VITAL
Needy, Truly Needy and the Downright Greedy
So the feeding frenzy has begun. What do you expect? When the federal government announces that it’s willing to spend as much as a trillion dollars there’s going to be a lot of folks lining up with ways to put that money to good use. You know what I’m reminded of? Remember how, after last spring’s floods, people lined up at the Coggs Center on Vliet when word got out that food stamp benefits were being handed out? Remember how certain voices on the right clucked what a shame it was that these lazy, poor people were looking for handouts? Well look who’s got their hands out now? Once again, let me be very clear. There is a role for government to take steps to stimulate the economy. But I hope someone is giving thought to how to generate good, family-supporting jobs and match them with the people who need them. After all, the opportunity to get your hands on free money has been getting people in trouble for a long, long time. Just look at that highly damning indictment against the current Illinois governor. Careful, though, cause this Blagojevich dude (and his wife) are caught using some salty language. When will they learn? I mean haven’t they all seen It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? It’s bleeping hilarious.
Dec 9th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Marcus Aurelius Redux
The first blog I wrote for VS was way back in April of ’08. Titled “Marcus Aurelius Online,” I’ve revived it with new answers to old questions. While ruling Rome, Marcus Aurelius Antonius wrote Meditations, setting down rules for living written in Greek. Stoic to the end (his end came in AD 180), Marcus Aurelius wrote them to himself, and in many ways his twelve books pre-figured the blogs of today. Book 1: “the certainty to ignore the dice of fortune…” Bones: Those who bought tickets on the ill-fated Titanic. Relive the grisly event at our Public Museum with a ticket bearing the name of an original traveler. At journey’s end you get to discover if that traveler survived or died….a gruesome roll of the dice from the world of marketing. Book 2: “Now the flesh you should disdain….blood, bones, a mere fabric and network of nerve, veins, and artifacts. Bones: Okay, cut yourself some slack and disdain the Bronze Fonz, too. Book 3: “Do not waste the remaining part of your life in thoughts about other people, when you are not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common good.” Bones: Advice to sour grapes Republicans and in particular, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton. Book 4: “Remove the judgment and you have removed the thought, ‘I am hurt,’ and the hurt itself is removed.” Bones: Rejects from the 2008 Mary Nohl Fellowship thing. Writers who didn’t make the Cream City Review. Book 5: “If on the other hand harm is done to the city, you should not be angry, but demonstrate to the doer of this harm what he himself has failed to see.” Bones: Developers who insist we need more condos. Book 6: “Some things are hurrying to come into being, others are hurrying to be gone, and part of that which is being born is already extinguished.” Bones: Art galleries, blogs, White House staffers, daily newspapers. Book 7: “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it stands ready for what comes and is not thrown by the unforeseen.” Bones: Broad Vocabulary, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Milwaukee Fashion Week, etc., etc. Book 8: “Everything has come into being for a purpose….a horse, say, or a vine. Does this surprise you?” Bones: Well yeah. What pray tell, is the purpose of bailouts? Book 9: “Enough of this miserable way of life, enough of grumbling and aping.” Bones: Get on with the plan. Print more money. Book 10: “The healthy eye must look at all there is to be seen, and not say ‘I only want pale colors’….this is a symptom of disease.” Bones: All arts organizations that deem themselves deciders of what goes where. Book 11: “No nature is inferior to art, in fact the arts imitate the variety of natures. If that is so, then the most perfect and comprehensive of all natures could not be surpassed by any artistic invention.” Bones: Museums and galleries will ignore this advice. Book 12: “Practice even what you […]
Dec 8th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
The Show
