tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172459832024-03-04T23:18:02.457-05:00Exiled ExpressionsThe music in my life - or my life in music?Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.comBlogger547125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-92140020199849423392020-08-26T18:37:00.001-04:002020-08-26T18:37:00.918-04:00A Design For Life<p>How do you respond to personal tragedy? That is a question we all will have to face in life, and likely more than once. What do we do? Where do we go?</p><p>For Manic Street Preachers, that personal tragedy happend on February 1, 1995. At 7:00 AM, Richey Edwards checked out of the Embassy Hotel in London. He was scheduled to meet up with singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield to fly to the US. He never showed up - and he was never heard from again. To this day, there is no certainty as to what happened, but he was declared presumed dead on November 23, 2008. </p><p>Initially, Richey Edwards was the Manics' driver and photographer, as he was another close friend - the only friend who could drive... But he eventually joined the band on rhythm guitar despite barely knowing how to play - and it wasn't a skill that developed much during his time in the Manics. But he had style and public relations skills - and he wrote lyrics along with Nicky Wire. And what lyrics they were... The Manics' third album, <i>The Holy Bible, </i>which was released at the end of August, 1994, was filled with Richey's harrowing lyrics about depression, anorexia and the state of the world. Reading the lyrics to <i>4st 7lb </i>is particularly painful, as it clearly depicts anorexia and a weight sliding down to the lower tolerance limit of the title, which is about 63 punds. </p><p>Richey had his demons. Suffering from depression and anorexia, and finding solace in cutting and other self harm, he had been receiving in-patient treatment on several occasions. And then he vanished, leaving his three very good friends behind to try to pick up the pieces. Like I said yesterday, these were good friends who decided to play music together, and three of them are still doing that. But in 1995 they were faced with the very existential question: What do we do now?</p><p>So how do you respond to personal tragedy? I must admit that I greatly admire the ones who turn it into something constructive, and that was what Manic Street Preachers did. After a six month hiatus, and with the blessing of Richey Edwards' family, they regrouped and eventually recorded <i>Everything Must Go</i>, which in some instances at least to me seemed to deal with Edwards' disappearance head on.</p><p> <i>We don't talk about love<br /><span> </span><span> We only want to get drunk</span><br /></i></p><p>These two lines are from the song of the day today, <i>A Design For Life</i>, the first single from the fantastic <i>Everything Must Go</i>. I could go on playing music by the Manic Street Preachers for a long time following my much delayed awakening, but I will take a little bit of a break from them now. But please explore them. It is quite the treasure trove. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TfEoVxy7VDQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="TfEoVxy7VDQ"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-37528667546845500212020-08-25T19:57:00.008-04:002020-08-25T19:57:00.331-04:00Motorcycle Emptiness<p>Some songs just stay with you. I hadn't listened to <i>Motorcycle Emptiness</i> from the Manic Street Preachers' first album <i>Generation Terrorists</i> in years when I for some reason started looking at the Manics again this summer. I can't remember what compelled me to do so, but oftentimes it is something I read or see on tv that triggers a memory or a desire to explore some music further. And this summer, Manic Street Preachers became yet another rabbithole for me to fall down into. I remember getting <i>Generation Terrorists</i> way back when it first was released in 1992. I liked it. I liked it a lot. But to me, my interest in the Manics was relatively short lived at that point. </p><p>After rediscovering them, I will say that watching the documentary <i>No Manifesto</i> really changed the way I looked at them. I have a soft spot for friends deciding to get together to play music - and even more so when the same friends are still together making music 34 years after they start and 28 years after they released their first album. It hasn't been without issues, but I will save that for a later post. To me, the fact that James Dean Bradfield (guitar and vocals), Nicky Wire (bass), and Sean Moore (drums) still play together - and still sound damned good - is really what every band aspire to. On their first three albums, Richey Edwards played rhythm guitar and wrote lyrics with Nicky Wire, so that is the fourth member seen in this video. </p><p>I still won't pretend that I fully understand the lyrics to <i>Motorcycle Emptiness</i> and all the imagry it contains - although I get the theme of consumerism and the hollow pleasures it brings. And I am a huge fan of the final switch from "motorcycle emptiness" to "everlasting nothingness". "Under neon loneliness" indeed. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gavcjNniIvk" width="320" youtube-src-id="gavcjNniIvk"></iframe></div> <p></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-91829061719755241832020-08-23T18:44:00.003-04:002020-08-23T18:44:14.922-04:00Liar<p>There isn’t much to say about this song except that it describes DJT perfectly. But Rollins band is well worth exploring if you haven’t yet. The musicianship is stellar - on the album <i>Weight</i>, the lineup featured Melvin Gibbs on bass and Sim Cain on drums, both of whom had played with one of my favorite jazz guitarists, Marc Ribot, but in Rollins Band, they played with Chris Haskett on guitar, and the sound they created was the perfect foil to Henry Rollins’ uncompromising and at times brutal delivery. And <i>Liar</i> has a perfect description of a narcissistic con man of the type that currently occupies the White House.