More reasons I dislike the Tea Party

I was just thinking...

Since Barack Obama's election there has been a huge turnover in the dissent present in the United States. Of course, for eight years the democrats showed their dislike for the man in charge. Now, with the democratic president, it's the Right's turn to dissent. As mentioned in previous blog posts, this is realized mostly by the Tea Party, led by the former clown who became the guy that told you what to think, Glenn Beck and Mrs. Alaska herself, Sarah Palin. Political discourse has taken a new direction: Backwards.

Barack Obama: Not a socialist.

In the 1940's and 50's Senator Joe McCarthy led a witch hunt for communists in the United States. The US had just begun the Cold War with the Soviet Union, so fear of communism was in abundance. It has been said, by no one in particular, that the strongest tool to gain people's support is fear. McCarthy used fear to drive his ridiculous witch hunt, which left innumerable people without jobs and the ability to get a job, along with a couple casualties. The McCarthy Era was a dark time in US History.

Personally, I consider myself a Social Democrat. This, in the simplest terms, puts me one step away from being a socialist, and two(ish) steps from communism. So, I OBVIOUSLY do not fear communism. In fact, I strongly believe a certain amount of socialism is a MUCH better system then this capitalistic one, which has done a great job at making the United States full of obese Wal Mart shoppers and McDonald's patrons. Regardless, point is, socialism REALLY isn't something people should be fearing.

A main point of the Tea Party movement is the belief that Obama is a socialist. I'm here to tell you, right now, that Barack Obama is absolutely NOT a socialist. He is a democrat. The Tea Partiers seem to have missed the memo about the philosophies of the two major political parties in the US. Republicans favor small federal government, while Democrats are okay with the federal government. This means that a Democratic president should be expected to make government programs. When a Democratic president makes a new government program, this should not surprise people. This is to be expected, and has been happening literally for years. So, in accordance with this, when a Democratic president acts like, well, a Democrat, people should not be surprised. This fact was lost to the Tea Party.

ANY government program started since Obama has taken office is socialism, according to the Tea Party. ESPECIALLY "Obamacare," the health care bill he worked so hard to get passed that the new Congress is attempting to now repeal. Ignoring the fact that the Tea Party has also asserted Obama is a Nazi (mostly Glenn Beck here), a Muslim, an illegal immigrant, and communist (all of which are NOT true), they are two-faced.

The most supposed-socialist piece of legislation to have passed in recent memory is probably No Child Left Behind, a law that created federal regulations for academic assessment, in any effort to strengthen the nations' weak education ratings. This FEDERALLY funded law was the brainchild of George W. Bush, the very-much-Republican president who preceded Obama (and who I will be blogging about the memoirs of next weekend). When this bill passed there was no Republican bitching and moaning, and finger-pointing the socialist ideology behind the bill. If it had been proposed under Obama instead of W. Bush, we would never heard the end of it. The Tea Party would have called it Obama Youth. It would've been bad. But, if told a Tea Partier today that it was a socialist program, they would wholeheartedly agree and raise that it has been pretty much an utter failure. Yep. They're right. But, they've missed half the point. Socialist programs work off of government funds. Without adequate funds for the program, it will undoubtedly fail. Hence, NCLB. W. Bush made a socialist program that he intended to fund by cutting taxes, those little things that the government uses to pay for the maintenance of programs such as No Child Left Behind. EPIC FAIL.

While I am highly in favor of as much dissent as humanly possible, (because that's the way democracy works) I am strongly against the use of lies and fear as a means. I think it is silly to fear socialism, but that is mainly because I kind of am one. In the same strain, socialism has been given a negative connotation, which also upsets me. I really do wish Obama were a socialist, and that all of his programs/bills/what-have-you were socialist in nature. In actuality, he's pretty far from a socialist; (He just extended the Bush tax cuts, a very Republican thing to do.) If Obama were a socialist, and doing socialist presidential things, the Tea Party would AT LEAST not be lying in their assertion. The Tea Party's perception of what is socialist is pretty incorrect.

The Giffords Shooting

We've all heard about it by now; recently reelected Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot while holding her first "Congress on Your Corner" session, where she basically stood outside of gas station and talked with people. Jared Lee Loughner, the accused shooter who killed 6 people and injured up to 20 in the January 8th firing, was a member of the Tea Party. A high school drop out who withdrew from community college after inability to procure a mental health clearance, Loughner was clearly not a sane person. This, however, does not excuse Sarah Palin's map.

In response to Tea Party losses across the country, Sarah "I can see Russia from my house!" Palin's website, had a map up during the 2010 political campaigns with gun-scope markers showing candidates who had voted in favor of the health care bill. The point of the map was (supposedly) to show places where "change was needed," and the incumbents should be ousted in the election. Rep. Giffords was on of such. I understand the supposed point of the map, but some people don't. Some people are gun-toters. Some people are ardent in their political beliefs. Some people are not sane. These people may not "get" the map.

While it has not been legitimately connected to the shooting, I've got to believe that this map had something to do with it. Maybe it had nothing to do with it. But, regardless, it's quite the coincidence that a crazy person associated with a group that has cut the gas lines of candidates' brother's homes attempted to do what Sarah Palin's map seemed to suggest.

