“The law, sir, is an ass.”

OK, let me try to understand the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on public school integration plans. Four justices voted that under no circumstances could a school district use race as a determining factor on what public school a child can attend. Four justices voted that school districts could use race to determine where a child goes to school, as long as race wasn’t the only factor used and the goal was to promote integrated schools. One justice voted that the two school district programs used were impermissable because race was too much of a factor in the decision of where a child would attend school, but that race could be used by school districts to determine school placement using other, less obtrusive, standards.

WTF? The instant cases were brought by white parents who were upset that within both the Louisville and Seattle school districts, white children were not always able to attend school in their residentially segregated neighborhoods.

The four uber-conservative Justices on the Supreme Court, Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas, attempted to interpret Brown v. Board of Education to mean that race can never be used to determine where a child can attend school within a public school district. However, wasn’t the reason for the Brown decision the end of school segregation? So, how can you rule that a program such as Louisville’s, which attempts to avoid the resegregation of its public schools, is not in the spirit of Brown?

As the New York Times points out in its legal analysis, Justice Kennedy’s concurrent opinion is in the tradition of the late Justice Powell’s famous straddle on the Bakke case and racial quotas in college admissions. Powell’s opinion essentially became the law–quotas out, race as one factor to consider in. Is Kennedy trying to do the same thing? If so, the one thing that will occur is what Justice Breyer pointed out in dissent: more lawsuits! Ah, the majesty of the law–no matter what side they represent, the lawyers always get paid. As an unabashed Supreme Court junkie and the son of a lawyer, I still oftentimes find myself agreeing with Mr. Bumble from “Oliver Twist”: “the law, sir, is an ass.”

Redemption Song–The Ballad Of Joe Strummer

In terms of rock ‘n’ roll biographies, no one has ever come close to the late Timothy White’s ”Catch A Fire”, the amazing work on Bob Marley that masterfully wove the artist’s personal story amidst in-depth considerations of Rastafarianism and other indigenous syncretic religions, third world economic and political history and the evolution of reggae music.

However, the recently published Redemption Song–The Ballad of Joe Strummer written by Chris Salewicz comes awfully close. I am a person who spent a good part of the 1980’s scrawling the Clash’s tagline: “The Only Band That Matters” on countless bathroom walls, in countless dive bars, so I am hardly an unbiased reviewer. “Redemption Song” is a great book for the Clash’s more political fans because it artfully shows how the band’s work deliberately engaged itself in the issues of the day–the rebellion against Thatcherite conservatism, embracing the emerging multi-culturalism of the nation, facing down the extreme right-wing that embraced racism and fascist imagery.

However, the book is a biography of Joe Strummer, rather than the group as a whole. The book looks at the personal turmoil and depression that stalked Strummer his entire life. The book shows us how Strummer’s life, music and impact on our culture was effected by his reaction to the demons in his life. The sadness comes when we realize that at the end of his life, just as he was beginning to enjoy a measure of stability and happiness, he died from a congenital heart defect.

Everything that people loved about Joe Strummer and The Clash shines through in this book: the passion, the energy, the humor, the intelligence and the commitment. What fascinated me most about the story was how Joe Strummer dealt with the problems faced by a band that tried to live by the egalitarian spirit of punk, rejecting the “rock star” pose that placed you above and beyond your fans. Strummer lived this belief more than any other member of the band, possibly because he was the only band member that had come from a middle class background. He opened up the post-gig dressing room to fans, released albums at a price guaranteeing the band little revenue.

I saw the Clash in Philadelphia when they opened for the Who at RFK Stadium. Pete Townsend had graciously offered this prime slot on the tour to The Clash as a way of saying that it was time to pass the torch to a new generation. Combat Rock had been a big hit in the States with “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”, big radio hits. But Strummer looked at the massive crowds and the way the Who had become little more than a marketing brand and openly rebelled. He taunted fans from the stage and at one point even yelled “do you think we deserve to be here?” He got a memorably derisive response from the classic rock drones in the crowd who let out lusty boos. A short set, no encore.

While I was pissed off at the tour and the inevitable dissolution of the band, after reading the book I realize now, as do both surviving members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, it was “better to burn out than to fade away.” Joe Strummer refused to compromise his ideals to keep a corporate-friendly version of the band together. As Joe Strummer wrote in arguably his greatest song ”White Man In Hammersmith Palais”:

“The new groups are not concerned/With what there is to be learned
They got burton suits, ha you think its funny/Turning rebellion into money.”

Capitalist Ju-Jitsu

I’m a big fan of people who use the power of capitalism to strike a blow for the people left behind by its “profit is all that matters” mantra.

