...on another note...

after getting back from dc, was doing some news reading and came across this special series in the New York Times. yah yah, i know you have to register, but i thought it was really interesting.

basically a whole section on what class means nowadays in the US. interesting to see how they break down the elements of class as they see it these days, by occupational prestige, income, savings and education. one of the things that particularly struck me was this Where do You Fit In? section. a bachelor's degree alone puts you ahead of the educational level of 75% of the population, tied with people from 75-90.

i'll admit to being baffled on some of the occupational prestige rankings though. they got it from census data, so i guess it's pretty representative, but what does it say that judges have about the same prestige as podiatrists? bizarre. don't get me wrong, feet are really important, but the judiciary is arguably the backbone of our government. and i do sort of object to software engineers having lower prestige than DBA's and network analysts. maybe next time 'round i'll get a census and can get these things corrected.

and it's also interesting when they talk about the fact that obvious indicators of 'class' have changed so much now. it's much easier nowadays for more people to get the everyday trappings of wealth that used to be unavailable to all but the richest few. as they said at one point, 50% of the people now have the kind of things that 5% used to have. that's good, but considering the other article in there regarding the massive differences in health care treatment and life expectancy, sort of window trimming on serious underlying problems.

i'll come back down off my soapbox now. go and take a read, maybe you'll find it interesting.

back in it

i was informed this weekend that i've been neglecting my blog... which is definitely true enough.

so, let me get back in to it, on the Handsome Boy Modeling School.


definitely a show to look forward to. i thought the Lovage CD ("Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By") was fantastic, and the first HBMS cd was also really good. the second one i wasn't as excited about, but still like it a good deal. Dan the Automator and Prince Paul are excellent producers, and definitely have some pull getting talented artists to colloborate on their work.

but it seems that being a good producer does not necessarily imply good performances. IMO, it's a lot harder for performers to transmit their energy to the audience when they're messing about with their equipment, and this was definitely an example of that. both DA and PP spent most of the songs at the decks or on their computers, at the back of the stage, and couldn't really interact with the crowd while doing so... they did have a band playing with them (the first opener, whose name i've forgotten) who were good, but didn't save it.

all that said though, there were definitely some really entertaining bits of their set. first of all, they set up a bar on stage left, with bartender, and all the people on stage went and got a drink or two during the set. they spent a good bit of time not singing, but doing on-stage some of the same kind of interludes that they've got on their cd's... some really funny, some not so. one of the best was having a makeover of three audience members, who came out as: the Blue Man group. but all in all, i go to shows for the extra energy that a live performance gives to music i've often already heard, and this didn't quite get there.

even with that though, the evening was definitely not a loss. the first opener was ok, although i thought they did a better job playing with HBMS then on their own. but the real success story of the evening was k-os, a canadian rapper who's been near the top of my personal favorites list for a good bit now since fabian introduced me to his cd. his stuff ranges from pretty old-school sounding hip-hop (think tribe, de la, etc) to some fairly hard rocking songs, to r&b. good range, and he put on a hell of a show with a great back-up band. bought his newest cd the next day, and it's very good. my only disappointment in it is that it sounds like the band he played with is mainly a touring one, as it doesn't sound like them on the cd. bummer, because the bass player played an amazing set, and the guitarist was top notch as well.