Blogcritics Author: Larry Sakin

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Music Review: The Commonwealth - He Thinks He Scares Us

Larry Sakin — Mon, 6 Aug 2007 08:38:18 EDT

Pop music is a fairly arid affair. Much of radio is dominated by retro stations, re-playing the hit parade of the forties, cascading forward into the heavily commercialized alternative hits of the nineties. It’s difficult to find much originality anymore, unless you have plenty of cash to visit the Knitting Factory’s on both US Coasts.Fortunately, The Louisville Kentucky group The Commonwealth has found inspiration where few have ventured before. The Commonwealth is a free folk group, adding elements of classical, experimental edginess and rock into a rare musical hybrid. It’s not a new concept. The blending of rock, folk, experimental, and classical can be traced back to the sixties, with composer Gavin Bryars’ Portsmouth Sinfonia, and picked up in the early seventies by the late multi-instrumentalist Simon Jeffes with his Penguin Café Orchestra ensemble. In the nineties, the sound was re-processed by fellow Louisville band Rachel’s, who put a more traditional bent on Bryars’ concept. On He Thinks He Scares Us, The Commonwealth has inherited elements of each of these groups, although is probably closer to the early work of Penguin Café than to Rachel’s or Portsmouth Sinfonia. Bassist vocalist Liz Adams, violinist Rachel Blanton, guitarist, vocalist and banjo player Daniel Duncan, Jacob Duncan on tenor, alto saxes and clarinet, drummer Gary Pahler and guest cellist James Vaughn produce a slurry of minimalist instrumental pieces that back sardonic lyrical commentary on the self-indulgent culture inhabiting the 21st Century.He Thinks He Scares Us is a tasty concoction. The album begins with an almost proto punk/classical style, the instrumental work flying at incomprehensible speed at times, similar to the prodigious Glenn Branca. However, Adams and her band are keen on keeping their melodies from going completely off the rails, offering smooth transitions from the frenetic pace of the opener “Gravity” to the haunting arrangements of “The Small of Your Back”, which features Evelyn Hasselden on the likembe, better known as an African thumb piano. The carnival-like “Bloody Genes” juxtaposes jazz sax with highly rhythmic strings which almost jump right off the wood. “Right Hand Man” is a tribute to sixties free-jazz, with a spirited Dylan-esque political theme. The album has as few faults, namely the misplaced sax of Jacob Duncan which tends to interfere with the subtle, intricate string work, and the unreliability of Daniel Duncan’s vocals. Daniel talk-sings his way through most of the pieces, and his limited range does injustice to a few of the compositions. He is at his best on the more rollicking numbers, where his broad inflections emphasize the generous humor of the group.These small problems aside, He Thinks He Scares Us is a beautifully wild album. The Commonwealth brandishes a lively brew of styles, attacking each with vigorous sensibility. In a musical world heavily populated with dull re-creations of styles best left in the past, He Thinks He Scares Us adds a new dimension to a nearly lost art form.

Larry Sakin is a former music executive and non-profit medical organization administrator. He advocates for literacy issues and provides advocacy training for grassroots and non-profit groups around the country.

