The Guitartown Top Albums of 2004
Rank Points Artist Album
1 136 Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose
2 119 Marah 20.000 Leagues Under The Sky
3 116 DBT's The Dirty South
4 105 Wilco A Ghost Is Born
5 97 Brian Wilson Smile
6 90 James McMurtry Live in Aught 03
6 90 Tres Chicas Sweetwater
8 88 Tift Merritt Tambourine
9 85 Kevn Kinney Star Tangled Angel Revival
10 54 Jon Dee Graham The Great Battle
----------------------------------------------------------------
11 51 The Avett Brothers Mignonette
12 50 $2 Pistols Hands Up
12 50 Buddy Miller Universal Life Church
12 50 Steve Earle The Revolution Starts Now
15 47 Bobby Bare Jr At The End Of Your Leash
16 45 The Thrills Lets Bottle Bohemia
16 45 The Gourds Blood Of The Ram
18 40 The Sadies Favourite Colours
19 39 Elvis Costello Delivery Man
20 37 Por Vida A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo
20 37 Allison Moorer The Duel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22 36 Chris Stamey Travels In The South
22 36 45's High Life Volume
24 35 Camper Van Beethoven New Roman Times
24 35 Modest Mouse Good News For people Who Like Bad News
26 35 2 Cow Garage Wall Against Our Back
27 31 The Comas Conductor
28 30 Todd Snider East Nashville Skyline
28 30 Morrissey You Are The Quarry
28 30 Finn Brothers Everyone Is Here
28 30 Tony Joe White Heroines
32 25 U2 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
33 24 Old Crow Medicine Show OCMS
34 23 Touch My heart A Tribute To Johnny Paycheck
35 20 Chuck Prophet Age Of Miracles
35 20 Jesse Malin The Heat
35 20 Jolie Holland Escondido
35 20 Luna Rendezvous
35 20 Dave Alvin Ashgrove
35 20 Paul Westerberg Folker
35 20 David Kilgour Frozen Orange
35 20 Country Soul Revue Testifying
35 20 Rebecca Martin People Behave Like Ballads
35 20 Elliot Smith From A Basement On The Hill
45 16 Patty Griffin Impossible Dream
46 15 Snow Patrol The Final Straw
46 15 Rilo Kiley More Adventurous
46 15 Prince Musicology
46 15 Bleeding Hearts Stayin After Class
46 15 Vibekillers Live From The Brewery
46 15 Bobby Charles Last Train To Memphis
46 15 Fivehead Guests Of The Nation
46 15 David Childers Room #23
46 15 Nick Cave Abbattoir Blues/Lyre Of The Orpheus
46 15 Patty Scialfa 23rd St Lullaby
46 15 Darrell Scott Live In NC
46 15 REM Around The Sun
58 12 Lil Capn Travis In All Their Splendor
Saturday, January 01, 2005
From washingtonpost.com:
Look Back in Anger
The Big Studios Provided Chagrined Moviegoers With Major Disappointment
By Stephen Hunter
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Footballed unto numbness, turkeyed beyond bloat and yet not quite unconscious, my girlfriend and I staggered to a video shop early Thanksgiving evening -- well, I staggered, she glided. Like millions of Americans in those circumstances, we thought a movie would be the perfect ending to an excellent day. But I had a professional agenda as well: Since my job attendance record this year had been somewhat spotty, I looked for a chance to catch up on some of the important films I missed while I had my nose buried in a book project.
I knew what I wanted. Nothing rigorous. I didn't need to be provoked, challenged, disturbed -- not with that much tryptophan loose in my system. No, I wanted to be entertained. I wanted from Hollywood what Hollywood has sold the world for almost a century: a solid piece of fun, well crafted, bright, adventurous, and whether I remembered it tomorrow or next year wasn't the issue. The issue was: Would it take me while it was on screen? Like any moviegoer, I yearned to be seduced and pleasured.
I must have prowled the racks for an hour, and indeed I found exactly what I wanted. It took me places, made me feel love, deceit, redemption, showed me a woman I yearned for and a man I yearned to be, and sent me to bed refreshed, as if I'd just had a fabulous vacation. And here's the cool part. Jean loved it, too. It brought us together, didn't drive us apart (as my choices -- Japanese, lots of sword-fighting -- usually do). We agreed for once: That's entertainment in the grown-up sense, a vehicle that fused glamour, wit, beauty, comedy, love and a cool city in one sleek package.
Alas, the movie in question was made in 1953.
William Wyler's "Roman Holiday," with Gregory Peck and the very young Audrey Hepburn, is not a great movie, but it's a great Hollywood movie. It felt like it lasted 20 minutes, and yet when it was over, the sun had set and it was time for Letterman.
That's the good news: They used to know how to make 'em.
Here's the bad news: They forgot.
You can look at the release schedule for 2004 and the sad reality soon announces itself. This was the year Hollywood crashed and burned.
That's not to say there weren't a very few good movies. The best seem to have been made in Asia, however; and of the American entries, the best were made in spite of, outside of, far away from or were irrelevant to Hollywood. They were indies or semi-indies, made by people who knew Hollywood didn't offer what they wanted. If they got a little Hollywood money, they took off for the hills and made their films far from the eyes of accountants and studio creative executives.
What's going on? Is this radical? Is this a worse year than last year or the year before? Those were pretty bad years too, come to think of it. But this year, a few unique conditions may have contributed to the general wreckage strewn across the landscape.
For one thing, the industry was too obsessed with politics and the holy crusade of keeping President Bush from returning to the White House. Too many movies had an ominous political undertone as this or that deep thinker advised us of their serious concerns. The brain-dead "Manchurian Candidate" is one such bad picture. Really, who needed this dim remake of a classic? Oh, Jonathan Demme, the director, and that's all. Another was that awful stormy-weather movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," about the world ending in flood, snow, earthquake, tornado and bad dialogue.
Or possibly the town was too obsessed with CGI, looking for new ways to computer-paint robot armies hellbent on conquering Earth, as in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" or "I, Robot," or ancient battles among computer-replicated armies, as in "Troy" and "King Arthur." Haven't they realized we've reached the robot and battle threshold? How about monsters of ego, how about Iagos and Long John Silvers and even Goldfingers, for crying out loud. After all, you just need a script and an actor, not $9.2 million in software.
Perhaps the people running the business are too young. I understand that the youth market is the more reliable audience today, and that young executives would know it better than old executives. But there's still something to be said about the acquired wisdom of age, experience and taste. How nice to see a movie made by someone who knows who won World War II. Maybe it's the youth-exec phenomenon that explains the profusion of ever-drearier yet more witless comedies like "Jersey Girl" or "Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" or the excrescence known to Planet Earth as "Raising Helen."
