Rolling Country 2006 Thread

I actually think "I Count the Tears" might be my favorite track on the Irma record -- and to me, it's just too sweet to sound quaint!

Now, rethinking the Road Hammers: I'm starting to the get an idea of what Anthony means about Jason McCoy's heart not being in the more rowdy trucker stuff. Outside of the two covers, which are real good but mostly because they're just plain great songs, the only song he really completely puts over, to my ears, is "Girl on the Billboard," which has a cool sort of modal/circular/fugue-ish verse structure and also must be the song I was referring to when I said he sounded like Dwight Yoakam, because it's the only one where he does. The one and only ballad, "Call it a Day," *does* seem somehow more heartfeltedly sung than the faster stuff, and it's not as dull as I implied upthread; the guy does lonesome weariness pretty well, I guess. But I also wouldn't say it's any *less* generic than the speedier tunes; just generic in a less energetic way. I like "I'm a Road Hammer" pretty well, but the five-minute "reprise" version of it at the end (with its jew's harp type break and remixed stretching-out effects) is more B'n'R than the regular version at the beginning, and though Jason also says "chillin' the most" in it, it's really not all *that* B''n'R; actually, toward the start of it, his voice reminds me a little of John Anderson for a line or two. "Nashville Bound" (as in "hellbent and Nashville bound") irritated me at first since its title seemed gratuitious in two different ways after they'd already done "East Bound and Down", but I'm a David Allan Coe and Charlie Daniels fan, so any song where long-haired country guys get in a fight with a redneck is okay by me. "Keep On Truckin'" is not Eddie Kendricks by any means (wow, I just checked Joel Whitburn's book; I had no idea his '73 proto-disco song of that name went #1 pop for two weeks!), but it's kinda funky regardless. And there's lots of little doo-dads, ignition noises and incidental tracks and a track of bloopers called "Flat Tires" (plus the theme song reprise) to make people think this 10-song (eight orignals) album has 14 songs on it, and I appreciate the ripoff shamelessness of that, but then again I didn't have to pay for the thing. Only song I hate is the Country-and-Westerbergish one, "Heart With Four Wheel Drive," which sounds as bland as bland can be.

...and OOPS, I should of checked the credits before I typed "eight originals". "Girl on the Billboard" has apparently been sung in the past by Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, and others; I just never heard it. So the THREE best songs on the Road Hammers CD are all covers, and "The Hammer Goin' Down" was apparently written by Chris Knight, and "Heart With Four Wheel Drive" is "Paul Thorn/Billy Maddox 1995" (who are they?). So, more likely, just five originals, I guess.

I finally listened to this here Kasey Jones album of Mickey Newbury songs. Uggh. Useful if only to have all the worst versions of Newbury's songs in one place.

& i dont mind a good cover album, either (speaking of good cover--god is the new springsteen angry and almost apocolyptic)

Chuck wrote: as far as responses to posts go, seemed to they'd pretty much dried up in recent weeks, and the thread had pret'near up and died except for my own posts. though hopefully that was just a temporary lull.

Roy wrote: P.S. I saw Tim Carroll and Elizabeth Cook this evening. Sweeter folks you'll never meet. Elizabeth has a new record coming out in Feb, and the single is: "Sometimes It Takes Balls to Be a Woman."

I'm back, I'm back. God, my mother's dying of cancer before my (and my sister's) eyes, we got this bad news a couple weeks ago. So I just have been worn out.

Tim Carroll and Elizabeth I've known for maybe 10 years. Great people.

I've been working, as much as I can in between this whole lousy situation--I did a piece on Mark Nevers for the Scene that should run next Wednesday, and he's a fascinating guy. Whatever else you can say about him or Bare or even Lambchop, he gets some cool sounds, and on this new (non-country, actually sorta "Adventure"-era Television/Pavement sounding) Lone Official record he did (they're a Nashville band led by a guy named Matt Button who writes songs about horseracing, feeling lost in the big city, and one kinda great one about bar fights!), Nevers is kinda a poet of the pedal steel or somethin' corny like that. Anyway, I found him real interesting, real cool (into punk rock and Eno and stuff) and he really uses those Music Row miking techniques mixed with his vintage 2-inch tape machines and so forth). I like the way his records sound, even the Candi Staton which I think Chuck mentioned he wasn't impressed by--well, it's probably a bit staid in a way, but it sounds great to me, real good revivalism that isn't stupid.

