MTVast wasteland

Trusty - "The 4th Wise Man" - music w/ a sound unlike any other I have ever heard, like the invention of aspirin.

The Grateful Dead - this band excels at writing about work and workday culture-related issues, and sometimes about American culture as it existed back in the day when Los Angeles had so many orange groves. "The wheel's all muddy, got a ton of hay; now listen here baby, 'cos I mean what I say..." ----- "Get on up off the tracks, this train's got to ride today; One way or another, this darkness has got to give..." ----- "Gotta get down to the government mine, that's where I lately spend my time; [I] Make good money, 5 dollars a day; made anymore I might move awayyy..." ----- "Leaving Texas 4th Day of July, sun so hot, clouds so low, the eagles filled the sky. Gotta get to Tulsa, first train I can ride, the Great Northern out of Cheyenne, from sea to shining sea". The band gets credit for being an early band, as well. There are thousands of cassette tapes and bootleg cds, the double cd compilation of some primo live tracks released by their record company, entitled "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been" is excellent.

Bumblebeez, or "Bumblebeez 81" as they are known outside Australia. Pony Ride@YouTube. Gee I want to live in this world! Dummy, you already do!

Washington Go Go Sound Attack 2, including Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown, Rare Essence - presenting a centristesque view of racial existence, or so it sometimes seems to me.

True Sounds of Liberty, known as T.S.O.L. - what's it like to be raised in a pro-athletic environment?

Dropkick Murphys - Anthems like "Tenant Enemy Number One", which echo Public Enemy's "Public Enemy Number One", give some protection to oi-type European and European-American fans of Dave Chapelle, Keenan Thompson, Michael Jordan and Thabo Mbeki who regularly undergo criticism from the likes of Jeanine Garafalo and Al Franken. As Franken will probably be the US Senator from Minnesota in 2008, and thereupon find the time it takes to build the confidence to continue to evolve politically, it is obviously a good idea for people outside the jam band community to invest in Franken's rise to power. Al Franken is able to draw the map of the states of the United States from memory - something I am also able to do, and I always feel vain when I see his TV show opening with him accomplishing this feat, it's as though he is showing off a little.

Swinging' Utters - More anthems of liberation for people who get diabetes from jam bands - this time seemingly from a Polish point of view.

Asian Man Records - "Mailorder is Still Fun" - Can't say enough about this megacollection. My Korean friend told me in all seriousness that "when Koreans get the knack of something, the game is up". So here it is: Integrated California Ska, and lots of it.

Here We Stand - a compilation from the early Korean era, on a 3" cd - of course, this is good to have, and "Am I Wrong" by Weeper is a Top Ten Song of all time. It includes a guitar solo in the middle that is mixed down to near inaudibility. "Am I Wrong? Yesssssssss. Yesssssssss. Yesssssssss. Yesssssssss. Yesssssssss." Crying Nut is also on this disk.

Crying Nut - Crying Nut went on to do many things, including producing the song and video "Circus Magic", my favorite video of all time (video is available on YouTube); and to appear regularly on Korean TV at Christmastime singing Christmas medleys. Why can't we have Green Day and Avril Lavigne singing Christmas carols on TV at Christmastime? What is wrong with this place? The Crying Nut rock videos "Circus Tricks" and "밤이 깊었네" evince an epic conceptualization of our physical and cultural universe. They have a cd that is apparently about cows, I bought the cd from yesasia and will soon find the English lyrics online. I am thinking that this is one surreal punk rock cd.

Undertones - If the Kennedy people used this cheerful, sober Irish Belfast band to protect themselves from being too happy, and from being too sad, we would all live in a better world. Ask not...

Rai Dawn Monroe
I bought this cd in Boston. Do you ever listen to Rai music? When you listen to Rai, do you feel strange about the war? I sure do.