true by Too Human 2001 Boenel Records. **** Every bit as good as Eric Clapton.

Okay, so I am guess that you have not heard of Too Human, the band.  That is, I never heard of them either before I heard them play a gig at the local library in Bourne.  Attendance for the gig was essentially free.  Admission to the gig was to bring a can of food for the local food pantry in Bourne, MA.  To my knowledge, Too Human got paid for their gig, which is important to me.  I don’t like to see musicians getting ripped off, especially the lesser known acts.  And, frankly Too Human will probably never get popular, despite the fact that they are really good.  They may get gigs here and there, but the music industry likes to promote young folk, and well the musicians in Too Human have grey hair!  I find that somewhat sad that the music industry is so seeking of young talent, because this is a very good album, and it has essentially gone through the musical cracks because so many people have not heard of Too Human.  Despite that, from start to finish, “true,” is an awesome album.  It is sophisticated, but the musicians are not showing off.  If you haven’t heard Too Human, and like acts like Eric Clapton, Chicago, or George Benson, then Too Human might be worth it for you to check out.

Review of Question and Answer by Pat Metheny ***** Superior Musicianship.

I could definitely believe that some people who buy this album will fail to understand it.  It is a very complex album.  Even to a trained ear, one song may be difficult to recognize from the rest.  Yet, this is some of the best music of our generation.  The musicians that play on it are all virtuosos.

When I first heard this album, I was not much of a fan of this style of jazz guitar.  It sounded to smooth, and creamy, and it is a sound that is easy to hide behind.  However, I grew to like this cd very much.  While, Pat Metheny’s guitar production is easy to hide behind, meaning that with his sound you can’t hear something such as his finger sliding across the strings to be in position to make a new chord, the musicianship is superior.  In fact, I would imagine that through using this sound he was better able to reach a wider audience.  That is, you can’t have it both ways.  If you are going to be able to hear a guitarists every twitch, then you have to have some bite in your production, but you will lose a lot of potential customers even if your music is superior.

So, what do I think?  Can Metheny play with production that is hard to hide behind, or can’t he?  The answer is that I think he most certainly could if he wanted to but that he is using his softer production as a tool.

Jackie Chan’s Police Force ***** The standard by which at movie stuntmen should be judged.

I have read that there are several versions of this flick, some even with different names than Police Force.  Mine is from 1996, Parade Video #568.  It is a video cassette tape, and that is one of the reasons it has probably lasted this long.

One reason that some people might criticize this one is that it is dubbed.  You see the mouths of the actors moving, but they words you hear coming out of the television set are entirely different.  I actually think that is somewhat humorous to see.  I could probably get tired of it if every movie was like that, but having a few poorly dubbed movies from China is actually fairly cool.

Jackie Chan wasn’t kidding when he has repeatedly said this effort is his best.  He has a few movies out where he has played the role of a police officer, and this one, the first, is the best.  The plot is fairly good, but you won’t see better stunts anywhere.  As far as I know, it wasn’t released in theaters in America.

The secret to Jackie Chan’s work is that the camera doesn’t switch to a different angle when it is time to do a stunt, and his stunts rely only minimally on the use of guns.  There was actually a study done that people rated the action in Chan’s movies to be superior because it is essentially real.  The camera hardly ever goes for a different angle.  If you watch this movie, and are a fan of action movies, pop in something with Arnold or some other America action hero and you will see what I am talking about with respect to the camera.  As soon as the action is getting good, the camera in cheesy action movies switches angles, but that hardly ever happens in a Jackie Chan movie.

Review of AIWA NSX-V2100 **** Over 12yrs Old and Still Kickin’ Bass.

I got one of these when I was in college.  Several people had them.  At the time they were already the best bang for the buck.  That was back when the idea of having a speaker that was ported to allow for more bass was still relatively new.  Lots of people got ported bass enclosures before me, but this was my second system with a ported bass enclosure.  It was a step up from one I had when I was in high school.  As we speak, my AIWA NSX-V2100 is over 12yrs old and still works great, except for one thing, the cd player no longer works.  In fact, the cd player broke about 12yrs ago, as I used to listen to it daily.  So, obviously, the cd player was probably poorly constructed.   However, I probably bought this puppy for less than $100, and I’d say that I got a good deal.  If I ever have cassette tapes to play, it is my go to device.  The cassette player still works great.  Also, I practically use it daily to listen to talk radio.  Thirdly, it is great for hooking up a cd walkman to, using the aux feature, which also on mine still works too.  I still use it with the factory speakers, and they sound as good as the day I bought them.  In fact, my wife actually prefers the sound of this system to a much more expensive system we have.  Why?  It seems like you have to turn up the volume louder on the more expensive system in order to be able to have good clarity of sound, but with this one, the sound is very clear even at low volumes.  So, even though it broke, I can still use the aux feature to play cds on it and sometimes I do.  The only way an electronic device could last as long as this one is it is high quality!  So, I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because the cd player broke shortly after I bought it.

What It Means to Be a Democrat by George McGovern

Senator George McGovern was definitely not a visionary when he wrote this.  Reading his book, “What It Means to Be a Democrat,” makes me somewhat ashamed there is generally no choice but to vote Democrat or Republican.  I’m glad he doesn’t represent me.  He says a lot of things that sound very sweet.  In short, he claims pride in the fact that he has been accused as a, “Bleeding heart liberal.”

So where is the problem?  The problem is that now more than ever, we need to be trimming back government.  The problem is now, we don’t need someone that just gives at all costs, but also has some judgment.  Mostly what America needs is for its Senate leadership to not be afraid to say, “The buck stops here.”  That concept should have been the thrust of the first chapter or the introduction.

So, I stop at page 30, having read the introduction and the first chapter only, and return the book to the library.  Sorry dude, our country is in financial crisis, and that is issue #1 right now.  So, you may wonder what I personally am doing to fix it.  I am walking to the library to return this book, which will hopefully help promote walking as opposed to driving.

I wouldn’t even give this book to my son when he learns to read as an introduction to what it means to be a democrat.  This is book is incorrectly titled.  It should be called, “The History of What It Means to Be a Democrat.”

Why write books on old fashioned democrat philosophy, when this sort of philosophy doesn’t work?  Most people don’t read past the first few pages.  Dear dog, you need to learn a few new tricks.  Yes, I myself believe many of the programs that you highlight are in fact good, but that should have been later in the book.

Under the Presidency of Bill Clinton, a Democrat, law makers where making progress on the deficit.  Thus, it is a very democratic ideal to not only balance the federal budget deficit, but also to pay it off in full.  I understand that you mention that programs often pay for themselves, but obviously in the state where in something’s got to go.  That should be your starting point.  Please try again.

Yes, Mr. Senator, you probably know what it has meant to be a Democrat, and are quite capable of defining the exact sort of leadership mentality that has gotten the USA in a financial crisis, but how about the current agenda, which needs to focus on the future through adaptation and change.

The other problem with this book is that one can’t write a counter to your book that may be called something like, “What It Means to Be a Republican,” take a historical approach and correctly arrive at a, “The buck stops here,” mentality either.  What we have in this country is a bunch of irresponsible law makers, both Democrat and Republican, and hopefully there will be able to be some sort or leadership that doesn’t just run us into the ground.  Therefore, do your part.  Be a Senator and fix the problems, while letting historians be historians.