Or perhaps the big-hit mentality has completely taken over; that one giant hit makes careers, buys not second homes but third, fourth and fifth homes; means you always get your phone calls returned and that you can always get work . . . well, "always" in the sense of "until October." Still, you become a player by greenlighting a hundred-million-dollar picture and you stay one by greenlighting another. Who can blame them if the dollar signs de-IQ the boys and girls? "Troy" comes to mind, as do "Alexander" and "The Alamo," but you don't need old-fashioned battles to lose a ton of dough. What about "Ladder 49" and "Exorcist: The Beginning"?
But what do I know? Obviously, nothing. I'm no player. I'm at this end of the business, not that end, and that's where I'm content to stay. The one time I tried to work that end, a long story not worth telling, I failed miserably, so clearly I know nothing.
For whatever reason, a systemic breakdown or the random drift of molecules in the universe . . . Lord, did the American movies of 2004 stink.
It wasn't until March 19 that a good American movie even opened. Up till then and for a long while after, it was just, you know, biz as usual. The distinctive "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" saw light of day that month, from the pen of always interesting Charlie Kaufman, and it was the first film that could be said to be so original that it failed on the strength of its brilliance, not its banalities. Though it had major stars (Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey), it was as far from computer-generated and teen-friendly as possible: How on Earth do you pitch a story about a machine that wipes out love memories to make pain go away, except that the mind-wiped lovers always find each other and begin again? Even with Jim Carrey starring, the only pitch could be "The guy who did 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation' wants to make another strange movie."
Meanwhile, our vaunted Best Directors were uniformly disappointing us. Spielberg's "The Terminal" was a little better than okay, even with Tom Hanks aboard. M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" was a major embarrassment. Like, who didn't figure out the big twist by Minute 34? "Spider-Man 2" wasn't as good as "Spider-Man," and most who saw it forgot it by lunch the next day, but it was a little bit better than all right.
Possibly the most ridiculous entry of a major studio was "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," heralded as a major breakthrough; it turned out to be not a parody of a '30s aviation adventure serial but an actual '30s aviation serial! And whose bright idea was that? Oh, the guy running the deep fat fryer at the Encino Mickey Dee's? Figures.
Another American delight that cost one-hundredth the doughnut budget of "Sky Captain," and was easily 200 times as entertaining, was "Napoleon Dynamite." Hmmm, a movie with no "elements," as they say, nothing but talent and energy, made for a lot less than a single million in, of all places, Idaho? Why, it's unthinkable, but thank God director Jared Hess and star Jon Heder missed all the meetings and just went ahead and made their movie.
Then there was what I thought the best American movie of the year: again, small, unheralded except among the cognoscenti, completely out of the Hollywood mainstream. This was Alexander Payne's "Sideways," the story of a grumpy, self-loathing oenophile who goes with a buddy on a tour of California's wine country and has to confront his own failure, his repression, his deep sense of regret about his life. Paul Giamatti starred, brilliantly, and the movie was small, sad, human . . . and oh so funny.
Still, taken as a whole, the really big news this year seems to come from Asia. Four Asian movies offered the combination of sweep, glamour, excitement, grit and guts that used to be the standard product of Hollywood.
The first of them, Yoji Yamada's "Twilight Samurai," had the look and feel of a late-'50s western, sturdy of story construction, intimate of emotion and psychology, fast and vivid in action and dramatically satisfying. Then came another Japanese picture, Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman," a fabulous big-scale entertainment of a sort that H-wood seems so unable to produce. The story, based on a long-running movie series, followed a blind masseur with extraordinary sword skills as he cleans up a town with the usual suspects -- corrupt officials, angry sword slingers, bandits and prostitutes. It was followed up by an Asian picture even bigger, wider and deeper: Zhang Yimou's "Hero," which, while politically problematic (it seemed to be pro-Mao, an odd tone for a man like Zhang who'd gotten in much trouble with the regime), offered exactly the kind of big-movie thrills the American industry had turned to their computer screens to replicate.
Then Zhang came out with what I believe to be the year's best picture, not merely big and stunning but romantic and compelling at the same time, a fusion of action and romance, of love turned sour and vengeance unleashed, of youthful heroics as driven forward by a great star performance (Ziyi Zhang, call your agent), called "The House of Flying Daggers."
Surely America's industry bottomed out at Thanksgiving, when a double whammy of Oliver Stone's stultifying, stupefying "Alexander" was released, along with the nasty and nonsensical "Christmas With the Kranks." Audiences to Hollywood: Drop Dead. Everybody needed a medicinal dose of "Roman Holiday" to come back from that lost period.
As things now stand, only two American films can redeem the already lost year. But last time out, Martin Scorsese came a cropper with his beloved "Gangs of New York." Can he recoup his and Hollywood's reputation with a biopic on Howard Hughes, "The Aviator," starring the unlovable Leonardo DiCaprio? (Hint: yes.) Then there's the eccentric Wes Anderson, last repped by the delirious "Royal Tenenbaums." He checks in with a second dysfunctional family opus, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," which is set underwater, among other places. Let's hope Wes delivers.
And let's hope next year is better.
Look Back in Anger
The Big Studios Provided Chagrined Moviegoers With Major Disappointment
By Stephen Hunter
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Footballed unto numbness, turkeyed beyond bloat and yet not quite unconscious, my girlfriend and I staggered to a video shop early Thanksgiving evening -- well, I staggered, she glided. Like millions of Americans in those circumstances, we thought a movie would be the perfect ending to an excellent day. But I had a professional agenda as well: Since my job attendance record this year had been somewhat spotty, I looked for a chance to catch up on some of the important films I missed while I had my nose buried in a book project.
I knew what I wanted. Nothing rigorous. I didn't need to be provoked, challenged, disturbed -- not with that much tryptophan loose in my system. No, I wanted to be entertained. I wanted from Hollywood what Hollywood has sold the world for almost a century: a solid piece of fun, well crafted, bright, adventurous, and whether I remembered it tomorrow or next year wasn't the issue. The issue was: Would it take me while it was on screen? Like any moviegoer, I yearned to be seduced and pleasured.
I must have prowled the racks for an hour, and indeed I found exactly what I wanted. It took me places, made me feel love, deceit, redemption, showed me a woman I yearned for and a man I yearned to be, and sent me to bed refreshed, as if I'd just had a fabulous vacation. And here's the cool part. Jean loved it, too. It brought us together, didn't drive us apart (as my choices -- Japanese, lots of sword-fighting -- usually do). We agreed for once: That's entertainment in the grown-up sense, a vehicle that fused glamour, wit, beauty, comedy, love and a cool city in one sleek package.
Alas, the movie in question was made in 1953.
William Wyler's "Roman Holiday," with Gregory Peck and the very young Audrey Hepburn, is not a great movie, but it's a great Hollywood movie. It felt like it lasted 20 minutes, and yet when it was over, the sun had set and it was time for Letterman.
That's the good news: They used to know how to make 'em.
Here's the bad news: They forgot.
You can look at the release schedule for 2004 and the sad reality soon announces itself. This was the year Hollywood crashed and burned.
