I got yet another speeding ticket yesterday - my first one in almost 3 years… at least I know it’s been more than 2 years.

I was running late for my kid’s Kindergarten graduation and then I got stuck in slow moving traffic out in the country. Finally when I got around the 10mph under drivers I got 2 minutes down the road and then at the bottom of a hill I was nailed by a state trooper. (By the way, those hats gotta go.)

Apparently I was going 76 in a 55. I really don’t know how fast I was going - and I’m not just saying that. I was not paying attention at all, but I will tell you that I was completely in control, there weren’t any other cars or people around, and even if I was going that fast I don’t really care. Why? Because almost nobody else does.

I just got back from a weekend in the NYC area  - driving around on Long Island, and the major highways that get you there (81 & 87). People are in a hurry and they were weaving in and out of traffic - which I agree is a bad idea - and passing me like I was standing still when I was going almost 80mph - in a 55 no less! I even had a local cop from out that way blow past me going way over the speed-limit.

I completely admit that I break the law and speed at least once every single time I operate a motor vehicle - period. I’m willing to bet that most of you do too. I don’t care if it’s 5 over or if you were going 140mph either way you’re guilty and you have little to no respect for these traffic laws. The same goes for those of us who do not come to complete stops at all intersections.

What pisses me off about the laws in this wonderful country is that there seems to be an acceptance that the laws only apply to some of us. If you have money and lawyers you can get away with just about any crime you want… Apparently if you’re a cop you can speed whenever you want. Go ahead, turn on your lights and siren to blow through traffic… get through that red light - break all the laws you pretend to uphold and place so much importance on just to get to the Drive Thru at Wendy’s, or pull into a mobile station. I have seen this a bunch of times.

I really hate some of our laws, but like most people I don’t go around making it my life’s work to get them changed either. I’ve tried raising the issue before - I’ve been yelled at by cops, judges, lawyers, I even argued a ticket for myself in court and basically won - only to then have the judge tell me that the state will just re-file the charges the following morning and then the court will do everything in it’s power to make sure I get the maximum punishments allowed by law, so then I chickened out and took a plea. (Then they asked me if I was in law school and then told me I should really consider it. WTF?!)

What I hate more about laws I don’t agree with is that they aren’t equally enforced. If you want drugs to be illegal then make all drugs illegal. Why can’t we smoke pot but we can drink ourselves retarded? Why is it that people speed every day - drive right past a cop going 5 or 10 over the posted limit and nothing happens? If speeding is really so serious, then why is it that most tickets are reduced in court?

Why the hell is it legal to buy a car that can go so fast if it’s so important to drive at or below the speed limit? I used to paint cars and part of my job was driving these cars to my shop. I was a young idiot when I started that job and I’ve hit the governor on many vehicles - usually between 99 and 119. Once I got in a BMW M3 coupe and I did over 140mph on a back road out in Rush, NY - and that car could have gone even faster.

At least give me the logic that I was going out of my way and doing something wrong and I got punished just like everyone else. No exceptions, no reductions. It just further re-enforces to me that it’s more about fines than it is safety and rules. Don’t give me the crap about 30% of traffic fatalities are attributed to speed either. I can take numbers and statistics and tell you anything I want with them. Are they counting people who are driving recklessly? Because that is totally different than going even 40mph over the limit in most cases.

Fact is I’ve driven a few old American cars in stock form. They handle poorly and didn’t have Overdrive. Going 65mph in a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 feels like you’re going at a pretty good rate of speed. Cars today are far superior. They’re smoother, they handle better, they’re more stable at speed, they have a bazillion more safety features, the list just goes on. I trust any reasonable adult to handle driving over the speed-limit as long as they feel comfortable and are in control.

I propose we drive less and drive safer, more fuel efficient cars. Actually, I’d love to see more public transportation around which just about solves my speeding addiction entirely. But until that utopia is upon us, set the speed limit way up there… 85mph or something like for a major highway. The road where I got nailed yesterday is posted at 55mph but I think it should be 70mph. Admittedly there have been times in the past that I’ve gone over 100mph in the same area, but I’m not saying that should be legal.

The only place people should slow down is in heavy traffic, road hazards, or in areas with lots of people around -  something most of us would just do out of common sense anyway. Then we get rid of these big V-8 powered gas guzzlers the cops are driving around or sitting in running all day looking for speeders. They aren’t supposed to chase anyone anyway, so they don’t need them for speed and if they really need to go fast you just need to look around to see that even a little car with a 4 banger can be quick as hell these days.