Reminding Milwaukee once again that the “Yuletide has a dark side,” In Tandem Theatre Company reintroduces parodies and sketch comedy in The Show. The fourteen sketches, written and performed by local actors Karen Estrada, Matthew Huebsch, Doug Jarecki, Andrea Moser and Jason Powell, combine new and old material that provide a counterpoint to the sentimental overload during of the holiday season. This two-hour production would make any Christmas Scrooge grin and these performers bring an inventive sense of comic timing to the stage. The Show is full of intelligent, witty and hilarious dialogue and lyrics, which are recommended for those over the age of thirteen. The entire evening evokes the retro feel of a 70s television variety program with contemporary updates. Each sketch showcases these talented actors. A favoritepresentation could only be chosen with considerable difficulty because the cast works together through each number as a team, interchanging roles and costumes flawlessly. Several highlights include “Past, Present, and Future Tense” which portrays the ghosts of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol ruminating on helping Ebenezer. Also excellent is the musical rendition of “Beer Goggles” that recalls the impaired judgment of a New Year’s Eve party in which an inebriated couple recites a love song to one another. You can also watch Mary and Joseph struggle through “Couple’s Therapy” which provides a bit of human insight to the marriage consummated after the immaculate conception of Jesus. The finale, “Wrap It Up,” concludes the evening on a high note of rhyme with St. Nick rapping together with his back-up dancing elves. The only concern for this delightfully irreverent show became the performer’s attire. Throughout the evening, especially when out of the minimal costumes, their appearance might have been a bit more formal, all black or elegantly casual. This could have heightened the parody while creating a wonderful complement to the sparse stage adding an element of holiday pizzazz. Kudos to In Tandem and these five performers who provide an alternative to overdosing on sugary themes with satiric spice. Honoring the tradition of sketch comedy The Show will enlighten any December weekend with comical, but slightly deviant seasonal cheer. VS In Tandem Theatre Company presents The Show at the Tenth Street Theatre through December 20. For tickets: 414-271-1371.
Dec 8th, 2008 by Peggy Sue Dunigan
Celebrate the freedom to celebrate
Today is Repeal Day! From repealday.org: “Conveniently located halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas — at a time when most Americans are probably not spending time with family — Repeal Day presents a wonderful occasion to get together with friends and pay tribute to our constitutional rights. [And] unlike St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo, Repeal Day is a day that all Americans have a part in observing, because it’s written in our Constitution. No other holiday celebrates the laws that guarantee our rights.” Wisconsin’s convivial culture has come under scrutiny in recent months; the Journal Sentinel‘s Wasted in Wisconsin series, which is more about the human toll of drunken driving than it is about the state’s “drinking culture” as the blog purports, was highlighted in a recent New York Times feature about Wisconsin’s lenient drinking laws and out-of-control (in some eyes) binge drinking. And right here in Milwaukee, people in Wauwatosa are apparently dismayed, shocked and alarmed that boutique and gallery owners have the gall to serve a glass or two of wine at their establishments, and their complaints have led to a crackdown. It’s a frightening time to be a bon vivant, but lovers of the good life can at least rejoice today that, for 75 gloriously uninterrupted years, alcohol has been constitutionally permitted. I’ll probably be celebrating with a bloody mary, which also celebrated the big 7-5 this week. The Iron Horse throws a big repeal party at their bar Branded that features a ceremonial tapping of a keg of Lakefront beer at 7 pm and shuttles to and from Great Lakes Distillery, the first distillery to open in the state since 1933. Support picked-on wine-serving local galleries tonight at The Armoury as they open Milwaukee’s Own, a show featuring local artists Harvey Opgenorth, kathryn e. martin, Colin T. Dickson and Mary DiBiasio. Or, you know, drink anywhere. Milwaukee still boasts the greatest number of bars and taverns per capita. Buy a friend, or a stranger, a shot. I’ll tip one back for my dapper grandfather, who was arrested in Detroit for running sugar to speakeasies.
Dec 5th, 2008 by Amy Elliott
Stella, Old Broad
I found this image on the AIG website. Posted in the portfolio of former Shepherd Express designer, James Klobier, is a “Portrait of Stella.” I don’t remember wearing pearls, but hey, I’ll take what I can get, old puss and all. Kloiber left for NYC recently to pursue more design opportunities. When first we met, he was working with INFO magazine. In my cabinet drawer is a framed drawing of Stella (by Kloiber). Years ago (well maybe not so many) he designed images for a kiosk on North Avenue, and yeah, once again he included Stella Old Broad. Stella has also been memorialized in a black/white photograph taken by none other than the great departed Jim Herrington who also fled eastward this year. What this means is unclear.
