I checked out Cory Branan playing at Paradise Saturday. He was one of the acts that played before headliners Dashboard Confessional, and so the set was disappointingly short, only about short, 1/2 hour. Branan took to the stage before a rather quiet audience. Dashboard sometimes do a version of his song “Tall Green Grass” when they play live, but clearly this audience didn’t know who he was. Once he started though, he had their attention.
He has an impressive stage presence. He was last in Boston in October at Great Scott where he played a similar but longer set opening for Drag the River. John Snodgrass helping out on some vocals. But in both cases he followed a similar pattern. Branan’s genuinely a humble guy. He comes out, acoustic guitar in hand, looking the part of the humble singer/songwriter, folk artist. He apologizes to the audience for taking their time, and then proceeds to deliver a set that rocks like you would never expect an acoustic set to do. His fingers slide up and down his guitar, he strums or picks hard and fast, and his voice wails. It’s powerful and masculine, a real rock and rollers voice.
He’s a hell of a performer. He whips through songs like “A Girl Named Go” steadily picking up pitch and speed. volume as the girl name Go picks up speed in her car. “Tall Green Grass” he plays with with a humor and mirth. He played a new song from a forthcoming album, but gave no sense when it might be released.
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Monthly Archives: December 2010
Policy ≠ Politics
President Obama announces the compromise.
A couple days ago the White House and Congressional Republicans reached a compromise on issues that included extending the Bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits. It took a while. In the press conference announcing the agreement, President Obama commented that the agreement is not what he wanted, but said that Republicans were holding tax cuts for the Middle Class and an unemployment benefits extension “hostage.” Many in the Democratic base oppose the compromise, seeing it as capitulation rather than compromise, and are resistant to approval.
Mainstream media has been providing blow by blow coverage of this process. The tell us which side which wants what but not in a lot of detail and not why. For the most part they spend their time speculating about the impact that whatever compromise might be reached will have on the 2012 elections. Then they let party representatives and their surrogates in the punditry argue about what agreements might be better and for the nation and how.
It’s all very entertaining. There is drama, conflict, suspense. Who is winning the skirmish as the pundits argue? Who will win the battle when the legislation ultimately makes it out of Congress? Most importantly, who’s likely to win the war in 2012!
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12 Days of (War 0n?) Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas
It’s 12 Days of Christmas Season. That’s the time of marketing extravaganza’s referencing that very well known carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in which the the suitor gives his true love strange things like turtle doves, golden rings enough for each finger of one hand, ladies dancing, pipers and, of course, that partridge in the pear tree.
Share The 12 Days Of Christmas by Gregg Smith SingersManufacturers, retailers and companies and service providers promote their businesses by sponsoring talk show giveaways for 12 days on Ellen or Oprah or by special giveaways and sales each day for 12 days at their stores or online as is being done by Starbucks and AT&T. It comes anytime before Christmas, depending on the broadcast schedule of the show and when the company needs sales.
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Michael Needs New Shoes
I love my Blackspot Shoes. I’ve had them a few years and they have held up remarkably well. They’re in good shape, but they are starting to rip around the seams. Dealing with real drugs and satisfying the customer is our main aim. cheap cialis AT THE MALL One of the up market http://greyandgrey.com/our-op-ed-in-the-daily-news/ commander levitra malls, SelectCity Walk, has been using the natural substance for centuries with much success. Last but not least there exists great method for the patient is easy uk viagra prices restriction in sports activities, especially in patients with type 3 von Willebrand diseases and to prevent the use drugs with antiplatelet effect of NSAIDs type (Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen), antihistamines, antibiotics of cephalosporin type, tricyclic antidepressants. There might be highly harmful side effects for hair loss conditions. buy levitra online greyandgrey.com I happened to be noting that today when one of my favorite songs, “New Shoes” by Paolo Nutini, cycled through my iPhone playlist. I couldn’t resist throwing together this silly video.
New Shoes from Michael Toler on Vimeo.
Academic Freedom Media Review, November 20 – December 3, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here.
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Russian prisoner of conscience: Amnesty letters were ‘connection to freedom’
Amnesty International, 12/3
ITALY: University reform bill passes amid protests
Lee Adendorff, University World News, 12/2
UK as a whole will suffer if a big mistake is made on student visas, v-c warns
John Morgan, Times Higher Education, 12/2
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Don't Take My Tax Cut! And Get a Job!
Petition: Tell Congress: Protect Workers, NOT Millionaires!
Senator Scott Brown made a fiery speech a couple of days ago as he blocked the Senate from considering an extension of unemployment benefits. He said that first we need to find a way to pay for those benefits without raising the deficit. At last report the unemployment rate in this country stands at 9.7% and Brown wants to put their ability to buy groceries, pay their bills, mortgage or rent payments in doubt while Congress turns its attention to the deficit.
I believe that Washington has finally turned its attention to the deficit in earnest, and that Brown’s theatrics are not necessary. The report that bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has just been released provides outstanding recommendations for debt reduction. Holding the unemployed hostage during the holiday season is little more than political theater. Brown needed an issue to distinguish himself on, and he chose this. Nice, Senator! Pick on the unemployed. They’re so busy job hunting they won’t be paying much attention!
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The Musical World of Roger Kuhn Around X-mas Time
Cover Art for "Every Year Around XMas Time"
Singer / Songwriter Roger Kuhn will be at the American Indian Community House in lower Manhattan tomorrow, Friday, December 3, for a concert marking the release of “Every Year Around Christmas Time” a collection of original Christmas songs available at most online music outlets. (Click here for information on the show.)
The record marks a return to the studio for the farm boy from North Dakota, turned New Yorker, who’s now become a Boston resident since moving here with his husband in May, 2009. He has spent the last year reading, studying yoga, meditating, and enjoying married life off the road. But now “he’s got the bug again,” and the Christmas collection is just some of the new music coming our way. A new single, My Vow to You, is already available on iTunes.
In this video interview he talks about his childhood, becoming a musician, the importance of music in negotiating his identity as a gay man of mixed Native American and White heritage, his spirituality, his career thus far, and what is still to come.
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The Senator, the Unemployed and the Millionaires
Read: "Congress lets unemployment benefits expire: 'What now' and six other questions
Senator Scott Brown blocked the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.
About 8,400 Americans will see their unemployment benefits cut off by the end of this week, according to the Labor Department. By the end of the third week of December, aid to 1.36 million Americans will be interrupted, the agency said.
Brown says that we can’t afford the extension and that we need to start focusing on “what is important,” the federal deficit.
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World AIDS Day 2010
Today is World AIDS Day, an opportunity to raise awareness of the disease, commemorate those who have passed on, to celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services, and to push for further advances in all these areas. The theme is Universal Access and Human Rights, and it is being marked by a Light for Rights Campaign.
(The) campaign strives to underscore this year’s focus on HIV and human rights by encouraging people in cities around the world to dim the lights on key landmarks to remember the devastating affect AIDS has had on us all, and to turn back on the lights to illuminate the fundamental rights we all share.
One website, The Body, an online HIV/AIDS Resource, sponsored a contest, challenging folks to create and submit public service announcements. The submissions can be seen here.
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