Return of Confessions

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:25 pm

Johnnie wrote:Call me a horrible person (with weak English skills), but riots over shit like police brutality are acceptable to me.

You may as well decide that earthquakes are acceptable to you. Riots over shit like police brutality are just as natural and inevitable. Forces/pressures build up, and they get released violently.

But, I appreciate your pov. I share it. When peaceful change is impossible, violent change is inevitable (JFK is quoted saying something similar.)

Post by **brian** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:31 pm

Yup.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:42 pm

(I don't like the actual quote, because I consider 'peaceful revolution' as an oxymoron, or at the very least exceedingly rare. Depends on how you define revolution I guess.)

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:21 pm

Mr. C wrote:I just lost an opportunity on a real estate deal that would have turned $120K plus a little sweat equity into an easy $200k+ because I dragged my feet.

I feel fucking sick right now. And I want to punch something.

So, a risk-less real estate deal! I've always wanted to see one. But I am told they happen only about once a century so I've been waiting patiently.

Deals that work out are not pre-ordained to do so. I've passed on hundreds of opportunities that paid off 2 to 1 or more within a year. I'm probably missing one right now as I write this. I'm also missing on several that will pay off -.5 to 1. It's the nature of investing.

I stopped banging myself about so badly over individual deals several decades ago. Only the long run matters. That's a bit more obvious now, looking back, than it was then.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:00 pm

Giff wrote:Considering the shit that white people get fired up about, I can only imagine their reactions if they and their ancestors had to deal with the crap many minorities have to deal with.

I do illegal shit in my car nearly every time I operate it. Some more illegal than others if I'm alone. I've been pulled over two times since 2004. Once was right after I had toked up and the guy just reminded me to make sure my registration was renewed soon (it had been out for three months) and the other I didn't even get a warning for going 15mph over the speed limit.

As an impetuous youth I hit 100 MPH several times on I-95 going north out of NYC. Once while strapped to the top of a car. I've done slalom turns on the Boston Post Road while waiting for a friend who foolishly stopped at a red light, and then tossing the baggie out the window when I saw the flashing lights. Smoked a joint several stories up the ladder that ran through the center of the giant globe sculpture that used to overlook Shea Stadium. Not to mention, to our surprise, a police station. I drove backwards for ten miles on the shoulder and right lane of I-80 in Pennsylvania when my transmission blew, then several miles further through town looking for a shop that would fix it. Buzzed past a police car driving backwards (to get the lowest possible gear for traction) over the Eisenhower Pass in a blizzard in a VW bus with no chains or even snow tires when the electronic sign said the former was mandatory. Skiied into posted avalanche zones. Been in a bar fight with a Mexican biker gang.

I once talked my way out of a jam at 4am when the police and my parents arrived at a 'dangerous location' that didn't match the suburban registration address on the car (theirs) I had parked illegally on the street. The discussion of how I came to be in this ghetto locale took place while standing outside an apartment door that separated the police from several passed-out people laying next to multiple types of illegal drugs that were sitting out in plain sight on a coffee table that was customized as a 100-pound bong (glass, sand, bricks, water). Many years later, I lived part-time in a house that contained a meth lab; I had to remove my housemate after I found the shotguns. I've lived in a cabin a hundred yards or so from a hundred marijuana plants. They were not mine, but no one else lived within a mile; the authorities may not have parsed the situation so finely.

Sex in public places, including mass transportation -- who didn't do that back then? So too with psychedelics.

I have even rolled a few red lights in my time. Perhaps a few other things that I'll skip as they may be too illegal or still under the statute of limitations. A few more that are lost in the mists of time and memory.

In other words, I've lived pretty much a normal life for a man of my generation.

Total damage for all these events and infinite other violations of the law over 40+ years: three speeding tickets. And none for any of the events above, though more than one involved discussions with law enforcement officers. White privilege, baby.

