2,083

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart brought up a few great points the other night.

2,083. That's the dollar cost per taxpayer for the Iraq War so far. Now I know what you are thinking 2,083 dollars, that could have allowed me to adopt several underpriveledged children in third world countries or buy an eight ball and have a night with a fancy hooker.

For those of you paying attention that's 250 Billion dollars the Iraq War is costing tax payers. Its slightly higher than the initial $1.7 Billion the Bush administration had said the war would cost. There is a an upside to this though. We are deficit spending!

It's deficit money...they're taking out loans from other countries to cover this. So don't think of that money as $2,000 you don't have. Think of it as $200,000 your grandchildren won't have. And seriously, Fuck Them. They think you smell like ass.

You can view the video clip of Your Tax Dollar$ At War.

OBB IV date change

The OBB IV date has been changed to August 5^th, 2006. It is now a week earlier than previously stated and the earliest date in its short history. The date had to be changed because my friend Tim decided to get married on the date of the OBB causing a big conflict for me. Wedding or OBB? Wedding or OBB? Now I can do both!

The countdown to the left has been updated to reflect the change of date.

I hate awards shows

The Grammys were on last night and as with all awards shows, I didn't watch them. I watched Lost instead. I didn't watch primarily due to the fact that they honor record company giants with blown up/manufactured artists not truly worthy of such acclaim. Another award show that honors music pushed by gigantic music companies that pay radio stations to play their artists' music.

Just take a look at the Grammy Awards Nominee List and winners. Pathetic. First off their categories are retarded. Record of the Year is not the same as Album of the Year. And Record of the Year really is Song of the Year. But Song of they Year is really Songwriter of the Year. I'll give it you in logical operators. Check this out.

Album == Album
Record != Album, Record == Song
Song != Song, Song == Songwriter

Why not just call it what is it. If you go out to a music shop and tell the clerk that you want to purchase Joe Nobody's latest record, they won't give you a single or one track recording. They will give you the full length album or record.

And there's the fact that U2 won 5 awards. Those lame jerkoffs won Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, and producer. I can see why the won the first one because nobody worthy was nominated. Hell, who wouldn't win against Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Kanye West or Paul McCartney. If those were my only options, I just would have cancelled the award altogether.

For Song of Year, again no competition, songs from Mariah Carey, Rascal Flatts, John Legend and Bruce Springsteen were nominated. Green Day wins for Record of the Year but their song isn't nominated for Songwriting. A song can be the best song (record) of the year but not good enough for songwriting.

As far as Best Rock Album, it won over Coldplay, the Stones, Foo Fighters and Neil Young. Even though every member of the Stones might die at any given moment, I still think they probably had a better album that U2. Oddly enough, a band like the White Stripes was nominated for Best Alternative Album and won, and they are more rock than Coldplay. The White Stripes were also nominated for Best Pop Performance. What are they Pop or Alternative? Neither, they are ROCK.

For Best Rock Performance they beat out Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferndinand, and The Killers. Yet again, all these bands should have beat out U2. Hell, the Killers were nominated for the Best Pop Perfromance like the White Stripes. I doubt anyone would agree that they are pop.

Probably, the only bright side of this shitshow was the fact that Alison Krauss + Union Station won every category for country, even though the album was release in late 2004. They truly are amazing unlike U2. Also, it was nice to see the sorry excuse for music, Gretchen Wilson or those sorry bastards Big and Rich not win anything. These overhyped "country" stars should be drug out in the street and shot. Nothing they play is country, its country pop bullshit.

God I hate awards shows.

New Feature

I was kinda bored so I added a random quote generator to the below the OBB countdown. It randomly picks quotes about politics, drinking, humor, and religion from the likes of Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine to Tucker Max and Homer Simpson.

Enjoy.

Bonnaroo 2006 + other music goodness

The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival for 2006 has been announced for June 16^th-18^th and the initial artist announcement has been made. Artists from all genres of music will be jamming out. Here's a shortlist of the artists/bands performing with my highlights below.

Radiohead
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Phil Lesh & Friends
Beck
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
moe.
The Neville Brothers
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Ben Folds
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Dr. John
Matisyahu
G. Love & Special Sauce
My Morning Jacket
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Mike Gordon and Ramble Dove
Medeski Martin & Wood
Nickel Creek
Steve Earle
Blues Traveler
Jerry Douglas
Soulive
Rusted Root
Donavon Frankenreiter
It appears tickets are bit more expensive this year with tickets starting at $169.50 which is up a bit from last year, but still not bad for all that music. Obviously, there will be a lot more artists/bands added so it looks to be another great Roo. Visit the Bonnaroo site for more information.

In other music news, The John Butler Trio is coming back to the US to do a short tour. They are making a stop at the 9:30 Club in April which should be a good.

Glen Phillips is scheduled to play the Birchmere in Alexandria in May. Hopefully, I'll actually try to make this show. He has probably played 6+ times in the DC area over the last 3-4 years and I have somehow missed him every time.


Last night I scooped up the latest EP by Iron and Wine with Calexico entitled In the Reins. It has to be one of the most chill recordings I've ever heard. Samuel Beam's (of Iron and Wine which oddly is just him) delivery is calming and the pedal steel fills adds a very soothing effect. I'm definitely digging He Lays in the Reins and History of Lovers. I decided to download Iron and Wine's set from last year's Bonnaroo because I was so impressed with In the Reins. Listen to the entire EP via the Iron and Wine player or download the Bonnaroo show.

one more drink tonight as your gray stallion rests
where he lays in the reins
for all of the speed and the strength he gave