So far behind--I am also talking to Blaine Larsen sometime next week, so I got to sit down and re-listen to his new one.

I read some of the above posts, and will catch up tomorrow, I promise. I hope everyone here is doing OK--Anthony, Chuck, Roy, Don, everyone.

I did notice some talk about "Girl on the Billboard" above--the great version I know is by Del Reeves. And Chuck, remember the Dean Martin reissue of "Swinging Down Yonder" you were talking about? I saw a great film of him doing "Hominy Grits" from that record, around '52. Awesome.

Finally, it is terrible about Grant from the Go-Betweens. I don't know all their stuff, but I do like a few songs from "Tallulah" which is the most commonly praised one, I think, and from "The Friends of," the one they did in Oregon or wherever. But I never went the way of a lot of people with them, I never quite loved them or anything. They always seemed so serious, and I was always a bit put off by the angst or something. Angst, man, I do not need right now.

whats the album called, and who is putting it out.
i am really sorry about your mother, ill do the candle and prayer thing at mass next week...i wish i could help more

much love
ase

Good to hear from you, edd. Be well.

Edd, all love and support for you and your family in this difficult time.

Edd, sorry to hear about your mother. Best of luck and everything, and I'm always glad to read your posts when you get the chance.

Ashley Monroe alb release delayed 'til September or so.

hey is that dixie chicks video like very deliberately 'yes yes rub face' evoking oil? it's a gorgeous vid in any case (love sophie vids)(although the standard sophie dramatic flourishes - i swear to god i think they bow maybe - rub me rawer in this one than in 'mr brightside' or whatever).

Yes, best wishes, Edd. I hope you and your family are holding up and get through this OK; you're in my thoughts.

ive become obsessed lately with the singer songwriter josh ritter, i like how he writes, and i like his voice, though he might be a little too acousticy for the rest of ya'll

(his song girl in the war, is a gender reversal that fascinates, he sings about waiting for his gf, or wife, to come back from being killed...and since i think he is canadian, and we allow women to serve in combat here, and when he sings

And I got a girl in the war, Paul the only thing I know to do
Is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through

it breaks my fucking heart, there have been a lot of protest songs lately, some god awful (bright eyes), and some brilliant (springsteen)
but this is this most personal of an obit ive heard...

i can ysi if anyone wants to hear it

i might be taking this too literally, and the war might be the realtionship or something like tht, but the more i listen to it, its seems to really be about soilders (he sings lots and lots of songs about how girls dont like him very much which may mean its not about combat, and sometimes he ventures into abstract poetics, so we got to keep yr ears open, and maybe i want this song to be about something that it isnt--he has a voice thats warm, and only slightly atonal, and a little nasal, but more intimate then the others of his genre...so even if its not about war directly, i think the album is on my best of this year so far)

http://www.christiankiefer.com/presidents.htm
also this was amazing, but might be too indie wank for this thread

Anthony, you should read Robert Christgau's College of Joshes roundup from a couple years ago; Ritter's in there:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0335,christgau,46533,22.html

Me, I just played Hank III's cover (on a 2000-copy limited edition picture disc split 45 on oi!-friendly TKO Records) of Antiseen's catchiest song ever "Ruby Get Back to the Hills," and Hank performs the seemingly impossible task of TAKING ALL OF THE TUNE OUT OF AN ANTISEEN TUNE via his usual dried-out riverbank country nostalgia shtick turning into hack dime-a-dozen mosh noise bullshit halfway through, quite an accomplishment (being less melodic than Antiseen, I mean, since Antiseen generally make Motorhead seem like Abba in comparison), but I damned if I'll listen to it again (since he also extracts all the power and humor from the song.) I swear, III annoys me more and more as time goes on. (By the way, are his digs at Kid Rock because Hank Jr has called Kid his "son" or whatever once? That occured to me, and obviously it'd make sense.) Oddly, I actually enjoy the flipside, Antiseen doing "F.T.K." (= "Fuck the Kids," gratitously homophobic but at least thankfully not gratutiously pedophilic, and mostly just gratuitously get-offa-my-lawn-you-idiot-punk-rock-whippersnappers-before-I-get-my-shotgun curmudgeonhood, which I relate too); was that a Hank III song once? (Best new TKO 45 though, is "Broken Bottles" by a band named Broken Bottles, a droney slimey nasal tuneful punk clodhop about getting thrown out of a club that plays '80s dance music, then drinking in the street. That's the B-side; A-side "Suburban Dream" is more cliched but has an actual song to it, too--neighborhood watch amid picket fences; chorus for some reason saying "you and me, we could be the best of friends".)

