Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Tag: string cheese incident

There’s A Reason Drummers Don’t Get Microphones

Enthusiasts, you know my opinion of the so-called “jam band scene” is “get the hell away from me, and take your 45-minute cover of John Barleycorn Must Die with you.” Had I Kyrptonian technology, I would imprison all of them within the Phantom Zone. (Phantom Zone in this case being the JamOn channel on SiriusXM.) Most of this is Garcia’s fault, by the way. Selfish bastard died, and now we’re stuck with the Widow Pancakes or the Dibble Bibbles or whatever the fuck any of their terrible names are.

(Why do all jam bands have such shitty names? My theory: it’s a warning, like the bright colors on poisonous frogs. They’re telling you right upfront they suck. SIDE DISCUSSION: What’s the best band with a terrible name? My vote is for the Fountains of Wayne. Great power-pop, horrible name.)

And so I treat the jam scene as Patrick Moynihan suggested we treat minorities: with benign neglect.

By the way, if you’re unfamiliar with jam bands, there are two categories:

  1. Bands that sound like Phish.
  2. Bands that sound like they’re doing a cover of Cumberland Blues.

That is all.

So it angers me, Enthusiasts, that I must spend one iota of my New Yorker magazine-declared genius on any of these bearded bores. Christ, I could be writing about something wonderful, meaningful, beautiful, or maybe Sleepy Batmanful, but instead of that I have to mock an idiot. However, in the mockery, there will be a lesson. You know TotD is a tedious moralist, and there must be a lesson in everything.

Michael Travis, who is the drummer with Boulder’s own Strep Throat Instigators, decided that Facebook was the best place to work out some of his theories on the Jews. I don’t know what specifically it is about Jews that causes so much freelance theorizing, but hoo boy can you find a shitload of ’em. And easily! Used to be if you wanted a good juicy Jew Theory, you had to mail order self-published books, but now they’re literally in your pocket.

Mr. Travis has chosen as his Jew Theory an oldie but a goodie: Jews control the banks. Now, as far as pernicious and unfounded slanders against the Hebrews go, it’s better than the “drinking Christian children’s blood” one, but just barely.

Mikey strikes me as someone who would bitch about being taken out of context, so I’ll let him misspell for himself:

Enthusiasts, why is it that people smart enough to figure out centuries-old conspiracies aren’t able to use “their” and “there” properly?

Oh, fuck it: let’s go to the bullet points.

  • Y’see that third sentence? The one about reading the Torah? Mikey’s got notions about who is and isn’t a real Jew and I guaranfuckingtee you they’re fascinating. Know how I know? He knows better than to write them down on the internet.
  • It would be a stretch to say elementary school, but I learned that you can’t prove a negative fairly young. You, too? I feel like that’s common knowledge. It’s not one of those esoteric logical fallacies that all the wieners on Reddit like to throw at each other.
  • Following up a Jew Theory with an emoji makes it simultaneously better and worse.
  • Responding to it with an angry-face emoji definitely makes it worse, though.
  • THIS IS AN OFFICIAL TOTD DECLARATION: Disliking Donald Trump doesn’t excuse the rest of your behavior. I have a feeling fuckers on trial are going to start pulling this shit: “Your honor, I did eat that family, but I didn’t vote for Trump. I’m not a bad guy.”
  • Who’s taking my bet on who Mikey did vote for? I got Jill Stein. Any takers?
  • Do honest arguments about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and continued human rights abuses often get smeared by accusations of antisemitism? Yup. Will some Jews (Alan Dershowitz! Cough cough cough) immediately start yelling “Anti-Semite!” at the first hint of any criticism? Yup. Is it wrong to call the notion that Jews control the banks an antisemitic one? Nope.
  • An analogy:
    • “I have many, many Jewish friends…[but] the Zionist Banking cartel is a thing.”
    • IS TO
    • “I have many, many black friends…[but] their propensity for violence is a thing.”
  • I dated a Rothschild. Swear to God. Distant relation, but she had an enormous apartment in Beverly Hills all to herself.
  • We could go into the history of the Jews and their relationship to banking, which was mostly thrust upon them by Christian and Muslim hypocrites not wanting to sully themselves with “usury,” but we all know that Jew Theories are utterly immune to facts and context and nuance; this is literally the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
  • If it weren’t the title of a deliberately-written smear on an entire religion, Protocols of the Elders of Zion would be a great name for a Rush record. Maybe King Crimson.

