Oh, and let's congratulate Vivek Rama-scammy for being such an unpleasant selectee that almost 200,000 Ohioans cast their vote for CASEY PUTSCH despite, in most cases, having no idea who he was.
We ARE proper fucked, sadly. Once upon a time, Ohio was a bastion of centrism: Democrats who weren't as far left as the national Dems (think Ted Strickland), and milquetoast Republicans like Mike "we're shaving livesh" DeWine. Sadly, Ohio is entering a new era in which our Democrats are communists like Nan Whaley and our Republicans are outright crooks like Larry Householder.
Leadership (Thune, Pelosi, Schumer) selects out for crooks. Showboaters ('The Squad') distract and draw fire. Boatrockers are ostracized and marginalized (Massie, MTG).
Jack I watched Chuck Todd and The Decision Desk HQ for two hours last night steaming the results of the Ohio primary. They did not know who Casey was and their researchers had not supplied them with any Cliff Notes about Casey. He was a non-person/candidate. Poor guy….
I think he loses the general election in part because Ohio is significantly working class and the antics of Trump and the congressional Republican party have the working class voters who put Trump into office with a once in a generation opportunity all now feel horrifically betrayed.
The other part is his nonsense on H1Bs killed him with a lot of the people he would need to come out and vote.
The Republican party has screwed the pooch horribly since Trump was sworn in and they do not see the tidal wave of anger that is going to wash over them in November.
The largest political party in the USA are now called independents. The only real problem with this is independents don't vote in primaries in many sates. Therefore we end up with 2 sucky choices who won primaries from the fringe.
Hilarious that members of Casey's staff are now complaining he was nothing but a grifter interested in only self promotion. Did they not look at all into his history?
* Vote for the Indian guy whose policies seem reasonable enough but who will load the state apparatus with his countrymen to the point that every judge in the state will be named Patel in five years;
* Vote for the crazy COVID lady who thinks Trotsky was a half-measure.
"...named Patel in five years" who was ALSO on the SAME COVID COMMITTEE as his opponent, but who ALSO attempted to run a business to create a NATIONAL BIOMETRIC DATABASE TO DETERMINE WHO WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE HOME"
I’m sure our license plates will go from tasteful to something weird-ass! I won’t be able to renew my “In God We Trust” license plate with the American flag 🇺🇸! (Which is also personalized, so I’m paying the highest possible for my PL8s every biannum.)
And if the Indian gets in, Columbus drivers will be dodging cows on the Outerbelt (as if traffic isn’t already fucked up enough down there) while any dairy production in the state goes into the toilet, along with the abolition of steakhouses and burger joints. 🙄
Best case scenario is that Rammyswarmy wins but isn't able to enact anything and Ohio trundles on until the next election can come up with a better solution than him. Worst case scenario is that Dr. Lockdown becomes governor and goes full Abigail Spermberger and start enacting the nuttiest left wing agenda Ohio has ever seen. Neither one of these people should be the governor of any state.
There is A LOT of behind-the-scenes information coming out; Putsch mostly lost because he behaved exactly as would be expected by what Jack has always written about him.
I'm not that familiar with Ohioan politics, but I get too tired of low voter turnout for Governor, Mayor, or councilman/woman and everyone complaining about something that doesn't get done, and blame the president or federal government which has no control over whatever it that is.
And yes, that is a run-on sentence.
"Zoning laws are terrible". "Why isn't my pothole fixed". "Where is the school funding".
If you look at cleaning ladies annual income I think it would be classified as poor. But yes hardworking people are prob not the “underclass.” Mentally even if they still fit I. That category economically
Jack, I know you madly, truly, deeply luv F1 but could we have a moment of moral clarity here? “There’s still plenty to criticize about the goofy battery-powered aspects of Formula 1 in 2026…” hardly does it justice. Every time I hear F1, I see Fonzy on water skis. It’s a spectacle that mirrors everything wrong with Europe right about now. Germany, Spain and England are actively trying to render themselves industrially irrelevant with their wacko energy policies. Who exactly is going to pull F1 or Europe back from the brink? I certainly don’t know but I do know that cheering for the carnage is no way to get started.
the ironic thing is that France is in the best shape, having built a fleet of nuclear plants, and amazingly not being stupid enough to shut them down on a panic whim, like the idiots to the east of them did.
Submission (French: Soumission) is a novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq.
The novel imagines a situation in which a Muslim party upholding Islamist and patriarchal values is able to win the 2022 presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party. The book drew an unusual amount of attention because, by coincidence, it was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
I don’t think it really matters what the nincompoop FIA president wants. Domenicali and Maffei wanted the current formula to get Audi, GM and Ford to sign up and are trying to get BYD to sign up.
It's the 0.1%. Not the 1%. Hell, my dentist is a 1%er with a Lotus Emira, and he's a dirt-poor cardboard-sign bum compared with the World Economic Bond Villains that are truly running this shitshow.
This is how they continue to empty out the middle. They keep calling them "wealthy". Tax the rich!!!
I sometimes mock these people around me that like to say how they're part of the wealthy class, hence they get taxed so much. They say this with PRIDE! LOL, what fools...
It's also worth noting that the current political environment (and by that I mean the past 10 or 15 years) has been driven by the idea that for my team to win, everyone else has to lose. it is specifically designed to have us fighting each other.
That Rolling Stones piece is really disappointing but unsurprising. I mean, we always knew that the entertainment industry was ran by a bunch of pimps but it's fascinating to see the Rock & Roll publication side with the COVIDians over something petty like this. Wasn't R&R supposed to be some sort of rebellious expression??
Eric's had a tough time in the press after talking about his vaccine injuries. The guy that probably did the most for bringing spotlight to the American black blues artists was called a racist and now his influence on guitar playing is now crap too! LOL
I remember when I first started college, I decided I wanted play guitar. I remember asking a friend for some lessons, and he asked me what type of music I wanted to play and being 18 and dumb I remember saying: "Well, I don't have to play as good as Van Halen but if I can at least play like Eric Clapton, I'd be content."
Needless to say, that conversation didn't go very far and I just went the route of self teaching. And with the little discipline I had at that age, the self teaching didn't get very far. But, I did start listening to a lot of different guitar players and I did get a proper appreciation for Clapton and his contributions to electric guitar music.
What the hell is a magazine for the music industry doing engaging in politics anyway? Stick to telling us about the bass player for Four Speed's latest near-death OD.
They’ve been that way for ages. I guess they’ve always been political. But being a revolutionary and endorsing free speech only matters when the other team has the power.
Eric Clapton and Van Morrison were both heavily raged at by the music press for questioning things during Covid. Vintage Guitar Magazine tore into Clapton at the time, which was very disappointing.
Vintage Guitar Magazine tore into someone for the wrong politics? Good god. That magazine should stick to cork sniffing the type of laquer Leo put on the tele in 1958.
"I'll Be Your Lover Too" is a stunningly beautiful love song. Written for Morrison's first wife.
"Something", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by George Harrison for Patty Boyd, who left him for Eric Clapton.
"Layla", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by Eric Clapton for Patty Boyd, before he got tired of her shit and wrote "Wonderful Tonight" to diss her.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by Frank Loesser to do as a duet with his wife, Lynn Garland. They performed it at parties. She was upset when he licensed "their song" to be used in a movie, which made it a hit song. Garland was Loesser's first wife.
There are kids on YouTube who can play him under the table. But he and his studio engineer (J. Patrick Page) created the sound of rock with "Bluesbreakers". Historically he is a lot more significant than Hendrix, even if he isn't the same grade of player.
I'm not going to lie, that's an eye-popping take for me. I think Hendrix is at least 5 times more significant for the history of the guitar and blues music than Clapton, but I'm willing to give it another listen, do some reading, and consider I may be wrong to some degree.
If you get bored, read about the recording of "Bluesbreakers with John Mayall". It was the first record in history to feature an overdriven tube amp sound, which was Clapton's idea.
Hendrix is an incandescent guitarist, but ask yourself: other than Lenny Kravitz and John Mayer, who ever bothered to take his style further, or even copy it? He was a black swan event. The irony is that his bass equivalent -- Jaco -- spawned a hundred thousand clones, but you can sit all day in Sweetwater and never hear anyone play a Hendrix riff... except for me.
Off the top of my head Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mike McCready are two more who were greatly influenced by Hendrix. But I agree with your premise that Hendrix was the better player while Clapton was more influential. Probably because it’s easier to emulate his style than it is Hendrix’s.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robin Trower, to my mind, are the two Hendrix disciples of note. SRV didn't really expand upon it so much as he absorbed it into his style, whereas Trower absolutely mastered the form, TRIED to expand upon it and failed.
To answer your question, Robin Trower, though it can be argued that he stayed in Jimi's lane and never took it farther.
People may play Stairway or Smoke at Guitar Center, but guitar players in general genuflect to Jimi. If you tell them they can play better than him they get upset. It seems to me that as far as rock guitar players are concerned, it's Hendrix and Edward Van Halen, possibly Jeff Beck, and then everyone else.
Getting to your point about Clapton's influence, check out Josh Scott's recent video on the live version of Crossroads, which he describes as "60 measures of uninterrupted, unrepeated improvisation." I remember listening to Disraeli gears not really that long ago and thinking, "Boy, that's some cliched guitar playing," and then I realized, "No, idiot, that's Clapton inventing the cliches."
The person who gets respect from guitar players that should be better known by the public is Michael Bloomfield.
anybody ever hear jim bates from tulsa play upright bass? practically like a banjo. he went to nyc in the late '70s and might've gone classical. i've never heard anybody near as good.
^ That comment, right there is worth the price of admission. ^
I don't have to like it. I don't have to agree. The problem is, I can't disprove it. To your point, Hendrix is a bit like Max V. to me, in that his talent is/was so otherworldly that it has has/had almost no bearing on what came/will come after.
Eric Clapton we and is repeatable, and what he did changed the way everybody who came after him played. I don't have to like somebody to acknowledge their influence, or to admit that freaks like Hendrix or Eddie or Lenny Kravitz have almost no influence because they exist outside the normal boundaries of possibility.
