i’m not really a fan of the band boston, but the song is somehow appropriate considering how much time has elapsed since the last posting. let’s see, since that time i’ve considered writing about some great music i’ve been to, the fact that john mccain totally went away from himself during the campaign, how good it is that obama won (even though i didn’t vote for him), and my new wheels, a 2008 honda shadow spirit. i guess i’ll start with the last and work my way to the first, and if you don’t want to hear about any of it, well, you never read my blog anymore anyway so i’m not worried.

it’s been over a year and a half since the last motorcycle i’ve owned and the transition is, as they say, just like riding a bike. i am no longer stuck in traffic, i get to ride in the carpool lane without a passenger, and i rarely pay for parking anymore. what’s not to like right? :) i have a lesbian friend who tells me i can pick up a lot of girls with this bike, but so far it’s only worked once. although the girl in question *did* wear a pretty short skirt, and i have never seen so many double takes in my life as i did when she was riding behind me. my bike gets a lot of looks because it’s a very nice silver and has just the right amount of chrome on it to not be audacious and gaudy. but having a bike that gets a lot of looks with a girl on the back showing an inhuman amount of leg seems to really draw people’s attention for some reason ;)

speaking of drawing attention, it’s phenomenal that america has matured enough to elect a non-white man to the presidency. i think a lot of his early success was because of the novelty of voting for a black man (sad to say) but as the campaign wore on, it was obvious that obama is every bit the kind of person that *should* be president in this country and the kind of leader we need after the last 8 disastrous years. i’m not saying obama is the be all, end all of US politics, but he’s already changing the attitudes of this country, and the marginal fringe of society is being pushed back to the margins where they belong…. except for those votes to ban same-sex marriage anyway. so in other words, we’re mature enough to finally see a black man as president but not mature enough to allow gay people the same rights as straight people enjoy. maybe some day we’ll get there….

i’m really not sure what happened to john mccain after the primary season ended. well, i know *of* the reasons why he ran the campaign he did, but it doesn’t make sense when you consider that he spent the vast majority of his career making a point of being different than the rest of the republican party. mistake number one for mccain was getting away from his “maverick” status in order to shore up the republican far-right extremist base, compounded by the fact that he picked one of the worst candidates since dan quayle in sarah palin. the stated reasons for picking palin — to pick up the “hillary vote”, to “be a maverick” — just didn’t ring true once she opened her mouth and proved that she’s basically dumb as dirt when it comes to national (and international) politics.

mistake number two for mccain came with the constant attacks that he put on obama, as if the electorate is going to be completely convinced by all the constant negativity. it’s proven year after year that people HATE negative political ads, so to base your entire campaign on political attacks when you’ve spent your whole career reaching across the aisle to your political opponents just doesn’t make sense.

mistake number three, and this was the biggest one for him, was to continue to surround his campaign with advisors that had so little to criticize obama that they also resorted to constant attacks. when we see palin, rudy giuliani, phil gramm, and the other people close to mccain’s campaign making fun of obama’s history as a community organizer among other things, it really does show how little faith mccain had in his own chances of winning the election. and it’s sad that a man who has built his reputation as someone who always takes the high road on principle now has this shitty campaign as basically the end of his legacy in politics. we finally saw the real mccain in his concession speech, but by then of course it was way too late to do anything about it.

and since i’m too tired to write a review of everybody i’ve gone to see in the last few months, i’m just gonna make links to their respective web pages and you can hear for yourself how awesome and incredible they all are as musicians :D these are listed in no particular order or preference:

sara haze: http://www.myspace.com/sarahaze oh. my. god. what an amazing voice this girl has. you can tell she puts a lot into her music when you see her play, and she’s opened for some very amazing musicians as well. she will be immensely famous very soon and very well-deserved when it happens.

shane alexander: http://www.myspace.com/shanealexander great songs, great voice and great guitar talent.

amber rubarth: http://www.myspace.com/amberrubarth i LOVE this girl’s music. i’m not sure what to say about her exactly except that she has a way of putting together a song that i haven’t heard from anyone else, and a soothing voice to match it.

what made milwaukee famous: http://www.myspace.com/whatmademilwaukeefamous pure indie rock at its finest. these guys know how to put on a great show and have very well-written songs and lyrics. and now that they have two guitars in the band, they truly rock out at every show.

tiff randol: http://www.myspace.com/tiffanyrandol she has a very soulful approach to her music and a voice to match it. her shows have so much energy it’s hard not to enjoy her music.

amy kuney: http://www.myspace.com/amykuney a very smooth and soothing voice. i know i’ve mentioned her here before, but she definitely deserves another mention. she has a very big heart and is one of the nicest people i have ever met

chris pierce: http://www.myspace.com/chrispierce this man is another one who puts so much soul and energy into his music. seeing him live is like watching a master put on a clinic on how to play music and pull the crowd along with what he’s trying to do.

the elevaters: http://www.myspace.com/elevaters a funk/soul/r&b/hip-hop band that will get you out of your seat and dancing whether you can dance or not. and if you’re not dancing at one of their shows, then you must not have rhythm, because these guys know how to bring the goods to the stage.

ok, that’s enough for me for now. time to go into hibernation again for another 4 months….