Email Received Tonight From Jim Walsh

Greetings.

You’re receiving this email because of your interest and/or participation in last year’s Wellstone World Music Day. That day brought together hundreds of musicians of all stripes in over 70 venues in 20 cities across the United States. Many folks have suggested there be a second such celebration, so plans are now afoot for Wellstone World Music Weekend, to take place Saturday and Sunday, October 23rd and 24th,  the thinking being that Saturday will be a big day for bars, clubs, and theaters, and Sunday a natural fit for, but not limited to, churches.

Monday the 25th will be the second anniversary of the plane crash that killed the Wellstones and friends, and eight days before the presidential election.

As with last year’s festivities, Wellstone World Music Weekend is a grass-roots effort in which any and all sorts of musical expressions make sense. To quote the organizing email from last year: “We’re going to start something right here, right now, and we’re going to call it Paul and Sheila Wellstone World Music Day. On that day, every piece of music, from orchestras to shower singers, superstars to buskers, will be an expression of that loss and a celebration of that life. It will be one day, where music—which, to my way of thinking, is still the best way to fill in the gray areas that the blacks and whites of everyday life leave us with—rises up in all sorts of clubs, cars, concerts, and living rooms, all in the name of peace and love and joy and all that good stuff that gets snickered at by Them.

“Now. This is no corporate flim-flam or media boondoggle. This is me talking to you, and you and I deciding to do something about the place we live in when it feels like all the exits are blocked. So: First of all, clip or forward this to anyone you know who still cares about grass roots, community, music, reading, writing, love, the world, and how the world sees America. If you’ve got a blog or web site, post it.

“If you’re a musician, book a gig now. Tell them you want it to be advertised as part of Paul and Sheila Wellstone World Music (Weekend). If you’re a shower singer, lift your voice that day and tell yourself the same thing. If you’re a club owner, promoter, or scene fiend, put together a multi-act benefit for Wellstone Action! (www.wellstone.org). If you’re a newspaper person, tell your readers. If you’re a radio person, tell your listeners. Everybody talk about what you remember about Wellstone, what he tried to do, what you plan to do for Wellstone World Music (Weekend).”

There are no official organizers for Wellstone World Music Weekend, though the web site (www.wellstoneworldmusicday.com) will be up and running soon to chronicle news, chart events, and help people hook up with each other.

All the best,
Jim Walsh

If It Looks Like A Duck And Quacks Like A Duck ...

Harkin calls Cheney a coward. Give 'em hell, Tom!

My Life's Work Complete

If you google the first word of "Wooly Bully", Rocks Off has the #1 and #2 results.

Here's to little victories!

August 14th

Today is the 20th anniversary of my turning legal drinking age in the state of Minnesota. I celebrated the event in 1984 by helping my sister move to Devils Lake, North Dakota. That night I had an allergy attack and one of my eyelids swelled shut.

First beer had in a bar: Schmidt longneck at the Hotel Shoreham, near Detroit Lakes. (Bought by my pal Perry Eidem and his then-fiance-now-wife Mardi.)

First off-sale purchased. Twelve-pack of Meisterbrau cans, for my Mom, at the Vergas Municipal Liquor Store. It was four dollars even, tax included. The mean chick who worked there (we called her "The Dragon Lady") scoffed at my prescence, carded me, and exclaimed: "You just turned!" The law's the law, honey.

Help Me! I'm Trapped In A Self-Contained Hipster Universe!

Quick question for all y'all: Did my Michael Jordan mini-memoir come off as: 1) an aimless personal story, or 2) an insecure, half-assed grad school essay?

Hey Terry Ryan:

You blew it by not trading for Kris Benson from the Pittsburgh Pirates. You would have had to give up Jason Kubel? Big freakin' deal!

We could have received the husband of Anna Benson!!

Art Doesn't Exist In A Vacuum

From last Saturday's Strib:

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he's "heartbroken" that Bruce Springsteen is planning to rock against President Bush.