I think the closest equivalent for bass is Steve Bailey, whom I've seen live a few times. He has no imitators. I'm not sure you'd begin to imitate him.
i gave him major props for being a steadfast advocate of serious blues guitar. it is reported that he left the yardbirds because he didn't want to get off track by experimenting with trendy stuff like harpsichords ("for your love"). he has never claimed to be a great guitarist himself and has promoted other great players. i discovered jj cale through clapton and i will be eternally grateful for that gift.
clapton's playing is about restraint and feeling. for example, compare clapton's original solo on the white album's "my guitar gently weeps" to the solo prince did live at the rock and roll hall of fame concert in 2004. prince is a proud peacock but his playing is all technical with no real feel. the original is a subtle and beautiful masterpiece for which clapton didn't even get an album credit.
it's never been about technical virtuosity with clapton. if you listen to "bind faith," winwood's guitar playing melds beautifully with clapton's. Winwood is primarily a keyboardist but clapton treats him as an equal when it comes to trading off guitar solos.
all of this from a guy who grew up in abusive home and suffered the loss of his young son and still managed to recover from alcoholism and heroin addiction.
Is Eric going to play like some of those virtuosos out there? Probably not, but with the arts, there's so many different elements and reach is probably the biggest one. I always felt like Eric's playing was the easiest to listen to for the most people if you are into blues. Also, some people just seem to have some star power. Very hard to quantify for sure, but when Eric plays, it just seems to work for the masses.
With little concept of what makes quality music, I have to say I enjoy Eric Clapton. But then I'd have a Burl Ives song follow on my playlist, trailed by some Biggie Smalls. Part of it comes from being fed a steady diet of his music by my folks. Cocaine and Lay Down Sally just do something to my spirit when I hear them play. Is he number 2 or 35 or 3987 on the list? Who the hell cares? The fact that he ranted against vaccines makes him a number 1 on any list. Rolling Stone can put that in their syringe and overdose on it...
The funniest part was that Clapton spent so much time working up the courage to try to nail Patti Boyd and when he went to talk to Harrison about it, George was like "who gives a shit, I have a lot of birds, go on, mate."
It would not be unfair to say that the Top 1% inflict the Bottom 20% on the rest of us so they can stay on top.
I was watching some Standard Police Chase cop-cam video on YouTube out of Boise the other day, and all I could think was, "BOISE?! Even BOISE has to deal with Tyvequious and Ja'Mon'Trell?!"
And Tyvequious and Ja'Mon'Trell exist because 27-term IL/NY/CA/HI Democrat Senator J. Carlton Douche-Canoe IV uses Weaponized Governmental Failure to drive the middle class out of town, leaving the Top 1% and the Bottom 20%, so he can lord over the ruins unchallenged.
to lay all blame for American society's ills at Democrat's feet isn't fair. Republicans share responsibility a well.
that's the fundamental problem with American politics - it has been reduced to blind tribalism. My team does no wrong. Yours does no right. Everything would be great again if only my team were in charge. For my team to win, everyone else has to lose.
It's become a zero-sum game, and it's all bullshit.
One of the things I enjoy about ACF is being able to read and occasionally participate in a nuanced discussion amongst parties that politically disagree that generally avoids spiraling into disrespect.
I read a local story this morning about two guys that got into a political disagreement while patronizing a dog park that ended in both parties firing shots. That is a dangerous path for society at large to keep hurtling down.
I think the reason we can engage in a nuanced discussion despite our differences is because we also recognize the things we have in common, which makes it all but impossible to see each other as an enemy. speaking for myself, I also recognize that I can learn something from people I disagree with and perhaps change my own perspective. I imagine that's true of others here.
the United States used to be like that. I'm not so naive as to think it was all milk and honey (see also: late 1960s / early 1970s, to name one example), but on the whole, people on both sides of the ideological spectrum could find common ground and often - GASP! - reach a compromise for the good of the country _as a whole_.
I so very much agree. I can’t think of another forum where these conversations can be had and I can only imagine how nutraged the people of someplace like Reddit would get over the notion that perhaps the bottom 20% bear personal responsibility for their actions.
What astounds me is ACF's ability to remain the same over the years, even as Jack has added subscribers. Nothing is able to stay 'pure' this long in this day and age, especially online.
I think the right lens is that big money (call it capital if you must) has a vise grip on politics, and left and right differentiation is hardly existent for 95% of members of congress.
All of American legislation must run through the uniparty (Schumer-McConnell) axis. Every single law you might want passed must go through them. Oh you want to live in a nice non-criminal country with a sensible minimum wage? Well thats a shame.
Aligning too much with Dems or Reps reduces politics to pointlessly gay sportsball. In real life, Real Politics is getting your own fighters in the arena to MAKE laws that are then enforced. Sometimes on outgroups, AGAINST their will. at the point of a gun even!
We have totally lost sight of this through our own industrialization, tantalization, brainwashing, and comfort addiction
this is one reason I think a multi-party system that requires collaboration and compromise to secure enough votes to do anything would be better than the two-party / uniparty system we have now.
To hopefully make your mind beg the question, have you ever found it funny how all of the most important countries on earth in the past ~200 years simultaneously fixated on a multi-party parliamentary form of government, almost all at the same time?
It’s a little weird isn’t it? “No Kings” indeed. Just totally unaccountable representative duhmocracies incapable of solving any real problems.
It's never quite clear to me when some ACF commenters use income demographics to mean wealth vs poverty (as I do) and which ones are using it to lightly hide their racism. I live in Boise. There is a small number of Black people here, but virtually all of our serious crime is committed by Latino and white people. Their mugshots are pretty universal on the meth/fentanyl spectrum. The man who shot Tobin Bolter, who attended my church, to death two years ago was white. That was only the second law enforcement fatality in the city's history. (The first being in 1997, if I recall. Ironically, a small memorial to Officer Mark Something Or Other, the only Boise Police Department officer to die in the line of duty, is in the city park adjacent to our church building.)
Clapton and Van Morrison were absolute heroes during the Covidiocy.
Amy Acton is still going on about all the lives we saved with masks and lockdowns and clot shots. You can't vote for her, Jack. Stay home, or vote for the "LOLbertarian," or write in PJ O'Rourke, but you can't vote for Amy Acton.
Those policies are more reversible than installing hordes of hostile foreign agents in positions of power. Also, a D governor will have an adversarial legislature.
What's with this early posting, I'm trying to work here.
The blame for what has happened to the West resides with a very small group. Whomever that is, I am convinced that 75% of all the problems could be fixed by cheap gasoline. If families could have 428 powered Pontiac station wagons God would be in His heaven and All's right with the world.
Yeah it was a pain in my Charger. However, I think a Magnum with the seats down would be much more suitable. We've lived together for 2 years now so there's no point in trying the Compass but I think it would be easy.
The problems I see with the most dysfunctional of my kids' classmates is that their parents won't give up the smart phones or constant meaningless social media use to, you know, be parents once in a while.
Yeah that's not true at all. People complain about every aspect of it a lot.
Sure, gas is the thing people complain most about, but the reasons for that are incredibly obvious.
It's the most obvious and changes the most visibly. You drive past X number of gas stations per day, and fill up however often. It's right in front of your face.
An oil change goes up more incrementally and most do that only a couple times per year.
The price of a car goes up more incrementally and most only do that a couple times per decade.
No shit they are going to be most vocal about the thing that they most interact with.
I've NEVER heard anyone complain about how much their insurance company is ripping them off, or how their payment is crippling them financially or how tires are bleeding them dry. But GAS? Oh, all the time.
People could do the same about a gallon of milk..or just the fact that a $175 cart of groceries is $225..because they see it every week in an average household that shops as often.
I have to get a new vehicle by the end of this month (lease is up and do not want to lease again), and I feel this. Nothing new stands out to me as exciting. I mostly work from home these days and cannot justify to myself spending more than $40k, even with money down. Slim pickings in that price point. I am going to go drive a WRX this afternoon since I have been craving some more engagement/fun than with the trucks I've had the last 7 years.
A super cheap EV *lease* would be a smart move then!
I'm sure you can get a new Nissan Leaf or Kia EV6 (genuinely decent cars!) for less than $300/mo. if one is driving that little. Probably closer to $200 if you say please tbh.
The best car for the environment is the one you already own.
The steel has been poured, the rare earths have been mined, the copper wire has been drawn, etc.
No matter how much fuel is used or pollution is emitted, it's much less than having to mine and refine all the raw materials and then build something else -- no matter how efficient it is after it is for the end consumer.
It’s no problem if you go into the dealership with the intent to have fun and enjoy yourself. Because of typical car salesman attitude, you get to be a jerk if you’d like with zero repercussions. Your attitude determines what the visit will be like.
As a wise friend once told me: “They lie to you, you lie to them.” How can that not be fun?
I used to bring my checkbook into the salesman’s cubicle and play with like I was a hyperactive grade school student playing with whatever is on their desk. While the salesman was diligently entering numbers into the desk calculator which would make noise while the paper advanced, I would be tapping my checkbook on his desk, tossing it in the air and from hand to hand, and fiddling with it to no end. The salesman could not help but be annoyed and would always look at my checkbook, because the deposit for the car he wanted to sell to me was inside it.
If the salesman was nice and respectful, I would, of course, not do this.
I bought a car for my daughter last month and got to find out all about stupid dealer add-ons, even independent dealers are getting into the grift now.
As a vestige of my humble, hardscrabble hillbilly origins, I am aware - via a strictly observational Facebook account - of the current discourse in my hometown.
The most important thing is, apparently, the price of gas (or diesel). So many proud Monster Truck drivers are coming to terms with the fact that it is NOT their birth right to drive around aimlessly in such an impractical vehicle.
Unlike The Final Boss Lizard Person - Mr. Alias AKA “JD Vance” - who adopted my Appalachian American culture as a costume, who robustly criticized Tangerine Palpatine then (metaphorically) fellated DJT after Peter Thiel and David Sacks insisted he do so, who married a dirty, stinkin’ Indian (!), who named his son “Vivek” after his, uh, friend Governor Ramaswamy … I am a straightforward and honest person.
I have been seeing Trump "I DID THAT" stickers on gas pumps recently in my extremely red, rural county.
They are getting scraped off much more quickly than the Biden ones did because lord knows no one has thinner skin than a Trump worshipper. Can't imagine the pride (?) of a man driving a "FJB EDITION" 15 year old Silverado would allow for such a thing as he spends over $100 to fill up.
