So, are you saying that there are only 778 people who would want to see the Decemberists in Portland? Who might go to see Obama mainly to see the group?

It’s a fair, if pathetic question posed. For example, Superchunk and the Arcade Fire played at a free rally for Obama here in Carrboro NC. I expect that more showed up primarily to see the show than the capacity of the Cat’s Cradle.

I was told there would be no math.

Yeah, this piece lacks the link which I’m sure you’re trying to make- namely, that the Decemberist show happened in the Wonder Ballroom. Maybe add another link that says as much?

And as someone who is a Decemberists fan, I can tell you that they aren’t the type of band that regularly draws 70,000 people to their shows.

Also, wouldn’t most people who only wanted to see the show um… y’know… leave after the Decembrists were finished, rather than stick around for the rally?

Ok, now I get it- its proof that they are not really drawing hair-metal-show-in-eastern-europe sized crowds.

According to the band’s website, their show took place at the Bowl in Waterfront Park, in conjunction with the Obama event:

http://www.decemberists.com/tour.aspx?StartingDate=01-01-2000

Think of the turnout we could get in November if we promise all voters free They Might Be Giants downloads.

Don appears to have cleaned himself up a bit and lost some weight. Good job, Don.

It’s hillarious to watch the Reynolds/Surbhuman Doughy Duo move the goalposts all over the place w/r/t Obama’s 75,000. Perhaps the 75K wasn’t the other-worldly success some of Obama’s more fanatic supporters have made it, but answer me this, you pathetic chubbed-out nerds…could McCain possibly reach these numbers? At any point, at any location?

No, no, and no. Which is precisely the point, fellas. But yes, thanks for breaking these big scoops, in lieu of a) actually being a relevant columnist and b) actually being a good professor at an actually good law school.

Obama looks just like one of the Decemberists and people got confused.

According to the band’s website, their show took place at the Bowl in Riverfont Park:

http://www.decemberists.com/tour.aspx?StartingDate=01-01-2000

But yeah, the Decemberists alone aren’t drawing 75,000 people. They aren’t drawing soccer stadium crowds – anywhere. It’s like asking how many people showed up at Woodstock to see the Who v. the other groups. In this case, it was the Decemberists and Obama, and they drew a shitload of people.

Also, wouldn’t most people who only wanted to see the show um… y’know… leave after the Decembrists were finished, rather than stick around for the rally?

Too late. They are probably selling flowers in airports by now.

So, are you saying that there are only 778 people who would want to see the Decemberists in Portland?

Yes. I know they’re huge, huge rock stars who have even been mentioned in Rolling Stone, but Decemberists shows are not exactly a rarity around here. Their big shows are at places like the Crystal Ballroom, which has a capacity of 1500. 70000 people is like three times the capacity of the Rose Garden, which is where they hold things like Barry Manilow concerts.

Although, I should give the Surbhuman credit for today’s Awesome Parody!!!!!:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2008/05/21/requested-parody/#more-4203

Just stop, Don.

And aren’t The Decemberists from Portland?

Anybody who has spent any amount of time following local bands and has a lick of sense knows you wouldn’t go out to an Obama rally just to catch your favorite local band…just wait until they play in town again at a smaller venue where you can get beer and liquor. Jesus.

Even if several thousand Decemberists fans showed up, I’d wager my next paycheck they were there mainly to see Obama, and not the band.

Yes but according to News Busters, Rolling Stone magazine gave their new album 4 and a half stars! So that proves it! Nyah nya nyah!!!!

Because we all know that the well-reviewed talented musicians are the ones that sell a lot of albums! That’s just the way the record industry works!

Everyone knows that every band that gets 4 stars from Rolling Stone instantly draws festival-sized crowds.

I got there first, but Legalize said it better. Care to call it a draw?

I rarely get any good ones in. Can I have this one?

I rarely get any good ones in.

That is not so.

But, hey, maybe Springsteen has joined the band. You never know.

I really take down Obama in today’s hillarious parody! Check it out!

It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
It’s peanut butter Barack time!
Peanut butter Barack!
Peanut butter Barack!
Peanut butter Barack with a baseball bat!

See what I did there? I replaced “jelly” with “Barack,” thus making the parody funny and awesome!

HEH. DON SURBER destroys Obama in a funny parody. Indeed. We’re winning!

