PinkPop

Watched PinkPop on tv yesterday. A short review: Millionnaire (belgian group, seriously deranged singer), Macy Gray (dressed in pink, great band, great voice), Lamb (intrigueing tshink-ploink-ploink-squeek-thud with attitude) and Gomez (noisy yet melodic; these guys look creepishly normal!) were pretty good; Alien Ant Farm (yuk), System Of A Down (yukketie) and Rammstein (yukketie yuk) sucked all the way.
(Hate to admit it but: Lenny Kravitz sounded pretty funky too)

ZappaWeen

More info on ZappaWeen, the Halloween NYC concert, can be found at Terry Bozzio’s site as he’s agreed to take on the musical director hat for this Frank Zappa tribute of next October 31. Steve Vai and Patrick O’hearn have also agreed to join in (so far).
What’s more: the site is inviting you to submit songs you’d like to see performed that night. Songs already suggested can be found on this page.

Big John Wants Your Reading List

John Ashcroft’s recent USA Patriot Act apparently “grants FBI agents across the country breathtaking authority to obtain an order from the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] court … requiring any person or business to produce any books, records, documents, or items.”
The FBI, armed with a warrant or subpoena from the FISA court, can demand from bookstores and libraries the names of books bought or borrowed by anyone suspected of involvement in “international terrorism” or “clandestine activities.”
Franz Kafka, here we come!

The Basic Building Block of the Universe

Have you ever pondered about stupidity? Me: every time, specially when I see something I like, that is really stupid (“I can’t post that, Barry would kick my ass…! hey, I’ll do it anyway :-) For luck, the subject of stupidity has had a significant body of research. And a book on the subject has just been published: “Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid”. Check it out, none of us is immune… :-)

Dangerous Toy in the Shelves

Veggie Tales Corporation, the children’s toys company, has unscrupulously released “Larry, The Battery Powered Cucumber”. “Christian experts believe that, like Mr. Potato Head, this could be yet another attempt by liberals to force their evil “tolerance” into True Christian homes.” A link is provided to purchase & burn the, let’s say, “toy”. If you are a true believer, give a hand to get rid of the evilish filth!