...and the Leviathan grows.

Just saw this article about New Jersey's new law that would make HIV testing of pregnant mothers apart of routine hospital procedure. A pregnant woman would have to actually choose to not have the test done for the state to exempt her. Which means that she would have to know beforehand that the state automatically performs HIV tests on pregnant women.

Zoos blues

Chris Rock eloquently quipped after Roy of Siegfried and Roy was mauled, "that tiger didn't go crazy, that tiger went tiger."

It seems there was another such attack by a wild animal, which has no business in San Francisco, over Christmas.

Top albums of the year

I just took at look at both Pitchfork's top 50 albums of the year and Paste's 100 top albums. While yes, they are totally subjective and sorta of pretentious, I found many of my favs on both. I think that Pitchfork's list was more on the money, however. Especially since they placed LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver second. Of Montreal's wacky-psycho pop-Bowie bleeding record came in five and Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam sixth. Spoon and Radiohead's In Rainbows also made the top ten on Pitchfork's list.

Sit tight...I might make my own list ;)

Putin named Time magazine's Person of the Year

Vladamir Putin gets tapped for the prestigious award. They always had a penchant for tyrants. Oh yeah, and him too. And we can't forget about him.

Bali UN Climate Conference

Ron Baily, science correspondent at Reason.com, is posting dispatches this week from the Bali UN Climate Conference. He's asking quite provocative questions, such as "Do the Rich Owe the Poor Climate Change Reparations?"

Bullying goes digital

Kids w/ cellphones and social networking skills can be so cruel.

The Mars Volta - 1/17/08 @ the TLA, Philly.

Just found out that The Mars Volta are on tour and coming to Philly. Should be a smokin' show. I've never seen them before, but I heard that they rock live.

I wasn't an enormous fan of At The Drive In, but I've gotten into all three MV records. I love the fusion of prog rock and Latin beats. And I totally dig how Cedric mixes in the Spanish with his lyrics.

Greg Osby @...The East End(?)

My lady and I were lucky enough to see jazz sax great Greg Osby play in the most unusual of places last night. He sat in with my buddy's band at the famed East End cafe in Newark, DE playing to a crowd of maybe 20 folks. Lucky for my friend, he works as a jazz PR guy and Osby is a client. His band reverberates within the domain of old Greatful Dead tunes to country and blue grass to rock. Quite interesting to see Osby find his way in the mix...of course, all improv and groove. What a classy dude. So mellow and laid back. Instead of getting on stage and giving solo after solo, as a big star like him could pull of, he really just tried to find his place within the vibe of the five other musicians on stage. A nice holiday treat!

Oh, I forgot Morrissey!

I was just reviewing some of my blogs and I realized that I forgot to write about seeing Morrissey over the summer. Can't believe I forgot to mention that...I had waited almost 15 years to see him! The concert was everything that I expected that it would be: Morrissey sweated through a slew of dress shirts, changing them on stage and showing the crowd his late 40s naked torso. A bunch of folks attempted to get on stage to hug the star; a few succeeded. He did a lot of Bush bashing and teased the straight girls in the front rows. Like I said, everything that I expected! Interestingly, my friend and I saw a near fist fight breakout. This heavyset couple were standing a couple rows down from us and this other, very drunk, couple were behind them. The drunk guy apparently kept spilling his beer on to the chubby chick down below, who was becoming more pissed by the second. She finally turned around and yelled something at the drunk guy who replied, "loose some weight." She gasped and cried, "I'm pregnant asshole!" At this point her husband felt the pressure and pointed his finger at the guy and then to the walkway below them, indicating that he wanted to fight him down there. Instead, he went to seek out a security guard and the drunk couple slipped away. Priceless.

Anyway, my triumph of the summer was seeing at least half of The Smiths. I caught Johnny Marr with Modest Mouse earlier in the summer.

New Bruce record

I can't believe I forgot to mention the new Bruce record! I think that it's the first album with the E Street band in a long time (like maybe 8 years). It certainly doesn't disappoint. I listened to it repeatedly on my ipod when I first loaded it on there -as I do with most new music that I'm excited about. My favorite track is the first one, "Radio Nowhere." Great rock tune with a lot of energy. Now, if only I could get a ticket to see Bruce next time he is in town! It's sad to say, but I've always been priced out of a ticket. Even the $90 'cheap seats' are too much...especially with gas, parking, and $8 beers. Maybe Santa will bring me one this year?

not much

Sorry for the dearth of blogs of late. I just haven't experienced any musical stimuli recently. Friends went and saw the new Dylan flick yesterday, though. I heard it was really great and I was bummed that I didn't get a chance to see it. Maybe this week if I can escape dissertation and teaching duties for a bit! (unlikely).