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/awY1MRlMKMc" width="320" youtube-src-id="awY1MRlMKMc"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-60706758031999661972020-08-21T17:37:00.002-04:002020-08-21T17:37:02.134-04:007empest<p>So Fiona Apple might have this year's best album - at least in my book (and certainly so far, I have no doubt) - but last year was all about Tool for me. I discovered Tool through the song <i>Sober </i>a long, long time ago and have been following them since. They had released the EP <i>Opiate </i>in 1990, and then they released their first official full length album (<i>Opiate </i>almost has a full album playing time, but it's still an EP) <i>Undertow </i>in 1991, which is where <i>Sober</i> was found. Then, like clockwork, every 5 years they released a new album. <i>Aenema</i> in 1996, <i>Lateralus</i> (in my opinion still their masterpiece) in 2001, and <i>10,000 Days</i> in 2006. And then it was quiet. Until last fall, when they released <i>Fear Innoculum</i>. After waiting 13 years, the expectations were insanely high, and I am really happy to say that they delivered. <i>Fear Innoculum</i> was a great album, with great musicianship throughout - but then again, you know that's what you will get when you talk about Tool. </p><p>The song I have selected is <i>7empest</i>, but I could easily have selected just about any song on the album. It is <i>that</i> even. It really goes from highlight to highlight, and it feels like one cohesive artistic statement. <i>7empest </i>is the last proper song on the album, and if you have the physical copy (cd), it is the closing number. It is well worth listening to - it is long, but it is spectacular...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9D2R69gVyZ0" width="320" youtube-src-id="9D2R69gVyZ0"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-46526643898940992302020-08-20T18:03:00.001-04:002020-08-20T18:03:00.367-04:00Under The Table<p>I know, I am a couple of days off with this song, but I had other things I wanted to get off my chest, so I put it off. But I have a feeling that Fiona Apple crushed the competition for best album of the year as early as April 17... <i>Fetch The Bolt Cutters</i> is a spectacular record, and every time I listen to it, I discover something new. I love the production - it is a very percussive album - and I really think she is the link between Tori Amos and Tom Waits that I didn't know that I needed, but now don't quite know what I would do without. </p><p>Fiona Apple has been nothing but consistent in the quality of music that she has released. Starting with <i>Tidal</i>, which was nothing short of a spectacular debut album - one of the best debut albums I have ever heard. She takes her time between albums to make this happen, and this time it had been 8 years since <i>The Idler Wheel... </i>But <i>Fetch The Bolt Cutters </i>was well worth the wait. It sounds like she is in your living room performing - and that is probably because she did record it at home. That is one of the awesome consequences of the technological advances of the last few years - high quality equipment is both affordable and portable enough that just about anybody wanting to record decent quality music can do so. And for someone as reclusive as Fiona Apple, that does mean that she can record where she is comfortable - which shows in the music as well. </p><p>In short, I love this album. The title track stood out right away, as well as the song <i>Shameika</i>, where the chorus, "Shameika told me I had potential" sounds haunting to me. There is something about that line that really touched me. However, the song I am playing is <i>Under The Table</i>, which I take the liberty of dedicating to all the women who didn't shut up, who didn't conform. It's been 100 years of women's suffrage in the US (I know, I am off by a couple of days), and that is something I think Fiona Apple can help us celebrate.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WBUxinJhntk" width="320" youtube-src-id="WBUxinJhntk"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-74572750591355855372020-08-19T19:11:00.001-04:002020-08-19T19:11:00.180-04:00Depp<p> Last week I was bemoaning the way I currently discover music - but one positive in all of this available music is that it is possible to find long forgotten songs as well, and that is what today is all about - before I take a few days to talk a little bit more about music that has been released a little more recently, which is my plan for the next few entries...</p><p>But today, I want to go back in time. Back to 1988 or thereabouts, when I was about 16 years old. My friend Jan Are played rhythm guitar in the band Ceptic Tank, and they had secured a gig opening for (somewhat unknown) Ræva Rockers at UFFA (Ungdom For Fri Aktivitet - Youth For Free Expression, more or less), a notorious underground venue in Trondheim where several of the Norwegian great bands got their start (it was a place where bands like Wannskrækk, who turned to Norwegian rock's most popular band DumDum Boys, Motorpsycho, and Israelvis played early and often) - and the audience was always enthusiastic. </p><p>Anyway, on the day of the gig, I think I was asked to push the buttons for the stage lights for Ceptic Tank. I had no clue what I was doing, but somehow ended up doing a decent enough job with it, so the people in Ræva Rockers asked me if I could do it for them as well. My 16 year old self was probably beaming with pride as I accepted, and I was getting very excited. I was going to do something for a touring rock band. Pretty cool, huh? </p><p>So Ceptic Tank finished their set, and Ræva Rockers were getting ready to go on stage when tragedy struck: A fuse had blown in the mixer. It was late at night, and getting a new fuse meant going to a gas station, but most gas stations had already closed. However, there was one pretty close by exception: A Shell station. Problem solved, right? Not so fast... This was back in 1988, and South Africa was still in the throes of apartheid (this was right around Little Steven's Sun City project). What I neglected to say about UFFA was how radical it was - very, VERY left leaning, closing in on anarchism (some called themselves anarchosocialists), and Shell was doing business in South Africa, hence they were on the list of companies good leftists would boycott. So faced with the choice of spending a minimal amount of money at a Shell gas station or simply not playing the gig, Ræva Rockers held true to their principles and did not play - and thus my light contributions were limited to Ceptic Tank. But I still think the story is worth telling... And I did go back to UFFA to buy the Ræva Rockers EP, where today's song is from. It is called Depp, and the lyrics don't make much sense to me today either... But I like the song...