Blondie: Chris Stein
News about Chris Stein, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Blondie.
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Posted by Chris Stein at 7/22/2003 06:56:00 AM
first thanx for all the congratulatory messages all is going very well with akira, i must say we werent prepared for how damn cute she is...
on to topics: im kind of amazed at how many messages ive gotten dealing with my off the cuff remarks about france, apparently a lot of people have bought into the current trends of nationalism... so let me try to get my real views out here;
in 1984 orwell describes a nation state that is constantly shifting alliances between one of two other great 'superpowers', like his description of a culture whose middle and upper classes are virtually controlled by screens in their homes he hit the nail on the head to a degree... difference only that the number of superpower states is constantly shifting... for almost the entire history of the west every fucking country has had their fifteen minutes when they took their bite out of the rest of the world, this includes england, france, holland, belgium, germany, russia, italy, spain, switzerland etc etc and later on america... the point being that all through western history all of these countries have undergone constant shifts in allegiance with every variation at one time or another being at odds with some other collection of allied nations and anyone who thinks these various groupings indicate anything more than convenience is just missing the picture... every western nation has and will sell each other out at the drop of a hat, nationalism is just a way to manipulate masses of people...
... pretty soon the planet will just not be able to function with half of its population living off the other half and national divisions will be considered primitive... all of this carrying on about who did what for who in what antique war is meaningless in the face of current world problems; of just making sure the human race survives the next thousand or so years
i could go on and forgive for sounding preachy but i really feel that people who hold love of country above love of humanity are misguided...
finally i am totally in support of the people in the US military, that has nothing to do with what i think about american foreign policy i just believe that since the advent of nuclear arms the idea of warfare has become very schizophrenic and contradictory; whereby one cant destroy ones enemy without destroying themselves as well...
all for now, i dont know how this has turned into a current events forum but what the hell
love
chris
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Posted by Chris Stein at 7/20/2003 06:56:00 AM
so...
on tues last as i was looking at the e-mails id gotten barbara approached slumped up against the wall and announced that her contractions that had started at around seven a.m. were getting serious... this was about nine a.m., we hung around the house as long as possible went to the midwifes at around noon... midwife stacy said this was it for sure and that we should perhaps return home to which barb replied "I dont think so" long story short AKIRA born 4:44 p.m. on july 15 which im told is the same date as Johnny Thunders among others... those in the baby know will appreciate the shortness of the labor, really only four hours of the heavy stuff... believe me the word 'labor' is an understatement... stacy gave a final tug just as barbara was giving a push and akira whose squooshed head had just emerged came literally shooting out hanging suspended in the air for a fraction of a second that felt much longer, landed on the bed and was instantly whisked up by the nurse...
and that was that... 8 lbs. 1 oz. with a full head of dark hair... she's soo cute and gorgeous its appalling, she's the best baby in the universe etc etc etc... you who've been through it might have a slightly better idea but i guess everyone can imagine how i feel, im so proud of barbara also, the birth was 'natural' without any drugs, she just went in and 'did it', very no nonsense... thats the basics, maybe barbara will post some of her comments on "MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES", her site, and i'll get some pictures of akira up soon... no i didnt video the birth, to me that feels weird, i dont think i'd particularly want to see myself emerging from my mother and standing behind a camera wasn't how i wanted to experience the event... we stayed at the center for two nights and are back home getting into the rhythm of baby care, godmother debbie came by on saturday, akira seems to enjoy certain kinds of bell like sounds, the wind chimes on the porch sent into a deeper trance than the one she's usually in, im gonna try the acoustic guitar for her soon, see if she likes that
thats it for now, im going to get back to the fifty or so messages i've got left to read... a few of you have sent stuff and we cant thank you enough, by now we really have as much baby stuff as we need so if you really want to do something material for akira at this point i guess you could send funds to any aids charity in her name
i'd just as soon get things in e-mails from you, for ex rob wooten sent me an amazing picture of a rock he found on a beach that looks like a crying babys head...
as usual thank you all sincerely from all of us, those of you who sent stuff i'll try to write to but things are a bit chaotic here so if i miss any one please forgive and write to me
love
chris
ps
i have gotten a bunch of e-mails reacting to my comments on france... the tone of these is generally that "lets not forget those french would be speaking german now without the united states..." and im certainly not going to dispute that very basic concept, (though i think the politics of WW2 are way more complex than what is popularly understood) let us NOT FORGET THAT IF IT WERENT FOR FRENCH SUPPORT IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION we might all be going to mc donalds fish and chips etc etc... the facts have nothing to do with any of this nonsense; the world is too small for borders
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Posted by Chris Stein at 7/06/2003 06:57:00 AM
the next phase of the band saga is underway... DH says the shows have been going well, she likes the sound guy... the due date for the baby is just a week away... in the interim ive been doing various interviews, (phoners as they are referred to) numerous with australian media... much as i try i cant help but repeat myself when asked similar questions within a short span of time... but a lot of these journalists are bright and easy to talk to... one guy was surprised at my negative views about former mayor juliani or gewel any or whatever being that he was used to the mainstream view... im looking forward to getting over to europe to get a different perspective on whats going on in the world... from lately speaking to a lot of foreign writers i get the impression that the US is losing more international respect than ever... a french journalist told us that as he was leaving the country recently a customs person upon handing him back his 'papers' said "and dont come back!" 'freedom fries' etc etc americans have short memories it seems; pop stars come and go like waves on a beach and everyone has obviously forgotten completely that were it not for french support the US might still be a british colony... on the fourth of july we watched a particularly sad little parade in one of these upstate towns, 'floats' consisted of a lot of flatbed trucks with elderly people just sitting on chairs waving being hauled down the small main street, various shabby groups of firemen and military types all shouldering their respective weapons of choice: axes, rifles etc... the crowd was all decked out in its own uniform gap finery, stood about without any enthusiasm, this event was just something to do on a day off, the meaning of freedom liberty etc lost in the sale of plastic inflated happyface and spiderman balloons... its obvious now that the farther one gets from big urban areas the poorer the population becomes... will america become like some third world place where there is no middle class anymore only very rich and very poor? for all of our dull greatness we still are in a position to feed and clothe the parts of the world that need it though we all know this aint gonna happen; why spend a hundred dollars taking care of someone when we can spend a hundred thousand blowing them up?
i hadnt really intended to write gloomy shit today but having free time now and thinking about what things will be like for the kid is taking up a lot of mental space... some of the reading i have been doing says this: that the human race is in decline, that all of our values are reversed; what we call primitive is of course the opposite, that the ancient races of people before history were the ones who were the advanced civilizations, that the metaphor of adam and eve is the current "fall" of mankind that has been going on since man decided he knew what was right and wrong for the world... and everyone seems to 'know' all of this stuff inside but doesnt seem to care enough to do anything about it
youll have to forgive my moralizing right now, this went off on a tangent, i'll get back to band and related topics shortly
for now peace out
chris
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