What A World

No, not It's A Wonderful Life or "It's a wonderful lie / can still get by on those..." But this year has been different than recent years. I'm not terribly "bah humbug," not beaten down by the usual crass commercialism, just not as down as other recent years.

Maybe it's working nights and not being exposed to the plethera of prime time advertising pushing Christmas down my throat. It's not my job because there's still lots of customers who are 'not the brightest nor the sharpest crayon in the box.' I still roll my eyes a lot.

Some part of me thinks it is being out of the apartment life. Not being cramped on three sides, being able to park in my own driveway and not hike halfway down the hill from the only spot left at 11:30 at night five nights a week, not having the front spots closed for the semi-annual whatever breaks under the parking lot and repave, not having the cars flying by with the 300 watt subwoofers going at all hours....

But more than that, I have been working on some homework and worked some thing out for myself and I feel some of those anchors I used to carry have been dropped off. Some of that guilt and always asking 'what if...' has gone away.

The song I kept running into yesterday kind of hit me between they eyes:

If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Why the hell are you so sad?
-Sheryl Crow

So cheers to you all, here's to old friends, lost loves, old gods and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us give the devil his due. And

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothing
While you're drinking down your wine...
-Ray Davies

The President Jumps the Shark

12/20/06 - By PETER BAKER - The Washington Post

WASHINGTON - President Bush acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.

As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. Days before the November elections, he had declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."

Bush also said he has ordered Defense Secretary Robert Gates to develop a plan to increase the troop strength of the Army and Marine Corps, heeding warnings from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill that multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the armed forces toward the breaking point. "We need to reset our military," said Bush, whose administration had opposed increasing force levels as recently as last summer.

But in a wide-ranging session in the Oval Office, Bush said he interprets the Democratic election victories six weeks ago as a call to find new ways to make the mission in Iraq succeed. He confirmed that he is considering a short-term increase in the number of troops in Iraq, an option that top generals have resisted out of concern that it would not help.

A substantial expansion of the military will take years and would not be meaningful in the near term in Iraq. But it would begin to address the growing alarm among commanders about the state of the armed forces. Although Bush offered no specifics, other U.S. officials said the administration is preparing plans to bolster the nation's permanent active-duty military with as many as 70,000 additional troops.

Democrats have been calling for additional troops for years. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., proposed an increase of 40,000 troops during his 2004 campaign against Bush, only to be dismissed by the administration. As recently as June, the Bush administration opposed adding more troops because restructuring "is enabling our military to get more war fighting capability from current end strength."

But Bush on Tuesday had changed his mind. "I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops -- the Army, the Marines," he said. "And I talked about this to Secretary Gates, and he is going to spend some time talking to the folks in the building, come back with a recommendation to me about how to proceed forward on this idea."

Bush tied his decision to the struggle against Islamic extremists worldwide rather than to Iraq specifically. "It is an accurate reflection that this ideological war we're in is going to last for a while and that we're going to need a military that's capable of being able to sustain our efforts and to help us achieve peace," he said.

"I haven't heard the word 'broken,'" in referring to the military, he said, "but I've heard the word, 'stressed.' ... We need to reset our military. There's no question the military has been used a lot."

Democrats pounced on Bush's comments. "I am glad he has realized the need for increasing the size of the armed forces ... but this is where the Democrats have been for two years," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Even before news of Bush's interview, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters that the military is "bleeding" and "we have to apply the tourniquet and strengthen the forces."

Bush, who has always said that the U.S. is headed for victory in Iraq, conceded Tuesday what Gates and most Americans in polls have already concluded. "An interesting construct that General Pace uses is: We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said, referring to Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was seen near the Oval Office before the interview.

Most of you know I am a pretty conservative kind of guy - lower taxes, less government, less government intrusion, etc., etc.... but today I have concluded that the President just jumped the shark and his legacy is headed for LBJ territory.

I have been pretty quiet about the war, but the President just lost me here. "We're not winning, we're not losing" means "WE'RE NOT WINNING" and the President doesn't want to hear nor admit that. And while I understand you can't just beam however many troops and equipment out of Iraq, it's time to start running your endgame scenarios.

