Nothing Changes on New Year’s Day…
December 30, 2011
Yes, I know.
I said that you should expect a big finish…
Crackers in the hand.
Revolution. Gone.
Big, Big Finish…
Well, guess what? I got nuthin’.
I really thought somethin’ was going to come to me but… nope.
So, I thought about telling you about the other night when I went out for a few beers in Delray Beach, Florida at a great little watering hole called The Ugly Mug…
Where I was introduced to a helluva nice guy. An overly muscular personal trainer, who was wearing one of those gym shirts, just in case you were wondering how he’d gotten that way. This black gentleman was introduced to me as D-Train…
So, I thought of saying, “Hey… I’m from Brooklyn”.
As, I’m pretty sure the D-Train goes through Brooklyn.
But then I thought, “Oh… I bet his name is Dave or Daryl and he’s a TRAINer.” So, instead I said, “D-Train? I hope someday white people can have cool names like that.”
What can I say, I was on a roll. I had just told the joke about the Rabbi and the Catholic Priest. So even if D-Train didn’t throw me into the third rail, I’m probably getting hit by lighting the next time that I get too close to a church or maybe a synagogue, or for that matter, a Cinnabon.
I don’t know why… I just thought they sounded similar. Synagogue, Cinnabon – whatever. I guess I’m not making matters any better. The lightining thing seems inevitable.
Anyway, I got nuthin…
I was going to come up with some sort of a highly inspired blog entry about the end of one year and the begining of the next. Maybe all the great things that we should be looking forward to in 2012. Maybe I was going to talk a little bit about our broken political system, and how tired I am of hearing Democrats bashing the Republicans, and the Republicans bashing the Democrats, when in actuallity – they both need to be bashed.
Maybe I was going to touch upon our country’s pending financial crisis, which I believe is continuing to loom closer and closer every day, as our government continues to spend money that we don’t have.
Example: I love how Obama extended the Bush Tax Cuts. Everyone knows that we can’t afford the Bush Tax Cuts. In fact, the whole Democrat platform is based on the fact that we can’t afford such things. So a Democrat President extends them??? Don’t you hate when people do the popular thing, instead of doing what’s right. It must be an election year. But it’s absolutely exemplary of what’s wrong with our government. It’s always about getting elected or re-elected. It’s NEVER about doing the right thing for everyone.
But I’m not going to talk about that… 🙂
Nope.
At the end of the day, I’m just happy that the holidays are over. Barnsley went back to England to visit his family. And I’m going to spend a few quite days back on the island…
Of course, I’ll probably have to head over to Jost and Occupy Foxy’s on Old Year’s Night…
http://foxysbar.com/old-years-night
Other than that, I’m taking it easy and keeping my comments to myself.
After all – Nothing Changes on New Year’s Day.
Peace
– Arch
Christmas was a long red glare…
December 23, 2011
You know, I’ve really not liked my last several posts. I hate simply writing about things that happened, like I’m a reporter. This happened, then this happened, and then we did this… Blah! Sure, I try to make it more entertaining than that but I really love when I get to think, and then write, by just letting my thoughts go where they may. I’ll try to do better. I’ll try to find a little more mental bandwidth. Nevertheless, I think you get what you pay for. We’ll see what happens…
Well, it’s that time of year. Today is, after all, a big day. It’s December 23rd. Just yesterday it was December 22nd, which happend to be Winter Solstice. Now, all of the sudden, it’s today… Festivus. It’s a day to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. So get out your unadorned aluminum Festivus pole and get ready for the Airing of Grievances. This takes place right after your Festivus dinner and it’s where you get to lash out at others and tell them how they have disappointed over the past year. Who can wait?
Then, of course, comes… Feats of Strength. I love Festivus.
After that it’s all downhill – although, the word “downhill” gets me in the mood for ski season… I’m not sure that I’m ready for Christmas or for the end of 2011. …and I say that while greatly looking forward to 2012. It’s like a train wreck. It’s like a severely overwieght woman in a two-piece bathing suit strolling down Central Park. It’s like Taylor Swift and Tonya Harding being the two finalists in the Crisco Vegetable Oil Wrestling competition. If any of these things were to occur, it would be ugly but you wouldn’t be able to look away.
Of course, you’ll be glad when it’s over.
And maybe that’s where I am with the holidays this year. I was really looking forward to them. But then they got here and, while I am still expecting to enjoy them to the fullest, a part of me can’t wait for it to be January.
I think this started when I was in New York City. You see, I have a new theory about New York City and big cities, in general. I tend to thrive on the energy of the people in big cities. I think there is a collective consciousness that makes everyone there more energetic, almost collectively smarter, deeper.
Don’t get me wrong, I love rural America and I recognize that many great things happen there. Many great inventions have come from rural America, many great atheletes, blah, blah, blah! But you know what I mean… Have you ever stopped and wondered why NYC grew to be what it is today? There are zillions of people there, why would anyone else want to move there? How did it get so crazy to start with?
I believe that a big part of it is that people feed off of this collective consciousness. Great companies want to be near other great companies, because their executives want to be near the other executives. Not just for show or because there might be some clout in being there, but to feed from and contribute to this collective consciousness of energy that exists there. And, I think… That’s a big part of what I love about big cities.
So, again, there I was at the biggest tree lighting event in the country. I was surrounded by locals & tourist, good guys and bad guys, rich folks and poor folks, lovers, sinners, drinkers and jokers and midnight tokers, and not too distantly, I heard a group performing Home for The Holidays.
The collective consciousness of the city then put thoughts into my head of what it means to be “home” for the holidays…
First I thought about the spacemen and time travelers, they belong in another place and time but they are here among us and doing the best they can to cope with the challenges of our time, knowing that they don’t actually belong here and that by virute of their current existense, they could be disrupting the fabric of time.
I remember, in my mind
They say I’m daydreamin’
Is it all that it seems
or am I all the things I’m looking for?
I thought about the many men and women (Americans or otherwise) who have been away from their families for way too long, off fighting in wars or other military actions, that could be equally argued as either very stupid or extremely important, but potentially fatal in either case.
I thought about my friend’s father, who has been missing, in Iran, since March 9th, 2007. I can only imagine the great comfort and glimmers of hope that must have come over the family a few months ago, when they received a Proof of Life video showing Bob Levinson, still alive and reasonably well, after being held captive for over three and a half years. Here’s a VOA news clip on Bob…
If interested, you can also visit the family’s website at…
http://www.helpboblevinson.com/
Naturally, this is a delicate subject and due to its delicate nature, I do not claim to know everything that there is to know about the situation. To the best of my knowledge, however, no one really knows (exactly) who is holding Bob or what (exactly) they would like in exchange for his return. But I do get the overwhelming feeling that the U.S. Goverment has not put its best effort forward in trying to retrieve this U.S. citizen, who gave 30+ years of his life to serving our great country. We need to get Bob Home for the Holidays, sooner – hopefully, as opposed to later.
Finally, I got thinking about everyone else who might be somewhere other than where they are supposed to be for the holidays… Somewhere other than home. Home might seem like a long way away. Maybe it’s a long way away in miles, maybe it’s a long ways away in your heart or perhaps you are mentally distant from home.
The cool thing about home is that you’re always welcome there. Otherwise, it wouldn’t really be home. You never have to move back home…but you should visit every now and then. If you ever miss home, you can bet that home misses you. Conversely, if you don’t miss home… perhaps it wasn’t home at all?
This is diffferent from…
Holmes sells Homes to the Homies.
Trust me. That’s a completely different story.
Nevertheless, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
And remember…
If you can’t be with the one you love,
love the one you’re with.
I know. Now I’m just grasping for an ending.
I should just sign off.
– Arch
Shine the light for us to follow…
December 16, 2011
An old black wise man, friend of my dad’s, once told me… Guys who are always talking about sex and women are always the ones who aren’t gettin’ any. Hmm… I wonder if that’s true?
OK, so… Not to dwell on my big NYC night out of drinking a few weeks ago but, there I was at the party, overlooking the yet-to-be-lit giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, talking to two hot chicks. I was taking pictures of them with their iGizmo. Then I was taking pictures of them with my iGizmo. Little did they know that I had downloaed the X-ray App, so that I could admire what lovely undergarments they were both wearing…
…when my phone rings. It was Alice. Uh, oh. Alice wouldn’t be calling me during my night of drinking in NYC unless it was an emergency, right? So, I take the call.