The speed limit purely a money making business run by towns and insurance companies. I heard the insurance companies actually buy the police their radar guns! Fitting since once you get a ticket on your record they jack your rates through the roof.

So, watch the road ahead - someone is out for your wallet, and if it ain’t the cops, the gas companies surely are.

Let me first start by saying that Friday Night / Early Saturday morning left a few friends of mine with the feeling that Rochester is a hopeless culture vacuum and that any good music or art that comes from this town will probably die here as well.

One of my pals was so bothered that he has now purchased the domain, “www.rochesterhatesmusic.com.”

When it’s up and running, “Rochester hates music” will be a site dedicated to exposing Rochester music and musicians that never ever ever ever ever get talked about or exposed in the other 2 or 3 places that you have a shot to be written about in. (Problem B is going to be getting traffic to the site so that these musicians are actually read about.)

Next I’d like to point out that in no way do the following opinions about to be expressed in this column represent Dragonflyeye.net or it’s affiliates, nor should the comments be taken out on any of the author’s affiliates - again, who are we kidding because in a culture vacuum nobody reads this stuff anyway…

There is a myspace page and a website called Rochester Underground, and frankly I see nothing underground about it.

I see a lot of flash and glitz, I see a lot of photos of hot bar girls, and Abercrombie / Hollister looking 20 somethings out bar hopping, drunk and sucking down lame ass light beer, chasing down the American dream in a new computer age perverted sort of I-Phone holding statue of liberty with her thong showing and a look in her eye of no more than a 15 second attention span, while shitty clean cut A-street cover bands  pour on the schmooze over a Sublime song that will have everyone singing along.  They covered the fucking East End Fest for Christ’s sake! It doesn’t get any further from underground than that! Who played this year - let me guess, some old dues and Uncle Plum again?

I walked on stage at 11pm Friday night at the Dub-land underground (coincidence here?) to a pretty large spill over crowd from the East End Fest. I Found out that 3 kinds of people came. Dressy looking club people trying to get laid who probably thought they’d hear another Alexander street style cover band and some straight from the 60’s hippies. Dirty looking smelly bastards who act like they’re loaded all the time and dance like they’ve watched the Woodstock movie a few too many times. Neither of these two types of people really wanted to pay at the door to the underground part of dubland - where the bands play.

The cover started at 3 and steadily worked it’s way to free just to get people down there and hope to recoup from sales at the bar. I stood and watched the remaining members of a now broken up band play a duo acoustic show to a great crowd who danced and cheered for every song.

The third kind of people came to see the second band - my group the Spirit of Ontario. They paid whatever price was asked of them because they understand that is how this whole thing works. They came to listen to music and have a good time. They gritted their teeth and tried very hard to be polite to the first band who honestly wasn’t very good. They covered a Bob Marley tune in a soulless white boy that would have stole the fire from the Rastafarian’s spliff.

Still the room was doing pretty well for itself when shortly after 11 I strapped on my Telecaster (a guitar by the way which some 19 year old kid at RIT told me he hates, cause it’s lame and looks old.) and the band began to vamp the opening riff for Albert King’s “Oh Pretty Woman.”

By the time the first verse was wrapping up - and we’re taking a blues tune, so that wasn’t very long - more than half the room emptied out. But It was still packed upstairs - as well as that part of town still getting the spill over from East End Fest.

We ripped into a few originals that usually go over well with crowds. More people were leaving and less and less were coming down.

By a 1/4 of the way into our set I was playing the guitar with my teeth and throwing every bit of guitar player flash into the show to try and at least win a response from the new people - and I hate that shit. If that’s what it takes to get people to pay attention then I have a serious problem with it.

With my top lip was bleeding, my throat burning from singing over a terrible stage monitor system, I was sweating like someone threw me into a pool, and I realized that I was playing for the converted. That’s how it stayed for the next hour. So we turned into a jam band and just fucked off the rest of the night. We even made up a few songs.

Point is - see past my bitterness here - I know from playing around here for a few years that there are many people who put on excellent shows in town. I know there are many people who write songs that contend with Dylan or whoever. I know there are bands that are just good bands with a great sound and good songs who never get any attention. If it was just me and the boys I’d just assume we sucked or we’re too loud, but other bands who are great get the shaft too. I’ve heard some metal and hardcore bands who are pretty damn loud too, so I don’t by the volume thing anymore either.

