less troubling portents...

Sorry for stealing Ben's sequel rights, but I'm sure you recall Bens post a while back about the shall we say interesting picture of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts's family...

Well, there is now a picture of just announced SCOTUS nominee Sam Alito's family that while not beign quite as creepy, makes you wonder who the hell these people hire to do their photo shoots. I mean, dont they want to come off as being normal everyday Americans who joe blow can relate to and who will take our abortion rights away and let Lyndie England hook electrodes to our genetalia, but do it with a neighborly smile, not some family of zobmies who look like they are the result of some weird stem cell/abortion experiment gone wrong that maybe is the real reason why they're all so against all that stuff?



But at least this family is better than Roberts'. I mean his daughter could be kinda cute if she wasnt giving you the look of death. Dude, your daddy is about to assume the best job in the country. He can't get fired for the rest of his life and he gets to play god with the constitution. Yet you cant even crack a freaking smile. Maybe your not in a good mood because this photo shoot is getting in the way of you getting an abortion before daddy puts an end to that crazy right. Or maybe you just feel uncomfortable with that picture of Clinton with his hand on your shoulder. Which maybe explains why your brother there has that "theres nothing going on here" look on his face. I mean he is right at boner level, and if Clinton is feeling up sis' over there, your gona be getting the brunt of that. I havent yet figured out why he might be looking to the left out of the corner of his eye, but I assume he didnt get the memo that said they were looking forward after all. I'm sure someone a bit smarter could find some deep symbolism about the painting of Clinton seemingly growing out of him, but my analysis is confined to boner jokes and the like, so I got nothing. By the way, why the hell are they standing in front of Clinton? Is that a lame attempt to apeal to democrats? Is that a secret code, kinda like "Don't worry, she's and 'evangelical'... hint... hint", but instead "we like Clinton, we're not really as conservative as you think. wink wink". Finally the wife is the only one who looks normal.... even happy. Probabaly because she knows she can coerce her husband into making all the dirty crap he tries to get her to do in bed illegal, and then she'll never have to make an excuse.

MORE COWBELL!!! (I have a fever...)

So, about a month or so, me and some people at work won a bunch of stuff from DC101 by playign the noon oclock game where you find the connection between the 3 songs they play. Well actually I won them since I am the one with useless knowledge about music, But sicne teh first day I won and got a free lunch at Baja Fresh and therefore was not eligible for 30 days, other people took the other prizes, which were pairs of tickets for last nights Audioslave show. Anyway, two nights ago one of the coworkers called me and said He couldnt go after all, and that I could have the tickets.

So thusly, I found myself at the Patriot Center last night. I got there at about 9, figuring I didnt really care about the opening band (Seether) since I didnt pay for the tickets. I went alone, since Elizabeth didnt think she could make it home, change, and get to the show in time, and I couldnt find anyone else to go (I should have called Karen, since I think she likes Seether, but I didnt think of taht at teh last minute as it was). I saw maybe half of Seethers set, and it wasnt half bad... I think they fall into the category of bands that I really dont like too much on CD but are pretty good live. Kinda like the way I feel about Chevelle (who put on an awesome show if you care more about the energy than the music). Anyway, Seether played that "Broken" song from the Punisher or whatever soundtrack. The song is kinda catchy, but without the vocals from that chick from Evanescence, it was kinda dissapointing. The main redeming factor of Seether is that they did a cover of The Deftones "Change (In the house of flies)" which was cool since the first (and last) time I had been at the Patriot Center was to see Deftones and Incubus, and they played that song. So it kinda brought things full circle or some other cliche-ed expression.

