GrooveAtomic: High performance earphones (pink)
Company: Cygnett.com
Price: $14.99 to $29.99
http://www.cygnett.com

Before I start this review I should say that I’ve been quite satisfied with the stock headphones that were shipped with my iPod nano. Perhaps my expectations for a unit costing $14.99 to $29.99 were not so high, but for such a small device I wasn’t expecting $100-plus Bose power, only a set that would give me clear, crisp highs, non-muddled mid-ranges, and reasonable bass sounds.

The iPod stock headphones fit the bill for that. They work pretty well, perhaps lacking a very strong bass. I wasn’t expecting "heavy lows" in a unit that size anyway, just non-muddled mid-range sounds.

I was given the assignment to review the pink GrooveAtomic earphones. Before they had even arrived, I went ahead and Google’d away. That’s right; I wanted to see what other had to say about the GrooveAtomics. That is definitely a reviewer’s sin. (A set of identical black "GrooveJets" unit arrived unexpectedly, an extra surprise)

Nearly all reasonably objective reviewers said basically the same thing, "powerful bass," "lightweight," "stylish design," "comfortable during long sessions…" yet the upshot was "muddy mid-range, overwhelming bass, lack of crispness." I would add that they’re pretty good noise canceling units and, for me, a good fit.

Well, I searched my iPod for some tunes that would sound good on the GrooveAtomic. I went for Led Zeppelin’s "D’Yer Mak’er." There’s not much crispness to that song, just balls to the wall rock’n'roll and plenty of mid-range and bass. But it was so muddled on the GrooveAtomic that I thought I was using a late-’70s all-in-one-speakers-unit-it even sounded fuzzy. So I tried "The Song Remains the Same" and it was better. Mid-way through that song I switched to the iPod stock unit. I was temporarily fooled. The stock unit was just clearer. It’s just what most of us want.

The GrooveAtomics aren’t terrible. Think Richard Hell, the Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin’s "Moby Dick…" or the Grunge phenomenon. Any muddled, murky sound that doesn’t require separated out crisp highs will work out fine here. Also, they’re REALLY good at tuning out intolerable noises.

And at $14.99 to $29.99, it’ll hardly break the bank. Still the iPod stock units cost just $29.00. That’s a nice price for a very nice sound. I’d know where to spend my money for a back-up.

MyMac.com Rating: 2 out of 5

email – MyMac Magazine – Twitter – Advertise – Reviews Archive – Podcast

More and more I keep hearing from Republican pundits and strategists that they want President Bush to face Governor Howard Dean in this year’s general election. It’s been all over the major media. We’ve heard rumors that the “boy genius” presidential advisor Karl Rove is salivating over the prospect of a Dean-Bush square off.

And we’ve heard from the Clinton Democrats that Howard Dean must be toppled because he can’t win.

They’re all bluffing.

The best “dirt” the Republicans have on Dean is the half-year he spent skiing in Aspen, just after he received a military-service deferment for back problems. Dean truthfully says he didn’t want to go to war in Vietnam, but he had a real medical deferment to get him out of it. That’s not a small issue, but I believe it’s minor compared to what Republicans have or will have on Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards or Clark.

I like Kerry. He has good ideas, and I will vote for him should he get the nod. But just wait until the women of America find out that he left his first wife, with whom he had children, when his political career started to take off. She was apparently suffering from depression. Few details emerged from the New Yorker article (Dec. 2, 2002) by Joe Klein, but the implication is that he was an opportunistic husband who left behind a sick wife in order to build his political career. Republicans will jump all over this; if not in publicly, then privately, and the rumors will reach the independents.

Edwards is obviously pro-lawyer. The American people, in general, are not. When he was a trial lawyer he did nothing to help the disadvantaged, whom he now says are his biggest concern. Besides that, he’s a first-term senator with little experience.

Gephardt is so pro-union that he won’t get the independent vote, so he just can’t beat Bush in the general election. He was an early supporter of the war in Iraq, which turns off most Democrats.

Clark was a Republican for all of his adult life, until this year. He was fired from his job as Supreme Allied Commander in Kosovo for, apparently, not listening to his civilian superiors. He was adamant about that war which, like the war in Iraq, did not have the approval of the United Nations. One could say, therefore, he’s a unilateralist. Besides that, he’s clearly transformed himself into a Clinton Democrat now and has no apparent problem with the ethics of the Clinton administration. Clark won’t have very wide appeal in the general. He has zero magnetism, and would very likely lose to Bush. There’s been the rumor that he’s merely a stand-in for Senator Hilary Clinton, who is allegedly going to run in 2008. If that’s the case, then he’s immoral.

When one looks deeply at the total picture of Howard Dean, there aren’t many negatives. He is a doctor and he knows very well how to relate to people one-to-one. He opposed the war in Iraq early and often for both moral and practical reasons, and has been consistent with that position. He is a fiscal conservative, but he has a heart, and will likely use social-program funds very wisely and effectively. He’s mentioned the usually unmentionable “C” term (that’s civil liberties) and I think he will be smart with regard to that issue. In other words, he won’t abuse his power.

His record as governor of Vermont is just excellent. A squabble with American Indians is all his detractors can point to there. He brought Vermont’s economy out of the dumps, balanced the budget and helped create new jobs.

I believe Dean will be smart and effective in office; obviously, I hope he wins. We need real bipartisan reform in this country, for the economy, the environment, for society, for our position in the world. And we need true national security that won’t create new enemies, but may even sooth some old conflicts. Dean is the man to deliver the goods.

