Aaron Burr's Birthday, Part II

It's surprising that I let another year go by without commemorating Aaron Burr's birthday on February 6.  It's not that surprising, since I haven't updated this blog in almost two years (last post, "Bored...at work").  Sadly, this means I've let the Burr down two years running, and someone who gave this nation so many great Constitutional crises should never be forgotten.

But, to be honest, I forgot about it until I got a comment from a guy or gal named "Selbo" saying simply,

A lot of mistakes in your assertions about Vice President Burr

My first response was shock, not at the content of the comment, but that I got a comment at all.  Like I said, I haven't updated this space in almost two years.  Even when I did update regularly, I  had about three regular followers.  One of them was my roommate at the time.  I wasn't even sure how someone would still stumble upon this space, let alone find a post from three years ago that they found so objectionable!  How did this Selbo find the page?

I'm guessing he googled the term "Aaron Burr Birthday".  Apparently, it is the second listing on Google for that term.  This is the greatest accomplishment of this blog since I handily defeated my aforementioned roommate in the Great Blog War of '05.  Thus, I must defend this post's honor.

There are three assertions I made regarding Aaron Burr's actions:

1. His vice presidency led to changing how the election for president occurs.
• This is completely true.  While there was a general understanding that Jefferson was to be President, and Burr Vice President, they actually tied in the electoral college, and it went to the House of Representatives.  Remember, in those days first place was the President and second place got the Vice Presidency.  There was a faction in the House of Representatives that tried to get Burr elected president, despite the understanding that Jefferson was supposed to be president. Burr didn't exactly fight this either.
• This crisis was a wake up call that this was an incredibly stupid way to conduct Presidential elections.
• Thus, the Twelfth Amendment was added to the Constitution, creating a separate ballot of President and Vice-President.  
• However, this did rob us of an epic smackdown between Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the House of Representatives.  Perhaps this is Selbo's problem?
2. Aaron Burr tried to create his own country in New Orleans and in the ensuing trial for treason, he helped establish the independence of our courts.
• This assertion is on the shakiest ground.  I based this on a video I saw in AP U.S. History in 10th Grade (approximately nine years before the post was written).  I think it was from a "Profiles of Courage" of the late, great John Marshall, so no, it's not based on intensive study of primary sources.
• What is certain is that Aaron Burr was involved in some shady dealings in Mexican controlled Texas with armed farmers and strange communiqués with the fairly treasonous seeming General Wilkinson of New Orleans and the Spanish government.  Words like secession were thrown around, but in fairness to Burr, there was never enough evidence to convict of treason. 
• Note, however, that to get a conviction for treason, there must either be two witnesses of the same overt act, or a confession in open court.  The deck's not exactly stacked in the prosecution's favor.  Let's just say he wasn't exactly George Washington.
• Also certain is that John Marshall's refusal to give in to political pressures by Thomas Jefferson to convict Burr despite the lack of evidence needed to convict him helped set a precedent in the young republic for an independent judiciary.
• Thus, the spirit of my assertion is true, even if the details are murky.
3. Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
• If it's in a commercial, it's probably true.  If it's in a "Got Milk" commercial, it's verified fact.
• I maintained that if he was going to kill any of the Founding Fathers, he might as well have killed the guy advocating for an American Monarch.  I stand by this statement (with apologies to any surviving friends or family of Mr. Hamilton).

So, my statement that Aaron Burr was an accidental hero in American History stands.  The more he tried to mess things up, the better he made our great nation.  Take that Selbo.

Bored...at work

Shh, don't tell anyone this is what I'm doing at work. I'm so bored, but it's only fifteen minutes before I go home so I can't really go ahead and start anything without committing myself to an extra 15-20 minutes past punch out time. I can't even think of anything to look at online, so I'm posting on my blog right now. The bonus is that I'm typing right now and that actually makes me seem productive.

Best of 2007

I think I'm safe. I will publicly doubt that anything earth-shatteringly good will come out in the next few weeks. So here goes, the ten best albums of 2007, according to Me.