Look, I understand no one like to lose and the President is no different. But as highlighted above, this has turned into an "ideological war" and having U.S. troops with guns and rockets and mortars trying to prove to extremists that 'we're not bad guys' isn't going to work. And let's face it, it's the extremists on BOTH sides who grab the headlines. There's NEVER headlines that say "[insert group] moderates blow up bus terminal." It's always 'extremists' and 'radicals.'

12/20/06 is going to be a red letter day in the history of the Bush 43 Presidential legacy. That's going to be the day that George W. Bush lost the backing of most of the U.S. for the Iraq war. No one but the hardest of the hawks can still believe that "we're not winning, we're not losing" can mean anything but a stalemate [at best]. This is the day George "lost Walter Cronkite and middle America," as happened to LBJ after the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam.

Add to this a Pentagon request for almost $ 100 BILLION to continue the war, and I think Joe Public starts asking "When IS this thing going to end." I don't think you're going to see the protests of the 60s repeated; Generation X and Y are not that politically motivated. [And Cindy Sheehan still needs to GO HOME and GET A JOB.] But I think the President just lost all his momentum.

Get Ready for the Kansas City Penguins or the New Winnipeg Jets

Well, Mario Lemieux's bet on Isle of Capri getting the Pittsburgh slots license and building a new arena for the Penguins just came up bust. The NHL trying to strong arm Blackberry developer / Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie into keeping the team in Pittsburgh forced Balsillie to withdraw his bid [$ 175 million] for the team. The Pen's lease for Mellon Arena expiring in June 2007. Add it up and what do you get? A team on the move.

While I am against a sports team holding up a city for a new building, I will be sorry to see the Penguins leave Pittsburgh. There is history of hockey in the city and for a few years in the early 1990s, the team was THE BEST in the world. And the future looks bright with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury et al, I am glad to see someone finally stand up and NOT be held hostage to a damn game. It's my favorite game, but is JUST A GAME.

So it looks like Mario will be entertaining offers for the team from new owners in other cities unless someone wants to come in and build that new arena in Pittsburgh. Mark Cuban could do it, but I don't know if he would. So the Hockey news reports Kansas City, Winnepeg and Las Vegas to be front runners. In any of those cases, it means moving a team OUT of the Western conference to put the Pens in [Detroit? Five of the Original Six back together in the East?].

Anyway, you might want to grab up your PITTSBURGH Penguins stuff now. I have mine.

Christmas Specials

Yep, it's that time of year again. It's A Wonderful Life was on last night and A Charlie Brown Christmas is on tonight. And TCM ran A Christmas Story this afternoon. {I only saw the lighting of the tree and the opening of the presents.}

It helps to ease a little bit of the sting I got this week. And the absolutely pitiful day I has at work Friday night. Like the Christmas album your parents played, the Charlie Brown Christmas reminds us the joy, innocence and wonder of children [and that we all used to have], but also issues a warning about the Crass Commercialism that usually just ruins the whole holiday season for me. [It doesn't seem as bad this year; maybe the good weather helps my mind frame! Running around in shorts a week before Christmas... they're not doing THAT in Pittsburgh!]

And of course, It's A Wonderful Life just reminds me of how important we are to each other, whether we know it or like it or not. Loathe as I do to admit it, sometimes I need people. There, I said it, once a year whether I need to or not! It also reminds me of the people who aren't here who I miss, whether just physically / geographically separated like aunts and uncles and grandparents or those no longer on the mortal plane - Henry and Heather Meyer, Grandma Galupi, Uncle Suggie and cousin Harold... several of whom haunted my dreams last week.

So remember to tell everyone you love them and drink a toast with friends present to friends and relatives gone but never forgotten. And don't forget to leave some cookies out for Santa!

SALUD!

A Sad Day for the Music

Music pioneer Ahmet Ertegun dies at 83

12/14/2006 9:55 PM, AP
Nekesa Mumbi Moody

Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records, a label that popularized the gritty R&B of Ray Charles, the classic soul of Aretha Franklin and the British rock of the Rolling Stones, died Thursday at 83, his spokesman said.

Ertegun remained connected to the music scene until his last days Â? it was at an Oct. 29 concert by the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre in New York where Ertegun fell, suffered a head injury and was hospitalized. He later slipped into a coma.

"He was in a coma and expired today with his family at his bedside," said Dr. Howard A. Riina, Ertegun's neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Ertegun, a Turkish ambassador's son, started collecting records for fun, but would later became one of the music industry's most powerful figures with Atlantic, which he founded in 1947.