OK, now to the main attraction. Audioslave came on at about 10. The stage setup was sparce, but it was pretty cool They had a backdrop that kept changing which started as the choppy water from the cover of their new album and changed to a desert landscape and some third thing that I dotn remember but had a sun in the sky. Also, most of teh stage surfaces, and the bass drum had the same choppy water on them. The sparce set made me thionk a little of those 60's era "Sullivan Show" or "Top Of The Pops" type performances that people like the beatles did. The band seemed very humble and when Chris Cornell spoke, he sounded much less pompous and rockstarish than one would have expected. The only showboating was Tom Morello jumping around like a maniac, which honestly, I think he has earned the right to do what with him being awesome and all. He did kinda remind me of that guy from AC/DC (Angus Young or something?) cuz he was doing that same kind of retarded guitar walk.... But he looked cooler than the AC/DC dude. The setlist was pretty good. They played a good deal from both their albums, as well as a new song (they just started recording their next album), Soundgarden and RATM songs, and one which I didnt recognize and assumed was from Cornell's solo album. The playing was solid all around, and my only disapointment with the Audioslave songs was that they changed the solo in "Shadow On The Sun", which I had been looking forward to... Bastards. I was also disapointed by the utter lack of cowbell. I mean, Brad Wilk is a certified Cowbellologist isnt he? I wanted my perscription filled. All in due time... All in due time. Anyway, they played "Spoonman" which was pretty cool, and then on the encore, Cornell played a solo acoustic singalong-at-the-campfireish version of "Blackhole Sun" which at that point was the highlight of the night. That guy is fucking talented let me tell you. I think those were the only two Soundgarden songs, but I might be wrong. Oh, they also played that Temple Of The Dog song with Cornell singing Edie Vedder's part and Brad Wilk singing Cornell's part... which seemed odd, but sounded good. As far as RATM songs, they did an instrumental "Pocket Full of Shells" and then "Sleep Now In The Fire" which were very good. But the best moment was when in the ecncore (which lasted like 30 min) they played "Killing In The Name Of" Which both blew the house away, and cured my fever. Chris Cornell is certainly no Zach De La Rocha, but he sure can handle those songs. It didnt sound the same, but it also sounded fucking awesome. I have focused mostly on the non-Audioslave songs, but their own songs were awesome as well. The closed with Cochise which rocked and produced the highest pitched sound that I think is possible for a human with testicles to produce. That guy's got range. Probabaly the best Audioslave song was "Shadow on the Sun", but they played all of their singles, and "Show Me How To Live" was pretty kickass as well. The new song was also quite good.

Anyway, the concert was well worth the money I didnt spend on it, and I think I will actually pay to see them next time (they seem to indicate that they would be back in the spring), and I advise everyone else to do the same. They put on a kickass show and its almost like seeing 3 bands all at once. They seem like a band at teh top of their game, and they know how to please a crowd, with good music, not by showing off. I was amazed at how full their sound was with only one guitar (except in "I Am The Highway" where Cornell played rythm) ; I had always figured they used overdubs on the CD, but even if they do, they sound just as good without. Most bands get older and start adding all sorts of extraneous instruments and then dont even play their own stuff on half the songs and instead jump around and (pretend?) to jerk off on stage and think that peopel want to see you act like a retard in front of thousand of people (cough Green Day cough), but Audoslave just plays music and plays it well. On some songs Cornell's vocals sounded better than on CD, indicating that he really does have the chops and doesnt need to be over produced to sound good. And Tom Morello maintains his role in my mind as god of making a guitar his bitch. Go see Audioslave. I am convinced that they might just possibly put on the best show of any band around today.

scary on exactly 2 levels

So apparently, a few days ago, some college kid tried to get into a crowded football stadium at University of Oklahoma with a big back pack, and when the security people asked to look at it, he bolted. Then he sat down on a bench 100 yards away and the backpack blew up. No one seems clear as to whether it was just a suicide or an attempted terrorist attack, but it is scary nonetheless. clearly, anyone trying to take explosives into a crowded stadium is a bit disconcerting. Of course, the speculation is on in force with people citing the fact that he lived with a pakistani guy and possibly went to the same mosque that Zakarious Mousoui (sp) went to. The second way that this is scary is that there has been very little coverage of this... Youd think that the "If it bleeds it leads" media would be all over it.

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