mushinnoshin

So Winston points to this accent identifier quiz. My results:

Heh. That’s funny because I’ve never even been to the northeast. However it’s quite true that I have little in the way of southern accent — to the point where virtually everyone I’ve met from out of state or out of country comments on it. *And* I always did imagine myself living in the northeast, and used to figure I would move up there eventually. That is, until my years in Florida significantly lowered my tolerance for cold.

It’s been a very, very long time since the days when I swore by artists like King Diamond and albums like The Great KAT’s “Beethoven on Speed“. And though I would like to believe my pallette has grown somewhat more refined over the years, my heart does still hold a spot for progressive rock and metal.

So a few years ago when I started hearing that orchestral metal version of “Carol of the Bells” on the radio every Christmas, I couldn’t help but be curious about it. Still, it wasn’t until recently that I finally got around to googling for the scoop on the creators. And, well — damn, I KNEW that sound was familiar — it turns out the brains behind the Trans-Siberian Orchestra are none other than Paul O’Neil, Jon Olivia, & Robert Kinkel — the producer and members of Savatage, one of my absolute favorties from prog-metal’s heyday.

Which of course means that when I heard they were coming to town, I had no choice but go. And last night’s show was worth every penny. To be sure, as I’ve discovered myself over the years, there are some problems inherent to the meeting of the operatic and electric which make it typically turn out less than the ideal for which the artists and fans alike are searching — especially live. But I do still believe the combination can be very powerful when done right — and the TSO seems to be getting as close to doing it right as I’ve ever heard.

The show was in two parts — the first half was the Christmas opus. And to be honest, if that’s all there was to it, I’d have found it a little sad — rather than a triumph, I might have seen it as “this is what they’re reduced to? John Denver’s Christmas Special for Generation X?”. But then they took a break while they introduced the musicians, and went on to put on arguably the “real” show, cutting loose with other material including a lot of Beethoven, a cover of “Layla”, and — perhaps my favorite of the evening — a phenomenal version of Orff’s Carmina Burana, which will apparently be on their next album. Visually the show was stunning, with all the laser, pyro, and lighting spectacle one could want, and the musicianship was extraordinary, and I dare say I’d put some of them on par with anyone I’ve seen at the Schermerhorn. Now if I could just talk them into doing some Shostakovich…

The best part is that it seems they’re getting rewarded well. I was shocked to find out that the show would be at the GEC. I mean, in Savatage’s heyday, the biggest show I saw them do was third billing behind Megadeth and Dio at Municipal Auditorium. Meanwhile Queensryche, their much more popular contemporaries, are playing the Ryman, and probably considering themselves lucky to do it — it’s more than most 80′s metal bands are doing. So here they are 20 years later, playing music that delves even further into the classical side and out of the mainstream, and I find throngs of people streaming into the GEC, and to find out that the local top 40 station “The River” was involved in the promotion? I mean these weren’t metal heads, or goth kids, or art-rock weirdos like myself, these were regular working/middle class salt-of-the-earth Wal-Mart shoppers. My head was spinning. Well, good on ‘em. The band is getting to do exactly the sort of grand, dramatic production I know they’d always envisioned. I’m absolutely thrilled for them (and a little jealous…). I guess sometimes you really can succeed by sticking to your guns — though it helps to hook your wagon to Christmas!

Of course I have to giggle wondering how many people there had any idea that these were the same people who brought us this gem:

And just because this post isn’t complete without it:

Kick Ass! The Circle Jerks are coming to City Hall.

I must say I do like being able to quantify things. So like, now when people ask me, “just how backwards and bigoted is Tennessee?”, I can just point to a recent poll and say “oh… about 80%”.

I hope you all do realize you’ve just turned Arizona into an Oasis of Enlightenment.

Meanwhile I’d like to thank HFJ for proving once again that Democrats do not win by co-opting the wrongheaded ideas that you should be running to defeat. Social conservatives don’t swing. As Bredesen and Cooper have both proven again, fiscal conservatives do. In other words, when you go to the middle, go north.

(hopefully) Final Update:I think Bruce is scratching the same itch as me. The center-north moderate-libertarian block is home to a whole lot of those independants for whom he’s looking. Though as I concede to Gandalf in the comments, I don’t think Ford could court that block. It’s the block most inclined to hold his family against him — (understandable) fear of political dynasties and all. But it’s a block that dems have to win if they want to go statewide here.

Good news items

Steve Cohen (arguably the state’s only true principled social liberal) wins handily despite the independant challenge from the Ford machine. John Duncan, our state’s other libertarian-leaning* house rep keeps his seat. In the Senate race, “None of the Above” Gatchell beats pro-war immigrant basher Heyward (not surprisinlgy, Lugo comes in last — dude: a shave & a shower will do wonders). Oh, I nearly forgot — while I’ve no love for Ben West, I was glad to see immgrant-basher / race-traitor Juan “El Protector” Borges go down in flames.

Nationally, Pennsylvania washed its ass of the the lube & fecal matter mix named Santorum. And Michael J. Fox beats Rush Limbaugh in Missouri — or something like that. Update: And now apparently Jon Tester — another dem with at least some libertarian sympathies — wins Montana. Yet another update: the libertarian-leaning* Webb apparently does take out that Virginia racist.

Disappointing but respectable

Brent Benedict, a blue-dog Democrat who ran as a libertarian last time, gets 34% against Bushlicker Wamp. Even better, in Florida House District 21, near my old stomping grounds, true Libertarian Democrat Frank Gonzales got 41% against an entrenched incumbant.

