Friday Frank and Open Thread: On Forum Musiques; Paris, 1968

This is a rare treat for us Zappaphiles: video recording of FZ and the Mothers of Invention making their first appearance on the French TV program Forum Musiques. The music is at once inventive, amusing, bizarre, and deeply beautiful--in short, very Frank.

And come to think of it, those adjectives might well describe my hopes for the impending summer and the activities (and lack thereof) in which I'm considering engaging myself and the boys: we shall aim to fill our days with the inventive, the amusing, the bizarre, and the deeply beautiful.

So: what are your warm-weather plans?

Comments

[oddjob]

As someone mentioned in this post's discussion thread, Rand Paul has now arrived at the place where the only reason he opens his mouth is to exchange the foot inside it.

[litbrit]

Oddjob, so true. Paul was born with a silver shoe in his mouth (and a very big shovel in his hand, methinks, given the way he keeps digging!)

I loved this, from Keith Olbermann's opening last night: Republicans are beginning to rue Paul.

[Corvus9]

So has anyone heard of Florence and the Machine? I just got her album, the appropriately titled "Lungs", and it is just nothing but win.

Also, listening to Cage the Elephant. This is exactly how I like my rock and roll. they are on of the bands you see on endcaps at department stores for 10 bucks, but actually good. I had heard their first two songs on the radio, "No Rest for the Wicked," and "Back Against the Wall," and had thought they were a cut above everything else new on the radio, but it wasn't till I heard the single at the link that I knew I had to get the cd. Loud, chaotic without being sloppy, and profane.

As to what I'll be up to this summer, well, a I will be starting a new job soon, and moving out of the technically impoverished into the ranks of the actually lower-middle class, so that's nice.

Also, I started fiction blog, which I will be posting a new part of a story every friday. I have four posts already lined up, so I will be keeping to that schedule. The second post will go up later today, after I do one more pass on the text for grammar. If's kind of surrealist science-fiction, so if that sounds interesting, check it out!

[Sir Charles]

D.

That's a great Zappa piece. He must have been the last musician I can think of to make prominent use of clarinets.

I believe my summer is going to be devoted mainly to work alas. The spouse is starting a new job and I think it will preclude any lengthy summer interludes, although the kid is going to get to go to Ecuador and the Galapagos. Lucky him.

The "rue Paul" line was a killer -- I was jealous of Keith for that one.

Corvus,

Good luck in the new job. I'll have to check out the music link.

[Corvus9]

This seems like a big deal to me. Pelosi eyes DADT. Remember, this isn't some mealy-mouthed politician who says stuff to satisfy constituents. This is Pelosi. Never bet against her.

[litbrit]

Thanks for that link, Corvus.

I look forward to checking out your writings. Good for you! I will be writing my first novel this summer, which will be a biographical piece with dramatic license, for lack of a better descriptor. And I hope to have plenty of time and peace of mind available to me--we shall see.

[Sir Charles]

Corvus,

Oh sure a hot, leggy redhead writhing on the floor and extolling the virtues of drummers -- I can't imagine you'd like something like that.

[Corvus9]

Oh, neat! Do you plan on posting it (or excerpts) on the blog, or saving it up and trying to get it published.

Or perhaps it's still to early to ask a question like that...

...But I'd love to read it!

[oddjob]

I will be writing my first novel this summer, which will be a biographical piece with dramatic license, for lack of a better descriptor.

Isn't that usually known as a roman a clef?

(I tried to get the grave accent over the "a", but Typepad isn't using the html coding I learned in the way I learned it, so I have no idea what code it's looking for to get that grave accent.)

[Corvus9]

Sir Charles,

Well, she's actually trying to get rid, of the drumming, so that's bad. But I did go with that particular song for for the drumming reference. But I actually like this video much better. It's more idiosyncratic.

[big bad wolf]

i like that cage the elephant song, corvus. i'm adding it to my itunes to-add list.

[Corvus9]

Hey, did it take anyone else until now to notice that "Frank" is misspelled in the post heading?

[low-tech cyclist]

Fanks for pointing that out!

[litbrit]

Oh NOES! I will fix that immediately. Thanks for the heads-up. I know exactly what happened--when I copied the title from my own blog to cross-post here, the cursor didn't go all the way over to the left. So I hand-typed in the Friday FANK, as I was in a hurry and, as the Wall Street traders say, I "fat-fingered" it. Duh.