Winter Break 10-11: Almost Almost Famous

So, it's been a while since I've posted...my bad. One of my New Year's resolutions is to try to write a blog post at least once a week. I guess that means I've already broken it, because this is is now the SECOND week since New Year's Day, but I just came up with the resolution recently....ANYWHO.

So, a few months ago I was asked if I wanted to go on tour with Britney's Spear, a band formed at Clark (but well known throughout Worcester) consisting of my good friends Alan Grunberg, Tom Hamil, Zach Schnitzer, and Keegan Allen. I had offered up my mini van as the vehicle, as it would easily carry the equipment and prevented the need for a rental. I ended up not being able to use the van, with the tour being pretty extensive (down to New Orleans, at the furthest, but all down the eastern coast), so I was not part the tour. I still planned on seeing their tour kick-off show in Worcester, which was December, 30th.

The day of that show I got a text from Alan telling me that Tom was not going on tour, and that I could come along, if I helped out with the rental fee and gas. I of course jumped at opportunity, and began the efforts to convince my parents. It took some talking, but they eventually agreed. When I had originally planned on just going to that show that night, I'd made plans to take the van (me and my sister share it). This would not be possible now because we'd be leaving to go on tour from Worcester, and weren't going past Springfield, so I couldn't take the car and now needed a ride to Worcester. The 30th was also my dad's birthday, so I'd be missing his birthday dinner. I felt really bad about that, but I wasn't going to let this kind of journalistic experience pass me by!

Since I'd found out I would be going on tour everyone who I talked to about it related my plan to the Cameron Crowe film, Almost Famous. It was funny and it worked well with the situation. I was relishing the experience I would be having and distressed by the news that Tom wouldn't be doing the tour after the Worcester show as I hopped into the car to go to Worcester.

The show that night was at The Firehouse, a former firehouse now used as a house that regularly hosts concerts. I'd been there a good handful of times, but it is different every time, as each spread of bands boasts different fan bases and makes for differing show atmospheres. This particular show's atmosphere including lots of Boston area punks who had come in support of the bands from the area.

This show was one of the best in my recent memory. With one exception, all of the bands had high energy songs that had the dimly lit, unheated bottom floor of the Firehouse erupting into spurts of moshing, general rough housing and hooliganism. Unfortunately, Bovachevo, a hardcore Worcester band featuring my mail room boss, Liam, had to cancel their set, so I am still yet to see them live (I've heard their stuff before). Fortunately, Bovachevo were replaced by Antietam, another Worcester punk band I'd seen and liked before. Besides the cold freezing my toes into numbness, I had had a great time.

After the show, me and Britney's Spear went to a diner for some food. We ate, talked and joked around, generally enjoying ourselves.

We all knew it was coming, we all expected it. At a down part of our conversations, Tom told the other members of the band that when we leave here, we should all meet at someone's place to talk. About? Well, about Tom's announcement of a few days prior that he would not be going on tour with the band, as planned. This statement was pretty sobering; the band I'd seen the beginnings of, the rise to semi-fame of, and the beginning of a tour of, was headed towards an emotion-filled conversation about the future.

The conversation was just as I expected, Tom telling his reasonings, the others trying to find a way to change his mind. It was a very tense conversation, and an especially awkward one for me, as I was in the room, although I am not a member of the band. Ending on high nerves, the way things were was settled: Me and the remaining members of Britney's Spear, plus Sarah Bilotta, their manager who had booked the tour dates with Alan, would go on tour. Tom would stay up here, in Worcester, and at his home in Maine. Tom agreed to attempt to make it to the Brooklyn and Boston shows on the 11th and 12th.

I spent the night at Keegan's before our trip down to Johnston, RI to get the rental van. The plan was for me, Keegan, Alan and Zach to drive down to the rental place in Keegan's car, and then drive back to Worcester, returning Keegan's car before heading out on tour.

While on the border of Johnston and Providence, RI, we were heading down Killingly Street, a main road, listening to music and talking, having a general good time when a man's reluctance to pay attention cut everything short. The next intersection on the right was with the side street Myra, which would be a very sharp angle if you decided to turn down it. In addition to the sharp turn, the road had no stop sign. The man, driving a Ford Explorer, was coming from Myra, taking a left onto Killingly, which brought him across the front of our car as we proceeded down Killingly. By the time we'd realized what had happened, we were coughing out chemicals from the deployed air bags and clutching for the door handles to escape the vehicle.

The Explorer had foolishly pulled out in front of us to take his left turn, resulting in the car accident that crushed the front of Keegan's 1997 Honda Accord Wagon to the point of totaling it, and leaving only a minimal dent in the Explorer's driver-side back door. The accident was clearly the Explorer's driver's fault, but his car ended up on the good end of the accident.

Diagram of the accident.

I'll spare you the boring details of post-crash bureaucracy and get right to the meat of it; Keegan appeared to be at least slightly concussed (ringing in the ear, not hearing well, etc.), so I accompanied him for all the dealings with the collision center. It worked out that Keegan's insurance got him a rental car for from the accident to five business days after the damage is detailed by the insurance adjuster, so, we had a car.