Music Review: Blackie and the Rodeo Kings - Let's Frolic

Larry Sakin — Sun, 5 Aug 2007 21:31:45 EDT

Giant Sand lead singer and guitar-slinger Howe Gelb has entertained himself over the years with a Lo-Fi country-punk side project called Band of Blackie Ranchette. So when I first heard about Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, I thought the band was yet another pseudonymous effort from the puckish Gelb. However, when it was revealed the latter band was among groups found on George W. Bush's iPod, it became painfully apparent the two Blackie's are very, very different.Blackie and the Rodeo Kings is a Canadian hybrid band, fusing a modern country/alternative rock sound with blues and soul. Imagine Chris Isaak with instrumental back-up by the Cowboy Junkies. Let's Frolic is their third album, and could easily substitute as a soundtrack for an independent documentary on the Canadian landscape, complete with word portraits of cryptic characters clandestinely abandoning broken dreams in favor of pursuing disreputable ambitions. Along the way, songwriters Stephen Fearin, Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson wrap their stormy songs with silver linings, as their characters find moments of clarity.Fearin, Linden, and Wilson are the eyes and ears of Blackie, interpreting observations with generous helpings of beautiful acoustic and electric guitar tracks, Dobro, slide, and mandolin. They each share vocal duties, sporting harmonies reminiscent of latter-day Grateful Dead. The Rodeo Kings are made up of Gary Craig on drums and percussion, John Dymond on bass, Richard Bell playing piano, organ, farfisa, and mellotron, with some additional keyboard work from sound engineer John Whynot. Dymond and Craig present a dense, moody backbeat throughout, while Bell blends boogie-woogie key punches with psychedelic, acid soaked grandeur a la the Dead's Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and Keith Godchaux. While the music is performed quite well, it's the songwriting that sets this band apart. There are moments when the lyrics recall the early work of playwright/actor Sam Shepard, who shares Fearin, Linden, and Wilson's penchant for lost souls on the edge, scraping desperately to hang on to a shred of their humanity. Shepard often allowed his charges to fall into ambiguity, where the maverick personalities emboldening Blackie receive redemption. It is difficult conjuring President Bush listening to the music on Let's Frolic. Perhaps he subconsciously associates with the theme of recalcitrant loser as potential consecrate. Whatever Bush's motives, Let's Frolic is an extraordinary examination into the crumbling ramparts of our spirit. It achieves a balance between vast self-contemplation while setting your boots to scootin'. Although a chasm of difference exists between the styles of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings in comparison to Gelb's Band of Blackie Ranchette, the songwriting on Let's Frolic is as enigmatic as anything Gelb has produced.

Book Review: Failure - An Autobiography by Josh Giddings

Larry Sakin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:05:29 EDT

America is a driven country. There are no other countries on earth with as many "Type A" personalities in their populations, all competing for the excesses that come with overachievement. Failure simply isn’t an option. Those that do fail quickly find themselves tarred by the double-edged brush of personal disgrace and obscurity.Writing professor Josh Giddings accounts for his lifelong dereliction in Failure: An Autobiography. It is a searing portrait of a man unable to live up to his own and others' expectations of him, and the overwhelming guilt that consumes him.It’s a great premise. Giddings writes from deep within the pit of his solar plexus, where he stores the gnawing ache of his insecurities. From his early childhood through his days at the exclusive Exeter Academy, Giddings jabs at his soft underbelly with his incisive wit, showing him to be a young man a bit too full of himself, yet unable to assert himself enough at his studies to merit attention from the Ivy League. Throughout his adolescence, Giddings allows his protruding mutability to interfere with everything from losing his virginity to risking the comfort of his staid, upper middle class life for the pursuit of a writing career. For all of his rebellious talk and high-mindedness, Giddings repeatedly springs the traps that cage him into a life he doesn’t believe he deserves. Giddings admits his adolescence was an exercise in living the life of the mind. In his immature, pseudo-intellectual view contains a disdain for the mundane, as he engages what he believes is the far more superior world of the classics, especially the classic languages of Latin and Greek. Yet Giddings points to a strange irony of his youth. Even though he finds himself above most people, he plays lackey to those students of more refined backgrounds. Most extraordinary is Giddings' writing style. While his descriptions of people and places are a bit formulaic, Giddings mines platinum in his digressions from the storyline. The off-track commentary illuminates the dark recesses of his self-loathing. However, Giddings also realizes moments of clarity in these passages, in which he excises the nature of his depressive state with surgical precision. Readers who have performed similar inner-examinations will walk away feeling a bond with Giddings. This feeling becomes apparent in the chapter “My Failure as a Son.” In a phone conversation, Giddings finds out from his father that he has been a disappointment as a son. Giddings doesn’t understand the comment at the time. As a child, he related more with his mother, who was a constant in his life, rather than his globetrotting father. Giddings acknowledges that the early bonds between himself and his father never fully formed. Preferring the safety of his mother’s doting, Giddings views his father as a distant part of his development. When a family friend suggests Giddings unwittingly hastened his father’s death by not screening medication given prior to his demise, it becomes clear Giddings carelessly left the bonds untied, leading to his father’s expressed disappointment.Socrates once said that the unexamined life really isn’t worth living. Giddings gives this paradigm new meaning, as he wrings the blood of his own failure onto each page. Failure: An Autobiography is replete with accidental revelations which may remind readers of their own struggles with self-doubt. It’s no wonder why Giddings elucidates upon the theme of failure so successfully. For Giddings, failure is as familiar as a worn overcoat shielding him from reality. This is why the writing in Failure: An Autobiography is a stunning achievement.