A great example today via Boing Boing:
A progressive promotional agency called Anomaly has an employee camping out in front of the NYC Apple store, first in line to buy the new Apple iPhone when it goes on sale later this month. Once purchased, they will auction the phone off on eBay and donate the profits to Keep A Child Alive, a non-profit tht provides AIDS drugs directly to impoverished children in Africa.

Call it capitalist ju-jitsu:
“a martial art whose central ethos is to yield to the force provided by an opponent’s attack in order to apply counter techniques.”

Faithful

Well, I’ve read my first Stephen King book. It’s not what you think. King and young author Stewart O’Nan collaborated on the book Faithful, a diary about their experiences watching the Red Sox during their historic World Series’ winning year of 2004.

The book is a lot like a baseball season, something you pick up and read nearly every night and weekend. It is too long and could have used some judicious editing, but amidst the trivia of replays of long forgotten regular season games against teams like Tampa Bay and Kansas City, there are gems of good writing and speculation on the nature of fandom, baseball and families. O’Nan is seriously devoted to baseball, driving in from Connecticut, cadging Red Sox tickets whenever possible and arriving hours before gametime so he can catch stray batting practice balls. When that fails, he catches area minor league games. King, living in both Florida and Maine, attends fewer games, but watches almost every game on cable and exhibits almost every superstition known to real fans.

For my money (a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree) the book was worth reading just for the description by Stephen King of taking his ailing 80 year-old mother-in-law to the fourth game of the AL Championship series against the Yankees. The game was the first Red Sox victory after three straight losses and ended with a dramatic David Ortiz walk-off home run. The 2004 Red Sox World Series victory was important to so many people because of the 86 year gap between championships. So many Red Sox fans lived their entire lives without seeing their team win.

Given the humor and intelligence exhibited by King in this book, I might try reading some of his traditional horror writing. I guess I should start with “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon”, since the named title character is a one-time Red Sox relief pitcher.

Melancholy And The Infinite Sadness

No, nothing about Smashing Pumpkins. A former employee of SUN, a woman who remained close to everyone on our staff, died over the weekend.

Besides dying far too young, her death was something that she refused to fight, depression and alcoholism totally defeating her will to live. All her friends are mourning her death and wondering what we could have done differently. Our friend eventually cut herself off from everyone close to her, so even the most persistent among us were shut out, our efforts for naught.

I’ve been through this before, my mother’s depression exacerbated her drinking, contributing to her ultimately fatal liver disease. I knew I couldn’t help my friend and I pulled away. I would quickly hang-up on her drunken phone calls and eventually the calls stopped completely.

Now, of course, I feel all kinds of guilt and sadness. I’m also confused. How could anyone be so unhappy that they choose not to live? Like anyone, I get down every once in awhile. But, I see my wife’s smile, my doggies jumping up and asking to play, hear a cool song on the radio, see a beautiful tree in the park–any number of things reinforce how lucky I am to be here, experiencing my life.

Damn!

Blinded By The Light

One last post on Live In Dublin. This album has gotten so much airplay in my household that I haven’t even taken the shrinkwrap off the other album I bought Tuesday, Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky”.

“Blinded By The Light” has long been a Springsteen trivia question: name Bruce’s only #1 chart single. The catch is that it was Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s version that topped the charts. It even figured in the only instance in which “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” had to invite a player back after the show incorrectly identified Bruce as the only artist in a list of four without a #1 hit single.

Now “BBTL” is famous for something else. It’s the most insanely catchy mash-up of bossa nova beats, klezmer fiddle and call and response lyrics I’ve ever heard.

People always complain about getting songs stuck in their head, but I’ve been going around singing “I’ve been blinded, (BLINDED!) blinded, (BLINDED!) blinded baby by the light.” for the last several days, without a care in the world.

Bruce Day ‘07 Pt. 2: Now It’s Perfect

When Bruce released the “American Land” updated version of The Seeger Sessions album to include tour favorites “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live” and “Bring ‘Em Home”, I wrote that the Seeger Sessions album was now “almost perfect.”

My “quibbles” were the lack of the elegaic and soulful tour version of “When The Saints Come Marchin’ In” and the incredible recastings of older Springsteen tunes “Further On Up” as an irish reel and “Open All Night” as a jump blues showstopper.

All three are on the new “Live From Dublin” disc. My Seeger Sessions odyssey has been completed.

No word on why the band is now referred to as Bruce with The Sessions Band–sans Seeger. However, the liner notes’ first shout out goes to Pete: “for his graciousness, steadfastness and inspiration.”

Happy Bruce Day 2007

In about 15 minutes, I’m off to Soundgarden to pick up the new Springsteen album: “Live In Dublin–Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band.”

And with rumors of work on a full-fledged rock ‘n’ roll E-Street Band album being recorded in Atlanta, with a world tour anticipated upon release, “tramps like us, baby we are born to run!”