That's not to say there weren't a very few good movies. The best seem to have been made in Asia, however; and of the American entries, the best were made in spite of, outside of, far away from or were irrelevant to Hollywood. They were indies or semi-indies, made by people who knew Hollywood didn't offer what they wanted. If they got a little Hollywood money, they took off for the hills and made their films far from the eyes of accountants and studio creative executives.
What's going on? Is this radical? Is this a worse year than last year or the year before? Those were pretty bad years too, come to think of it. But this year, a few unique conditions may have contributed to the general wreckage strewn across the landscape.
For one thing, the industry was too obsessed with politics and the holy crusade of keeping President Bush from returning to the White House. Too many movies had an ominous political undertone as this or that deep thinker advised us of their serious concerns. The brain-dead "Manchurian Candidate" is one such bad picture. Really, who needed this dim remake of a classic? Oh, Jonathan Demme, the director, and that's all. Another was that awful stormy-weather movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," about the world ending in flood, snow, earthquake, tornado and bad dialogue.
Or possibly the town was too obsessed with CGI, looking for new ways to computer-paint robot armies hellbent on conquering Earth, as in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" or "I, Robot," or ancient battles among computer-replicated armies, as in "Troy" and "King Arthur." Haven't they realized we've reached the robot and battle threshold? How about monsters of ego, how about Iagos and Long John Silvers and even Goldfingers, for crying out loud. After all, you just need a script and an actor, not $9.2 million in software.
Perhaps the people running the business are too young. I understand that the youth market is the more reliable audience today, and that young executives would know it better than old executives. But there's still something to be said about the acquired wisdom of age, experience and taste. How nice to see a movie made by someone who knows who won World War II. Maybe it's the youth-exec phenomenon that explains the profusion of ever-drearier yet more witless comedies like "Jersey Girl" or "Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" or the excrescence known to Planet Earth as "Raising Helen."
Or perhaps the big-hit mentality has completely taken over; that one giant hit makes careers, buys not second homes but third, fourth and fifth homes; means you always get your phone calls returned and that you can always get work . . . well, "always" in the sense of "until October." Still, you become a player by greenlighting a hundred-million-dollar picture and you stay one by greenlighting another. Who can blame them if the dollar signs de-IQ the boys and girls? "Troy" comes to mind, as do "Alexander" and "The Alamo," but you don't need old-fashioned battles to lose a ton of dough. What about "Ladder 49" and "Exorcist: The Beginning"?
But what do I know? Obviously, nothing. I'm no player. I'm at this end of the business, not that end, and that's where I'm content to stay. The one time I tried to work that end, a long story not worth telling, I failed miserably, so clearly I know nothing.
For whatever reason, a systemic breakdown or the random drift of molecules in the universe . . . Lord, did the American movies of 2004 stink.
It wasn't until March 19 that a good American movie even opened. Up till then and for a long while after, it was just, you know, biz as usual. The distinctive "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" saw light of day that month, from the pen of always interesting Charlie Kaufman, and it was the first film that could be said to be so original that it failed on the strength of its brilliance, not its banalities. Though it had major stars (Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey), it was as far from computer-generated and teen-friendly as possible: How on Earth do you pitch a story about a machine that wipes out love memories to make pain go away, except that the mind-wiped lovers always find each other and begin again? Even with Jim Carrey starring, the only pitch could be "The guy who did 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation' wants to make another strange movie."
Meanwhile, our vaunted Best Directors were uniformly disappointing us. Spielberg's "The Terminal" was a little better than okay, even with Tom Hanks aboard. M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" was a major embarrassment. Like, who didn't figure out the big twist by Minute 34? "Spider-Man 2" wasn't as good as "Spider-Man," and most who saw it forgot it by lunch the next day, but it was a little bit better than all right.
Possibly the most ridiculous entry of a major studio was "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," heralded as a major breakthrough; it turned out to be not a parody of a '30s aviation adventure serial but an actual '30s aviation serial! And whose bright idea was that? Oh, the guy running the deep fat fryer at the Encino Mickey Dee's? Figures.
Another American delight that cost one-hundredth the doughnut budget of "Sky Captain," and was easily 200 times as entertaining, was "Napoleon Dynamite." Hmmm, a movie with no "elements," as they say, nothing but talent and energy, made for a lot less than a single million in, of all places, Idaho? Why, it's unthinkable, but thank God director Jared Hess and star Jon Heder missed all the meetings and just went ahead and made their movie.
Then there was what I thought the best American movie of the year: again, small, unheralded except among the cognoscenti, completely out of the Hollywood mainstream. This was Alexander Payne's "Sideways," the story of a grumpy, self-loathing oenophile who goes with a buddy on a tour of California's wine country and has to confront his own failure, his repression, his deep sense of regret about his life. Paul Giamatti starred, brilliantly, and the movie was small, sad, human . . . and oh so funny.
Still, taken as a whole, the really big news this year seems to come from Asia. Four Asian movies offered the combination of sweep, glamour, excitement, grit and guts that used to be the standard product of Hollywood.
The first of them, Yoji Yamada's "Twilight Samurai," had the look and feel of a late-'50s western, sturdy of story construction, intimate of emotion and psychology, fast and vivid in action and dramatically satisfying. Then came another Japanese picture, Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman," a fabulous big-scale entertainment of a sort that H-wood seems so unable to produce. The story, based on a long-running movie series, followed a blind masseur with extraordinary sword skills as he cleans up a town with the usual suspects -- corrupt officials, angry sword slingers, bandits and prostitutes. It was followed up by an Asian picture even bigger, wider and deeper: Zhang Yimou's "Hero," which, while politically problematic (it seemed to be pro-Mao, an odd tone for a man like Zhang who'd gotten in much trouble with the regime), offered exactly the kind of big-movie thrills the American industry had turned to their computer screens to replicate.
Then Zhang came out with what I believe to be the year's best picture, not merely big and stunning but romantic and compelling at the same time, a fusion of action and romance, of love turned sour and vengeance unleashed, of youthful heroics as driven forward by a great star performance (Ziyi Zhang, call your agent), called "The House of Flying Daggers."
Surely America's industry bottomed out at Thanksgiving, when a double whammy of Oliver Stone's stultifying, stupefying "Alexander" was released, along with the nasty and nonsensical "Christmas With the Kranks." Audiences to Hollywood: Drop Dead. Everybody needed a medicinal dose of "Roman Holiday" to come back from that lost period.
As things now stand, only two American films can redeem the already lost year. But last time out, Martin Scorsese came a cropper with his beloved "Gangs of New York." Can he recoup his and Hollywood's reputation with a biopic on Howard Hughes, "The Aviator," starring the unlovable Leonardo DiCaprio? (Hint: yes.) Then there's the eccentric Wes Anderson, last repped by the delirious "Royal Tenenbaums." He checks in with a second dysfunctional family opus, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," which is set underwater, among other places. Let's hope Wes delivers.
And let's hope next year is better.
No Depression Board Top 200 Albums of 2004
Artist / Title / Total Pts.