One of the tickets happened when I got nailed for (barely) speeding on an empty stretch of a four-lane road that happened to be in a church zone while taking my elderly mother to visit a Catholic monastery. Talk about innocent. The two others were speed-traps with multiple police vehicles doing a bit of end-of-budget cycle fund-raising. Total cost: under $200.

However, I've paid the price for being an oppressed minority. Back in the early 70s I was thrown against the side of my car by a policeman after being hit from the side by a speeding car that was driven by a nicely-dressed, white, pregnant mother with a small child by her side. I was a shabbily-dressed long-haired youth who asked the wrong question. So things are relative, even if you're white. If had been black, perhaps the officer would have clubbed me instead of just pinning me on the car with the club It's a good thing tasers hadn't been invented.

There's no way I'm not spending time in jail already if I'm black.

Can you spend much time in jail after you are dead?

Mr. C · Post by **Mr. C** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:11 pm

DC47 wrote:
Mr. C wrote:I just lost an opportunity on a real estate deal that would have turned $120K plus a little sweat equity into an easy $200k+ because I dragged my feet.

I feel fucking sick right now. And I want to punch something.
So, a risk-less real estate deal! I've always wanted to see one. But I am told they happen only about once a century so I've been waiting patiently.

Deals that work out are not pre-ordained to do so. I've passed on hundreds of opportunities that paid off 2 to 1 or more within a year. I'm probably missing one right now as I write this. I'm also missing on several that will pay off -.5 to 1. It's the nature of investing.

I stopped banging myself about so badly over individual deals several decades ago. Only the long run matters. That's a bit more obvious now, looking back, than it was then.

Maybe if I leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table enough times I'll stop giving a shit about it, maybe.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:21 pm

Mr. C wrote:Maybe if I leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table enough times I'll stop giving a shit about it, maybe.

Most likely you'll stop framing it that way. A deal that works out well is not the same as money on a table unless you also own a time machine.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:45 pm

DC47 wrote: As an impetuous youth I hit 100 MPH several times on I-95 going north out of NYC. Once while strapped to the top of a car. I've done slalom turns on the Boston Post Road while waiting for a friend who foolishly stopped at a red light, and then tossing the baggie out the window when I saw the flashing lights. Smoked a join way up on the giant globe that used to overlook Shea Stadium (and a police station). Driven backwards for ten miles on the shoulder and right lane of I-80 in Pennsylvania when my transmission blew, then several miles further through town looking for a shop that would fix it. Buzzed past a police car driving backwards (to get the lowest possible gear for traction) over the Eisenhower Pass in a blizzard in a VW bus with no chains or even snow tires when the electronic sign said the former was mandatory. Skiied into posted avalanche zones. Been in a bar fight with a mexican biker gang.

I once talked my way out of a jam at 4am when the police and my parents arrived at a 'dangerous location' that didn't match the suburban registration address on the car (theirs) I had parked illegally on the street. The discussion of how I came to be in this ghetto locale took place while standing outside an apartment door that separated the police from several passed-out people laying next to multiple types of illegal drugs that were sitting out in plain sight on a coffee table that was customized as a 100-pound bong (glass, sand, bricks, water). Many years later, I lived part-time in a house that contained a meth lab; I had to remove my housemate after I found the shotguns. I've lived in a cabin a hundred yards or so from a hundred marijuana plants. They were not mine, but no one else lived within a mile; the authorities may not have parsed the situation so finely.

Sex in public places, including mass transportation -- who didn't do that back then? So too with psychedelics.

That's the lyrics to my favorite Johnny Cash song!

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:46 pm

DC and howard help bolster my theory that no one born after 1970 has led an interesting life.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:50 pm

DC47 wrote:
Mr. C wrote:Maybe if I leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table enough times I'll stop giving a shit about it, maybe.
Most likely you'll stop framing it that way. A deal that works out well is not the same as money on a table unless you also own a time machine.

