Why I Oughta...

Archpundit responds to my call for the environment to stop being a R v. D issue . Caution. This is not a Joincross like post where we talk about bands, or what we ate, or have pictures of Willaim Ligue Jr... Rather this is wonk talk. And *good* wonk talk at that.

I like to be righteous and support independent record stores and independent book retailers. I figure I should pay the extra couple of bucks to buy my records at Threshold Records than Best Buy. I mean, corporations control music enough, I don't want to give them any more profits than they already make from the distribution, concert ticket sales, radio station ownership, and bland cookie cutter artist development. But on June 22, I'm going to have to think long and hard about not going to Borders or Barnes and Noble. The whole 'books and music' concept hitting home for this guy. Maybe I'll even pose as a real upwardly mobile hipster and pick up a frappacino....Maybe not. Big Day. Wilco's new record and President Clinton's new book . A two-fer.

And you won't find 'em with Camp, Stevens, or Rhodes.... Archpundit says we're 'fun and bright'!

For all those of you who don't get the blog (see below), I think we're investigating a wiki.... According to 'smart guy' Rick Klau, Kos just announced the dKosopedia , an open collaborative wiki that the community edits. I posted over at Rick's site asking him what he thought. Kos is going to have a progressive political junkie's political encyclopedia, I was thinking of starting Illinois' political junkies encylopedia..... Could be fun....

This bothers me and maybe it shouldn't.... On Joe Trippi's blog-- Change for America they list a bunch of sites under the heading of "democratic action". This list includes some sites such as MoveOn.org, and Young Democrats of America--that frankly, the Democrats can have, but they also list 2 sites in particular that bother me by being listed here. They have both the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife listed in this "democratic action" category. This needs to change. And that change has begun, if you ask me. I am a Republican, and I feel that I 'own' the Sierra Club and their issues as much as anyone--especially the Democrats. This should not be a 'Democratic Action' Group item--it should be everyone's including Republicans. Maybe this is a age-thing, but I think as we mo

We're got some stuff up on this guy's blog now, too. As described by One Man, he is a 'smart guy'. I've been reading his blog for a couple of weeks. He talks a lot about technology and how it evolves, helps, and hurts business/commerce. He was also very heavily involved in the Blog for America of Dr. Howard Dean. (Which we all know was very successful....) Check out his blog. He has some interesting things to say. Oh...I forgot to tell you. He lives right up Route 59 in Naperville. Which is nice. Rhodes....out.

Where do I begin? Should I start with the new line-up? The venue? Tweedy's Salad? All of it was amazing. I kinda consider myself a hardened concert-goer. I see a lot of shows and enjoy a lot of stuff, but this was over the top. I went with my brother-in-law Marc out to Dekalb. We arrived at something like 8ish and headed over this cool bohemian coffee shop on the main drag in DeKalb. (I had a turkey panini and he had a 3 cheese... which to me is just a toasted cheese (or some of you may call them grilled cheese)) Anyway we get there and the security was really tight...... They had a granola girl sitting on a bar stool checking your name off a list. Sweet. $4.50 24 oz sodas. Which was nice. Otto's is tiny. Tiny stage. Ever been to Mabel's in Champaign? About like that. It was cool. We were near the soundboard and kind of on a riser. Could see everything except when Tweedy went down on his knees for one song.... Well they opened with "ashes of american flags...

You guys know that I am a Rod guy by default. I mean when you're surrounded by Rod guys all day you tend to wear some rose colored glasses. Some people tend to take him to task ( Mr. Miller and Arch ) I am looking in your direction. (Not to mention that pretty funny opinion piece in the Tribune by Rick Pierson.) Anyway....I have to give those guys a little credit for something. Someone over there is at least a little with it if they can do this.... I was watching the Channel 9 news last night and I saw a commercial for Illinois Tourism. Nothing spectacular about the commercial, except the music. That's right, this guy talking about music? Go figure, huh? When the topic of tunes comes up on some dates, that is probably about when the girl tunes out and chalks me up for being a turd. Anyway, on this commercial was "War on War" by Wilco . How cool is that? I know, I know. Commercialism and selling out. Blah Blah Blah. This isnt really commercialism. This is about pro...

Well, some of us are back and some are still out today. This past weekend, I spent some time down in Collinsville, IL and St. Louis, Mo. It was a great weekend, even though I went to bed way to early on Saturday evening...from what I hear. Anyway, Leader Cross gave a great speech as did Gov. Edgar, Gov. Thompson, Speaker Hastert and Senate Candidate Jack Ryan. We ate dinner at a place called Tony's. I highly recommend it. Tell the Matire'd Gene, that Chris sent ya. Gene's the best. More tomorrow. I've got to hit the books for my exam tonight. Rhodes....out.