1) Drive By Truckers/Dirty South 201
2) Loretta Lynn/Van Lear Rose 144
3) Brian Wilson/Smile 117
4) Wilco/A Ghost is Born 109
5) Steve Earle/The Revolution Starts Now 106
6) Green Day: American Idiot 92
7) Neko Case/The Tigers Have Spoken 82
8) Tift Merritt/Tambourine 74
9) Bobby Bare Jr./From the End of Your Leash 73
10) U2/How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 71
11) Grant Lee Phillips/Virginia Creeper 70
12) Buddy Miller / Universal United House Of Prayer 69
13) Jon Dee Graham/The Great Battle 65
14) R.E.M./Around the Sun 64
15) Honeydogs/10,000 Years 60
16) Dave Alvin / Ashgrove 53
Marah/20,000 Streets Under the Sky 53
17) Elvis Costello & The Impostors/The Delivery Man 50
18) Old 97’s / Drag It Up 48
19) Nellie McKay/Get Away from Me 45
20) A.C. Newman/The Slow Wonder 42
Tres Chicas/Sweetwater 42
22) Tom Waits/Real Gone 39
23) Elliott Smith / From A Basement On A Hill 35
24) Los Lobos/The Ride 35
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters 35
Will Johnson/Vultures Await 35
27) Anders Parker/Tell It to the Dust 34
28) American Music Club/Love Songs for Patriots 33
29) Guided by Voices/Half Smiles of the Decomposed 32
30) Mark Lanegan/ Bubblegum 30
31) Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers/Americano! 30
32) Slaid Cleaves / Wishbones 26
33) Chuck Prophet / Age of Miracles 26
34) Finn Brothers/Everyone Is Here 25
35) Old Crow Medicine Show 25
36) Nick Cave/Abbatoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus 25
37) Mendoza Line/Fortune 25
38) Various / Touch My Heart:Johnny Paycheck Tribute 24
39) Franz Ferdinand - self-titled 22
40) Two Cow Garage/Wall Against Our Backs 21
41) Chris Stamey/Travels in the New South 21
42) Gourds/Blood of the Ram 20
43) Holmes Brothers/ Simple Truths 20
Iris Dement-Lifeline 20
45) Camper Van Beethoven/New Roman Times 20
Country Soul Revue--Testifying 20
Nancy Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra 20
Ray Lamontagne - Trouble 20
49) Preston School of Industry/Monsoon 19
Sloan/Action Pact 19
51) Alison Moorer /The Duel 18
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News 18
Patti Scialfa / 23rd Street Lullaby 18
54) Arcade Fire - Funeral 17
Calexico - Convict Pool EP 17
Doug Gillard/Salamander 17
Jason Ringenberg/Empire Builders 17
58) Daniel Wylie: Ramshackle Beauty 16
James McMurtry / Live In Aught-Three 16
Li’l Cap’n Travis/ In All Their Splendor 16
61) Trash Can Sinatras/Weightlifting 15
Sadies / Favourite Colors 15
Michael Meanwhile/Self Titled 15
Interpol/Antics 15
65) Black 47 / New York Town 15
k.d. lang /Hymns of the 49th Parallel 15
Dale Watson/Dreamland 15
68) Bobby Charles/Last Train To Memphis 15
Perfect/ Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe 15
Social Distortion/ Sex, Love and Rock & Roll 15
71) Kasey Chambers / Wayward Angel 14
72) DJ Danger Mouse/The Grey Album (bootleg) 14
Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse 14
74) Jon Langford/All the Fame of Lofty Deeds 13
75) Alison Krauss-Lonely Runs Both Ways 13
Cowboy Jack Clements/Guess Things Happen That Way 13
Jay Farrar/Stone, Steel, and Bright Lights 13
Ron Sexsmith, Retriever 13
79) Amber Digby/Music from the Honkytonks 12
Andre Ethier/With Christopher Sandes featuring Pickles and Price 12
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days 12
82) Grey DeLisle / The Graceful Ghost 11
Okkervil River/Sleep and Wake Up Songs 11
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her 11
Snow Patrol / Final Straw 11
86)Paul Westerberg/Folker 10
87) I See Hawks In LA/Grapevine 10
88) Aberfeldy/ Young Forever 10
Alecia Nugent/Self titled 10
Alejandro Escovedo/Por Vida Live Fan Club Album 10
Blanche / If We Can't Trust The Doctors . . . 10
Candy Butchers / Hang On Mike 10
Chris Whitley/War Crime Blues 10
Concretes /The Concretes 10
Earlimart - Treble and Tremble 10
Etienne Daho /Réevolution 10
Eugene Edwards / My Favorite Revolution 10
Fiery Furnaces/Blueberry Boat 10
Flogging Molly/Within a Mile of Home 10
Go! Team /Thunder, Lightning, Strike 10
Grupo Fantasma/Movimiento Popular (Aire Sol) 10
Gurf Morlix / Cut ‘N Shoot 10
Hall and Oates/Our Kind of Soul 10
Hope of the States /The Lost Riots 10
Incubus – A Crow Left of the Murder 10
Jamie Hoover/Bill Lloyd, "Paparazzi" 10
Jimmy Buffett/License to Chill 10
Jimmy Eat World – Futures 10
John Fogerty/Deja Vu All Over Again 10
Lambchop/Aw C'mon 10
Lambchop/No, You C'mon 10
Lloyd Cole/Music In A Foreign Language 10
M's/ The M's 10
M83 / Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts 10
Martha Davis – So The Story Goes 10
Mavis Staples-/Have A Little Faith 10
Morrissey: You Are The Quarry 10
My Morning Jacket-It Still Moves 10
Otis Taylor / Double V 10
Percy Sledge--Shining Through the Rain 10
Pete Yorn – Live From New Jersey 10
Polyphonic Spree/Together We're Heavy 10
Richard Buckner / Dents and Shells 10
Richmond Fontaine /Post to Wire 10
Rilo Kiley: More Adventerous 10
Rosavelt-Age of Gasoline 10
Silos: When The Telephone Rings 10
Various Artists/Por Vida: Alejandro Escovedo Tribute 10
Walkmen /Bows & Arrows 10
Zutons/ Who Killed the Zutons? 10
131) Air/Talkie Walkie 9
Cornell Hurd Band/Cen Tex Serenade 9
Damnwells/Bastards of the Beat 9
Jason Mraz / Tonight, Not Again 9
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter/ Oh, My Girl 9
Killers / Hot Fuss 9
Matthew Sweet/Kimi Ga Suki 9
Robyn Hitchcock/Spooked 9
Stan Ridgway/Snakebite 9
Velvet Crush/Stereo Blues 9
Zero 7/When It Falls 9
142) Beastie Boys/To The 5 Boroughs 8
BR549/Tangled in the Pines 8
Devendra Banhart - Nino Rojo 8
Garrison Starr/Airstreams & Satellites 8
Johnny Cash / Life 8
Michelle Anthony/Stand Fall Repeat 8
Mutual Admiration Society, Self Titled 8
Patti Smith/trampin' 8
150) Bernadette Seacrest/No More Music by the Suckers 7
Diana Krall, "The Girl In The Other Room" 7
Dirk Powell/ Time Again 7
Eric Ambel/Knucklehead 7
Features/ Exhibit A 7
Frames/Set List 7
Glenn Tilbrook, "Transatlantic Ping Pong" 7