So here’s my promise, as my band is usually on the verge of going away any how. I am going to record to the best of the abilities we have and to the best quality we can get (better then you think I bet) the most kick ass Rock and Roll record we can muster up. I’m actually going to aim for the middle with the song selections. Something most people can dig and can throw in the car and speed to. Then I’m going to flood this town with copies of it. If I don’t get any radio stations or local independent news places to talk about it then I give up trying.

When it boils right down to it, I had a lot more fun playing in the basement with a tape recorder… making demos and running on a dream of getting it together enough to play at Milestones, the Bug Jar, and Waterstreet to a full house.

The bubble burst and I’m getting closer to 3o - and feeling closer to 50.

I don’t really know where the real Rochester Underground is, but my guess is you’ve got a better chance of finding it at bars like the Lux Lounge where there usually isn’t anything but a schizophrenic  juke box cycling between the Ramones, disco, rap, and The Sex Pistols.

Observations of daily life in the past month:

A rant…

1 in 5 Americans (adolescent and adults) has genital herpes. I thought it was bullshit so I looked it up… it’s true.

Apparently I may have about 5 diseases that I didn’t even know about and I should talk to my doctor. I think we’re about 3 months away from the drug companies inventing a pill to manage everything, but a cure for nothing.

They’re even pushing drugs on your kids now. If your kid acts out at school a few times they immediately jump to the conclusion that they need psycho-analysis and the need to be on temperament medication. Little kids shouldn’t be depressed enough to need a pill. Acting out on occasion doesn’t justify giving a kid Ritalin. Maybe some kids need that stuff but there’s a whole lot of them that really don’t. We are creating a society of numbed out legal drug addicts.

You know, maybe they should invent a pill for making you a good parent. Then your kids will turn out fine and maybe all the world’s problems would start to turn around. (Who am I kidding, there’s no money in that anyway.)

Gas prices are heading out of control and adversely affecting everything else our consumer driven society needs to survive. Even the cheap shit we buy from China ends up on a truck at some point. I hear that even corn is going cost quite a bit more this season. Funny since the government is paying some farmers not to grow crops. Why not pay them to grow it instead? I skipped economics class quite a bit in high-school but more supply quenches the demand, hence lower prices, right?

And speaking of cheap china products, ever stop to wonder what happens to the global economy if the American economy really does tank? If none of us have any money, who’s going to buy all those cheap consumer goods?

The rate of pay raises is highly un-proportional to the increase in the cost of living – but that’s not news.  Business owners are encouraged by economists to offer pay raises based upon cost of labor, not cost of living. Cost of labor is a competitive wage or salary for the particular job an employee performs and the specific skill/capability sets that they offer to the organization.  It’s smart business sense to a point, and you really can’t argue with that. Everyone from you to your bosses are just in it to make money.

In simpler words… you make $9 bucks an hour… and yeah, we know you can’t really live on that anymore, but where else you gonna go?

But you can’t blame them much because the cost of running a business these days is retarded. I see firsthand the race at the end of the fiscal year to dump extra money to keep the business from having to claim huge profits.

Instead they buy new equipment (or buy themselves new trucks and give themselves large bonuses) to eat up the profit and write it off as a business expense. They trot a fine line between wanting to increase profits but keep it under the radar. Rarely do I hear of a company giving that extra profit back to the people who actually made them that money… the employees.  How about matching 401k or picking up a little more of the health insurance?

Maybe the smart people who are in charge don’t realize this but the key to financial success in this country is to have a solid and happy middle class who is confident in the economy and the value of their dollar. If they see that hard work returns more pay they’ll probably do it. If they feel like they’re doing well and their companies are doing right by them then they’ll spend more money. Since they’ll be well fed and happy and they’ll be spending all this money they’ll care a bit more about their jobs because they’ll appreciate them more. For once people might feel like they’re getting to share in a piece of the pie. Otherwise nobody cares and they’ll only work as hard as you make them.

Politicians during the debates this year frequently referred to the “average middle class family making $200,000 a year…”

Now let me just say that if my household combined income is ever proportional to the value of what $200k is as I’m writing this I’ll consider myself to be very well taken care of. I wouldn’t even consider myself to be upper-middle class… rather I think that’s more like lower-upper class. I can count on one hand the families I know that make that much money. I think money like that would actually warrant taking a phone call when I’m out of the office!