At this point the tour was dead. It would have proven difficult to have a loud punk band with a bassist who can't hear/handle loud noise play a tour. I was incredibly disappointed to not be going on tour, as was Britney's Spear.

After getting the rental car we went to a Mexican restaurant located right next door. We had a conversation about how maybe we all died. When the waiter arrived, Keegan asked "Is this purgatory?" Our Latino server did not seem to understand the quip, and continued to take our order.

So, we returned to Worcester, where we would be celebrating New Year's Eve. The past few years I had gone to my friends the Ascioti's house for New Year's, and while I would miss the fun I always had there, I was ok with missing it for a tour. Luckily, there were a good number of friends who were also in Worcester, so I had a good time with our festivities, which included burning pieces of paper with things we wanted to leave behind in 2010 and firecrackers at midnight. Keegan spent the night in, resting, as would be assumed of someone recently concussed. I spent the night at his place, again.

The next morning my dad picked me up, and I returned home, incredibly disappointed and resigned to the fact that I would NOT be able to recreate/experience the story of Almost Famous myself. I felt really bad for Britney's Spear, who had taken time out of their schedules to plan the tour, and going on it would make things a bit more difficult to go abroad (Alan and Zach are spending the Spring semester abroad), but they'd made the risk, made the commitment, and now it would not be happening. We all felt generally defeated.

A week passed, and then the January 10th Brooklyn show was upon us. Honestly, I had forgotten about it until Keegan texted me asking if I wanted to come down with him. Naturally, I agreed. I had my brother, Noah, drive me to Sturbridge, where I met Keegan and Sarah. We headed down to Brooklyn, arriving at 3:30 for a 7 pm show. So, we had some time to kill. We went to a pizza place that Britney's Spear had gone to during their first show at this venue, which was in September. We sat, ate pizza, and conversed for a few hours, until Tom, his brother Will, and his father arrived, to our surprise, at the same pizza place.

Alan with Buddy the Party Xpo cat.

Photo: Sarah Bilotta

The show was great. The venue was great. It even had a cat, which seemed oddly ok with the loud music going on, but was not the biggest fan of Sarah's finger (he bit her). The venue, Party Xpo, was located in the Bushwick area Brooklyn, an area known recently for their large hipster population. Besides Britney's Spear and Respiratory Arrest (with members of Alan's previous band), the other bands on the bill were indie-ish, fitting well with Bushwick's hipster population. One of the bands, Athletics, was actually signed to a record label, Deep Elm, and their performance definitely proved why. Their bassist gave a nice compliment to Keegan after the show, saying something to extent of "I didn't really know what to expect from you (Britney's Spear) but I was happily surprised."

Britney's Spear playing at Party Xpo.

Left to right: Tom Hamil, Zach Schnitzer, Keegan Allen, Alan Grunberg.

Photo: Sarah Bilotta.

After Britney's Spear finished, Tom had to leave, to get back to his home in Maine that night (what a trip!). After the show, it was still up in the air whether they'd be playing the Boston (technically Allston) show the next day. There was threat of two feet of snow pelting the northeast beginning that day (1/11) and not ending until Thursday morning. The snow was not expected to impact the trip into Allston, but would almost definitely impact leaving. Zach could NOT be stuck there, as he needed to be home for his trip to Prague that night. Keegan's ears still weren't great, so another concert wasn't really a great idea for his health, either. However, the door was still left open to playing that one last show.

After getting to Worcester at around 3:30 am, I went to bed (at Keegan's, again). Tuesday morning I went the doctor's office with Keegan. While he had his ears checked, I called members of my family pleading for them to come out to Worcester to pick me up. Unfortunately, they were too busy, so I had to take the bus home. I also had to take the city bus home from the Springfield bus station, which is always a disgusting experience. I had nothing to do on the bus rides, so I spent the time looking out the window and thinking; it was nice to have an opportunity to think about think about all the experiences I'd had in the last week without all the normal distractions.

Before Keegan brought me to the bus station, Zach called, telling Keegan that he was not going to be able to make the Allston show, ending the tour. This was what I had expected since the night before, but this put finality on the tour. Britney's Spear's Southern Tour was officially over, after two shows, and one major car accident. It was possibly the end of Britney's Spear, as their future when Zach and Alan returned this summer is still very much ambiguous.

While the beginning of my 2011 was nothing like I'd expected it to be, I am absolutely grateful for the experience. I am a firm believer that people learn more from not-entirely-positive experiences than from wholly positive ones. While I didn't have the same amount of fun I probably would have had had we gone on tour, I was glad that everything had happened. I try to see the good in each experience I have, and there is definitely a lot I can take from these.

At the beginning of Winter Break, I had pretty much no plans. I'd taken things pretty easy and was doing nothing that good for the advancement of myself. Yea, I was on vacation, so that was fine, but I prefer to be doing things, having experiences I could reflect on later. Regardless of how far off from how things were expected to have happened this break's experiences were, I am proud to have been a part of them. What there was of the Britney's Spear tour was absolutely a life experience and one I will certainly never forget.