European protests always looked more fun than american ones. I can only assume that the police are less draconian over there, or else their prisons are more fun.
Why are people so pissed? The French government is passing laws to make it easier to hire and fire young people without much job experience, supposedly to ease unemployment, but it's a pretty transparent attempt to chip away at job security and the strength of unions. Although that can be hard to understand in America, where there is little job security even for the well off and the unions have long betrayed their original intention of fighting for workers' rights.
On the other hand, the New York Times News Service offered an interesting explanation in their story: "The protests are driven by domestic politics and the fear of change among France's middle and working class." That sounds pretty definitive.
Meanwhile, marvel in horror at this "Class Note" from the Spring 2006 Northwester Alumni Magazine:
Brian T. Osborn (WCAS91) of Menlo Park, Calif., and his band Negative Feedback won the 2005 Fortune Magazine Battle of the Corporate Bands at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. The band, made up of eBay employees, will have a one-year showcse at the museum.
That sounds great, doesn't it? The Battle of the Corporate Bands... i thought that was what they were calling the Grammys now (ouch.) Could anything be more antithetical to the supposed ideals of rock than a museum? Of course the only elements of rock & roll worth preserving, its iconoclasm, spontanaeity, its potential to transgress social boundaries... none of these things are able to be preserved or presented in a museum, so i suppose the real problem with the R & R Hall of Fame is the concept, not the execution.
But at least we can look forward to more interesting induction ceremonies as the Punk Years beocome antique. Apparently Debbie Harry got pretty snippy with her former bandmates from Blondie, who got kicked off the gravy train. But watch out for the (new and improved) Blondie on tour with (i'm not kidding) The New Cars, featuring a couple of original members of The Cars and Todd Rundgren (!!!) And they'll be playing at that most rocking of all Chicago-area venues, Ravinia. Where rock goes to get dialysis.
John Fahey got old, and probably needed dialysis, but he never got it. And that's why he's rock & roll. He played finger style acoustic (mostly) guitar, but took it to some crazy places. He made tons of great records (includings some semi-famous Christmas record,) was friends with Doctor Demento, got vaguely asociated with Wyndham Hill, kept it real nonetheless, wrote really long liner notes (he had a philosophy degree...) and then kinda disappeared. They eventually found him a little effed up in some crappy motel in the boonies, dusted him off, and flew Jim O'Rourke in to make some records with him. And then he died.
I picked a fairly early
song from him called Sunflower River Blues, a pretty typical piece. There's no way to pick one song that could give an idea of his range and especially his more experimental leanings. So it's up to you to check him out for yourself.