RE: the book, it's actually about someone who lived and died many decades ago. I hope to do lots of historical research, and obviously will need to do a good deal of imagining, too, as he's not around to interview personally. I plan to get it finished this year, and submit it to my agent in time for next year's big booksellers' convention (it used to be called the ABBA, but I think they changed the name recently). I mention all this because by outing myself as a novelist, I hope you guys will keep the pressure on me and not allow me to wimp out, doubt myself into not writing it, criticize myself into a corner, etc. In other words, I'm counting on your support and your shame! I'll keep you posted.

Okay, off to fix the typo before people laugh at me, which they should. *cringes*

[kathy a.]

i thought there was some kind of blog ethic that precluded fixing typos.

but litbrit, looking forward to the book!

[Sir Charles]

D.

Better you than me.

I seldom post anything that I don't end up correcting at least twice once it is posted.

kathy,

I believe that is known as the Yglesias rule. In addition to his motley assembly of white supremacists, resident troll Al, crazy zionists, crazy anti-zionists, and Petey (coiner of the immortal phrase "you trust fund scumbag"), Matt seems to operate under the rule of no spell checking ever.

[litbrit]

I type really, really, really fast, and when I've got someone small and loud yelling at me from the next room or a cat eating a plastic bag again (yeah, he's weird), it's easy to screw up.

Kathy, I always understood it was fine to fix minor typos and not say anything, but if the fixing alters the substance of what you said the first time, it's good ethics to point out that you've edited. I don't think one missing letter qualifies as altering the substance, at least, I hope not!

C, I think Matt does that stuff on purpose. No-one with a college degree makes that many spelling and grammar erros, does he? Please say no.

[litbrit]

ERRORS, not erros. Gah. As I was saying...

[Sir Charles]

I am not sure he ever reads anything after he posts. He certainly doesn't intervene in his comments section very often. Some really vile and crazy stuff goes on there.

Chalk it up to the insouciance of the Harvard-educated trust fund scumbag. (I suspect that Yglesias too types very fast and just posts with abandon -- he puts a massive amount of content up. Why CAP doesn't assign an intern to spell check for him puzzles me.)

[kathy a.]

my cat eats plastic, too. she particularly likes packing tape. then she barfs. it's distracting, as life so often is.

y'all have more patience than i do. if i can't stand the comment threads, i stop going there.

[oddjob]

if i can't stand the comment threads, i stop going there.

Yup. I've never read Yglesias, but I can't help reading comments, so a blog with commenters I can't deal with (Pharyngula) is a blog I won't read.

[big bad wolf]

sure they do, D., look at me. now, i don't make that many at my job, so i'm different from matt in that respect, but here or elsewhere just banging away i tend to miss more than one would think possible. a combination of being rushed, so little free time, old, and feckless. i've said before that i kind of like matt's typos and mistakes---they seem a literal representation of the rush of his mind.

his comments section is an oddity. there are a handful of insightful regulars and a bunch of people, on both sides, who need to get out more. the constant bickering and name calling is wearying.

[oddjob]

Texas votes to teach its school students propaganda, rather than data.

[Corvus9]

Some blogs I read the comments at, some I don't. Some blogs I used to read, but the ethics of the comments section turned me away.

Balloon Juice has a great comments section. Very light-footed, which means it tends towards the witty. Ta-Nahisi Coates has fashioned a really excellent comment section. Other than here, those are the only two I read with any regularity.

[Corvus9]

Hey kathy, you didn't send me an email today, did you?

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Agreed with the difficulty of dealing with comment sections on otherwise good blogs. Steve Benen is indispensable, Dave Neiwert nearly so, but I can only rarely bother to read Steve's comment sections unless I can't help making one, and I don't even try reading Dave's, even on ORCINUS.

One consistently good comment section is on Ed Brayton's DISPATCHES FROM THE CULTURE WARS. Even the defenders of the indefensible are usually either intelligent or hilariously ridiculous. ObWi is also solid, with long, interesting, helpful posts. MMfA and Texas Freedom Network's TFNInsider have solid, but small comment sections, rarely over twenty and usually pretty limited, but interesting.

But the only thing close to the "Family and Neighborhood Barbecue" atmosphere of here was the original CARPETBAGGER REPORT, before Steve got hired by Washington MONTHLY.