Alice proceeds to explain to me that she is at a Publix Supermarket, about to conduct an independent taste test of snack cakes, including Ho Hos, Little Debbie and Yodels (listed here alphabetically). The emergency was that she, and the other “judges”, were unsure how to effectively cleanse the palette in between snack cakes.
I’m pretty sure that my first response, Vodka, was the best answer. However, she then informs me that she and the other judges are studying for some sort of a final exam and believes that drinking any alcoholic beverages would be frowned upon. So, we start discussing the merits of orange juice and how well it goes with chocolate.
By this time, a couple of dudes have started talking to my hot chicks and are claiming the ability to crash Jimmy Kimmel’s party. Next thing you know, they are out of there. I wonder if Tina Fey would have been at Jimmy’s party, she’s on my list, you know.
So, I’m still there going, “no…seriously. Orange Juice goes great with chocolate.” After a brief consultation with a couple of my friends, Alice decides to move forward with the orange juice decision and, I later found out that, Yodels won. 6 out of 6 judges determined that Yodels were “better” than either Ho Hos or Little Debbie snack cakes. Who knew?
My snack cakes got away. Thanks, Alice.
.
So the next day rolls around, and here come The Amigos. For those of you who may just be tuning in to La Vida de Archie, I have these three friends, two males and one female – we’ve been best friends since college and every two years or so, we get together for a weekend (or sometimes a whole week).
We are known as The Four Amigos, although lately only three seem to make it. Now that I’m thinking about it, Greg has only made it 25% of the time. Someone is going to get voted off the island.
Make you plans now HG, in 2013, we’re headed to Napa Valley. If you’re not there, we’re replacing you with a reasonable substitute…
New Greg
This year, The Amigos decided to converge on New York City. We had big plans and, I must say, we got to a lot of what we’d planned to do. Caught a Broadway show, Rock of Ages. That was a hoot. I highly recommend it for anyone who lived through the hair band era. Amigo Mark, who I do not believe to be easily amused said, “I don’t remember the last time that I was that entertained for over two hours.”
We caught a little stand-up comedy, we got some NY Style Pizza at Arturo’s on Houston Street…
Arturo's on Houston Street
Had a little dim sum at Jing Fong in Chinatown…
Jing Fong, Chinatown
And we took a stroll through Little Italy. Ironically, Chinatown didn’t seem that busy but there were about a billion people in Little Italy. 😐
Somehow, we never made it to Central Park. This is strange to me because, hanging out for hours in Central Park, doing absolutely nothing is one of my favorite activities in The City and I’m really good at it. Maybe that’s the problem. We did a lot and never really had time to do nothing.
On our last night there, we went to dinner at the River Cafe in Brooklyn. This place is over-the-top. Yes, this restaurant on a floating barge is tied to the Brooklyn shoreline, almost right under the Brooklyn Bridge, but it has the most awesome night views of Manhattan.
The River Cafe, Brooklyn
I heard that Billy Joel & Christy Brinkley were married here. Haven’t really looked into that one. Talk amongst yourselves…
Amigo Ashley brilliantly discovered the Six Course Chef’s Tasting on the menu and we found out that there was an available wine pairing. Oh, yes… This was brilliant. The food couldn’t have been better and the wait staff couldn’t have been more attentive. I’m going to recommend a night at The River Cafe, even higher than Rock of Ages.
We were at River Cafe for about three hours. I didn’t hear Mark say it exactly in these words but, my guess is that he was entertained for over two hours again. We ate, we drank, what a blast. We had such a blast that we decided not find our way up and walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge because, someone was surely going to end up in the East River. So, I’m not sure how we got back. Particularly since we all had to take out second mortgages in order to pay the restaurant tab…
Again, what a great time… But I can’t give all the credit to the restaurant or the city. The Amigos rock. I’m looking forward to Napa.
.
OK… I’m really a bit stressed. Lots going on. Trying to get some year-end things done and, I’m expecting a BIG 2012. So, I also have a bunch of “gettin’ ready for the new year” things going on. What does all this mean?
It means that, although I have much to discuss, I’m going to have to keep it short today. I’ve got to look after my paying job. So, we’re hopping right over to today’s musical guests.
Actually, while you are watching this, I’m going to go watch the YΔCHT video again, from a few weeks ago. I love that video. But for those of you not addicted to YΔCHT, I have several treats. First, there’s Dylan Elise, Drummer Extraordinaire.
You might want to click on the YouTube link and watch this video directly from YouTube. Those drumsticks move so fast, it’s incredible. I had to watch it several times to make sure it was real. Then, once you are totally amazed, he starts doing tricks and twirling his drumstick, while continuing to play. This guy is amazing and not a bad opening act…
Next, there’s The Big Pink. Let me know what you think, are they also potential time travelers? I have two videos from them. Enjoy…
The Big Pink – Stay Gold
Next, the first time I heard this song, I thought of Jane’s Addiction. I’m not saying they sound exactly like Jane’s Addiction. They’re different but I’ll bet you they listended to a lot of JA. Am I crazy? Enjoy…
The Big Pink – Hit The Ground (Superman)
Alrighty then. It’s almost Christmas. Then it’ll be almost New Year’s. Then I might have to take a break for a while. Maybe go down to Florida for the Winter. I don’t know. We’ll see. Either way, expect a big finish. A great year-end. A happy ending, so to speak.
“Here’s to more bandwidth in 2012.” – AM
Gotta run.
– Arch
Cool like Kurt…
December 2, 2011
OK, before we get started, I need to provide a disclaimer and ask for some medical advice… Not necessarily in that order. But… Is a hangover supposed to last for more than one day? That, by the way, was my medical question. The disclaimer is that, there are likely to be numerous spelling, and/or other typos or errors, in today’s blof post. Management is aware of this potential problem and has chosen to move forward with today’s broadcast anyway. Thank you for your cooperation in not expecting an error free delivery.
Someone the other day was telling me that you can never really “catch up” on sleep. They were saying that if you were to sleep two hours per night, for a few nights, for example, you can’t then sleep for 12 hours to catch up. I think, I disagree. I do that all the time. It’s a formula. It works for me.
Similarly, I wonder if you can catch up on your drinking. I think I’ve mentioned this before but, I talk about drinking a lot more than I actually drink. Why? Because it’s fun. Other than people who actually have a drinking problem, I think everyone would like to drink more. I mean seriously, when you see a party going on, don’t you get that feeling of, oh yeah – that should be me at that party and acting like I’m the Dos Equis guy. I think so. But the big question was, can you catch up on your drinking? I think you can. In fact, after the past few nights, I’m pretty sure I’m caught up.
It’s funny. Years ago, when I actually drank a lot more, I really liked to party it up between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. So much so that, I used to drink no alcoholic beverages the entire month of January, just as a kind of self imposed sobriety check. I feel this is a tradition whose time has returned. Particularly now that the partying starts, one week before Thanksgiving. So, we should probably start there…
The Margarita Ball of the Palm Beaches rocked this year. On it’s new official date, the Friday before Thanksgiving. And I have to say, I believe “the ball” has now become the definitive kickoff party to the holidays.
The concept, which may have originally been borrowed from the Fort Worth Margarita Society, is to throw a big party with food, drinks and music, and ask guests to bring two unwrapped toys as an entry fee. Everyone has a great time for about $20, and they collect several hundred toys for kids, right in their backyard, who might otherwise not receive any gifts during the upcoming holiday season.
In keeping with the four-year tradition of hosting the event at rather eclectic venues, where not everyone has events…
This year’s party was held at a big warehouse, where a guy with (seemingly) lots of money keeps his collection of art (and Aston Martins).
In the front of the warehouse was the art gallery…
The back was a big empty warehouse that was cleverly decorated and “up-lighted” into a party space.
The food was catered by a gourment food truck, who produced some awesomely tasty tacos all night along (including dessert tacos), and the drinks never stopped flowing from the open bar and the event’s signature margarita fountain.