Anyway, Mikey went on and on in an uninteresting way (much like his band) and you shouldn’t be subjected to it (much like his band).

Let’s settle this once and for all. Hey! Mickey?


“Sup?”

Do Jews control the banks?

“Probably the ones in Israel.”

That’s true.

“And New York.”

Should’ve quit while I was ahead.

“People always say that around me.”

Yeah.

“Wasn’t there supposed to be a lesson?”

It’s in there somewhere.

Lockn’ Lol

This is Saturday's lineup at
I’ll see you there, right? Highlight of my year: pooping in a Virginia field in September. Sleeping in a tent next to humping strangers, eating while I stand up, Warren Haynes: man, this is gonna be great.

TotD is not particularly fancy. I slept on a couch last month, but it should be noted that it was a leather couch in an AirBnB in a rapidly genritfying neighborhood. My living situation is allowed to be scruffy, but it must be permanent; I will not sleep under a nylon roof. Camping is just not for me.

Jews and camps…

Anyway, if you’re there or going or streaming it or whatever: have a blast, but I will be making love to my air conditioner. I do have some random thoughts, though:

  • Fishbone’s still around? Didn’t half of them get thrown in jail for kidnapping the other half?
  • Will Robert Plant be not playing Zep songs at the crowd again? Those fuckers at the Grammys rewarded him one time for not playing Zep songs and now all he does is not play Zep songs. Fuck that guy: play Zep songs.
  • Did anyone ever answer Robert Plant about the remembering laughter thing?
  • No Umphries? What the fuck, man.
  • Once again: fucked by Peter Shapiro.
  • I think Peter Shapiro’s in love with me the amount he fucks me.
  • I mean, the String Cheese Incident is gonna be there, so that’s awesome.
  • But, no Umphries.
  • Was Billy’s departure and Phil’s arrival worked out between the two camps as to not have them in the same place at the same time?
  • Just asking questions, man.
  • But, if so: you know Billy put Benjy on the phone to handle it just to be a dick.
  • Can you see Jill and Peter Shapiro pushing the phone back and forth at one another?
  • “You do it.”
  • “This is what you get paid for.”
  • “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
  • And so on.
  • Again: just asking questions.
  • Man.
  • Steve Earle is the musical version of The Wire.
  • Decipher that how you will.
  • WAIT: Billy is playing with Jefferson Airplane on Friday right after Phil!
  • Fun.
  • Also: Jefferson Airplane sucked. In every incarnation and in every way, and they are celebrating their 50th anniversary in a pasture in Virginia instead of a football stadium.
  • They’re not even headlining.
  • (Although, this group of musician is so far way from being the actual Jefferson Airplane that it includes G.E. Smith, who is still performing despite having the worst case of Les Palsy known to man.)
  • Hey! You got your String Cheese in my Doobie!
  • Hey! You got your Doobie in my String Cheese!
  • Well, you should probably just throw the results out, as it will surely be terrible.
  • Is Michael McDonald even going to be there, or just the guy who looked like he was the lead on WKRP?
  • The Oh Hellos, you go to your room and don’t come out until you’ve thought up a good band name.
  • You, too, Slightly Stoopid.
  • In fact, Slightly Stoopid: go fuck yourself with your deliberately shit band name.
  • Put some effort into life.
  • Mickey just announced that he would be playing with Bobby on Saturday night, and if Bobby doesn’t play Lost Sailor, I will lose all respect for him