And my guess is, when Dean finally chooses to get a personal computer, it’ll be a Mac!

Today is my 38th birthday. The weather is so lousy I’m not going to drive the 90 miles or so to my parent’s house for my “surprise” party. Oh well, it comes with the territory; that’s New Jersey in January: icy to wet, gray as a rusty watering can that didn’t make it to the tool shed for the winter (not that I have a tool shed, but one can dream) and packed with traffic in places where you couldn’t dream people would want to crowd.

Even if it’s somewhat out of context, a “Brady Bunch” episode, the one with Peter bursting into various rooms in the Brady home expecting a surprise party, still runs through my mind. Dressed in a classic ’70s suit and tie, Peter will eventually get his party, but it’s still kind of sad that he must learn a lesson of unfulfilled expectations first.

It’s just me and my most excellent wife in our apartment in metro-suburban New Jersey, watching CBS‘s “Sunday Morning, NBC‘s “Meet the Press … reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times. I’ve received a few phone calls from thoughtful relatives and friends about the b-day and managed to down a Manhattan bagel and couple cups of coffee.

For the past few years, though, I’ve wanted for something. As a Christian it has been a source of guilt to want for anything but, even so, I’ve been salivating over the prospect of buying a nice digital camera. I’d always thought I’d get one when finances got a little better. (I splurged last summer on a nice Gibson acoustic guitar, but that’s another story.) Finances have not improved, but I should say our kitchen is stocked aplenty.

I waited and waited and waited. After all, prices on cameras kept dropping and megapixels kept increasing, so why not wait? But wait for when? Then, suddenly last year, the bad news hit: all new Mac-compatible peripherals in stores no longer support OS 9. Since I’m still paying for my circa-2000 computer set-up I was surprised, hurt, annoyed … and felt sort of betrayed. It would have to be a long time….

A few moments ago I walked over to the kitchen table to see fresh flowers prepared by my wife, accompanied by a little card. In it was a gift certificate, “Redeemable for One Digital Camera,” fabricated by my wife. How, I asked, could this be? Well, it turns out my better half has been doing some research. She’s found brand new, factory-sealed digital cameras on eBay that support the old, crusty OS 9 platform that I still use. It turns out they were the cameras I wanted a couple years ago. The market prices on older cameras really have plummeted. We’re saving hundreds going backward compatible.

So my wife’s buying me a digital camera; it’s barely noon and this is already the best b-day I’ve had in years. Perhaps this is a Peter Brady moment afterall.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some meaningful Metropolitan-area photography soon.

Being between jobs and all … you know how it is. If you’re not careful the TV becomes the hearth, the fireplace, the books, the newspapers, the board games … the all-consuming hub of preoccupation.

I must turn it off.

A phone call to a friend reminded me that I was missing something. He mentioned NPR (that’s listener-supported National Public Radio, for those outside the states). He had been listening recently. The TV was on when I called him; the TV is off now.

All day CNN and MSNBC have been running snippets of Gov. Howard Dean’s infamous Monday night “screech,” about every 15 minutes, followed by snippets of the late night talk show hosts making fun of said screech, followed by partisan pundits making grave predictions prompted by screech.

Oh … my … Gosh! We came that close (presses fingers together) to actually electing a human being who’s not afraid of straying from the script. I will still vote for Dean in the primary, even if he drops out of the race, but it seems his candidacy all but died Monday night. There’s no sense in not having hope, though.

The TV was on today from 6:30 a.m. until 3 p.m., in the background, sometimes in the foreground. Then it just occurred to me: Time for a total TV blockout. No TV news, no TV spinmeisters, no TV pundits, no TV irritants! No mas! No mas! No mas!

I will not be brainwashed by TASS! (I might rent a movie later, however.)

So it’s on to NPR now. I just listened to a good interview with Senator Joe Lieberman. I disagree with the senator on nearly every issue, but he’s a good interview and a sincere man. Now it’s NPR’s news: non-abrasive, non-commercial, and non-pushy (and nary a mention of Dean’s minor gaffe). It’s just informative and simply excellent.

I called the Republicrats bluff and my man Dean took a serious beating. However, the beating turned out to be very revealing about the continuing “decline and fall” of journalism in America. It showed how easily Americans continue to be swayed by propaganda in the major media, who are owned by the nation’s largest corporations, who often benefit greatly by having their friends in office.

I think no matter what happens Dean is going to be OK; the big-time press, and its ability to honestly cover and prioritize the news, is another story. It’s clear the “biggies” know how to pile on a wounded candidate and tell the people what to think, but what else can they do?

(I Google’d “Dean”+”bashing” and came up with 2,880 instances/links. Also, did you know that the suggested replacement for “Republicrats” in the spell check is “Republic rats.”)

To me, distortion, exaggeration, and the practices of “shock” do not make for good news sources. I prefer NPR. How ’bout you?

The well’s run dry but Frank Zappa’s album Weasels Ripped My Flesh is still an amazing creative inspiration. The album was around the house when I was a kid. Absurdly funny, musically just wonderful. I love Zappa. He rocked.

The problem is: What happens when weasels REALLY rip one’s flesh? What does one do about it? Afterall, mammals are weasels’ choicest food.

I never thought much about it when I was a kid. It just seemed like a funny joke and something that would never happen. At least not to me. Not in America. Certainly, there would be a haven from weasels in the “Land of the free….”

Yet, when picking up my wife from the train station, or in the supermarket, or even in church, there are the weasels. Yes, right there they are: Weasels ready to cut into the skin, weasels always hungry, weasels on the prowl.

Just ask Ben Stiller. He makes a good witness.

