Matador Playlist 12/3/15 & 12/10/15

12 Jan Matador Playlist 12/3/15 & 12/10/15

Posted at 02:54h in Music, Playlist by inkyinkinc

Ah, dear and Gentle Reader(s), I am returned from an extended hiatus from the posting of ruminations and lists of play upon these pages. The reasons for this extended silencio are various and sundry, but included amongst them are a) travel, b) more travel, c) distraction, d) physical malady, and e) (most dreadfully) f) deficit of inspiration. The travel is not a problem but whenever I think I’m going to get some writing done on the road I typically find that I am sorely mistooked. That’s where the distraction comes into it—too much other stuffe to do and think about. The holidays snuck into the mix somewhere around the 25th of December as they are wont to do, and upon that very selfsame evening, right smack in the middle of Birthday o’ Jebus observations, a rather dreadful throbbing began to manifest itself in the region of an upper right pre-molar, the lower portion of which had decided to bust a move for the Great Outdoors back in September (quite possibly inspired by a fairly dull Keith Richards documentary I had been watching on Netflix). The throb evolved into a mindbendingly dreadful pain that had Your Humble Narrator stumbling and mumbling about in a humble little mumble circle in his living room, groaning in agony—a state of affairs that continued intermittently throughout Jebus Birthday weekend. Timing, as is oft noted, is everything, and in this case the timing could scarcely have been worse. I survived till Monday when good Doctor Doug Reid was able to extract the offending article with dispatch, ending my holiday weekendus horribilis. It is said that if it don’t kill you it makes you stronger and I am feeling quite strong at the moment.

During this hiatus I have been ruminating on a variety of topics with which to fill this page. A lot has happened since last posting, here, there and everywhere it seems, and most of it not particularly good. One of the worst things is the continued presence and popularity (amongst some hopefully small and delusional portion of the American populace) of the hideous goon whose photo appears atop this postage. I certainly hope you wouldn’t think that I would post the offensive likeness of this most offensive individual without good reason, but even with good reason it’s enough to put one off one’s feed. For that I apologize. There’s not much that I can possibly say regarding this revolting subhuman that has not already been said, but hell—why not pile on, eh?

When Donald Trump first made his presence felt as a Rethuglican presidential hopeful I took it as a joke. Certainly this would not and could not last for long, and in short order Dumb Donald would be sent scuttling back to one of his gaudy hidey holes until the laughter died down. Well, silly me. The more grotesque, offensive, and moronic Dumb Donald’s pronouncements became the more his followers grew. And, to a degree, I understand why. Confronted by milquetoasty career politicos who, when confronted with evidence of some blunderous stupidity or chicanery, shift into backpedal/spin control mode and start whining that they’ve been misquoted, taken out of context, or victimized by ‘GOTHCA’ lefty journalists (‘GOTCHA’ journalism typically meaning being confronted with a question for which one does not possess a prefabricated reply), it’s not entirely surprising that Joe and Josephine Shithead found something refreshing about Trump’s unapologetic brand of demagoguery.

However, as summer passed into fall and fall into winter, Dumb Donald didn’t go away. Instead, he became the Rethuglican frontrunner, leaving his baker’s dozen of flag waving/bible thumping cohorts baffled and mealy-mouthed, fumbling to figure out how to tangle with someone who was increasingly content with whatever racist garbage came spilling out of his mouth. The Dumb Donald joke suddenly weren’t funny no mo. Not funny at all. Emboldened that some rich asshole was willing to get up on a podium and befoul the planet with the kind of shit that white folks might well think but would dare not say (in public, anyway), Dumb Donald followers started filling up arenas all over the place. This, Gentle Readers, is the ugly underside of the rock upon which America has built its shiny edifice. All the nasty crawly stuff is lurking under there and even Dumb Donald ain’t dumb enough not to realize that he can make hay out of it. It’s a learning experience for all of us. One theory suggests that greed will ultimately save us from Dumb Donald. He is, after all, a money guy first and foremost: DD just want to git paid. If he honestly begins to believe that his political aspirations are proving substantially harmful to the Trump brand perhaps then he’ll decide that it’s time to shut his pie hole and slither back home. It’s a theory. Theories as to whatever the hell that thing on Dumb Donald’s head is remain in the formative stages.