Or one of these:

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:20 pm

Johnny Carwash wrote:DC and howard help bolster my theory that no one born after 1970 has led an interesting life.

If you were born long ago, you have more years to accumulate interesting stories.

Also, perhaps the elderly have less restraint about sharing their tales as they get older. My daughter, who has participated here on SwampCrash and can easily check out this board, told me yesterday during a conversation about drugs that she had long assumed that I had done heroin. She's probably heard or inferred 90% of what I wrote. Maybe 110%. So I'm a little less restrained today than I was last week. Keeping secrets doesn't work if they already know.

Perhaps some eras do provide more opportunity for adventure. Still, who would have said this about the 1950s? Yet, what an adventure Jack Kerouac and his pals had. I think circumstances X personality = degree of adventure. I have known many people who have more hair-raising stories to tell.

For example, I did have minor skirmishes with two motorcycle gangs; that was ten minutes out of my long life. But I knew someone who rode in them every day, for years. I did have my window blown out by a shotgun blast (not by the meth dealer who lived with me, but by insane criminal with whom I was engaged in a dispute); that was just two shells. But I am not engaging in fire-fights with terrorists in Africa and the Middle East, as my nephew will soon be doing unless he is (further) crippled in the final stage of training.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:27 pm

The Sybian wrote:
DC47 wrote: As an impetuous youth I hit 100 MPH several times on I-95 going north out of NYC. Once while strapped to the top of a car. I've done slalom turns on the Boston Post Road while waiting for a friend who foolishly stopped at a red light, and then tossing the baggie out the window when I saw the flashing lights. Smoked a join way up on the giant globe that used to overlook Shea Stadium (and a police station). Driven backwards for ten miles on the shoulder and right lane of I-80 in Pennsylvania when my transmission blew, then several miles further through town looking for a shop that would fix it. Buzzed past a police car driving backwards (to get the lowest possible gear for traction) over the Eisenhower Pass in a blizzard in a VW bus with no chains or even snow tires when the electronic sign said the former was mandatory. Skiied into posted avalanche zones. Been in a bar fight with a mexican biker gang.

I once talked my way out of a jam at 4am when the police and my parents arrived at a 'dangerous location' that didn't match the suburban registration address on the car (theirs) I had parked illegally on the street. The discussion of how I came to be in this ghetto locale took place while standing outside an apartment door that separated the police from several passed-out people laying next to multiple types of illegal drugs that were sitting out in plain sight on a coffee table that was customized as a 100-pound bong (glass, sand, bricks, water). Many years later, I lived part-time in a house that contained a meth lab; I had to remove my housemate after I found the shotguns. I've lived in a cabin a hundred yards or so from a hundred marijuana plants. They were not mine, but no one else lived within a mile; the authorities may not have parsed the situation so finely.

Sex in public places, including mass transportation -- who didn't do that back then? So too with psychedelics.

That's the lyrics to my favorite Johnny Cash song!

Well, I did shoot a man in Reno. But Cash took some liberties with the truth. It wasn't just to watch him die. He scratched the paint on my ride.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:54 am

I've never actually heard of Ryan Adams until now that everyone is making a big deal over him covering Bryan Adams.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:56 am

Next he should wrestle Doink the Clown and then join NWO

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:16 pm

It seems almost impossible to have not heard of Ryan Adams.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:33 pm

mister d wrote:It seems almost impossible to have not heard of Ryan Adams.

And if you haven't heard his music, you've at least heard the story of his reaction after someone asked him to play Summer of '69 back in the day. Ironic that him actually playing it is how J-Lo discovered him?

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:34 pm

Right. I only know the story because he now played the song.