The label first made its name with rhythm and blues by Charles and Big Joe Turner, but later diversified, making Franklin the Queen of Soul as well as carrying the banner of British rock (with the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin) and American pop (with Sonny and Cher, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and others).

Today, the company, part of Warner Music Group, is the home to artists including Kid Rock, James Blunt, T.I., and Missy Elliott.

"Ahmet Ertegun was a true visionary whose life's work had a profound impact on our cultures musical landscape, as well as around the world," said Neil Portnow, president of The Recording Academy.

Ertegun's love of music began with jazz, back when he and his late brother Nesuhi (an esteemed producer of such jazz acts as Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman) used to hang around with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the clubs of Washington, D.C.

Ertegun parlayed his love of music into a career when he founded Atlantic with partner Herb Abramson and a $10,000 loan. When the label first started, it made its name with blues-edged recordings by acts such as Ruth Brown.

Despite his privileged background, which included attending prep school and socializing with Washington's elite, Ertegun was able to mix with all kinds of people Â? an attribute that made him not just a marketer of black music, but a part of it, said Jerry Wexler.

"The transition between these two worlds is one of Ahmet's most distinguishing characteristics," Wexler said.

Black music was the backbone of the label for years Â? it was Atlantic, under Wexler's production genius, that helped make Franklin the top black female singer of her day.

But once music tastes changed, Ertegun switched gears and helped bring on the British invasion in the '60s.

"If Atlantic had restricted itself to R&B music, I have no doubt that it would be extinct today," Wexler said.

Instead, it became even bigger.

In later years, Ertegun signed Midler, Roberta Flack and ABBA. He had a gift for being able to pick out what would be a commercial smash, said the late producer Arif Mardin, who remembered one session where he was working with the Bee Gees on an album Â? but was unsure of what he had produced.

"Then Ahmet came and listened to it, and said, `You've got hits here, you've got dance hits,'" Mardin once told the AP. "I was involved in such a way that I didn't see the forest for the trees. ... He was like the steadying influence."

One strength of the company was Ertegun's close relationships with many of the artists Â? relationships that continued even after they left his label. Midler still called for advice, and he visited Franklin's home when he dropped into Detroit.

"He cared first and foremost about the artist and the music Â? much more than the business," Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates said. "He believed that if the artist was true to him or herself, good business would follow. Sadly in today's atmosphere, this isn't the case. But, during Ahmet's days of influence it was."

Although he was slowed by triple-bypass surgery in 2001, he still went into his office almost daily to listen for his next hit.

Finding those hits were among the most wonderful moments in his life, he said.

"I've been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging ... you know you have a multimillion-seller hit Â? and what you're working on suddenly has magic," he said. "That's the biggest."

* * *

Needless to say I never met Ahmet Ertegun. The same way I never met Tom Dowd. But I love what they did. Ertegun's greatest moment may have been having the Rolling Stones, CSN [and sometimes Y], Led Zeppelin, Genesis, AC/DC, the J. Geils Band, the Spinners and Allman Brothers [well, distributing Carpicorn] on his label at the same time. And the man saw the genius of Ray Charles and saw the possibility in Aretha Franklin after Columbia tried to make her into Sarah Vaughn... and distributed the fatback soul of Stax before that clown Saul Zaentz [sp?] at Fantasy bought it up in the 70s... signed Cream and brought them together with Tom Dowd - now I don't dig a lot of Cream, but they were important fore runners to Led Zeppelin.

The era of Ertegun is long gone - when label owners cared about the music and the artists and not JUST about the bottom line. Re-read Daryl Hall's quote [Hall and Oates signed to Atlantic, but had their hits for RCA]:

"He cared first and foremost about the artist and the music Â? much more than the business," Daryl Hall said. "He believed that if the artist was true to him or herself, good business would follow. Sadly in today's atmosphere, this isn't the case. But, during Ahmet's days of influence it was."

I could rail and rail about corporations owning the labels and not giving a shit about the music here, but I will take the high road that Ertegun took. I will look at the records and CDs with that A ad swirl logo and remember someone who had the vision and the guts to bring the music he loved to the rest of the masses.

R.I.P. Ahmet, the world will never know another like you. Saleh!