Well, I booked a plane ticket and I'm officially going to Ireland in December. The catalyst for my trip was the fact that Josh Ritter is playing two shows with a 24-piece orchestra on December 11th and 12th, but I'm pretty excited about Ireland in general. I found a round-trip plane ticket for about $500, so I figured that wasn't too bad. I'll be there from December 6th-15th.
Has anyone been? Any suggestions? I'm flying into Dublin, but I'll be there for 9 days, so I'm thinking about renting a car (even though they kill you on rates if you're under 25) to see some stuff outside of Dublin. I'm also thinking about CouchSurfing to save some money.
Josh Ritter is...forget it. I can't even come up with a word to describe him. He's that good. Rarely have I ever had all songs from an album stuck in my head at the same time. Historical Conquests was it. Oh joy.
Wow, I bet Ireland will be really neat to see. If Ireland is like other European countries, you probably don't have to rent a car. They usually have a very good public transportation system that will take you places.
Unfortunately, the election of Obama as president is not progressive because his race is the only reason he won. I don't see that as a step forward: I see it as a step back.
At least it feels like disenfranchisement. If you can't vote for anything that will make a difference, what's the point? I'm honestly having a hard time even picking a lesser of two evils for this race. That's pretty bad. Why are we stuck with such horrible choices?
Here's what I gathered from the VP debates tonight:
McCain/Palin: Stay in Iraq indefinitely.
Obama/Biden: Get of Iraq, but go into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What? NO! Why can't we stop wasting our money making other countries angry?
And is anyone else ticked off that we're still helping Iraq while they have an $80 billion surplus? Granted, that may not sound like a lot when you consider that America's national debt increases $3 billion PER DAY, but America probably isn't the best yardstick to measure healthy spending by. It just doesn't seem like we should be throwing money at a country with ANY surplus while we're 10 TRILLION in the hole.
I really don't know what I should do. I've been saying that I'd try to vote for the lesser of two evils in this race, just because I felt like it would make more of a difference than throwing a vote away on a third party candidate I actually agree with. (Voting for something you agree with? That's Un-American!) But I'm having a harder and harder time telling them apart, and I can't decide whether such a slim margin of evil difference is really worth casting a vote for.
We'll only be in Iraq until we're done. Palin was right when she accused Obama and Biden of wanting to wave a white flag of surrender. We cannot associate a timeline with our activity there because something may happen that requires us to stay and help longer. And we're not making the countries that are our allies angry. The people who don't like us don't like us because of the freedom we stand for.
Also, if you're worried about how our tax dollars are being spend (I know I am!) talk to our corrupted politicians about this $700 Billion bail-out bill. There's so much pork in it, it just about oinks on its own. Wool research? Environmental stuff? I thought it was a bail out bill.
We need to get out of Iraq. That is final, as for Afghanistan Obama's view that we need to go and intervene over there is not a bad idea in my opinion... since 911 the number of terrorist that have obtained nuclear weapon information as increased significantly..... we have been dumping useless money in Iraq and will continue doing so if McCain is president.
Obama will socialize this country and turn it into something we wont' recognize. If he's elected, four of the most liberal Democrats will be in power: Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Reed. They will have the White House and the House and Senate. We can NOT afford it. Don't give a vote to Obama by not voting for McCain. Vote to keep Obama out if you can't vote FOR McCain.
Obama will redistribute the wealth and implement socialism. He will kill capitalism which will kill our economy. And yes, we are in a religious war. Why are leaders watching our economic mess, gleeful that the "Great Satan" is toppling?
This is a bit last-minute, but Béla Fleck is playing a free concert in Orlando tonight, if anyone is interested. I posted something on Facebook, but I figured I'd try Pleonast, too. I've got a few takers already, but there's still a seat open in my car. I'm leaving Tampa in a couple hours, so if you're interested, speak now. 850-545-7723.
I posted the first new song from Anathallo's upcoming record back in March. At that time, there was still no definite release date for the record. There is now -- November 20th -- and there's a new song, too! It's more incredible than the first one I posted. You must listen to it now. Enrich your life!
Go here, click the Play icon next to "The River," and prepare to be amazed.
I enjoyed that very much, thanks for sharing! Does most of their stuff sound like this or is is a new sound for them? I'm not sure I've ever heard of the before...I"ll have to go find a cd!
Randy Newman put out his first album of new material in 9 years today and it's good and you should buy it.
Also, on NPR's website, you can stream a performance he did in L.A. a few weeks ago. You can also download it to iTunes if you subscribe to their All Songs Considered concert podcast. (Which is worth subscribing to anyway.) He plays through the whole new record, then he plays a handful of other songs. Check it out. (I guess I should warn you that there's a little bit of language.)
He's the musical guest on David Letterman on Wednesday night, so you should watch that, too. (I'm a little bummed out that missing that by ONE night -- I'll be in David Letterman's audience on Thursday night. Our musical guest is Phil Vassar. Yuck.)
Ah, yes, "girlie girl"; I would agree based on my past experience with her. When we were both about 18, I would visit with her in her room while she went through her daily ritual of putting on her make-up (she didn't slap it on like me). I still remember that as a "Janice Memory" and of course her laugh-I like your Mom's laugh! I was almost in her 1st wedding; though, thankfully for you that one never materialized! Ha. Nice to meet you, Adam. I have a son named Adam, BTW. He is my oldest of three sons (another thing your Mom and I have in common). Tell your Mom "hello" for me when you have opportunity. She's rotten at keeping in touch, BTW! :-)
I posted the first new song from Anathallo's upcoming record back in March. At that time, there was still no definite release date for the record. There is now -- November 20th -- and there's a new song, too! It's more incredible than the first one I posted. You must listen to it now. Enrich your life!
Randy Newman put out his first album of new material in 9 years today and it's good and you should buy it.