Relatedly, gas is literally the most I've ever seen it as of today. Thanks DJT! You really put America First with this one!
I could be persuaded to drive the GT3 more often if gas got up to $10 (or more) a gallon. Would be joyous to enjoy the highways and byways without the Altimas, etc.
I watch his post because I want it but he is definitely crack smoke crazy with his pricing. I've had two 69 Bonneville convertibles and a 70 Bonneville 2 door hardtop. The 428s were awesome motors and the 455 wasn't far behind.
assuming you even can. sometimes you can pin both ends but for a poncho block youd be better off just getting another one (and probably rebuilding it because theyre old and worn out). doubly so if its not a numbers matching car anyway
Amen. My dad owned a '65 Catalina, '69 Catalina, '73 Catalina, '78 Bonneville, '84 Bonneville, and a couple more the years I can't remember - all 4 door sedans. Mixed in was a '74 and '77 Firebird.
He had good taste. In addition to my 2 69s and 70 Bonnevilles, I've had a 63 Catalina and a black on black 80 Bonneville coupe with the "dignified" 301. Several corporate powered Ponchos have been in my stable as well. A 95 T/A, 99 T/A with Ram Air, both T56 cars. A 90 SSE Bonneville that was one of the most unreliable heaps I've owned but would love to have back today. The 85 Fiero GT was similarly unreliable and I don't need to repeat that ownership experience. 2 80 Phoenixes(?) with the 2.8, a 96 SSEi Bonneville and currently, an 83 Parisienne round out the list but I may have forgotten one or two.
My earliest childhood car memories are of dad's burgundy Parisienne. I was 2-3 years old, so it was around from 97 or 98 until 99ish? Burgundy velour interior. That car looked enormous to me back then, and one day I remember him coming home and producing an airplane rocking toy from the back seat in 2 pieces. Trashpicked, of course, as were many of my bicycles and our various lawn equipments. But I digress; the Parisienne eventually died from terminal rod knock but I recall the last couple rides I had in it when the knocking started. I once said, "it sounds like a nascar!" because the car was simply making more noise. Dad responded, "yeap, like a nascar that's about to die." Its replacement was a 1984 GMC S15, with an iron duke and a 5 speed, thus introducing me to the world of manual transmissions. Then that got replaced by a red 1989 C1500 which had a TBI 350 and a 5 speed, but also a 3.73 posi rear axle. That's the truck which stuck around most of my life and the vehicle I learned to drive in. Those truck still hold a special place in my heart. I want to get another some day but it won't have the correct signature scent of old cigarettes and B.O. It wouldn't be dad's truck.
my wife bought a new '84 S10 Blazer 4x4 5sp with the execrable underpowered 2.8 v6. Overall it was ok, quite capable off road, though plagued by the typical '80's GMness "quality".
I know you're being poetic, but gas dipped below $2 in some parts of the US recently, but companies were still laying off Americans and hiring Indians on work visas. Several of Charlie Kirk's last tweets addressed the issue (perhaps one reason that he was assassinated):
Jack it is writing like this that keeps the readers coming back and commenting:
“If I throw a Molotov into a cop car, they would lock me up until the end of the third Ocasii-Cortez administration or until noted AFCer Sherman McCoy’s wedding day, which ever is later.” Just pure Grisham or Hemmingway prose. But unfair to Sherman as he is obviously a chick magnet as he lives in stylish Buckhead, drives a super car Porsche, wears tailored cloths, and only smokes the finest Cuban cigars.
Unlike PrimeTime Stein, I am not into the Big Booty Latinas, largely because - on account of my humble, hardscrabble hillbilly origins - I associate the term “Latina” with 4’11” tall Guatemalan “Gorditas” with mustaches who work at Taco Bell.
Steve, Not really, have you seen him, his photo is in the dictionary next to the word “cuck”. I am sure he would just accept that Sherman was being a perfect gentleman, satisfying AOC….
Click the link in the text. He choked a woman and caused significant damage to her, er, lower body in a hotel room. His attorney argued, with some success, that part of hanging out with Kobe Bryant is that you'll be black and blue, and that simply entering a room with him amounts to consent.
only at ACF could someone come for the racing and end up commenting on the music...
say what you will about Morello, but give Rage Against the Machine's debut a listen and tell me with a straight face he isn't innovative. it's not for nothing that they noted "no samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record" in the liner notes. is he better than Clapton? no. but the guy is definitely worthy of inclusion on any "best guitarists" list, even if such lists are objectively bullshit, just for the sheer range of sound he gets out of a guitar.
as to Iommi, for those who don't know, the guy lost the tip of the middle and ring finger on his right (fretting) hand in an accident at the sheet metal factory where he worked. it required him to wear prosthetic tips (which, in the band's early days, he made himself with plastic and leather), use light gauge strings, and tune down - all of which contributed to the band's iconic sound.
oh, and he led a band that all but created an entire genre of music (don't come at me with Blue Cheer). that doesn't make him one of the world's best guitarists (again, such lists are objectively bullshit), but it does make him worthy of respect among players IMHO.
I won't argue against Morello being an innovator. But if you're gonna ding Clapton for not being pro-COVID, we should also ding Morello for cosplaying mass murder.
well, that's the problem. we ought not ding Clapton _or_ Morello (or anyone else) for their politics. it doesn't diminish from their skill.
Ted Nugent has become such a joke IMHO that he's become a caricature, but it doesn't stop me from wishing I could play Stranglehold or Cat Scratch Fever or admiring the fact he used a jazz guitar to create some of the best rock and roll tone yet recorded.
Correct. Iommi is a guitar idol for me and considering him only as a journeyman is almost personally insulting!
And yeah, Uncle Ted has lost his marbles so thoroughly that even his early work and the Amboy Dukes are guilty pleasures for me now... But still pleasures nonetheless. The tones he got and riffs he wrote scratch something primal in my ears in just the right way.
Same goes for other "less talented" players like apparently Iommi, Angus Young, Jerry Cantrell, Dave Mustane etc. I don't really care how "good," or "Talented" someone is if they can activate my monkey brain with a fuzzy tone and crunchy riff.
Angus and Malcolm Young have / had the best tone in all of rock IMHO, and they did it with nothing more than a guitar straight into a dimed Marshall. I also don't know if anyone beyond Dave Murray and Adrian Smith wrote more iconic riffs than Malcolm.
I'm not much of a fan of Megadeth beyond Rust and Countdown, but Mustaine will always have my respect for speed of his playing (look up "shredding" in the dictionary and it probably shows his photo) and for the dedication he has shown to music. they guy had to all but re-learn how to play after suffering radial neuropathy in his wrist. a lot of people would have hung up the guitar and spent their remaining days spending the royalty checks, but Dave went back to the woodshed.
Ted would’ve been the best musical guest star on Miami Vice had it not been for Phil the Shill.
Unfortunately, his politics tainted him. It’s not so much the content of his politics (many of which I agree with, especially regarding conservation and 2A), but how he presents them. He and Kid Rock make “Conservatives” look like toothless hillbillies.
'He and Kid Rock make “Conservatives” look like toothless hillbillies.'
Yeah, and in neither case is it who they originally were. They called Kid Rock "Black Bob" in high school because he was so into African-American culture.
The screen count in Chinese cars was something my R&D director was literally raving about when he came back from his visit over there. I decided I'd rather look at my own frontal cortex than his powerpoint.
The scene was a windowless bunker beneath a shuttered AMC dealership in Kenosha. Jack Baruth, wearing a green Kiton suit with a "Cat Tales" lapel pin, sat at a mahogany desk, his fingers hovering over a vintage reel-to-reel player. Next to him, Tom Klockau was lovingly polishing a 1/24 scale dealer promo model of a 1976 Eldorado with a handkerchief. “Gentlemen, most of the automotive press has fallen. Every morning I wake up to a new headline: ‘Why the Great Wall Glimmer is Actually Better than a 911.’ It ends today.” Dr. Evil spun around in his chair, stroking a hairless cat. “I have developed a plan. We shall play the most infectious, soul-shredding melody known to man until the global automotive media industrial complex begs for mercy!” “Is it the Macarena?” chirped Eliot Carlin, the world’s most pessimistic therapy patient. “I hope it’s the Macarena. My mother used to play that at my birthday parties to ensure no one had a good time. It was very effective.” “No, you fool!” Dr. Evil hissed. “It is Barry Manilow’s At the Copa. On a loop. For four million consecutive plays! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” “Toit! Like a toiger!” shouted Goldmember, who was busy peeling a flake of skin off his elbow. “I love gold cars! Do the Chinese make a gold car? Maybe we should just ask them for a GOOOOOOLD limosheen?” “HOW 'BOUT NO, you crazy Dutch bastard?” said Dr. Evil. "Enough!" Baruth snapped. “Tom, hit the lights. Eliot, try not to be so… you. Dr. Evil, start the counter.” The first notes of the jaunty brass intro kicked in. 'Her name was Lola... she was a showgirl...'
Play #1 to #10,000: The mood was optimistic. Baruth wrote three columns about how the song’s rhythm reminded him of a balanced B-body chassis. Klockau began documenting every car mentioned in the lyrics (Total: 0, but he found a way to link it to a 1974 Imperial). Carlin complained that the yellow feathers in Lola’s hair were a fire hazard.
Play #500,000: In the outside world, a journalist for a major tech-blog-turned-car-site was halfway through a sentence: "The fit and finish of the New-Era-Dragon-Hatch is surpris—" He stopped. He smelled Tropicana. He heard a distant, phantom maraca. He deleted the sentence and wrote: "It's just a toaster with wheels. I miss the Ford Escort."
Play #1,200,000: Goldmember had eaten all the snacks and started eyeing the leather interior of a nearby parked LeBaron. Dr. Evil was beginning to regret his life choices. “Can we at least switch to the remix?” he pleaded. “No,” Baruth growled, his eyes bloodshot. “We stay the course until every ‘Mobility Influencer’ remembers what a pushrod V8 sounds like.”
Play #2,500,000: Eliot Carlin was now curled in a fetal position. “Music and passion were always the fashion,” he whispered hoarsely. “But not for me. For me, it was always clinical depression and a mild allergy to shellfish.”
