Concert Review: Amy Grant

Last night my wife and I went to see Amy Grant at the Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, WA. This was a polite show, a conservative show; the crowd was mostly young, female, and capital-C Christian; none of the liquored-up hooliganism you might have seen in your younger days at a Def Leppard or Guns ‘n Roses concert.

First, about the venue: HOLY SHIT. This was my first time in a so-called megachurch, and I can not believe how big the auditorium is. You could fit a small city in there, with room left over. I felt like I was in a hockey arena. Pretty impressive, but as someone who is used to the old-school architecture of St. Mark’s Cathedral, OCC felt a little sterile.

Amy performed from her selection of older hits – this was the “Lead Me On” tour – and did well, if not spectacularly. The funny thing about Amy Grant is that she’s not a terribly great vocalist, but despite that, she has a vocal presence that is compelling and attractive.

She was accompanied by eight musicians that she has toured with for many years; they were steady and predictable, with no (apparent) mistakes. The only gaffe of the whole evening came during a rendition of a new, unrecorded song that Amy is working on, when she had a hiccup on a guitar chord.

Funniest thing: Amy Grant can not dance. You might imagine that a popular performer with 25+ years of stage experience might have discovered some shake and bake somewhere out on tour; but no, she dances like a white person – i.e., poorly. She’s not as bad as Elaine from Seinfeld, but she’s definitely no Grace Kelly either. It doesn’t matter, though – my wife and I both enjoyed the show, and that’s what counts.

Ken Kesey’s Crypto-Nazi Numerology

Two days ago, a couple of skinheads were arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate Barack Obama an many other African-Americans.  After breathing a sigh of relief that these idiots got caught, one thing stood out: the neo-nazis have their own numerology!

In all, the two men whom officials describe as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people — 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community. […] The numbers 14 and 88 are symbols in skinhead culture, referring to a 14-word phrase attributed to an imprisoned white supremacist: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” and to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H. Two “8”s or “H”s stand for “Heil Hitler.”

Aside from being momentarily surprised that these guys could even count to eight, this sort of coded message doesn’t surprise me. Numbers have been used for centuries as short-circuit references to emotionally-charged subjects: 666, 911, hell, even 69.

Regarding the number 88, I was even more surprised to pick up Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion last night and read on page 76:

I half rose from my seat to demand of the grinning giant looming above me in a sweat shirt, number 88, “Whither wilt thou lead me?” fixing him with the most withering Shakespearean gaze my goof-balled eves could muster.

This is Leland Stanford Stamper, dreaming of a reunion with his older half-brother Hank, who has his own views about racial purity. On page 89, Hank brings up the “Family Anthem”, of which part is:

I figured … that we’re a family first, and that’s the most important. We got to keep ourselfs free of racial pollution. We ain’t some bunch o n——s or J–s or ordinary people; we’re Stampers.

Also interesting: On the bus trip home to confront the psychological mess he’s made of his relationship with Hank, Leland passes a road sign that says “88 Miles to Eugene’s Second Market”.

Could this 88-means-Hitler nonsense have been around in the early 1960’s when Kesey wrote his book? Could he have been aware of it and used it as a hidden shorthand for Hank Stamper’s racial attitudes, or of rural Oregonians in general? I suppose anything is possible.

Great New “Shift Happens” Video

This is another remake of Karl Fisch’s famous Shift Happens presentation. It’s an animated version with some great background music that I can *almost* identify…if you’re into thought-provoking, inspirational presentations, then give this a try.

http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF

Measuring Elapsed Time In Hours

I just saw, for the first time ever, a reference to “96 hours” when referring to elapsed time. That’s four days to you and me.

I *think* that this is an indication, albeit a small one, that what pundits have been calling the 24 hour news cycle is more real than ever before.

Data point #2: I was watching Olbermann tonight and he made a passing reference to the McCain Blackberry brouhaha as if it were ancient history, even though the briefing that kicked off the incident took place only yesterday morning (about 38 hours ago).

Data point #3: We’re barely over the collapse of one financial institution when we are eagerly anticipating news of the next. Lehman Brothers? Old news. Bear Sterns? Pleistiocene.

I might have more to blog on this later, but this addiction to recency is an interesting phenomenon.

p.s. I probably also noticed this because I’ve been reading a lot of Charles Stross and Vernor Vinge, and they both use their own alternate time systems in their novels – a decimal-based system – kiloseconds, megaseconds, gigaseconds, etc.

Apple To World: “We’re Dunces!”

Browsing around while working this morning, I was stoked to find a album of tracks featuring Luciana (who I love) – along with a link to buy directly from iTunes.  “Yow!” says I, “I’ll buy this album right away!”

But I can’t.

The album is only available on the UK version of iTunes, and my account isn’t authorized to buy music from that store.  And there’s no (apparent) way to authorize my account for the UK.