(actually, that motorhead/abba analogy i just made was stupid; motorhead were actually extremely hooky despite themselves once upon a time, and still are compared to the vast majority of metal out there. plus, lemmy is an abba fan. but you get my point, i'm sure.)

I also really like the Josh Ritter album--there's a good feature on him in the new ND by Linda Ray; I also wrote about him there a few years ago--and I think "Girl in the War" is amazing: the lyrics first struck me as sub-Dylan allusive nonsense, but the song may well be about the paradox of seeking solace in religion in times of religious (or religion-fueled) wars. Especially when you're aching for a girl with champagne eyes.

and who isnt these days

you?

nah, im all about female soliders with champagne eyes, though my experience is mostly isreali, and the frission f political dissent is always a little erotic

ok so 'baby hold on' is almost definitely the next dixie chix single right?

Edd, just got back and caught up; so sorry about your Mom. I know this has going on for a while. I've had some experiences somewhat like that; drop me a line if you ever want to discuss (or for whatever else, of course) xxxxpost: xhuxx, not familiar with Billy Maddox, but Paul Thorn wrote Sawyer Brown's "Mission Temple Fireworks Stand," and I've written on here (and maybe Rolling 20005) about a couple of his live sets on radio and TV(used to be really annoying, and he's still not exactly subtle, but getting to be pretty good with the stylistic switcheroo: crassly funny to spooky to kitchy to all at once, at best; also some okay plain serious, and some not okay). Roy, just finished the Chatham County Line thing: you were asking of any good, and yeah, first and third are. Second slumps, but a few good-to-great ("Saro Jane," an original) tracks. (Can sample all their first and second albums' tracks on yeproc,I hope, since they got 'em as individual downloads; third's tracks not available yet, since album's out on the 30th). Leader Dan Wilson has good evocative songs, most of the time, and they don't do the nasal lockjaw squeak. Was reminded of your man Tim Easton, and now I see they've done some shows together. Now to listen to the album you sent, thanks (cool design; is that your daygig?) So: Billy Walker, killed in Alabama car crash. Was he good?

Finally listened to the Lee Roy Parnell alb Back to the Wall that xhuxk was liking upthread; I don't find any reason to dislike it but I also think that here's another guy with a good voice who just isn't quite a frontman. In fact, I hear more "voice" in the guitar playing than in the singing - bent notes feeling like a human cry. The guitar is excellent, being part of the songs and doing solos without jumping around saying "Here's my solo turn" (not that some guitars shouldn't jump around and do their turns when played with genius). The guitar has bite in the midst of the slow bedroom soul of "Something Out of Nothing," but song and singer need to take command in a way that they can't. For the quiet sadness I'd like Toby Keith singing and for the slow smolder I'd want Travis Tritt. Which isn't to say that I would be unhappy hearing these songs on the radio. Is there a format that handles this music anymore? It's more blues, soul, and gospel than country, but my guess is that the country stations are the only hope it's got.

Now a question I've asked myself and that I don't have an answer for is: Why do I feel that this type of blues-soul is living within unnecessary constraints, snug in its form (especially since, for sure, there's a lot of variety, southern rock to slow blues to jazzy cloudbursts)? Anyhow, that's how I do feel, feel the same thing about the Jessi Colter (which I like quite a lot), that they're too far within a form, and I'm therefore feeling at a distance.

But I don't think that (for instance) Lindsay Lohan is unnecessarily constrained for not loading up her songs with blues licks and not stepping out of her forms.

Both the new Leeroy Parnell and Jessi Colter albums (neither of which, admittedly, I've played much since I first got them, but heck, I'd say the same thing about Lohan's album, which I'm sure I prefer) strike me as less constrained, with more individual songs jumping out and more rock energy and more details to the distinguish one song from another, than the reissue of Delaney and Bonnie's Stax 1969 *Home*, which I've had in my five-CD changer for the past couple days (and which is playing all the way through in the background now, as a last resort before it hits the sell box), and which always sounds pleasant whenever a song comes up, but which never leaves any impression whatsoever beyond that. What is supposed to be so great about this thing again? Sounds pretty darn pro forma to me. Christgau apparently loved them -- gave their '70s albums all A's or A-'s, and seemed to be saying their late '60s ones were even better. *Rolling Stone Record Guide* (red '79 edition, all the later boring ones are in storage now I think, ha ha) claims they were a big influence on Clapton, which could be good or bad. Anyway, I'm thinking people must have just been impressed about Duck Dunn working with these polite white folkies, and I seriously doubt I'll keep the damn thing. Feel free to try to convince me otherwise.