Of course, The Jacket was there…
This year’s music came via South Florida’s own Junior Drinkwater and the Westside Blues Band.
And just in case these guys weren’t awesome enough on their own, which they were – at the end of the night, they were joined by guitarist Joe Tenuto and son, Joey Tenuto.
What a treat!
A local publicist commented, “It’s my job to attend parties and this is one of the best parties I’ve ever been to.” Combine that with the almost 500 toys that were collected and, if I were you – and I’m really glad that I’m not because, I like being me, plus I’m already on the on the invite list… I’d see about getting myself invited to the 2012 Margarita Ball of the Palm Beaches. It’s going to be the 5th one, so I bet they go big.
By the way, a big thanks goes out (again) to Cloud Jacket, Dell, Eaton, HP, and WatchGuard Technologies for sponsoring this year’s event. We love you guys.
Fast Ford-werd to New York City (…again)
Don’t get me wrong. This place is no Tortola but in limited quantities, I never get tired of it of La Manzana Grande. I almost said that in English, which means I would have used the A-word and that would have triggered a huge tangental rant about that company with a similar name and why I’m tired of all the iCrap… but I’m not going there today. Let’s get back to nice, nice things.
So, I’m headed to NYC this week and, as cool as I am, I get invited to a party at NBC for the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Now, the thing to understand about this is that, there isn’t one party going on at the NBC facility, there are multiple parties underway at every individual office (and even every cubicle), on just about every floor. Basically, if your office has or is near a window that faces the Christmas tree, there was a party happening in your space.
Of course, I knew the scenario going into this but, you know how it is. Under certain circumstances, you can’t take any chances, right? So, in preparation for this party, I did what anyone else would have done. I updated my list and laminated it.
As I understand it, everyone one the planet should be carrying with them, at all time, their laminated list. This is a list of 10 or less other earthlings who you would really like to “connect with”. If you know what I mean… And supposedly, if you were to meet one of the people on your list, you can show them your list and say, “Oh, my God… You’re on my list.” And if it’s laminated, well, watch out, ’cause next thing you know, particularly if you’ve been drinking, you and said person may be gettin’ busy.
So, if I was going to be in the NBC building, my list needed “updating”.
It needed Tina Fey…
Just in case you’re wondering who used to be in the #2 spot, it used to say, “Anyone who goes by Jen or Jennifer, just NOT Jenny.” I don’t think the list has to be limited to celebrities, so I thought a generic catch all was a good idea. Maybe that should be “catch many”. Hey… It’s all a numbers game.
Well, anyway, I never ran into Tina. Instead, my friend, Brian, and I were walking through Rockefeller Center, singing Sweet Caroline at the top of our lungs as Niel Diamond came walking by… Awkward. We quickly pretended to be signing Sweet Child of Mine. I don’t think he fell for it.
They are kind of a Big Deal
So… You guys are going to start thinking that I come up with a new favorite band every week and… OK… I can see that. But seriously, this week’s musical guest is definitely, if not now, going to be my new favorite band at some point. Oh, the band’s name is Big Deal.
First of all, I love their sound. Almost every song consists Kacey Underwood’s acoustic guitar over the more rockin’ fuzzed out electric guitar chords of Alice Costelloe and topped by their boy/girl duo vocals in some sort of a British version of American folk music. I love it.
And it doesn’t hurt that Alice is easy on the eyes. Here she is on stage…
Oh, here she is again.
Hopefully on her way to my London flat…
I’m sure Kacey Underwood is also very talented.
But you know how it is around here, being a hot chick goes a long way…
I think we need to hear a few songs from them. I don’t want you to miss anything. Plus, these guys are relatively difficult to find. They are still in relative GoogaBingHoo obscurity.
So, first, here’s the official music video for their yet to be discovered, soon to be hit song Chair…
I love that song. While you’re reading this, I’m probably listening to it again.
You should listen to it again… No. Wait. Here’s different somewhat live video for the same song…
I know. I know. Calm down. I have another song from them. I gotta run afte rthis but, I wanted to leave you with a slightly rough, live recording of the very awesome song, “Cool like Kurt”…
That’s it. I gotta run. And seriously, I’m not checking for spelling or grammar or anything else. I’m still in Manhattan and I’m pretty sure someone out there wants to buy me drinks. See you next week. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.
<smootchie bootchies>
– Arch
The Earth, the Earth, the Earth is on fire…
November 25, 2011
Really? You guys miss me that much?
I’m touched. Even tingly. Hmm… Maybe you shouldn’t touch me there.
Cry at night. No one in sight.
And we got so much to share
Talking’s fine. If you got the time.
But I ain’t got the time to spare…
Seriously. I had one text message complaint about my bi-weekly installments and several emails from unhappy readers. You people are in obvious need of a psychiatric evaluation.
Well, I hope I can post a blog entry today. I’m a little tired . It’s Black Friday after all and I’ve been camping out in front of Target since Gray Wednesday, which was some time back around Easter. But this is going to pay off big for me. I’m going to get me a Lalaloopsy for at least $10 off the regular price.
Hmmm.. What else is going on? Oh, oh! I remember.
Just the other day, I was wandering out in the hill of West Palm Beach and I came across…
I thought it was appropriate that they were marching, protesting, and taking turns at the megaphone, while camped out in front of these multi-million dollar yachts.
All in all, similar to the folks on Wall Street, they were a nice bunch. But these guys claim that West Palm Beach Mayor, Jerri Muoio, gave them a nice plot of land and told them to stay as long as they’d like. I knew she was a hippie at heart.
Of course, we’re in the Palm Beach.
So, not far from the protestors, there were belly dancers…
And baked goods…
Does that remind anyone of Todos Santos?
That is, other than the larger selection here in Palm Beach.
Americans Elect
OK, so… I’m not sure if this has a snowball’s chance in hell, but I like it.
Oooo. That was so Facebook. Archie Likes American’s Elect.
From their website:
The goal of Americans Elect is to nominate a presidential ticket that answers directly to voters—not the political system.
American voters are tired of politics as usual. They want leaders that will put their country before their party, and American interests before special interests. Leaders who will work together to develop fresh solutions to the serious challenges facing our country. We believe a secure, online nominating process will prove that America is ready for a competitive, nonpartisan ticket.
I think that should say, “we believe that our secure, online nominating process will demonstrate that America is ready for a competitive, nonpartisan ticket.”
I only made a few subtle changes – but I agree with my version.
Anyway, you should go to their website and check it – check it out.
(Yes. I know it says “check it” twice.) Start here…
http://www.americanselect.org/about
I know what you’re thinking…
I’ll take my chance ’cause luck is on my side
I’ll tell you something, I know what you’re thinking
I’ll tell you something, I know what you’re thinking
.
It’s the holidays. Let’s give politics a rest. The politicians are barely working, why should we? Fine. Let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about wine.
I recently discovered an awesome California Cabernet: Rock.Face
Uh, yes… The period belongs there. Not sure why – but it’s on the wine bo
ttle, it’s on the winery’s website so, let’s call them Rock.Face (with the period).
I was quite surprised by this North Coast vino. It had been a while since I’d had a Cab that I really liked. Excluding my cab ride in Port Jefferson (NY) …but that’s a different story.
As it turns out, these guys are taking juice from three different vineyard sites in Napa and Sonoma to blend “the face”. The formula ends up as 86% Cabernet, 8% Merlot, 5% Cab Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot.
Note: Contains 0% ethanol. Your results may vary.
So, are they lying bastards for calling it a cabernet? I don’t think so. Almost every winery get a little creative freedom to blend their wines these days. Actually, most of them have always done this… And at 86% Cabernet, I say it’s a Cabernet… And a damn good one.
I’d recommend buying three bottles of the 2007. Put two of them away in a cool place. Open the third up right away, let it breathe a little and take a taste. Now imagine how good those other bottles will be about a year from now. Yep. I think it’s still about a year away from being perfect. Oh and, by the way, whenever I decide to save a wine, I always store two bottles or more. I’d hate to wait a whole year or more for wine and then find out that my ONE bottle went bad for some reason. I need backup.