Music Review: Strung Out- Blackhawks Over Los Angeles

Larry Sakin — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:16:34 EDT

In the acting biz, there’s a well worn expression signifying a performance which seems completely uninspired. That expression is “phoning it in.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly how to describe the performances on the new Blackhawks over Los Angeles album from skate punk band Strung Out. Blackhawks isn’t a terrible album. It just doesn’t ring with the spirit of the group’s previous releases including the classics Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues and Twisted by Design. Oh yeah, Jordan Burns still kicks major drum ass here, as does Rob Ramos on guitar and Jason Cruz on vocals. But the band sounds a little tired on Blackhawks and instead of whipping up their usual frenzy, they’re just going through the motions. A few of the tracks do show promise. “Party in the Hills,” “The King Has Left the Building,” “Mission Statement,” and “Diver” all retain the edginess of songs past. I waited for the whole thing to kick in though, and after about twenty plays, the record still didn’t hang together for me. Songs like “Calling,” “All the Nations,” “Dirty Little Secret” and the title track, “Blackhawks Over Los Angles,” sounded more like faint reminders of what made this band great in the first place. I had to wonder if this is the end of the band as we know and love them.Strung Out has a reputation for mixing the best elements of metal with punk, and throwing in some deeply felt lyrics on top of the whole mix. On each of the albums, myriad guitar tracks are layered to produce other-worldly sounds, much of it dissonant. Add to this the furious pace of the back beat provided by Burns and bassist Chris Aiken, Strung Out’s music laid down some stripped down landscapes that hearkened back to the early work of the late Minneapolis band Husker Du. All of these elements remain on Blackhawks, but without the mania that marked their previous efforts.Perhaps Strung Out is signifying the need for a new direction. After all, they’re masters of this sub-punk genre and may now need to evolve further. All bands do this at some point so it’s entirely possible that Blackhawks is the bands’ farewell to punk fusion. I hope not. Their demented brew of speed, texture and thoughtful lyrics separate them from so many punk wannabes currently on the tour circuit.Whatever the future holds for Strung Out, Blackhawks is an album for hardcore fans who will easily forgive the groups lack of enthusiasm. Many people will probably argue with me about this, but Blackhawks just doesn’t fly.

Music Review: Mushroom with Eddie Gale - Joint Happening

Larry Sakin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:48:34 EDT

In 1970, George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic fame made a declaration on Funkadelic’s second LP: Free Your Mind, and Your Ass will Follow. From that point, funk music started adopting elements of psychedelic acid rock, creating a bitch’s brew of rhythms which straight, seemed incongruent, but on acid, brought the listener to the edge of nirvana.Fortunately, this potent mix remains in jazz and funk today, and San Francisco’s jazz collective Mushroom has created a mind-bending, atonal trip with guest artist Eddie Gale on their latest release Joint Happening.Gale, a journeyman trumpeter who has shared stages with pianist Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra and Elvin Jones, is clearly the star here. While Mushroom pumps out marvelous rhythmic constructs, Gale comes through with a clear, edgy sound reminiscent of Lester Bowie and Jon Hassell. As a whole, the best description of Joint Happening appears on the group’s website- “imagine 1970 Miles Davis jamming with experimental pioneers Can and Crazy Horse.” Mushroom consists of Matt Henry Cunitz on keyboards and acoustic piano, Dave Mihaly on marimba, Erik Pearson and Tim Plowman on guitar, Pat Thomas on drums, Ned Doherty on bass, and David Brandt on percussion. On each track, the band guides Gale through a maze of African beats, European techo-jazz, chunky, chunky acid funk, and moments of spiritualism a la Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Every track on Joint Happening is transcendent however, the eighteen minute “I Was Torn Down at the Dance Place-Shaved Head at the Organ” is the standout piece, a fantastic ensemble work that shifts from one style to another with tremendous grace. The journey is navigated flawlessly by Gale, whose trumpet runs take on an ethereal quality giving the whole project an unbalanced, unearthly feel similar to his work with Sun Ra. It is a great tribute to the legacy of acid rock and experimental jazz greats including Jimi Hendrix, Bill Laswell, and Bowie.Obviously Joint Happening isn’t for everyone. Before indulging in this brilliant album, I’d strongly suggest novices invest in the works of saxophonist Albert Ayler, Bowie, and yes, even Funkadelic’s early work, because this album takes the craft by these artists to an entirely new level. A better understanding of the roots of this work will create an appreciation for the multi-headed approach of Joint Happening.After listening to Gale and Mushroom, you may find your mind freeing up and your ass following. Joint Happening channels the greatness of the lost art of psychedelic jazz/funk, sending its vibrant waves of joy through your head and down to hips that will surprisingly start swaying.