Meditation heals, and it’s something weasels just can’t do very effectively. They operate on a different plane. Yes, they’re just too busy when they are not sleeping to acheive a peaceful mind, or at least that which we humans consider to be peaceful. They play by their own rules.

Humans can’t really touch them, at least most of us, without being bitten. We can, however, choose to not follow their ways. We can choose not to tear human flesh; weasels can’t make that choice.

Meditation is a place to be safe from the weasels. Yes, it is. For me, an unorthodox mixture of yoga postures and Christian prayer does the trick. Closing the door when the weasels approach is probably a good idea, too.

That and a nice game of Snood is all is needed, for now.

Roger Born’s The Dinosaur on Your Desk 02/03/04 (MyMac) column had me thinking again about the Mac, concepts such as ease of use, utility and the elegant human interface.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I read an article about Jef Raskin, a rather unheralded inventor of the Mac. I decided to dredge it up since Roger had brought up a related topic. I found the article thanks to MacSurfer.

The Pacifica Tribune story is not very well-written (the author seems to add importance to boost its profile), but not so bad. I get the feeling Raskin has not been given his due; that’s something the author has successfully relayed.

Raskin was left out of Apple’s official 20th anniversary celebrations, apparently. But that’s just the way it is with megacorporations. When you’re no longer with them, or you get fired, you’re no longer with them. According to this article he still has a following though.

His book, The Humane Interace, looks interesting. I plan to get it. The summary is fascinating.

Raskin’s comments about The Ten Commandments are classic.

These are scary days, in general, and everyone seems to want their own Sherman tank in the form of various SUV models. The good news is we’re seeing more low-fuel-consumption SUV models on the market. The bad news is these slightly smaller SUVs have done nothing to quell owner’s belief that, in fact, they are riding in sports cars.

Case in point: Apparently in my region of New Jersey one is not allowed to do the speed limit on local roads without getting harassed off the road. The other day I was driving down one of the prettiest suburban streets in New Jersey. (If you look at the intro to NBC’s show “Ed” you will see the Rialto Theater, one of the oldest continuously operated movie theaters in the country. It’s right here on Broad Street, in my town of Westfield, where I was driving.)

Anyway, a couple days ago I’m doing 26 mph in a 25 mph zone, fairly safe from police radar, and a woman in a BMW SUV gets right on my tail. She’s right on my bumper, making gestures, pushing to pass me on the right on a two-lane road with no shoulder. I’m not playing her game. I refuse to speed up and get a ticket. She stays on my bumper, even after I touch the brakes to indicate I find disfavor with this tailgating. I hold my ground, yes, driving about as fast as my grandmother would recommend. Eventually, she flips out and crosses the double line to pass me on the left doing about 45 mph. Ironically, this was in front of two very old churches and the police station! She broke the law, but not before raising my blood pressure a few ticks.

She got away with it. It seems like they always do. New York license plates, too, but it’s not uncommon to see New Jersey drivers doing the same thing.

On major highways in New Jersey for the most part there isn’t much to see (parts of the Garden State Parkway are an exception, there are a few others). It doesn’t bother me much on a six-lane highway to see people cruise well past the speed limit in the passing lane. Like I said, there isn’t much to see. But the beauty of New Jersey (and yes, there still is much beauty) is off the major routes, in what’s left of the country and farmlands and, in my case, the lovely, old tree-lined streets of a certain suburb. Alas, anecdotally, from my perspective, it seems too few people are taking the time see the sights and smell the roses. What are they rushing toward?

Apparently, The Art of Speeding has become a popular phenomenon, with near 100 percent participation here in the Garden State. For those of less inclined to speed, check out State Traffic Safety Information. There’s some sobering statistics to share with our speeding friends.

Speed sometimes kills. At a minimum, it can negatively affect quality of life. I say, as a nation, we need to slow things down a bit and think about what we’re doing more. Maybe this should apply to computers, too?

No, I haven’t seen The Passion of the Christ yet. So this is a pre-review blog. (Yeah, I’m going to talk about it anyway whether Fox News likes it or not.) The wife doesn’t want to see the film at all. I’m going to have to make a solo trip in the next few days with my knit blackwatch cap on my head and dark navy pea coat. Apparently, I’ll need some tough threads to endure the bloody mashing of our beloved Lord and Savior.

The New Yorker-critic David Denby says of the Passion‘s director Mel Gibson: “[He] is so thoroughly fixated on the scourging and crushing of Christ, and so meagrely involved in the spiritual meanings of the final hours, that he falls in danger of altering Jesus’ message of love into one of hate.”

The New Yorker gives a savvy eye to the arts, in general, and Denby in particular gives a fine review here (see, “Nailed,” New Yorker, March 1, 2004.) His review reveals much of the story of the movie, but it seems partially intended to report the movie to those disinclined to see it, so they might be spared. Denby does a smart job of exploring Gibson’s apparent fascination with ultraviolence and, thankfully, the writer makes no attempt to understate the horror.

I left High Times magazine in 1994. I re-ignited a relationship with Jesus at the age of 28. I got baptized, too. It’s not an easy thing to do, at least it wasn’t for me. I started to change my life and turn over what seemed like the impossible difficulties to the Higher Power. It’s a tough row to hoe for a party animal. And there were times when I certainly was that. Of course, I’ve failed miserably again and again as a Christian, but that’s another story.