Musica, Maestro
OK, now that you have a little tinto…
Let’s get to today’s musical guest: YΔCHT
If you try and do a little research on Yacht, you’ll see them described as a modern day Electeronica project and I’ll agree that some of their music is purely in that genre but I will argue that they are much more than that. I think they are more like time travelers. I think they are New Wave Pirates born 200 years too late. Oh, wait… That’s 30 years too late. But I don’t say that as a bad thing. This is a good thing.
For those of you who know me, you know how I love my 80s music. I think if the members of Yacht would have been around 30 years ago, today we’d be looking forward to seeing them again instead of OMD or Duran Duran. Instead, they are here today and are leveraging today’s sound to produce some pretty cool stuff. After all synth music just isn’t cool anymore… but I’m hoping for a comeback.
So, technically, we’re going to listen to two songs (in one video).
If you’re not totally loving the first song, stay tuned. The second song starts about 3 minutes into the video. I think you’ll really like the second song, and you know… the first song tends to grow on you. I’m loving it. Plus, there are random hot chicks scattered throughout the video…
So check out their look, check our the hairstyles, watch the video, and then… I dare you to argue with me that these aren’t time travelers, doing the best they can here in 2011.
Here’s YΔCHT with Utopia and Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)
We don’t got no daughter.
Let the motherf#*%r burn.
Great. Now I have “explicit lyrics” stuck in my head.
Good thing I have plenty of Rock.Face.
And speaking of the 80s – or – maybe this is just more proof that these guys are time travelers but… Is it just me or does Claire Evans look a lot like Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club?
Well, that’s about all I can do for today. I hope everyone had the happiest of Thanksgivings. I’m pretty sure I need a nap. After all, we’ve converted a day of giving thanks and turned it into a day of over-eating. So now, when I hear “Black Friday”, I’m thinking that it’ll be more like Blacked Out Friday, as I plan on having my eye shades on as much as possible.
As far as giving thanks… I gave a lot of thanks back in 2001, 2004 & 2005. Hopefully it worked like a “thanks retirement fund”. I should have enough to last a lifetime. I wonder how those investments are doing?
Uh, oh… I’d better get to that nap before I start talking about lifetimes and expiration dates.
I am so out of here.
See you in the next life, wake me up for meals.
Love yas
– Arch
Should we talk about the weather?
November 11, 2011
That’s really about all the brain capacity that I have.
You think I have time for this silly blog thingy that no one reads? I don’t think so. I swear… Ever since my last birthday, my brain is only working at 50% capacity. I am totally burned out. I just figured that, if I didn’t do an entry, at least every other week, my one or two loyal readers would start calling area hospitals to see if I’d been brought in on a stretcher. Well, I haven’t. Of course, the day ain’t over yet, Curly.
Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you
I think I can remember your name
Brain farts of an old man…
To start with, I think I have to turn in my guy card. I mean, there are some lines that a guy can never cross. If they do, they cease to be in the club. Am I right?
I’ve got this weakness for whiskey and women.
It’s somethin’ I just can’t control.
I’ve tried hard to shake it without any luck,
It keeps burnin’ deep in my soul.
Well, a few month ago I was in San Antonio, doing my thing.
Hanging out with some Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders…
Up on the stage. Playing the star again…
And I get to talking to this cute, young punk, Know-It-All Hot Chick. My definition of “Know-It-All”, of course, is anyone from California.
Well, anyway, we ran into each other a few times at the event. She was new, and so, I introduced her around a bit. We even kept in touch a little afterwards…
Archie: Sup?
Chick: Nothin’. Sup with you?
Archie: Nothin’. Sup with you?
Chick: Nothin’.
So now, I get to this meeting in Orlando last week, where many of the same people who were in San Antonio would be in attendance. Any real guy, of course, would be on the lookout for the hot chick. Not me. Instead, I’m walking around in some kind of an altered state of consciousness and find myself on my hotel room floor, waiting for the elevator when a hot chick walks up to me and says, “hi”. I say “hi” …and we start talking. We get in the elevator. We go down to the lobby. Then, after a somewhat lengthy conversation, we’re getting ready to go in separate directions, and I decide to introduce myself… “Heh baby, I’m Archie.” So I extended my arm for a handshake.
She smirks, shakes my hand and says, “Yes. I’m <insert name here>. I guess you don’t remember, we met in San Antonio.”
Seriously… 50% brain capacity.
True story. I’ll turn in my guy card on Monday.
Spiritual Awakening…
OK… Probably not. But if you know me, I walk away unscathed. Next thing you know, I’m at a nice restaurant with friends and, because I can’t help but strike up conversations with those in the service industry, I’m having an in-depth conversation with a waitress, who tells me that she just recently graduated from UCF (University of Central Florida)… Do you know why that school was called that? Because University of Florida Orlando would have made it UFO…and they would’ve had to move the school closer to the space center. Talk amongst yourselves.
…so I say, “hey… I went to UCF.”
She says, “you did… when?” …and so I told her.
Suddenly, the expression on her face changes and she begins to develop a mostly pale and slightly greenish hue, similar to any of those glow in the dark plastics toys that we had as kids. I’m simultaneously wondering what ever happened to my glow in the dark Casper the Friendly Ghost piggy bank and contemplating whether or not to call the paramedics for the waitress, when I notice a little blood returning to her face.
Then she says to me, “that’s the year I was born”.
So I say, “I bet I’ve drank a lot more beer than you have.”
So, here’s an interesting guy…
Craig Miller. This former CEO of Ruth’s Chris Steak House is running for US Senate as a “Conservative Republican”. In fact, he’s probably overly conservative for me. However, he’s got the right attitude…or, at least, he’s saying all the right things. He seems to get the importance of cutting the national debt, keeping American dollars in America and getting back the dollars that we need to repatriate. He’s putting the right issues first. And he’s promising that, if elected, he will be in office no more than two terms. In fact, he says that getting re-elected will never be a priority of his and, therefore, he will be unaffected by the lobbyist dollars. Hmmm… That’s hard to believe.
Craig Miller, Innocent By-Stander, Archie
It’s too bad that along with the reasonable, he states on his website that he expects to “fight for the unborn” and “work to preserve traditional marriage as being between one man and one woman”. This is the problem with the conservatives. The country is having heart failure and they still want to make sure we’re trimming the toe nails. The unborn and the definition of marriage are toe nails, Craig. Stop worrying about these things. Stop trying to tell others how they should run their lives. Religion should be personal. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself. Do you not believe in Freedom of Religion? Well, if someone else’s religion says they can have same sex marriages, you should respect that. Yes/no? Leave other people’s personal freedoms the F*&# alone. This gets me boiling mad, Craig. Boiling mad!
Aside from this, I liked the guy. Grew up in Florida, served in Vietnam, then made his way up through the ranks of the restaurant business, having started as a dishwasher at Red Lobster during his junior high school years. So, I’m pretty sure he’d be OK in the senate, working for minimum wage, plus tips, if he does a good job. Good idea? I know.
Here I sit in prison, guilty of a crime.
Yes it’s true I killed a man, but it was justified.
Yes, he was a friend of mine, he came into my home.
Made off with my woman, left me here alone.
Cajun Addiction…
Barnsley! We’re going to need a case of Abita Amber for this next part.
About a week ago, a friend of mine put me onto Cowboy Mouth. I can’t believe I’d never listened to them before. Quite honestly, similar to a train wreck, I can’t seem to turn away. I’ve been listening to them every day now for over a week. I’m almost afraid to stop.
Have you heard these guys? They are kind of a Southern Rock, Cajun, Party Band. I can’t imagine ever listening to them not-live. After the first three days of listening to them, I was sure that they were going to be the musical guest on an upcoming show. As it turns out, they are just the warm up act. But that’s OK. Give them a listen. Here’s Cowboy Mouth with Take Me Back to New Orleans.
I love these guys. Also – great song.
And that’s one of their more serious songs.
Blow’em Away, Steve…
I know. I don’t usually have two musical guests on the same day but I’m making an exception. I have to say that I was a bit blown away by this. Traditionally, I haven’t been a huge Taylor Swift fan. I mean, she is Taylor Swift… She’s great, and an amazing song writer with phenomenally clever lyrics. I’m just not a big fan of Modern Poppy Country Music. Give me some Hank Jr., Bobby Bare or David Allan Coe and we’re good but, again, the new stuff just doesn’t do it for me. It feels too commercialized.
