldn't want their CEO on camera. Once they got his letter they agreed to pay for the other cochlear implant for the baby. Another man he talks to had an accident with a buzz saw and because he wasn't insured it would have cost him $60,000 to have both his ring finger and his middle finger re attached. He opted for re attaching his ring finger for twelve grand. Moore speaks with a woman who lost her 18 month old daughter, in a hospital emergency room, she brought her daughter in with a high fever and a throat infection and was told because this hospital emergency room was owned by a insurance carrier that wasn't this woman's insurance carrier she would have to take her daughter to another hospital miles away. When the woman refused to leave until her daughter was treated, she was bounced from the emergency room and they took her daughter to this other hospital miles away and the little girl died in transit. The same emergency room that refused treatment to this woman's daughter and is owned by a California insurance carrier is also dropping off patients who can't pay their bill to a homeless shelter in downtown LA. The film shows a clip of the CEO of this insurance company being interviewed about this and he says this shelter is the best place for these people.
Another thing the film does is demystify universal health care, Moore goes to England, Canada and France and examines their health care systems and finds out the universal health care isn't the bottom of the rung medical care as some in US congress would have you believe. The film also points out that the British, Canadians and the French have lower rates of cancer, obesity and infant mortality rates and a higher life expectancy then the Americans do. Moore goes into the myth that taxes are higher with universal health care and in France that's not the case but he doesn't mention anything about that in England. I thought I read that the UK has very high taxes and very strict tax laws can any of my friends in the UK verify this?? Another way the film demystifies universal health care is it tackles the myth that doctors in England, France and Canada don't make as much money as doctors in the states do. He interviews a doctor in England and you see clips of the doctor driving in his Lexis and at his half a million dollar town house in London. This English doctor mentions that they are given bonuses by the English NHS to get their patents to stop smoking and on a healthier diet.
The scariest and saddest part of the film is when he speaks with three 9/11 rescue workers, one a young woman who was an EMS worker and two men who were part of the NYFD. One of the men has grinded down his teeth so badly from nightmares and panic attacks that he needs false teeth and he was told that even with insurance it would cost him fifteen grand, the other man a young guy is on an oxygen tank he can barely breathe and has spent thousands on medical treatment and the EMS woman can't walk five feet without having a asthma attack, she had to move out of the city with her children because her insurance claims have bankrupted her. When Michael Moore hears that the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have great medical care he takes these three rescue workers to Cuba to see if they can get treatment at Guantanamo Bay, when they are refused, Moore takes them to a Cuban hospital were after months of being misdiagnosed and put on all the wrong medications, they are told point blank what is wrong with them and given the proper medications.
My aunt's brother who is a union electrician volunteered his time at ground zero to help in the rescue effort and he for the last six years has been in and out of the hospital with what they thought at first was lung cancer. I haven't heard if there was a final diagnosis but I know lung cancer was what they though he had and he is a young guy in his early forties. I also know at one point my Uncle's restaurant did a fundraiser for this guy cause his health insurance claims were sky high.
In my case there were many years were I was without it and it was very scary when I got sick, I just always hoped I never got sick enough were I had to go to the emergency room or have a hospital stay! Knock on wood I have it now and a few months ago, I had a very bad panic attack which landed me in the ER and I'm afraid now if I ever have to go for an operation my insurance company won't cover me because of that or if I ever need to switch insurance companies I'm afraid I maybe turned down because of that.
Wither we are liberal, moderate or conservative we can all agree that our god given right as humans is proper medical care without the red tape! It's sad and scary that a supposed third world communist country (Cuba) has FREE and very good medical care for all of its citizens and the US ranks number 19 just ahead of Slovenia in medical care for it citizens.
"Sicko" is very powerful and totally worth seeing!
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