Dec 3rd, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Masters of the Universe
The CEOs of the Big Three American automakers are returning to Capitol Hill clearly chastened by the lashing they took two weeks ago. Back then, they apparently expected easy access to a mere fraction of the $700 billion Congress has authorized to rescue the nation’s economy during this financial crisis. One can understand their reasoning. After all, the collapse of their companies would put not only their own employees out of work but would have a devastating effect on their suppliers and thousands of other businesses. Yet their failure to appreciate Congress’s distaste for bailing them out and their inability to predict the public relations disaster that would result from arriving in separate corporate jets make you wonder if these guys should be trusted running a car dealership in Sheboygan. Nobody wants to see more people out of work. And I certainly don’t want to see labor contracts that provided job security and health and pension benefits held up as the whipping horse responsible for the Big Three’s downfall. The idea behind those labor agreements, despite the need for some common sense reforms, should serve as models rather than dismissed as a symptom of poor management. Experts tell us that the immediate challenge facing our economy, including the carmakers, is the sudden evaporation of credit and the Big Three certainly have assets that can be used as collateral for the loans they seek. But the image problem facing the bozos in charge on Wall Street and Detroit cannot be so easily addressed. Once again the curtain has been pulled to reveal these so-called “Masters of the Universe” who earn millions of dollars a year while driving their businesses into the ground. Do you remember “Bonfire of the Vanities,” the Tom Wolfe novel that poked fun at the go-go economy of the 1980s. The book was made into a not-so-well-received movie featuring Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith in 1990 and many may feel that the story hasn’t aged well. Well I’ve got news for you. The powerful message of the book, just as relevant as ever, is that the American Dream isn’t about working hard and living within your means. That’s for chumps who can get laid off without warning or justification. The American Dream is about making a killing, either through luck, like with a lottery ticket or at the casino, or, more venally, by manipulating the system like the Michael Millkens, Jeffrey Skillings and Ken Lays of recent memory. Of course, the trick is to avoid having one’s cover blown, either through government investigation, scandal or coincidence. Because there’s nothing the public enjoys more than watching one of the privileged few get their comeuppance. That’s the power of the Fourth Estate. It can be noble and lead to the unveiling of corruption and other crimes or it can be petty and exploitative, like watching a celebrity go through the humiliation of a perp walk. So enjoy the bread and circuses as the mighty are held accountable. Hopefully, […]
Dec 3rd, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Apparently I Look Like Richard Gere (and Other Reasons Why I Hate Him)
This weekend, while at a party at one Mike Shank’s pad, a young woman with whom i had spoken earlier in the night walked up to me while i was in a circle talking with Tea Krulos, J. Jason Groschopf and Mr. Dave Clay (names dropped to convey just how scene this party was. Yes indeed, i was hobnobbing with movers and shakers–as far as i’m concerned, anyway). She wanted to let me know that she thought i looked like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, but without all the gray in the hair. Now, i realize that this was meant as a sincere compliment, but i was unable to hide my obvious discomfort at this comparison. I managed to say “really?” instead of “Oh my fucking god i HATE Richard Gere with the passion of a thousand suns OMGWTFGROSS,” but when she looked at the other guys and said, “doesn’t he?” she caught me mouthing “NO” at them. “What, isn’t that a compliment?” “No, i mean, it is! Thank you!” I stammered, but she had realized that she had unwittingly insulted me, and walked away. I felt bad. Whenever a young lady implies that you are attractive, you should say thank you, no matter how perplexed you are by her optical prescription. But two points: 1) I’m pretty sure i’ve hated every movie Richard Gere has ever been in. At least, i know for sure that i hated that streak he went on in the 1990s where he was always cast as the dashing, distinguished older leading man making crazy with the love scenes with whatever hot starlet was the “It Girl” of the day, despite the fact that he comes off like a smarmy douchenozzle. From my perspective, it started with the execrable Pretty Woman and continued with Sommersby, Intersection (where he was paired with TWO trendy starlets, for fuck’s sake), and the most offensive