Play #3,999,999: The world’s automotive press had completely broken. In Shanghai, a press junket was met with silence. For the first time ever, every single shrimp on the buffet table laid uneaten. When the CEO of a mega-conglomerate asked for "positive coverage," a senior editor simply stood up, screamed “FEATHERS IN HER HAIR!” and jumped out a first-story window into a decorative pond. The journalists retreated. They went back to their home offices and began writing long, tear-stained tributes to the 1992 Buick Roadmaster. The "Chinese Car Sycophancy Era" was over, replaced by a universal, crushing fear of Barry Manilow. As the four-millionth play ended, silence finally fell over the Kenosha bunker. “We did it,” Klockau whispered, holding a mint-condition brochure for a Dodge Monaco. “I’ve losht the feeling in my brain,” Goldmember noted. Baruth stood up, adjusted his suit, and looked at the group. “Good job, men. Now, does anyone know where we can find four million plays of Copacabana performed entirely on a Casio keyboard? I think the Europeans are getting a little too cozy with those French crossovers!"
100% disagree that we have the bottom 20% because of the top 1% (or more aptly the top 0.1% or 0.01%). The bottom 20% may be enabled and excused by a (in)justice system that fails to hold them accountable, but none of them have ever read a NY Times opinion section or a faggy piece written by Hamilton Nolan. These creatures are quite literally retarded and operating on their animal instincts. You may be robbed by one of these scumbag idiots on their 10th trip through the system because the 0.1% didn’t hold them accountable on trips 1-9, but the scumbags are happy to be a burden on society all on their own.
"none of them have ever read a NY Times opinion section or a faggy piece written by Hamilton Nolan."
Nor have they ever read the academic pieces upstream of THAT.
But they consume the bottom feeder media that is several steps downstream from it. And they benefit from the middle class voting for and enabling pro-crime, pro-dirtbag policies BECAUSE the middle class is entirely programmed by the media as well. How many women put the black square in their profiles? What did *that* tacitly endorse?
I guess the question is, are you focused on the bad behavior, or the perpetuating of it? The bottom 20% are responsible entirely for their own bad behavior. The top 0.1% or whomever is responsible for allowing it to go unchecked and unpunished. But they wouldn’t have anything to excuse if the bottom 20% didn’t act like complete savages entirely on their own volition.
"But they wouldn’t have anything to excuse if the bottom 20% didn’t act like complete savages entirely on their own volition."
Ah, that's what I'm driving at!
If you look at how "the poor" behaved fifty years ago, it was vastly different from now. Not to say that there wasn't crime, or rioting, or whatever. But the culture was very different. They had intact families to a much greater degree. They had community institutions.
For the most part, the poor of 2026 are genetically identical to, and descended directly from, the poor of 1976. What has changed is the programming.
“What has changed is the programming.” Of course. There’s a lot more matches and gasoline everywhere.
What has not changed. Knowing right from wrong.
Proof: every criminal, every complete savage, from those who are later deemed mentally insane, to your regular run of the mill low IQ thug, runs away from the scene of their crime. Every single one. All the time. Without fail. They all know.
Contrast that behavior with that of the law abiding legal gun owners in the USA who I believe are at 400 million guns and counting. If they were a problem we would all know about it right quick.
So it doesn’t matter to me if every One Percenter passed out the matches and gasoline. Can we blame the luxury beliefs crowd? 100%. Do I wish it wasn’t so? Of course. But we all have to navigate that system whether we like it or not, and being law abiding or being intentionally not law abiding is a choice, whether you swim in crystal clear or toxic waters. Even a thug has free will.
FYI: I am the original commenter and will respond more fully below.
I think you need to go back further for your mythical poor. What has changed is the breakdown of the nuclear family structure. Thats has been encouraged aided and abetted by the elft.
Some of that has been well meaning. Like simgle motherhood shouldn't be stigmatised, true, but should it be lauded?
Or why should the child suffer for a poor mother, heres 15k per child per year from the sate, which creates baby mills with different fathers.
Or the ever faithful, its not your fault, its because of society.....
Yeah, they're not reading the Times. They're not reading anything.
"A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like 'arraigned,' 'curried,' and 'exculpate' meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today's expensively under-educated generation." -- Thomas Sowell
Oh, and let's congratulate Vivek Rama-scammy for being such an unpleasant selectee that almost 200,000 Ohioans cast their vote for CASEY PUTSCH despite, in most cases, having no idea who he was.
I refused, and refuse, to vote for either.
(in Turkish voice from Snatch)
Ohio is proper fucked.
We ARE proper fucked, sadly. Once upon a time, Ohio was a bastion of centrism: Democrats who weren't as far left as the national Dems (think Ted Strickland), and milquetoast Republicans like Mike "we're shaving livesh" DeWine. Sadly, Ohio is entering a new era in which our Democrats are communists like Nan Whaley and our Republicans are outright crooks like Larry Householder.
"our Republicans are outright crooks"
Just following the example set by national party leadership then
Leadership (Thune, Pelosi, Schumer) selects out for crooks. Showboaters ('The Squad') distract and draw fire. Boatrockers are ostracized and marginalized (Massie, MTG).
You love to bang this drum.
If you would like to continue to do so, please remind me, who are the best stock traders in congress? What party are they members of?
Still better than Virginia. You wanna talk about manic-depressive...
I've commented on this here before. This is too coordinated to be organic and is happening in FL.
I prefer to envision Mad Maynard from "Eurotrip."
Jack I watched Chuck Todd and The Decision Desk HQ for two hours last night steaming the results of the Ohio primary. They did not know who Casey was and their researchers had not supplied them with any Cliff Notes about Casey. He was a non-person/candidate. Poor guy….
You realize that putsch is German for coup d'etat.
Yeah, when the moron had his "Beer Hall Meeting" he was blowing the loudest neo-Nazi dog whistle in history.
Makes me ashamed to be an ultra-right-wing German-American :)
Lord. It was worse than I thought.
actually hilarious
I think he loses the general election in part because Ohio is significantly working class and the antics of Trump and the congressional Republican party have the working class voters who put Trump into office with a once in a generation opportunity all now feel horrifically betrayed.
The other part is his nonsense on H1Bs killed him with a lot of the people he would need to come out and vote.
The Republican party has screwed the pooch horribly since Trump was sworn in and they do not see the tidal wave of anger that is going to wash over them in November.
I've been voting the Republican ballot in Ohio primaries for 42 years, this election I changed my registration to Independent.
Scores like you who are just fed the fuck up with the corporate war whores that insist on running the Republican party.
Indeed. I maintain hope for JD but his endorsement of Ramaswamy was frustrating.
The largest political party in the USA are now called independents. The only real problem with this is independents don't vote in primaries in many sates. Therefore we end up with 2 sucky choices who won primaries from the fringe.
Hilarious that members of Casey's staff are now complaining he was nothing but a grifter interested in only self promotion. Did they not look at all into his history?
You’re a socialist (“populist”), so it makes sense that you would take the next small step and vote for Acton.
You can go to her events with your brother Butterfinger BB!
Voting for leopards biting people's faces off will show them!
As an Ohioan, you have a real choice coming up:
* Vote for the Indian guy whose policies seem reasonable enough but who will load the state apparatus with his countrymen to the point that every judge in the state will be named Patel in five years;
* Vote for the crazy COVID lady who thinks Trotsky was a half-measure.
Once Vivek is in office, all we really know is that the State of Ohio HR white lady is safe. https://x.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/2051760954250248539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2051760954250248539%7Ctwgr%5Eb111189388011cebda7ea549e2d8e68552e6d669%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finstapundit.com%2F794819%2F
of course its all of them
Id be voting for the one where less people die and accepting that it's a shit sandwich either way.
Totalitarian vs. grifter. That’s an easy choice.
"whose evil deeds could potentially be undone in the future?" is a good framework too.
If Scamawamy turns Ohio into Ontario, there's just no coming back from that.
"...named Patel in five years" who was ALSO on the SAME COVID COMMITTEE as his opponent, but who ALSO attempted to run a business to create a NATIONAL BIOMETRIC DATABASE TO DETERMINE WHO WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE HOME"
https://tiffinohio.net/posts/ramaswamy-backed-covid-segregation-as-firm-got-2-25b/
Jesus.
Yikes.
Not a great choice. She crumpled at the heat given to her over her actions as state health director. Just wait till she is governor.
I’m sure our license plates will go from tasteful to something weird-ass! I won’t be able to renew my “In God We Trust” license plate with the American flag 🇺🇸! (Which is also personalized, so I’m paying the highest possible for my PL8s every biannum.)
And if the Indian gets in, Columbus drivers will be dodging cows on the Outerbelt (as if traffic isn’t already fucked up enough down there) while any dairy production in the state goes into the toilet, along with the abolition of steakhouses and burger joints. 🙄
Is it really true that all the tech company’s executives are from India?
Micro$oft. At least.
Best case scenario is that Rammyswarmy wins but isn't able to enact anything and Ohio trundles on until the next election can come up with a better solution than him. Worst case scenario is that Dr. Lockdown becomes governor and goes full Abigail Spermberger and start enacting the nuttiest left wing agenda Ohio has ever seen. Neither one of these people should be the governor of any state.
The Abigail Spanberger example should not simply be dismissed. She ran as a moderate and is governing as a full commie lefty.
Does the governor have much say in terms of immigration, is that not a federal process.
A comie leftard is never a good idea.
There is A LOT of behind-the-scenes information coming out; Putsch mostly lost because he behaved exactly as would be expected by what Jack has always written about him.
I'm not that familiar with Ohioan politics, but I get too tired of low voter turnout for Governor, Mayor, or councilman/woman and everyone complaining about something that doesn't get done, and blame the president or federal government which has no control over whatever it that is.
And yes, that is a run-on sentence.
"Zoning laws are terrible". "Why isn't my pothole fixed". "Where is the school funding".
8 percent mayoral turnout. 20 percent Governor. City council? 4 percent.
I'd also argue that not voting means Ohio ends up like Virginia, where a moderate D campaigns and ends up being so left off the deep end.
I had to instantly look up if Angela Cullen recently had a other child, which seemed medically implausible!
No I was suggesting she does that for him...
