Blondie: Chris Stein
News about Chris Stein, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Blondie.
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Posted by Chris Stein at 11/30/2004 11:59:00 PM
its a bit discouraging to get the few negative messages i get cause on the whole they are just not thought out or anything beyond someone being pissed off about my 'being a liberal' and its sad the things and ideas here have dissolved into these kinds of cliche images of 'weird liberalism' and 'red necked' conservatism... as usual this speaks to me of the spiritual black hole that threatens to suck up everything in its path, if you're gonna complain at me about something i said then at least back it up with a specific quote... actually the two types of comment i get are "you are a liberal" which apparently is this decades version of calling someone a pinko and "hey you are a music dude, how dare you talk about politics"... i said a while back i was distressed about the amount of bad feelings that the election has engendered, its even sadder to have people tossing catch phrase sound-byte type accusations about without any foundations...
(i think i'm mostly distressed about finally watching the remake of 'the manchurian candidate' in a way to me what has happened to hollywood is even sadder than what has gone down with music, the corporate art system has just killed the american film industry i cant believe the crap thats churned out... a few years ago i saw an interview with John Schlesenger saying how he just couldnt have made "Midnight Cowboy" in this climate, meaning nowadays, how it just couldnt be done, how fucking pathetic is that, how many great films are we missing now due to film makers being more concerned with selling tickets than with making the movie... these remakes of better films like 'candidate' or "the stepford wives" just blow my mind in their mediocrity... the main reason is that big budget art is all subject to committee decisions and fear for the buck so the guys like Fellini etc etc who were just about making art just cant break through... at least Scorsese is out there and to a lesser degree Tarantino and again this is why i am so psyched about all the asian stuff (Quentins next one is gonna be critical for him) i've been running into)
i dont have much else at the moment, have been back for a while, Mexico City was particularly fantastic, theres a street market called "Sonora" that is almost exclusively devoted to Santeria and related items, just amazing
i saw 'saw' which pretty much sucked and the puppet movie which i liked more, its pretty great how some of the reviews on 'team america' are so confused with the critics not being able to figure out the "position" of the thing
durka durka
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Posted by Chris Stein at 11/09/2004 11:59:00 PM
Early 19th Century French politician Joseph de Maistre said: "Nations get the governments they deserve."
And 20th Century author George Santayana then said: "Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."
these quotes are from Dennis Blair and were amid the latest bunch of mail concerning peoples dismay about the election... i still dont know exactly what to make of it and try as i might i just cant see bush "doing the right thing" for "his legacy"... theres something about his smug arrogant stance and posture that has always remided me of a slightly modernized and toned down version of Mussolini's weird posing and body language... in a way thats enough, i cant get past just that to even worry about his broken political agenda...
today in Panama City, being down here is poignant, the slums everywhere are just tragic, the people are sweet and warm and as usual i am churned up by Americas heavy handed approach to being the boss of the world while at the same time being so fucking selfish that it cant help out its immediate neighbors... tickets to the shows are about thirty dollars which pretty much guarantees that the only ones who can see them are more well off than the average kid on the street... last night was in a mall that was right out of Gibson; modern and decayng filled with booths selling almost exclusively youth related stuff: video games, magic cards, cd's and cheap 'hot topic' type clothes, we played in a club in this place... we finished the set went off before the encore and with just cosmic timing the power in the whole neighborhood went out plunging the crowd into cheering darkness, i'm glad we got to do the whole show, in Southend UK recently the same thing happened near the end of the show and it was a lot more anti climatic...
the crowds down here are terrific... just thanks to everyone who has showed up
(here are a couple of spanish versions of the last bit above i hope they are not too wack)
estaba anoche en un paseo fue cierto fuera de Gibson; moderno y decayng llenó de puestos que venden casi exclusivamente la juventud el material relacionado: videojuegos, tarjetas mágicas, el cd y barato 'hot topic' ropas de tipo, nosotros jugamos en un club en este lugar... terminamos el conjunto se fue antes el bis y con tiempo apenas cosmico el poder en el vencindario entero salió hundiendo la multitud a vitorear la oscuridad,Estoy contento que obtuvimos para hacer la exposición entera, en el RU de Southend recientemente la misma cosa sucedió cerca del fin de la exposición y era mucho más anti climático.. las multitudes aquí están hacia abajo tremendo... apenas gracias a todos que ha aparecido
el ayer por la noche estaba en una alameda que correcta fuera de Gibson; moderno y decayng llenó de las cabinas que vendían casi exclusivamente la materia relacionada juventud: juegos video, tarjetas mágicas, CD's y barato tipo ropas del ' asunto caliente ', jugamos en un club en este lugar... acabamos el sistema nos apagamos antes de que saliera la repetición y con la sincronización cósmica justa la energía en la vecindad
entera hundiendo a la muchedumbre en oscuridad que animaba, estoy alegre nosotros conseguí hacer la demostración del conjunto, en Southend Reino Unido la misma cosa sucedió recientemente cerca del final de la demostración y era mucho más contra climática... las muchedumbres abajo aquí son fabulosas... gracias justas a cada uno que ha demostrado para arriba
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Posted by Chris Stein at 11/04/2004 11:59:00 PM
now in Chile, the response in Lima was great, its always fascinating how different cultural groups pick up on different aspects of the music... here in Santiago its an extreme difference from the Lima slums... very opulent and european style city... the show last night made me forget about the stupid ass election for a while but it keeps coming back like a memory of something i'd like to forget... here in Chile we have the whole Allende/Pinochet affair, the country here is as divided over Allende as we are at home over GW, very complicated trying to figure out the local politics, a good diversion...
off to some tv show, tomorrow the festival... theres a club here in town called "Blondie" thats been going for about ten years, maybe check it tomorrow
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Posted by Chris Stein at 11/03/2004 11:59:00 PM
being in Lima Peru for election day has been surreal to say the least... the slums here are profound and the closeness to america just heightens the images of poverty... right next door to our country the third world is suffering and struggling in grim squalor... a coca cola truck full of product passes by starving dogs roaming the streets looking for food and i cant help but wonder if anyone here really needs coca cola...
i'm a bit surprised and a lot disappointed by the outcome of the election, but given the nature of the beast maybe it should have been obvious: that 80% of the media in the US is controlled by a small handful of corporate interests that succeded in scaring the shit out of the majority of the people... it seems also that the vote was swayed by a fair degree of morality issues, stem cells, gay marriages, etc... people worrying about these things underscores the lack of information and the terrible levels of education here...
the international reaction is depressing as hell and not something one will run into unless they watch CNN or the BBC... up to now the perception has been that the american people didnt necessarily back the ideals of the administation whereas now this perception has changed overnight some of the stuff ive been seeing coming from various world leaders is very severe...
i'm proud of everyone who got out there and voted i only hope that my fears about america plunging over the edge arent realised... certainly its going to take a long time to dig out of this situation and it remains to see how it impacts everyone directly
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