The service based economy has forgotten that its main purpose is to provide good service to the customer. Customer service is horrible in every aspect of our lives – even when it’s run locally by someone who actually speaks English. I asked my advisor about some classes outside of my major today and she couldn’t help me.  She didn’t even tell me who I should talk to. It was worse than asking a guy in the tire department at Sears about the cost of a new TV.

I can’t register for classes because I have a financial hold on my account. I have had to work nearly as hard picking classes and taking care of financial aid and loans as I have taking the actual classes.

I bought a house… I bought vehicles… I got a domestic partnership… I got married… none of that was as difficult as getting advisors and financial services people to just do their jobs right the first time. Need I remind you that I had to apply and be selected to pay them money so I can go to their school?

But if service sucks, the actual products aren’t much better. I lost at least an hour at work Tuesday on the phone making sure I didn’t void the warranty on a new $1300 machine controller that had loose bolts and nuts inside it. Rather than return it, they told me to take it apart and reassemble it, then call back if there was still an issue. Its only been a few days and now I’ll have to call back because, surprise – it’s not working at 100%.

Products today are terrible and I know for a fact that they are engineered to fail within 5 years so that you’ll just go out and buy another one. I think businesses want you to like their product but hate the service. They want you to be so discouraged in the service and repair of a product – or embarrassed that you’re still using something more than a few years old that you’d rather just replace it with a new one, and if that one sucks, maybe you’ll even go buy another one instead of returning it.

US death toll in Iraq was the highest in April that it’s been in 7 months.  How about a progress report – or is there none? You know how everyone says if we just pack up and leave now it will be a disaster… could it really be that much worse? Even if it was worse, I’m not so sure I care. If they can’t get off their asses and take control of their own pseudo-revolution and start to run their own country and government then screw them.

Media attention is focused on Reverend Wright, Barak Obama’s former pastor – like this is the first time a religious leader said some inflammatory stuff. Ever heard any of the Christian coalition members speak?  Why is this or any of the other political junk they spew out news? Why not spend more time informing the citizens of the policies and ideas of the candidates?

It really doesn’t matter anyway because all three of the possible candidates are shitty.  The only interesting people who had anything to say were never given a shot in the first place. If you vote at all this year it’s probably not because you firmly believe that any one candidate is going to make a difference. You’re either voting for an inspirational young black man who is a charming public speaker, a strong and independent woman who’s also a Clinton so that’s supposed to carry some weight I guess , or you’re voting for McCain because the thought of the other two makes you want to choke on your own vomit. You’re certainly not informed enough to tell me much about what any of these people propose to do once elected, nor can you honestly say you agree 100% that they’re really the best people this country could dig up… You’d probably do a better job yourself huh?

The American people are ignorant of their civic duty to select and keep in check leaders that will represent their interests. People fail to demand information to keep themselves knowledgeable of policies and decisions of their government that affect them on a daily basis. Instead they play politics or completely ignore everything. Many people feel that it makes no difference – nobody cares what they think, or they don’t think policy really affects them – well news flash, yes it does.

The same problems affecting the Iraqis lack of participation in government effects us ten-fold. Maybe that’s where they get it from…

So far the Iraq war has cost taxpayers $516,000,000,000 (billion) .

It has cost Rochester, NY $335,000,000 alone!

·  $4,681 per household.

·  $1,721 per person.

·  $341.4 million per day.

Taxpayers in Rochester, New York have paid $339.3 million for the Iraq War thus far. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

62,573 People with Health Care for One Year OR

635,256 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR

6,549 Public Safety Officers for One year OR

5,167 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR

55,370 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR

18 New Elementary Schools OR

1,929 Affordable Housing Units OR

118,570 Children with Health Care for One Year OR

38,659 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR

3,930 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR

5,100 Port Container Inspectors for One year

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

Democrats are a bunch of retards. They have no balls and they’re far too PC to be effective. The only thing worse than them is the lock step bible thumping republicans with no real concept of the term conservative – other than maybe in an uptight 50’s socially conservative way.

 Anyone who makes up their mind before they’ve thought about an issue, or who closes their mind and ears to debate and dissent has greatly missed the point of being an American and should be deported or shot.

I’ve come to find out that most people – if you can actually get them to sit still long enough to have a decent conversation about policy and issues we face as a nation are a lot more on the same page then the Washington ding bats would have us believe.  People wear a front most of the time pretending to subscribe firmly to one way of thinking or another. Why? Because it’s easier to do so.