Opening his weekly radio show Friday with "Born to Run," the 43-year-old Pawlenty called Springsteen one of his musical idols. "I really appreciate his music, but I wish he wouldn't interject his music with politics," said Pawlenty, who co-chairs Bush's campaign in Minnesota.

Springsteen and REM will perform Oct. 5 at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center as part of a series of concerts staged in nine swing states across the country to oppose Bush's reelection.

"I'm going to have to miss this one," Pawlenty said.

1) "(Not) interject his music with politics ..." Then, Governor, why is okay for you to have bands play at your inaugural? Why is it okay for you to interject pop culture references into your political speech? If Springsteen rocked for Bush, would you feel the same way?

2) Governor: Ten years ago Springsteen released an album titled The Ghost of Tom Joad. Um, it's The Grapes Of Wrath, get it? "The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature, one that captures the horrors of the Great Depression as it probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America." John Steinbeck? Oh, never mind.

3) On a totally unrelated note, I have it on good word that Governor Pawlenty was once visiting a local business that has the word "loco" in its name. "Loco?" The governor asked, "Do you use that because it's a local business?" Way to chase that Hispanic vote Timmy!

Mystery Solved

Saint Paul over at Fraters Libertas has figured out the "Wooly Bully" mystery that I wrote about on August 2nd.

Awesome, totally awesome!

(And yes, that was just a case of me blogging him blogging me.)

All The Boys Walk By, Dressed Up For Each Other

The unsettling thought has occurred to me that when I go out, I subconsciously dress to appeal to men.

Case in point - last night I went to the Hold Steady show at First Avenue. I dressed simply in black Chucks, Levis, and a Winnipeg Jets teeshirt. As I made my way through the balcony bar, some dude stopped me and said: "Great shirt! Winnipeg Jets! Love it!" I slapped him on the back, thanked him, and made my way on.

Thirty feet away, I could still hear him telling his friends: "WINNIPEG JETS! YOU GOTTA LOVE IT! HE HAD A FREAKIN' WINNIPEG JETS SHIRT ON!!"

Bloggers Are A Big Story This Year -- Possibly Because There Is No Other News ...

"I'm blogging him blogging you!"

My Favorite Album Covers From The Seventies

Cheap Trick - In Color
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
Mott the Hoople - Mott
Iggy & the Stooges - Metallic K.O.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - You're Gonna Get It!
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
The J. Geils Band - Full House
Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner
Blue Oyster Cult - Agents of Fortune

1) The Cheap Trick one is best appreciated if you see the back cover also.

2) Mott and Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited are my all-time faves. I have both of 'em framed on my living room walls.

3) "Metallic K.O. ... with a picture of me on the front of it, knocked out cold." - Iggy Pop in his autobiography, I Need More

4) AC/DC paid homage by Alison Kraus.

5) Sabbath paid homage by me.

6) Geils ... that ain't a full house! But I love those cards. (I mean the band, not that hand.)

Couldn't Have Said It Any Better Myself

My friend Chad Hagen once said this about National Night Out: "I'll celebrate it with the doors locked, the shades drawn, and a shotgun in my lap."

I Believe Spicoli Said: "Ahhhh, I Know That Tune!"

I'm getting mucho hits on my site from people typing "first word of wooly bully" into search engines. If anybody knows what's up with this sudden world-wide curiousity about the nonsensical (I assume, though nonsensical don't mean bad in my book) lyrics all-time great rock 'n' roll song, please comment or email me. Thanks!

(And the first word is "uno" ... right?)

Update: The mystery has been solved. It's a clue in a crossword puzzle. See my August 7th post, or click here.

"The Alternative Media, Jerry. That's Where You Hear The Truth"

Who is this Bill Toumala guy? Not only did he steal my Michael Jordan mini-memoir word-for-word for this week's City Pages cover story, but he stole my look from twenty years ago, and he (almost) stole my name!

Update: City Pages corrected the Tuomala spelling online, ensuring that my many fans and stalkers will have success with their googling.

Obama

The keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama, gave a knockout of a speech tonight. Text of the speech is here, video should be up at CSPAN by Wednesday morning.

And he spoke right at me when he mentioned "the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too."