As you all know, however, I am a big fan of the American female folks singer genre. So, a few nights ago, I’m walking aimlessly around my house while the television was on, for no apparent reason, and suddenly I was drawn in to this amazing peformance.
Somehow, Swift managed convert the stage of this year’s CMA awards into an intimate living room setting, complete with a cozy couch and dim lighting, and invited us over, for was seemed like a private concert with her. If you missed it the first time, sit back and enjoy the song “Ours” by Taylor Swift.
Ugh… It’s excellent every time. Play it again.
No, seriously. Play it again.
Well, at least she’s 21 now and she can enjoy an Abita Amber with us. Where’s that Barnsley? Barnsley! Oh, holy crap. Barnsley, stop crying and bring Taylor one of those cold ones.
And that my friends, is way more than all the time that I had for today.
Hopefully, I’ll be back next week or the week after that or the week after that.
Be good my children.
– Arch
Captain America (The Pictorial)…
October 28, 2011
The hardest years, the darkest years,
the roarin’ years, the fallen years
These should not be forgotten years…
You know, I took a lot of pictures that day that I spent down on Wall Street.
I think I should show them to you.
There were businessmen, there were hippies, there were old ladies, there were hot chicks, there were beautiful people, there were scary people…
There were brothers and sisters…
There were people who were pissed…
There were famous people…
There were semi-famous people…
(James de La Vega)
There were Observers…
It’s at times like these the great heaven knows,
That we wish we had not so many clothes.
There was artistic nudity…
Note: I “interviewed” Purple Girl about the significance of this. She said that she wanted to support “the cause” but all she had to give was her nakedness.
There were lots of cameras rolling…
Could it be that the smog’s playing tricks on my eyes,
or is it a rollerskater in some kind of headphone disguise?
Did I mention scary people?
There was funny stuff…
And there was a lot to read…
There were people making food (for the Occupiers)…
There were…
Sorry. I got distracted by the Irish Redhead.
Uh… There were Musicians…
And this is probably a good time to introduce this week’s musical guest.
I like to call them, The Wall Street Non-Marching Band. Enjoy…
There were people printing “Occupy Wall Street” for free on any T-shirt.
If you didn’t have a T-shirt, you could buy a plain white T-shirt for $5.
I absolutely had to have one…
Being there was a little like Bonnaroo. You could feel a similar love in the air.
Captain America’s been torn apart
Now he’s a court jester with a broken heart
He said – Turn me around and take me back to the start
I must be losing my mind – “Are you blind?”
I’ve seen it all a million times…
But here’s why I suck…
Even thought I was down there for like 6 hours, talking to all of you, taking pictures, breathing it in, agreeing with some of you and arguing politics with others, at the end of the day, I went home to my Midtown condo overlooking the Hudson, after catching a quick meal at Pio Pio.
You guys, on the other hand, stayed behind. Some of you are still there.
If I could have stayed, I would have. Wish I was there now.
I love you guys… Keep up the fight.
– Arch
When it pains, it roars…
October 21, 2011
OK, so…
It took two weeks to come up with this…but you have to admit, my last post easily embodied at least two weeks worth of content, n’est-ce pas? Oui. For the first time in the six months (or so) that I’ve been back, last week was the first week where I just couldn’t make a blog entry (and the network said that we can’t do re-runs). Perhaps I was a little derailed… I was told by several readers that I seemed depressed. I was also told that I was getting “difficult to read”. Someone else said, “this is no Mariachi Static”.
Hmmm…? So, I decided to take a week off and reflect.
I also had to prepare for the final day of destruction, which, by the way, is today, October 21st 2011. This is according to Harold Camping, who originally said that true believers would be raptured, which I believe means “swept up to heaven” on May 21st of this year, while the rest of us would enter a period of judgement, until the final day of destruction – today.
That’s great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and airplanes, Lenny Bruce is not afraid
I don’t know about you but, I have a few friends who I haven’t heard from in months. Sure. It’s possible that they’ve just been busy or stopped talking to me after reading my blog but, I’d like to believe they were raptured. Seriously, if only “true believers” were raptured, how many people is that? Would we miss them? Would any of us file a missing persons report? And as part of the investigation, would the police ask questions like, “was he a true believer?”
Well, anyway, I hope you’re not reading this blog, because if you are, then maybe the world hasn’t ended, and now I’m going to be in a heap of trouble, thanks to Harold Camping. You see, I owed the IRS a pile of money and had to send it in by October 15th, but I thought that, since the world was ending on the 21st, I’d just tell them to take a hike and instead, I blew the money on cheap booze and expensive women. In fact, Brittney even named her latest album after our time together…
Shouldn’t that be “’til the world ends”, like short for until? I don’t think till is a word.
So, hey… Britt, just in case the world doesn’t end today. Uh… I should be home around supper time but, we should probably discuss an annulment. Oh and, until then, you’re going to want to file separately, even if it costs a few extra dollars.
Getting back to my “depressing” blog entries…
I guess there are two things at play here. 1) You really lose something when your read what I write, instead of listening to me. If I were to read this to you, which is unlikely to happen, you’d hear the way I intend for it to be read. You’d hear the sarcasm and you’d get that even my most serious statements contain an air of comic relief. 2) Although I fully expected to take a break from my political commentaries, I’m not sure if I can do it. These are political times that we live in. Things are bad… and we need to fix them.
We live in a country that is supposed to be run by elected officials, who we elect as our representatives, to do the things we want them to do. Instead, they lie, cheat and steal from us, and they make decisions based on money and the wishes of whoever is putting the most money into their election (or re-election) campaign.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that money = freedom of speech. They said that giving a political candidate money is equivalent to voicing your support of that candidate and therefore, making huge political contributions is protected under freedom of speech. Is that bullshit or what? It just leads to having bought politicians.
Congressmen now spend 50% of their time fundraising instead of doing the work that we sent them to Washington to do. Every day, they have to attend a fundraising lunch or dinner or spend time on calling campaigns. Reason being, 94% of the time, the candidate who raises the most money wins. So, they have to spend most of their time chasing money and, of course, whoever gives them big dollars, gets decisions in their favor. Essentially our goverment is bought.
Special interest groups, such as the petroleum industry, defense contractors, and Wall Street bankers are bankrupting middle class America by keeping us addicted to fossil fuels (while getting shitty gas mileage), keeping us involved in foreign military operations costing billions of dollars, and manipulating the banking system to rake in maximum dollars, while the average American can’t sell his house or even get a loan to buy a new house. Instead he just sits by watching his 401K go down the drain.
Yep. It’s two weeks later and… Nothing has changed.
But is that really true? Maybe some things are changing. At least, it certainly seems like I am not the only person enraged with the way our country is being run. First of all, I have to praise each and every person who has participated in the Occupation Movement. I love the people who have been out there, every day, for weeks. And I love when you say, “we may not (specifically) know what we want but we know that we don’t bankers and politicians running our lives or getting rich at our expense”.
Amen, brothers and sisters.
For those of you who haven’t made it to Wall Street during the occupation, you really should. It’s electric. And way better than all those movies that we saw, when we were growing up, with college students protesting in the 60’s. This isn’t a movie or a history lesson (yet). These are genuine people who are sick and tired of a government whose hands are tied, and prevented from making the right decisions for the people of this country …by money.
I remain focused.
Oh, look a red head..
OK. Maybe more of a Cherry Blossom Pink head?
Alrighty then, let’s talk about my new “friend”, Dylan Ratigan…
You know, when I first heard of Ratigan, I was expecting him to be just another media guy… kind of like me, except that he worked for the mainstream media. So, occasionally, he might fly off the handle with a rant about the state of our country but, in general, I expected him to just be one more media guy, acting like an impartial reporter while trying to push the agenda of one side or another. Afrter all, that’s what they all do.