I’m sick of our society rewarding failure and glorifying stupidity. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Turn on the TV for about  a half hour and then come back to this – that is if you’re even still reading it. I find most people these days are scarred of reading or they act like they don’t have the time.

We need to slow down as a culture and start thinking a lot more. Feed our intellects and brush up on our social skills. Think of how much different things were when we had to write letters by hand and wait for the mail. If your handwriting sucked you had a big problem. People thought carefully and wrote intelligently. They weren’t afraid of big words. They read the newspaper – and the newspaper actually reported news and spoke to you as an adult. They trusted your ability to comprehend facts used a reading level greater than that of an 8 year old. Being smart was actually something to be proud of.

If you want America to remain on top and you want some of the power to return to the hands of the citizens then you have to step up and educate yourself. If you see bullshit you have to call a spade a spade from time to time.

In my lifetime all I’ve ever seen is people just shrugging it off and getting a little dumber each year. You know what, it is obviously not working to our advantage.

So after years of throwing away - I mean, not receiving any sort of juror surveys - I finally got this official letter one day that stated I would be arrested and thrown in jail, as well a facing some mega-fine if I didn’t immediately fill out and return a survey to be entered into the pool of prospective jurors in NYS.

I seriously thought about throwing that one out too - I mean, not receiving it, but I confess - I chickened out.

Fast forward 4 or 5 months and now I’ve been officially summoned to serve. I must report to the hall of justice Monday in place of going to work. For the lovely waste of my time, I will be entitled to $40 under law.

…Oh boy, a whole $40, mister? Gee golly wiz…

My wife and I sat down last Sunday and made out a budget for the first time in 5 years. We are flat broke till September, when my kid starts going to 1st grade and I won’t need to spend almost $700 a month for day care. My wife and I both work now, and though I don’t make a lot of money at my job, I do make more than $40 a day - which I’m sure they’ll take taxes out of at the end of next year…

I’m also going to RIT at half-time status… 8 credits a quarter, vs full time students which starts at 12 credits.

I simply can’t afford to be on the jury, nor do I have the time.

Oh, and there’s this whole other thing too about our justice system being a total piece of shit. From the bottom of what’s left of my heart, I think a fair impartial trial is deserved by everyone in the world, and concrete evidence should be required to lock someone away… But seriously folks, I have absolutely no faith left in the justice system in this entire country. It’s corrupt from the bottom all the way to the top. It’s political, it’s dependent upon how much money you have, and frankly it’s just a facade for this country called America mascaraing as a true democracy.

How many people in the US - save, the world, do you think automatically make up their minds that someone is guilty the moment they’re placed under arrest? You think with a mind set like that there is much chance for a fair trial? It’s just a game of two lawyers who make more money than God, masturbating each other’s bloated egos - if the glove don’t fit you’re still full of shit. I for one do not wish to be thrown into the middle of that situation and have someone’s life in my hands as I help decide their fate.

I have very mixed feelings anyway, cause half the time I blame society for the crimes some people commit… an issue more of the economics and family situation - or rather the lack there of. However, other people are just plain guilty, and some of them are just plain evil and I’d shoot them myself if I wouldn’t go to jail for it. Rapists, child molesters, criminals who kill in cold blood, fat cat Enron type guys, the list goes on…

I’m contemplating trying anything I can think of to get out of jury duty. Saying I’m a Nazi or a racist, or even going so far as to paraphrase everything I wrote above.

There are some people, like my wife, who want to be on the jury… she was so disappointed that when she was summoned last year they never called her number to report. Why don’t they try to find people like that?

Just like everything else that’s wrong with this country, this is a perfect example of letting the government control us.

State: “You will serve on the jury or go to jail.”

Me: “But I’m really busy, and I really can’t afford to miss work… Plus I might be late for class or fall behind on my school work.”

State: “We don’t care about you or your problems… Now do what we say, and remember to thank God you’re an American… You do believe in God, right…”

Me: “Well… I… um…. It’s sort of more complicated then…”

State: “Off with his head!”

Here’s how out of touch I am… I just caught the news about the Obama speech on the Daily Show. I’ve been nerding it up screwing around in C++ for an RIT class since I got home from work - and having all kinds of computer issues with the school’s network and whatever.

Anyway, I catch small parts of clips from his Reverend preaching and small clips from Obama’s speech today. I’d also like to throw out that I agree with parts of the “God Damn America speech by the Rev.”

