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I have never donated money to a political campaign in my life, but last month I donated fifteen bucks to Obama. Next time we’re a bit flush I’m going to do it again. It’s time for someone with a different emphasis; it’s time to not elect someone because a family member of theirs has been President before. This is not a family business, it’s the Presidency. Nepotism sucks. Whatever happened to the ideal and goal of meritocracy?

Previously.

Some Zevon this morning, from a live recording on the Internet Archive that’s pretty good, which I found via UBM:

I can saw a woman in two
But you won’t want to look in the box when I’m through
I can make love disappear
For my next trick I’ll need a volunteer

And more Zevon:

The moon has a face
And it smiles on the lake
And causes the ripples in time
I’m lucky to be here
With someone I like
Who maketh my spirit to shine

If like me, Daylight Savings Time makes you lust for the Summertime, as it does me, you can see some ocean, along with vital statistics thereto, here: watchthewater.org. I hate that it stops at the Los Angeles County line, because the beaches I like are actually in Ventura County. There is not a like service for VenCo. I’ve talked about my favorite beach (these days) before.

Water temperatures in my ocean are still in the 56-58 degrees Fahrenheit, so, no go yet. But I did swim at the Calabasas Swim Center yesterday. This morning, I’m achey as hell. I suppose that’s normal. Will I go again today? Perhaps. Though I’m a bit concerned about the etiquette required to swim laps properly.

By the way, I really love the California Flag:

If this whole Federal Government of the United States of America thing doesn’t pan out, I’m gonna stick with the state that borned me. It’s an inspiring design. Perhaps I’ll get a T-Shirt with it.

Aw heck, more Zevon:

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this, ha!

Rock and roll is pretty awesome. Lots of power. Yes, it gets corrupted and co-opted and put on soundtracks and commercials—all of which sucks. But yesterday I was in the car with Tyler he was riffling through my iPod and yes, he found the Postal Service I have, as well as the Ben Folds cover of the song “Bitches Ain’t Shit”—regrettable title and lyrics, but at age 15 he’s heard it before. But I was also able to expose him to The Orb’s “Little Fluffy Clouds;” Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open The Door;” and even Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.” We also had a nice conversation about Prince, of all people. He was wondering “what the big deal was with him” when he noticed how much of his stuff I have. I pointed out that as a songwriter and musician he’s amazing, some even consider him a genius. We played Starfish and Coffee, from Sign O’ The Times, then I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man and Controversy to emphasize his musicianship. Then I hit him with “Kiss,” which Ty did not know was one of his songs. Then the endpoint was that the guy’s been doing this for 30-some years. Pretty coherent argument. He and Tony still like a whole lot of crap nu-prog Rock/Metal, but it’s nice to contribute to some music education.

Speaking of which, I really loved the documentary Rock School. No, not School of Rock, though I enjoyed that too. There’s a new documentary coming out called Girls Rock!, via Jezebel:

Here’s the official website: http://www.girlsrockmovie.com/. Perhaps I’ll suggest we seek that one out while it’s in theaters down in L.A.

In other and more substantial news, we need to move by April 25th. Our lease it up. We’ve started looking, though Leah considers it too early to be taken seriously. This week I’m going to call our management company and see what might be done. I think the best possible things can and will happen. I hate moving. Everyone says that, and of course we mean it.

And here endeth the blog post.

An old TV commercial for Atari featuring Carol Channing and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Those graphics were once amazing.

Tom Hanks and David Letterman.

Fascinating video about market, social, evolutionary, genetic economics. Heck, it’s about everything. Talk at Google:

via Paul Kedrosky: Michael Shermer on the Mind of the Market

The other day I got a comment from Ellen mentioning Jools Holland, who I have indeed heard of, and here’s Kate Nash again, singing Foundations from Jools’ show. If I haven’t warned you before, I’ll warn you now, Kate uses salty language.

Something I missed not being in San Diego. Excellent, inspiring, beautiful cover of the one-hit-wonder. The date on the YouTube video is 2006. The band “The Wrong Trousers” is active on their myspace: http://www.thewrongtrousersband.com/. via Waxy, where many good things come from

I like how this animation screwed with my expectations. Supernifty!

William Gibson: The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Interview : Rolling Stone

I find myself less pessimistic than I sometimes imagine I should be. When I started to write science fiction, the intelligent and informed position on humanity’s future was that it wasn’t going to have one at all. We’ve forgotten that a whole lot of smart people used to wake up every day thinking that that day could well be the day the world ended. So when I started writing what people saw as this grisly dystopian, punky science fiction, I actually felt that I was being wildly optimistic: “Hey, look—you do have a future. It’s kind of harsh, but here it is.” I wasn’t going the post-apocalyptic route, which, as a regular civilian walking around the world, was pretty much what I expected to happen myself.

It’s a rather nice surprise that I’ve not been consumed by nuclear fire, I’ll tell you that.

Well, we made it out of the cold war and into this one, and sometimes I feel like this line from Platoon:

All you got to do is make it out of here. It’s all gravy, everyday the rest of your life, gravy.

Bonus: we live in a world where we can pull up videos like this anytime—it’s, aptly, a peppy song about feeling sad:

I’m not sure aptly is a word, but I’m feeling thankful this week. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Peace to you all.

via Mark Evanier, Flo and Eddie, aka The Turtles, explain their storied relationships with lawsuits and bad managers:

The music business is a cesspool, always has been. Sad.