Happy Birthday Lincoln. Lincoln It's Your Birthday.

[Tripp]

LINCOLN!!!



Lincoln


Lincoln...



...that doesn't look like it's spelled right.

[bebopbalogna]

LINCOLN!!!

who is the last former lawyer from illinois with little or NO public service experience to become president, alex?

right you are!!

[bebopbalogna]

re: the last one turned out alright, so shut up hillary.  also i get next monday off thanks to that dude!!

[brainfiber]

I can't believe I missed the brainfiber sighting. 

aw shucks...i was hoping you'd be on so we could discuss F1 stuff...particulary the behavior of some spainiards when Lewis Hamilton was practicing in Spain.

for those of you who don't know, Hamilton is black (not african american...think he's english) and almost won the F1 title last year.



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[bebopbalogna]

not even sure what to think of that picture.  it's obviously racist as all fuck, but i'm confused as to whether they are fans, so naive/insensitive to realize that the blackface routine is actually offensive, or straight-up hatin' assholes.  growing up in the states, i'm not really sure how racism works in other lands, ya know? i'm guessing the latter, but i don't think they would get past the gates over here.

[bebopbalogna]

DID LINKIN NOT TEACH THESE PEOPLE ANYTHING??!!

[brainfiber]

i think they are player haters...i think because when hamilton got his ride some spaniard was thrown to the curb...well actually not thrown to the curb...actually picked up by another team for a multi-millon dollar contract...but whatever...apple and oranges.

but yeah over here our racism seems to be more behind closed doors...but I think we as a nation have come  a long long way...

maybe one day we will actually get to the promised land.

[bebopbalogna]

WTFCNN

[Tripp]

I hear that scott and dave have a new thing called The New Mary Jane.  their first gig apparently is this sunday at the buc.
John Argroves is drumming I think. And I think they're doing half grifters, half new stuff.  Though the impression

so best of luck lads. not that you need it.

[Bizarro]

Racism plays out totally differently in some countries, for sure. When I was in Romania, the highest rated show in the country is called Dansez Pentru Tine ("I'm Dancing for You.") It's a dance competition with celebrities who've never danced paired with regular people who've never danced, trying to win prize money to solve unbelievably horrible family crises.

Anyway, it's a pretty common occurrence on that show for people to don blackface and afro wigs whenever they're dancing to music by black performers. Somewhere I even have video of an entire choir of people who came out to back the host when he sang "Sweet Chariot" during an interlude. It struck me as really evil and insane initially, but as I watched it, I realized there was no malice intended. And that was somehow even more unnerving.

Eventually, the part of the show that disturbed me the most was the premise itself. Because, like I said, they're trying to win the money to address some unbelievably sad familial crisis, which is explained in a telethon-style mini doc each time they are about to dance. And so, you end up with people like the woman below, pleading with the viewers just before she goes on (and this is no exaggeration, pretty much exactly what she said), "I really hope you like my dancing, because if I lose, I won't be able to afford to get my husband the blood treatments he needs and he may die."

It's the most exploitative game show ever. And really, it was kind of awesome. We're getting a special satellite later this year that picks up Romanian channels and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

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[brainfiber]

So can you speak romanian now?

Did you visit transylvania?

[Bizarro]

I'm learning Romanian and know a variety of words and phrases, but I am nowhere near speaking it yet. I generally have an idea of what's being said, but can rarely add much.

And yeah, we spent almost the whole month we were over there in Transylvania. M____ is from Cluj-Napoca (which is gorgeous), and we also spent time in Sighisoara, Sibiu, Brasov, Poiana Brasov, Rimetea, and a few other places. Our non-Transylavnia time was mostly Bucuresti and on the one time we left Romania, Budapest.

[bebopbalogna]

I hear that scott and dave have a new thing called The New Mary Jane.  their first gig apparently is this sunday at the buc.
John Argroves is drumming I think. And I think they're doing half grifters, half new stuff.  Though the impression I got from scott was songs that he wrote a while back (songs we did when i was in Hot Monkey circa 1998).

so best of luck lads.

i can't say i'm not interested to hear what they come up with. and a part of me hopes that putting their differences/bitterness aside (on scott's part mostly, i presume) is genuine, and an attempt to rekindle whatever chemistry the two of them may have had, both musically and personally- and NOT a half-baked attempt for a few positive write-ups.  being an outsider, however, and hearing what each of y'all has done outside of the grifters, i remain convinced that the chemistry was between 4 people, not two. that being said, it's pretty obvious that you and stan have a REMARKABLE chemistry just between the two of you, that predates der grifters by a long time.  i imagine THAT chemistry will be sorely missed if they are trying to re-tread, rather than look forward.  i guess we'll see what happens.

[bebopbalogna]

is there a bass player in this new formula?

[Bizarro]

Is Dave playing guitar these days, or only keyboards? I have always greatly preferred guitar stuff to keyboard-driven.