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vNxFSsBerBI" width="320" youtube-src-id="vNxFSsBerBI"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-59736684178108537772020-08-12T19:36:00.066-04:002020-08-12T19:36:00.507-04:00City Swine<p>So where do you go when you look for new music that sounds interesting? What direction can you go that doesn't sound like it's been done before? That is really what I struggle with these days. So much music sound like rehashes - and often in styles I am tired of (or genres where there are some bands that simply are so good that anyone else sound like pale immitations). As music stores became less important, I started trawling the internet for sources - and year end lists of music have been a great inspiration - although sometimes I even look at "top ten..." genre lists to find new music.</p><p>So what does it take for me to find music interesting? That is a good question. Sometimes I am a sucker for a good melody, a good pop song. Now, granted, what I consider a good pop song is rarely found on the top 40 charts, and my definition of what a pop song is might deviate from the norms, but a melody and a hook without too much ornamentation can be very good. And sometimes, the arrangement has to be changed for me to realize it (or maybe I simply am a music snob - how else can I explain how I detested Britney Spears' Oops I Did It Again while I love Richard Thompson's acoustic version of it - oh, that's right, I will stick to the arrangement argument). </p><p>But what I love the most is when a song is unpredictably moving forward in a way that makes sense when you look back at it. I like dissonance giving way to a harmonic resolution. I like odd time signatures that roll along in a way that they sound "normal". I like chaos that have splashes of order. I like the push and pull between extremes. I like tension. I think this is why I am drawn to bands with strong opposing personalities: The Beatles with John Lennon's edge and Paul McCartney's pop polish. Pink Floyd with Roger Waters' edge and David Gilmours pop polish. The tension inherent in these two bands really brought out the best in everyone involved. Even solo artists like Nick Cave, who has foils in his Bad Seeds (Blixa Bargeld for a long time, then Warren Ellis), and David Bowie with his Mike Garson on keyboards or Reeves Gabrels on guitar - the different strong personalities push and pull and creates tension. </p><p>And this tension is really apparent in Imperial Triumphant, a New York trio that claims to play rock music. The most commonly seen category - or genre - I have seen is avant garde black metal. They do use some of the black metal tropes: blastbeats and cookie monster vocals are very prominent. But then there is everything else... The clear jazz elements, the very angular riffs, the occasional freewheeling bass runs... I don't care what anyone wants to call it, I simply call it great music. Their latest album, Alphaville, was released on July 31, and it is a masterpiece. This is not music for everybody - sometimes it takes time to cut through the dense layers of sound to find the nuances that truly makes Imperial Triumphant worth listening to. Today's track has a drum section with Japanese Taiko drums where they got Thomas Haake from Meshuggah to help out. It was recorded in a dojo in New York City, and it provides another contrast in a great song. City Swine is it for today. And Imperial Triumphant is really a band worth checking out...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B7gBhgYiY80" width="320" youtube-src-id="B7gBhgYiY80"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-61491249560459054232020-08-11T21:03:00.000-04:002020-08-11T22:18:02.090-04:00Hunted Down<p>I have been thinking a lot lately about how things used to be - and how things are now - when it comes to music. I should start this off with a disclaimer: I don't collect records as much as I collect music. I am not one to be looking for specific pressings of vinyl albums, first editions, misprints or anything like that (at least not for most artists), but I am a sucker for finding new music to explore. And today, that is easier than ever. I can get most music on Amazon - and what I can't get there, I can at least check out at YouTube first. There are long articles with detailed discographies available online, so I can always find out what just about any artist has released. And it is great! There is no doubt about that.</p><p> I am ok with MP3 files - if the bitrate is 256 kbps or higher, I don't hear the loss so many complain about (especially vinyl fanatics), and so I have all my CDs converted to MP3 files and while Amazon still allowed it, I uploaded every CD I owned so that I can access it from the cloud, knowing it is music I paid for (I actually believe in doing my small part for musicians to be paid). I have the same relationship with music as I do with books: I have a nostalgic relationship to physical copies (I loved peering over vinyl albums while playing them for the first time just as much as I loved the smell of a new book as I cracked it open), but ultimately, it is the content that matters. The music on albums and the text in books. And If I can have all of them at my fingertips on my phone, tablet, and computer, that just makes it that much easier to always access this content.</p><p>However, I also think that something has been lost in all of this, at least for me. I miss the discovery of stumbling over something I didn't know existed as I explored record stores - or the hunting down of releases I knew were out there that I had to convince record stores to get. I remember waiting for Tori Amos' second album, Under The Pink, having to ask the record store to order it, because it wasn't really on their radar. I remember stumbling over Primus' Miscellaneous Debris getting excited that they covered Peter Gabriel on a release I didn't know excisted. I remember going to a late night record shop in Philadelphia in 1995 on my first visit to the US, finding out that aforementioned Tori Amos had released an album under the moniker Y Kant Tori Read, and purchasing it despite the dubious version of that particular release (it was technically out of print, but someone decided to print it anyway...). </p><p>And I remember the sense of awe I felt when I on the same USA trip, this time in Baltimore, browsed through an outdoors record display for a tiny hole in the wall record shop - or maybe it was just one salesman sitting outside with some CDs to peddle - and I stumbled across a Soundgarden release called Screaming Life/Fopp. I was a huge Soundgarden fan, but I don't remember ever having heard about this. I picked it up, held it in my hands, and just looked at it. Was this legit? It sure looked like Chris Cornell... The names were right... Yup, I had to have it. So I bought it. I believe it was on heavy rotation on my DiscMan (remember those?) - and I truly enjoyed it. It might not be their finest moment, but Chris Cornell showed he could wail on the song I have chosen today... And Hunted Down fits, because that's what I used to have to do for albums. But not so much anymore. The only times it happens now is when I go against my interest in the music itself and also want to find a physical copy (such as it was with Tool's Fear Inoculum). But for the most part, the days of surprising finds are over. And while I do miss them, I still will have to say that having access to all this music isn't a bad thing either... Just sayin'. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4WmKBvDHXaE" width="320" youtube-src-id="4WmKBvDHXaE"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-43577604200023614712018-04-25T21:30:00.000-04:002018-04-25T21:30:12.682-04:00So Long And Thanks For All The FishSo Douglas Adams and A Perfect Circle join hands in this little beauty from A Perfect Circle's album <i>Eat The Elephant</i>. "So long, and thanks for all the fish" was the last thing the dolphins said when they left earth just before it was demolished - and the title of the fourth book in the five-book trilogy <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i>. If you haven't read it yet, you should. (And yes, I know there is a sixth volume, but since it wasn't written by Douglas Adams, I refuse to formally acknowledge its existence.<br />
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But A Perfect Circle. I didn't really click with their music until they released<i> Emotive</i> in 2004. I had their first two albums,<i> Mer de Noms</i> (2000) and<i> Thirteenth Step</i> (2003) as well, and I liked them, but I was more into them because Maynard James Keenan of Tool was the singer. Then<i> Emotive</i> was released, consisting mainly of political cover versions, and their sound was dark on otherwise brighter songs, such as <i>Imagine</i> and<i> (What's So Funny) 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding.</i> The way they transformed songs to their own universe really spoke to me. Then it got quiet. For 14 years. Until<i> Eat The Elephant</i> dropped last Friday. And man, is it good. I am completely smitten with this album - and<i> So Long and Thanks for All the Fish</i> is one of the reasons why.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-1479862613391741682018-03-02T20:04:00.000-05:002018-03-02T20:04:16.204-05:00The Ghost Of Tom JoadThis is a treat. I used to be a peripheral fan of Bruce Springsteen. I had the live box on vinyl thanks to a friend who was a huge fan, but not necessarily of the box - and for the longest time I was convinced that was the only thing you really needed of him. But I have gradually built my collection - and my conviction that I needed more came with the album <i>The Ghost of Tom Joad</i> from 1995. It was a great collection of folk song, and to me it was more than just a return to form, as I really saw it as a great artistic statement.<br />
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The title track was an early favorite of mine, and it was later covered by Rage Against The Machine - but not in a way that I really cared all that much for. However, in 2009, during the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts, Springsteen included the guitarist of RATM, Tom Morello, who also has done a lot of folk music under the moniker The Nightwatchman, and while the original had been interesting, Morello's lead guitar work takes the song to new heights for me. Shivers and goosebumps all over - here is <i>The Ghost of Tom Joad</i>.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-12191570151645198862018-03-01T08:45:00.000-05:002018-03-01T09:28:19.994-05:00AutobahnToday I will let the music do most of the talking. This song was recorded in 1974 (!), and yes, it is a long one, but it is well worth listening to. It is easy to hear the cars passing by, and with musical elements switching between harmony and some disharmony, it is always interesting. Although Kraftwerk had released three albums already (Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk II, and Ralf und Florian), Autobahn was where they really started coming into their own - and creating something uniquely new. Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, who had been working with the band in the early 70s had left to form Neu!, and while there were other collaborators on the album Autobahn, the title track only featured the two core members in Kraftwerk: Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider (only Hütter still remains after Schneider left in 2008). It is a 22 minute long track that really takes you along the German expressways (autobahns) - and I can't believe that it is 44 years old. This was in the infancy of synthesizers, but what they were able to do simply blows me away!<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-23710852651123921252018-02-26T21:02:00.000-05:002018-02-26T21:02:17.446-05:00ImagineI want to talk about guns today. There. I've said it. And it's long and rambling.<br />
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And let me be upfront about something first: I don't like guns. I get nervous around guns. I'll readily admit that the few guns I have shot at targets have been fun, but I don't trust other people with them, and I stay away from them. That does not mean that I am against people being able to own guns - although that is often a conclusion people draw. I would also like to point out that I grew up in Norway, where police did not wear guns when they were out patrolling, so I am even more nervous around guns in public - even if they are worn by police. <br />
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However, I am losing faith in humanity these days. And yes, it is largely because of what people post on social media - but also about what is being said at events like CPAC. While social media often functions as an echo chamber, it is also bringing to light some of what people really think, and with the PINO (President In Name Only) confusing political correctness and human decency, more and more people on the right are also finally saying what they really are thinking, and man, is that ugly.<br />
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I know that introduction flies directly in the face of David Brooks, who often is displayed as the "voice of reason" of conservatives, yet claims that we should let the conservative gun owners take a lead in this momentum for change. Guess what. That is the group that has been in charge. That is the group that has led us to where we are today. And where are we? Well... Funny you should ask: <br />