The 20% dictate where you live, where you send your kids to school, how much of your paycheck you get to keep, and how you commute.
The 1% put the 20% next to you and give them the agency and immunity to do what they do to you.
And the 1% never meet the 20%.
Not true they have servants.
Indeed, sir. Well said.
Servants aren't the underclass.
If you look at cleaning ladies annual income I think it would be classified as poor. But yes hardworking people are prob not the “underclass.” Mentally even if they still fit I. That category economically
The labor force participation rates in the bottom quintile disagree
Why do you think that Peace and Quiet website exists?
The Bottom 20 chase us around the map while the Top 1 laugh at us.
The 20% are the army of the 1%
The 20% are the army of the 1%
The 20% are the army of the 1%
i think it should be:
The 20% are the army of the 1%
The 19% are the army of the 1%
The 18% are the army of the 1%
.
.
.
If we did some politically impossible things, we could get 20% down to 0%
If you live in Memphis, though, its more like "The 40% are the army of the 1%:
Isn't this from the Blues Brothers?
Jack, I know you madly, truly, deeply luv F1 but could we have a moment of moral clarity here? “There’s still plenty to criticize about the goofy battery-powered aspects of Formula 1 in 2026…” hardly does it justice. Every time I hear F1, I see Fonzy on water skis. It’s a spectacle that mirrors everything wrong with Europe right about now. Germany, Spain and England are actively trying to render themselves industrially irrelevant with their wacko energy policies. Who exactly is going to pull F1 or Europe back from the brink? I certainly don’t know but I do know that cheering for the carnage is no way to get started.
The FIA president just stated that the next technical regulation will be a V-8 without hybrid power. Unfortunately it is four seasons away.
in 4 seasons F1 may not exist. and the EU may be burning wood to heat their homes at night. until that runs out.
What he said!
They can switch to burning tires after that. Serves them right as they brush up on their Mandarin and Russian language skills.
What a ridiculous thing to say. Europe has never been stronger. Because diversity is our strength. And Europe has never been more diverse.
the ironic thing is that France is in the best shape, having built a fleet of nuclear plants, and amazingly not being stupid enough to shut them down on a panic whim, like the idiots to the east of them did.
Arabic
Submission (French: Soumission) is a novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq.
The novel imagines a situation in which a Muslim party upholding Islamist and patriarchal values is able to win the 2022 presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party. The book drew an unusual amount of attention because, by coincidence, it was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submission_(novel)
To late for me
I don’t think it really matters what the nincompoop FIA president wants. Domenicali and Maffei wanted the current formula to get Audi, GM and Ford to sign up and are trying to get BYD to sign up.
The more appeal F1 has with the general public, the less they need the OEMs. The NBA can take or leave a basketball maler sponsorship.
Er… maker
“What I want to suggest to you is that the oft-discussed danger or horribleness of the lowest 20% is a direct product of decisions made by the 1%”
This.
You often hear how politics is downstream from culture, but I’d add that culture - esp in extraction-capitalism America - is downstream from commerce.
It's the 0.1%. Not the 1%. Hell, my dentist is a 1%er with a Lotus Emira, and he's a dirt-poor cardboard-sign bum compared with the World Economic Bond Villains that are truly running this shitshow.
I had to look it up, in CA currently,
to be in top 1% need over $1M income
to be in top 10% need over $350k income
while I'm relatively well off, I'm not in the top 10%
If you’re truly running things in this country it has nothing to do with income. It has to do with owned assets.
Yeah. Supposedly Bezos has $84,000 a year of income, or something ridiculous like that.
Yeah people don’t get that
This is how they continue to empty out the middle. They keep calling them "wealthy". Tax the rich!!!
I sometimes mock these people around me that like to say how they're part of the wealthy class, hence they get taxed so much. They say this with PRIDE! LOL, what fools...
See....you and Sherman can get along.
nationally, the 1 percent threshold is about $730k in household income.
It's also worth noting that the current political environment (and by that I mean the past 10 or 15 years) has been driven by the idea that for my team to win, everyone else has to lose. it is specifically designed to have us fighting each other.
So we don't fight Them.
definitely that, but also this: we can't fight the fire burning the town if we're busy fighting the fire burning our house.
that's not the best metaphor but you see my point.
That Rolling Stones piece is really disappointing but unsurprising. I mean, we always knew that the entertainment industry was ran by a bunch of pimps but it's fascinating to see the Rock & Roll publication side with the COVIDians over something petty like this. Wasn't R&R supposed to be some sort of rebellious expression??
Eric's had a tough time in the press after talking about his vaccine injuries. The guy that probably did the most for bringing spotlight to the American black blues artists was called a racist and now his influence on guitar playing is now crap too! LOL
I remember when I first started college, I decided I wanted play guitar. I remember asking a friend for some lessons, and he asked me what type of music I wanted to play and being 18 and dumb I remember saying: "Well, I don't have to play as good as Van Halen but if I can at least play like Eric Clapton, I'd be content."
Needless to say, that conversation didn't go very far and I just went the route of self teaching. And with the little discipline I had at that age, the self teaching didn't get very far. But, I did start listening to a lot of different guitar players and I did get a proper appreciation for Clapton and his contributions to electric guitar music.
What the hell is a magazine for the music industry doing engaging in politics anyway? Stick to telling us about the bass player for Four Speed's latest near-death OD.
Yeah, the lizards creep into anything that shows any kind of reach and hijack those platforms...
Look what they did with MTV.
MTV died when they went from music videos to "The Real World."
That's why I stopped watching music in 1992.
Damn, my wife and I just came to the same conclusion in a conversation yesterday.
They’ve been that way for ages. I guess they’ve always been political. But being a revolutionary and endorsing free speech only matters when the other team has the power.
Exactly. They were never rebels. They were party functionaries in the opposition party.
Ironically, in the Eastern Bloc, the rockers were the true rebels.
Rolling Stone has always engaged in politics. Hunter S. Thompson wasn't reviewing Led Zeppelin albums...
Which reminds me -- remember when they trashed the early Zep records? Talk about being on the wrong side of history!
so true... and then it retconned its own reviews.
and more recently matt taibbi before he decided to question the narrative
Eric Clapton and Van Morrison were both heavily raged at by the music press for questioning things during Covid. Vintage Guitar Magazine tore into Clapton at the time, which was very disappointing.
R&R is only about rebellion if it suits the left.
“Rage Against the Little Guy Thinking for Himself” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
Hehe, I do think their name might be one of the great ironies
FUCK YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME
unless you tell me to get a vaccine
FUCK YOU, BETTER DO WHAT THEY TELL YA
Ha
Vintage Guitar Magazine tore into someone for the wrong politics? Good god. That magazine should stick to cork sniffing the type of laquer Leo put on the tele in 1958.
And 1959 Bassman wiring! There was a lot of blowback.
Did the publisher’s wife tell the dissenters to die in a fire?
Van Morrison deserves eternal opprobium for "Brown-Eyed Girl."
What??? That’s a great song.
Not when you had to listen to it a dozen times a day doing deliveries in the company van back in your early 20s.
Those are third-degree emotional burns right there.
"I'll Be Your Lover Too" is a stunningly beautiful love song. Written for Morrison's first wife.
"Something", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by George Harrison for Patty Boyd, who left him for Eric Clapton.
"Layla", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by Eric Clapton for Patty Boyd, before he got tired of her shit and wrote "Wonderful Tonight" to diss her.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside", stunningly beautiful love song. Written by Frank Loesser to do as a duet with his wife, Lynn Garland. They performed it at parties. She was upset when he licensed "their song" to be used in a movie, which made it a hit song. Garland was Loesser's first wife.
See a pattern here?
I didn't dig that one so much either, but the rest of the Moondance album was pretty great.
And he was just getting started in those days.
The motivations of a dumpster fire like RS aside, Clapton is probably the weakest guitar hero in any super list he's ever been put into.
Thirty five is probably about right. You'd have to be smoking serious crack to say number 2 IMO.
There are kids on YouTube who can play him under the table. But he and his studio engineer (J. Patrick Page) created the sound of rock with "Bluesbreakers". Historically he is a lot more significant than Hendrix, even if he isn't the same grade of player.
I'm not going to lie, that's an eye-popping take for me. I think Hendrix is at least 5 times more significant for the history of the guitar and blues music than Clapton, but I'm willing to give it another listen, do some reading, and consider I may be wrong to some degree.
If you get bored, read about the recording of "Bluesbreakers with John Mayall". It was the first record in history to feature an overdriven tube amp sound, which was Clapton's idea.
Hendrix is an incandescent guitarist, but ask yourself: other than Lenny Kravitz and John Mayer, who ever bothered to take his style further, or even copy it? He was a black swan event. The irony is that his bass equivalent -- Jaco -- spawned a hundred thousand clones, but you can sit all day in Sweetwater and never hear anyone play a Hendrix riff... except for me.
Off the top of my head Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mike McCready are two more who were greatly influenced by Hendrix. But I agree with your premise that Hendrix was the better player while Clapton was more influential. Probably because it’s easier to emulate his style than it is Hendrix’s.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robin Trower, to my mind, are the two Hendrix disciples of note. SRV didn't really expand upon it so much as he absorbed it into his style, whereas Trower absolutely mastered the form, TRIED to expand upon it and failed.
To answer your question, Robin Trower, though it can be argued that he stayed in Jimi's lane and never took it farther.
People may play Stairway or Smoke at Guitar Center, but guitar players in general genuflect to Jimi. If you tell them they can play better than him they get upset. It seems to me that as far as rock guitar players are concerned, it's Hendrix and Edward Van Halen, possibly Jeff Beck, and then everyone else.
Getting to your point about Clapton's influence, check out Josh Scott's recent video on the live version of Crossroads, which he describes as "60 measures of uninterrupted, unrepeated improvisation." I remember listening to Disraeli gears not really that long ago and thinking, "Boy, that's some cliched guitar playing," and then I realized, "No, idiot, that's Clapton inventing the cliches."
The person who gets respect from guitar players that should be better known by the public is Michael Bloomfield.
anybody ever hear jim bates from tulsa play upright bass? practically like a banjo. he went to nyc in the late '70s and might've gone classical. i've never heard anybody near as good.
