bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area shows of note:

friday, july 25th

comedian joel mchale

(from the soup)

@ the wilbur theatre

saturday, july 26th

bon iver

bowerbirds

@ the museum of fine arts

sunday, july 27th

the new collisions (debut)

red quiet

melt

@ tt the bears

sunday, july 27th

sunfold

antiques

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

we are scientists

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, july 30th

earlimart

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

spiritualized

the dirtbombs

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center

friday & saturday

august 1st & 2nd

eddie vedder

liam finn

solo @ the opera house

saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise

monday, august 4th

coldplay

@ the garden

tuesday, august 5th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center

saturday, august 9th

margot & the nuclear so and so's

@ the middle east

saturday, august 9th

melvins

@ the paradise

sunday, august 10th

ho-ag

six finger satellite

the in-out

certainly, sir

@ great scott

tuesday, august 12th

thao nguyen with

the get down stay down

david schultz & the skyline

pepi ginsberg

@ tt the bears

tuesday, august 12th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

grizzly bear

@ the tweeter center

thursday, august 14th

grizzly bear

violens

outside in the courtyard

@ the museum of fine arts

friday, august 15th

the ex

getachew mekuria

debo band

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, august 16th

+/- (plus minus)

broken river prophet (cd release!)

animal hospital

ba-na-nas

free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, august 19th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion

thursday, august 21st

yndi halda

caspian

irepress

@ tt the bears

friday, august 22nd

obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)

@ the middle east

saturday, august 23rd

amo joy!

franklin bruno

(from nothing painted blue)

one happy island (ep release!)

@ the lily pad

saturday, august 23rd

newbury comics / unnatural axe

30th anniversary bash

the meatmen, queers, nasties,

unnatural axe, sleazies

@ the middle east down

tuesday, august 26th

the final installment of...

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed august residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 27th

liz phair performing

'exile in guyville'

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 27th

xiu xiu

prurient

@ the paradise

monday, september 1st

the juan maclean

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 5th

silver jews

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, september 6th

my morning jacket

@ the bank of america pavilion

sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion

tuesday, september 9th

paul weller

@ the berklee performance center

saturday, september 13th

wfnx disorientation 2008

the kooks, flogging molly,

alkaline trio, rogue wave,

and more to be announced

@ bank of america pavilion

monday, september 15th

james

@ the paradise

tuesday, september 16th

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise

thursday, september 18th

the walkmen

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 19th

sigur ros

@ the bank of america pavilion

friday, september 19th to

sunday, september 21st

all tomorrow's parties

with my bloody valentine, low

built to spill, mogwai, shellac,

polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux

dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more

@ the catskills in nyc

monday, september 22nd

mogwai

fuck buttons

@ the wilbur theatre

tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre

wednesday, september 24th

low

@ the museum of fine arts boston

saturday, september 27th

built to spill

performing 'perfect from now on'

dinosaur jr.

meat puppets

@ the orpheum

sunday, september 28th

the bird and the bee

willoughby

@ great scott

thursday, september 30th

boston spaceships

(gbv's robert pollard)

big dipper

@ the paradise

sunday, october 5th

pinback

@ the paradise

monday, october 6th

the wedding present

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise

wednesday, october 8th

wire

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, october 12th

the residents

@ showcase live, foxboro

sunday, october 12th

the notwist

@ the roxy

tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise

friday, october 17th

jonathan richman

with drummer tommy larkin

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, october 18th

ra ra riot

walter meego

the morning benders

@ the middle east

tuesday & wednesday

october 21st & 22nd

billy bragg

@ the somerville theatre

wednesday, october 22nd

lyle lovett & john hiatt

(acoustic, on stage together)

@ the orpheum

thursday, october 30th

of montreal

@ the orpheum

saturday, november 1st

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the orpheum

monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden

visit tourfilter for more shows

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

The Mourning After

Well, it's official.

The pundits and analysts will take a long time to dissect the reasons Kerry/Edwards blew this thing, closely examining all the now-obsolete exit polls. Was it the lower-than-hoped turnout of young voters? Was it religious southerners? Was it the "Security (aka Scared) Moms"? The ironically-named "Moral Moms"? Was it Bush/Cheney's negative campaigning (or Kerry's lack of it), the swiftboat slams, the flip-flop red herrings? There are so many little factors that could have brought this on, we'll probably never know.

Soooo... what exactly does a President have to do to get himself fired? We'll see if Bush tries to test that any further over the next four years, but really, what does he have to lose? He's just been told "nice work, love what you've done with the place, keep it up!" by a (admittedly bare) majority of the country. Once again, he's our chosen game-face, our formal attire, he's what we put out there for the rest of the world to see. "Here we are now, disdain us!".

It comes down to this: Time may heal all wounds, but the one from Osama's attack is far too deep, all too new. With the Bush/Cheney campaign having constantly brought it up, it'll take even longer. As long as it's fresh in the minds of so many voters, as long as their primary worry is another looming attack, Bush & Co. can obviously do whatever the hell they want. Now, with a second term, Bush doesn't even need to worry about squeaking out a re-election. Cheney and Rove's only concern is grooming a replacement while keeping enough of George's stink off him to beat the next sacrificial, probably lukewarm Democrat. Pretty depressing.

Yes, in the end, the Democratic Party brought a knife to a Republican gunfight. My heart was never really behind Kerry, always moreso opposed to Bush. That's what fueled me. I wanted so badly to believe that anyone could beat him, just on his record, but was worried enough people weren't paying attention. We came so close, nearly had the right guy, but not one who could unite the independents, middle American undecideds, even the traditional Republicans, the people this administration has left behind. In the end, the old-school conservatives felt better with the status quo, and I can sadly understand. Go with who you know, and all that.

I'm trying to figure out how to move on. How to mentally process this deep disappointment. Maybe I need to have my empathy surgically removed?... to focus on my own little world, my family, my close friends, my work, entertainment, making and listening to music. To not concern myself with the larger fight, our standing in the world, the environment, the people I can't see, the wrongly accused, wrongly attacked, people denied their equal rights, the same-sex couples who want nothing more than the benefits of legally expressing their love (All 11 states?! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!). Am I really better off not caring? Would I be that much happier if I knew less, sticking with the whole ignorance and bliss equation? It might be easier to hope that things are getting better, that Americans are joining together, that a cold civil war isn't really happening... rather than knowing the truth.

Colder weather is blowing into New England this morning, a long winter is looming. I may be hunkering down for awhile, trying 'relatively uninformed' on for size, keeping far away from political websites & blog postings, wrapped in a warm blanket of denial. I don't wanna be that bitter, angry, even paranoid guy, consumed by the injustice, the lost possibilities, the slow erosion of our rights. I feel like I've had more than my fill of frustration. I made a real big mistake getting my hopes up yesterday, and it made the downward drop pretty damn painful.

Time to focus on the good stuff, because there's still an awful lot of it out there. I've got my family and friends around me, the autumn sun shining on still-colored leaves, got an unwatched episode of The Wire on my TiVo, the Daily Show has at least four more solid years o' funny, and the Sox really did win the World Series.

So, yeah, there's all that. And so much more.

posted by brad at 11:41 AM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

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