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<li>We are at a place where people argue against gun control by stating that it is statistically speaking less likely to be killed in a school shooting than it is to be struck by lightning. </li>
<li>We are at a place where people question whether high school students who were fired upon really are advocating for gun control because they mean it or because they are paid by democrats. </li>
<li>We are at a place where conspiracy theorists are so stupid that they believe that school shootings are orchestrated by anti-gun activists who want to take our guns away (here's a hint: if there indeed is a conspiracy behind school shootings, follow the money. There isn't money in banning guns, but there is money in selling them - and gun sales always spike following a school shooting. NO, that does not mean that I am advocating conspiracy theories, I am just pointing out how incredibly stupid you would have to be if you believe that school shootings are orchestrated by gun control activist - just see how well school shootings have worked for gun control laws...). </li>
<li>We are at a place where gun activists will advocate for guns as tools, which really is a great argument - until you start including assault style rifles in that list. </li>
<li>We are at a place where people will argue that criminals and mentally ill should not have guns, yet people on the terrorism no-fly list should. </li>
<li>We are at a place where people are suggesting we should arm teachers, yet people who are trained to respond in situations like this were armed and on scene and did nothing. </li>
</ul>
The list goes on... But to the last point. I am actually not going to use this to attack the deputies that were there - I think I want to make a point about being human instead. People talk about the people who perform heroic acts, such as the football coach who shielded students with his body and look at them and say the people that were outside should have done more. And while I don't disagree, just think about one thing for a second. There is a difference between <i>being</i> in a war zone and actively and consciously <i>entering</i> a war zone. The risk of being shot increases dramatically in moving from a safe environment to one where you are actively going to be shot at - being able to be heroic comes with a much lesser increase of risk if someone is already in the same room as you firing away. I am not trying to take anything away from the heroes of the day - they have my respect and I hope I will have the same level of courage should I find myself in the same situation - but I am saying that you can have all the training in the world, but when the shit actually hits the fan, there is no guarantee that you will be able to react the way your training dictates. And that is why arming teachers is not an idea that makes sense to me. Teachers need to be trained to teach - that is what we are paying them for (and, of course, paying them less and less for, while increasing responsibilities - now also including the potential responsibility for stopping active shooters on campus). Someone much smarter than me pointed out that we are quicker to advocate arming teachers with guns than we are arming them with all the classroom supplies they need to effectively do their main jobs. <br />
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Let's talk about assault style rifles as tools for a minute. What exactly are they tools of? Seems to me they are tools of war. And I don't think civilians need tools for war. Why do I draw this conclusion? After all, I don't know much about guns, but I have started to figure out a few things about them. One thing I figured out from reading this <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/what-i-saw-treating-the-victims-from-parkland-should-change-the-debate-on-guns/553937/">op-ed by Heather Sher</a>, a radiologist who treated the wounded after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is just how the high velocity bullets shred everything in their way. It is all about killing as efficiently as possible - and making sure that you don't need to be a good shot to kill either. <br />
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One of the arguments I hear frequently is that it is hard to define what is an assault style rifle. Great argument, right? Yet it didn't stop us from having an operational ban on them from 1994-2004. Did this ban have an effect? The truth is, we don't know. Congress enacted the Dickey amendment in 1996, which stated that, "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control." Of course, this law didn't start in a vacuum - only a couple of years earlier, CDC had funded research that showed there could be a link between guns in the home and homicide rates, which the NRA clearly didn't like much. So while it may be hard to define what is an assault style rifle, it is not impossible to do so. If we only should do what is easy, we wouldn't even have fire yet.<br />
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And let's talk about mental health for a minute. Our PINO has declared that anyone who perpetrates a mass school shooting is a "sicko" - at least that's the implication of his tweets. Yet fewer than 1% of firearm homicides are committed by people with a diagnosed mental illness. The chapter <a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099">Mass Shootings and Mental Illness</a> from the book Gun Violence and Mental Illness discusses this a little bit more - but the New York Times had an op-ed about how the <a href="https://nyti.ms/2CbtCGb">mental health system cannot deal with this</a> that clearly explained how the system actually works. It is often easy to look back at a person and see the signs that an atrocity was waiting to happen, but it isn't always easy to spot the signs ahead of time. That being said, in the latest shooting, there were multiple reports indicating the risk for this to happen, both to the Broward County Sheriff's Office and to the FBI - but that is an exception rather than the norm. <br />
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And then there is this idea that we should keep guns away from criminals. Except we don't. Not if you purchase the gun online or at a gun show. And then you have the fact that you are not a criminal until you commit your first crime. So if you plan shooting up a school as your first act of crime, you can legally purchase the firearms to do so. <br />