On a certain level I can relate to Gibson and his dedication to the faith and what it means to undergo the conversion. On another level, I just wouldn’t have done it the same way as him. I mean, blood looks good on the screen, always has, even in black and white, but I just hate the pain, the agony, and the suffering, the absolute torture, especially absent important context. Sure, it’s a part that must be included in any complete, accurate depiction of the life of Jesus, but to dwell on it for more than two hours? Maybe, if this was a 24-hour movie series, but it’s not.

What this really tells me is, wherever he may be headed in the afterlife, Gibson is trapped in the post-modern world now. To take a slice of a complete piece of art, which also happens to be the Word of God, and work it (and overwork it?) until it’s taken on a life of its own and then display it as entertainment. Even with the religious context this qualifies as post-modern sentimentality.

I have grown a heftier disdain for people who dish out cruelty for self-serving purposes (or any other reason) in this day and age. I realize over two thousand years ago it was people like me and you and everyone else who did the job on Jesus. People who could be cruel killed the Savior. They were Jewish and Roman in name, but they reflected advanced culture at the time. These were really elements of one of the world’s most advanced civilization, in that way not so unlike the America of recent times. The people who killed Jesus were like all of us, people who at times have fallen short of expectations, people who lost faith or never had it, people who ended up committing a great evil because it seemed like the easy way out (that’s not me, although the little things do add up).

Of course, Christ’s death was prophesied and it had to happen, but YEESH!! It’s not the only thing, and people ought not to get too frenzied about it. I mean, shots on TV of Christian sceening audiences looking like Grateful Dead crowds but with short hair and pastel crew-neck sweaters. People swooning, getting all emotional, losing their heads and weeping. The message certainly isn’t “Sugar Magnolia” either. It’s simply terrifying taken on it’s own; absent the miracles and the resurrection, it may not serve the faith well.

These are grave images of our Lord. And I don’t like to see repeat performances (except, of course, Bill Murray in Groundhog Day). I’ve read the Gospels thoroughly. We read about the death of Jesus every year on Good Friday in the Episcopal and Lutheran churches that I’ve attended in recent years. The gravity of the situation is invariably well delivered at these places and unless one has no power of imagination the graphic images of Christ’s sacrifice is pictured quite accurately.

Personally, I connect enough with great literature to make the pictures in my own mind for myself, thank you very much. The process happened well before I could even read. Images, as when my grandmother read to me at bedtime and sometimes on a rainy day in the afternoon. Images in my own mind. My interpretation of events as they were read. My thinking about it.

I’ve experienced the crucifixion of Christ through reading the Gospels and I’ve formed my own view. And that’s what THIS movie is. No new revelation. Maybe a new angle, and certainly more bloody “realism” than ever before displayed in a film about Christ, if the critics are to be believed. But, simply, the Passion is what Gibson thinks about the killing of Christ. One rather flawed man’s seemingly myopic (and possibly sado-masochistic in its excess) look at one of the most horrible tortures in the history of mankind.

Why am I going to see it? I don’t know, but I dig Jesus. Jesus was good to people. He died and was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Some people think that’s nuts, but I believe it.

Our colleague and friend Roger Born got me thinking about all this with some of his comments on Owen Rubin’s recent “…OUTRAGED” thread. I took this away from Roger’s comments: don’t worry, have faith and be happy. Of course, Roger’s words go much deeper than that. I was tempted to argue some of Roger’s finer points, but I took it at face value that he knows what he’s talking about and I agreed with most of what he was saying. When it comes to the Trinity, which so many of us pay homage to, I usually leave it to the experts for thorough debate, which tends to give me headaches (arguing the faith, that is). But I think Roger’s ideas apply to this film. That is, basically, Don’t worry. Talk about the movie all you like but stay short of the frenzy either way. It’s just one man’s artistic (and religious!) vision.

I can comment on post-modernist art, can’t I? Apparently I can. I’ve taken something of a swipe at Gibson, a fellow Christian, but I stand with him in principle. He had the privilege to make this picture and I believe he has the right, as a Christian, an American and a human, to do so. My fear is absent any context it may cause misunderstanding. Personally, I don’t want the image of the noble Savior messed with, and I fear this might happen with Gibson’s ultraviolent post-modern expression.

There is something of the Christian spirit compelling me to see this film with an open mind. I plan to meditate and pray before entering the theater, so I may view the film without a negative bias and give the most honest possible blog report here. It just might not be possible to have a fair-minded outlook about it now. I’m already wincing based on reports on TV and the New Yorker review. When it starts on the screen I may clench up. All those miracles and not a single one gets a play in this story? That’s just great. Sitting there by myself, in an enclosed theater, watching the excruciatingly detailed, vivid torture of my hero, just soaked in blood, for hours, in my itchy hot, black watch hat and pea coat? And I can’t even smoke cigarettes….

Sometimes being a Christian is unpleasant.

Apparently, what’s left of the Beatles are about to sue Apple Computers (again!) over copyright infringement (see story half way down the linked page). The Apple iTunes store doesn’t even carry Beatles tunes. Would John and George have agreed to this?

Sounds like a McCartney thing to me. Will Paul ever have enough?*

*Um. Paul and crew are cool with me. This blog was not well thought out and I regret it. The Beatles can sue anyone they want as far as I’m concerned.

Paul is one of the Kings of rock’n'roll and a pop music genius. More power to him.

(*Comment added by N.E. a few months after original post.)

For over a year now I’ve been frequenting the acoustic guitar forum at Harmony Central and I’ve met some very interesting people. I’ve also learned more about guitars in general than in all of my previous 18 years of guitar playing combined. The South and Midwest are very well represented on this forum, perhaps to the benefit of all because these people really know their old-timey acoustic blues. There are guitar players from around the world who post there, too.