of the bunch, Dr. T and the Women. Now, before you start wondering why the hell a straight man is watching these abominable chick flicks, let the record show that of all of these, i have only seen Pretty Woman. Once. On VHS. Because i think my mom taped it off Showtime or something. No, my vitriol is based solely in the trailers for these movies, all of which showed Douchey Dick in the throes of passion with his leading lady, as if to say “yes, i will be in your movie, but it’s in my contract that i be naked with the leading lady, and that my love scenes get as much exposure as humanly possible. In fact, i will only do Letterman and Leno if you ensure that they’ll ask me about faux-fucking these gorgeous broads.” I mean, dig this bullshit right here: Not only do we get a little bit of nakey Richard a mere 30 seconds in, but he’s got a fresh-off Silence of the Lambs Jodie Foster tenderly shaving his face and declaring with a straight face, “Ah nevah […]
Dec 3rd, 2008 by DJ Hostettler
New Year’s Day Hangover Remedies
By Bridget Brave, Tom Ganos, Ryan Findley, Noah Therrien and Amy Elliott This month in Eat This we featured a fresh, frilly New Year’s Eve menu from Dan Smith at McCormick’s and Schmick, perfect for entertaining and celebrating in style. But what do you eat on the morning (or more likely, afternoon) after? I asked VITAL Source Staffers, all of whom have plenty of experience, believe you me, with the dread Next Day. From easy microwave bacon to Nyquil and macaroni to what we have found to be the best Bloody in town (there is really nowhere I’d rather be on my worst mornings than Tom’s bar … or couch), we’ve got you covered. Be careful, have fun and feel better. – Amy Elliott Simple breakfast from Ryan Findley You’ll need … Frozen hashbrowns Cooking oil of your choice Bacon from the microwave Grapefruit juice from concentrate Bad movies, cartoons or TV shows on DVD 1. Start the hashbrowns. I like Ore-Ida, they’ve already got some seasoning on them, but not too much. Potatoes are starchy and filling and will soak up any leftover alcohol in your stomach while making you feel better. Heat oil in a skillet (you’ll need about a tablespoon – enough to fully coat the bottom of the pan). Dump the frozen potato pieces of goodness in and spread them out to a single layer. Leave them alone for at least 5 minutes, or until you start to see crunchy brown bits on the edges. 2. While the hashbrowns cook on the first side, make the grapefruit juice. I prefer grapefruit to orange because of the tartness – too much sugar will excerbate a hangover. Real grapefruit juice (and by that I mean the yellowy stuff, none of that Ruby Red) settles the stomach. I recommend Minute Maid frozen. Follow the directions on the can to prepare; all you’ll need is a pitcher and water, and a spoon to mix with. 3. Sprinkle the hashbrowns with salt and pepper and then flip them over. Again, leave them alone for at least 5 minutes, or until the crunchy brown bits are easily apparent at the edges. 4. While the hashbrowns cook on the other side, microwave some bacon. Mostly because bacon is delicious, not for any medicinal purposes. If you have a microwave bacon cooker (a plastic tray with ridges to catch the grease and trap it away from the bacon while it cooks), use it. If not, a microwave-safe plate lined with paper towels will do. Start with two minutes on full power, and check the doneness. Continue cooking in 30-second increments until the desired degree of crunchiness is achieved. 5. Transfer bacon to a plate, add the hashbrowns alongside when they’ve finished cooking, and pour yourself a nice tall glass of grapefruit juice. Sit in front of the television and watch bad movies at low volume while you eat. Bridget’s Easy as Shit Slow-Cooked Italian Beef From Bridget Brave The beauty of this is that […]
Dec 2nd, 2008 by Vital Archives
VITAL’s predictions for 2009
By VITAL Source Staffers JON ANNE WILLOW – CO-PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF No matter how hard Wall Street works to lure private investors back into the market, ordinary citizens will go back to saving the old fashioned way: stuffing cash in their mattresses. By June, Verlo will offer an all-new custom model, The Saver 3000, which will include a hidden chamber accessible only with a card and PIN number. Sure, they’ll be uncomfortable as hell to sleep on, but Verlo will sell scads of them to freaked-out Baby Boomers, not only securing their own financial future but providing hundreds of jobs right here in Wisconsin. The Obama Administration’s new motto will be “A windmill in every yard.” AMY ELLIOTT – MANAGING EDITOR In 2009, the stupid but prevalently held idea that “deaths happen in threes” will take on a whole new level of mystical garbage meaning when a trio of prominent world leaders – Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro and, in a “freak accident,” Vladimir Putin – kick the bucket. Somali pirates