I have to throw it out there again that I think Obama is a great guy. He’s full of hope, optimism, sunshine, feel goods - he’s everything that’s been lacking in this country lately. However, I gotta say I’m still not convinced he’s got a lot of really solid ideas… I think he appeals to the part of us that thinks how we wish things could be. The part of me that has grown up a bit - beyond my years you may say - is saying that it’s just not how the world is.

Although I realize my ideals - my bleeding heart liberalness for example are likely out of step with reality and possible solutions, I still have them.

My kid was watching the new Justice League cartoon movie the other night (it could just as easily be for adults, you know… references to McCarthy and the red scare… politics, US history…) and Superman started giving this speech about America. The true values of America and what we’re supposed to stand for. Later they cut to a speech by John F. Kennedy - the go to the moon speech I think - and damn if I wasn’t crying a little.

I love this country… I love the ideals and the possibilities… I love the promise of how things should be here, and I hate with every inch of my being the people who fuck that up for the rest of us daily - and that is a huge list man. I hate the rape of innocence that happens in our society.

The real America… the one that cares about people and believes in honor and truth… the America that probably never existed in the first place - but none the less, the America they taught me about as a kid… the one I believed in when I formed by beliefs in this world… That’s the America I want to live in. That’s what I want my son to have someday.

Obama appeals to that thing in me. When I heard him talking about race issues with honesty and integrity - like I said I’m floored. This speech deserves much better commentary than I or the news media can give it right now. I’m left with many thoughts, a bit of guilt, and maybe even a sliver of hope - something I’ve only felt twice in the past 6 years. Once when I was on a bus to Washington D.C. to protest the War, and once when the results for the 2004 election weren’t in yet and we thought common sense would kick out Bush.

Jon Stuart summed the whole issue up best though - and I’ll attempt to paraphrase:

“So there you have it folks. At 11am today, March 18th, 2008, a promising political figure in the United States talked to the American people about race… like they were adults.”

Bruce is here… He’s at the War Memorial - scratch that - The Blue Cross Arena playing a gig.

I am sitting on my couch writing this, sipping on a room temperature beer I’ve been nursing over an hour.

I realize that I am kinda self destructive. Maybe it warrants talking to a professional and not just blogging about it, but I seem to just not care about anything anymore.  I find myself unwilling to do the work it takes for the things I want… I have no enthusiasm for putting in effort at all.

From my dreams of making a career out of playing music and writing songs, to my day job, to buying parts for my motorcycle project, to college, to keeping in touch with friends… even being a husband and father.

I notice I just sort of go through each day like a horse dragging a cart and then at the end of the day I see the clock hit a certain time and I decide I better go try to sleep so I can get up and do it all over again.

My wife said the other night that she feels like I never take advantage of situations or I never make it a point to go out and do something - “Why don’t we go a band playing at a local bar?,” she asks. Why don’t I get us a sitter and take her to a movie at The Little? I make excuses like, “Oh, well I’ve never heard of them.” Or, “I don’t really like that place.” We skip the movies because I don’t know if I’ll like it. “It’s not exactly cheap either!,” I think to myself.

Why when Bruce Springsteen comes to town - not that I like him all that much, but I do like him enough and he is pretty awesome - why do I not get tickets and go see that show? Actually, why did I not even know about it until a few days ago anyway? Somehow I distanced myself from the media to a point where I’m 2 steps away from living in a cabin in the woods…

Something happened. I grew up, and got old and lame and awfully cynical way to fast.

So here I sit, like a sack of rocks while the Boss is up there playing his ass off as usual.

I can complain about Rochester all I want, but when there is finally something going on I can’t just blow it off.

How about a better late than never new years resolution…? I will do what it takes to find effort for life again. I will take in what I can from this town and it’s events - big and small. I’ll go to the open mics again. I’ll play in your bars and clubs. I will try to make more of each and everyday than just passing it by in a gloomy haze.

It’s not 100% truth, but to a point you get what you deserve. All you gotta do it give it your best shot. I haven’t tried now in longer than I even know - and for that I am getting what I deserve.

I could learn a lot from the Boss. That’s a guy who certainly has the effort. He’s like bottled lightning… the romanticized longing and desperation in those lyrics - giving it all you got for something that seems so hopeless or so overlooked.

“…But it’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin
And can’t stand the company.”

