My 18-month old was up at the crack of dawn this morning, which means I was up too, if course. Did some early morning reading. Will be chewing on this the rest of the day:

“I don’t know that we owe God or nature a death, but nature will collect anyway, and we certainly owe mediocrity nothing, whatever collectivity it purports to advance or at least represent.”

-Harold Bloom

I get the same thing. Been trying to troubleshoot and failing miserably.

One of my fondest memories from growing up in the 90s was how comparatively difficult it was to find, capture, and play on-demand the music you liked.

Of course you could always go buy a cd, but I remember listening to the radio for hours and taping my favorite songs when they came on.

And then of course you’d get pissed when the DJ cut it off early and stole the last chorus from your recording.

Reading magazines to discover new bands. Experimenting with radio stations. Catching the always amazing college stations when you were driving near schools.

Your taste was almost like a reflection of the effort you put in. The explorations were earned and worked for. And you cherished every single unearthed banger.

Facts nostr:note1sg6zst0m5537r6mtrt53c9yhclcek48ujccgcw0pzaad5w8svfhs7hglfr

Fuck yeah, love the Dead Kennedys

Damus

Trying to get up to speed on nostr so that I never have to use X again. But at the risk of sounding like a moron, can somebody please explain the zap sitch to me like I’m a moron.

I don’t normally use wallet or satoshi, but I have an address linked to my nostr account. It’s the generic wallet of satoshi address since I haven’t done enough transactions yet yo customize.

I’m getting zapped, but I don’t know where those days are going. And I’d like to do some zapping. But nothing is showing up when I click wallet, despite me having some sats in my wallet of satoshi address that is purportedly linked to my nostr profile.

What am I missing?

This is such a good point and an additional layer of interest. Because you’re right. Bruce had admitted to more or less cosplaying working class himself for ages. And these days his most ardent fans, from my empirical and unscientific observation, seem to be rich while liberal folks who enjoy the same cosplay. It’s all some kind of weird ritualistic absolution thing. Or at least has evolved from something true to that.

Appreciate you, Trey. I’m gradually coming out of my little sabbatical.

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’m born and raised in a small town basically right next to the Appalachian mountains. My job is representing the blue collar workers in that town against insurance companies. So I spend all day everyday having extensive conversations with farmers, factory workers, construction workers, general laborers, etc.

Most folks I know on the left when to fancy schools, as I also did, before returning to my hometown area, and have zero adjacency either in their past or their present to working folks. But nevertheless they opine on their well-being and purport to know their interests as pretty much a pillar of their politics.

It’s a performative caring most of the time, but ultimately empty and untethered.

So many people casting rich men north of Richmond as right wing. I’m a punk rocker at heart and the first thing I thought when I heard it was wow, that’s pretty punk rock. And his statements since have borne that out. But you don’t have to look very far to find lyrics in songs many would consider left-wing in ethos that are totally analogous to parts or all of rich men north of Richmond.

But that being said, it reminds me most of springsteen. And people forget how misunderstood “born in the USA” repeatedly is. The recurring line is not patriotism, it’s deeply felt angst of being treated unjustly and of having your life taken from you in a number of different ways, a lot of which is perpetrated by rich men, either north of Richmond or elsewhere.

The protagonist is “born down in a dead man’s town” where the first kick he took is when he “hits the ground.” He describes ending up like “a dog that’s been beat too much” and spending half his life just to cover that feeling up. Sound familiar?

He gets sent to Vietnam to get out of sole trouble. He’s told to kill for his country. He comes home to look for a job and is told nothing is available. He notes he had a brother over there with him who’s long gone, despite the enemy he was there to fight still remaining. The futility of the war.

The song ends with one of Bruce’s most powerful closers:

“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary

Out by the gas fires of the refinery

10 years burning down the road

Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go…

Born in the USA.”

I also thought of Bruce’s “the River,” which also works a similar vein of disenchantment, resignation, and angst, particularly with the state of the inflationary economy of 1980:

“I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company

But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

Now all them things that seemed so important, well mister they vanished right into the air

Now I just act like I don't remember, Mary acts like she don't care..”

It’s interesting to me how much things have changed that the left can now reflexively refer to rich men north of Richmond as right wing. But it’s also interesting how incorrect it is for GOP candidates to cosplay as springsteenian protagonists, too.