In response to the birth — at least in part, we are given to understand — of VanRamblings.com, this administrator’s tech mentor, M. David Exman, has created a too long delayed but finally here and much welcome Vancouver-based weblog, which goes by the name of David Exman’s Mouth — all about analog music and the analog life examined, and so much more.
If your interests tend toward bluegrass and / or banjo music, dance (particularly the kind where you get off your duff, with an orientation towards the finer points of the tango), the digital age or … life in the big city, do yourself a favour and take a look inside David Exman’s Mouth.
The Lonely Life of the Independent MLA
“I’ve gotten used to eating alone”
What can MLA Elayne Brenzinger expect after her bolt from the provincial Liberal party? The Tyee’s Chris Tenove asks the last guy to do it, Paul Nettleton.
Allan Warnke, a former Liberal MLA who messily split with the party in 1996, says that Liberal leader Gordon Campbell has demanded absolute loyalty from MLAs since becoming leader in 1993. “If you showed any independent thought or critiqued a policy,” Warnke says, “you got into trouble right away.”
Pop music for adults: coming full circle
Looks like the baby boomer generation continues its domination of the social, political and cultural zeitgeist, overwhelming every other age-group demographic, at least in terms of economic clout.
According to the latest figures made available by our favourite group of coconuts, the Recording Industry Association of America, people ages 30 and older are buying 56% of the recorded music sold across North America, up nearly 14 points from a decade earlier. Although pop music may have been dominated by young people since the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, change is afoot if Elysa Gardner’s USA Today article, Pop: Rated G for grown up, is to be believed.
The Empire Backfires
On the first anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq, author Jonathan Schell, writing in March 29th issue of The Nation (posted today online), explains why Iraq is a cautionary lesson in the folly of imperial rule, recounting how “549 American soldiers and uncounted thousands of Iraqis, military and civilian, have died; some $125 billion has been expended; no weapons of mass destruction have been found; the economy is a disaster … terrorist bombs have taken a heavy toll; and Iraq … (has become) a cautionary lesson in the folly of imperial rule in the twenty-first century.”
In the same issue, Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer & Lakshmi Chaudhry review the 5 biggest lies Bush used as justification for his actions.