Bruce

Friday, Feb 29th:

Ok, so I’ve been sick as hell most of this week. It’s some weird combo of the flu, a bad cold, bronchitis which is accompanied by aches, pains, dizzy spells, lack of strength, the chills, a fever, profuse sweating, a cough like a big daddy seal - no not the kissed by a rose guy - and a dry burning feeling in my throat and sinuses.

So while I was back at home today by noon after a valiant attempt at going back to work this morning, I got to indulge in some napping while pushing fluids and channel surfing.

Somehow I ended up on CSPAN and guess who’s running again, this time as an independent… Ralph Nader.

Now, maybe it’s my illness, but I think this is cool. As I previously stated, I’m less than thrilled with the top choices this year. I’ve been kinda back and forth on Nader or third parties in general in the past 8 or 9 years. I bought into the Nader cost Gore Florida thing… In 2004 I didn’t want him to run because like most of you I sold my soul to anything that looked safe enough to beat Bush.

Well guess what. I’ve learned as I’ve grown older that none of this matters anyway. I seriously doubt that on the whole much will be different if a republican or a democrat wins the election next November. Nobody is a strong anti-war candidate… nobody has any bright ideas to turn things around here economically… The list of problems is endless, and sure maybe there will be a little difference between a guy like Obama and a guy like McCain - Or a Women Like Clinton… whatever.

Point is, Nader said something that stood out in my mind. Think of all the positive changes brought to light by third party candidates in the past. Hell, even the two big parties were third parties at one point. A third party long shot doesn’t run to win - cause they know in the current political game they aren’t allowed.

They run to steal votes. They run to bring issues out. They run to start grass roots movements and hopefully make a change. They run to open peoples minds a bit, and maybe someday after years of chipping away at the stone, they end up as a main party, or better yet they actually lay the ground work for change. Like ending slavery, giving women the right to vote, helping poor laborers.

So who knows. Maybe it’s the green lung talking, but if I’m going to throw my vote away in a meaningless election (like a republican will win NY state?) anyway I might as well feel good about writing my name in the snow.

Though like I’m fond of saying, you can only piss into the wind so long before you get your pants all wet.

So that last post about Weese was obviously written a while back… I must have screwed something up because I noticed it never actually made it up on the site.

So better late than never. As relevance goes, since Kane-no will apparently be back on air, just pretend the whole thing was written about Weese!

It’s a sad time right now for this community. In case you haven’t noticed, Rochester - rather Up-State… well, ok NY… ok, ok… The country? Fine - Fine, the world then. The world is in a bit of a slump.

I heard more depressing news about Kodak yesterday, I’m already sick of this years election process, I still find that nothing seems to work anymore, my going back to college experience has been interesting to say the least - there is a whole list of things on my mind right now that I could write about. Frankly kids, I just aint got the time no more…

Back to the main subject here, Wease love him or hate him has been a huge part of Rochester for as long as I can remember. I’m only 25, so here’s someone who’s been on the air most of my life. Growing up in the Rochester area, I checked out the monorail at X-mas, I swam in Lake Ontario - and it didn’t smell like poop, My Dad, my uncles, my grandfather, and their friends all worked at Kodak, and Wease was on WCMF - every day.

It really sucks to see another piece of this place shaved off and thrown to the side. As I’m sure you heard or read or whatever, WCMF was taken over by new ownership and now all the radio personalities that I’ve grown up with and loved over the years are getting the boot.

Who knows, maybe they demanded too much cash for the new owner’s budget, but guess what - those guys had a ton of loyal listeners. Nothing against Moranimal, Tommy, Sally, and the other DJ’s, but I kinda hope CMF takes a hit in ratings now. (Though, I caught some of the “men’s room” show this morning and it wasn’t bad.) But let’s not Bull $hit - Wease was the star. (Notice the cleaner language approach I’m trying here.)

Transition is a hard time to be in, but I’ll say this, (Unless he isn’t willing to) Brother Wease better be back on the air or the net or something within a year… So Wease, go play poker, chill out, enjoy sleeping in a bit, get in some quality family time for a while… but after a break, some offer better cross by you to have a relevant media outlet again or there is something seriously wrong going on. Somehow, I don’t think a Wease Myspace page is gonna cut it.

Unfortunately, I don’t get to listen to the radio much anymore - it’s outlawed where I work - but I’d be really happy to tune in one day and find Kano and Brother Wease mutha huckin it up on a new show or channel. I miss hearing the bits… “And now is time for only friend of working force in Rochester, NY in USofA…,” and, “FRIIIIIIIDAY!!!!!” I miss the talk about good tunes that you don’t usually get to hear on the radio… I miss the political talk… and hell… I even miss talking about looking at your Key in the mirror.