1) Panda Bear Person Pitch
2) Future of the Left Curses
3) Arcade Fire Neon Bible
4) Radiohead In Rainbows
5) The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
6) Wilco Sky Blue Sky
7) Deerhoof Friend Opportunity
8) Deer Tick War Elephant
9) The National Boxer
10) Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

25 Best Songs of the year:

1) Panda Bear "Comfy in Nautica"
2) Frog Eyes "Bushels"
3) Arcade Fire "Intervention"
4) The Besnard Lakes "Disaster"
5) Spoon "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"
6) Future of the Left "Real Men Hunt in Packs"
7) Bright Eyes "When the Brakeman Turns My Way"
8) Okkervil River "John Allyn Smith Sails"
9) Deerhoof "Galaxian"
10) Panda Bear "Bros"
11) Future of the Left "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood"
12) Radiohead "Videotape"
13) Wilco "You Are My Face"
14) The National "Fake Empire"
15) Thurston Moore "Frozen Gtr"
16) Arcade Fire "Keep the Car Running"
17) Bruce Springsteen "Radio Nowhere"
18) Beirut "Elephant Gun"
19) Boris with Michio Kurihara "Starship Narrator"
20) Bright Eyes "Lime Tree"
21) Radiohead "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
22) Spoon "Black Like Me"
23) Deer Tick "Ashamed"
24) Wilco "What Light"
25) The Besnard Lakes "Because Tonight"

5 Most Disappointing Albums:

1) Devendra Banhart Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
2) Bright Eyes Cassadega
3) The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters
4) Okkervil River The Stage Names
5) Frog Eyes Tears of the Valedictorian

News Flash...Lunch...

When it came time for lunch today, I was jonesin' for some fusion cuisine. I was thinking a delicious East-meets-West Sesame Chicken Cheesburger with Rice fries, but thought, FUCK THAT...what I need is the ultimate in fusion cuisine. That's right, Old World meets New World bitches. That's when I made a bean burrito. Encompassing Old World products like cheese, olives, and wheat, I combined them with New World products like beans, chili peppers and tomatoes. Threw it in that Awesome World invention the microwave and I had a steaming hot burrito to chow down on. It was a truly Post-Columbian experience.

Current Favorites

I wrote a couple of music reviews that Fidel Castro said are the shizzinit. So why not put them on Current Favorites since they won't be seen anywhere else.

Music

Dolorean You Can't Win

Are you wearing out your Wilco albums? Have you always preferred your Neil Young “Helpless”? Then Portland, OR band Dolorean want to be your drinking buddy. On their third proper album, You Can’t Win, lead singer and songwriter Al James explores just that idea, “You can’t win”, to a resigned and heartbreaking end.

While their sound isn’t terribly original, it has a haunting quality. It’s heavily indebted to the aforementioned Neil Young and Wilco. James’ voice lacks a lot of the dynamism of a Young or Tweedy however, and it never moves away from their most melancholy elements.
That’s not to say that You Can’t Win is a bad album. On the contrary. Opening with the title track, a keyboard drone slowly moves to the forefront as James repeats “You can’t win” like a mantra. From here, Dolorean doesn’t stray far from a folksy feel. Piano on “We Winter Wrens” conjures up a countrified Counting Crows and shows a brief glimpse of whimsical melody. However, James’ voice never goes above a disheartened mumble, tempering the track’s attempts at building momentum.

This often suits James, such as on the standout track “Beachcomber Blues”, which aches with each refrain. But just as often, James sounds like he’s about to fall asleep at the mic. James doesn’t have an optimistic bone in his body. Whereas similar acts like Jason Collett are defined by an undaunted optimism, Dolorean leave no room for that sort of thing. You Can’t Win has no rousing rockers.

This could hurt the disc a lot more, except that You Can’t Win creates perfect atmosphere. And in this atmosphere, the lyrics come to the forefront. James is a talented writer, and nowhere is it more apparent than on “What a Bottle Can Do”. While sticking to a familiar theme of drinking to forgot a lost love, the song avoids cliché. It celebrates getting rid of thought, be it through drinking or less destructive means.

In the end, the album feels like a quiet walk on brisk autumn day. As James sings in “What a Bottle Can Do”, “I’ve grown quite fond of what one bottle can do.” In a sense, the album replicates that feeling well. It’s a numb feeling that doesn’t feel bad or good. But it can be beautiful. You Can’t Win makes itself a perfect companion for a melancholy day when winning seems just out of reach.

7/10

Suggested Tracks: “Beachcomber Blues”, “Buffalo Gal”, “What One Bottle Can Do”

Nurse & Soldier Marginalia

Boasting a band name that sounds like a kinky game played by bored couples, “Nurse & Soldier” drop Marginalia. A band with this name should conjure up some Harlequin scene with some romantic, pre-WWI type of connotation to it. However, “kinky” is a more apt description of what Marginalia isn’t.