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Now contrast the approach towards mental health and criminals with the approach towards suspected terrorists. Suspected terrorists can legally buy as many guns as they want thanks to congress, who did not support Dianne Feinstein's proposed ban of gun sales to people on the no fly lists. In other words, they are considered to dangerous to be passengers on a plane, but let's give them a gun - because that makes so much sense.<br />
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Let's talk about suspicious behavior for a minute. The problem I think we can get into with reporting people we regard as suspicious is that we often consider behaviors and/or thoughts we don't understand as threatening, suspicious, or even dangerous. It will push the outsiders even further outside, and disenfranchise nonconformists even more than what is already happening. This does not mean that I don't think that we shouldn't notify authorities of suspicious activity, but I think we also need to know our biases before we do so. And teenage me would probably be flagged because of my constantly dark writings. I wrote short stories in my Norwegian and English classes every chance I could get, and they were frequently well outside of the mainstream. <br />
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So let's talk about gun control. I do not believe that our current system works. It's virtually unfettered access for just about anyone to buy just about any gun short of a fully automated weapon. And these weapons are misused. Abused. Some people talk about responsible gun owners, yet not many seem to want any kind of checks and balances on this responsibility. Imagine if we took that approach to cars. Would people abuse or ignore speed limits if police didn't actively monitor them? Absolutely. Relax, I can hear you. You are loudly saying that's not the same, our gun rights are constitutional. Well, rights come - or should come, at least - with responsibilities. There are countries that require training prior to gun ownership, and they require inspections of the weapons and their storage - inspections that are done by the police. That makes sense to me. But yes, I still hear you. The protection from tyranny. Sure. When can you invoke that right, though? At what point is a citizen uprising warranted? I don't believe it would be. I believe in the social contract, no matter how painful it can be at times. And right now it is really difficult to hold on to that belief, but I still am. <br />
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Where was I? Oh yes, gun control. So... What I believe we need is the following: <br />
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<ul>
<li>A complete ban of assault style weapons. I will leave the definition to experts, but I would look at things like rate of fire, velocity, and initial purpose (I know people use an AR-15 for hunting, for instance, but I very much doubt that was the initial purpose of the weapon). I do trust in the process and we did have an operational assault weapons ban for 10 years, so I know it can be done. I know this won't stop these weapons from being used, but let's at least make it harder to get a hold of them. We know the other way doesn't work, so this can't hurt to try.</li>
<li>Checks on responsible gun ownership.</li>
<li>All guns need to be stored in a locked gun cabinet. If the owner is home, one gun can be on the owner's person or in the owner's immediate vicinity.</li>
<li>A registry for gun owners. Every gun needs to be registered. And if you own a gun that is used in committing a crime, you area partially responsible.</li>
<li>Weapons training and licensing for all gun owners.</li>
<li>A complete repeal of the Dickey amendment. The idea that the CDC shouldn't lobby for gun control laws <i>even if significant public health benefits are shown to come from it </i>is about as ridiculous as slapping a ban on CDC from being able to lobby for vaccination laws.</li>
<li>Significant funding of gun violence research. We need science and we need it now.</li>
</ul>
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Now, if we can't get a ban on assault style weapons, I want to be able to go to WalMart and buy my own nuclear weapon. If we are not going to draw the line on weapons designed to hurt human beings to the maximum degree possible, I want the right to bear arms extend beyond firearms. And no, I won't buy one, nor am I serious about this, I am just making a point.<br />
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So, on that note, I want to play a song. This version of <i>Imagine </i>was recorded during the reign of GWB. It is dark and depressing in tone, but it still shows hope in the same lyrics as John Lennon wrote. The band is A Perfect Circle, and the singer is Maynard James Keenan of Tool fame. It is a great band - and their 2004 album <i>eMOTIVe</i> has a great selection of thought provoking cover versions. A new album is expected in April, so that's always something to look forward to...<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-47385205741137950562018-02-19T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-19T00:00:13.500-05:00Eat That QuestionThis Zappa instrumental has one major strength going for it: George Duke. His keyboards are spectacularly groovy, and the song fits his playing style perfectly. <i>The Grand Wazoo </i>was released in 1972, and the song<i> Eat That Question</i> featured Ansley Dunbar on drums and Alex Dmochowski on bass as well as George Duke. Dunbar has played with David Bowie as well as playing drums on <i>Berlin</i>, my favorite Lou Reed album. But today we are listening to Frank Zappa and <i>Eat That Question.</i><br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-83820141960113955962018-02-18T01:32:00.000-05:002018-02-18T01:32:07.479-05:00Black Napkins<i>Zoot Allures</i> was a fantastic Zappa album. It features two instrumentals - yesterday's <i>Zoot Allures</i> and today's <i>Black Napkins</i>, and they are both great - they are by far my favorite Zappa instrumentals along with <i>Peaches En Regalia</i> and tomorrow's song. Sometimes guitar solos get boring - even Zappa's solos, but this one hits me hard every time I hear it. Still featuring Terry Bozzio on drums, this song also features Napoleon Murphy Brook on vocals, Roy Estrada on bass and vocals, and Andrè Lewis on organ. I still consider this an instrumental, as the vocals are only ooohs. This one is more laid back and straightforward than yesterday's title track - I hope you like it!