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Lawyers, Guns & Money’s Scott Lemieux informs me via Twitter that Brooklyn hipsters like Yes now! Who knew? What a relief!
Here are some Monday mid-day news/views treats for your consumption:
* Breitbart’s Shapiro raises the alarm: Boehner abandoning Hastert Rule! Stop him! Stop him!
* No surprise in WaPo report by Michael Fletcher, but point worth repeating when considering increase in retirement age: lengthened lifespans mostly among wealthier folk.
* NYC ban on super-sized sugary drinks due to go into effect tomorrow.
* Also tomorrow, president expected to nominate Justice Department’s civil rights division chief as Secretary of Labor. Suzy Khimm offers useful profile, including grounds on which Republicans may go after him.
* Beinart argues Jeb is toast as a presidential candidate even without his immigration flip-flopping, unless he can find way to flip-flop his last name or denounce his own brother.
And in non-political news:
* Perils of the revival tour: Motley Crue frontman rushed from stage to hospital with kidney stones.
Back in a few.
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punaise on March 11, 2013 1:58 PM:
Hey Ed,
I saw Yes in SF on Tuesday night - great show. Like you say, a blast from the past. Their classic stuff has aged pretty well in comparison to some of their contemporaries' work *cough ELP cough Camel cough*
boatboy_srq on March 11, 2013 2:04 PM:
Lawyers, Guns & Money’s Scott Lemieux informs me via Twitter that Brooklyn hipsters like Yes now! Who knew? What a relief!
Unlike Arctic Monkeys, Milli Vanilli and the rest of the sometime-hip "musicians" out there, oldsters like Yes actually know how to play, and understand music. That "hipsters" like them. One more reason hipsters should look up Florrie: not only is she stunning, che can play and she can sing. Then again, perhaps the hipsters are in nostalgia mode, now that "large" sodas are the size they were in 1968...
jkl; on March 11, 2013 2:05 PM:
Want to speak about the undue criticism of the obviously busy president. Can you imagine the details he sees and deals with in a mere hour?
An entire nation to deal with.
In previous times I ran an entity of behavioral health care, I worked tirelessly, with endless demands. I was forever dealing with details.
President Obama has *many* entities, beyond the fathomable. Wake up, you criticisers at large.
Can we please cut him a break?
Republicans call him "neglectful in outreach."
This remark is from Tom Coburn, a senator who has referred to Obama as "friend."
I think Friend Tom Coburn has a lot of nerve.
Not much empathy. That is mean girls stuff from high school, Tom. You are being disingenuous and devious.
I saw Mika Breszninski put up a chart of all the times the president invited Republicans to White House gatherings and events---THE REPUBLICANS REFUSED. The dates and times of those refusals documented/verified.
I say to Tom Coburn--you are misrepresenting your case and are not loyal to your friend.
May I remind you that on the day of President Obama's inauguration, you were one of many Republicans who met to plan ways to work against this great man, ways to obstruct him--and was Frank Luntz, the Orwellian language guy, also present?
I am a young mind, educated, wildly literate, retired-- with lots of time for memory--- Tom Coburn--and I call you out.
boatboy_srq on March 11, 2013 2:12 PM:
"That 'hipsters' like them shouldn't be surprising."
Need. more. coffee.
Walker on March 11, 2013 2:36 PM:
I saw Yes in SF on Tuesday night - great show. Like you say, a blast from the past. Their classic stuff has aged pretty well
Their material has aged well. The band is a different story. Howe looks like the crypt keeper on stage. And if Yes didn't already have so many changes in line-ups over the years (including the lead singer), you would start to think this was a tribute band.
Zorro on March 11, 2013 2:56 PM:
A few months ago, a friend + I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse perform live at the House that Jay Z Built in Brooklyn. My second favourite part, after the music, was watching the dazed + confused expressions on the faces of the Brooklyn hipsters who clearly had no expectation of the sheer overwhelming power that that they experienced from the stage.
(FWIW, I'm also a long-time Yes fan).