Music Review: Sara Gazarek - Return to You

Larry Sakin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:46:26 EDT

Sara Gazarek has experienced an amazing ascension through the ranks of jazz vocalists. With a one two punch of intense touring and the release of her sensational debut album Yours, the twenty-five year old Gazarek has won the respect of old jazz pros and critics alike, no easy feat for a person just getting her feet wet in the music industry. Yours featured Gazarek’s breezy, sharp vocals on jazz standards. Attacking the songs with clear tones a la Joni Mitchell with the lazy style of chanteuse Norah Jones, Gazarek ably places herself in a spot between Sarah Vaughan and Dianne Reeves. Gazarek’s follow up to her debut, Return to You, not only features Gazarek on many standards but on some wonderful originals written by her pianist Josh Nelson. While Gazarek is a pleasure to listen to throughout, her backing band lifts the entire project to a heavenly jazz plane. Nelson, bassist Erik Kertes, drummer Matt Slocum and Grammy nominated bassist John Clayton sitting in the producer’s chair provide enticing instrumental arrangements, which slide in and out of Gazarek’s melodies with tremendous grace. Outstanding covers include a version of Mitchell’s “Carey”, a somber mood piece which Gazarek and her band give a bouncy edge to; a rapturous take on Paul McCartney’s “Junk” and a flirty, faithful rendition of Harry Connick, Jr.’s “I’ve Got a Great Idea”. Gazarek nails saxophonist Seamus Blake’s “Northern Lights”, which approaches straight eventually giving the song a subtle swing. Less successful is Gazarek’s attempt at a more spiritual take on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. It’s still a great song, but Cohen’s original is brilliant. Gazarek deserves points for trying; however it’s extremely difficult to put your own bent on such a ubiquitous piece.As good as the standards are the originals really shine. Gazarek and her band approach Nelson’s work minimally, allowing Gazarek’s voice to float upon waves of beautifully crafted tones. Clayton’s production is smart, keeping overdubs to an obscure few, keeping Gazarek’s chops pure. Return to You is a welcomed relief from the overly produced and highly processed vocals of the Brittney’s, Jesse’s, and Ashlee’s of the pop world. Gazarek seduces, conjures and cajoles elements from her songs with the aplomb of pro’s long past. Sara Gazarek is the equivalent of a modern day vocal Icarus, flying ever closer to the craggy peaks concealing the jazz god’s on top Olympus. Hopefully, she can avoid the heat of her progenitors, and continue soaring.

Music Review: Asia - Fantasia: Live In Tokyo

Larry Sakin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:47:54 EDT

The last gasps of progressive rock occurred in the late 1980s. Young people were just turning on to rap, hip hop and grunge rock, which hit on themes they could associate with. The phenomenal rise of Pacific Coast bands Nirvana, and Soundgarden, along with the earthier messages of Public Enemy, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls among others was the harbinger of death for industrial rock giants. One of the progressive rock giants slain by the double edged blades of rap and grunge was Asia. A mega-supergroup, Asia featured the members of a number of ‘70’s British bands that wore out their welcome including Yes guitarist Steve Howe, bassist and vocalist John Wetton (King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music, Wishbone Ash), former Buggles keyboardist Geoff Downes, who also was a member of Yes in its final days, and drummer extraordinaire Carl Palmer, late of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The group managed to release eight albums based on the strength of two hit songs “Heat of the Moment” and “Only Time Will Tell”. The band has toured on and off since their debut in 1981 with a number of lineup changes and mixed success. Their latest effort Fantasia: Live In Tokyo is a pleasant, but uncreative piece of retro chic. The album features the original lineup of Howe, Wetton, Downes, and Palmer all of whom have kept their chops up through the years. The music here is very clean, the recording extremely crisp. Musically, Fantasia: Live In Tokyo is an anti-progressive album- the band keeps it light, opting to play by the numbers instead of exploring new landscapes of sound. Considering the tremendous talents of Howe, Palmer and Wetton, listeners will expect more. This is especially problematic on many of the experimental pieces Asia has chosen to play. The band pulls a number of songs from their own catalogue and cover the signature progressive rock songs which elevated their careers, including “In the Court of the Crimson King” by King Crimson, “Roundabout” from Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s and “Fanfare for the Common Man”, and the new wave “Video Killed the Radio Star”. The lack of spirit among the group members is apparent as they go through each song as if by rote. Adoring fans may not notice, but for others removed from the progressive rock era, this album signifies why the genre couldn’t transcend well into the nineties and the 21st Century. Attention spans once captivated by extraordinary solo musicianship were diminished by the immediacy of sampling.Although Fantasia: Live In Tokyo isn’t the most adventurous album, it does provide an interesting journey into an age when young music fans sat still without the aid of Ritalin. The Japanese audience is abundant in its appreciation of the group, many of them singing in full voice with the band throughout. More than this, it’s a pleasure to hear old pro’s still at the top of their form, producing licks and solos that outdo almost any of the snotty youngsters in the music market today. That quality alone makes Fantasia: Live In Tokyo worth a listen or two.