^ That comment, right there is worth the price of admission. ^
I don't have to like it. I don't have to agree. The problem is, I can't disprove it. To your point, Hendrix is a bit like Max V. to me, in that his talent is/was so otherworldly that it has has/had almost no bearing on what came/will come after.
Eric Clapton we and is repeatable, and what he did changed the way everybody who came after him played. I don't have to like somebody to acknowledge their influence, or to admit that freaks like Hendrix or Eddie or Lenny Kravitz have almost no influence because they exist outside the normal boundaries of possibility.
I think the closest equivalent for bass is Steve Bailey, whom I've seen live a few times. He has no imitators. I'm not sure you'd begin to imitate him.
yes, the "god" thing was ridiculous.
i gave him major props for being a steadfast advocate of serious blues guitar. it is reported that he left the yardbirds because he didn't want to get off track by experimenting with trendy stuff like harpsichords ("for your love"). he has never claimed to be a great guitarist himself and has promoted other great players. i discovered jj cale through clapton and i will be eternally grateful for that gift.
clapton's playing is about restraint and feeling. for example, compare clapton's original solo on the white album's "my guitar gently weeps" to the solo prince did live at the rock and roll hall of fame concert in 2004. prince is a proud peacock but his playing is all technical with no real feel. the original is a subtle and beautiful masterpiece for which clapton didn't even get an album credit.
it's never been about technical virtuosity with clapton. if you listen to "bind faith," winwood's guitar playing melds beautifully with clapton's. Winwood is primarily a keyboardist but clapton treats him as an equal when it comes to trading off guitar solos.
all of this from a guy who grew up in abusive home and suffered the loss of his young son and still managed to recover from alcoholism and heroin addiction.
Is Eric going to play like some of those virtuosos out there? Probably not, but with the arts, there's so many different elements and reach is probably the biggest one. I always felt like Eric's playing was the easiest to listen to for the most people if you are into blues. Also, some people just seem to have some star power. Very hard to quantify for sure, but when Eric plays, it just seems to work for the masses.
With little concept of what makes quality music, I have to say I enjoy Eric Clapton. But then I'd have a Burl Ives song follow on my playlist, trailed by some Biggie Smalls. Part of it comes from being fed a steady diet of his music by my folks. Cocaine and Lay Down Sally just do something to my spirit when I hear them play. Is he number 2 or 35 or 3987 on the list? Who the hell cares? The fact that he ranted against vaccines makes him a number 1 on any list. Rolling Stone can put that in their syringe and overdose on it...
Half of his songs are about trying to get sloppy seconds from his best friend’s girl.
Clapton sucks.
"Layla" is a beta's song for sure.
The funniest part was that Clapton spent so much time working up the courage to try to nail Patti Boyd and when he went to talk to Harrison about it, George was like "who gives a shit, I have a lot of birds, go on, mate."
It would not be unfair to say that the Top 1% inflict the Bottom 20% on the rest of us so they can stay on top.
I was watching some Standard Police Chase cop-cam video on YouTube out of Boise the other day, and all I could think was, "BOISE?! Even BOISE has to deal with Tyvequious and Ja'Mon'Trell?!"
And Tyvequious and Ja'Mon'Trell exist because 27-term IL/NY/CA/HI Democrat Senator J. Carlton Douche-Canoe IV uses Weaponized Governmental Failure to drive the middle class out of town, leaving the Top 1% and the Bottom 20%, so he can lord over the ruins unchallenged.
to lay all blame for American society's ills at Democrat's feet isn't fair. Republicans share responsibility a well.
that's the fundamental problem with American politics - it has been reduced to blind tribalism. My team does no wrong. Yours does no right. Everything would be great again if only my team were in charge. For my team to win, everyone else has to lose.
It's become a zero-sum game, and it's all bullshit.
HUGE AMEN, Chuck!
One of the things I enjoy about ACF is being able to read and occasionally participate in a nuanced discussion amongst parties that politically disagree that generally avoids spiraling into disrespect.
I read a local story this morning about two guys that got into a political disagreement while patronizing a dog park that ended in both parties firing shots. That is a dangerous path for society at large to keep hurtling down.
I think the reason we can engage in a nuanced discussion despite our differences is because we also recognize the things we have in common, which makes it all but impossible to see each other as an enemy. speaking for myself, I also recognize that I can learn something from people I disagree with and perhaps change my own perspective. I imagine that's true of others here.
the United States used to be like that. I'm not so naive as to think it was all milk and honey (see also: late 1960s / early 1970s, to name one example), but on the whole, people on both sides of the ideological spectrum could find common ground and often - GASP! - reach a compromise for the good of the country _as a whole_.
Amen!
Amen!
I so very much agree. I can’t think of another forum where these conversations can be had and I can only imagine how nutraged the people of someplace like Reddit would get over the notion that perhaps the bottom 20% bear personal responsibility for their actions.
What astounds me is ACF's ability to remain the same over the years, even as Jack has added subscribers. Nothing is able to stay 'pure' this long in this day and age, especially online.
I think the right lens is that big money (call it capital if you must) has a vise grip on politics, and left and right differentiation is hardly existent for 95% of members of congress.
All of American legislation must run through the uniparty (Schumer-McConnell) axis. Every single law you might want passed must go through them. Oh you want to live in a nice non-criminal country with a sensible minimum wage? Well thats a shame.
Aligning too much with Dems or Reps reduces politics to pointlessly gay sportsball. In real life, Real Politics is getting your own fighters in the arena to MAKE laws that are then enforced. Sometimes on outgroups, AGAINST their will. at the point of a gun even!
We have totally lost sight of this through our own industrialization, tantalization, brainwashing, and comfort addiction
this is one reason I think a multi-party system that requires collaboration and compromise to secure enough votes to do anything would be better than the two-party / uniparty system we have now.
To hopefully make your mind beg the question, have you ever found it funny how all of the most important countries on earth in the past ~200 years simultaneously fixated on a multi-party parliamentary form of government, almost all at the same time?
It’s a little weird isn’t it? “No Kings” indeed. Just totally unaccountable representative duhmocracies incapable of solving any real problems.
No
parliamentary systems suck. Its all party, no outsiders and coalitions which means constant watering down and compromise.
It's never quite clear to me when some ACF commenters use income demographics to mean wealth vs poverty (as I do) and which ones are using it to lightly hide their racism. I live in Boise. There is a small number of Black people here, but virtually all of our serious crime is committed by Latino and white people. Their mugshots are pretty universal on the meth/fentanyl spectrum. The man who shot Tobin Bolter, who attended my church, to death two years ago was white. That was only the second law enforcement fatality in the city's history. (The first being in 1997, if I recall. Ironically, a small memorial to Officer Mark Something Or Other, the only Boise Police Department officer to die in the line of duty, is in the city park adjacent to our church building.)
Clapton and Van Morrison were absolute heroes during the Covidiocy.
Amy Acton is still going on about all the lives we saved with masks and lockdowns and clot shots. You can't vote for her, Jack. Stay home, or vote for the "LOLbertarian," or write in PJ O'Rourke, but you can't vote for Amy Acton.
Those policies are more reversible than installing hordes of hostile foreign agents in positions of power. Also, a D governor will have an adversarial legislature.
The Eric Clapton thing is purely political, and the industry is plain evil.
What's with this early posting, I'm trying to work here.
The blame for what has happened to the West resides with a very small group. Whomever that is, I am convinced that 75% of all the problems could be fixed by cheap gasoline. If families could have 428 powered Pontiac station wagons God would be in His heaven and All's right with the world.
'If families could have 428 powered Pontiac station wagons God would be in His heaven and All's right with the world.'
The only thing we need more than Catalina wagons for American families is... more American families.
If more people had access to 428 Pontiac wagons, I’m guessing more kids would be made in the back of cars again. Just like in the old days.
Car sex is the most overrated place to have sex. Hate it.
Compared to places like my king sized Stearns and Foster, or Turtle Bay Beach at Caneel Bay on St John, or the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, sure.
Compared to not having sex at all because my parents and my girlfriend’s parents are both home, yeah, it’s pretty awesome.
Furtive urgency has a quality its own to distract from otherwise distracting physical discomfort.
THIS EGG IS DROPPING *RIGHT NOW* AND I NEED IT FERTILIZED *RIGHT NOW*.
It’s about creating opportunity, not luxury. I made a ZAZ Tavria work in my youth. Challenging, but fun.
Yeah it was a pain in my Charger. However, I think a Magnum with the seats down would be much more suitable. We've lived together for 2 years now so there's no point in trying the Compass but I think it would be easy.
real
(not possible to do so in a miata anyway)
airplane bathrooms are way worse, and as a result the 30,000 ft club way overrated. Maybe if one had G650.
Beach is a bit of a drag too, sand gets everywhere, but apparently its romantic .
When dating my first wife her Dad let me take her to the drive-in in his 1971 Chrysler 300 4-door, inherited from his Dad.
You kids just missed out.
I'm a day late, but finding myself disappointed that this comment led to a big thread about... mattresses!?
In the car isn't great, but it's better than in any kind of water. In a bath, pool, hot tub, the ocean, all sound awesome, none are.
More American families = giving up your smart phones.
Not gonna happen.
The problems I see with the most dysfunctional of my kids' classmates is that their parents won't give up the smart phones or constant meaningless social media use to, you know, be parents once in a while.
Guess who might not be there when the parents need them?
"I am convinced that 75% of all the problems could be fixed by cheap gasoline"
There's a reason the popularity of any given US president is basically in lockstep with the price of gas.
Notice, however, that the price of gas is the ONLY aspect of car ownership people complain about.
Yeah that's not true at all. People complain about every aspect of it a lot.
Sure, gas is the thing people complain most about, but the reasons for that are incredibly obvious.
It's the most obvious and changes the most visibly. You drive past X number of gas stations per day, and fill up however often. It's right in front of your face.
An oil change goes up more incrementally and most do that only a couple times per year.
The price of a car goes up more incrementally and most only do that a couple times per decade.
No shit they are going to be most vocal about the thing that they most interact with.
Meanwhile USAA just raised the price of the insurance on my 300C by 60%. For no reason I can guess.
I've NEVER heard anyone complain about how much their insurance company is ripping them off, or how their payment is crippling them financially or how tires are bleeding them dry. But GAS? Oh, all the time.