Strange, then, that much of Marginalia music reminds the listener of Tricky’s classic Maxinquaye, which is hyper-sexed in a so wrong it’s right sort of way. Beyond sharing a romantically linked man-woman duo (Oneida front man Bobby Matador and Erica Fletcher are the Soldier and Nurse respectively), the two albums are so divorced from a grounded reality that it leads the listener to start thinking in new ways.

To say they hold much more in common, would be stretching things farther than they should really go. First of all, Maxinquaye is a much better album, and to suggest that Marginalia plays in its league would be far too generous. However, while I’m selling Nurse & Soldier’s effort short, I don’t mean to. It’s still an interesting album.

Most interesting is the album’s notable lack of percussion. This functions to create the aforementioned schism from grounded reality, notably on tracks like “Green Tea” and “North of Baltimore”. Both employ an organ drone, but “North of Baltimore” gets better results, letting Fletcher’s vocals float over the proceedings. While the drums find their way into some songs, it’s to add a dose of conventionality, such as in “Lies and Alterations”, which, while serviceable on their own, function to bring down the atmosphere of the overall album.

When Nurse & Soldier remain atmospheric they stay strong. However, only with very rare occasion do they create something coherent. “Green Tea” is notable for being interesting but never actually going anywhere, ultimately frustrating. Only on “In the Dark” and “North of Baltimore” do Nurse & Soldier really bring it all together. In most cases, like “Imaginary Friend”, they’re content to just let distorted guitar wash over the listener. It’s effective, if not completely compelling.

While this is interesting, it would be nice if Nurse & Soldier grounded themselves with something. Maxinquaye had sex to connect it to the ground. Nurse & Soldier, like idle thoughts that flit from the minds attention before proper time can be given to them, comes and goes before they have much of an impact. It’s fun listening for awhile, but nothing will hook you in for later.

7/10

Suggested Track: "North of Baltimore", "In Yr Corner", "Lies and Alterations"

Movies

I was happy to see Martin Scorcese win an Oscar. Well, I didn't see it, I heard about it. But, hey the guy deserves it, and The Departed was a hell of a film to win it for.

Some movies I saw recently.

Chinatown - While I almost fell asleep during it, this is more of an idictment of my job than of the movie. Highly recommended. 8/10

Marie Antoinette - A good movie. It humanizes the French royals to an extent that is very impressive. The use of modern music was a good move. Bonus points for using The Strokes' "What Ever Happened" in the movie. One of my favorite songs ever. The girlfriend seemed extremely conflicted and was apparently having some sort of existential crisis. I on the other hand was not nearly so affected. 7/10

Books

Natsume Soseki Kokoro - I had to read this for my East Asia class. It's a quick read and deceptively simple. But there's a wealth of stuff in their. According to the experts, its about loneliness. I guess I get that, but I thought it had a Goodbye to All That, "The Times They Are A' Changin'" type of vibe to it. It's the best book I've read in awhile. 8/10

Current Favorites

So Fidel emailed me the other day, saying he appreciated the extremely non-gay Valentine I sent. Let's just say I don't spare anything for my favorite dictator. Anyways, he also said that even better than a valentine would be a Current Favorites. And who am I to refuse?

I've been listening to a bit of new music, but nothing is terribly great. I picked up The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On and I'll recommend it. Nothing terribly interesting to be said about it by moi. 7/10 on that one. Check out "So It Goes" and "Down in the Valley" for the hot trax.

Now I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Boris and Michio Kurihara's album Rainbow. Now, I haven't listened to the whole thing, since I'm not in the habit of hunting down albums only available in Japan. But there are scraps available, like here. "Starship Narrator" is the best thing available there. I'm a sucker for hot shit guitar, and this one has it in spades. The song is a 9/10.

I also picked up Nurse & Soldier's Marginalia which is a strong effort. I might post a full review later, but I'd say it's a high 6/10.

I haven't been watching many movies...but, oh well.

But I did start reading again. And while the book I'm reading is for a class, I still say it counts. It's called Kokoro, it's Japanese, and at about the 3/4 mark, it's very good. It seems to be coinciding with a Japan kick, so that helps it go down smooth.

Until next time...Konichiwa Bitches!

NFL Picks: Super Bowl

Well it all came down to this. The final game pitted Jane vs Adam (by virtue of Adam winning if the Colts won due to owning the tyebreaker over moi). I still could win second, but I could not win this beautiful thing:

Yes, that's the REAL Lombardi Trophy boys and girls!