Of course, don't we have a Swamper that doesn't know what Beyonce looks like?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:40 pm

I have popular artists where I don't know what they sound like but they're newer, Adams has been around for almost 2 decades now and has done some movie songs and other shit. Like you know the song "Ain't No Sunshine" from Old School? That's Bill Withers. But the one from the beginning that goes "when you're young, you get get sad, you get high" is Ryan Adams.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:59 pm

Doesn't ring a bell. I just went through this not at all arbitrary list of his 20 biggest songs and can confirm that not one sounds remotely familiar.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:01 pm

He's a singer. That's all I got.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:27 pm

Ryan wrote:He's a singer. That's all I got.

Word. I know the name, know he is a singer, but no idea what he looks like or sings. Started listening to JLo's list, 0-8 so far. Sounds like country to me, and my knowledge of country is Cash, Willie, some Merle Haggard and a handful of others. My father had a few tapes in the 80's, like Alabama, Oak Ridge Boys, a bunch of Willie and Waylon Jennings.

Is JLo's list his most well known? Curious to hear some of his songs that I may know, just don't realize are his. Don't know the story, either.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:28 pm

Maybe you know the song of his that U2 covered?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:36 pm

I would think this is the most popular one ...

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:40 pm

Also known for his Dead covers.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:43 pm

He's also been on David Letterman like 20 times or something ridiculous like that (though I guess if you never watch Letterman...).

Same song.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:46 pm

mister d wrote:I would think this is the most popular one ...

Then I think we've reached the end of our journey here...

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:58 pm

And here is where I point out that loma has definitively (if not memorably) heard at least one Ryan Adams song prior to today.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 2:17 pm

For the last few hours I've been going back and forth trying to figure out how so many people have not heard of Ryan Adams and almost understanding it but not quite getting there.

(I think the non-sarcastic question here is -- what the fuck do you guys listen to?)

ETA: I know some of you guys like to rip on some of us for being snobby and I respect that, but this isn't us ripping on you for not knowing who Sufjan Stevens or Father John Misty is. Adams is arguably the best singer-songwriter of his generation.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 2:18 pm

Well he is over 33.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:09 pm

brian wrote:For the last few hours I've been going back and forth trying to figure out how so many people have not heard of Ryan Adams and almost understanding it but not quite getting there.

(I think the non-sarcastic question here is -- what the fuck do you guys listen to?)

ETA: I know some of you guys like to rip on some of us for being snobby and I respect that, but this isn't us ripping on you for not knowing who Sufjan Stevens or Father John Misty is. Adams is arguably the best singer-songwriter of his generation.

It's not you, it's me. The AV Club article rings true, especially the part about parents. I spent a lot of time listening to Yo-Gabba-Gabba songs (some of which are truly good, and all done by bands you probably know and I don't). I learned a lot of new pop songs through Kids Bop, but they are covers sung by kids, so I don't know who sings them or what the original sounds like. Curious to read the blog they cite.

I don't listen to much music anymore. I used to listen to a lot, but that quickly tailed off after college. It's been 10 years since I've worked with someone who introduced me to any music. I rarely listen to music, due to podcasts and audiobooks. The rare times I turn on a radio, it is to listen to sports radio on a Monday morning during football season. An occasional flip to NPR to see if they are doing something interesting.

When I do put on some music, I have a lot more music than I can fit on my 64G iPod, so I have no need to find new music, as I could go a decade with the music on my computer without listening to the same song twice. Not that I have that much music, but because I don't listen nearly as much as I'd like to. I've started putting music on when driving with the family. My wife usually doesn't want it on, but she is easing that restriction. I do like exposing the kids to a variety of music, often hitting shuffle for all songs. I always laugh when a GPJ song pops up and I have to quickly FF.

If I didn't periodically drop by the Spins threads. I'd really have no clue about newer groups. And by newer, I mean this century. My main link to the outside world is Bapo!, who for a while was sending me a lot of newer music. I went through a period of a heavy rotation of Animal Collective, Neutral Milk Hotel, Tune-Yards, Beirut and some others. I did download a lot of albums based off of stuff you guys posted, like Drive By Truckers, The Decemberists, The National, and Grizzly Bear.

