just a couple of things: its pretty grotesque to see and feel the level of anger and animosity that the current election climate has engendered… the other day the post headline that americans owe it to the 9-11 victims to vote for bush was downright surreal, it made me wonder why he, bush, doesnt recieve more criticism for being the guy in charge when this horror was perpetrated in the first place… ive even gotten a few ‘crank’ messages saying i should refrain from discussing anything besides music and that i should stop ‘spreading hate’ (someone really wrote that and here i thought i was a love advocate)… i know i often just scan shit on the net without really reading it and i got a presumably well meaning message from someone who said why didnt i see that the michael moore film was propaganda… this guy obviously didnt check out all of my writings or missed the bit where i said the Fahrenheit film was propaganda but its about time there was some coming from the other side or something to that effect… the convention in nyc was certainly an odd event, there was a full page story again in the post about all of the weird personal ads placed by weird new yorkers soliciting conservative visitors for sex… like “submissive republican wanted for abuse” etc apparently this was a trend that i doubt got much national attention… i read and recommend Dee Dee Ramones funny and sad book “Legend of a Rock Star”, it struck a lot of chords and made me feel bad about his passing all over again, honestly the paintings are ok but there was something genuinely great about his writing… “Chelsea Horror Hotel” also is oddly brilliant there is something going on there that transcends just the weird ass comic book quality of that is what one gets on first impression, there is a powerful psychological basis in his writing about childhood fears translated into the real world, all of his longings and fantasies etc… its really too bad he just didnt hang around and write some more, i know i would have liked to see what he came up with later on we are in Tacoma (and i havent seen anyone with a plaid shirt yet) for the next ‘leg’ (thats what we call the different sections of the endless tour here) everybody in the band (well except for just one member) including myself is deep into Ali-G, this guy is a fucking comedic genius… i only recently discovered him, saw the movie in the UK and then went on to watch the show… initially i didnt get what he was about i just thought it was some mtv hip hop thing, we all sit around during bus rides watching the show and now that the first season is out on dvd everyone is going to be doing his bits endlessly… we watched the ‘day after tomorrow’ on the plane, what a load o crap, what happened to the polar bears from the zoo huh?? plus i think the statue of liberty was facing the wrong way… its fucking amazing, the credits must have had several hundred names maybe even five hundred i think tomorrow is “the burn” at burning man, i wish we could have made it this year, barbara and i have missed two in a row now, mostly cause of that crazy baby, next year for sure… if any of you out there at black rock city come upon this “stay hot!!”