Haven't done one of these in a while …
- The Ryan Montbleau Band is really, really good. Montbleau's from Peabody, but the music is world-class eclectic. They sound a little like G Love, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Stevie Wonder, David Gray, Maroon 5 (only better), etc. etc. — and are therefore totally their own thing. I heard the song “Maybe Today” on WERS a few weeks ago — it's one of those lightning-in-a-bottle songs, where all the good things that a musician does are captured and summarized in 5 minutes.
Do note that it's the Ryan Montbleau Band. Keyboard player Jason Cohen is particularly terrific, skating fluidly between styles and instruments: Over here it's the bubbly, Muscle Shoals style Hammond organ on “Walk the Line”; over there it's the louche, Liberace-esque piano lick in “Maybe Today.” And it all fits somehow.
Anyway, I bought the album, and it's fun for the whole family. My two-year old cried when I had to turn it off.
- “I'm not sexist — my wife is a woman!” I think all the commentary that treats women as if they're some specialized, special-interest sub-group of American politics is really hilarious. Guys — and I do mean guys — they're 50% of the population. Don't you listen to your moms, sisters, girlfriends or wives?
- Hey, so Jon Keller says … Ah, never mind.
- The emotionalism of the Dem primary this week has been downright operatic. The question by the WMUR guy to Hillary about the “likeability issue” was an embarassment to the profession of journalism. I thought the response by Hillary and Obama was properly light-hearted, but everyone seems to agree it was a high-tension turning point in some frickin' Strauss opera: The debate as a noisy trio (cue cackling oboes and uproarious horns), and Hillary's tears as her Act I-ending aria.*
- On the ground, people are still asking the candidates how they stand on issues, and trying to suss out if they could actually deliver. The Globe obliges with an op-ed that suggests that people might have actually voted on issues — a rare, non-condescending and non-reductionist look at the primary.
- OMG, Jeff Jacoby sa—
Now, seriously — really now, honestly … Who cares?
- Can we just put it on the table? The MBTA — the commuter rail in particular — is in a death spiral. Bad service => low ridership => crumbling finances => bad service. Hello, Governor?
- While I'm pretty sure that South Carolina isn't plastered with “Don't blame me — I voted for Kerry” bumper stickers, his endorsement of Obama adds to the list of people with experience who have endorsed a fellow with supposedly little of it. I don't think any individual endorsement means much, but it contributes to the general impression that Obama is a substantial guy. And I think he is.
- Many have noticed the similarities between Obama's and Deval Patrick's campaign rhetoric. Those disinclined to say nice things about Patrick extend those misgivings to Obama.
Do I need to point out that's silly? First of all, it's argument by analogy: If two people are similar in one way, they must be similar in others. BZZZZZZ!
If anything, my partial disappointment in Patrick stems from how little he's used such language in office, since he's so well suited to the bully pulpit. Charisma, idealism and high-flown rhetoric are terrifically useful things; I just wish our Gov. would get out and use them more often — preferably to some good purpose, and not just to get us to put baby's college money on “red”.
- Someone here wondered what's the Edwards plan from here on out. Honestly, it's somewhat like what he was doing before NH: Gang up with Obama against Hillary, and hope Obama screws up. Could happen. He's got enough money — and ample desire — to stay in the race, and Feb. 5 is a lifetime away.
- *Can you tell I've been reading this book? Awesome.
- Trains! (check out the video)
What've you got?
…the Universal Hub post of the graffiti pained on a commuter rail car urging the MBTA to “fix this **it”? Instead of removing the whole saying, it looks as if T maintenance crews painted over the ‘s’ and the ‘h’. Hilarious and sadly representative.
My wife takes the commuter rail every day. Service is so erratic as to be close to unreliable.
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p>I would think large groups of unhappy people confined for extened periods of time twice a day, five days a week could muster a lobbying effort significant enough to get free danish served, for crying out loud. And yet, no.
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p>There are a limited number of places people can park/walk to and wait for and get on the train.
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p>Is it me or is there tremendous potential to be tapped there? Bumper stickers distributed, postcards to legislators handed out, information about budgeting and administration, etc.
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p>”Dear Rep.XXXXX, We the riders of the XXX line who get on at XXX stop in your district are unhappy.”
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p>As a representative or candidate, why not get in on this? Be the champion. Visit every t stop and commuter rail stop in your district.
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p>Does something respectable already exist? Lemme know and I’ll plug my wife into it.
That reasoning’s good enough for Jonah Goldberg!
The commuter rail represents the worst result of MBTA privatization efforts. A private, for profit company refusing to maintain rolling stock, failing to keep overall maintenance, understaffing to cut costs.
For one thing, there simply aren’t enough tracks to avoid delays if anything goes wrong. Many lines do not have double tracks so that if a train an in bound train is delayed, outbound trains have to wait for the other train to pass.
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p>There also aren’t nearly enough tracks in South Station, and it is quite common to be late because you have to wait for another train to leave the station before you can get in. The problem is exacerbated by the addition of another branch of service.
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p>These would be hard problems to fix because they would require expanding right-of-ways and demolishing buildings. There is no where to put any more tracks at South Station without taking over the space currently occupied by the Post Office. Of course, these issues have been known long before the current management took over operation of the commuter rail.
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p>I agree that the MBCR management has not lived up to their side of the bargain, but to fix all the problems, we are also going to need some major capital improvements and both support and pressure from the state.
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p>
on WHRB (95.3) this week.
not to picture that.
Putting the lewd in Ludwig?
Got a mailer last week from the mayor of Chicopee, sent to my old address in East Bridgewater. Oddly enough, he wanted to talk…anyone wanna guess?
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p>Okay, one hint: it rhymes with “rasino cesorts”.
… writes the opposite of the perfect lead. I get one paragraph in, and I already know that his column is too thickly covered in too many kinds of stupid for me to find anything in it worth even arguing with. So, rather than disarranging my mind, I move on to the much more valuable activity of picking lint out of my belly button.
Unfortunately the video started to get me motion sick. There is something about a video being shot from a moving object looking backwards that gets me queasy.
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p>On the subject of trains may I suggest these boardgames if you like the rails:
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p>Empire Builder http://www.boardgamegeek.com/g…
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p>Age of Steam http://www.boardgamegeek.com/g…
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p>Railroad Tycoon http://www.boardgamegeek.com/g…
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p>1830 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/g…
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p>btw the new interface for posting sucks on soapblox. I can’t seem to use the old open bracket closed bracket standby for links with any regularity. I get the HTML tag errors. Is anybody else experiencing this?
yes. It’s very annoying, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Soapblox central is aware of the problem but hasn’t isolated it yet. I’ve stopped using the brackets and have gone back to good old < a href= > tags.