Book Review: Framing the Debate - Famous Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections) by Jeffrey Feldman

Larry Sakin — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:55:11 EDT

Twenty-five years of conservative rule in America has caused progressives to take a hard look at how their values were dashed to near obscurity. Ineffective paradigms of signing petitions and street protests have been shouted down by the wailing of Fox News correspondents and reactionary radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh and former Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy. Conservatives ably transformed the political debate using messages that appealed to the viscera of an undereducated, overly devout public entrenched in Calvinistic morality.The messages that gave way to the reigns of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush have now been scientifically dissected by linguists into “frames” which substituted a steady diet of political fiber from the left into empty-calorie morsels of moral insight from the right. Now, cultural anthropologist Jeffrey Feldman has taken framing to the next level, applying frames to famous presidential speeches in Framing the Debate: Famous Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections). Framing the Debate is interesting to read if one is willing to accept Feldman’s interpretations of speeches and how presidents through the years have used language to connect the dots between themselves, government and morality. For instance, Feldman found that in President Bush’s 2002 “axis of evil” State of the Union address, Bush used the word evil or a synonym for it 5,100 times in his forty-eight minute speech. This is the essence of framing, developing a concept and repeating it enough times until the concept seeps its way into the subconscious. Feldman makes clear that framing has been used as far back as Revolutionary War times, and likely longer than that. It is a devilishly simple way of having a profound psychological impact upon the masses. Feldman also takes the opportunity to explain the difference between framing and spin - framing being the creation of an argument, and spin the whitewashing of actions leading to cataclysmic results.Feldman makes his case well, although like the framing he exposes, his investigations of speeches get a bit heavy-handed in parts. Still, it’s an important book for progressives, especially if they want to avoid the wonkiness of abstract policies and find the exact words to convey their ideals. Feldman’s ideas can be used by all progressives including candidates, editorial writers, internet bloggers, and those writing well-honed letters to newspaper editors. Unfortunately, the art of framing often means compacting broad thoughts to edible tidbits, but done correctly, users of frames can present their beliefs briefly and effectively.Framing the Debate is less a book to be enjoyed than to learn from. It joins the pantheon of books penned by framing pioneer George Lakoff of the Rockridge Institute, who has provided an exceptional introduction to Feldman’s work. While framing is a small part of the work progressives can do to regain the nation, it is a vital one, and Feldman does great justice to an art that can inspire as much as it can enslave.

Music Review: Various Artists - We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song