MaxWebster · Post by **MaxWebster** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:10 pm

Ryan Adams:

i'm also in the "yeah...i've heard of him but don't know any of his songs" camp.

also didn't even know he was a big deal.

and i (think i) listen to music. hell, i even play it!

MaxWebster · Post by **MaxWebster** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:11 pm

also in the "Bapo! is my music lifeline" club. proud member.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 4:29 pm

And he's married to Mandy Moore. For those of you who are into tabloid nonsense relating to actresses who were big 10 years ago.

MaxWebster · Post by **MaxWebster** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:01 pm

i definitely don't know who mandy moore is

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:10 pm

brian wrote:And he's married to Mandy Moore. For those of you who are into tabloid nonsense relating to actresses who were big 10 years ago.

Nope. Busted up awhile back. (Embarrassed to know such trivia.)

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:15 pm

sancarlos wrote:
brian wrote:And he's married to Mandy Moore. For those of you who are into tabloid nonsense relating to actresses who were big 10 years ago.
Nope. Busted up awhile back. (Embarrassed to know such trivia.)

Huh, my bad. See, I don't keep up on that crap.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:21 pm

I know who Mandy Moore is, well I heard of her about ten years ago; I know Ryan Adams as the name of a singer who is not Bryan Adams (whom I barely know who he is). Beyond that, nothing. I don't know what you kids are talking about.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:03 pm

Beyonce: Pop singer whose work I don't like. Associated somehow with President whose work I don't like. Sang pathetic version of classic Etta James song at some event. Married to Jay Z, rich person and former pop singer/rapper/something whose work I don't like. Wouldn't recognize photos of either, but remember seeing a Beyonce photo once and wondering how she would be considered attractive for a celebrity. Certainly wouldn't recognize their songs.

Ryan Adams: 40-ish modern country/pop/rock singer and song-writer whose work I don't like. I have to work to distinguish him from Ryan Miller, whose work I like a bit. Is Adams the one with Meniere's Disease?

Mandy Moore: No idea. Possibly NFL defensive coordinator.

Bryan Adams: Pop singer whose work I didn't like in the 80s, but some of which has grown on me. At least it has some nostalgia value.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:38 pm

DC47 wrote:Beyonce: Associated somehow with President whose work I don't like. Sang pathetic version of classic Etta James song at some event. Married to Jay Z, rich person and former pop singer/rapper/something whose work I don't like. Wouldn't recognize photos of either, but remember seeing a Beyonce photo once and wondering how she would be considered attractive for a celebrity. Certainly wouldn't recognize their songs.

Clearly the picture you saw of Beyonce didn't include her ass. You need to add drug dealer to the list. And keep in mind, he is not a business man. He is a business, man. I actually like a lot of Jay-Z's music, and he comes across as intelligent, levelheaded and relatively grounded for a guy with as much money and industry power as he has. My beef with Jay-Z is bringing Kanye to prominence and letting him go off the rails and turn into an enormously egotistical, insane asshole.

Mandy Moore- I forgot why, but she popped into my head a week or two ago. I got her confused with someone else, then realized she fell off the face of the Earth 8-10 years ago. What happened to her?

Glad to see I am not alone in my Ryan Adams ignorance. There was a small section [not sure which musical term applies] of the New York song that sounded familiar, but the song as a whole doesn't. Listening to the lyrics, if I had listened to the lyrics at any point, I would have remembered the song. Stirred up a lot of memories. Either the familiar part sounds a lot like another song, or it was used in a commercial or something. I like the song, and loved his Wharf Rat cover. Always loved the song, and he nails it.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:45 pm

The Sybian wrote:Mandy Moore- I forgot why, but she popped into my head a week or two ago. I got her confused with someone else, then realized she fell off the face of the Earth 8-10 years ago. What happened to her?

Rapunzel in Tangled...