I know that I’m supposed to write something insightful here, but I’m just inspired at the moment.  As a result, I will simply use The Brimstone Blog for my own shameless self-promotion and let everyone know that the next Chris Skel Un-Happy Hour Acoustic Revival will take place this Friday, November 7 at the Cottage Bar in beautiful Teaneck, New Jersey.  The festivities will begin at 5:30 sharp so come by and either celebrate the election of Barack Obama or drown your sorrows in booze because of it!  Both are completely acceptable forms of behavior at the Chris Skel Un-Happy Hour Acoustic Revival!

I have created a new MySpace page solely for Chris Skel and the Original Sins.  On it, you can currently find three songs from the forthcoming solo album as well as upcoming shows.  Please check it out and add me as a friend if you are already on MySpace.  The link is here.

I just finished reading “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy and I was absolutely floored by the breadth, scope and vision of this book.  It is no small wonder that the New York Times recently considered it the third best American novel of the last twenty-five years.  After I finished it, I realized I needed to delve deeper into Cormac McCarthy’s body of work and began “The Road” over the weekend.  Coincidentally, “The Road” has recently been made into a movie which will be released in November.  I hope they don’t screw it up.  More on “Blood Meridian” to follow.

Here is the setlist from Saturday night’s Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds show in New York.  It was a pretty amazing show and a far cry from when I first saw Nick at the old Ritz in November 1986 where about thirty people showed up and he was slugging cheap vodka from a plastic bottle.  Although I love the stage presence and musical inventiveness of Warren Ellis I still miss Blixa!

1. Hold On To Yourself
2. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. Tupelo
4. Weeping Song
5. Red Right Hand
6. Midnight Man
7. Love Letter (Nick on piano)
8. God is in the House (Nick on piano)
9. Moonland
10. Mercy Seat
11. Deanna
12. Hard On For Love
13. We Call Upon The Author
14. Papa Won’t Leave You Henry

Encore:

15. The Lyre of Orpheus
16. Get Ready For Love
17. Stagger Lee

Just testing a post from the iPod touch.

Not that anyone cares, but I would to share with the world what music I am currently listening to from time to time.  Right now, the band/artist of the week is Lucero.  Lucero is gritty, gutsy, rock n’ country punk n’ roll from Tennessee.  I want to thank Mike Gurley for turning me on to them.

This post is not particularly well thought-out (none of my posts are), however, I just needed to comment briefly on the situation in Georgia.  It appears that Vladimir Putin, the real authority in Russia, used a window of opportunity to flex a little Russian muscle.  While the United States is busy on two fronts and the rest of the world is busy staring, jaws agape, at the spectacle of the opening ceremonies in Beijing, Russian tanks and helicopter gunships roared into Georgia, a sovereign nation with a democratically-elected government.  And in reality, the world looked away.

Take heed, readers, this was not a knee-jerk reaction by the newly roused Russian bear, but a well calculated, well organized military operation with a blatant disregard for national boundaries.  For those of you that are students of history, Russia’s actions are eerily reminiscent of 1936, when Hitler marched into the Sudetenland, literally under the eyes of French troops stationed there, while the world watched and did nothing.  Then came, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, well, you know the rest.

Further, by all accounts, this move was not orchestrated to protect ethnic Russians in South Ossetia. Rather, this was a move to punish Georgia for being friendly to the west, especially friendly to the United Sates; for the country’s desire to join NATO and as an example to other like-minded nations in the region, i.e. Ukraine.

What does the forgoing tell the casual observer? It tells him that Russia is still militaristic; it tells him that Russia doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks because action is what matters and the world will not react and  it tells him that Russia is still not done pissing off America.

Don’t look know, but it appears as if America indeed has a new enemy in the East.  Well, not a new enemy, just a revived old one.

When I posted last month on the then-pending “gas blackout” for that weekend and the current gas crisis, I neglected to comment on one of the most serious sources of the problem.  That source is this current United States Congress.

I have chastised this Congress in the past for its do-nothing stance on every issue except the vilification of the President.  Congress keeps lashing out at the President for the country’s problems.  However, under the United States Constitution, it is Congress, not the President that is entrusted and empowered with the ability to make, review and address law.  The President, as the head of the Executive branch, enforces the law created by Congress.  Let’s be honest, the President’s bad approval ratings are nothing compared to the utterly horrendous approval ratings of the members of Congress because Congress is not handling the country’s issues.

This current Congress, led by the idle threats, rantings and ravings of liberal democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Joe Biden has done absolutely nothing to address this nation’s current economic crisis, which includes record-high gas prices and the decline of the housing market.  Unless Congress gets up off its collective behind and tackles some of the issues that we as a nation are facing, this nation will be doomed to descend deeper and deeper into this economic abyss.

What should be done you ask? At least in addressing the energy issue, the answer is simple.  Congress ust begin amending current and drafting new legislation that allows the United States to drill for its own oil.  If that involves me looking at the silhouette of an off-shore oil platform while sitting on the beach at Sandy Hook, so be it.  Because if I don’t look at it, pretty soon I will not be able to afford the drive to Sandy Hook. 

Additionally, we must begin to integrate and greater utilize nuclear power. It is used in Europe with great success and although I hate to say it, we should look there in order to see how it is effectively done.

Finally, we must stop kow tow-ing to the big oil companies and allow and encourage the auto makers of this country to build vehicles that run on alternative energy sources because that technology is there.  If that happens, then maybe it can save the jobs of the workers of the American auto industry.

Once Congreess realizes that it actually has a job to do-a constitutionally mandated job-maybe something will be done about all this.

To the best of my memory, here is the set list from my appearance at the Road Devils Peel Out Pre-Party the other night.

All My Lovin’ Back (C. Skel)
4th of July (Dave Alvin)
Waitress in the Sky (The Replacements)
Some Kind of Hate (The Misfits)
To Have and To Have Not (Billy Bragg)
I Believe (C. Skel)
I Don’t Wanna Grow Up (Tom Waits)
Come Hell or High Water (The Skels)
Far Side Banks of Jordan (Johnny Cash)
Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
Every Great Big Dream (C. Skel)

Thanks to The Road Devils for having me and thanks to everyone who came out!