<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-2273017600722331462018-02-17T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-17T00:00:09.228-05:00Zoot AlluresIt's time to curse in French today. <i>Zoot Allures</i> is the name of a Frank Zappa album from 1976 - and it was the first Frank Zappa album I heard. Today's song is an instrumental - the title track - and it features Frank Zappa on lead guitar, the mighty Terry Bozzio on drums, the wonderful Ruth Underwood on marimba, Dave Parlato, who only played with Zappa for a limited time, on bass, and whenever you hear a harp, it is played by Lu Ann Neil.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-86867175406931918412018-02-16T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-16T08:48:40.363-05:00Moonlight ShadowThe song today was a huge hit in Europe in 1983. It reached the top of the Norwegian charts, and it is one of my favorite songs from 35 years ago. Mike Oldfield wasn't known to me before this song, and for a while it was the only song I knew of his. That is until my friend Geir let me borrow the album The Complete Mike Oldfield, which was (and still is) one of the most excellent compilation albums I have ever heard, mainly because of the thematic division. On a double vinyl, each section got one side - so you had the instrumental, vocal, complex, and live sections. The complex section was a stroke of genius, as he had a tendency of having at least one major work spanning at least one whole side of the album for his early records, and by finding representative excerpts from them, they were not excluded from consideration based on length alone.<br />
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Then I started spending a lot of time with Vegard, another dear friend of mine, and he was a huge fan of Mike Oldfield - and I got even more exposed to his music. And lately, Mike Oldfield has provided a lot of music to play while I work - and while instrumental songs work, today's song, Moonlight Shadow, really gets me going. The singer is Maggie Reilly, and her voice is very distinctive and appears frequently on Mike Oldfield's albums. However, what really gets to me here is the guitar solo. He is a great guitarist - and it isn't necessarily the technical aspects that get me as much as it is the texture he creates in the way he plays around the melody. And then there is his tone. He has a unique guitar tone that just hits me really hard. I can loop this song for a day and not grow tired of it - that is how good I believe it is.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-14266411140122972092018-02-15T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-15T00:00:18.860-05:00Skägget (The Beard)So the opening line says it all... "<i>I would like to kiss you but there's something in the way</i>" - and that's what she said... It's a fun song about the trials and tribulations of having a beard...The band is Den Fule (The Ugly One) from Sweden, and the song is <i>Skägget</i>. Of course, the main character lets the girl shave him, but the last laugh is on him, as she screamed when she saw what he looked like underneath the beard. Den Fule existed through the 90s, and I found this song on the magnificent compilation <i>Bergtagen</i>, which has a lot of great songs by bands in the crossroads between folk/traditional music and rock/metal.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-84332310047727509442018-02-14T09:10:00.000-05:002018-02-16T10:50:37.199-05:00Into My Arms (for Christine)It's Valentine's Day, and I have my Valentine... I love my Christine. This is our fifth Valentine's Day - and this summer we will have been together for five years. I love you, Chris!<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-74024889368228653242018-02-13T19:30:00.000-05:002018-02-13T19:30:41.636-05:00FarmhouseToday seems like a good day for Phish (I was going to say go phishing, but then I realized the cybercriminality association with that, so I tempered my statement). This weekend I found myself listening to this song in my mind quite a bit - it's a song I keep forgetting about, but it is quite the catchy tune. Phish has a reputation of being better live than in the studio - they are so clearly a live act more than anything else (although I only have live albums to confirm this - I haven't seen them live yet) - but I have liked the opening and title track from their 2000 album Farmhouse since I first heard it. The lyrics have never been their strong suit, and that is the case for this song as well, but there is something about the chorus here that really gets to me. I would say this is music for a cabin in the woods or mountains for late nights with a nice fire going in the fireplace and no electric lights - what we Norwegians call hyttekos. It is a nice and warm song and well worth listening to.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-56242755441935868972018-02-12T08:03:00.002-05:002018-02-12T08:04:28.985-05:00Retina Sees RewindToday’s song is by the band Cave-In, a pretty schizophrenic band with hardcore/mathcore (don’t ask) roots - but I have heard someone describe some of their songs as a harder, more metal Radiohead, which I think fits today’s song, which is on their <i>Planets of Old</i> EP, which I purchased on a whim at<br />
Vertigo in Grand Rapids right after its release in 2009 based on recommendations from their staff. The song <i>Retina Sees Rewind</i> immediately stood out to me and just feels right today...<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-63443334777506801702018-02-10T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-10T07:47:54.027-05:00Curse of the Red TideToday song is a brand new gym in my collection. Yesterday, the first album from Legend of the Seagullmen was released digitally, and it is awesome. I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask who or what Legend of the Seagullman is, but I can tell you that it is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Featuring Tool drummer Danny Carey and Mastodon guitar player Brent Hinds, along with members from Dethklok, this is indeed a metal supergroup. However, while the music indeed has metal roots, it is infused with a heavy dash of psychedelia and an even heavier dash of humor. They have the groove from Tool, the psychedelia from Mastodon and the humor from Primus. Imagine churning those three bands through a blender and send the new band to Bikini Bottom as the house band at the Krusty Krab (yes, the Spongebob reference is mandatory here). I am blown away. Enjoy the <i>Curse of the Red Tide</i>.