Current Musical Selection: Black Sabbath - Die Young

well i was just thinking about something... thought i should dedicate some space to the rest of my rambling mind for it. andrea and i were talking about the clip of Jon Stewart, from the Daily Show on Comedy Central; where he goes on Crossfire, a political show, as a guest. - link to the clip - Stewart has openly criticized the genre of political advisarial commentary shows {hardball, crossfire, buchanan and press, lehrer news hour, bill o'reilly, ad finitem}. anways, the clip starts off as funny... however, in my opinion... and sure, i might be wrong... however, it looks like Stewart really takes the offensive, and stops the role of funny man. he takes several shots at the show, its hosts [including personal attacks against Carlson] and the entire notion of a show like this; while they are asking him serious questions. as it progresses, you can see they dump to commercial early, and break it up. it just goes downhill from there in my opinion. i can see how people could find it funny... yet i didnt. had i been a producer or staffer for Crossfire, or one of the hosts, id have taken great offense at Stewarts remarks and conduct. despite that. Stewart is attempting to reprise his role as, King Apathetic Funnyman. where, humor comes at the expense of the "absurdity" of the government, and the utter contempt that he holds the political area in. thats fine. what bothered me was the question that you can see host Tucker Carlson hit at in 2 ways, and host Begalia hit at once as well... Stewart claims that shows like Crossfire, pose a moral problem, as they lack journalistic credibility; by shaking up guests with questions and rhetoric to produce sound bytes for use, or by subjigating the viewers to political "spin" which he calls known lies, that challenge the credibility of serious media outlets. its a fair contention to make on Stewarts part. however, he repeatedly approaches it with violent outburts and rudeness to his hosts, and continues to drag on the point well after it was made. ironically. in a similar manner as all other guests on the show tend to do, when they come on the show to make a point. the diference, that Stewart wants us to think is; "my show is different" his show, which "the opener for my show are puppets doing crank phone calls" is to be funny, not to be taken seriously; and Stewart chides away from taking the several serious questions the hosts put to him about his own sense of journalistic integrety [ie. as an interviewer of important candidates, should you be more responsive with appropriate and serious questions, rather than giving John Kerry a foot rub]. Stewart claims no. he says, and maybe correctly, his show is about humor. not to be taken seriously. ... ... ... so unseriously should it be taken, hes written a book; a bestseller now i must add, that reinforces his thoughts on all politics and american poltical things. my point is. Stewart is off based in whats really going on.

. link 1
. link 2

21 %, at the time, of 18-34 year olds, utilize the Daily Show as their only source of information on political candidates. framed that way, the truth is clear about who had journalistic credibility isssues to examine. my point is, that while being funny is a all well and good... at some point when people stop taking it as being funny, and take it as the truth... or as news... or as their only source of news. there comes a time, when you must shoulder some responsibility in this credibility argument. regardless of whether or not you split an hour with puppets making fart jokes. the question should have been worded to Stewart; "If you are being seen by a near majority of viewers as a serious outlet for news [assuming that those 20 some percent ONLY category and PARTIAL categories {which werent given in the poll}], do you not then, have a responsibilty to act with those same issues of journalistic credibility, that of which you accuse us to be refusing?" Stewart wouldnt answer they way they worded it. instead he continues with the "my show is on a comedy network, if you want to compare your show to a comedy show, go ahead" - as he laughs. the laughing matter for Stewart is; his show, comedy network or not, HAS become a serious outlet for many people. and denying that it is a serious outlet is just a serious aversion from the truth as the "spin alley" which he damns.... or those people that knowingly distort the truth for their own purposes... Stewart, if the truth is people see your show as a serious source, and you deny that to sell books, make ratings, etc... isnt that a rather grave distortion of the truth for your own purposes? while i dont claim to be good at ethical judgements in this situation, i would levy the question to Stewart; "if we move Crossfire to Comedy Central, does it now become a funny show?" the answer is not necessarily. but id follow him on it; "So then why is it you feel people can't take a show serious on a comedy channel?" because the truth is, on some level these people do. this is whats hurting America, as Stewart calls it. for it, i damn Stewarts show much more than i damn Crossfire. and we should. though both pose the problem for us... which is more deeply hurtful, the show we know and recognize for what it does to us? or the show we can not seem to recognize for what it is they do to us?