We’re in a global economy now, stupids!  Bits have no borders.  EPIC FAIL.  Now I’m just waiting for my iTunes 8 download to complete so I can top off my frustration level with a Blue Screen of Death.

I Remember Why I Don’t Like Mashable That Much

Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins of Mashable gives us another peek into his proto-fascist leanings with a breathless article about the LEFTIST MOB THAT ATTACKED POOR MICHELLE MALKIN in Denver.

Only she wasn’t attacked. In fact, she walked calmly away from the crazy loons who were trying to levitate a building. And nobody got arrested, which, if you’ve been following the news out of Denver, is a minor miracle, given the number of Men In Black surrounding every event and gathering.

For that matter, to describe Alex Jones is a leftist is sort of like describing Lyndon LaRouche as a rightist – maybe technically correct, according to the prevailing single-axis theory of politics, but it doesn’t provide any meaning. What Hopkins is trying to do, as you of course can guess, is to pin the despicable behavior on the entire Left – and the Democratic Party. It’s an old fascist trick, since at least the 1930’s.

He doesn’t bother to cover the much bigger news out of Denver – what turned out to be an assassination wish, if not an actual threat… no, no, that would be too pedestrian and unsurprising. After all, which down-on-his-luck white supremacist drug addict WOULDN’T want to get stoned and take potshots at Barack Obama from 750 yards?

Further, I imagine “Rizzn”‘s internal dreamscape is cluttered with Malkin clones, all in various stages of seductive undress, gesturing thither-come-yon; so the impulse to write a blog post about her is probably as natural for him as checking the weather. I’m assuming Hopkins is white, by the way.

My advice? Skip the facist honking and turn your attention on the tubes to something more meaningful, like that guy who does a bang-up imitation of Britney Spears.

KTLA’s Eric Spillman, Jackass

UPDATE: Eric has apologized here.  That is a nice gesture and I think he means it.

---

Loving the video of intrepid KTLA newshound Eric Spillman getting called a jackass:

Maybe people will wake up and see that this type of thing isn’t reporting, it’s not analysis, it’s sensationalism and entertainment. Which I can already get on 99% of the other non-news programs on TV.

(h/t jowyang)

Do You Grok Grok?

If you can’t name the book and author from which the word “grok” came from, should you really be able to use the word?  I recommend an International Grok Licensing Organization, cruising the interwebs to perform accreditations and hand out citations.

Captain Obvious and General Sidestep

Larry Holmes and Don King were on NPR this morning, talking about the upcoming video game from 2K Sports, “Don King Presents: Prizefighter”.

Choice quote from Larry Holmes:

If it weren’t for boxing, I wouldn’t be sitting here today talking to you about boxing!

*birds chirping*

King’s explanation of his 1966 manslaughter conviction was also a winner.  I’m paraphrasing here, but he said something like this:

A man and I got into a fistfight – what they call an “Expression of the Ghetto” and he was sometime later unfortunate to expire.

I suppose we all whitewash history to some extent.

NW Folklife Festival 2008

Yesterday the family and I went to the NW Folklife festival at the Seattle Center, to expose the kids to the hemp-and-patchouli Seattle subculture.  The sun was out, temperatures were high, and Seattleites started exposing skin in many various ways – there hasn’t been this much pasty-white skin exposed to the sun since the massive Reykjavik prison break in 1967.  Also, this being Folklife, there weren’t enough bras to properly outfit a volleyball team.  Good times.

Leaving aside my mild disappointment at not encountering a single hackeysack, we all had a great time.  The kids were goggle-eyed at many of the more, ahem, “eccentric” festival-goers, such as The Man With The Enormous Hat or The Man Waving Pastel-Colored Diaphanous Fabric In Circular Motions.  They really loved it when we went to Fun Forest and rode bumper cars, though.  They’re preparing for the post-fossil-fuel future, where we all drive underpowered electric cars.

They also enjoyed seeing the police horse poop on the grass.  I have to admit it was an amazing display.

Musically, there were a lot of what seemed like impromptu gatherings of musicians.  My wife and I came to the conclusion that they were all playing the same song at different speeds – sort of a Klezmer-meets-Mighty Mighty Bosstones clappable number.  Then there was the drum machine guy up by Seattle Fudge who, like a solo ocean-going sailor, had his rig of 15 musical instruments set up that he could control it with the slightest of movements.  The cacaphony was incredible.

The HempFest folks, knowing this was fertile recruiting territory, showed up about 2 PM with advertising flyers and signs.   Note to HempFest: The chances of your target audience remembering that they had a flyer, let alone actually get the flyer home to put up on their fridge, is about nil.

Best part for me?  Just hanging out with the family, watching the kids have a great time, and enjoying a little sun.  I’m really glad that we get to experience big events like this from time to time.