(also, frank, isn't it inductive reasoning to note that certain individuals in genre x are more constrained than certain individuals in genre y, and then assume they both speak for their entire genres? i mean, do you also think toby keith's music is less constrained than, say, vanessa carlton's or michelle branch's? i sure don't -- though who knows, maybe that just means i need to listen to vanessa or michelle more. and i doubt they're the best examples anyway. but also, just because, say, pink lets more genres into her music than, say, dale watson {whose album actually strikes me as quite varied, regardless} doesn't mean i'd rather listen to her. and now, i don't.)

(also, i realize i'm sort of putting words in your mouth; you actually sorta set toby up *against* leeroy, which might mean that, unlike jessi, toby might not qualify as "this kind of blues-soul." and maybe vanessa and michelle are part of a different genre than lindsay, too. but whatever their genres are, i doubt it would be all that difficult to find some member of the leeroy genre whose music is less constained than some member of the lindsay genre. and since in the *past* you've surely complained about current country being constrained in ways that current teen-pop {and current hip-hop} are (which i don't buy myself -- all three genres strike my own ears as constrained *and* varied} i still believe i'm making a valid point.)

oops, i meant:

"you've surely complained about current country being constrained in ways that current teen-pop {and current hip-hop} AREN'T"

Lee Roy Parnell is more comparable to Jon Nicholson than Toby Keith or Jessi Colter, I think, or Lindsay Lohan; he's more of an enlightened crooner who uses blues and country in search of the Genre Without A Name in between. Toby might think he's doing that, but he always defaults to country; Kenny Chesney thinks he does it, but his default is set to Eagles and James Taylor; Garth went there a couple of times, but he listened to a couple of his songwriting buddies one night when they all were high and we all know what happened next. Anthony Hamilton went there but then retreated; Ann Peebles had a home there for a little while; I think Allison Moorer rents a room there, but you guys all disagree.

wow, that was supposed to read "blues and country and soul", whatever

Wow, as far as I can tell, Lee Roy's feet seem stuck to the ground in a pair of lead shoes compared to Toby's, there's no comparison. (I also wish Leeroy seemed as fun--as pop--as Jon Nicholson, or Pat Green for that matter, though Toby's way more soulful than any of the above. *The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Country Music* compares Leeroy's first album from 1990, which I've never heard--in fact, I've never *anything* but his new album, I don't think, so what the hell do I know? Was he more pop back when he actually had country hits?--to Delbert McClinton, which sounds right to me, not that I've ever listened to Delbert enough to figure out if he's any good.)

Speaking of Garth, I've been trying to wade through his damn 17-song outtakes thingamajig from early this year, and I never get very far into it before I give up. Not sure why -- maybe just because it's so fucking long (like all the hip-hop albums I haven't been able to get through this year.) So far, I definitely like the song where he's leaving a bar but he doesn't know where so he asks the operator to trace his cellphone call to determine his global position, and I'm less sure about the one where God reincarnates him as a cowgirl's saddle so he'll be close to his two favorite things in life, a cowgirl and a horse. (The conceit of which reminds me somehow of "I Want to Sniff Sheila Young's Bicycle Seat After a 15-Mile Ride" by my old high school pals Luke Mucus and the Phlegm, though I doubt that's intentional.) Beyond that, Garth, I have no frigging idea yet.

(Dammit - I meant I've never HEARD anything but Leeroy's new album. Which, as I detail way up thread, I actually *enjoy*, despite the misgivings I just stated. He strikes me as a stodgy old cuss, but at least a lively one, which is more than you can say for most.)

I'm not talking about "quality," Chuck, just genre-leanings; I actually don't think Lee Roy is all that interested in country music at all, and neither really is Nicholson, whereas Toby is pretty steeped in it. I'm not even getting into discussions about who sounds lead-footed, not on this thread and not with you, and not with anyone else either, because that's all ear-of-the-behearer territory.

That Garth saddle song sounds awesome though!

