Missouri

The name “Stradivarius” evokes a kind of reverence among classical violinists. The creations of legendary luthier Antonio Stradivari, who died in 1737, are prized the world over for the silvery clarity and richness of their tones and their responsiveness to the hands of musicians. They command prices in the millions from musicians and collectors.

Luthiers, or makers of stringed instruments, down through the years have tried to find ways to reproduce those delightful qualities. Often, they’ve tried to do so by selecting and shaping the wood used in their instruments.

One man thinks he’s done it through biochemistry.

“The issue here is: Can the audience tell the difference between a $3 million Stradivarius or a $20,000 Nagyvary?” said Joseph Nagyvary.

(Read the full post about ‘Professor tweaks violins using biochemistry’…)

"Hello, Chad. This is Garrison Keillor calling from Salem, Oregon."

And I’m hypnotized – that articulate baritone, that comforting timbre, that beguiling, measured way of observing, discussing and describing that’s endeared Keillor to a fan base that, in the author, satirist and radio personality’s low-key, self-deprecating way, he’d probably still try to downplay.

Keillor’s "A Prairie Home Companion: The Rhubarb Tour” – a live variety show adapted from his broadcast program – pulls into the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis on Sunday and South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset on Monday.
 
PL: You know the area, having played both venues before.

GK: They are unique venues – venues with revolving platforms.

(Read the full post about ‘Garrison Keillor wants ‘just enough success to keep working’’…)

It’s not easy to reference current events in songs these days without alienating half your audience. But Cambridge, Mass., songwriter Mark Erelli succeeds in providing a very moving snapshot of what it’s like to live in America in 2008 on his new album, “Delivered,” due out Sept. 16 on Signature Sounds.

A few songs on the album deal with the Iraq war and its effect on Americans. The opening tune, “Hope Dies Last,” comes from the perspective of average citizens switching on the news and being overwhelmed by war, natural disasters and political frustration.

(Read the full post about ‘Songwriter Mark Erelli delivers America in haunting album’…)

Rejoice, conspiracy theorists, bloggers and other assorted nuts. Your paranoia is about to be rewarded in the form of a documentary that twists rumor, heresy and innuendo into a self-fulfilling truth.

It’s called “Stealing America: Vote by Vote,” and given its “we was robbed” slant, I’m betting it was financed by money left over from John Kerry’s failed 2004 presidential campaign.

It’s not a fine whine, either. It’s dull, repetitive and without one substantiated claim.

(Read the full post about ‘‘Stealing America’ steals your precious time’…)

Outkast and the Goodie MOb got me into Southern rap music back in the mid-‘90s. I’ll even admit that there are a few guilty pleasures on Master P’s gloriously-awful "Ghetto Dope."

But I just can’t get into the whole Southern-bounce thing, and its biggest star, Young Jeezy, embodies everything that makes the genre forgettable and indistinct on "The Recession."

At least a dozen of the album’s track use the exact same drum pattern.

(Read the full post about ‘Album review: ‘The Recession,’ by Young Jeezy’…)

One of the talking heads on MSNBC, in their pre-convention coverage this afternoon, gushed over Barack Obama’s plan to give Federal money to First Responders so they can become more capable.

Mark me.  Wherever there is Federal money, there is ALWAYS Federal control.  The money Obama’s promises will have strings attached.  Knowing who Obama is, and what political party he represents, those strings will be affirmative action mandates.  Most likely, they will require almost the total elimination of any semblance of standards for black and Hispanic hiring and promotion candidates.

Ironically, then, Obama’s Federal money will make many Police, Fire and EMS services more black and Hispanic, and therefore less competent.

SNL:  Obama from a home in Kansas City: I’m ‘here in St. Louis’

So obviously the newspaper in Springfield has to make the biggest deal about it.

NPI:  Black history to be taught as part of school curriculum amid fears Churchill will be sidelined in lessons

A minute wasted on teaching about that ODWG could be put to good use to tell black “Britons” about Rosa Parks.

Alan Keyes, in WND:  Alan Keyes: Voters should say ‘no’ [to Obama]

All I can say is that, Alan, you had your chance to do that personally, four years ago.

St.

(Read the full post about ‘Fun With the First Day and the Last Day’…)

But I don’t think they’re actually rednecks.  Note that one of them is a retired state bear.

KSDK:

Missouri ‘Rednecks for Obama’ Show Support in Denver

Tony Veissman and his buddy, Les Spencer, like to hunt and fish. They like their guns and the self-proclaimed rednecks like Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The two drove from Rolla, Mo., to show their support for the Illinois senator. They held their banner “Rednecks for Obama” outside a security checkpoint near the Pepsi Center, where delegates for the Democratic National Convention started gathering Monday.

“We’re trying to get all the rednecks to vote for Obama,” said Veissman, a retired Missouri state trooper.

(Read the full post about ‘You Might Be a Redneck If You’re This Stupid, or You Think Obama’s That Smart’…)

That’s what Day 1 of the DNC seemed like today.  It was “last eight years horrible McCain equals Bush hope change health care Barack was a community activist out of Iraq responsibly.”

So, David Axelrod is the Democrat Party’s sole speechwriter now?

I watched it gavel-to-gavel today.  (No, I’m not ordinarily a sadist.)  One thing that jumped out at me was the dichotomy that took place at 7 o’clock (8 Eastern).  Before 7, I saw kind of a kooky looking motley crew of an audience, holding handwritten signs.  The speakers tended to be more strident and radical, some speaking in Spanish.  Also, the music before 7 seemed to be provided by a bad house band that you’d hear in a crummy bar.

After 7, the audience seemed to get somewhat more respectable, the speakers more “mainstream,” the recitation of Axelrod talking points more precise, the signs professionally printed, and the music more slick and polished.

This has been the Democrat Party playbook for as long as I’ve had a conscious memory.  Behind the curtains, pander all out to blacks and (increasingly now) Hispanics.  In front of the curtains, hide the pandering and appeal to whites’ economic frustration.  And pray that the media don’t blow your cover.

David Brooks wrote in the NYT yesterday that, the DNC strategy will be the “genericificaton” of Barack Obama.  He says that a generic Democrat beats a generic Republican by a wide margin in polls, so the DNC has to make Obama more “generic,” while turning McCain into George W.

(Read the full post about ‘The Same Speech Recited By Twenty Different People’…)

UK Telegraph : Muslim man jailed for killing BNP neighbour who racially abused him A Muslim man has been jailed for eight years after stabbing to death a BNP activist neighbour who had racially abused him. Habib Khan, 50, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter after a jury heard he had been tormented for years by his neighbour over a planning dispute. Keith Brown, 52, was killed by a single stab in his back with a kitchen knife during a violent row outside his home in Stoke-on-Trent in July last year. You can pretty much figure out the rest of the article.  “Boo hoo hoo, but he said racial slurs to my face.”  However, since Mr. (Read the full post about ‘“But He Called Me a Racial Slur”’…)