To add some balance I’m often promoting Mandolin Bros. on Staten Island, New York. It’s probably the best acoustic guitar store in the world. George Harrison shopped there when visiting the city, which says a lot to me, but it also caters to the beginner. The folks who work there are truly nice people, too, and treated me very well when I visited last summer.

The new 2004 Mandolin Bros. catalog showed up about a month ago. I read pretty much the whole thing. The owner of Mandolin Bros., Stan Jay, writes descriptions of guitars both vintage and new. He really has a flair for it. Everyone on the forum says they enjoy reading Stan’s descriptions.

A couple weeks ago I noticed a name in the acoustic guitar forum that sounded familiar. Turns out the same name was listed in the Mandolin Bros. catalog in “Stuff We’re Listening To.” Well, the name is Howard Emerson and of his album, “Crossing Crystal Lake,” Stan Jay says: “On this album you will hear a guitar being used the way guitars are used best; to play (in this case nine) tunes, each of which individually provokes a mood, a memory, a feeling. Simply superb.”

So when I see Howard Emerson on the forum using his real name, I’m like, Do you people here know what’s being said about this guy? I added a few quotes from the Mandolin Bros. catalog and its Web site, lest people do not know the importance of this man. Emerson, in turn, contacts me and wants to know who I am. I answer vaguely, with the “still trying to figure it out” thing, but tell him I’m an editor-writer and out of work. He asks me to email my address so he can send me his CD (he says I can pay for it when I find a job). The CD has arrived. Let’s just say I’m most grateful.

In short Howard is one exceptionally fine guitarist. His is a kind of country fingerstyle playing, sometimes bluesy, sometimes classical, sometimes more contemporary, but always melodic and joyful. It’s just so nice to hear a single guitar being played so beautifully, no dubs (at least none that I can detect) and no effects, just a man and his six-stringed instrument laying it down where it counts. The album is feeding my soul as I write. I’ve seldom been happier. Ten years ago you couldn’t get me out of the mosh pit at a punk concert … now I wouldn’t get near one. It’s amazing what time does to people.

Howard has agreed to let me interview him for a freelance piece for one of the guitar mags. (I’ve interviewed Jorma Kaukonen, Phish, Mike Watt and a few others in my time.) He was off on a trip to England to display his guitar-playing expertise when I last communicated with him, but he’s probably back now. I’ve got an interview to do.

All I can say in the wake of New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey’s announcement yesterday is … uh … wait … there’s also some sort of scandal connected with this thing as well. Homeland Security issues … a foreign national his alleged lover and later, the naming of said object of affection as New Jersey Homeland Security chief.

Quick to judge?

It’s not merely that he’s come out of the closet, folks. For that issue alone, I give gim credit for his honesty. For that issue alone I would not want him out of office. If there was no unseemly business but purely consensual behavior by two adults, I would say, “So what?” I’d feel badly for his wife and child, as would half-compassionate person, and my Christian faith would lead me to certain obervations about what kind of life people should lead but, people are who they have chosen to be. And sometimes people are who they are. Besides, it’s never too late to tell the truth. (This goes for me too!)

But this whole thing has been so cunningly crafted so far. It’s slicker than Slick Willie ever was. So little of the whole truth has been disclosed, and we’re all left here with serious doubts and worries.

Governor McGreevey resigned yesterday but he’s not stepping down until November 15. This is so he can turn over the governorship to the leader of the state senate, Richard Codey, and avoid an election until November 2005. This is wrong! The time to step down is NOW in my opinion. It’s time to have an election ASAP. It’s time to give the people its voice. It’s certainly not time to deny the people its voice, when so little faith can be placed in the state’s current leadership.

Do un-democratic Democrats in New Jersey want to deny the people its vote here? Should good-willed Democrats and Republicans not get together on this and demand true responsibility? A just authority?

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg got the nod as Democratic nominee without a primary election a few years ago, in the wake of primary victor Robert Torricelli’s alleged scandals and resignation. For some reason I gave Sen. Lautenberg a pass. The seasoned liberal senator had served in the US Senate before, and he was eventually truly elected anyway against a far-right Republican, Doug Forrester, in the general election. (OK, I made some jokes about Lautenberg being the “Duke of Jersey” because there could have been a second primary and it just seemed like he was sort of appointed in an imperial manner. Still, at least there was an election in that case. Few choices, but still a choice.)

This time, New Jerseyans need a direct voice and they need it now.

Will the Republican Party stand up for what is correct? Will Democrats of “good will,” honest Democrats, keep their mouth shut? Will certain pundits and special interests continue to insist that this is purely about gay or human rights and not the total scandal that it appears to be, and likely is?

My recomendation: Let us demand some sort of basically honest gubernatorial election ASAP for everyone’s sake. Let the Democratic Party affirm its name. Or else, may it be deemed a total fraud in the Garden State … or else, may Republicans correctly use this against Democrats in future elections in a lousy but, nonetheless, legitimate manner. If Democrats don’t want to be democratic, then they should change the name.

Let’s clean up this mess now before it festers into something that must be amputated.
It makes no sense that Governor McGreevey should stay in office for another 85 days. Not in this case. Simple as that.

New Jerseyans: If you have any self-respect, then demand that the correct thing be done. Let us not deserve to be the “butt” of so many jokes. (Sorry about that!) Let’s be good and say we tried our best. Let’s not say we obfuscated our way out of perhaps the greatest political scandal in state history. Let us vote this year for governor.