-Z
Allan Snyder on March 11, 2013 3:04 PM:
I've known more than one person in their 20s who had kidney stones, so I don't think it's fair to equate that with old age.
punaise on March 11, 2013 3:27 PM:
@ Walker,
Fair enough, although I would call it more of a self-tribute band. Like far too many once-good bands, Yes suffered from a huge drop-off in quality of new material.... pretty much after Close the Edge. But Howe (guitar) and Squire (bass) are in my opinion the nucleus of the band, and they certainly still have their chops even with the passage of 40 years since their classic stuff. Alan White (drums) followed well in Bill Bruford's footsteps. The anonymous singer did an adequate job of portraying Jon Anderson. I was less enthused by the keyboard work, but then again those long Wakeman-esque runs (scales?) don't impress like they maybe used to.
The first part of the concert - recreating the Yes Album - was the best in my view.
None of is getting any younger. Now, one can debate the merits of living in the past, but I don't object to occasional time travel.
(FWIW my reference point as the pinnacle of prog-rock is Gabriel era Genesis. Saw Peter Gabriel on his recent So tour, and while he still has the voice and the great songs, it was kind of pathetic that he felt obliged to prance around the stage as his younger and more lithe self did.)
Kathryn on March 11, 2013 3:31 PM:
@jkl ......like your comments. Sen. Coburn is what counts as bi-partisan is insane political world because he occasionally disagrees with his party. That is obviously not saying much, he is supremely lacking in compassion. I recall, because it made an impression, watching him at a public meeting in Oklahoma when a voter told him about her husband's condition which required around the clock care. As I recall her husband had suffered an accident with severe brain damage. She tearfully pointed out to him how much she need the available government help and her worries about it being lost. Coburn went on a riff about what has happened to neighbors helping neighbors, Churches stepping in to help care for their membership. He got a hardy round of applause. Coburn effectively called for compassion from the gullible. Now how can neighbors and church volunteers adequately help a woman who needs 24 hour medical care for a brain damaged invalid? Coburn thinks it's the 1800's.
Anonymous on March 11, 2013 3:58 PM:
Watching news reports from all sources today while at the beach. Sunny day.
May I send a brief message to Republicans' many austerity parentheses-- apparent in their discussions-- and part of the narrative in the facts we bloggers review on these threads.
It's been said in your quarters that helping the poor & disabled is immoral--- although you routinely support and accept corporate welfare and subsidies to companies inside and outside of the USA.
Rand Paul--you alleged that an army of Environmental Protection Agency personnel will come to American homeowners with guns----you said that on Alex Jones' televison program on You-Tube. Come on--isn't that a little bit of fear-mongering?
Rand Paul--you said that not giving the poor a handout helps by limiting the debt and lowering inflation.
Inflation is already low!! Economists widely say that the debt can be dealt with in years to come. You said you agreed with Ayn Rand that to help the poor is immoral if it is above loving oneself---a direct quote from Ayn Rand. She said helping people is evil and immoral.
Both you and Paul Ryan earmark her as your heroine.
In reality are you not fueling that tea party resentment yet taking and making money from them from your requests for internet monetary contributions?
Rand Paul--you engaged in fundraising once you completed your filibuster. Almost pronto.
And previously you spoke on Alex Jones's program of your need to take pledges from people for what you called your money bomb to win your election.
And idol Ayn Rand took social security and welfare in her later years while trying to disguise the fact. Could that be hypocrisy?
You both accept tax-payer funded paychecks, health care, and pension benefits. And money to stay in office.
Paul Ryan, Rand Paul--you referred to social security and medicare recipients as takers-- Right? Yet you are both taking?
Paul Ryan--you still want to obliterate health care reforms that are popular with Americans, and want to privatize sacred social programs. You also adhere to Ayn Rand's morbid vision of ignoring the poor, disabled, and elderly. You're taking, though--right?
Erik on March 11, 2013 4:15 PM:
It doesn't surprise me that hipsters are getting into progressive rock. After all, the endless debates on which guitarist/keyboardist/drummer is the best (especially from obscure bands) goes straight to the essence of hipsterdom.