I came across an interesting and scary story this weekend. Headline: "Americans Earn A Failing Grade On Civics Survey".
It's scary to me to think so many people don't know what the Constitution says or what the limits of our governmet are...if we don't know what our rights are, we're doomed to give them away.
From the story: "Can you name all three branches of the U.S. government? Do you know who Susan B. Anthony was? Do you know what rights the First Amendment guarantees?
Most Americans don't. That's according to a report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington that surveyed about 2,500 randomly selected citizens, asking them 33 basic questions about history, government and economics.
More than 1,700, or about 70 percent, failed to correctly answer questions that high school graduates and new citizens are expected to know, according to the report.
Elected officials surveyed scored even lower than their constituents."
I took the test and scored 79%...I was a bit disappointed with that score...but unfortunately that score is way a head of the average. Even for college professors, who averaged 55%! Wow...You can take the test here.
Tuesday November 18 2008
You know it was really cool that David Lee Roth and Van Halen finally reunited this past year...it was just a shame it wasn't a full reunion with Michael Anthony on bass. Sammy Hagar is promoting a new album out today, and had some very intersting inside comments on Van Halen:
SAMMY HAGAR SAYS VAN HALEN MAKES 'BAD DECISIONS'
Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar recently spoke with Classic Rock Revisited about the rumored fight that ended his last run with the group, his feelings on bassist Michael Anthony being excluded from the latest reunion tour and his own upcoming project featuring Anthony and others. Regarding the alleged fight on an airplane between Hagar and guitarist Eddie Van Halen on the group's 2004 tour, in which Van Halen reportedly tried to break the plane's window, Hagar said, "Yes, it is true. He tried to smash the window out with his hand until he hurt his hand...I refused to fly with the guy ever again. He was completely out of his mind drunk. He was completely wasted. He was so wasted that he was actually stupid enough to take 12 people down. People that act like that shouldn't be allowed to fly on airplanes, and they probably can't, but we were flying privately."
Hagar added that he almost quit the band right there, but there were still 40 shows to go and he "couldn't do that to the fans." But he insisted on flying separately for the rest of the trek.
As for the band's exclusion of founding bassist Michael Anthony from last year's reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth, Hagar said, "He got f***ed and it was horrible. I am not going to go on about 'why and what,' because I have no idea...(The fans) have been waiting for this reunion and they (Van Halen) did it wrong. It is one more strike against those guys. They are not healthy, mentally, and they make bad decisions. They don't take the fans in mind for one second and it is not good."
Last year's tour with Roth on the mic featured the debut of Eddie Van Halen's teenage son Wolfgang on bass.
Hagar releases a new solo album, called Cosmic Universal Fashion, on Tuesday (November 18th).
The vocalist has also launched a new band, tentatively called Chickenfoot, with Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Hagar hopes to release the group's debut album by next summer, saying, "This band is too good."
Tuesday November 11 2008
Guns N' Roses' new album, Chinese Democracy, has been reviewed by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke, who says right up front, "The first Guns N' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns N' Roses you know. At times, it's the clenched-fist five that made 1987's perfect storm, Appetite for Destruction; more often, it's the one sprawled across the maxed-out CDs of 1991's Use Your Illusion I and II, but here compressed into a convulsive single disc of supershred guitars, orchestral fanfares, hip-hop electronics, metallic tabernacle choirs and Axl Rose's still-virile, rusted-siren singing."
Fricke adds, "If Rose ever had a moment's doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count -- including the exit of every other founding member of the band -- he left no room for it in these 14 songs."
The review notes that as many as five guitarists are credited on some songs on the record, saying, "What (original members) Slash and Izzy Stradlin used to do with two guitars now takes a wall of 'em."
Fricke notes that of the many musicians who appear on the album, bassist Tommy Stinson plays on nearly every track. Stinson told us a while back that he did not have any idea how Chinese Democracy will be accepted: "You never know what people are gonna like, what they really want... all I know is that, like, that we made a really powerful record that I think he's proud of, I'm very proud of, and all we can do is put it out and tour behind it and hope they accept it and hope it does what I was hoping it would do when I joined the band, which is, like, make history."
The only remaining member from the band's Use Your Illusion days is keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who was not part of the original lineup.
Chinese Democracy goes on sale exclusively at Best Buy on Sunday, November 23rd. The vinyl version of the project will include instructions for obtaining a free download of the entire album.
Tuesday November 4 2008
Anything but election stuff today! Seriously though, I hope you did your civic duty...now on to other things...
Lately I've been going retro, re-exploring the early punk/New York music scene of the early to mid '70's. One of the bands I've always found facinating were the Dead Boys. "The Dead Boys were one of the first punk bands to escalate the level of violence, nihilism, and pure ugliness of punk rock to extreme new levels. Although considered part of the New York CBGB's scene all the original band memebers hailed from Cleveland, OH.
SAMMY HAGAR SAYS VAN HALEN MAKES 'BAD DECISIONS' 