This book I’m linking to PROVES that there’s a masculinity crisis in Ameri…what’s that, Glenny-poo? You want me to look at your new Star Wars action figures? Hold on, everyone..

Peanut butter Barack with a baseball bat!

Well, maybe if he’s stripped down and handcuffed to the bed..

FACE DOWN ASS UP! that’s the way we like our flying penises.

Or something.

It has been my experience that at many shows in clubs with a capacity of 1000 people or less, the promoter and owner will try to stuff 75,000 people into the space.

You know, the Decemberists gave a free show last summer in Chicago — a city of 3 million, about five times larger than Portland — at Millennium Park with the Grant Park Orchestra. About 10,000 people showed up. True, it was a little rainy that night, but I doubt they could have drawn another 65k on their own under any circumstances.

The market for sea shanties and song cycles about the Japanese immigrant experience just is not that large.

Legalize said,

May 21, 2008 at 17:33

According to the band’s website, their show took place at the Bowl in Riverfont Park:

http://www.decemberists.com/tour.aspx?StartingDate=01-01-2000

But yeah, the Decemberists alone aren’t drawing 75,000 people. They aren’t drawing soccer stadium crowds – anywhere. It’s like asking how many people showed up at Woodstock to see the Who v. the other groups. In this case, it was the Decemberists and Obama, and they drew a shitload of people.

Exactly. I’d say 1,000 at the absolute most was there because the Decemberists happen to be there. But, wingnut pundits so like the Dems=DFHs meme that they say shit like “Jon Stewart’s audience are all dope smokers” and “they only show up to political rallies if there’s a free concert, maaaaan!”

Damned kids with their rock-and-roll and coke-a-cola. Git off mah lawn!

Gavin, I think you have the wrong venue. Look at the entry immediately above the entry you have pointed out on their tour list.

Plus, the Decemberists kind of suck.

*ducks*

Now, how many Decemberists fans are Obama supporters?

Thank you, Legalize. That needed to be said.

Nutella, I think he’s pointing out how one could determine the band’s typical draw if one were not Messrs Wright or Surber.

The schedule and venue images are about the Decemberists show two weeks before the Bowl rally, not the rally itself. And yeah, they’re a local band.

To be totally bend-over-backwards fair, let’s imagine that ten times as many people would come to a free outdoor Decemberists concert than would go to a regular indoor one. Rounding upwards, that’s 7800 people — about 11% of the crowd.

: |

If I may burnish that slightly:

Plus, the Decemberists kind of suck.

OK, they may not suck, but I’m getting really sick of post-Counting Crows funereal maudlin fuckin’ bullshit. Anyway, it should be Decembrists.

…yet I was still baffled each time at how these idiots get away with the things they do.

Gavin, what I wonder is how you manage to maintain your childlike innocence and sense of wonder when wading through this crap every day.

As for the lying spin, we should encourage it by planting stories about how other bands are actually drawing all those crowds to Obama rallies. Encourage the wingnuts in their delusional beliefs, so that it’s all the more a surprise when Grandpa Simpson loses in November. I promise, if we continue to feed them the bullshit they want to believe, it will make their tears taste just that much sweeter.

Shorter Robert Knight:

So, see? Obama isn’t popular. Which means…something meaningful. Something meaningful but unmentioned by national reporting. And all the more meaningful because of that, which is the real story. And its meaning.

It’s like this:

75,000 people came the the free Decemberists concert, only to find that 1/10th of the crowd can fit in the venue. So everybody that couldn’t get in just happened to be milling around when Obama’s bus drove up. He jumped out and began to speak so that his handlers could snap some photos just to make it look like people were actually there to see him.

But the Liberal Media will never report THAT story!

Goddammit, right-wingers are dumber than a bag of hammers!

it will make their tears taste just that much sweeter.

I’m going to start baking the pot fruitcakes for Obama Hussein Xmas now!

To be totally bend-over-backwards fair, let’s imagine that ten times as many people would come to a free outdoor Decemberists concert than would go to a regular indoor one. Rounding upwards, that’s 7800 people — about 11% of the crowd.

Shit, let’s go one better.
Let’s look at one city where the Decemberists sold out two shows on consecutive nightsNew York City
Let’s look at the capacity of the venue that they sold out two days in a row:3,000 people
Now let’s imagine that there were exactly enough people who did not get a ticket to sell out yet a third show. We have 9,000 people who would pay money to see a Decemberists show in one city.