Larry Sakin — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:42:58 EDT

My great-Uncle Clemie was a jazz fanatic. A quiet, practically invisible insurance executive by day, he haunted smoky New York jazz clubs at night becoming a wild man, pounding booze and slapping tables in time with beats meted out by the likes of Max Roach, Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey. However, it was jazz singing and scatting that he adored, and when Ella Fitzgerald was in town, Clemie took up residence in the club she was at for her entire run.Were Clemie alive today, he’d have arrived at The Jazz Record Center last Tuesday about an hour before they opened to purchase the new Verve tribute album, We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song. While not an entirely successful album, it’s a brilliant reminder of Fitzgerald’s legacy.The album features a roster of stars, both past and present, putting their own special bent on Ella’s music. Tracks include Natalie Cole on “A Tisket, A Tasket,” Chaka Khan doing “Lullaby of Birdland,” Dianne Reeves working “Oh, Lady be Good,” Linda Ronstadt singing “Miss Otis Regrets,” and Michael Buble crooning on “Too Close for Comfort.” These renditions are good, but the vocalists sound like they’re trying a little too hard to evoke Fitzgerald rather than applying their own styles to the songs. To be fair, this may be the fault of producer Phil Ramone, who possibly wanted traditional interpretations, a somewhat anti-jazz direction. These tracks also suffer from some treacley instrumental arrangements from Rob Mounsey, making some of the album too subdued for the likes of power vocalists like Queen Latifah, Reeves, and Khan. It’s interesting to compare these particular tracks with the two Fitzgerald recordings featured on We All Love Ella - including a previously unreleased live piece with Stevie Wonder on “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” on which Ella’s vibe is so energetic, it sends Wonder’s back-up band into overdrive.There are some standout performances though. Vocalist Diana Krall and pianist Hank Jones offer a stirring version of “Dream A Little Dream of Me,” Etta James belts out a saucy “Do Nothin’ til You Hear from Me,” and k.d. lang absolutely nails the extremely complex, beautifully harmonic “Angel Eyes,” written by Matt Dennis and Earl Brent. The album ends with the up-tempo swing of “Airmail Special,” performed by 12-year-old sensation Nikki Yanofsky. The creative drive behind these tracks made me wonder why so many of the others featured were presented so tamely. Perhaps the success of this track is due not only to Yanovsky’s dynamism, but Tommy LiPuma’s open production style and the frenetic pacing of John Clayton’s arrangement. Even though We All Love Ella isn’t a brilliant album, it does show why Fitzgerald became the huge star she was. Her vibrant, charismatic warmth enervated from each track she sang on - it was so huge, it couldn’t be contained by any producer or arranger. Unlike many of Fitzgerald’s original recordings, We All Love Ella is a mixed bag filled with mostly earthly, but sometimes sublime delights. For those unfamiliar with Fitzgerald, We All Love Ella may be a fine treat. But for hardcore fans like my late Uncle Clemie, We All Love Ella will make them yearn for the singular sensation that was Ella.

Book Review: The Real Wealth of Nations - Creating a Caring Economics by Riane Eisler

Larry Sakin — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:25:25 EDT

Utopian concepts are a natural part of our world. In the eternal struggle to improve life on earth, dreamers and con men alike have peddled visions of bountiful convergence among the earth's nations, each person sharing with and caring for one another. Social scientist Riane Eisler offers just such a vision in her book The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics. Eisler examines traditional economic theories, declaring them ‘dominant’ for their insistence on putting profit before people. Eisler suggest a new economic theory, one that values caring and care-giving as a main resource. The less than subtle implication is that the dominant theories are the result of masculine thinking, and in order to save our planet, we need to give serious thought to the more feminine caring economy. Throughout The Real Wealth of Nations, Eisler shows examples of large-scale destruction wrought by current economic systems, adding a few references to companies and nations nurturing their workers and populations. It all sounds pretty good, until you wake up and realize that such a system is against our primordial programming.While I applaud Eisler for giving thought to a new economic system in Real Wealth of Nations, caring economics is an under-developed concept. Eisler spends a great deal of time condemning dominant economics, but has no comprehensive plan on how her new economy can become reality. Like so many utopian authors before her, Eisler leaves the details for us to figure out. Humanity is competitive and selfish by design. We are wired for survival and we understand on an instinctual level that our survival sometimes depends upon the destruction of other life and taking things by force. Let’s be honest -- we are the only animal that kills our own for consumptive gain. History is filled with periods of rabid mass destruction which have been engaged for the sole purpose of consumptive gain. Eisler writes that achieving her ideal of an economic system that values caring and care giving will take some time. Hmmm… well, yeah, probably eons, if ever. If you don’t believe me, watch how people in this country drive their cars. How many of them are watching for you? That, my friends, is human instinct at work. It takes a very deep, concentrated effort to overcome those responses, an effort most people aren’t willing to make. If you want to see how fragile the idea of caring economics really is, shut down the electricity grid in this country for a couple of days. Men and women alike will be at each other's throats in no time.The effort to reverse our primitive wiring is comparable to digging Mt. McKinley to ground level one teaspoon at a time. For now, compassionate economics will be limited to companies willing to share profits with workers in myriad ways, and in the micro-loan industry that has helped poverty-stricken families find a path towards self-sufficiency.The unfortunate fact is humans haven’t evolved very much in the last 50,000 years. We’re only about three hairs away from our distant ancestors, and I don’t see us evolving very much in the near future. Unless Eisler can figure out a way to make mankind less ignorant and lazy, I’m afraid the utopia she writes of in The Real Wealth of Nations will remain a dream.