[Corvus9]

I kind of drifted away from reading ObWi after Hilzoy and then Publius left. When you read a blog fo the two voices that are not longer there, and the most prominent person who's still here is a conservative who keeps posting long posts describing possible healthcare reforms that will never happen (since his side doesn't actually want reform, poor guy) there is just no point keeping track or the place. Also, the loosening of the profanity rules there (not an option around here) actually seemed to lower the substantialness of the comments as well, as if people were so pleased they could now say fuck they forgot to make a point.

[litbrit]

I agree--there aren't too many civilized-yet-freewheeling comment sections out there. I also love Balloon Juice, and I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the brilliantly funny, acerbic writing that Roy's been doing at Alicublog, linked at the top of our blogroll, where the comment threads are always A+++, just filled with the wit and wisdom of very smart, aware people.

Then there's Sadly, No! If you follow it for a while and get a sense of what the inside jokes are about--and you've got a twisty sense of humor--the satire in the posts themselves and the epic and always-lengthy comment sections can both be fantastic; however, it can be difficult to get into for a lot of people, I realize. I happen to love those guys, especially Gavin. He once wrote the funniest description of a Michelle Malkin meltdown that I've ever read.

And of course, there are some notorious 180-degree blogosphere turnarounds wherein a great little community crops up and thrives for years, but something happens and *bang*, suddenly the comment sections take on a whole different mood, and the fun is gone.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Corvus: Can't agree about 'von' at ObWi. Not about his misreading of his own side, but about the necessary of encouraging the few sane conservatives out there. We will always have the conservatives -- like the poor -- with us, better that the ones with brains and humanity should be encouraged. (I would very much enjoy having him here as well, in fact.)

Which leads into another comment, because one conservative who seems worth taking note of is Bruce Bartlett, whose demolition of the libertarian argument against the Civil Rights Act, and particularly the Ron and Rand version is more worth reading when you realize that Bartlett, at one time, worked for Daddy Ron.

Money quote (and h/t:Dave Neiwert whose most recent post on the Pauls may be his best yet.)

As we know from history, the free market did not lead to a breakdown of segregation. Indeed, it got much worse, not just because it was enforced by law but because it was mandated by self-reinforcing societal pressure. Any store owner in the South who chose to serve blacks would certainly have lost far more business among whites than he gained. There is no reason to believe that this system wouldn't have perpetuated itself absent outside pressure for change.

In short, the libertarian philosophy of Rand Paul and the Supreme Court of the 1880s and 1890s gave us almost 100 years of segregation, white supremacy, lynchings, chain gangs, the KKK, and discrimination of African Americans for no other reason except their skin color. The gains made by the former slaves in the years after the Civil War were completely reversed once the Supreme Court effectively prevented the federal government from protecting them. Thus we have a perfect test of the libertarian philosophy and an indisputable conclusion: it didn't work. Freedom did not lead to a decline in racism; it only got worse.

...

I don't believe Rand is a racist; I think he is a fool who is suffering from the foolish consistency syndrome that affects all libertarians. They believe that freedom consists of one thing and one thing only--freedom from governmental constraint. Therefore, it is illogical to them that any increase in government power could ever expand freedom. Yet it is clear that African Americans were far from free in 1964 and that the Civil Rights Act greatly expanded their freedom while diminishing that of racists. To defend the rights of racists to discriminate is reprehensible and especially so when it is done by a major party nominee for the U.S. Senate. I believe that Rand should admit that he was wrong as quickly as possible.

[oddjob]

Sully often cites Bartlett, reminding his readers that Bartlett is another conservative the movement conservatives have cast into outer darkness for committing the sin of insisting upon basing one's agenda in reality (even when it's inconvenient to do so).

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

It's funny but, while i don't ever accept the 'make things worse enough that the people will rise up' philosophy of the Romantic Idealists, I think it is becoming evident that the four right-wing victories that have happened since the Obama election will all prove beneficial to the 'side of light' in the long run.

Paul's loss of a 'certain' Kentucky Senate seat -- and he will lose, wait until those Kentucky political preachers learn more about the Ayn Rand whose philosophy he espouses and who he was named after. 'An atheist, we're supporting someone named after an atheist!!!!' -- will set the teabaggers back.

Meanwhile Scott Brown wanders the halls of the Senate mumbling "Who am I? What am I doing here?" as he waits for his inevitable primary loss.