Now let’s imagine that the population of Portland (568,380) has exactly as many people who want to see the Decemberists as does the population of New York City (8,250,567). Shoot, let’s even include the Portland Metro Area (2.1 million).

Now let’s … um … assume that all of the Portland fans are so excited to see local band the Decemberists that they … uh … bring 7 friends who don’t care enough to buy tickets?

OK, they may not suck, but I’m getting really sick of post-Counting Crows funereal maudlin fuckin’ bullshit.

I’m just sick of rock in general. I’m only 25 and rock is dead to me. Yeah, sometimes I will hear something really artsy-fartsy that is a little interesting, but it’s just flopping the corpse around like a marionette as far as I’m concerned.

I, for one, welcome our Rolling Stone annointed overlords.

What you all don’t understand is that the Decemberists actually have a following in the mega-jillions and that this article was just to inform them that the Decmeberists are all Unity Pony cultists, thus getting the ultra bazillion squadrillion to the hundred and tenth power to vote Obama in the General. Don’t you all see, NewsBusters is totally in the tank for Obama!

I’ve been spendin too much time at Corrente.

I sadly agree with pedestrian on the rock-being-dead point. I don’t really recognize it these days.

It is kind of funny that the wingers are using a band they’ve never heard of to make a point about Obama’s alleged unpopularity. What’s even funnier is that the band that proves Obama’s unpopularity did the event for Obama – probably because they don’t really dig him due to his unpopularity.

Most music I hear nowadays sounds like direct ripoffs of different Beatles tunes.

Of course most of my exposure to modern rock music is when it’s used in TV commercials (which now sound like Beatles tunes (and I know full well that Beatles tunes ARE being re-recorded for use in TV commercials)).

Sure, a few people went for the music. But to us here in pdx, the Decembrists are like, so yesterday. Exactly 1.3% of the local populace has NOT seen at least three Decembrist shows. [go ahead, try to prove me wrong. Just try. Heh.]

Even Pink Martini couldn’t fill the bowl.

Rock and Roll died in 1967.

Two things happened in the same city on the same day. They must be related!

Good old post hoc ergo what the fuck? It has spared many a Winger the pain of firing up their brain cell.

And of course Bob Knight knows full well that political rallies do sometimes hire local bands to play some pre-show music.

Rock and Roll died in 1967.

Attention: The Stooges did not release Fun House until 1970. The Ramones formed in 1974. The Cheeky Girls had not yet been born.

How many reporters show up to cover McCain and how many just want free BBQ?

Should we tell them?

I mean, just think of poor News Busters, left there holding their dicks.
.

Rock is dead, you say?

Maybe Obama is just a Decemberists-head. You know, following them around the country in his psychedelic VW van, selling nitrous in balloons and twirling in the open spaces in the crowd. And they like him so much, because he’s such a devoted fan, that they invite him on stage to do their mic checks.

Or maybe he’s like Chris Farley’s character in Black Sheep and he got really stoned and dragged onto the stage… “Kill Whitey!”

I’ll bet it’s one of those two things.

I should also mention that Newbusters has a terrible habit of hot-linking pics from other sources. Some people call that bandwidth theft.

There are still a few good bands around. If you’re in Portland, go see these guys at the Kenton Club on June 13th. I GUARANTEE you’ll love them.

“The Stooges did not release Fun House until 1970. The Ramones formed in 1974.”

Moreover:

1. “White Light/White Heat” – 1968

2. “Exile on Main Street” – 1972

3. “Marquee Moon” – 1977

4. “Unknown Pleasures” – 1979

etc.

“Attention: The Stooges did not release Fun House until 1970. The Ramones formed in 1974. The Cheeky Girls had not yet been born.”

Richard Hell never gets the love.

Legalize said,

May 21, 2008 at 18:18

I sadly agree with pedestrian on the rock-being-dead point. I don’t really recognize it these days.

Ask me about any band from that formed within the past ten years, and I wouldn’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about. I stopped listening to semi-popular music when I got out of college because it was just no longer interesting.

Richard Hell never gets the love.

The Cheeky Girls asked him to touch their bums. What’s he need, a fuckin’ road map?