And maybe, if you were to interview him and ask about his political beliefs, I’m sure that he would have to be categorized as leaning to one side or another. We can all be put into those silos. But I really get the sense that, like me, Ratigan is tired of the democrats vs. republican bullshit, and right now, like many of us, he sees that the system is broken and that we need to fix things and make it a fair system for all Americans, before we can get back to arguing our personal politics. I truly believe that arguing for either side of our bi-partisan system of today is like arguing about which brand of tires we should put on our race car, when we don’t even have an engine. It’s stupid and pointless.
So, I don’t know and I don’t care if Ratigan is a democrat or a replublican, I actually don’t want to know. It doesn’t matter to me. What I do know is that Ratigan is a former financial services guy, who left that industry and went to work covering the finacial markets on CNBC, eventually landing his own show on MSNBC, The Dylan Ratigan Show. And this show, which deserves to be on during prime time, when more people could discover it, could possibly be the most important show on television. As it seems to be all about taking back our country and getting the money out of politics. Amazing. I know.
Here’s an interesting blurb on Ratigan.
By what I’ve seen of his show, so far… He seems to have a string of guests on, democrats and republicans alike, on a number of topics, but if they’re not in agreement that we need to get the money out of politics, he hammers them equally. I love it.
Now, please don’t think that I’m saying that I like Ratigan. Don’t forget, technically, I don’t like anyone. OK, except maybe Stonsey….but he brings me margaritas. Doesn’t count.
We really need to get back to Todos Santos.
But I like what Ratigan is doing and, at least, the conversations that he is striking up.
And get this…
Three weeks ago, he launched this website www.getmoneyout.com to try and collect electronic signatures and, as he puts it, build a digital wave to try and pass a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics. Kudos, again! Again, there is no democrat vs. republican bullshit going on here. This is about ONE THING, ending private interest’s ability to purchase our government in a fundraising auction.
Now the chances of getting a constitutional amendment passed are like a zillion to one. As I understand it, there are amendments on the books from the 1800s that are still waiting to be ratified by the states. But that one in a zillion shot is a shot that we should take. And go see, in just over two weeks, he’s gotten over 200,000 electronic signatures. Now if everyone tells two people, and they tell two people, maybe we have a chance at cleaning this thing up. Yes. It’s a long-shot that a TV show could change our government but just maybe, between this and the occupation movement, just maybe… we can focus enough attention at the root causes to our nation’s problems as to incite change.
I’m with you, Dylan.
Now, you…with the eyes, reading this… go sign the petition.
Here it is again: www.getmoneyout.com
Side note. If you watch Ratigan’s show, he occasionally has on, as part of his Mega Panel, the awfully cute, relatively hot, British accent included, Imogen Lloyd Weber, who talks a lot with her hands – I keep thinking she’s going to smack someone. Imogen is a political commentator, broadcaster, producer, and author of The Single Girl’s Guide. Daughter of composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, Imogen now lives in New York City…
What??? I was just in New York City.
Ugh… Another missed stalking opportunity. I’d be a really bad stalker.
I guess I’ll go “old school”, which means email & Facebook
Hey, Gen… Tweet me.
Other people are welcome to use those too.
Uh… As long as you look a little like Imogen…
Now back to the Occupation Movement.
I’m not sure what this guy is trying to say but, this is pretty funny…
And finally, in the spirit of acknowledging change…
I am, once again, such a PC.
Once a diehard PC guys, about three years ago, I got experimental. I switched teams. I retired my home PC and I got myself a Mac. Now, I have to say, for the most part, a computer is a computer. They are all basically the same. It’s like democrats and republicans, they are mostly the same. In fact, most people have no solid answer as to why they are a Mac or why they are a PC. I mean, seriously… Outside of my friends who like to pickup chicks at the National Republican Convention, when you see a hot chick, do you care if she’s a democrat or a republican? …or do you buy her a drink anyway? Computers are really the same way. You bring’em home, plug’em in, turn on the juice, press the right buttons and you’re ready to download porn. Uh… Yes. I’m talking about computers.
Again, some people pick a computer like they are picking a favorite football team, they don’t even know why. Some people think that having a Mac is like having a Harley and other Mac riders will give you the head-nod as you pass each other on the information super-highway. Whatever. They are both just computers and right now, they are more alike than ever, especially since Apple went to using Intel processors and released a Mac OS based on Linux, instead of the old “whatever it was”.
Anyway, when I first got the Mac, I felt like I still had to have Windows. So, I installed the VMware thingy that let me run a virtual PC inside my Mac. And, at first, I used it all the time. Then, not so much. I got used to using the Mac stuff and I almost never launched my Windows. I really got to like Safari instead of Internet Explorer. And, in general, everything worked as expected, but then came the time that I had to encounter the Apple culture and deal with Apple people.
First, my Mac-mini was incredibly small, cute and compact but incredibly difficult to work on. Once upon a time I went to add memory to it. It was almost impossible to open and Apple actually doesn’t want you working on this on your own. So I had to find some online, third-party instructions on how to do this. It actually told me to stick a screwdriver here, another one there and start prying. Then, “when you’re sure that it’s about to break – pry just a little harder”. Ha, ha.. That worked.
But then came the day when the thing didn’t turn on at all. My only choice was to visit an Apple store. At this store there were countless people doing nothing. However, as I approached the service department, I was intercepted by an Apple drone with an iPad. He wanted to know if I had an appointment. I said, “no”. So he suggested that I make one. I asked if I could make one for right now and he basically laughed at me. Then I asked if I could leave my Mac for them to look at and he explained to me that they don’t work that way. First you have to make an appointment, then they’ll look at the computer with you. Those are the choices.
It turns out that there was a third choice. I threw my Mac-mini into a near-by trash can and ordered a brand new shiny HP with Windows 7, 8GB of RAM and one of those new Intel i7 Quad-core processors. Woo hoo… It’s awesome, crazy fast! My computing life has been restored, things are good.
I’m sorry if you feel betrayed PC world but I’m back and I’m here to stay.
I guess there’s nothing left for me to say or do. Maybe introduce this week’s musical guest and the act like a hockey player. You know… Get the puck out of here.
OK. This week we’re going to listen to Washington.
No. Not Washington DC. And No, this is not a political band.
They are an Australian band led by singer / songwriter Megan Washington.
Check them out. Here’s Washington with Rich Kids.
Want to see more Washington?
I recommend these videos too…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x3h6-92NGA&feature=relmfu
and for a little live action…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRTPHA04_A&feature=related
And I think that’s all the time we have for today…
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s installment. See you next week.
Mo… Fi amanillah.
And to the rest of you… Keep up the fight, my friends.
I believe it’s time for me to fly.
– Arch
MP3 DVD Rumple-Packed Guitar…
October 7, 2011
Funny, several people seemed to have had the same reaction to my money rant from last week. At the begining they were thinking, “wow… he used to owe a huge pile of money and now he owes a lot less, he must be rolling in the dough”. But then, as they read on to understand how, quite often, it cost a lot of money to make money, and then repaying your debts can absolutely kill you on taxes, instead of thinking that I was rolling in any kind of dough, they sent me sympathy cards… Thank you very much. 😉
In either case, the sentiment was, “but if you ever do get paid-off to zero, then you’ll be rolling in the dough, right?” Well…maybe. You see my goal was never to roll in dough, my goal was to build a great company…and yes, it’s easier to do that if you have a lot of dough. So getting to the “lots of dough” stage is important. But the reality is that, if all our debts were paid to zero, I’d make sure that all of our people made more money. So I’d still end up with less. My goal has always been to have the best people, making the most money possible for the job that they do. For example, if we hire a janitor, I want him to be the best janitor, and I want him to make more money than any other janitor around. Keeping in mind that, with great pay comes great responsibility. This isn’t charity or corporate socialism, each employee would be making top dollar, because we’d have the very best employees …and, theoretically, we could command a premium price for our services. Yes, we’d be that good. And then, maybe, we’d all be making so much money that we’d have to consider ourselves, “rolling in it”…but, again, not just me… everyone who got us here/there.
Anyway…enough about money. This week, I’ve sent Barnsley to South Central Los Angeles to see if he could drum up a bottle of Ripple. Now, you can’t just say Ripple. You need to pronounce it like Fred Sandford pronounced it… Ripple!
I hope it’s a strong wine. We’re going to need it.