It took me two months to realize gas prices increased after the iran war. “Oh shit, this got expensive”
People could do the same about a gallon of milk..or just the fact that a $175 cart of groceries is $225..because they see it every week in an average household that shops as often.
Oh, I have got complaints....
In regard to new cars everything is ugly and sucks (I would accept a Lexus LC 500) and is crazy expensive.
I would also accept a Lexus LC500.
The LC500 is the best Aston Martin ever made.
I have to get a new vehicle by the end of this month (lease is up and do not want to lease again), and I feel this. Nothing new stands out to me as exciting. I mostly work from home these days and cannot justify to myself spending more than $40k, even with money down. Slim pickings in that price point. I am going to go drive a WRX this afternoon since I have been craving some more engagement/fun than with the trucks I've had the last 7 years.
Friend of mine calls me for car buying advice and she is now wanting an EV. I had to remind her, she only drives 5000 miles per year. Do the math...
A super cheap EV *lease* would be a smart move then!
I'm sure you can get a new Nissan Leaf or Kia EV6 (genuinely decent cars!) for less than $300/mo. if one is driving that little. Probably closer to $200 if you say please tbh.
if she insists on another car, probably can find a used Bolt relatively cheap.
The best car for the environment is the one you already own.
The steel has been poured, the rare earths have been mined, the copper wire has been drawn, etc.
No matter how much fuel is used or pollution is emitted, it's much less than having to mine and refine all the raw materials and then build something else -- no matter how efficient it is after it is for the end consumer.
I can complain about the process of buying a car if you’d like.
we could have a 2000+ comment discussion on that topic alone
It’s no problem if you go into the dealership with the intent to have fun and enjoy yourself. Because of typical car salesman attitude, you get to be a jerk if you’d like with zero repercussions. Your attitude determines what the visit will be like.
As a wise friend once told me: “They lie to you, you lie to them.” How can that not be fun?
I used to bring my checkbook into the salesman’s cubicle and play with like I was a hyperactive grade school student playing with whatever is on their desk. While the salesman was diligently entering numbers into the desk calculator which would make noise while the paper advanced, I would be tapping my checkbook on his desk, tossing it in the air and from hand to hand, and fiddling with it to no end. The salesman could not help but be annoyed and would always look at my checkbook, because the deposit for the car he wanted to sell to me was inside it.
If the salesman was nice and respectful, I would, of course, not do this.
I bought a car for my daughter last month and got to find out all about stupid dealer add-ons, even independent dealers are getting into the grift now.
As a vestige of my humble, hardscrabble hillbilly origins, I am aware - via a strictly observational Facebook account - of the current discourse in my hometown.
The most important thing is, apparently, the price of gas (or diesel). So many proud Monster Truck drivers are coming to terms with the fact that it is NOT their birth right to drive around aimlessly in such an impractical vehicle.
Which is Joe Biden’s fault, obviously.
you misspelled "silver spoon fed, faux hillbilly"
Pardon me.
Unlike The Final Boss Lizard Person - Mr. Alias AKA “JD Vance” - who adopted my Appalachian American culture as a costume, who robustly criticized Tangerine Palpatine then (metaphorically) fellated DJT after Peter Thiel and David Sacks insisted he do so, who married a dirty, stinkin’ Indian (!), who named his son “Vivek” after his, uh, friend Governor Ramaswamy … I am a straightforward and honest person.
I have been seeing Trump "I DID THAT" stickers on gas pumps recently in my extremely red, rural county.
They are getting scraped off much more quickly than the Biden ones did because lord knows no one has thinner skin than a Trump worshipper. Can't imagine the pride (?) of a man driving a "FJB EDITION" 15 year old Silverado would allow for such a thing as he spends over $100 to fill up.
Relatedly, gas is literally the most I've ever seen it as of today. Thanks DJT! You really put America First with this one!
This iran war is so stupid
I could be persuaded to drive the GT3 more often if gas got up to $10 (or more) a gallon. Would be joyous to enjoy the highways and byways without the Altimas, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2276712436067664/?ref=saved&referral_code=null.
Ask and ye shall receive!
Engine block is cracked. I'd give him $800 because repairing cast iron is HARD and EXPENSIVE
I watch his post because I want it but he is definitely crack smoke crazy with his pricing. I've had two 69 Bonneville convertibles and a 70 Bonneville 2 door hardtop. The 428s were awesome motors and the 455 wasn't far behind.
Oh yeah I love big Pontiacs! If it was really a runner with an in-tact engine I think 5500 would be a totally fair price!
My ultimate dream cruiser is a 65 bonne convertible.
assuming you even can. sometimes you can pin both ends but for a poncho block youd be better off just getting another one (and probably rebuilding it because theyre old and worn out). doubly so if its not a numbers matching car anyway
I was thinking more about spray welding, or the method where you drill and pin all along the crack and then machine it back to level.
Amen. My dad owned a '65 Catalina, '69 Catalina, '73 Catalina, '78 Bonneville, '84 Bonneville, and a couple more the years I can't remember - all 4 door sedans. Mixed in was a '74 and '77 Firebird.
He had good taste. In addition to my 2 69s and 70 Bonnevilles, I've had a 63 Catalina and a black on black 80 Bonneville coupe with the "dignified" 301. Several corporate powered Ponchos have been in my stable as well. A 95 T/A, 99 T/A with Ram Air, both T56 cars. A 90 SSE Bonneville that was one of the most unreliable heaps I've owned but would love to have back today. The 85 Fiero GT was similarly unreliable and I don't need to repeat that ownership experience. 2 80 Phoenixes(?) with the 2.8, a 96 SSEi Bonneville and currently, an 83 Parisienne round out the list but I may have forgotten one or two.
Dad and Mom grew up in Pontiac MI, so ...
I bought a new '81 Phoenix with the I4, which eventually got traded in on an Accord Lxi.
My earliest childhood car memories are of dad's burgundy Parisienne. I was 2-3 years old, so it was around from 97 or 98 until 99ish? Burgundy velour interior. That car looked enormous to me back then, and one day I remember him coming home and producing an airplane rocking toy from the back seat in 2 pieces. Trashpicked, of course, as were many of my bicycles and our various lawn equipments. But I digress; the Parisienne eventually died from terminal rod knock but I recall the last couple rides I had in it when the knocking started. I once said, "it sounds like a nascar!" because the car was simply making more noise. Dad responded, "yeap, like a nascar that's about to die." Its replacement was a 1984 GMC S15, with an iron duke and a 5 speed, thus introducing me to the world of manual transmissions. Then that got replaced by a red 1989 C1500 which had a TBI 350 and a 5 speed, but also a 3.73 posi rear axle. That's the truck which stuck around most of my life and the vehicle I learned to drive in. Those truck still hold a special place in my heart. I want to get another some day but it won't have the correct signature scent of old cigarettes and B.O. It wouldn't be dad's truck.
my wife bought a new '84 S10 Blazer 4x4 5sp with the execrable underpowered 2.8 v6. Overall it was ok, quite capable off road, though plagued by the typical '80's GMness "quality".
I know you're being poetic, but gas dipped below $2 in some parts of the US recently, but companies were still laying off Americans and hiring Indians on work visas. Several of Charlie Kirk's last tweets addressed the issue (perhaps one reason that he was assassinated):
https://xcancel.com/charliekirk11/status/1956044288573497681
https://xcancel.com/charliekirk11/status/1962662508684324966
https://xcancel.com/charliekirk11/status/1963710098783760687
$1.95 per litre for regular this morning $2.25 + for premium in Toronto. The blessings of socialism.
Based on 2026-04-01 exchange rate, the `units` program says 1.95 CAD/L = 5.30 USD/gal.
https://gasprices.aaa.com/ says MI & OH are about $4.80/gal, so you're only 10% over the neighboring states and well below California's $6.10/gal.
So Canada is, well, ~less bad than expected~ on this one metric!
FUCK
Id say a V8 a 1911 and an AR are American birthrights.
Jack it is writing like this that keeps the readers coming back and commenting:
“If I throw a Molotov into a cop car, they would lock me up until the end of the third Ocasii-Cortez administration or until noted AFCer Sherman McCoy’s wedding day, which ever is later.” Just pure Grisham or Hemmingway prose. But unfair to Sherman as he is obviously a chick magnet as he lives in stylish Buckhead, drives a super car Porsche, wears tailored cloths, and only smokes the finest Cuban cigars.
Yet....
He’s short
Jack is entitled to poke fun at me; I certainly do it to him.
The obvious thing for you to do is to marry AOC. The barista and the financier. It's been done before!
Unlike PrimeTime Stein, I am not into the Big Booty Latinas, largely because - on account of my humble, hardscrabble hillbilly origins - I associate the term “Latina” with 4’11” tall Guatemalan “Gorditas” with mustaches who work at Taco Bell.
you need to get around more.
Isn't she already married? Not that would really stop things, just make it more complicated.
Yeah, but to a white guy with no cigar collection.
Steve, Not really, have you seen him, his photo is in the dictionary next to the word “cuck”. I am sure he would just accept that Sherman was being a perfect gentleman, satisfying AOC….
Jack, can't understand your reference to Kobi Bryant. Are you saying he was a physical abuser of other people?
Click the link in the text. He choked a woman and caused significant damage to her, er, lower body in a hotel room. His attorney argued, with some success, that part of hanging out with Kobe Bryant is that you'll be black and blue, and that simply entering a room with him amounts to consent.
Im sure the 7 figure payoff helped more than the attorney
only at ACF could someone come for the racing and end up commenting on the music...
say what you will about Morello, but give Rage Against the Machine's debut a listen and tell me with a straight face he isn't innovative. it's not for nothing that they noted "no samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record" in the liner notes. is he better than Clapton? no. but the guy is definitely worthy of inclusion on any "best guitarists" list, even if such lists are objectively bullshit, just for the sheer range of sound he gets out of a guitar.
as to Iommi, for those who don't know, the guy lost the tip of the middle and ring finger on his right (fretting) hand in an accident at the sheet metal factory where he worked. it required him to wear prosthetic tips (which, in the band's early days, he made himself with plastic and leather), use light gauge strings, and tune down - all of which contributed to the band's iconic sound.
oh, and he led a band that all but created an entire genre of music (don't come at me with Blue Cheer). that doesn't make him one of the world's best guitarists (again, such lists are objectively bullshit), but it does make him worthy of respect among players IMHO.