Whatever he’s like as a president, Obama the candidate IS a phenomenon. Does the wingnut-o-sphere plan to pooh-pooh every large rally between now and November?

That’s gonna get old, even for the knuckledraggers.

How come anything I like immediately gets consigned to suckdom by the forces of contemporary history?

1970

or

1970

Richard Hell belongs to the blank generation. What do you expect? It’s Johnny Thunders who always gets teh shaft!

BB, I would say the phenomenon you described is more limited to the past 2 or 3 years for me. Late 2007 to the present has been especially void. The girl and I had this discussion the other night, and neither of us could figure it out. Groups like BRMC and the Brian Jonestown Massacre used to be dangerous. Rock in general used to be dangerous and never something wingers would approvingly cite to prove a point. The Black Angels are about all I have left. Oh well.

Moreover:

Zeppelin, Maaan!!!onehundredandeleven!!

Late 2007 to the present has been especially void.

Destroyer- Trouble In Dreams
Dodos- Visiter

Try.

What’s the big deal about 75,000 showing up? Don Surber draws that many flies every time he walks out the door.

I guess if I liked either Destroyer or Dodos, I would be moved. To each his/her own, I will grant you, DN Nation.

I stopped listening to semi-popular music when I got out of college because it was just no longer interesting.

So say we all.

Shorter “Rock is Dead” commenters:
Get offa my lawn!

Rock and Roll died in 1967.

It was overrated, anyway. John Philip Sousa FTW!

Some might argue that Rock didn’t truly die until August 8, 1973.

1971

The crowd was small, but grew exponentially when Colin Meloy promised not to perform any songs from The Crane Wife

Destroyer most certainly does not rock. Dethklok is another matter.

Rock is not dead. It is just living a subdued existance in your local bars and taverns, playing for free beers and groupies. As it should be.

I am withholding judgement on Meloygate until Pitchfork weighs in.

stryx said,

Re the MC5 if you haven’t got it seek out the VU-meters-into-the-red single version of “Lookin’ at You”. Really nuts.

Everyone knows that the only reason people pay $300 and up to see the Stones was so they could catch the opening act.

Others might argue that Rock died much, much earlier.

Dethklok is another matter.

I’m surprised by how much I like Dethklok. I hadn’t really heard any metal between about 1985 and the start of Metalocalypse, and I’m very impressed. Not sure I could listen to anything in the genre that takes itself at all seriously, though.

John Philip Sousa FTW!

Forget Sousa. Mongolian throat singers… that’s the next big thing.

Or better yet Mongolian throat singers and John Philip Sousa and polka, all played at the same time. Backwards. When you’re on acid.

Or best of all, Don Surber’s yodeling renditions of Herman’s Hermits’ greatest hits.

1970

or

1970

Rock dies every time a band decides to get clever and foregoes the blues-based drum, bass, guitar model in favor of glockenspiels and calliopes or some such.

Clever is fine, but it ain’t rock-and-roll.

Obamath!! howls Don Suber.

The LA Times blog reported that Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential “campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million.”
….
Well, it turned out the LA Times blogger counted twice the $11.4 million she loaned the campaign.

But I do. Deal with it.

I’d hate to be held responsible for all the crap the L.A. Times publishes…especially considering their deployment of the Doughy Pantload.

1977

Ohio represent, mo’ fcuker

BTW, this is off topic but seems like something right up y’alls ally. Apparently the wingnuts are claiming that 31,000 U.S. scientists have signed a petition denying global warming.

Funny thing, though: I followed the links and a lot of these names don’t appear to be scientists at all. There’s a couple of veterinarians, some medical doctors, and some people who didn’t put any fancy letters after their names. So in other words, any jackass can put up a web page and cut and paste a bunch of names and make some kind of bogus claim.

Let the fun begin!

I believe Huey Lewis has confirmed that the Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating.

Yep, Seattle’s Showbox (next stop on the tour) has a capacity of 1100 standing room, 300 – 600 seated.

And none of them are Obama supporters, so WE WIN!!!!Eleven!

Does the wingnut-o-sphere plan to pooh-pooh every large rally between now and November?

Of course not dear chap. Soon they’ll move on to wringing their hands about:
1. How large crowds of “certain types of people” can easily turn violent.
2. Why law enforcement agencies can’t limit the number of “certain types of people” who can assemble, simply for security reasons.
3. Large political rallies are a sure sign of facism.

