Johnny's Web Log

Noteworthy, strong criticism against Moore's film

John Kuntz — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 22:14:00 GMT

My brother forwarded the following article to me. It took me aback, big time. I found Moore's film important and exceptional, but this author has several strong points as to why/how Farenheit 911 did not go far enough.

http://republic-news.org/archive/92-repub/92_potvin_moore.htm

Boy, does the world hate us, or what?! (Not unjustified, either.) I agree with the author that Bush and his Administration should be tried and convicted of war crimes. Maybe if we Americans start demanding this, especially in light of the 911 commision report, the world will see that we Americans (I'm ashamed I have to call myself that) are not all like our current Administration.

I do believe Moore's film is a start. Naively, I did not view Farenheit 911 as a statement to the world, but as a personal film for American's to encourage us to WAKE UP, PAY ATTENTION and DO SOMETHING!

Jacque Brazieal

Walking Solo to the North Pole

John Kuntz — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 21:21:00 GMT

As I write this, there is a person walking or trying to sleep at the north pole. Wave Vidmar is on a 600 mile solo accross the tundra, pulling 2 boat-like sleds that weigh 350 lbs. Kinda makes hiking to Iva Bell Hotsprings seem puny at best.

Here is a link to the newspaper story from 3/17:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/17north_a1.html

Here is a link to Wave's website. He is sending email reports and photos daily:

http://northpolesolo.com/home.html

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

John Kuntz — Mon, 06 Oct 2003 21:46:00 GMT

Had a great time at the free Not Strictly Bluegrass event, held at Golden Gate Park on Saturday (10/4/03). Saw a great set by Gillian Welch. Her accompanist David Rawling is wonderful to watch sculpt depth and expanse out of 3 chord tunes. The musical equivalent of marveling at a well executed landscape painting.

Their set overshot Tim O’Brien’s by about 20 minutes, but I managed to catch his group on 5 pieces. Really nice stuff as well, with the final piece, "Turn the Page Again",(from his recent CD, Traveler) a standout. I bought his latest CD because of that song.

He returned to the stage later that day as part of Steve Earle's acoustic group. Over his past several CDs, Earle's songwriting has produced some of the most intelligent, thoughtful material by a singer/songwriter. The selections he chose for the GGPark venue, pulled from the last 3-4 CDs, amplified that fact. It was a great end to a great day of music.

Also notable, was Allison Brown, a banjo player who fronts an instrumental group playing material more aligned with jazz than bluegrass. She has several CDs out. Don't know how this group comes across in that format, but was really cool to see live - perhaps because I did not know what to expect - or had stereotyped ideas about what music I would hear from a female banjo player.

As I write this (Sun. 10/5), there are still great acts performing - Emmylou, Willie Nelson, Hot Rize, Hazel Dickens, among others. But Jacque and I are headed out tonight to see the Charles Mingus Big Band in Luther Burbank Center.

Music yin & yang - the only thing better is playing some yourself.