Hats off to Brian Wilson for postponing his tour to take care of his mental health.
You see a lot of strange things when traveling in other countries. A lot of it is just, “huh…I guess that’s just the way they do that here…interesting,” and a lot of it can be, “holy shit, I can’t believe they’re doing that…isn’t somebody going to do something, like call the police…oh, those are the police.” Right now I’m sitting in a small hotel in the most dangerous city in the world, in a failed narco-state where the police forces and entire government is egregiously corrupt. If one spends any serious amount of time down here, or even a comedic amount of time down here, one is going to see some shit. I was here about 7 minutes before I saw some shit. And at some point, inevitably, you’re going to see some shit that deeply offends your American sensibilities. And you know what you should do about it? Yep…same thing I do: absolutely nothing. Not a goddamn thing. And the reason we don’t do a goddamn thing is it is not our place as guests of whichever country to complain about anything. If we find some aspect of their society deal-breakingly distasteful, we can leave and never return.
I have the utmost respect for Roger Waters as an artist and musician, but his aggressively anti-Israel stance has made it tough to stay a fan. He’s been calling for a boycott of Israel and giving other bands who choose to play there an inordinate amount of sanctimonious shit. This sort of thing really pisses me off: when some multi-millionaire legendary rock star from one of the biggest bands in rock history at the end of his career tries to bully struggling younger bands into submissive cooperation with their bullshit boycotts and petty politics. When one can command a million dollars per appearance with a reunited Pink Floyd, one can be as picky and finicky and bullshity as one wants when one is choosing where and when to play. But it’s a bit rich for that same multi-millionaire legendary rock star to pressure other acts who are not at all in a position to turn down a gig anywhere to do exactly that for his political agenda.
One band that is in the position to pick and choose what gigs they do is Disturbed, and they will be playing their first show in Israel on July 2 and Roger Waters can go fuck himself. As Disturbed frontman David Draiman told Loudwire.com, “I don’t think anybody in any country always agrees with everything their country does. I don’t, but I’m a very, very strong supporter of Israel forever and for our people. And regardless of whether it’s Israel or anywhere else, boycotting an entire society and an entire people based on the actions of its government is absolutely ridiculous. And it doesn’t accomplish anything, You can’t accomplish anything in terms of trying to create peace, in terms of trying to create understanding by shutting things off. There has to be open roads of communication. You build bridges, you don’t knock them down. And music and entertainment is the perfect way to bridge that gap. And the very notion that Waters and the rest of his Nazi comrades decide that this is the way to go ahead and foster change is absolute lunacy and idiocy — absolute.”
Well put, sir.
I had the chance to sleep under a weighted-blanket last night. I didn’t notice any remarkable change. It certainly wasn’t bad. I’m going to give it another shot tonight. It seemed like a bit of an extravagance for a hotel in El Zona Norte in Tijuana, so I asked the guy at the desk about it. He said they are literally “security blankets” offering protection against “indirect ballistic contact” (errant cartel bullets from a drive-by) as well as “edged-blade contact” (in case your ho has both a problem and a knife). So yeah, I’m going to give it another shot tonight.
N.P.: “No Tengo Dinero (C & J Mix)” – Los Umbrellos