At least one brave warrior of the blahgosphere will volunteer to go into the lion’s den to observe the wild, crazy, almost certainly weapon carrying Obama cult members. Whether or not he actually goes, he’ll claim that he was scared for his life, received numerous threatening looks and comments and have to retire to his fainting couch so his mommy can change his diaper while he sips a restorative draught of Mountain Dew.

This is fun, can I play?

1978
1984
1987

1970

Cincinnati represent, yo

Gavin-

The venue you showed was for the Colin Meloy solo tour not the Decemberists.

I have seen the Decemberists three times and the largest venue was an old movie theater. It was about 1000 people. They didn’t even sell out the second show.

Please let the Butthole Surfers endorse Obama, just so they have to writ column after column about how popular Gibby is with the kids.

I saw Iggy in New Haven in the late 70s. It all seems to be a blur now (and probably was then).

“I believe Huey Lewis has confirmed that the Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating.”

And from what I’ve seen, I believe him.

Rock and roll is only dead because old farts like ya’ll are bitching instead of looking for it. Oh, and the fact that you’re waiting for someone else to point it out to you.

Go find your own.

Snorghagen said,

May 21, 2008 at 19:15

Forget Sousa. Mongolian throat singers… that’s the next big thing.

Pffft… Mongolian throat singers is sooooo 1999.

NobodySpecial said,

May 21, 2008 at 19:49

Rock and roll is only dead because old farts like ya’ll are bitching instead of looking for it. Oh, and the fact that you’re waiting for someone else to point it out to you.

Go find your own.

“The only Zen you will find on the top of a mountain is the Zen you bring with you.” — Robert Pirsig

1970 Something

(Surber math.)

I wonder if there’s a rock n roll Heaven. You know they’d have… nah, that’s just silly.

Do not confuse your aging tastes with a decline in rock music. I hope you’re aware that you sound EXACTLY like your parents.

It’s out there. You just have to put some work into it. To start: look at liner notes for your favorite bands, and see what bands they thank.

You’re welcome.

I saw Iggy in New Haven in the late 70s. It all seems to be a blur now (and probably was then).

Hey! Me too!

I do remember hearing “I wrote this song with the help of my mother. It’s called cock in my pocket.” Or something very much like that. It’s blurry.

SoBeale: It’s even better than that. SciBlogs has been following this for a while (there was an earlier list that had 17k names on it); the larger list contains only 40 individuals who are claiming to be climatologists. What’s more, quite a few of the more prominent names from the original list openly repudiated it, voicing their support for the theory of anthropomorphic global warming. Those names are still on the new list; the creators made some snide remarks to the effect of “your own research proves your a moron and a dupe and BLAR HAR HAR” and ignored their complaints.

Hows this for a “git offa my lawn” moment: PBS is doing a pledge special featuring…Frank Fuckin Zappa. No shit. I’m the PBS demographic. *sigh*

I haven’t clicked many of the links for fear of being Rickroll’d. Man this would be the perfect thread for it. All you crazy lefties are probably huge Rollins fans, where’s the Black Flag YouTube?

It should be pointed out that the show at the Wonder Ballroom you are referencing was Colin Meloy by himself, and without his band, so it wasn’t a Decemberists show. While the Decemberists won’t be selling out Shea anytime soon, they can fill larger venues like the Crystal Ballroom downtown.

Some eyewitness shit:

That doesn’t distract from the larger point, which is that few folks were there to see the Decemberists. The majority of the crowd hadn’t even made it inside the park when the Decemberists started playing. I didn’t hear a note of their set. I didn’t see anybody leave when they realized that they had missed the Decemberists. The over 12,000 people who never made it in but listened to Obama’s speech didn’t leave when the Decemberists had finished.

Using this winger logic, one could argue that they weren’t there to see Obama, but to see Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (our very popular local congressman) warm-up introduction.

Or the sun, since people in Portland really like the sun since it visits so infrequently between November and June.

Okay. I’m confused. The old talking point that Obama’s supporters are just a bunch of automatons indulging in hero worship and blindly treating Obama like a rock star seems to be directly contradicted by the new talking point that Obama is only drawing large crowds because he’s using real rock stars to open for him.