Kanye West/The College Dropout 7
Luna/Rendezvous 7
Ron Williams/Natural Thing 7
160) Brian Wilson-Getting’ In Over My Head 6
Dios/Dios 6
John Fahey-The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick 6
Justin Trevino/Too Many Heartaches 6
Lisa Mychols/Sweet Sinsations 6
Reigning Sound/Too Much Guitar 6
Shams-Please Yourself 6
Various Artists/Enjoy Every Sandwich: Warren Zevon Tribute 6
168) Anne McCue - Roll 5
Ben Kweller/On My Way 5
Black Keys/ Rubber Factory 5
Blasters - Going Home 5
Burning Brides: Leave No Ashes 5
David Byrne / Grown Backwards 5
Delgados: Universal Audio 5
Duran Duran/Astronaut 5
Elected / Me First 5
Ellis Hooks--Uncomplicated 5
Gomez/Split the Difference 5
Hanson/Underneath 5
Joanna Newsom/The Milk Eyed Mender 5
Joe West/South Dakota Hairdo 5
Kings of Convenience/Riot on an Empty Street 5
Leonard Cohen/Dear Heather 5
Marianne Faithfull - Before the Poison 5
Mark Chesnutt/Saving the Honky Tonks 5
Mosquitos/Sunshine Barato 5
Norah Jones, "Feels Like Home" 5
NRBQ/Dummy 5
Ollabelle / Ollabelle 5
Prince/Musicology 5
Sondre Lerche / Two Way Monologue 5
Soundtrack/ Ocean's 12 5
Soundtrack/Napoleon Dynamite 5
Southern Culture on the Skids/Mojo Box 5
Tad Robinson--Did You Ever Wonder? 5
Todd Snider/East Nashville Skyline 5
Van Hunt--Van Hunt 5
Waxwings/Let's Make Our Descent 5
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles 5
200) Jolie Holland/Escondida 0
Artist / Title / Total Pts.
1) Drive By Truckers/Dirty South 201
2) Loretta Lynn/Van Lear Rose 144
3) Brian Wilson/Smile 117
4) Wilco/A Ghost is Born 109
5) Steve Earle/The Revolution Starts Now 106
6) Green Day: American Idiot 92
7) Neko Case/The Tigers Have Spoken 82
8) Tift Merritt/Tambourine 74
9) Bobby Bare Jr./From the End of Your Leash 73
10) U2/How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 71
11) Grant Lee Phillips/Virginia Creeper 70
12) Buddy Miller / Universal United House Of Prayer 69
13) Jon Dee Graham/The Great Battle 65
14) R.E.M./Around the Sun 64
15) Honeydogs/10,000 Years 60
16) Dave Alvin / Ashgrove 53
Marah/20,000 Streets Under the Sky 53
17) Elvis Costello & The Impostors/The Delivery Man 50
18) Old 97’s / Drag It Up 48
19) Nellie McKay/Get Away from Me 45
20) A.C. Newman/The Slow Wonder 42
Tres Chicas/Sweetwater 42
22) Tom Waits/Real Gone 39
23) Elliott Smith / From A Basement On A Hill 35
24) Los Lobos/The Ride 35
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters 35
Will Johnson/Vultures Await 35
27) Anders Parker/Tell It to the Dust 34
28) American Music Club/Love Songs for Patriots 33
29) Guided by Voices/Half Smiles of the Decomposed 32
30) Mark Lanegan/ Bubblegum 30
31) Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers/Americano! 30
32) Slaid Cleaves / Wishbones 26
33) Chuck Prophet / Age of Miracles 26
34) Finn Brothers/Everyone Is Here 25
35) Old Crow Medicine Show 25
36) Nick Cave/Abbatoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus 25
37) Mendoza Line/Fortune 25
38) Various / Touch My Heart:Johnny Paycheck Tribute 24
39) Franz Ferdinand - self-titled 22
40) Two Cow Garage/Wall Against Our Backs 21
41) Chris Stamey/Travels in the New South 21
42) Gourds/Blood of the Ram 20
43) Holmes Brothers/ Simple Truths 20
Iris Dement-Lifeline 20
45) Camper Van Beethoven/New Roman Times 20
Country Soul Revue--Testifying 20
Nancy Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra 20
Ray Lamontagne - Trouble 20
49) Preston School of Industry/Monsoon 19
Sloan/Action Pact 19
51) Alison Moorer /The Duel 18
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News 18
Patti Scialfa / 23rd Street Lullaby 18
54) Arcade Fire - Funeral 17
Calexico - Convict Pool EP 17
Doug Gillard/Salamander 17
Jason Ringenberg/Empire Builders 17
58) Daniel Wylie: Ramshackle Beauty 16
James McMurtry / Live In Aught-Three 16
Li’l Cap’n Travis/ In All Their Splendor 16
61) Trash Can Sinatras/Weightlifting 15
Sadies / Favourite Colors 15
Michael Meanwhile/Self Titled 15
Interpol/Antics 15
65) Black 47 / New York Town 15
k.d. lang /Hymns of the 49th Parallel 15
Dale Watson/Dreamland 15
68) Bobby Charles/Last Train To Memphis 15
Perfect/ Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe 15
Social Distortion/ Sex, Love and Rock & Roll 15
71) Kasey Chambers / Wayward Angel 14
72) DJ Danger Mouse/The Grey Album (bootleg) 14
Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse 14
74) Jon Langford/All the Fame of Lofty Deeds 13
75) Alison Krauss-Lonely Runs Both Ways 13
Cowboy Jack Clements/Guess Things Happen That Way 13
Jay Farrar/Stone, Steel, and Bright Lights 13
Ron Sexsmith, Retriever 13
79) Amber Digby/Music from the Honkytonks 12
Andre Ethier/With Christopher Sandes featuring Pickles and Price 12
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days 12
82) Grey DeLisle / The Graceful Ghost 11
Okkervil River/Sleep and Wake Up Songs 11
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her 11
Snow Patrol / Final Straw 11
86)Paul Westerberg/Folker 10
87) I See Hawks In LA/Grapevine 10
88) Aberfeldy/ Young Forever 10
Alecia Nugent/Self titled 10
Alejandro Escovedo/Por Vida Live Fan Club Album 10
Blanche / If We Can't Trust The Doctors . . . 10
Candy Butchers / Hang On Mike 10
Chris Whitley/War Crime Blues 10
Concretes /The Concretes 10
Earlimart - Treble and Tremble 10
Etienne Daho /Réevolution 10
Eugene Edwards / My Favorite Revolution 10
Fiery Furnaces/Blueberry Boat 10
Flogging Molly/Within a Mile of Home 10
Go! Team /Thunder, Lightning, Strike 10
Grupo Fantasma/Movimiento Popular (Aire Sol) 10
Gurf Morlix / Cut ‘N Shoot 10
Hall and Oates/Our Kind of Soul 10
Hope of the States /The Lost Riots 10
Incubus – A Crow Left of the Murder 10
Jamie Hoover/Bill Lloyd, "Paparazzi" 10
Jimmy Buffett/License to Chill 10
Jimmy Eat World – Futures 10
John Fogerty/Deja Vu All Over Again 10
Lambchop/Aw C'mon 10
Lambchop/No, You C'mon 10
Lloyd Cole/Music In A Foreign Language 10
M's/ The M's 10