Well, Matt, both I (see my Feb 28 post: "NOTHING on this record is MORE country than soul or blues") and Frank ("It's more blues, soul, and gospel than country") acknowledge that Parnell's priority is in places other than country, so I guess that's something we all agree on. And sure, that's probably not the case with Toby. But I still don't see how that makes Toby's music less an exploratory "search of the Genre Without A Name" than Parnell's; maybe Parnell would explore more if country *was* his frame. As is, compared to Toby, he seems stylistically stuck in place, which was my lead-shoe point.

(Compared to Chesney, too; his music just feels way more *open* than Leeroy's. Which might just mean that, nowadays, the scope of "country" is much wider than the scope of "this kind of blues-soul" or "the genre without a name" or whatever you wanna call it.)

(and ha ha, now I'M reasoning inductively!)

I don't want to say that the midpoint of country and blues and soul is necessarily the best place to be; after all, I fully expect the new Hacienda Bros. record to be right there smack dab in the middle, and I fully expect to love it the first three times I hear it, and I fully expect to never listen to it again. And I agree that there is a use for Toby Keith in this world, and that he has soul elements right alongside his shit-kickery. But I still can't see any earthly use for Kenny Chesney, because I think he proves that there are limitations involved in having one's music be "open". But his singles sound okay on the radio, I guess, sometimes.

I like the Hacienda Bros' new album better than that Parnell one - they cover the Intruders ("I useta chase the girls and beat 'em up", still wtf after all these years) *and* Charlie Rich *and* the Boxtops, and do Tex-Mex and spaghetti western and Irish-ish stuff, too. But yeah, it all ends up in the same place, somehow, and I'm not gonna predict I'll return to it much, either. Not as much as to Chesney, at least. (Actually, I never even heard Kenny's most recent one; did anybody here? *When the Sun Goes Down* and *No Shoes No Shirt No Problems* are his great ones; his best-of CD's in storage.)

speaking of toby, why the hell did brooks and dunn do the merel haggard tribute at the 40 years of ACM show, instead of Toby, Toby is the closest to outlaw we have right now, hes clever, hes ambigous, the voice is similar, and well it seems a better fit?

whos watching the acm 2006 awards show tonite?

Most recent Chesney I've liked: "Who'd You Be Today" and "Anything But Mine" (pretty much the same musically, but each set of lyrics establishes its own turf, and Kenny obliges). Country-blues-soul does get played, but I hear it more often on NPR, on shows like "Beale Street Caravan" and "American Routes," "World Cafe" (though the latter also features stuff far from country-blues-soul),and sometimes "Woodsongs" will have like Cowboy Jack Clements or Jim Dickinson or The Gourds, all of whom are more idiosyncratic than ones so far cited, but not very constrained, unless you thank they should be more mainstream-accesible(they do make a living, as is). But mostly "Woodsongs" has somebody more acoustic, like xpost Peasall Sisters. "Beale Street Caravan" and "Woodsongs" are live sets, though ("AM Routes" more studio). "World Cafe" is both; a lot (though not all)of the album tracks they play are bad-to-neglgible American and UK NPR stereptypes (Feist). But the live-in-the-studio sets, which I've mentioned before on these Rolling threads (Rosanne's, for inst) are what I listen for, and they're posted here and there, as well as where they "should" be posted---but my point is that a lot of these artists find exposure either through non-commercial radio formats, or through live sets ("Beale St" tapes stuff in clubs and at festivals all over the country), and/or through newer commercial media, like satellite radio and Webcasts. Also, some networking and performance exposure through other ventures, like I've seen several artists emtnion they got some deal together via Delbert McClinton's Blues Cruise (.And his recent Cost Of Living is mostly pretty droll, xxhuxx, though whether it would be a keeper, I dunno: I think I'm gonna send mine to Luc, but not cos it's bad, it's just established all the room in my headbox it's ever gonna demand.) Haven't listened to Delaney and Bonnie in a while, but when I heard the reissue of their Live, no longer grabbed me like it did on LP, except for one track that made me pogo, most unusually. I suspect they're more significant re networking also: Clapton joined up after Rolling Stone called him the master of blues cliche and he broke up Cream (although I'd say such mastery is good basis for arena thud-rock, but he meant it to be more) and there he pretty much put together Derek And The Dominos, but also with horns and better vocal harmonies than D and the Ds did on their own. And other careers were advanced from D and B enterprises, and seemed like they helped establish the country-blues-soul Southern Rock thing as viable (Lucrative on the road and FM and album sales, rather than *solely* road-piggybacking basically limited-lifespan Top Forty success, like with Box Tops etc). Roy: thanks for Rough Shop. I like most of the playing, several of the tunes, some of the whole songs, and occasionally the vocals.(Words and vocals tend to vague out on each other.) But can imagine somebody else doing good versions (maybe hits, or at least Featured Tracks that actually get played on the radio) of "I'm Your Man" and "Town's For Sale." And maybe "Final Wild Sons" and some others.

