Mar 132006
The first part of last night’s concert: great. The New Pornographers gave energetic renditions of songs like “Use It” and “The Bleeding Heart Show.” Neko Case wasn’t with the band because she’s on tour with her own album, but new band member (and niece of frontman AC Newman) Kathryn Calder did a lovely job on vocals. Her voice is a little mellower and less showy than Neko’s, but she still sounded sweet and strong on the solos and choruses. They didn’t do an encore, which was unfortunate because I wanted to hear more. The second part: meh. Not to denigrate the Belle and Sebastian fans out there, but I was a bit bored during their performance. I think their musical style is simply too precious for me. The band encouraged people to get up and dance a couple times, which made me think, “People really dance to this stuff?” I left before the concert was over, which is a rare occurrence for me.
I’m urging everyone to call or fax your senators and urge them to support Senator Russ Feingold’s resolution to censure the President. If we can impeach a president for lying about getting a blow job, then it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to merely censure a president who admitted that he illegally ordered the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. The justifications some Republicans are offering–that this a time of war and that Congress authorized the President to do whatever was necessary to prosecute this apparently endless war on terror–are dishonest and cynical. As much as I criticize the current state of the nation, I still cling to the belief that we can be a truly great society if we hold true to the civic ideals we learned in grade school, including the rule of law and the power of Congress to balance the power of the president. Perhaps unwittingly, this President has defiled those fundamental principles and it’s time to hold him accountable.