will take over Cuba, Moscow will be annexed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and North Korea will allow Kim Jong-Il to rule from the grave. Also meeting their demise in 2009: million-year-old and long-presumed-to-be-already-dead Structuralist philosopher Claude-Levi Strauss; actors Sidney Poitier and Peter O’Toole; former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and the already mostly decayed Amy Winehouse. James Brown, on the other hand, will be crowned the Funk Messiah when he unceremoniously rises from the dead on Christmas day. BRIDGET BRAVE – PRODUCTION MANAGER After its victorious parlay into the national consciousness via the New York Times, the Journal-Sentinel’s “Wasted in Wisconsin” series will continue to spread, resulting in a five-part BBC series, MTV True Life Special (“I Drink in Wisconsin”), and several obscure Family Guy references. Milwaukee will celebrate by doing a shot every time the city is mentioned by name. RYAN FINDLEY – ADMINISTRATOR/FINE ARTS EDITOR Gas will make a head-spinning ricochet back to astronomical prices. This ricochet will bring the boomerang back into style with a vengeance. And speaking of vengeance, God will hold off on striking us dead because, in electing Barack Obama, Americans have bought ourselves a few years with which to prove we’re not the awful human beings and wretched global citizens we appear to be. So, no plagues of locusts or rivers of blood or any of that stuff. Which is kind of a nice thought. ERIN LEE PETERSEN – CALENDAR EDITOR Unsatisfied with the Bronze Fonz’s lukewarm reception but still high on patina chemicals, VISIT Milwaukee will collect funds to bronze other pop culture icons loosely associated with Wisconsin. By year’s end, visitors to Milwaukee will be able to take souvenir pictures with Laverne & Shirley, the gang from That ‘70s Show and the entire cast of former TGIF fave Step by Step. The city’s main attraction, however, will be a life-sized depiction of that scene in Wayne’s World where Alice Cooper explains the Algonquin origins of Milwaukee to Wayne and Garth. Erin Lee Petersen […]
Dec 1st, 2008 by Vital Archives
Imagine if you will…
It’s been a long and grinding year, from the shotgun start of the presidential primaries to the historic election of Barack Obama and the concurrent (though unrelated) collapse of financial markets worldwide. You were there – you know – and you don’t need me to offer up yet another post-mortem on a year that can only be categorized as monumentally historic. Besides, the story of these times is so far from written that summarizing right now seems pointless. Instead, I humbly request that I be among the first to wish you peace, hope and better sleep in the new year. Don’t snort: the chance of my wish coming true is at least as strong as that of me getting a pony for Christmas. Please don’t feel responsible for making my equine holiday wish a reality; at this point in my life, if I ever decide that I must have my own pony I’ll find a way to make it happen. And you can find a way to grant yourself peace and restful nights: it’s actually within your reach, and I’m going to share the secret with you now. Remember when you were little and it was time to get ready for bed? Your parents would have you put away your stuff, take a bath and put on your jammies. Sometimes you’d have a snack and then crawl into your warm bed with a book or the radio playing quietly. Eventually you’d turn off the light and drift down into unconsciousness, thoughts of the day just past or the day ahead curling like mist around your dream factory, priming the pump for the night to come. Your details might be different from these, but the outcome is the same: a graceful transition from the chaos of the day into the solace of sleep, a chance to regenerate and face the new morning head-on. I neglected this ritual for nearly three decades. As a typical young adult I flew from bed to school or work, from obligated time into a frenzied social life, slamming back into bed late and crashing hard (or staring at the ceiling for hours) until my alarm clock pulled me with a squawk from my mattress once again. I didn’t prioritize it as a single mom and new business owner, either. How could I? Time becomes so compressed for grownups, until you look in the mirror one morning and realize that you’ve aged, the lines and gray hair informing you in no uncertain terms that there’s no traveling backwards. You can’t stop time and the inexorable hunger of its advances. Time is like fire: always consuming you, even as it paves the way for new beginnings. But you can steal from time – a moment here and there – and reclaim yourself. I can attest that the moments you take back from the voracity of the daily grind are well-invested, replenishing your under-valued emotional and spiritual reservoir and providing a source of strength from which to draw in […]
Dec 1st, 2008 by Jon Anne Willow
The Bruce Bowl???