Sometimes I wonder who’e coordinating the Republican Talking Points. I wonder if it makes us look us a little weak if we can’t maintain a little consistency from week to week. Obviously, we have a superior product, but we just occasionally have a little problem with packaging that might, to a naive observer, make it look like we are opportunistic and/or delusional and/or stupid.

And all the liberals can do is make fun!

Liberals. Hmf.

This is not confusing to someone who understands that the secret Muslim still follows the teachings of his racist United church of Christ pastor.

The Beatles drew about 56,000 to Shea Stadium, but unmentioned is the fact that one of the warmup groups was Sounds Incorporated.

make it look like we are opportunistic and/or delusional and/or stupid.

And so much more!

Bill Clinton: bigger than The Beatles.

P.S. Oil is up another 2.6%, so you’ll want to fill your tanks with gas at today’s low prices.

Oh My Goth!

Barack Obama: bigger than Jesus

(Yeah, I said it! So what, you wanna fight about it?)

1979

where’s the Black Flag YouTube?

Patience grasshopper.

P.P.S. Pony time, beaches!

Obviously Barack needs to start demanding “Loyalty Oaths” from anybody you shows up at one of his Campaign appearances.

Its the only way to be sure…

Ok, Parts and Labor bring teh rawk:

http://www.myspace.com/partsandlabor

Brooklyn, yo.

How many delegates did The Decemberists end up with? ZERO. SUCK IT INDIE-ROCK PANSIES.

Go find your own.

Nobody, do I get credit for being an old fart who found and likes The Redwalls? OK, so their album cover cops an old Traffic LP, but they are young, loud and pleasantly snotty.

Rock didn’t die, what happened was that rock radio programmers went brain dead in the mid-70’s (I think it was Boston’s second album that finally killed off their ability to look forward). Classic Rock was born and all the good new rock bands have had to struggle for airplay ever since. It’s been fun looking for them (except for when someone plays the White Stripes. I hate the White Stripes).

I think the Decemberists actually got half of one of Edwards’ delegates. The other half went to Pantera. Totally true.

Boy, Death Cab for Cutie are gonna be pissed when they see 75,000 people empty from the venue.

Rock and roll is only dead because old farts like ya’ll are bitching instead of looking for it. Oh, and the fact that you’re waiting for someone else to point it out to you.

Well, like I said upthread, I just turned 25, so I don’t think it’s old age setting in. At least, I hope not. I grew up listening to a broad range of rock stretching from the 50’s to the early 90’s and I just got sick of it. It doesn’t feel rebellious anymore, it doesn’t feel cynical, or independent, or sexual, or dangerous, or angry, or liberating. Usually it just sounds like white guys trying to find themselves. I’m over it.

Not that I think that makes me superior. No matter how much I get into blues and jazz and classical and various types of world music, I’ll still just be a white guy trying to find myself too.

Well yeah, but maybe Decemberist DFH fans are too lazy to work and have no money to buy tickets.

Think of that? Huh? I didn’t think so.

maybe Decemberist DFH fans are too lazy to work

At this site we only deal with the hard-working white people.

1984

You say you don’t want it

The fact remains that the reason GOPers don’t draw such large crowds is because coservatives HAVE JOBS. Commies, hippies, slackers, and commies don’t have jobs.

Sunday?

Ok, change the “jobs” stuff to “at church or something”.

The Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie? Please. What a snore-fest.

Let me know when Rilo Kiley shows up. At least Jenny is teh hawt.

umm stryx, much as appreciate all the rock goodness, but the 1984 link is the same as the 1979 link you posted earlier. And still no Black Flag.

Ripley said,

May 21, 2008 at 20:12

(you wanna fight about it?)

Barack Obama: Kooler Than Jesus?

Can I throw in a 1989 for that?

re:Pony Time
OMG! He’s below the Kung Fu Monkey Crazification Factor! He’s below the BTKWB Limit!

I love how these Wingnuts COMPLETELY ignore the fact that over half the crowd at EVERY McCain event LEAVES right after the “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” video is finished!

Classic Rock was born and all the good new rock bands have had to struggle for airplay ever since.

Sooner or later the Boomer deathgrip on deciding what’s good and what isn’t will fade, and it might even out a bit.

The Sword
Electric Wizard
Fu Manchu

Rock is alive and well. You just need to turn off the radio and hit your local hipster record store.

the 1984 link is the same as the 1979 link

Indeed, I believe that is central to my point.

