Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

It’s unlikely that I’ll be posting again this year, barring any unforeseen breaking news of importance, such as last night’s game. I had all the voodoo working, with Obama trying on the helmet and then not being able to fit it on because his ears were too big, and then the Old Style instead of the Stella, and well, you get the picture. It worked of course, because that’s how things go in my universe. Not really, but I was having fun anyway. What a game! Ridiculous. Had a feeling all along they were gonna pull this one out. Especially right after they missed the field goal in OT.

Anyway, screw 2009, it wasn’t nearly as cool as 2008, but it was alright. As far as decades go…not bad. The 70s were pretty good but other than that I suppose the 00s did okay. Except for all that war, politics and other bullshit. Christ, what a disaster! Bring on a fresh new decade please! One with helmets and Old Style and football…just like the 70s.

Thanks to Denver Jim for both the new set of helmets and the Old Style!

Kristin Hersh’s tweets read like one of her songs after the death of Vic Chesnutt:

he’s gone…so much to go away in a moment / i’m shattered…i loved him so much

none of this is real / the moon’s moving…racing across the sky

it’s like a bad dream / can’t take another step in these funeral shoes

I haven’t had much use for Twitter but I’ve been checking in with her since I heard the news and it has kind of been like being there. I’ve always been a big fan of Hersh since forever, and many years back I saw Vic Chesnutt open up for Bob Mould at Metro. I had no idea they were so closely connected until now though.

the last thing vic said to me was “i miss you so much” the last thing i said to him was “sorry you’re cold”

Sad.

Probably the last post for a while, things are slowing down around here for the holidays as they pick up in real life. Happy Merry and all that stuff, congrats and cheers to the passing of the health care bill, let’s hope they don’t mess this one up yet.  Not all ready to cheer all of its contents but still positive that something is getting done for the general good.

A couple of other thoughts:

What has seemed like a tumultuous first year for Obama is going to be looked back upon as a year of great achievement, once the right-wing noise has lost its volume and once people realize what little substance there is behind it. Of course, over here on the left there will be disagreements. But that’s what we’re supposed to do. The failure of the Bush loyalists made that all too clear. If this first year has proved anything it is that Obama will not be allowed to simply ignore the progressive movement. Or, that the progressive movement will not accept blindly what is given.

Not bad for a start. Cheers and all that.

Note: this up-to-the-minute chart has already been updated.

Photo taken at Butch McGuire’s. Yep, you read that right. Buncha college gals got me there recently. It’s like a parallel universe over there. Weirrrrrd.

Land of Talk at Empty Bottle this past Saturday. A damn good Canadian band! I’d been waiting for these guys/gal to come back since I saw them open for Film School a while back. I was not disappointed.

I’m so bored with the blogs. There’s just nothing good to read out there anymore. There’s the tabloids, Huffington and Drudge, but Drudge is not even interesting anymore in a ridiculous way, it’s just stupid. Well, it was always stupid but it’s worse now. I like HuffPo just because it’s got everything, from politics to entertainment to hot pix of porn stars, but it’s pretty fluffy. Drudge is just limp.

I used to like reading some conservative sites just to see how silly they were but they’re all boring now too. The Corner is unreadable. I stopped reading Instapundit a million years ago. I could never stomach Malkin and Red State is just pure idiocy.

I never had much time for the left-wing blogs either though. I think I stopped reading The Daily Kos before the 2004 election, and I got tired of Atrios/Eschaton before that.  I tried reading Ann Althouse’s blog (not left-wing at all) but it was just tedious, and her comment section is hopelessly right-wing. Sullivan is still interesting to me because he’s neither, but other than that I don’t know where else to go.

I read the Tribune, Ebert, Pitchfork, Stereogum, NY Times, a few others…but man, I’m bored. Has the internet jumped the shark?

The good old 16 oz. Budweiser, can’t complain about that, I suppose.

Suddenly I’m in a Dewey Cox kind of mood!

On the Ike headin’ west into the setting sun.

Steve Dahl in the Trib talks about the loss of radio’s voices in Chicago, and I would imagine, everywhere else. I truly do miss those days when Howard Stern and Dahl and others would get me through a work day. Music too, of course, but never on radio. It’s been a long time since a radio station has introduced me or anyone else to a new band.

But this isn’t about the music. I really hate that these personalities are being driven away or pushed out by people who have no clue about radio, people like Marv Nyren of WLUP, who I’ve met before and who very clearly has no idea how to run a station. And the method by which ratings are measured are just stupid. You carry these devices around with you wherever you go, like little pagers? Who thought that was a good idea?

Maybe it’s just the way I always listened but I have great appreciation for those who sit and talk/improvise for hours, the way Dahl and Stern did. And not about politics or anything, just goofin’. It appears that this is mostly gone, and I think that sucks.

Today from 4-7pm it’s the Adam and Doom show on Vocolo.org, don’t miss it! There’ll be all kinds of fun topics covered and maybe even some not-so-fun topics. Certainly politics, music, sports and religion (it’s “faith month” at Vocolo…uh oh!). See you then.

UPDATE:

Here’s the agenda:

A delicious pint o’ Guinness!

So it appears that I may be returning to co-host at Vocolo on Monday, details are still sketchy but 4-7pm if all goes as planned. I’ll update this as the official word comes in. With Johnny B. gone now it should become quite apparent that Chicago radio needs an infusion of Dooooooooom!

Seriously, does radio suck or what? I’m not even talking music, which has been garbage for a long time, but good talk radio people? Gone. All of them. Stern on satellite. Dahl doing podcasts from his basement. I didn’t listen to Johnny B. (not since high school really) but still, he’s out too. Who else? I’m ready to pick up the mantle. Dammit, they need me!

Here’s the thing: I’m just not that convinced that any kind of major offensive against a terrorist network or a nation that “harbors terrorists” is going to prevent 19 guys, or 1 guy, from hijacking a plane, or setting off a suicide bomb on a train, or, pick your favorite option. I just don’t believe that anything we’ve done in Afghanistan or (especially) Iraq has resulted in the increased safety of the United States. There’s no way to prove this one way or the other, but I think luck and planning have more to do with our quiet 8 years or so since 9/11.

There will not be a moment or a signal that this war is won in Afghanistan. Exiting in 2011…will it be any different than exiting now? I guess I just don’t believe it. The only difference will be the death toll, on all sides. I hope I’m wrong. But I am not for this war, even less so than when we originally began it.

UPDATE:

Lest I forget: There have been threats or plans that were disrupted over the years, and these were all thwarted because of law enforcement activities–look here at Fox News’ own list of foiled terror plots. Here’s another right wing site, The Heritage Foundation, with a similar list. It evens says there that “the best means to prevent terrorist attacks is effective intelligence collection, information sharing, and coordinated, determined counterterrorism opera­tions that can stop attacks before they are mounted.”

What any of this has to do with 30,ooo more military men and women going to Afghanistan, I don’t know. The letters FBI will come up again and again when you learn about the thwarted attacks. See also, “police department.”

I swear, I think we bomb the shit out of other countries just to make a certain segment of America feel good about themselves. Small penis complex or something…

I was up late last night–sick baby–and caught this big old guy staring at me out the window. Damn, he was a bright one. Give proper credit to the sun, but I was howlin’ like a wolf, baby. Around 4am or so I snapped this shot. Owooooooo!!