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so, of course, our thoughts naturally turn to … FOOTBALL! Understandably, most Packers fans are in a state of shock following the whupping the team took from the New Orleans Saints in the very same stadium which was the site of the team’s Super Bowl win way back in 1997. Now I really don’t want to dredge up the angst of the Brett Favre controversy of last summer. Really, I don’t. But as a lifelong fan of the New York Jets I just have to say that I am deliriously excited about that team’s prospects this year with Mr. Favre under center. Let me be clear that I root for the Packers and have been very disappointed by their performance this season. Aaron Rodgers has played very well, especially considering the enormous pressure placed on his shoulders by the team’s management. It isn’t often that a 13-3 team is turned over to an unproven young quarterback when a hall of fame caliber one is still healthy and capable of playing. In fact, as I’ve said before, how thrilling would it be for the Packers and Jets to have faced each other in this year’s Super Bowl? But that’s unlikely to happen. At 5-6, the Packers are going to struggle to even make the playoffs. Now bear with me as I raise the possibility of an extremely unlikely scenario that could only happen while I live here in Wisconsin. It now appears possible that the Giants and Jets, two New York teams who play in New Jersey, might actually meet in the Super Bowl. It couldn’t be called the Subway Bowl, unless the sandwich shop decided to pony up a whole bunch of dollars. The Turnpike Bowl, maybe or the Garden State Bowl, perhaps. Then again, Jersey purists might argue that fans in southern New Jersey are among those crazed fans of the Eagles and they might want no part of such a contest. Yet with the Great Bruce Springsteen scheduled to entertain during halftime one must admit there would be something special about a contest between the Jets and the Giants. It would amount to a rematch between Brett Favre and Eli Manning that would appeal to even the biggest Aaron Rodgers fan among the hardcore Packer Nation. So I submit to you now, for your consideration, that if the Packers fail to make a run for the Super Bowl that you might join me in rooting for such a rematch that we’ll just call The Bruce Bowl.
Nov 26th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
Chinese Democracy. LET’S DO THIS.
Fig.1: At least that godawful Asian-style font didn’t make it onto the album art, i guess If you’re on top of pop culture, you’ve probably already listened to the new “Guns ‘n’ Roses” album, as it’s been streamable on the “G’N’R” MySpace since Thursday. Me, i listened to it for the first time while at work on Friday, but since i was in an office environment, cranking the muthafugga wasn’t really an option. I did, however, hear enough of it to know that Chuck Klosterman is on crack rock. In his review of Chinese Democracy for The Onion, Klosterman (with whom i agree on some issues [the validity of hair metal as a genre] but disagree vehemently on others [the boneheaded contention that hair metal was valid essentially because it sold a lot of records]) attempts to mark the release of Axl Rose’s Citizen Kane Plan 9 From Outer Space as some sort of cultural turning point: Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we’ll ever contemplate in this context—it’s the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file. This is the end of that. Uh…really? Says who? You? Fig.2: It’s called a camera, Chuck. When i click this button, it will create an image of you. Like magic! Oh, wait, i get it. Look at that photo…he’s totally stoned. That explains it. But still, i really did enjoy his musings on Motley Crue in Fargo Rock City, so maybe i should give the album another listen, at home where i can hear everything, yes? After all, it may be impossible to review the album in a vacuum away from the 17 years of anticipation, or whatever the hell else Chuck contends, but in the end, it’s about whether or not it’s a good record–or at least, a passable listening experience. Granted, with this much time gone, “almost as good as Use Your Illusion” would likely be a success. So, blah blah, enough with the buildup–i’m gonna hit “play” on the MySpace player and blog my thoughts as i absorb that which we thought would never see the light of day, and that which many of us plain didn’t give a shit about. But hey, that’s what obsessing about pop culture is all about–caring about shit that ultimately is pointless. So join me, won’t you? 1. Chinese Democracy Ok, opening reminds me of, like, “In the Beginning” from Shout at the Devil. I thought Axl hated the Crue? But in time, our nations grew weak, and our cities turned to slumswait, opening riff. Very processed. Ha! That first guitar lead totally sounds pasted over the top. …Man, this already doesn’t sound like a band…at least, it sure doesn’t sound like one playing live. Ooh! Big explosion at the […]
Nov 24th, 2008 by DJ Hostettler
