Breathing Room by George Ziemann -- December 5, 2008 Got all of my side projects finished, mailed out CDs, took care of some paperwork that had stacked up and, still working on the migraine issue, this morning I went for an MRI, which I find to be extremely relaxing for some strange reason. So before I dive back in and get deep into drum and guitar tracks, I thought I'd see what is going on in the world and let a little reality seep in. RIAA -- Traditionally, the RIAA never has much to say during December and January. This year, they're far too concerned with who is going to be the copyright czar to bother hawking their usual propaganda to us commoners. Besides, the Somalia situation seems to have changed the meaning of the word "pirate" back to people who commit crimes at sea. I expect that Bainwol is on the way out, for the same reason he came in, namely that the RIAA is a political lobbying group above all else and Bainwol is a Republican. Since Democrats are in power now, the RIAA will change its stripes. Mumbai -- This is wa-a-a-a-y too serious for me to talk about, but the problems we started in the Mid East are not going to go away quietly just because America is booting Bush. Grammy Nominations -- A short-form documentary illustrating the astounding absence of substance, creativity and innovation in the commercial music landscape of the 21st century so far. The most bizarre music story I saw, however, involves Pete Dougherty replacing Pete Townshend for a performance of The Who. As if this were remotely possible. Besides, Daltry alone does not constitute The Who. Politics -- Much to everyone's surprise, Obama is not the far-left liberal that all the loonies made him out to be. He is *gasp* a centrist. You know, a normal person, not an extremist in either direction. As a result, the extremists on both ends are pissed off but reasonable people are just relieved, at least for now. Meanwhile, as Dubya prepares to leave the White House, rumors begin to emerge. Race -- There's still a race question being bantered about in the opinion areas of the Washington Post and the New York Times, and I'm sure other places as well. For no good reason whatsoever, I'd like to weigh in on this and expand on comments I made there under the screen name wizard2. Barack Obama is our first black president. Regardless of how his term of office turns out, this is a great thing for many reasons. The social significance was greater than the man could possibly live up to. He became a symbol. As such, groups (which should remain nameless) have already been formed with the goal to remove him from office -- before he has served his first day. Recently, there was a black guy writing in to say that he really liked the way that day in November felt, and he has a new perspective on white people, the unity thing is cool, but does this mean he can't just hang out with just black guys anymore? My perspective on this comes from being a musician. If I go to a new town, I seek out places where other musicians will be, simply because those are the people I want to hang out with. They will be most like me. When I was a kid, the town (Toledo, Ohio) had German neighborhoods, Italian, Polish, Lebanese. So I understand cultural groupings of similar ethnic groups forming neighborhoods. It makes sense. Everyone wants to live around people they share similar interests to. Music is actually a more selective criteria for choosing friends than race, or even language. I don't know why I felt compelled to share that, but it's halfway to the next one, which is where my point really is. Another person points to all the hub-bub over how Obama's the first black president, and wants to point out that he's only half black. That's okay, but he is our first non-white president, not the first black one. Valid point, unless you think about it. We've never had a white president, either. All of them have been non-white. Yeah, I know, if you filled out a police description, that would be how you would classify them, but if we're going to bicker about technicalities... At right is a photo of the whitest person I have ever seen in my life. It's Edgar Winter, who was kind enough to play the lead from "Frankenstein" about 4 or 5 feet away from me. I got a pretty good look. In fact, forced to fill out a description, I would probably feel inclined to point out the dude is seriously pale, and the "white" checkbox seems inadequate. He's white, even for a white guy. But look again. Edgar's not white. His keyboard has white keys, and he's a quite a bit darker. Not even an off-white. Maybe a very pale beige. I don't think I've ever met a black man who was actually black, either. Most people I know are in the beige to brown category. No black, no white. Economy -- I'm trying to figure out how to get bailed out by the government because I'm a crappy businessman. Unfortunately, they only seem to be helping out big-time losers. The rest of us still are on our own. Unemployment is way up, no one has money, retail is down, which prompted stocks to go up (?!?). I do not understand the economy. Late Breaking Alert -- And finally, from the I-Knew-It-Would-Come-To-This Dept., we have the frightening prospect of Karaoke Rage. Coming soon to a bar near you.