Because this week, we’re gonna talk about…
Racism
One word, and I bet I already made some people nervous about whatever it is that I am going to say. You know who you are. Do you know why you’re nervous? Because you are probably an overly politically correct Democrat who would prefer to not mention racism and hope it goes away.
Well, let me set my stage… I have a problem with racist people, but I also have a problem with political correctness. You see, to me, whether or not you are a racist has less to do with what you say and do, and a lot more to do with what you believe and what you feel. Anyone can adjust what they say, in order to be politically correct. That doesn’t change what they actually believe and feel. I could innundate you with examples, but I will try and limit it to just a few “annecdotes”.
In planning to discuss this topic, I first went on a search for an official definiton of racism. Here’s what I came up with… “Racism is the belief that inherent differences among human racial groups, justifies discrimination against one group or another.”
That’s perfect. That definition agrees with me that it’s about belief.
But today, someone could easily be tagged as a racist, not by what they believe, but simply by what they might say, do, not do, or even find humorous. No one is better at pointing this out than black comedians. Black comedians tell a lot of black jokes. The basis of their comedy is quite often a giant verbal yellow highlighter on the differences between races. Their audiences laugh because a) it’s usually very funny; and b) it’s a black comedian telling the jokes. And as Chris Rock (an excellent entertainer, performer, and one of my favorite comedians) has pointed out in the past, sometimes the white people need to look around and see if it’s OK for them to laugh. By all rights, they and their jokes should be labelled as racist. Yes/No?
Speaking of black comedians, I saw a guy not too long ago, who was very funny, and I must apolgize for not remembering his name but, at one point, he started talking about his parents and said, “my parents are old school, which means they are… uh… racist”. This got a big laugh from his audience, including me, because we all know what that means. This means that his parents grew up in a time before the intense need existed for everyone to be politically correct. So, they say what they are thinking, instead of thinking one thing and saying another in order to avoid the possibility of being thought of as racist.
I know a thing or two about this. By today’s standards, no one could be considered more racist than my father. My father is an “old school” Cuban. By today’s standards, the Cubans are a racist bunch. They like to make fun of, just about everyone… Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Jews, Arabs, Asians… They really do not discrimate when it comes to making fun of others.
By the way, if you’re reading this and saying, “hey… I’m Cuban. I’m not that way.” Then it’s because you are one of those rare, most likely Democrat, Cubans, who has been Americanized and you’ve adopted the era of political correctness. But even then, you know exactly what I’m taking about. Don’t you?
…but in spite of my dad’s lack of political correctness, is he’s a racist? Not a chance. Most of my dad’s closest friends, personally and in business, were black Americans. I grew up in South Florida visiting neighborhoods who hadn’t seen a white guy, other than my dad, in years. If you came to a party at my house, there were always a handful of black Americans who were like familiy to me. I think I once asked my dad, “hey, <Archie’s dad>, have you noticed that most of your friends are black?” I honestly think that he’d never given it a second thought. Instead he just looked around, possibly ackowledging that I was onto something, and he said, “all I know is that my friends are loyal, honest and trustworthy”.
But it’s not like he’s blind to race. Believe me, it’s not unusual to go into any Cuban coffee shop in Miami with my dad and have him address a dark skinned woman behind the counter with, “Con permisso, Negra…”, …which means, “Excuse me, black woman”. …but he’s not being racist. I think, he thinks he’s being complementary. He’s saying, I looked at you close enough to notice that you’re dark skinned. I think, in his mind, he’s flirting with her, and doesn’t see a difference between saying that or saying, “hey you, with the blue shirt”.
I believe, that my dad believes, as do I, that all people, from all races, deserve equal opportunities and deserve to be treated as equals. But that doesn’t mean that you should ignore the fact that we’re all very different. Let’s face it, everything that has ever happened to you, and in your family’s past, since the begining of time, has played a part in making you who you are today and in making you different from everyone else… and we (you) should celebrate that. It’s good that we’re all different and it’s great that people notice. Noticing doesn’t make us racist.
So am I racist? I don’t think so. Although, I did notice that most of my dad’s friends were black. Did that make me a racist or is it possible that this observation only served to verify that I wasn’t blind? I guess it would bother me if anyone considered me a racist… It would bother me because, I used to have a black business partner. Now that I’m thinking about it, I have a number of black friends, who I never think of as any diffrent from any other friend. I also miss Willie James, my dad’s best friend, who passed away a few years ago. I never thought of him as black, instead I called him “Uncle Willie”, because he and my dad were like brothers…and I say all this realizing that, having a few black friends or relatives is still no litmus test for racism but then, what really is?
Funny. I saw something the other day that said…
If you voted for Obama to prove you weren’t a racist, now
you’ll have to vote for someone else to prove you’re not an idiot.
I love that. In case you’re wondering, by the way, I voted for Obama. I voted for Obama knowing that I wouldn’t agree with his politics and knowing that immediately after he took over, I’d be looking forward to a different President. But I didn’t vote for Obama to prove that I wasn’t a racist, I felt compelled to vote for the candidate who was least like the previous President. The country needed that. Now we need a President who will stop worrying about re-election, and/or his party platform, and do what’s right for the country. Of course, neither political party seems to have anyone like that …but that’s another story.
In conclusion, I do not believe that inherent differences among human racial groups, justifies any kind of discrimination against anyone. But I also don’t want to pretend that by forcing everyone to be politically correct, we’re fixing the problem. Instead, I think political correctness only serves to mask the ongoing, underlying issues that continue to exist in a country with a history of great racial inequalities, and we have a long way to go before we outgrow that history. That said, it should be pretty impressive that, no so long ago, white people imported Africans into this country and sold them as slaves but today it’s possible for a black man to be elected President, arguably the most powerful political positon on the planet.
And THAT is just a small part of what still makes America, in spite of all of our nation’s problems, the greatest country on Earth. But every single one of us needs to understand that being the greatest country on Earth doesn’t allow us to be on cruise control. There’s no auto-pilot here. Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility and… I think that’s the perfect lead in to today’s guests…
Before listening to any music, I have a video for you….
In case you don’t know him, Felonious Munk is a “comedian” and the founder of Stop It B!
FM finds topics that need addressing, he makes videos that are somewhat funny but very on point, and he puts them on You Tube. I must warn you that, FM’s video contain language which some people may consider offensive, yet others would argue that they should be required viewing. I agree. In fact, I think that if I ever get my new political party going, we might need FM to be our spokesperson.
So, I give you Felonious Munk, the new “America’s Party” Leader…
Yeah. Stop It B!
OK, so… Maybe he’s only about 80% on point. (Remember: He’s a comedian.)
That’s still better than most of our politicians …at least this guy is entertaining. 🙂
And do you still want a musical guest?
OK…but, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m in a mood.
You want music?
I give you, singer / songwriter, Doug Kwartler…
Hmm…
Maybe after Felonious Munk, we needed something a little more upbeat?
Oh, well. I guess someone from the Musical Guest Department will have to face the firing squad.
And so, the end is near…
Although I’ve probably said more than enough for one day, I would be remiss if I were not to acknowledge the crazed, lunatic, slave driver, genius who passed on Wednesday, and/or if we failed to thank him for the technological future that he helped to expedite into our present…
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know,
to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
– Steve Jobs
We’ll miss you , brother.
– Arch
Tishrei, already?
September 30, 2011
He must be up to something
What are the chances? Sure, it’s more than likely
I’ve got a feeling in my stomach
I start to wonder what his story might be?
They said it changes when the sun goes down,
around here…
Screw me, screw you… Bee-yach!
I accept no responsibility for this but, apparently, my friend, Bull, has decided to start a blog or two. So what’s does this have to do with me? No one knows but, here’s what he has so far…
http://thepasturebull.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/screw-you-archie-2/
Alrighty, then…
I think today I will start my multi-part series called: The Curve
The Curve: Chapter One: Is $3000 a lot of money.
I don’t usually like to talk about money. I’ll hardly ever say that something is too expensive. I’ve never used the words, “that’s out of my price range” …and none of this is because I have tons of cash. Quite the contrary …but I guess I’ve always understood the relativity of money. For example: You might look at a house and think, I would never pay $400K for this house. But is that true? What if I took that house and moved it to beachfront property? Maybe you would be willing to pay $400K for that house, maybe more.
