Brooklyn Bound, for Birdies

Tonight, I'm heading down to the beautiful Bell House in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn for this month's Secret Science Club lecture to hear Dr Rafael Maia of Columbia University speak about birds. Speaking of birds, Thunder has a nice post with pictures of a leucistic sparrow at his blog.

Longtime readers will know that I am partial to birds myself. I am also partial to Pere Ubu and the amazing concert film Urgh! A Music War. Put Urgh, Pere Ubu, and birdies together and you get this:





Pere Ubu's music ranged from the minatory to the Dada-esque, with this song being firmly in the latter camp. Me, with a crocodilians post and a birdies post back-to-back, I'm firmly in the Archosaur camp.

No Trip Like the Nostalgia Trip: Retro Futuristic Edition

I've been poking around some of the weird corners of the intert00bz and, as a result, I've been on Gary Numan kick. Oddly enough, in all the years I've been blogging, I've only mentioned Gary in one post, and even more shockingly, I only have one post mentioning the fantastic concert film Urgh! A Music War. At any rate, I have been binge-listening to Mr Numan's back catalog, starting with his dystopian sci-fi/horror masterpiece Replicas, originally credited to his band Tubeway Army.

Replicas opens up with Me! I Disconnect from You, a story about isolation and alienation:





Are 'Friends' Electric?, which hit number one on the UK charts, continues the same theme of urban anomie:





Down in the Park is a straight-up horror story about androids and machines which hunt, abuse, and kill humans for the entertainment of the patrons of a club (no Laws of Robotics for these killbots). I am reminded of a William Gibson story, but the song was written before Mr Gibson's writing hit the bookshelves. The concert footage in Urgh! A Music War somewhat undercuts the grimness of the song- it's hard not to laugh at the wee, weird car that Gary rides in during his performance, disquieting lyrics be damned:





Gary is still active, and seems to perform entire albums during his shows:





He'll be playing NYC in May, I may have to consider buying tickets for this show.

Extending the Bush Tax Cuts?

I listened to President Obama's speech about extending the Bush Tax Cuts for middle-class taxpayers, and I'm just a little miffed. While I realize that he probably wants to set a "trap" for the Republicans, who will fight any increase on taxes to the ultra-wealthy tooth-and-nail, but I still can't help but think that he's tacitly buying into the Republican "taxes are a burden" frame.

I've always maintained that taxes are the price for living in a functional society, and I don't mind paying them. In fact, I'd rather give up my tax break of a few hundred dollars and help pay for infrastructure than to end up paying that same amount of money for expenses incurred because the infrastructure is bad- is a tax cut good for Joe Schmo when he has to use the money to pay for a broken axle?

Let all of the tax cuts sunset, as they are supposed to do at the end of the year. Stop using GOP "framing" language when making policy pitches. If you want to make a clear distinction between yourself and your opponent, talk about his accounts in offshore tax havens.

How about an appropriate number from the fantastic music film Urgh! A Music War?





Don't lower my taxes, make the mendacious looters pay theirs.

It's a Total Eclipse of the Sun

Wow, everybody in the States seems to have eclipse fever. Here in the NYC metro area, we will get a 70% eclipse. I am planning on rigging a pinhole projection setup to observe the eclipse. Three of my friends are traveling to South Carolina to view the eclipse, and one friend is traveling to Kentucky to view it in its totality.

For my traveling friends and my family members living in the Southerly climes, I am dedicating a video segment from one of my favorite concert films, the 1982 release Urgh! A Music War. One of the high points of the film is the otherworldly Klaus Nomi performance of Total Eclipse:





In 2004, The Nomi Song, a documentary about the singer's life and career, was released to critical acclaim. It's a fascinating film, a 'close encounters' tale about an alien who graced our planet for a tragically short time.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some cardboard to hunt down before heading out for some eclipse observation.