M83 / Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts 10
Martha Davis – So The Story Goes 10
Mavis Staples-/Have A Little Faith 10
Morrissey: You Are The Quarry 10
My Morning Jacket-It Still Moves 10
Otis Taylor / Double V 10
Percy Sledge--Shining Through the Rain 10
Pete Yorn – Live From New Jersey 10
Polyphonic Spree/Together We're Heavy 10
Richard Buckner / Dents and Shells 10
Richmond Fontaine /Post to Wire 10
Rilo Kiley: More Adventerous 10
Rosavelt-Age of Gasoline 10
Silos: When The Telephone Rings 10
Various Artists/Por Vida: Alejandro Escovedo Tribute 10
Walkmen /Bows & Arrows 10
Zutons/ Who Killed the Zutons? 10
131) Air/Talkie Walkie 9
Cornell Hurd Band/Cen Tex Serenade 9
Damnwells/Bastards of the Beat 9
Jason Mraz / Tonight, Not Again 9
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter/ Oh, My Girl 9
Killers / Hot Fuss 9
Matthew Sweet/Kimi Ga Suki 9
Robyn Hitchcock/Spooked 9
Stan Ridgway/Snakebite 9
Velvet Crush/Stereo Blues 9
Zero 7/When It Falls 9
142) Beastie Boys/To The 5 Boroughs 8
BR549/Tangled in the Pines 8
Devendra Banhart - Nino Rojo 8
Garrison Starr/Airstreams & Satellites 8
Johnny Cash / Life 8
Michelle Anthony/Stand Fall Repeat 8
Mutual Admiration Society, Self Titled 8
Patti Smith/trampin' 8
150) Bernadette Seacrest/No More Music by the Suckers 7
Diana Krall, "The Girl In The Other Room" 7
Dirk Powell/ Time Again 7
Eric Ambel/Knucklehead 7
Features/ Exhibit A 7
Frames/Set List 7
Glenn Tilbrook, "Transatlantic Ping Pong" 7
Kanye West/The College Dropout 7
Luna/Rendezvous 7
Ron Williams/Natural Thing 7
160) Brian Wilson-Getting’ In Over My Head 6
Dios/Dios 6
John Fahey-The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick 6
Justin Trevino/Too Many Heartaches 6
Lisa Mychols/Sweet Sinsations 6
Reigning Sound/Too Much Guitar 6
Shams-Please Yourself 6
Various Artists/Enjoy Every Sandwich: Warren Zevon Tribute 6
168) Anne McCue - Roll 5
Ben Kweller/On My Way 5
Black Keys/ Rubber Factory 5
Blasters - Going Home 5
Burning Brides: Leave No Ashes 5
David Byrne / Grown Backwards 5
Delgados: Universal Audio 5
Duran Duran/Astronaut 5
Elected / Me First 5
Ellis Hooks--Uncomplicated 5
Gomez/Split the Difference 5
Hanson/Underneath 5
Joanna Newsom/The Milk Eyed Mender 5
Joe West/South Dakota Hairdo 5
Kings of Convenience/Riot on an Empty Street 5
Leonard Cohen/Dear Heather 5
Marianne Faithfull - Before the Poison 5
Mark Chesnutt/Saving the Honky Tonks 5
Mosquitos/Sunshine Barato 5
Norah Jones, "Feels Like Home" 5
NRBQ/Dummy 5
Ollabelle / Ollabelle 5
Prince/Musicology 5
Sondre Lerche / Two Way Monologue 5
Soundtrack/ Ocean's 12 5
Soundtrack/Napoleon Dynamite 5
Southern Culture on the Skids/Mojo Box 5
Tad Robinson--Did You Ever Wonder? 5
Todd Snider/East Nashville Skyline 5
Van Hunt--Van Hunt 5
Waxwings/Let's Make Our Descent 5
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles 5
200) Jolie Holland/Escondida 0
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
From FrontPageMagazine.com:
Kwanzaa -- Racist Holiday from Hell
By Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
While public officials, schools, and the ACLU worked overtime this year to ban every vestige of Christmas from the public square, the recently invented holiday known as Kwanzaa is gaining in popularity among black Americans. These occurrences are not unrelated.
In an earlier time, blacks held a strong faith in God. But over the past 40 years, the black community has largely let God slip away. Sure the community has maintained the outer trappings of religion, but the solid morality at its core is nearly gone.
Enter a God-hating black racist named Ron Karenga. Born Ron Everett on a poultry farm in Maryland, Everett invented Kwanzaa in 1966, based on an African harvest festival (though it takes place during the Winter Solstice!), and celebrating the first Kwanzaa with his family and friends.
Calling himself “Maulana” (Swahili for “Master Teacher”), Karenga became a black nationalist at UCLA, and formed his group, the United Slaves (US) for the purpose of igniting a “cultural revolution” among American blacks. US members followed Karenga’s “Path of Blackness,” which is detailed in his Quotable Karenga: “The sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black.”
The United Slaves had violent confrontations with the Black Panthers on campus, and were actually considered more radical than the Panthers.
The biggest dispute between the United Slaves and the Panthers was for the leadership of the new African Studies Department at UCLA, with each group backing a different candidate. Panthers John Jerome Huggins and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter verbally attacked Karenga at the meeting, which infuriated Karenga’s followers. After the meeting ended, two United Slaves members, George and Larry Stiner, reportedly confronted Huggins and Carter in a hallway, shooting and killing them.
Incidentally, on March 31, 1974, it was discovered that both Stiner brothers had escaped from the family visiting area in San Quentin State Prison. Larry Stiner turned himself into the FBI in Caracas, Venezuela, on December 13, 1994. He remains in custody at San Quentin. But George Stiner remains at large and his whereabouts remain unknown. He is currently on California’s 10 Most Wanted List.
The shooting at UCLA apparently caused Karenga to become extremely suspicious. On May 9, 1970, Karenga and two others tortured two women who Karenga believed had tried to poison him by placing “crystals” in his food and water.
The Los Angeles Times described the events: “Deborah Jones, who once was given the title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electric cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes at gunpoint. She testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis’ mouth and placed against Miss Davis’ face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vice. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said.”