I’ll admit to ignoring the maxim that “all politics is local.” I’ve never had a real interest in local politics since living in New York City, 1989-1994, just after college. I reported city and town council meetings for a couple local newspapers at different times in my career, so it’s not as if I’m totally ignorant about these things. But it all bored me. Literally put me to sleep sometimes.

Instead, I’ve been obsessed with the national and international political scene. I’ve tried to do good work as an editor-writer, but I’m guilty of not doing my job as a citizen of this state or in the local towns where I have lived. I’ve taken part in her treasures but have not participated in the electoral process in years (since 1996); even then, in terms of local politics I was uninformed. I ignored Governor McGreevey, didn’t even think about him, and so did many others apparently.

Time to reform. Time to think local as well as global. Time to be what we would seem to be: a democratic nation. Time to vote.

– A Loyal New Jerseyan

I have been on a quest this past week to try and get the governor of New Jersey, who has announced his resignation, to leave office by Sept. 3rd so an election can be held. So far my efforts have been in vain.

I have never claimed that McGreevey is guilty of anything. He’s innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law.

The FBI has questioned McGreevey about blackmail, but I know little about these things.

McGreevey did something bad enough to announce his intentions to resign, apparently, but not such that New Jerseyans should have a say as to who should run the state until November 2005. Blacks and minorities have no say, and neither does anyone else. A small group of people made this decision. And I’m not quite sure who they are. Democrats?

McGreevey has responded, but I’m not convinced.

A gay Democrat from New Jersey has also had something to say.

I don’t know how all this impacts the national Democratic Party and the Kerry campaign. The deeper political or sociological effects of things like this are unclear, but they hardly bode well. Maybe McGreevey’s resignation will be turned into something that brings about a deeper understanding of sexual identity and sensititvity toward gay issues. I certainly hope so.

But what does this mean about future elections when a sudden resignation by a governor for quizzical reasons takes place. Do we say, “Let’s just let a panel of grumpy old people appoint our next leader, without consulting anyone.” Or, perhaps worse, do we say, “Let’s just a have a single person choose the next Head of New Jersey. That’s the way it’s always been.” We’re stuck until January 2006 with an unelected governor and who knows what the deal is?

Have a freaking election unless a tsunami (or some other such thing) says otherwise. All Americans should have the vote. As a state we in New Jersey have thus far wimped out! A precedent is set in New Jersey for power grabs never before seen.

(I also happen to be a proponent of not voting for lesser evils. If you don’t like the candidates, then stay home.)

Since Beth wrote about informed voting and I’ve demonstrated my interest, I thought I’d run through some of my own news sources: The New Yorker (read it in it print), The New York Times, the local newspapers, the Village Voice, the Christian Science Monitor, the conservative press, the Aspen Times, Tom Paine and of course, MyMac.com

I read a bunch of other stuff as I poke around the Web …. and permit myself to go far and wide beyond the above mentioned news staples. I like the foreign press. They crack me up sometimes, but it’s important to get their perspective. The wider the perspective the better.

God willing New Jersey will survive this. We may even improve. But it may take a while. I’m patient.

My wife and I recently moved to a small second-floor apartment near the center of Red Bank, a town on the Navesink River in Monmouth County, NJ. According to the May 2004 Smithsonian magazine this New Jersey river town has transformed itself into one of the hippest enclaves on the East Coast.

I’m not sure what this means, but a few people let their hair down here once in a while. I see this as good. (I should add, if you want to experience this hip town this summer, then you’d better not delay. Summer’s about over.)

I see plenty of new stores at the center of town in which I cannot afford to shop and which offer nothing that seems to be of any use to me. (Decoratives were never my forte, anyway.) I prefer the older, established stores that carry the essential goods.

Red Bank, which is an hour or so southwest of Manhattan, is a place with a population of under 12,000. According to one source, the town boasts three music stores, a recording studio, a couple of nightclubs, 15 art galleries, 64 restaurants and the 1,400-seat Count Basie Theatre (see below). It’s also a hub for antique collectors, with a good number of antique shops.

Red Bank also attracts 150,000 visitors annually to its three-day riverfront jazz and blues festival (see below) and even more for the Independence Day celebration (see below).

Red Bank is a cultural hub for Monmouth County and the surrounding areas. There’s nothing else around here like it.

We lived here 10 years ago, too, for a few months. It was always a cool town, but now it has more corporate money. We’ll find out what this means.

Here are a few places/events I love in Red Bank:

Trinity Episcopal Church
Trinity has been a great source of Christian inspiration for me. Of course, I’m broke (and mostly broken) and I’m hardly of any use to them, but they welcome me and my wife and deliver the good Word and sacraments. I’m thankful for the gifts bestowed upon me by Trinity and I would one day like to return their charity and good will. If I live long enough and prosper, then I certainly will.

According to the Web site: “We at Trinity are eager to share with you the Bread of Life-Jesus Christ-and the peace and salvation He alone can afford. Please join us for worship where you will experience a hearty welcome, thoughtful preaching and inspired music.”

Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival 2004
The annual free Red Bank Jazz & Blues festival is just supercool. It takes place in Marine Park, Red Bank, by the beautiful Navesink River. The festival is three full days and nights of jazz, blues, food and crafts. Nearly 100,000 people attend this event every year. It was June 4-6. I missed it this year, but it’s been excellent in the past.

Fireworks on the Navesink, Independence Day
A long-standing Red Bank tradition, the Fireworks on the Navesink Independence Day display was held July 3rd (the same people do the New York show, which is why we have ours bumped to the 3rd.) Funded entirely by private donations, the event draws as many as 170,000 people annually to the Navesink River and is a fine Independence Day celebration. It’s the best I’ve seen outside of NYC (it’s better than Aspen!) We watched from the curb just outside our house this year. In the past we’ve gone across the river up the golf course hill for the full view. Good show always!