In the meantime, we have morphed into a new year and Dumb Donald is still with us. The question has been posed: Is Donald Trump A Fascist? An article in the December 3 New York Times by Donald Douthat addressed the issue utilizing a check list of signature fascisti traits posited by the Italian critic, author and philosopher Umberto Eco. The Italians know a thing or two about fascism and some of Eco’s identification keys are as follows: A cult of action – Check; A celebration of aggressive masculinity – Check; An intolerance of criticism – Check; A fear of difference and outsiders – Check; A pitch to the frustrations of the lower middle class – Check; An intense nationalism and resentment at national humiliation – Check; A ‘popular elitism’ that assures every citizen that they’re part of the ‘best people of the world’ – Check again. Well, if it walks like a fascist duck and it quacks like a fascist duck…

Douthat goes on to point out that while, over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, America never managed to produce an enduring and popularly supported socialist or Communist movement it never produced a similarly popular fascist movement either. The perpetual anti-government drumbeat of textbook American conservatism (i.e., ‘Vote for me—I’m against government!’) has reliably precluded ultra-nationalist sympathies from taking root on the right. Dumb Donald, however, lacks any sort of traditional conservative ideological pedigree, or any pedigree at all for that matter, and therefore he just pulls whatever crackpot notion appeals to him that day out of his jumbo bag o’ crackpot notions, spews them out in front of the assembled masses and the media, and—Tada!—a Dumb Doctrine is born. Douthat suggests that Dumb Donald is more of a proto-Fasicsti than the genuine article (at this point, anyway) and that to raise the fascist alarm is giving him rather more credit than he’s due—something that might possibly work in El Dumbo’s favor. An emotional reaction to DD and the sources of his appeal, as opposed to a reasoned argument dismantling his half-witted manic drivel and addressing real issues, might serve only to temporarily weaken the Trump virus, allowing it to return in more virulent form further on down the road.

Good point, Mr. Douthat. After all, when pressed on specific issues Dumb Donald’s stock reply is something along the lines of ‘We’re gonna look into that,’ or some other such moronic non-answer. Immigration? Show people video of ambiguous dark figures scuttling across the Moroccan border and say ‘We’re gonna build a wall and make the Mexicans pay for it!’ Yeah! ISIS? Carpet bomb them into the stone age! Yeah! Syrian refugees? A moratorium on Muslims until the government ‘can figure out what’s going on.’ YEAH!!! Ultimately, it all amounts to a big smelly pile of nothing. There’s no actual policy there—just bluster, bullying, knee-jerk racism and know-nothing drivel from the jumbo bag o’ crackpot notions. So, for the time being we can trust in the system, trust that some sort of genetically engrained core of common sense and decency amongst the greater American electorate—Democratic antibodies, if you will—will emerge to derail the Dumb Donald juggernaut and orient the masses towards True North come election day, and that we’ll end up with… with… well… not Dumb Donald. Take that for what it’s worth and then you can really start to worry.

Oh, and Playlists! Right! Almost forgot about them. Well here’s some of December for you, Gentle Reader(s). By the middle of the month DJ Inky was on the road again so there was no 12/17 playlist to report. On the 24th (aka, Jebus Birthday Eve), I was back in the saddle but it was all Xmas fare (albeit by the likes of the Ramones, Bad Religion and Rev. Horton Heat) and that would bore the beJebus out of everyone. On New Year’s Eve it was time to throw Shame to the four winds, pull out the Pavlovian Playlist and get everyone leaping about in fine End o’ Year fashion. It’s almost embarrassing for me to post a list like that. I mean, it’s a great list but I almost feel guilty about doing it because it’s so damn manipulative (check my entry of 3/3/14)! Then again, it’s just good, clean, All-American fun. Nobody got hurt and everybody had a lovely time, so I therefore absolve Myself. Self, you are absolved. Thank you, Self. You’re welcome. It was back to the road for January 7, but DJ Inky will be returned, back in the saddle on the 14th for the first set of 2016. Be there or be… elsewhere.