Another Update: legal marijuana lost again in Nevada, but approval was up 5 points, up from 39% last time to 44% this year. We’re getting there, slowly. C’mon Vegas, stop playing around and pass this thing already. It’s coming. Everyone knows it. You can’t credibly keep this prohibition up in the land of gambling and prostitution.

You-Get-What-You-Ask-For Department

In a move apparently deliberately designed to further alienate itself from the rest of the country, the LP has been hyping Bob Smither for Tom Delay’s old seat, trying to get votes by promising to caucus with the Republicans and vote for their speaker. I can only guess the LP was completely deaf to the sound of the entire country screaming to take away GOP control of the House. He got 6%.

When-will-they-learn

LP members nationally dumped a few hundred thousand into Michael Badnarik’s campaign for Texas House District 10, and were rewarded with a whopping 4%, proving once again that getting the ~300K party-core votes for president does not a celebrity candidate make.

Of course, in the end, The Onion gives us the real scoop:

WASHINGTON, DC—After months of aggressive campaigning and with nearly 99 percent of ballots counted, politicians were the big winners in Tuesday’s midterm election, taking all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, retaining a majority with 100 out of 100 seats in the Senate, and pushing political candidates to victory in each of the 36 gubernatorial races up for grabs.

* Duncan and Webb both fall into that gray area between right-libertarian and paleo-conservative. Not my preferred region on the map, I like the northwest more than the northeast, but you take what you can get.

If anyone out there is looking for a used washer/dryer set I’ve got a set for sale. They came with the house, but I already had my own. They look to be in good condition and ran fine on a test run. The dryer needs a knob which you can get for ~$7 here.

Dude. I totally found my inner Bob Villa this weekend. Not only did I successfully install a set of wood blinds, but I managed to replace the electrical outlet for the dryer, without frying myself or blowing anything up. Word.

So anyway, my bedroom isn’t finished but it is functional now, which also means I’ve moved out of the den, which allowed me to set up my desk/computer/office stuff. So while I’ve still got a lot of work to do, I’m up to the point where I can work around myself and get back to something like my normal life. Karate tonight after two weeks away should be interesting…

So thanks to bureaucratic stupidity, I still don’t get to vote this year, despite the improvement to the law.

But if I did get a say, here’s how I’d go. Perhaps one of you non-voters in the audience might go in my place and cast my votes accordingly?

Governor: Bredesen

One of the rare times that a major party candidate, not to mention the likely winner, is actually the best one on the ballot. Icky as it feels to agree with the majority for once, I say we keep him.

The Pro-Bigotry Amendment: No

Because, well, I have a soul, and I’m not an evil redneck douchebag. Really, of everything on the ballot, this is the only one over which I’m upset that I don’t have a real vote. My opinion on all the others is rather “meh” this year, but this unconscionable piece of filth needs to die fast and hard. Sadly I fear the people of Tennessee will disappoint me, but I will hold out hope as long as possible.

Property tax limits for retirees ammendment: No

I do favor taking steps to mitigate elders being driven out of their neighborhoods by gentrification — so I would agree with freezing the home’s appraisal value. But the percentage rate — the political football — needs to be the same for everyone. Anything else is class warfare. Also because my concern is someone losing a long held family home to gentrification, any relief should only apply to the home they already have — if they choose to move, they should forfeit the freeze.

United States Senate: ???

I’m really not going to be mad at any votes on this one. Well, no, Bo Heyward & his voters all need a kick to the head, but otherwise, I’m not particularly for or against any of the others. I suppose if I was filling out an IRV ballot, I’d first pick Lugo as a single-issue anti-war/pro-civil-liberties protest vote. I’d second pick ‘NOTA’ Gatchell. I’d just flip a coin to see which of the two major party bafoons gets third or fourth. I like the idea of flipping the Senate, but I can’t personally find anything about Ford himself to like; meanwhile I’m not terribly anti-Corker, he seems like a mostly sane & competent moderate — but I couldn’t bear to validate BushCo. I guess we needed a neocon & immigrant basher like Bo in the race, just so I’d have at least one person to clearly vote against.

United States House of Representatives, 5th district: Jim Cooper

Another tough call. I’d like to support the Independant Ginny Welsch, but Cooper is one of the best of his breed. Unfortunately he’s been weak on some of the most important issues of the day — like the war — but on average he does pretty well. So well in fact that he lands in the top 6 ‘most libertarian’ on the Freedom Democrats House Scorecard. With Ginny, I basically don’t agree with her on much *except* those important issues where Cooper is weak. It’s a quandry. I wish she was running against — well pretty much anyone else. Hell, I wish she was in the Senate race, I’d have many fewer qualms with her than I do with Lugo.

Tennessee Senate district 21: abstain

I really don’t know much about Henry except that he’s an incumbent who’s been there way too long. And sorry, but I can’t join the Krumm lovefest — I do like that he’s good on ‘open government’ issues, but on the whole he strikes me as a run-of-the-mill big government conservative. My curiosity is piqued about Gary Odom as a potential candidate for the next cycle though.

Tennessee House district 53: Janis Sontany

Well I don’t know. She’s had some votes I liked, some I didn’t. But she’s unopposed & she seemed a decent enough human being when I met her.

Metro Charter Amendment No. 1 (property tax referendum): Yes.

I’ve really had to mull this one. If it were any tax other than the property tax, I’d say yes in a second. But as mentioned many times, I’m on a different wavelength when it comes to land taxes. I don’t like property tax being a function of arbitrary political decision regardless of whether it’s the council or the people making the decision. Give me my druthers, the property tax on land would be 100% of the rental value, the tax on the house & improvements would be zero, and the proceeds would be evenly distributed among the people. So is this ammendment going to work for or against that goal? I’m not sure. But change is more likely to get us there than status quo, so I’m going for yes.

We are wired!