(x-post) :( rubbish British telly.

Anthony I ought one of the Jason McCoy records you recommended and it's great! It doesn't sound quite right to me (in a good way) and I'll try to work out why at some point when I'm less busy.

I bought my first Toby CD the other day, too: Honkytonk U (I'd managed to pick up the impression that he was going to be just too rock-ish for my namby tastes, I've no idea how...). I adore that, too.

Strange thing, not being a downloader, and not having a serviceable c&w radio station I can find here, the records I buy are the records I know. That means I am largely buying on the recommendations of you lot (filtered through what I understand of each of your respective tastes). I suspect this is giving me an idiosyncratic understanding of modern country music.

(All best wishes Edd, by the way.)

Tim, try Toby's Pull My Chain.(of course the thing about xpost Peasall Sisters is not just that they are acoustic, but more mountainy than what we're talking about here)(xpost Jon Nicholson sounds fairly country to me, though like I said in Voice, he's a denizen of El Lay to NashVegas urban country, like Rodney, and Rosanne before she got so settled into NYC, and most Country artists on whutever media, basically, though early tracks on his album are too Chris Robinson for my taste, but still basically the same approach as country-blues-soul-rockish)speaking of Webcasts (with and without commercials), and text, like interviews, reviews, forums news (of non-Celebrities, like teacher taking her geetar into the classroom), a good source I've just come across is http://www.realcountrymusic.org

which jason mccoy album, tim?

can we talk about the big and rich which rhymes nineteen/green/sixteen/ and i think marine, on the CMA, it was rather awful in a cloying sentimental and awfully refienthalish

"thingies, wotsits and lies", or whatever it's called. (And A, I enjoyed reading your write-up of the awards show this morning, thanks!)

Thanks too to Don for the recommendation, I'll be listening to that as soon as it chugs its way across the sea from Florida or wherever.

I'm off to see Neko Case tonight. I warmed to her last LP a bit over time, I think it has four or five tremendously good songs on it (It took me a good 25 listens over the course of a month to come to that conclusion, which makes me think I kind of forced myself into liking it but that's fine really, it's the liking thing that's important and I must have been hearing something worthwhile to give it that many goes, I suppose.)

thnx tim!
i still dont like the neko, i know what she was going for, and it was ambitious, but ill put it into the failed experiment camp.

>rather awful in a cloying sentimental and awfully refienthalish <

how so, anthony? i only caught the song's tail end; noticed they had a bunch of old VFW vets (WWII age, maybe? But it's a Vietnam song, right?) up there in purple uniforms. also noticed that, despite the seeming seriousness of the occasion (acknowledged by Sugarland when they next accepted their award -- by the way, did they thank their dykey departed member? If not, they can go fuck themselves), Big still had on his crazy top-hat thing. Song's hard to get through on the album; I assume it would've been even more so on TV, so I'm not bummed that I missed it. Didn't watch much of the rest of the show -- "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" with Vegas dancers was embarrasing (and Reba's butt puns introducing it were even more embarrassing); "Jesus Take the Wheel" seemed really dull, and I basically like both songs so maybe I was just in a crabby mood. Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter seemed smart as a whip and a real charmer (and smarter than her dad, who she had to remind to say one of his lines) when she presented an award, though. Did anybody manage to mention the Dixie Chicks?

The miltary guys, the american flags, the giant screens with footage of soilders, the noise (visual and auditory) in contrast with the quietness, and how it seemed coded--it really did seem like a hawk song that didnt have the courage of its conventions...

maybe reifensthal is the wrong touchstone, but with the milatirized spectacle, it was the first thing that came to my head (i may be crabby too, because i used the phrase kinder kirche kuche to describe gretchen wilson, and the towering trace adkins, with the rockettes show girls was an all american Cabaret--it was a really strange show, really sort of unapolgetically neo-con, and stage managed, in a way that the grammies never were.

which is why the thompson qoute was so brilliant

huh, what thompson quote? can you link to your write-up, anthony?