Matador Playlist 12/3/15

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Red Right Hand – Nick Cave
TV Set – the Cramps
Gun Sale at the Church – Beat Farmers
Come Together – MC5
Go All The Way – the Raspberries
Kung Fu Ramone – Guitar Wolf
Ruby Tuesday – the Rolling Stones
I’m Not A Punk – Descendents
Nothing At All – the Waco Brothers
Howlin’ At The Moon – Hank Williams
Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing – the Minutemen
Dirt – the Stooges
Song for Zula – Phosphorescent
Christmas Is A Pain in the Arse – the Accelerators
Mystery Train – Elvis Presley
Rock n’ Roll Toilet – the Soft Boys
Maggie Mae – the Piestasters
Fever Dreaming – No Age
Hearing Jimmy Loud – Drive-By Truckers
Foggy Notion – the Velvet Underground
Super Bad, Pts. 1 & 2 – James Brown
Mod Lang – Big Star
Salad Days – Minor Threat
Gigantic – the Pixies
Static Age – Misfits
88 Lines About 44 Women – the Nails
Alcohol – Dropkick Murphys
Get Off Your Ass and Jam – Funkadelic
Last Kind Word Blues – Dex Romweber Duo
Sheena Is a Punk Rocker – the Ramones
Save Me From What I Want – St. Vincent
Oh Girl – Evil Superstars
Los Angeles – X
Precious – Depeche Mode
007 (Shanty Town) – Desmond Dekker
Big Women – GBH
Lend Me Your Face – Fight Like Apes
Zombie Dance – the Cramps
From the Corner to the Block (feat. Juvenile) – Galactic
Stagger Lee – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Lucky Dutch – Radio Moscow
Communication Breakdown – Led Zeppelin
The Witch – the Sonics
Pitbull Terrier – Die Antwoord
The Real Me – the Who
Nobody Knows – the Feelies
Kool Thing – Sonic Youth
Dance to the Bop – Gene Vincent
Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
What A Waster – the Libertines
Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
Change the Locks – Lucinda Williams
Kick Out the Jams – MC5
Bull Black Nova – Wilco
Twist Barbie – Shonen Knife
My Way – Sid Vicious
Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots (R.I.P., Scott Weiland)
Heart Full of Soul – the Yardbirds
Machine Gun Etiquette – the Damned
I Must Be Dreaming – Public Image, Ltd.
The Magnificent Seven – the Clash
Wicked Garden – Stone Temple Pilots
Rise Above – Henry Rollins & Chuck D
Plush – Stone Temple Pilots
Marrow – St. Vincent
Do As I Say – Gang of Four
Crying – Roy Orbison
That’s When I Reach for My Revolver – Mission of Burma
Teenage Lust – MC5
Floyd the Barber – Nirvana
Crazy Arms – Ray Price
Personality Crisis – New York Dolls
Dreams – TV On the Radio
Joy – PJ Harvey
Something That I Said – the Ruts
I Might Be Wrong – Radiohead
Guitars, Cadillacs – Dwight Yoakum (para El Sicario)
Stranded In the Jungle – New York Dolls
All the Young Dudes – Mott the Hoople
Clear Eye Clouded Mind – Nada Surf
Boom Swagger Boom – the Murder City Devils
Little Minx – Dum Dum Girls
Seasick – Silversun Pickups
Soul Kitchen – the Doors
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (feat. Trigger on calumnious oud)