About Schmidt was the most torturous event I have sat through in years. I am not saying it wasn't a good movie, maybe it was. But it is just disgusting and horrifyingly too real. Really makes you squirm. 

Then off to the opera to see Salome. Forget that it was based on a play by the brightest of them all Mr. Oscar Wilde, even that couldn’t save this miserable wretched bore with no melody. But I did get about an hour of solid sleep in. And I got a chance to mess around with my new handheld a bit more, much to the disdain of the other attendees. 

This just in from our good friends over at Now Age Press:

“Saturday, January 11 - Nyack, NY - Death died today. With a simple signature, Illinois Governor George Ryan spared the lives of 167 men and women that had been sentenced to die. With that act, the governor has elevated the consciousness of American politics. According to a story from the NY Times: >>Gov. George Ryan commuted all Illinois death sentences today to prison terms of life or less, the largest such emptying of death row in history. With a single sweep, Governor Ryan, a Republican, spared the lives of 164 men and 3 women who have served a collective 2,000 years for the murders of more than 250.<<
As I watched Governor Ryan's speech today on  C-Span, I was with my seven year-old daughter. Bored with the show, she asked me what we were watching. I told her we were witnessing history being made before our eyes. While the point was lost on her as to what was happening, I hung on the governor's every word. It's been a long time since I felt proud to be an American. And it took the actions of a Republican to generate that feeling. Was I tripping? Al the Snore's refusal to take a stand against the death penalty was one of the main reasons I could not support him in 2000, against the superstar of executions, Dubya of Texas, the Compassionate Conservative. According the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas leads the nation in executions, with a hefty 289 state-sponsored murders since 1976. Runner up in Virginia, with 87. Compassion, apparently, has a slightly different flavor in Texas.” 

Spent all night last night working on the band’s rider for the upcoming tour. Working a lot on transcendent radio. All day today. adding a lot more ambient and experimental music, as well as more modern rock and brit pop.

Current Spin: nobukazu, sign. Philip glass, the hours soundtrack. Genesis, duke.