The Count Basie Theatre
This Theatre was built in the 1920s as a vaudeville venue. It was renamed in 1984 in honor of jazz pianist, composer and band leader William “Count” Basie (1904-1984).

“Even though jazz historians most commonly associate Count Basie with Kansas City, where he formed his first band, Basie was in fact a Red Bank native, born in his parent’s house on Mechanic Street on August 21, 1904. … On June 30, 1999 the Count Basie Theatre, Inc. was established as an independent nonprofit corporation to maintain ownership of and to manage, program and preserve the theatre.” – from the Web site.

The Count Basie Theatre books many excellent acts for many different tastes. (I usually can’t afford to attend, but for those with the means, by all means…support this place.)

Two River Theatre Company
A new theatre for the arts in Red Bank is opening May 2005! “Located on the west side of Red Bank, across from The Galleria, the property is centrally placed within the region, easy to reach by car or train and large enough for us to build a spacious, unique and fully accessible production space. The world-renowned architectural firm of Hardy, Holzman and Pfeiffer has been hired to design the new theatre. Like their other well-known buildings, including the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Two River Theatre will be an instant landmark and a prestigious addition to the architecture of Monmouth County.” — from the Web site:

I wish this group well. Their new building looks impressive so far. (Anyway, I hope to love this place once it opens!)

Clearview Cinemas
This is a very cool venue to see alternative and art flicks. It’s nice to have this option in town. So few towns have this kind of movie theatre anymore.

Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash
New Jersey-born-and-raised Hollywood director-actor Kevin Smith has built a very cool store in the center of town. If you’re into comic books and movie memorabilia and stuff, this is the place to go. I love to go in there and just look around. I really dig some of the knick-knacks, but they aren’t cheap (nothing good is). One day I’ll buy that Spiderman doll!

Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park
OK, it’s in Long Branch, and not Red Bank. Seven Presidents is an adequate North Jersey ocean beach run by Monmouth County. (Named for the seven US presidents that used to vacation nearby.) Nothing beats the sand of the South Jersey beaches, but Seven Presidents is a good day at the shore. And we can always get there without traffic problems in about 15 minutes.

From Seven Presidents you can travel south down the road to the original Windmill, for hotdogs and cheese fries. (Just wait a good hour before you go back in the water!)

There’s plenty of other stuff to do in town … public clay-court tennis, crabbing on the river, fishing … if you get bored, still, you can always take the train to New York City. The train station is only a few blocks away.

I’m not sure how long my wife and I will last here. It’s probably temporary, but we plan to have a good time until it’s time to go.

Note: MyMac writer Chris Siebold inspired the following blog

A recent blog by Chris Siebold, Rating the Debates, blasted the NY Yankees baseball team as something akin to the cult of [insert bad cult of choice here]. A team to be “abolished,” he said. I cannot speak to that (ignorance is bliss), but many people in Pittsburgh and parts west thereof have it wrong about my home team.

The NY Yankees have earned their position as one of the greatest professional sports teams of all time. Money has not hurt them, to be sure, and some of us know that “New York has the ways and means” (with thanks to the Grateful Dead and the song, “Truckin’”), but chemistry is so essential to any team. The Yankees seemed to have had it alot in the past.

Some Yankee Etymology

Yankee, n. [prob. from D. Jan Kees, (taken as pl.) ; Jan, John, and Kees, dial. form of kaas, cheese; orig. (John Kaas) used as disparaging nickname for a Hollander, later for Dutch freebooter; applied by colonial Dutch in New York to English settlers in Connecticut.] …-Websters Unabridged Dictionary, 1979

The oral history passed down to me was that Jan Kees was an actual person, who was some sort of merchant operating back in old New Amsterdam. His name became common to describe Dutch-Americans; later, the name was transformed, folk-style, to yankees and used to describe all New Englanders fighting in the American Revolution. The Jan Kees version spoken to me was not one of enmity between American colonists of English or Dutch descent, but of two peoples who found common cause against British injustice.

One theory now more widely accepted is that in New Amsterdam, currently New York City, certain Dutch people are alleged to have called certain British subjects “John Bull,” a nickname which may have originated in Holland. It was not considered a compliment. It was sort of like saying, “You are a John Doe,” or a less than distinguished person. Again, there may be further info that suggests there was actually a notorious British subject named John Bull, who was ill-received by the locals in the Colonies for his errant ideas and ways.

The British responded by changing the John Bull slur to “John Cheese,” after a major Dutch product, to deride the Dutch. The Dutch transformed the nickname into Jan Kees (or Jan Kaas) and eventually it became yankees.

To a Dutch settler, to be called a “yankee” in New Amsterdam by a Redcoat was an insult. “Yankee” was eventually used by the British to describe all New England colonists. However, any implied negative connotation ceased among leaders in the Colonies long before the USA emerged.

There’s a book The History of John Bull (1712) that I would love to see. It’s a mystery to me, but it may contain key clues. I recall a connection to Jonathan Swift, somewhere, though he’s apparently not the author.

Yankee became a term used to describe all pro-Revolutionary War types thoughout New England and eventually all parts in the USA north of the Mason Dixon Line.

It was yankees in the Union army that fought the Confederates in the Civil War. “Yankee” was used as an insult by Confederate troops and sympathizers of secession. Some Confederate descendants are frequently known as Southerners today.