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-23871362689702789402018-02-09T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-09T00:00:39.884-05:00Little Drop Of PoisonSometimes you go to a kids movie and get blown away by the music selection. To me, that happened back in 2004, when I went to see Shrek 2. There was a piano in a dark alley bar, and the voice was unmistakeable - it was Tom Waits. And the song was <i>Little Drop of Poison</i>, which I did not know at the time. I finally picked it up on an album when I picked up his <i>Orphans</i> box set - and I thought it would be great to finish the working week up with a <i>Little Drop of Poison</i>...<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-76991322519176243362018-02-08T17:29:00.000-05:002018-02-08T17:29:10.960-05:00Joe's GarageToday's song is about rock bands. While the band in the song do pretty good for themselves, there are many that simply give up along the way - and having played in one of them myself, I completely recognize the beginning of the song. I am smiling thinking back to the days with Coma - three good friends making music just for our own sakes. It was fun and it was honest. We made music we liked - although I think I forced my inner Bono on the other two in my pretentiousness... <br />
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All I can say is that we covered <i>Comfortably Numb</i> by Pink Floyd. Yeah... My idea. My favorite part is the line "<i>There'll be no more aah aah aah</i>" where the muted aah's that are lined up with the melody on the original became a bloodcurdling scream that forced itself to the forefront in our version. And my attempt at finding my inner David Gilmore. I was never really a lead guitarist. I wanted to be one, and I demanded to play lead guitar on quite a few songs - and the solos were ALWAYS long. And never really good. A couple were ok, but no... There is only so much you can do with the pentatonic scale and limited technical ability... BUT - like I said, it was fun. And there was a chemistry there. The last recordings we made were pretty good - the songs were getting better and better and we played pretty well together.<br />
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I have my friend Jørund Hitland to thank for the song today. I knew of Frank Zappa from before after having found the album <i>Zoot Allures</i> in my dad's record collection. But it was in Jørund's cd collection I found <i>Joe's Garage</i>, a rock opera about... Well, I am not always quite sure... But it follows Joe from his beginnings in a garage band that makes it pretty big - and he encounters all sorts of depravity and finds himself in jail before he finally gets out in act three and becomes a compliant member of society. While some of the lyrics are very immature, the music is spectacular throughout. Zappa and his band move effortlessly through various musical styles, and you can hear some of that even within the title track - it is well worth listening to, and the lyrics are pretty good as well.<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-62742428497966335742018-02-06T19:00:00.000-05:002018-02-06T19:00:13.932-05:00Hallo SpaceboyToday's song is dedicated to Elon Musk. I am beyond excited that today is the launch for SpaceX Falcon Heavy to be launched - and with David Bowie's <i>Space Oddity</i> as the soundtrack. That means that song is a little bit too obvious to play, so I started thinking about <i>Space Truckin</i>' by Deep Purple, especially since a red Tesla is part of the cargo for the rocket, but I've already included that song earlier... But the Tesla has Spaceman behind the wheel - while it is a dummy, it provided great inspiration. So... I found another Bowie nugget - you can never have too much David Bowie, after all...<br />
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The launch was a success, and the Tesla's onboard computer screen had two very appropriate words on it: Don't panic. Clearly a nod to Douglas Adams' <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy</i>. But what impressed me the most was the ability of both of the side boosters and the core to find their way back to earth and land successfully. It was awe inspiring to watch. And my guess is that if someone finds this Tesla in space, their first words would be in keeping with David Bowie: <i>Hallo Spaceboy</i>!<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245983.post-766258455526111922018-02-05T00:00:00.000-05:002018-02-05T00:00:15.002-05:00I Must Be In LoveYou have probably heard of the fab four - or The Beatles - but have you heard of the prefab four? Barry, Stig, Dirk and Nasty formed the band The Rutles, and they were a great inspiration for the other band from Liverpool - at least according to the mockumentary <i>The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash</i>. <br />
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The Rutles was the brainchild of Eric Idle of Monty Python fame and Neil Innes, who started his career with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and worked closely with Monty Pyhton as well. While they started on the Eric Idle TV show Rutland Weekend Television in 1975, the full mockumentary was released in 1978 featuring Eric Idle as Dirk McQuigley and Neil Innes as Ron Nasty (representations of Paul McCartney and John Lennon respectively). It featured several of the early SNL cast members (Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray), as well as George Harrison (who also financed the movie), Bianca Jagger, and Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame).<br />
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The movie is incredibly funny, but to me, the best part is how well the songs are written. I believe it was my friend Stein Pettersen who said that the genius of the music is that you really think you are hearing The Beatles without quite placing the song - and that is on full view in today's song. It is funny - and it is just like The Beatles. Except it isn't. It is The Rutles with the song I Must Be In Love with the immortal line, "I feel good, I feel bad, I feel happy, I feel sad..." That's all the emotions you need to know in one line. I will be eternally grateful to Stein and Kjell Pettersen for introducing me to the brilliance of The Rutles!<br />
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<br />Tore Skogsethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350994745010843899noreply@blogger.com0