The Virginia Cucckoos are setting back the 'classic religious right' nicely. (A lot of moderates heard the stories and went "Oh, they won't be that bad" and are discovering that they very well will be just that bad.)

But the real surprise to me is how unpopular Chris Christie has made himself in a liberal state with a history of tolerating moderately conservative Governors. People elsewhere don't see them, but I am seeing a lot of ads on NY stations using Christie's fat face as a symbol for cutting services like police, fire, and schools -- the sort of ads you'd expect to see in August 2013, but they are already running and he hasn't been in office six months.

[Corvus9]

We will always have the conservatives -- like the poor -- with us, better that the ones with brains and humanity should be encouraged.

I disagree with this, if not in fact (since it's technically true) then at least in context. While it's true that we will always have conservatives, in the since that we will always have people defending the status quo (or yesterday's status quo), that doesn't mean that we will always have today's status quo. What is conservative changes with time, as does what is liberal. For example, most conservative's don't support the institution of monarchy anymore, as Burke did. So hopefully we will one day be rid of conservatives, if by conservatives you mean only today's conservatives, who will then hopefully be replaced by tomorrow's conservatives (The Blue Dogs?). This is kind of the point of liberalism. Slowly, inexorably eliminating such thinking (which is morally and functionally incorrect for our present society) from the world, so that it will be a better place (of course, I say this only because I am a liberal, and conservatives no doubt think the same thing about liberals, but I am not one of them, so why pretend I actually think otherwise?).

So I really have no interest in encouraging them, as such. I still want the political philosophy von adheres to to be defeated. What I want is to convince someone like von, who for all I can see seems to actually be a really decent guy, that like John Cole, he should realize he is wrong and become a liberal.

This isn't to say that conservatives never have good thought or ideas, or that you can't sharpen your ideas and worldview by debating with them, but those good ideas always end up confirming liberal opinions (i.e. libertarians are objectively wrong). Bartlett, for example seems to be growing closer and closer to being a liberal in what I read by him, not in identification, but in the fact that he seems to spend all his time pointing out the objective wrongness of various factions of conservatives.

And I would hesitate, oddjob, in pointing to Sully's reliance on Bartlett to make any point on Sullivan's relation to conservatism. Sullivan's "partial" defense of Rand Paul has really reminded me about how ultimately Sullivan is still a conservative for all the wrong reasons, is at base just a deeply, deeply selfish person with an incredibly poorly thought-out personal philosophy that just fails to take into account the the reality of others lives, and fails to understand the American experience. He is actually moaning the loss to spirited public debate in Paul being driven back for his views on Civil Rights. He really doesn't understand why such a view are beyond the pale in America. He just doesn't get this country at all.

I feel more and more that anytime I read anything by a conservative, especially Sully, I am just watching a geek in a cage biting the heads of chickens. It's not really a form of entertainment I feel comfortable with.

[Corvus9]

Sad to say, Rand Paul is not actually named after Ayn Rand, his real name is Randall. Sure is a funny coincidence though.

[Corvus9]

err, Randal. Damn it.

[litbrit]

And here I was, thinking it was short for Krugerrand. Apartheid-era, of course. ;-)

[oddjob]

From the front page of today's Boston Globe:

Scott Brown voted for financial reg. overhaul & the crazies (aka the teabaggers) noticed. Their reply is, "We are NOT amused!!!!"

Obviously the only proper way to handle that mess was to have NO regulations and then let EVERYTHING flush down the toilet when the overzealous Wall St. fat cats had everything explode in their faces. We should have all let them collapse into nothing and had the depression that would have gone with that.

Survival of the fittest (at the expense of the rest of us), just like the Austrian School of economics dictates!

They think that creates a better society???

Idiots...................

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

With our discussions on "Rand and randiness' recently, I missed this, but I hope everyone will contact Color of Change and tell them they support their petition seeking John Stossel's dismissal from FOX after

On Fox News, Stossel discussed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and commented that "it's time now to repeal" the Public Accommodation section, "because private businesses ought to get to discriminate. And I won't ever go to a place that's racist and I will tell everybody else not to and I'll speak against them. But it should be their right to be racist."

An one other comment I had to pass on, on the Stouder story. "What, he had an affair with a female staffer. That proves he's a RINO."