For the event we got together 6 of the 9 participants for Super Bowl revelry. Jane, Ann, Shawna, Renee, Tim and myself were there. So did a few of Shawna's roomates. The others had rather flimsy excuses (living in Arizona? WTF?) Those that made it were greeted thusly:

Once inside we enjoyed some chicken wings, pistachio fluff, snacks of a delicious nature, and Blue Moon and Spotted Cow. Good times were had by all, and a champion was crowned. With the Colts victory, the final standings looked something like this:

1) Adam 154-102 Super Bowl Team: San Diego

2) ZT 154-112 Super Bowl Team: Indianapolis

3) Jane 152-104 Super Bowl Team: Chicago

4) Todd 152-104 Super Bowl Team : New England

5) Shawna 150-106 Super Bowl Team: New Orleans

6) Amy 149-107 Super Bowl Team: Kansas City

7) Ann 145-111 Super Bowl Team: Baltimore

8) Tim 143-113 Super Bowl Team: NY Giants

9) Renee 140-116 Super Bowl Team: Dallas

Some notes: Adam won the tiebreaker with me since there was no head to head and therefore won on the virtue of his (much) better regular season record.

Jane wins the tiebreaker over Todd because her team advanced farther in the playoffs.

Well, second ain't bad after spending much of the season in the basement. Though I would like that trophy...

Till next season!

Current Favorites

Music

Well, the Pazz & Jop poll came out. How did my top five fare?

1) The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America ended up at #4 on the poll. This sort of sums up how I feel about the album. Yeah it was a great album, but not a Great album. It doesn't really deserve number one (and in a less off year, they would have probably not been my number one). #4 seems just right.

2) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped ended up #12. This is my favorite Sonic Youth album since Daydream Nation. This is a top five album, but it seems that many critics tempered their enthusiasm for this record. I'll admit that it loses a little steam by the end, but this has always been a problem for Sonic Youth. Only Daydream Nation remains vital through the whole disc. But they can put together stretches better than anyone. And I can't think of a better three song stretch than "Reena", "Incinerate", and "Do You Believe in Rapture".

3) Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood found its way to #8. There's been plenty of time to digest this album, and it only gets better with time. Case's enigmatic storytelling just gets more interesting with each listen, and that voice just tempers any frustration. If the year lasted another two months, it might have gotten even higher.

4) Jason Collett Idols of Exile was not ranked! Even High School Musical got a vote. So this album was not really on the radar this year. Which is too bad. Collett wrote some fine music and as a lyricist, he managed to be more interesting to me than the new Bob Dylan.

5) Beirut Gulag Orkestar ended up #74. Good for it...to be honest, I've cooled a little bit towards this album. While initially the foriegn sound exhilerated and demanded repeat listenings, it revealed itself to be two (maybe three) songs strong, and "Postcards From Italy" wears thin after too many listens. However, the Lon Gisland EP looks like Beirut might be going in a more interesting direction. One can hope...

As for this year's music, I've been digesting The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. It's got some catchy stuff and it's pretty easy to get into, but it's a bit disposable. Nothing's reeled me in yet. But I've said that before and eaten my words. So I'll give it a little time.

Well until next time, lick it up mutt, that's all you're getting for today...

Happy Aaron Burr's Birthday

It's Aaron Burr's birthday today! While Aaron Burr, by an large, was a vile creature, he was an important character in American history. He was a Lex Luther to Thomas Jefferson's Superman, a Riddler to Benjamin Franklin's Batman...and a Jack McCall to Alexander Hamilton's Wild Bill Hickock (zing!)

Anyways, Aaron Burr was a bogeyman that kept the founding fathers on their toes. In 1800 when he tried to steal the presidency from Thomas Jefferson, we realized that our system of electing vice presidents was like, messed up. He tried to create his own country in New Orleans and in the ensuing trial for treason helped establish our independent courts. And when he actually outright killed a founding father, it was Alexander Hamilton, and let's face it, if he was going to kill any of the founding fathers, it might as well have been the douchebag that kept advocating an American monarch.

So Aaron Burr kept trying to create disaster after disaster, but in the end he'd fail and end up making things better.

Well I felt as though today, Mr. Burr's birthday, his spirit was haunting me. Without getting into too many details, I face a series of near tragedies that ended up being averted. A couple near car accidents, left my headlights on, was nearly the victim of a scam...but in the end everything worked itself out tidier than an episode of Family Matters. So Happy Birthday Aaron Burr! Hope you're making Hell a better place by failing to take it over.