where the line needs to be drawn is not the question... the question is how to handle that which crosses the line of fire. Stewart thinks we shouldnt pull the trigger automatically... especially not for shows like his; but yet freely fire away at shows like Crossfire. i think the integrity issue is plauging him. id open up on him, as he stands firmly on the wrong side of the line in the sand. his show, has crossed that line; probably unintentionally, but he hasn't made any move back across... instead, these books, these speeches, these apperances only solidify his position over there. and it is with the stick in the sand that we envision conflict in this country. i may have made the mistake as well, using that illustration; however, this very illustration proves that the line moves. the only thing that stays a constant is how to handle what comes over the line. ethically speaking, i feel that Stewart, who does reasonably know of the serious impact his show has, does have an ethical obligation, to act in response and in accordance with that knowledge. just like we as children look up to others; we must know that the examples they set for us are right in all instances, becasue one day, with one slip, we might be modeling the wrong behavior. and that is why as adults, we tell our children not to lie, not to steal, and not to harm; problem is when the children see us break those rules we've always told them about. Stewart, in making royalities, contractual dollars, speaking fees, and the like, from this; has an obligation to stop acting with this ruse, and begin accepting the truth. funny men, get taken seriously. Bill Mahr did this 5 to 10 years ago, throughout the 1990s. Johnny Carson did this with his Tonight Show through out the 1980s. Beloushi and Akroyd did this with Weekend Update in the late 1970's. not a one of these men have lived their lives since deluding themselves that they couldnt have been taken seriously. just as if i were in Stewarts shoes, i would be a bit more careful, and give more thought, to what is done, knowing that so many people see this show as a serious show. and really, how different is Stewarts show than Crossfire? he too produces soundbytes that he pushes to the masses for his views... he calls it a punchline, they call it politics; but its all in the delivery. its time Jon Stewart realized this. someday, Stewart may see the terrible price hes taken out, $29.95 at a time, on an impresionable core of citizens, and that is no laughing matter.

some random thoughts on Anthrax/Dio...

. Dio, youve made shit tons of money, stop with the no picture requirement at shows. really. and dont have them try to steal my camera as i come in the door. thats just lame.

. its sad when 25 dollar concert tshirts are the cheapest prices youve seen in a few years. however, when stores charge the same price, for non concert shirts, im gladly stuffing my cash in the hand of the 'Thrax.

. security guards who are cool to you are the shit... security guards that are cruel to you are shit. yeah fatboy, i came back, and yeah you got too close to me and the rail during Deathrider

. band members that appearantly have something better to do sunday nights, 2000 miles away from civilization as they know it, are full of crap. those band memeber cool enough to go to a bar later on have forever made my coollist.. even if they drop a crapbomb as a next album.

. charlie runs fast. so fast that he evaded most of the crowd. and me from getting my freakin autograph. however, scotty ian took every devil horn i threw at him jumping around on the rail. rob too, he just gave me a silent "fuck yeah", as ian just tried playing chords with devil horns back for our mob on the rail. very fucking cool.

. john bush is getting close to being a god. even not withstanding the 'fat man that knows every lyrics' comment, youre still the shit pal.

. running around the pit, taking out old Dio Farts, to the tune of 'Thrax's Caught In A Mosh; is fun.

. hearing songs you havent heard in 5 years, live, is a nifty surprise.. 'Thrax rules for those presents like Antisocial. Deathrider!!!! What Can Not Die. and Ronnie Dio... holy shit. Sign of The Southern Cross. AND Heaven and Hell. not to mention Stargazer, Gates of Babylon. aaaaaand Man On The Silver Mountain. nice work.

. faggot kids pushing me trying to power bounce to Dio were lucky they didnt die. if mommy wasnt wearing leather pants i might have dragged your Hershey-filled asses to the pit with the real men.

. well... any fucking kids trying to mosh or power bounce to Dio is just wrong, now that i think about it.

. Goldy. stop with the gay-porn faces while making guitar solos. its creepy. beyond creepy. and rudy... man no one came to see you. diddo on the drum solo for 8 minutes. yes, i looked at my watched several times during it.

. going all out for Anthrax's hour long power set, then 2 freakin hours of Dio. then waaay too long at the bar, plus the 3 hour drive home [by myself], really isnt good when you work less than 2 hours after you get home. any customers in those first 4 hours or so, i appologize.

some random pictures that i took AFTER the concert was over, and later on. enjoy.

gotta love the handwritten goodness of professional metal endeavors. 

scott warren... keyboard player for Dio... cool guy really.. he and i talked alot about music theory in metal... he knows his shit. and his wine. yah. jagger and booze for the rest. wine for him. 

the devistation left over from a Dio/Anthrax double bill... some of those beer bottle are mine... i think. 

Janis, Em and me hanging out at the bar [they are 1/2 of Fireball Ministry, the opening band] here were getting yelled at for being "too fuckin rowdy"