I won't argue against Morello being an innovator. But if you're gonna ding Clapton for not being pro-COVID, we should also ding Morello for cosplaying mass murder.
well, that's the problem. we ought not ding Clapton _or_ Morello (or anyone else) for their politics. it doesn't diminish from their skill.
Ted Nugent has become such a joke IMHO that he's become a caricature, but it doesn't stop me from wishing I could play Stranglehold or Cat Scratch Fever or admiring the fact he used a jazz guitar to create some of the best rock and roll tone yet recorded.
Correct. Iommi is a guitar idol for me and considering him only as a journeyman is almost personally insulting!
And yeah, Uncle Ted has lost his marbles so thoroughly that even his early work and the Amboy Dukes are guilty pleasures for me now... But still pleasures nonetheless. The tones he got and riffs he wrote scratch something primal in my ears in just the right way.
Same goes for other "less talented" players like apparently Iommi, Angus Young, Jerry Cantrell, Dave Mustane etc. I don't really care how "good," or "Talented" someone is if they can activate my monkey brain with a fuzzy tone and crunchy riff.
Angus and Malcolm Young have / had the best tone in all of rock IMHO, and they did it with nothing more than a guitar straight into a dimed Marshall. I also don't know if anyone beyond Dave Murray and Adrian Smith wrote more iconic riffs than Malcolm.
I'm not much of a fan of Megadeth beyond Rust and Countdown, but Mustaine will always have my respect for speed of his playing (look up "shredding" in the dictionary and it probably shows his photo) and for the dedication he has shown to music. they guy had to all but re-learn how to play after suffering radial neuropathy in his wrist. a lot of people would have hung up the guitar and spent their remaining days spending the royalty checks, but Dave went back to the woodshed.
Iommi is Iommi and needs no further explanation.
Ted would’ve been the best musical guest star on Miami Vice had it not been for Phil the Shill.
Unfortunately, his politics tainted him. It’s not so much the content of his politics (many of which I agree with, especially regarding conservation and 2A), but how he presents them. He and Kid Rock make “Conservatives” look like toothless hillbillies.
'He and Kid Rock make “Conservatives” look like toothless hillbillies.'
Yeah, and in neither case is it who they originally were. They called Kid Rock "Black Bob" in high school because he was so into African-American culture.
exactly. it's not so much Ted's views I disagree with (though some of his comments about Obama were inexcusable IMHO), but the was he presents them.
Messed-up fingers worked for Django Reinhardt.
*dump truck full of shrimp backs into an unnamed residence's driveway*
*1 week later* Derp Derpinstein LUVS the Szechuan Shrimp! Er I mean the Maing-Zin Boat Anchor! It HAS SO MANY TOUCHSCREENS
The screen count in Chinese cars was something my R&D director was literally raving about when he came back from his visit over there. I decided I'd rather look at my own frontal cortex than his powerpoint.
The scene was a windowless bunker beneath a shuttered AMC dealership in Kenosha. Jack Baruth, wearing a green Kiton suit with a "Cat Tales" lapel pin, sat at a mahogany desk, his fingers hovering over a vintage reel-to-reel player. Next to him, Tom Klockau was lovingly polishing a 1/24 scale dealer promo model of a 1976 Eldorado with a handkerchief. “Gentlemen, most of the automotive press has fallen. Every morning I wake up to a new headline: ‘Why the Great Wall Glimmer is Actually Better than a 911.’ It ends today.” Dr. Evil spun around in his chair, stroking a hairless cat. “I have developed a plan. We shall play the most infectious, soul-shredding melody known to man until the global automotive media industrial complex begs for mercy!” “Is it the Macarena?” chirped Eliot Carlin, the world’s most pessimistic therapy patient. “I hope it’s the Macarena. My mother used to play that at my birthday parties to ensure no one had a good time. It was very effective.” “No, you fool!” Dr. Evil hissed. “It is Barry Manilow’s At the Copa. On a loop. For four million consecutive plays! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” “Toit! Like a toiger!” shouted Goldmember, who was busy peeling a flake of skin off his elbow. “I love gold cars! Do the Chinese make a gold car? Maybe we should just ask them for a GOOOOOOLD limosheen?” “HOW 'BOUT NO, you crazy Dutch bastard?” said Dr. Evil. "Enough!" Baruth snapped. “Tom, hit the lights. Eliot, try not to be so… you. Dr. Evil, start the counter.” The first notes of the jaunty brass intro kicked in. 'Her name was Lola... she was a showgirl...'
Play #1 to #10,000: The mood was optimistic. Baruth wrote three columns about how the song’s rhythm reminded him of a balanced B-body chassis. Klockau began documenting every car mentioned in the lyrics (Total: 0, but he found a way to link it to a 1974 Imperial). Carlin complained that the yellow feathers in Lola’s hair were a fire hazard.
Play #500,000: In the outside world, a journalist for a major tech-blog-turned-car-site was halfway through a sentence: "The fit and finish of the New-Era-Dragon-Hatch is surpris—" He stopped. He smelled Tropicana. He heard a distant, phantom maraca. He deleted the sentence and wrote: "It's just a toaster with wheels. I miss the Ford Escort."
Play #1,200,000: Goldmember had eaten all the snacks and started eyeing the leather interior of a nearby parked LeBaron. Dr. Evil was beginning to regret his life choices. “Can we at least switch to the remix?” he pleaded. “No,” Baruth growled, his eyes bloodshot. “We stay the course until every ‘Mobility Influencer’ remembers what a pushrod V8 sounds like.”
Play #2,500,000: Eliot Carlin was now curled in a fetal position. “Music and passion were always the fashion,” he whispered hoarsely. “But not for me. For me, it was always clinical depression and a mild allergy to shellfish.”
Play #3,999,999: The world’s automotive press had completely broken. In Shanghai, a press junket was met with silence. For the first time ever, every single shrimp on the buffet table laid uneaten. When the CEO of a mega-conglomerate asked for "positive coverage," a senior editor simply stood up, screamed “FEATHERS IN HER HAIR!” and jumped out a first-story window into a decorative pond. The journalists retreated. They went back to their home offices and began writing long, tear-stained tributes to the 1992 Buick Roadmaster. The "Chinese Car Sycophancy Era" was over, replaced by a universal, crushing fear of Barry Manilow. As the four-millionth play ended, silence finally fell over the Kenosha bunker. “We did it,” Klockau whispered, holding a mint-condition brochure for a Dodge Monaco. “I’ve losht the feeling in my brain,” Goldmember noted. Baruth stood up, adjusted his suit, and looked at the group. “Good job, men. Now, does anyone know where we can find four million plays of Copacabana performed entirely on a Casio keyboard? I think the Europeans are getting a little too cozy with those French crossovers!"
Two words: greasy fingerprints.
100% disagree that we have the bottom 20% because of the top 1% (or more aptly the top 0.1% or 0.01%). The bottom 20% may be enabled and excused by a (in)justice system that fails to hold them accountable, but none of them have ever read a NY Times opinion section or a faggy piece written by Hamilton Nolan. These creatures are quite literally retarded and operating on their animal instincts. You may be robbed by one of these scumbag idiots on their 10th trip through the system because the 0.1% didn’t hold them accountable on trips 1-9, but the scumbags are happy to be a burden on society all on their own.
"none of them have ever read a NY Times opinion section or a faggy piece written by Hamilton Nolan."
Nor have they ever read the academic pieces upstream of THAT.
But they consume the bottom feeder media that is several steps downstream from it. And they benefit from the middle class voting for and enabling pro-crime, pro-dirtbag policies BECAUSE the middle class is entirely programmed by the media as well. How many women put the black square in their profiles? What did *that* tacitly endorse?
I guess the question is, are you focused on the bad behavior, or the perpetuating of it? The bottom 20% are responsible entirely for their own bad behavior. The top 0.1% or whomever is responsible for allowing it to go unchecked and unpunished. But they wouldn’t have anything to excuse if the bottom 20% didn’t act like complete savages entirely on their own volition.
"But they wouldn’t have anything to excuse if the bottom 20% didn’t act like complete savages entirely on their own volition."
Ah, that's what I'm driving at!
If you look at how "the poor" behaved fifty years ago, it was vastly different from now. Not to say that there wasn't crime, or rioting, or whatever. But the culture was very different. They had intact families to a much greater degree. They had community institutions.
For the most part, the poor of 2026 are genetically identical to, and descended directly from, the poor of 1976. What has changed is the programming.
You're ignoring tens of millions of illegals who've arrived in the past fifty years, often with their own brand of savagery.
“What has changed is the programming.” Of course. There’s a lot more matches and gasoline everywhere.
What has not changed. Knowing right from wrong.
Proof: every criminal, every complete savage, from those who are later deemed mentally insane, to your regular run of the mill low IQ thug, runs away from the scene of their crime. Every single one. All the time. Without fail. They all know.
Contrast that behavior with that of the law abiding legal gun owners in the USA who I believe are at 400 million guns and counting. If they were a problem we would all know about it right quick.
So it doesn’t matter to me if every One Percenter passed out the matches and gasoline. Can we blame the luxury beliefs crowd? 100%. Do I wish it wasn’t so? Of course. But we all have to navigate that system whether we like it or not, and being law abiding or being intentionally not law abiding is a choice, whether you swim in crystal clear or toxic waters. Even a thug has free will.
FYI: I am the original commenter and will respond more fully below.
I think you need to go back further for your mythical poor. What has changed is the breakdown of the nuclear family structure. Thats has been encouraged aided and abetted by the elft.
Some of that has been well meaning. Like simgle motherhood shouldn't be stigmatised, true, but should it be lauded?
Or why should the child suffer for a poor mother, heres 15k per child per year from the sate, which creates baby mills with different fathers.
Or the ever faithful, its not your fault, its because of society.....
How about some free shit to keep you dependent
Yeah, they're not reading the Times. They're not reading anything.
"A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like 'arraigned,' 'curried,' and 'exculpate' meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today's expensively under-educated generation." -- Thomas Sowell