So it’s time to turn in your homework…
Is $3000 a lot of money?
I left you with this question to ponder, last time. I remember, once upon a time, thinking that anything more than $500 per month was an unreasonable amount of money to spend on anything. This was my rule for everything… cars, apartments, and later mortgages, etc. Then somewhere along the way, something changed.
Today, my company sells services to others that range from $800.00 per month to as much as $33,000.00 per month (that’s not a typo – $33K per month, baby), with the average customer being in the $3000 per month range. So, does $3000 sound like a lot of money? It does. But if I offered you to come work for me for $3000 per month, you’d quickly do the math and gracefully decline. After all, that’s only $36K per year. If you happened to be a family of eight, that puts you below the federal poverty level.
It works the same going the other way. When we sell services for $3000 per month, our clients often think that it sounds like a lot of money. But then, when they realize that it’s only $36K per year, and we’re going to save them way more than that, it suddenly turns into a reasonable amount.
Once you’ve made that money, it costs more now
It might cost a lot more than you’d think
I just found a million dollars that someone forgot
It’s days like this that push me o’er the brink
(“Cool Ranch Dressing”)
The other day, I heard about a contest that someone was sponsoring. The winner would have their debts paid-off, up to $187,000.00. My first thought was, “how did they come up with this number?” Then I got over it. So my second thought was, entering this contest should be limited to people who actually have $187K or more in debt. Seriously… it would be a huge waste for someone with only, say… $50K of debt to win that. That would be like throwing $137K to the wind. Oh, and I say that mortgages count. That’s debt.
Speaking of mortgages, let’s turn the number up even higher…
Is $440K a lot of money?
You bet it is. Every one of us would love to have $440K, in small bills, under the mattress, lining our pockets… Yes/No? Of course… Yes. What if I told you that, that’s how much money I owe people? …and I don’t mean Vinny the loan shark for my enormous gambling debts. I mean legitimate long term debts.
Let me qualify that. This time, I’m not counting mortgages or automobiles. I’m also not counting vendor payable or other current liabilities. I’m not counting investment properties. And really, I’m not taking about personal debt. Let’s just call it, money that I am responsible for seeing that it gets repaid. $440K! That’s a lot of cheese, when you stop and think about it. But then, I look back just a few short years and remember when that number was $1.2M. I’m going to say that $1,200,000.00 is a lot of money.
Although, that’s probably a small number. If I add to that, other monies that I was responsible for paying back, like cars, personal mortgages, mortgages on investment properties, and trade payables – that number goes to well over the $2M mark. So, having owed over $2M at one point, I’m sure that you can understand how owing $440K almost makes me feels like I’m paid-off to zero.
Although, probably, needless to say… It’s been tricky, over the years, to build a business the way I did it. That is, starting out with a single credit card that had a $2500 limit on it. If someone told me they were going to do that today, I’d tell them they were out of their mind. Not to say that my being out of my mind is off the table. ..but the whole thing is tricky. If someone said they were going to loan you a million bucks at only 5% interest, that sounds like a pretty good deal but let’s do the math… You are going to be paying $50K per year in interest. That, by the way, is $137.00 per day, 365 days per year.
So you will need to be profiting $137 every day, including weekends and holidays, just to pay the interest. Then, let’s pretend they want to be paid back over 10 years. Now, on top of the $137 per day, we need to repay principal. Well, your monthly payment to repay the $1M over 10 years at only 5% interest is $10,606.55 per month. That’s way more than $500. 🙂
Under this scenario, you need to be profiting $10,606.55 per month before you have the first dime to take home for yourself. So, let’s say that you manage to build a thriving business in the short-term and you put yourself on a salary at a modest $108K per year (or $9000 per month). Now you are going to have to pay payroll taxes on that $108K, let’s pretend you get to do that at only 15%, that’s $16,200 in taxes. Plus, you are going to have to pay taxes on the $100K or so that you paid down on your loan.
You see, the only way that you can pay down a long-term loan is wth profits. And, even if you don’t have the cash anymore, you gotta pay taxes on it. So now that your income was actually $208K, you’re going to be paying taxes at about 28%. After all, the more you make, the more you have to pay. Right? Don’t forget, Warren Buffett doesn’t have a problem with this. Why should you?
Taxes on your $208K are about $58K…and you don’t have the $100K that you earned and used to pay down your loan. So this $58K needs to come from your $108K salary. So, here you are, Mr. Businessman, seemingly doing well, paying your bills, paying down your loans, maybe you’re employing people, taking home a moderate small business salary and at the end of the day, you are taking home $50K and paying $58K in taxes. Sound crazy?
Maybe I’m crazy.
Maybe I’m not.
Maybe it’s time to introduce this week’s musical guest?
Today we are going fun, rapper, educational, timely, and religious.
After all, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah and I bet that 90% of my non-Jewish compadres out there have no idea what that’s all about or the story of Abraham (and Isaac). So, today, you’re going to learn something. Oh, yes. And without further ado, whatever THAT means, I give you Shofar Callin’: The Rosh Hashanah Song.
Next time that I decide to talk about money, I’m going to talk about money in politics and how each and everyone of us is being robbed every day by a corrupt banking system and how President Obama had the chance to fix it. The classic battle between Washington and Wall Street, and how Wall Street won…
Want to read ahead? Read Ron Suskind’s new book, Confidence Men
I love Suskind. He was once tagged as a Democrat lover because of the book he wrote during the Bush administration, The Price of Loyalty. But in reality, he’s just a, mostly non-partisan, journalist. He calls’em, like he sees’em. Good stuff, Ron.
Thanks for your honest non-partisan reporting.
A surprise party for me?
So, I’m looking for a new political party to join. As you may have already figured out, I’m am not a fan of either one of The Big Two…. In fact, I’ve had it with them.
In spite of his party affiliation, however, I guess I’m still a fan of Gary Johnson.
But enough about a guy who isn’t going to win his party’s nomination.
Let’s go back to talking about me!
I am totally disgusted with both sides and rather than being embarrased to have one of their names on my voter’s registration card, I’m leaving. I almost went NPA, No Party Affiliation, but then I got to thinking… Maybe, instead of starting my own things, like I always do… Maybe there’s a party out there for me to join and maybe I’ll feel good about being a member of that party? But am I just asking to put myself into some kind of an off-the-wall minority position? Actually, no! Read on…
52% of Americans Believe that we need a new “Third Party”
Apparently last year, that number was as high as 58%. So, looking for another party, actually, puts me into a majority of Americans who are realizing that our political system is broken and we don’t want to be a part of it anymore.
So the big question is..which one would you join?
There are tons of political parties. Some of them are quite silly.
I’m thinking that the better organized ones, that may actually have some merit, include the Whig Party, The Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party. Of course, the problem with each of these is that just by mentioning their names, some people already start to conjure up some preconceived notion of what they are about.
Do I care… Maybe they just need a little rebranding?
Maybe the key is to find the party that possesses the values closest to my own, then join that party and work to make the party better, stronger, and ultimately, the party that those 52% of Americans would like to join.
Who is with me?
Ever feel like you just went on a long rant and you really need a beer?
I find that on exactly such an occasion, I need an ice cold Taybeh Beer.
Barnsley had to fly to Japan to buy some, then smuggle it into the U.S. for me. You can’t it here. Maybe it’s because each label of this Palestinian made beer is clearly marked, “Made in Palestine”. I’ll bet you the U.S. doesn’t let you import something made in a country that they do not recogninze as a country.
Now this is all starting to make sense. The U.S. doesn’t want Palestine to be a country and it’s obviously to keep us, the American citizens, away from this tasty beverage. I should have known. After all, most international dispuites are about beer, aren’t they?
But did you notice the tranquility that existed among this blog entry? A nice Rosh Hashanah song, chased by a cold and tasty Palenstinian beer, respectfully co-existing without as much as raised voices. Yes. I believe my blog could be the basis for a better more peaceful world.
May your diety bless you.
Well, that’s all the time I have for today.
Gotta run. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya… 😉
– Arch
Archie Kobain 