Karenga was sentenced to one-to-ten years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment. At his trial, the question arose as to Karenga’s sanity. The psychiatrist’s report stated: “This man now represents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment.” The psychiatrist reportedly observed that Karenga talked to his blanket and imaginary persons, and he believed he’d been attacked by dive-bombers.
Eight years later, California State University Long Beach named Karenga the head of its Black Studies Department. By this time, Karenga had “repented” of his black nationalism and had become just a harmless garden variety Marxist. This must be our esteemed university system’s idea of repentance!
Karenga’s Kwanzaa celebration consists of seven “principles.” They are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination – code for “buy black”), Ujima (collective work and responsibility – groupthink), Ujamaa (cooperative economics – socialism), Nia (purpose) Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith – in man, not God).
To provide a symbol of his seven “principles,” Karenga used the menorah from Judaism with Kwanzaa’s colors (red, black, and green), and re-named it the "kinara."
Karenga also created a Kwanzaa flag that consists of black, green, and red. The Kwanzaa Information Center states the color red represents blood: “We lost our land through blood; and we cannot gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of this race.” The Kwanzaa Information Center also notes that this flag “has become a symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent.” (Emphasis added.)
When once asked why he designed Kwanzaa to take place around Christmas, Karenga explained, “People think it’s African, but it’s not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of bloods would be partying.”
Karenga has explained that his creation of Kwanzaa was motivated in part by hostility toward both Christianity and Judaism. Writing in his 1980 book Kawaida Theory, he claimed that Western religion “denies and diminishes human worth, capacity, potential and achievement. In Christian and Jewish mythology, humans are born in sin, cursed with mythical ancestors who’ve sinned and brought the wrath of an angry God on every generation’s head.” He clearly opposed belief in God and other “spooks who threaten us if we don’t worship them and demand we turn over our destiny and daily lives.”
Through ignorance or racism, growing numbers of black Christians are either celebrating Kwanzaa or incorporating it into their Christmas celebrations. Now many preachers are incorporating Kwanzaa into their messages. This is a horrible mistake.
First of all, as we’ve seen, the whole holiday is made up! You won’t find its roots in Africa or anywhere else. Second, Kwanzaa’s “principles” are straight from Hell. Third, and most importantly, Christians who celebrate or incorporate Kwanzaa are moving their attention away from Christmas, the birth of our Savior, and the simple message of salvation: love for God through his Son. To add or subtract from that message is evil.
In recent years Kwanzaa has become increasingly popular and mainstream. President Bill Clinton commemorated Kwanzaa, stating that Kwanzaa’s seven principles “ring true not only for African-Americans, but also for all Americans…bring[ing] new purpose to our daily lives.” In 2002, President Bush, though a devout Christian, also commemorated Kwanzaa. The U.S. Postal Service issued a Kwanzaa stamp in 1997; the Smithsonian Institution sponsors an annual celebration; and greeting card companies churn out Kwanzaa cards for profit.
It is now clear that Kwanzaa is a phony, wicked holiday created by an ex-con who hates God, Christians, Jews, and blacks – yes blacks. Why else would he try to pull them away from Christianity and indoctrinate them in racialism and socialism? Blacks, particularly black Christians, need to stand up for Christmas and reject Kwanzaa. If they refuse, they will be helping to stamp out the true meaning of Christmas, and allowing evil to have its way in America.
This is a future we cannot allow.
Kwanzaa -- Racist Holiday from Hell
By Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
While public officials, schools, and the ACLU worked overtime this year to ban every vestige of Christmas from the public square, the recently invented holiday known as Kwanzaa is gaining in popularity among black Americans. These occurrences are not unrelated.
In an earlier time, blacks held a strong faith in God. But over the past 40 years, the black community has largely let God slip away. Sure the community has maintained the outer trappings of religion, but the solid morality at its core is nearly gone.
Enter a God-hating black racist named Ron Karenga. Born Ron Everett on a poultry farm in Maryland, Everett invented Kwanzaa in 1966, based on an African harvest festival (though it takes place during the Winter Solstice!), and celebrating the first Kwanzaa with his family and friends.
Calling himself “Maulana” (Swahili for “Master Teacher”), Karenga became a black nationalist at UCLA, and formed his group, the United Slaves (US) for the purpose of igniting a “cultural revolution” among American blacks. US members followed Karenga’s “Path of Blackness,” which is detailed in his Quotable Karenga: “The sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black.”
The United Slaves had violent confrontations with the Black Panthers on campus, and were actually considered more radical than the Panthers.
The biggest dispute between the United Slaves and the Panthers was for the leadership of the new African Studies Department at UCLA, with each group backing a different candidate. Panthers John Jerome Huggins and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter verbally attacked Karenga at the meeting, which infuriated Karenga’s followers. After the meeting ended, two United Slaves members, George and Larry Stiner, reportedly confronted Huggins and Carter in a hallway, shooting and killing them.
Incidentally, on March 31, 1974, it was discovered that both Stiner brothers had escaped from the family visiting area in San Quentin State Prison. Larry Stiner turned himself into the FBI in Caracas, Venezuela, on December 13, 1994. He remains in custody at San Quentin. But George Stiner remains at large and his whereabouts remain unknown. He is currently on California’s 10 Most Wanted List.
The shooting at UCLA apparently caused Karenga to become extremely suspicious. On May 9, 1970, Karenga and two others tortured two women who Karenga believed had tried to poison him by placing “crystals” in his food and water.
The Los Angeles Times described the events: “Deborah Jones, who once was given the title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electric cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes at gunpoint. She testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis’ mouth and placed against Miss Davis’ face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vice. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said.”
Karenga was sentenced to one-to-ten years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment. At his trial, the question arose as to Karenga’s sanity. The psychiatrist’s report stated: “This man now represents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment.” The psychiatrist reportedly observed that Karenga talked to his blanket and imaginary persons, and he believed he’d been attacked by dive-bombers.
Eight years later, California State University Long Beach named Karenga the head of its Black Studies Department. By this time, Karenga had “repented” of his black nationalism and had become just a harmless garden variety Marxist. This must be our esteemed university system’s idea of repentance!
Karenga’s Kwanzaa celebration consists of seven “principles.” They are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination – code for “buy black”), Ujima (collective work and responsibility – groupthink), Ujamaa (cooperative economics – socialism), Nia (purpose) Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith – in man, not God).
To provide a symbol of his seven “principles,” Karenga used the menorah from Judaism with Kwanzaa’s colors (red, black, and green), and re-named it the "kinara."
Karenga also created a Kwanzaa flag that consists of black, green, and red. The Kwanzaa Information Center states the color red represents blood: “We lost our land through blood; and we cannot gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of this race.” The Kwanzaa Information Center also notes that this flag “has become a symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent.” (Emphasis added.)
When once asked why he designed Kwanzaa to take place around Christmas, Karenga explained, “People think it’s African, but it’s not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of bloods would be partying.”
