The Return Of The Blue Moods Of Spain

Music writer Scott Timberg did a nice write-up of my band Spain for his blog The Misread City.

Soul In Pop: Spain's "Hang Your Head Down Low" Review

A nice review of my band Spain's new song "Hang Your Head Down Low" from La Blogotheque:

3. Spain - "Hang Your Head Down Low"

Ça aurait pu être Bill Callahan. On aurait pu choisir Stuart Staples. On retiendra Josh Haden. Il y a dans cette chanson de la retenue, de la douceur, une sensibilité qui flirte autant avec la soul qu’avec la prière (mais n’est-ce pas au fond la même chose). Il y a du recueillement, de l’évocation, de la sensualité. Et même un solo de guitare!

Political Stumping

I usually don't stump for specific political organizations, but two interesting recent events in U.S. politics have inspired me to do just that.

The first was something President Obama said in his 2010 State Of The Union address: "...if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know."

A young doctor by the name of Dr. Margaret Flowers took Obama at his word and went to the White House with a letter addressed to the President describing why in her opinion a single-payer approach to health care would fulfill all of his stated requirements. Not only did the President not accept her letter, Dr. Flowers was eventually arrested for trying to deliver the letter to him.

Dr. Flowers isn't some lunatic nutcake. She is a physician who's vision of health care is, as she states in her letter, supported by 65% of the American public and 59% of physicians. So she has some clout and evidence to back up her theories.

Now, if by what Flowers means by "single-payer" health care is meant "free (for the patient), universal, publicly-funded health care", I, too, support the validity of such an idea, and I signed the “Open Letter to President Obama to Support Single-Payer Health Care,” which can be found on the Physicians for a National Health Program website, and, if you agree with me, I urge you to do the same, seeing as though Obama has so much as said that he would consider such ideas. I thought he was open to the single-payer idea from the start, but obviously I was wrong or a lone physician wouldn't have felt the need to get arrested trying to deliver the idea to him.

In my opinion any government that gives the well-being of money priority over the well-being of its citizens should be ashamed of itself. Just as it is my opinion any government that allows even one of its citizens to live in poverty should be ashamed of itself. These are just my opinions though.

The other interesting recent event is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the details of which can be found here.

How any person can call himself a conservative, say that they are against the status quo of big money influence in politics, and then support this ruling is beyond me. What this ruling says, amongst other things, is that if a wealthy corporation has the money to support a political cause in an advertisement or "movie" during primetime television, then the right to free speech applies to the corporation. If an unwealthy corporation, or group, or organization, or individual would like to support a political cause in an advertisement or "movie" during primetime television but doesn't have the financial means to do so, then said group or individual needs to either shut up (at least in their hopes of making their case on primetime TV in competition with the corporation), or bust out their soapbox and go to some streetcorner (or lonely website outpost) somewhere and scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" to anyone who'll listen. Said people who are all probably lunatic nutcases like Dr. Flowers.

This ruling is about free speech. Conservatives say it supports free speech, liberals, like me, say it stifles it. I heard one liberal TV pundit ask a conservative TV pundit, if corporations are people why don't you support an electoral system in which corporations are afforded the right to vote as well? The conservative conveniently skirted this question.

Anyways, I signed the Move To Amend's "Motion to Amend" the U.S. Constitution to make it clear that corporations are not human beings, nor were they ever intended to be by our founding fathers. If you agree with me, I urge you to sign it too.

I Can Drive 55 - The Blog

I highly recommend this new blog, which is sort of like "Zen and the Art Of Driving" in diary form. Excellent reading and carries important messages for all of us.

"Socialized Democracy"?

a question for conservatives (including president obama): is it "socialized democracy" when every american, regardless of their financial income, has the right to an equal vote? why is the concept that every american, regardless of their financial income, should have the right to equal healthcare, called "socialized healthcare"? if the equal right to vote is called "democracy", shouldn't the equal right to healthcare be called "democratic healthcare"? and another question for conservatives: if you were to have our government force people to pay money for healthcare, shouldn't you support the concept that our government should force people to pay money to vote?

Jim Keltner & "Every Time I Try"

There's a great interview with legendary drummer Jim Keltner in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Drumhead magazine.

Not many people know this but Jim Keltner played drums on the track "Every Time I Try" performed by my band Spain for the soundtrack of Wim Wender's 1997 film End Of Violence. Not the version that appears on the second Spain CD She Haunts My Dreams (Joey Waronker plays drums on that one), but the original version which can be found here and here.

We were introduced to Mr. Keltner through our association with former Dreamworks Records president Lenny Waronker (Joey's dad). I remember at the session (which took place at Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood) thinking how great he sounded and how he made the song come alive. At one point myself and one of the band members had a little argument about how we should play and/or arrange the song, and we asked Mr. Keltner what he thought, to which he replied, "Its a great song...I'll play it however you like!"

Anyways, Mr. Keltner isn't credited on either the soundtrack or the CD single version of the song, so I thought I might write about it here. It was one of the most memorable recording sessions I've been a part of and I'm so thankful he was able to play on one of my songs. I am truly blessed!

Martin Luther King, Jr. And Non-Violence