Fucked Up About Race

Well, it finally happened. with their backs against the wall, unable to make a viable case for her candidacy, the Clintons managed to make the campaign for the Democratic nominee for president all about race. It's a lot easier to create reasons why you shouldn't vote for a candidate than to make the case for why you should. The greater good of the party be damned. There aren't a lot of policy differences between Clinton and Obama so she's gone down what will turn out to be a problematic road once the general election comes along for whichever candidate triumphs in the end (if anyone ever does). It was bound to happen at some point I suppose. I mean, it seems pretty obvious to me that we are a country (and a world for that matter) that is still fucked up about race. People simply cannot understand each other and cannot or will not understand all the factors that leave other people believing what they do. It seems to me that Obama for the first time is really trying to be somewhat honest about race (truthful compared to his ideas of working hand in hand with republicans which we know is never really gonna happen) and to no one's surprise it's hurting him politically. All these pundits are up in arms over what Jeremiah Wright said in his sermon. Frankly it didn't seem like that big a deal to me. It's not something we haven't heard before. If I were black I'd be saying much the same things. It's fairly obvious that people are actually not treated equally and that we have not achieved the utopian color blind fantasy land in which most pundits live. I've been following the case in Long Island in which Daniel Ciccario Jr. was shot and killed by John White. Daniel was drunk when he went to White's home with four friends late at night to confront White's son Aaron about what turned out to be a bogus rape threat. Racial slurs were exchanged and the gun went off. Now I don't claim to know exactly what went down that night and I'm sure you could make a strong anti or pro gun case according to what perspective you have and it is a tragedy that a houng man was killed but come on. He was leading what amounts to a drunken lynch mob to a man's house late at night to do what? Talk civilly tohim? Where did these kids think this was going? John White was sentenced to 2 to 4 years and Daniel's dad freaked out. He has threatened Aaron's life and the White's property has been vandalized. The thing I find fascinating is Cicciaro Sr's claims of reverse racism. If White were white he argues White would have gotten a much stiffer sentence. As if blacks get so many privileges in our society. As if jails are not filled disproportionately with black men. Actually if the races were reversed and White was white and was confronted by a drunken mob of black men at his doorstep I doubt if he would be looking at any jail time at all. This perception of privilage amazes me. Your Geraldine Feraro's of the world claiming Obama is only successful because he's black and oh by the way I'm not a racist. Actually it seems he's been successful despite his color and now that it has been pointed out endlessly that he actually is black (to say nothing of the things that have been pointed out about him that are not in fact true) and race has become an issue in the campaign, lo and behold, Obama isn't doing so well anymore. Why was the Sopranos a huge hit and the wire wasn't when the wire was clearly the superior show? Because people are uncomfortable with race and with confronting the realities of the society we have created. And until we are willing to face those realities we will continue to do very little to change them. What you do not understand you cannot fix.

Mission Accomplishing

I like to keep up with what people on both sides of the aisle are saying. On my recent tour in Texas I listened to a bunch of right wing radio (that's just about all you can get) and between that and your Krauthammers of the world I learned that apparently the war in Iraq is now a success. We're well on our way to victory and the democrats are being completely unrealistic and disingenuous about the prospects of withdrawal. The last part may actually be true. Far be it from politicians to lie to the public. It's not so easy to just aup and close down an operation of this magnitude. But it seems to me the republicans are being equally evasive. McCain knows it is unrealistic to expect to occupy Iraq for the next 20 years. We can't sustain troop levels and we can't afford what it costs. What I don't understand about conservatives is how in their own country they are against big government and they claim to want to reduce spending but they are all about prolonged nation building overseas. Yeah there is a certain threat imposed on us by terrorism but frankly it's not nearly as great a threat to American lives as the decaying infrastructure of this once great nation. Perhaps we could mix things up and try a little nation building here at home...

OKC

Just cruised in to Oklahoma City. The weather is finally what I expected down here. Sunny during the day and crisp and cool at night. I was afraid that I had permanently brought the northern cold down south with me. I was just reading about the rep for Oklahoma City who said that Gays are a bigger threat to America than terrorists. What is it with people? Are they really so uncomfortable and so afraid? Today’s big political news is the storm back in New York over Eliot Spitzer and his thousand dollar prostitutes. Part of me truly doesn’t care and part of me has to wonder about a man who is so confused that he would actually prosecute one prostitution ring while hiring another. He should probably resign for that hypocrisy alone. As far as the bigger battle goes, seems like we’re going to go all the way to August. I am continuously amazed by what a mess the democratic system is in the United States. Anytime a contest is close we seem to learn how flawed and confusing the rules are.
I spent last week visiting the legit world of the tuba at Texas State University in San Marcos. I’ve got to say I had a great time. I was pretty nervous about how things would go over but everyone there was extremely open minded. It was a totally different experience for me as I’m used to rock clubs and such. I can barely remember the last time I was on stage in a concert hall at an academic institution. I used to get really nervous but I guess the key to that was just being really comfortable with the music you’re playing and I surely am that by now. I’ve got a few more shows to go here before getting to Austin for SXSW where I’m certain David Geffen is just waiting to sign me to a really big contract…
Tonight’s show in OKC was not great but let me tell ya a weird little story. At my instore in Dallas, Texas at Good Records I asked the guy there to recommend a cd. He suggested a band called HolyFuck. I liked the cd and bought it. So today before my show I open up the paper and they’re playing this same night down the street from me. A weird coincidence. So I go down there to say hello and see when their show is and I run in to Jay, one of the bartenders at Piano’s in NYC where I play my weekly show. His band is opening up. Two coincidences together make one big fat weird coincidence…