African-American soldiers of the Union army were yankees. Aside from the movie Glory, their story has not been adequately shared with the public.

I am a descendant of an original yankee, a captain, a Civil War veteran from Massachusetts. The family story is that he lead an African-American regiment and was shot in the leg by a Confederate soldier. He lived a fairly long life, with a limp. I hope for further details.

So I correctly carry the yankee label when it’s applied to me. (To be honest, as a kid it was probably Yankee magazine that drove the point home as much as the Yankees baseball team, but then I learned some actual history over time.)

A Southern gentleman once said to me years ago on a streetcar in New Orleans, after a brief friendly discussion, “You’re a yankee.” He seemed to be good willed and it made me feel sort of “alive,” in that he knew who I was and seemed to respect it. Caught off guard, my response was, “Yes. I’m a Yankee fan.” I should have said, with my Yankee cap on and all, “That’s true. I am a yankee.” The fact is, I had forgotten my Civil War roots in a place where it is still an issue (at least to some)..

(Some people have told me that I look like a Minnesotan. I have never known why. I don’t say, “Eh?” Well, Chris Seibold felt a need to post my picture here in a recent blog. Judge for yourself. The pic is on my personal MyMac page anyway. Minnesotan, eh? You tell me.)

Wikipedia includes the folowing
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
(an old definition)

I will add that American Southerners prefer to be called “Southerners.” Call them yankees at your own risk. Midwesterners, Southwesterners, Northwesterners: You know who you are. (Some of you might even be descended from some yankees or Confederates.)

But we US citizens all like to be considered Americans: North, South, East and West. Rich or poor. It’s the unifying factor. We know that Amerigo Vespucci, the great explorer for whom these Western-most continents were named, was Italian. The adopted version of his name, America, is very much revered as we have become one nation out of many peoples and States: “America, God shed His grace on thee.” Most of us believe that, but one not need be of actual yankee stock to support the view.

OK, enough of that historical sentimentality. Back to the post-post-modern times: The fact is, the current NY Yankees play great baseball, but tonight they got whipped.

I really do not confuse history with the present reality. What happened in New Amsterdam is a far cry from what happened tonight in the Bronx.

It just so happpens that the Yankees can be beaten by a team with better chemistry (and I am not talking about steroids!). The Yankees losing does not often happen, but it happens. A Yankee defeat is most always a victory well earned for the opposing team, certainly no cake-walk. The Red Sox deserve all the credit. May the Curse of the Bambino be no more.

The NY Yankees are my team and I wanted them to win. I’ve been in awe of the Yankees’s baseball accomplishments since before I can remember. Now the Yankees lost to a hot Boston Red Sox team tonight; the score was 10-3. The Yankees were ahead in games over the Red Sox 3-0 at first. Now the Red Sox won four straight and beat the Yankees 4-3. It hurts.

NY Yankees crushed by the Red Sox!

(An occasional headline may appear from time to time.)

My hopes and best wishes are with the NY Yankees team and all involved with their activities. They represent much of what is fine about the New York City area.

May the gentlemen in the pinstripes always be the standard in professional baseball.

But I hope the Red Sox win the prize this year now. Go Red Sox!

From Roger Born:

“Apple just introduced the [iPod Photo] at noon today PST. 65k colors, 5-15 hour battery life, $499 or $599. Automatic download and syncing through the new iTunes 4.7! Also the BLACK iPod for U2 fans is out….”

Yeah, I’m guilty. Dream catalogs have always occupied my time during, but not limited to, the Christmas holidays. It started out with L.L. Bean, Lands’ End, Orvis … and now it’s Patagonia. Of course J. Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch became too trendy and therefore confusing and useless to me, but one can find good deals in the outlets even with those companies.

Can I afford to shop at any of these places? Not really. But they do have sales and sometimes I’m able to “get what I need.” And what do I seem to covet most? It’s comfortable, natural-fiber, quarter-zip sweaters.

A couple of years ago when I was working full-time I was able land myself (or get my wife to give to me) a cashmere quarter-zip sweater from Patagonia. It’s a good enough sweater but, like most cashmere it’s too thin. Also, it ended up getting holes in it too fast. Still, it’s not bad. I managed to get it for half price, under Web Specials. It’s lightweight but remarkably comfortable and warm.

This year, I wanted to try it again. But I heard Lands’ End was offering a superior grade cashmere sweater. Four Inner Mongolian goats combed once a year for each one of their cashmere sweaters, so the Lands’ End catalog says. Generously, my wife gifted me this year with a Lands’ End quarter-zip cashmere sweater. Is it thicker or better than the Patagonia? It seems a bit thicker. I like it … but something struck me…. It seems cashmere is expensive and very hard to obtain. Is it worth it? Who’s to say? All I know is even the best companies offering the fiber are pretty chinsy with the weight of the cloth, although I would say Patagonia and Lands’ End are probably the best outside of the super high-end suppliers.

Really, I’ve some to the conclusion that what I’m looking for is a natural-fiber quarter-zip sweater that doesn’t itch. The answer? Merino wool. I don’t need cashmere and I can’t afford it in the weight that I want it anyway. Merino wool on the other hand is much cheaper, much more widely available and it does everything for me practically that cashmere does. Here’s what I should have ordered from Patagonia: the All-Mountain. It would have saved us $40 at least and it’s got the heft!

One more thing. I found these marvelous-looking sweaters made in New Zealand made from forest fir and merino wool. They look great. I love the eco-minded idea! Anyone try them?

Oh, yeah, and I’m also giving this year, too. Tis the season.