1985

I was a hippie, I was a burnout, I was a dropout

Just FYI: That Wonder Ballroom show was ONLY Colin Meloy, not the whole band. The Decemberists did fill out the Hollywood Bowl when I saw them, which seats 18,000 (which is not 75,000, I know). Still, let’s be a bit more honest. It’s not 800 vs 75,000, it’s 18,000 vs 75,000.

I corrected the figures a little while ago. They played two shows in Portland in January with a combined 3,000 capacity.

Hometown band, smaller city than Los Angeles, etc.

If they brought two or three times that number to the Obama rally, it’s no more than a small bump — a figure that nearly falls in the cracks between different attendance estimates.

[url=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoh_yteKkc]1986[/url]

Rock’s not dead – those maggots are just ambience.

75,000? Who do you think you are, the Beatles? – Maury Sline

I’m still waiting for Aerosmith to open for Obama.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeettttt Eeeeemmmooooooottttiiioonnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Well stryx, the blonde jailbait sucking on a cross is enough for me to forgive your slagging of the only man greater than Colbert.

Rock isn’t dead. Rock radio is so far past dead the maggots have turned to dust.

Get offa my lawn and listen to Pandora.

Maybe they all wanted to see him one last time before he slinks back to the Senate or, better yet, back to Bali, to write a new and improved version of his auto-biography, a version people can actually believe.

More 1987

Me said,
May 21, 2008 at 20:06
The Beatles drew about 56,000 to Shea Stadium, but unmentioned is the fact that one of the warmup groups was Sounds Incorporated.

Personally, I was there to see Cyrkle perform “Red Rubber Ball”.

Maybe they all wanted to see him one last time before he slinks back to the Senate or, better yet, back to Bali, to write a new and improved version of his auto-biography, a version people can actually believe.

He lived on Java, not Bali. Read up on the differences. In the meantime,
FAIL

I should’ve known my first try at a textlink would cack on me.
*carves “n00b” into forehead with steak-knife*

For a Republican, saying Bali instead of Java is very impressive. You liberals and your precision. A Republican president who knows the difference between Java and Bali would be the smartest Republican president since WIlliam Howard Taft.

Liberals. Hmf.

YOU fail.

Come on Gavin,

Look at the The Decemberists’ website please, don’t let the nuts get any traction.

Update a correction man.

Second time’s the charm?

Third time lucky?

Is that the same Robert Knight that was on a crusade because he thought Popeye & Bluto were promoting “the homosexual agenda”?

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

speaking of updates and important corrections, Kristol-mania. via Glenn Greenwald (update II, item 10 – geez his various items posts are teh suck for citing)

John McCain will make ABBA the king of the Secretary of Gold Lame department. Colin Meloy is not fit to clean John McCain’s colostomy bag!

Doesn’t anyone here have access to Soundscan? Can’t we check album sales numbers?

I think they are basically implying that 1 out of every 3 people from across the US who purchased the Crane Wife, heard about the show, packed up their belongings and all drove to Portland just to see their favorite band.

Rock isn’t dead. Rock radio is so far past dead the maggots have turned to dust.

Get offa my lawn and listen to Pandora.

I’ve mostly switched to Deezer. But yeah. Totally.

About a year or so ago, we had a free concert here in Toronto where Beyonce and John Mayer performed. It drew a few thousand people. But, then again, who the heck has heard of Beyonce and John Mayer? They aren’t nearly the superstars the Decemberists are.

I mean, isn’t it Colin Maloy who is all over the tabloids because of his relationships with the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson? Or is he the one that just married Jay-Z? Who ever it is he’s with these days, he’s obviously a much bigger star than Beyonce and Mayer. They have no name recognition at all.

NTodd captured the whole shebang…Decemberists and Obama.

I do not have access to SoundScan, but I can tell you that by April 2007, six months after it had been released, “Crane Wife” had sold about 214,000 copies. Apparently it sold 26,000 copies in its first week.

The only reason I know of the Decemberists is because of Steven Colbert. So clearly, people were just showing up to the Obama rally to see a cameo appearance from Colbert.

I think that one will hold up.