Seriously, the Saturday music show Wease had was one of the best things I ever heard on the radio. I’d like to see Wease get a new show like that with a bit of the talk show thing in there too. Just a loose, feel where he does what he wants - cause you know what? He’s got a lot of fans. As long as he has that, he can pretty much do what he wants.

Those of you reading this that know me know I play tunes solo and in a few bands… I write songs and all that jazz. Since me and my buddies were 12 years old we’ve wanted to get a chance to go on air with Wease in the morning and have him tell us he thinks we’re cool. I know that’s lame, but it’s true… and it’s still true. As much as I’d sit there and act like I didn’t care, If Wease had me on the show tomorrow and told me my songs were cool I’d geek out.

Artists, musicians, comedians, entertainers in general need to decide for themselves when their time is over, and when they have nothing left to contribute.

All I can say is for Kano and Wease I hope it’s not now.

Alright kiddies - this one’s set out to be a rant from the moment the spark flew from my already flaming and enraged head…

Technology is great for the most part. Everyone loves new stuff… and when technology makes things easier or simpler that’s a huge plus. But the bottom line is the God Damn shit has to work! It seems lately we’re on this path of better, cheaper, faster, need it yesterday and all it does is fuck everything up.

We are on a collision course to total revolution. Shit has to change… there must be a shift on the horizon or our country is going to be totally fucked.

What the fuck?! Is there no acount-a-fuckin-bility out there anymore?

Windows Vista - sucks. It’s not as fast most of the time, and stuff isn’t where I’m used to it being.

Office 2007 - sucks. Plainly because I can’t find anything without losing all kinds of time searching the tool bars. Other than that, I guess it’s not so bad.

Cell phones constantly fuck up, don’t get good service. I haven’t had issues lately, but I know people who have…

Software Maintenance Agreements… $4k a year - what a god damn rip off! What did we pay you $15 grand for in the first place? Shouldn’t the shit just work? But it never does. Then you call tech support and half the people working at these places don’t know as much as you do about their software! What?!!!!

New Dell PC…. Got one for work for this big deal upgrade I’m working on. The IT guy calls me in to show me this goofy ass EULA window that you can’t close. So he gets Dell on the phone and the dude walks him through getting rid of it for good, and then tells him, “oh yeah, I handle about 60 of these things a day. They just won’t fix it.”

Brand New cordless phones for my house… work fine, if you don’t mind the incredible high pitch whine coming from the ear piece the whole time it’s on!

Digital Cable… what a piece of shit this thing is. It’s always been. It’s sucked so long that I’m just used to it. Oh, well… no on-demand channels today. I don’t feel like getting up and resetting the box - again!

Ryobi gas trimmer. Broke the first day I used it. Took it in for repairs and it was in the shop for almost 3 months. When I got it back, they sent me to a room where I shit you not, there was at least 30 of these things hanging up to be fixed. I went home, I put a tiller attachment on it and that broke within 5 minutes. So I took it back and started dropping F-bombs in the middle of the store till they gave me a full refund.

JVC color TV - 5 years old. It still works, but the picture is very dark and I can’t make it better. I just inherited a brand new TV, so I’m able to chuck this one now, but keep in mind I’ve got a 1978 Zenith color TV in my vintage gaming room. It was my parents. My dad bought it so he could watch the incredible hulk turn green. That heavy wood clad bastard still turns on and works just fine!

They don’t make ‘em like they used to - that’s for sure. There’s always been exceptions to the rule, but back in the old days people made things with pride. They designed and built things for heavy duty use. The manufacturing base was strong, technology was booming and amazing strides were constantly being made.

But most importantly the shit worked! Look at how completely amazing the space program was. All the shit they pulled off in the 1960’s.  Look how far things have come. In reality, even though we have more useless bull-shit, like I-phones and robot cats, it feels like we’re going backwards.

People are fucking retarded from the top down. It’s hard to expect pride and intelligence out of your workforce when the people in charge are totally lost half the time as well. But it doesn’t stop there - the workforce goes home and raises even more retarded and socially challenged children.

Oh and one more thing that’s broken and doesn’t work… Something that even in this rant I can’t muster the energy to tackle right now:

Our entire fucking political process.