Karenga has explained that his creation of Kwanzaa was motivated in part by hostility toward both Christianity and Judaism. Writing in his 1980 book Kawaida Theory, he claimed that Western religion “denies and diminishes human worth, capacity, potential and achievement. In Christian and Jewish mythology, humans are born in sin, cursed with mythical ancestors who’ve sinned and brought the wrath of an angry God on every generation’s head.” He clearly opposed belief in God and other “spooks who threaten us if we don’t worship them and demand we turn over our destiny and daily lives.”
Through ignorance or racism, growing numbers of black Christians are either celebrating Kwanzaa or incorporating it into their Christmas celebrations. Now many preachers are incorporating Kwanzaa into their messages. This is a horrible mistake.
First of all, as we’ve seen, the whole holiday is made up! You won’t find its roots in Africa or anywhere else. Second, Kwanzaa’s “principles” are straight from Hell. Third, and most importantly, Christians who celebrate or incorporate Kwanzaa are moving their attention away from Christmas, the birth of our Savior, and the simple message of salvation: love for God through his Son. To add or subtract from that message is evil.
In recent years Kwanzaa has become increasingly popular and mainstream. President Bill Clinton commemorated Kwanzaa, stating that Kwanzaa’s seven principles “ring true not only for African-Americans, but also for all Americans…bring[ing] new purpose to our daily lives.” In 2002, President Bush, though a devout Christian, also commemorated Kwanzaa. The U.S. Postal Service issued a Kwanzaa stamp in 1997; the Smithsonian Institution sponsors an annual celebration; and greeting card companies churn out Kwanzaa cards for profit.
It is now clear that Kwanzaa is a phony, wicked holiday created by an ex-con who hates God, Christians, Jews, and blacks – yes blacks. Why else would he try to pull them away from Christianity and indoctrinate them in racialism and socialism? Blacks, particularly black Christians, need to stand up for Christmas and reject Kwanzaa. If they refuse, they will be helping to stamp out the true meaning of Christmas, and allowing evil to have its way in America.
This is a future we cannot allow.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Clapton Whips Up Cream Reunion
by Josh Grossberg
Eric Clapton's ready for some fresh Cream.
Old Slow Hand revealed to BBC Radio 2 last week that he and his former mates in rock's first supergroup, singer-bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, are planning to reunite for four shows next May at London's Royal Albert Hall, the legendary venue where the power trio played its final gig in 1968.
There has been no other official comment since Clapton's remarks--reps for the musicians were not immediately reachable as most labels are on holiday.
Since the group's disintegration 35 years ago, the only other time Clapton, Bruce and Baker appeared onstage together was when they performed a scorching three-song set at Cream's 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
After the jam, an emotional Clapton told audience members that he was "moved" by the band's performance, sparking a decade's worth of talk of a possible reunion.
"It's been so long since I've been around something from somebody else that's inspired me. For the last 20 years, it's been up to me to inspire me," Clapton said at the time.
"There isn't a drummer on this earth that has the dexterity that Ginger has," Clapton added. "And [Jack has] this powerful thing that happens when he starts to sing and you're off on the side."
With age apparently softening their egos, the guitar god told the BBC that the long-rumored reunion is finally in motion.
So far there are no Cream concerts on the Royal Albert Hall schedule for May, but Clapton said tickets would be going on sale very soon, and all four concerts would be recorded for eventual release on CD and/or DVD.
Cream was formed in 1966 when Clapton left another Hall of Fame band, the Yardbirds, and hooked up with Bruce, a Scotsman from blues outfit Manfred Mann, and Baker, who played toms for the Graham Bond Organization.
Known for its blues and psychedelic-infused jams, the threesome quickly established itself among the rock pantheon. They released just four albums in two years--Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire and Goodbye--but left an indelible mark on classic rock with such radio standards as "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Spoonful," "White Room" and "Crossroads."
The band played its farewell show at the Royal Albert Hall in November 1968. Clapton then hooked up with another supergroup, Blind Faith, for an album and tour before launching Derek and the Dominoes and eventually his own solo career.
Bruce, who has recently toured with Ringo Starr and his All Starr band, has publicly indicated that he's up for a reunion.
"I'd like it to happen," Bruce told Forbes writer Jim Clash for his 2003 book To the Limits. "But I wouldn't be prepared to do it, really, unless it was a challenge. And the challenge would be to come up with new material somewhere close to as strong as the stuff from the old days."
New material notwithstanding, Bruce and Clapton haven't refrained from rehashing old memories. In 2001, the two teamed up to record new versions of "Sunshine of Your Love" for a Bruce solo project.
by Josh Grossberg
Eric Clapton's ready for some fresh Cream.
Old Slow Hand revealed to BBC Radio 2 last week that he and his former mates in rock's first supergroup, singer-bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, are planning to reunite for four shows next May at London's Royal Albert Hall, the legendary venue where the power trio played its final gig in 1968.
There has been no other official comment since Clapton's remarks--reps for the musicians were not immediately reachable as most labels are on holiday.
Since the group's disintegration 35 years ago, the only other time Clapton, Bruce and Baker appeared onstage together was when they performed a scorching three-song set at Cream's 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
After the jam, an emotional Clapton told audience members that he was "moved" by the band's performance, sparking a decade's worth of talk of a possible reunion.
"It's been so long since I've been around something from somebody else that's inspired me. For the last 20 years, it's been up to me to inspire me," Clapton said at the time.
"There isn't a drummer on this earth that has the dexterity that Ginger has," Clapton added. "And [Jack has] this powerful thing that happens when he starts to sing and you're off on the side."
With age apparently softening their egos, the guitar god told the BBC that the long-rumored reunion is finally in motion.
So far there are no Cream concerts on the Royal Albert Hall schedule for May, but Clapton said tickets would be going on sale very soon, and all four concerts would be recorded for eventual release on CD and/or DVD.
Cream was formed in 1966 when Clapton left another Hall of Fame band, the Yardbirds, and hooked up with Bruce, a Scotsman from blues outfit Manfred Mann, and Baker, who played toms for the Graham Bond Organization.
Known for its blues and psychedelic-infused jams, the threesome quickly established itself among the rock pantheon. They released just four albums in two years--Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire and Goodbye--but left an indelible mark on classic rock with such radio standards as "Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Spoonful," "White Room" and "Crossroads."
The band played its farewell show at the Royal Albert Hall in November 1968. Clapton then hooked up with another supergroup, Blind Faith, for an album and tour before launching Derek and the Dominoes and eventually his own solo career.
Bruce, who has recently toured with Ringo Starr and his All Starr band, has publicly indicated that he's up for a reunion.
"I'd like it to happen," Bruce told Forbes writer Jim Clash for his 2003 book To the Limits. "But I wouldn't be prepared to do it, really, unless it was a challenge. And the challenge would be to come up with new material somewhere close to as strong as the stuff from the old days."
New material notwithstanding, Bruce and Clapton haven't refrained from rehashing old memories. In 2001, the two teamed up to record new versions of "Sunshine of Your Love" for a Bruce solo project.
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