Pinch me please! Teh presidential election is more than 5 months away. Some younger democracies do it better. Their parties keep internal power struggles internal. About 2 months before the election they announce their candidate and the campaigning begins. Costs millions, not hundreds of millions. Voter turnout is in the 80s. Genuine economic issues are debated. Governments fund more than a few orchestras, universities are practically free, public health is affordable and available to everyone. This really happens in places like Germany, Austria, Greece. Fact is, there’s little splendor to American politics and a lot of headscratching. When will they get a clue? Why don’t they get a clue?

I believe Huey Lewis has confirmed that the Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating.
That explains the tell-tale thump, thump, thump from under the floorboards.

Uh huh.

And I suppose the 50,000 people that showed up to see John Kerry speak at the exact same spot in Portland in 2004 were doing it just to hear Jon Bon Jovi warble out “Livin on a Prayer.”

Come on Gavin,

Look at the The Decemberists’ website please, don’t let the nuts get any traction.

Update a correction man.

?? Did I miss something after the update earlier?

Pedestrian:
I’m just sick of rock in general. I’m only 25 and rock is dead to me.

Funny, you type older.

I stopped listening to semi-popular music when I got out of college because I was just no longer interesting.
Speaking only for myself.

Speaking only for myself.

Speak for yourself indeed – I was never interesting.

America needs Canadia! and Canada needs an Obama win.

Canadians favour Obama over McCain
The Canadian Press
May 21, 2008 at 4:15 PM EDT
Ottawa — Democrat Barack Obama would crush Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential race by an almost four-to-one margin — 56 per cent to 15 — if it were up to Canadians.
….
The same survey suggests Canadians consider the current occupant of the White House, George W. Bush, among the worst presidents ever — if not the worst.

Forty-two per cent of respondents called Mr. Bush one of the worst presidents in U.S. history, 23 per cent said he was the absolute worst.

Only 4 per cent said he was among the better ones, and less than 1 per cent called Mr. Bush the best ever.

Pollster Bruce Anderson says the survey results are surprising even in a country that traditionally favours Democrats.

“While Canadians generally tilt more towards the Democratic Party than the Republican Party, this degree of disaffection is quite remarkable,” said the head of Harris-Decima.

“It cuts across the political spectrum. Very few Conservatives in Canada are prepared to say they have been satisfied, let alone enthusiastic about the accomplishments of Mr. Bush.

Even in the province where Mr. Obama was least popular — Alberta — respondents favoured him by a 28-point margin over McCain. Fifty-one per cent of respondents there supported Mr. Obama, and 23 per cent preferred McCain.

Smut, did you used to wear an onion on your belt?

that 1 per cent who love Bush? No teeth, lolling tongues, crazed eyeballs, low productivity

#
Smut Clyde said,

May 22, 2008 at 0:10

I stopped listening to semi-popular music when I got out of college because I was just no longer interesting.
Speaking only for myself.

I still listen to the same semi-popular music you were listening to IN college…

mikey

I once thought rock & roll was dead. Now I know different.

Go see J. Roddy Walston & The Business do their thing if you ever get the chance. They’re bad ass.

Seriously.

Funny, you type older.

My fingers have gotten a lot of use.

As a certified old person I would like to say that I too was overcome with youthful idealism in my early thirties and declared rock dead to me. I would only listen to bluegrass. That got boring. I also missed most of the 80’s and 90’s pop music.

I now like any music that sounds good to me.

Seems to work.

I hope you’re aware that you sound EXACTLY like your parents.

You knew my parents?

Been too long since a good post ’67 rock video.
Testify. I promise it’s not Rick Astley.

that 1 per cent who love Bush? No teeth, lolling tongues, crazed eyeballs, low productivity

I think Adam Yoshida does have teeth – but otherwise, bingo.

hell yes legalize. parts and labor is great.

Vampire Weekend is worth checking out. There are 4 songs in that playlist.

So they’re implying that, after the concert, the doors were locked, and the venue surrounded by DNC thugs to prevent the several thousand people standing outside the venue (because it was full) from leaving, and made them listen to Obama.
With a straight face.

Goddamn, January 20th is going to be sweet. Squeeeeeaaal like a piggy!

On July 18, 2007, The Decembrists played a free concert in Chicago with a (popular) symphony orchestra and the review said they drew about 10,000. Looks like Obama is “only” responsible for 60,000 of the total, not counting the many thousands who couldn’t get in.

You know what? I’m kind of fine with the nutty righters underestimating Obama’s support.

Really, I am.