Clayton Williams is a well known person when it comes to Texas politics for all the wrong reasons. During his gubernatorial election campaign in 1990 he made some crude jokes about rape including, “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” The remarks were publicized and played a huge role in his loss that year.

Williams recently became a fundraiser for John McCain and put together an event that would have raised $300,000 for McCain. McCain does like sexist jokes. Right around the time of the fundraiser, McCain was supposed to be gaining women supporters who were disappointed by Hillary Clinton’s loss. He did this by publicizing his love for horrible Swedish pop sensations, ABBA. When the McCain campaign was asked about Williams remarks on rape he canceled the fundraiser.

Now it turns out that the fundraiser was not canceled and the money is still in circulation. The venue is just shifting to a new location.

[The following article, written by Bob Howard for Synthesis Weekly, was originally published in the print version of Synthesis on Monday, May 19th, 2008. He can be reached at bob@madbob.com]

Keep on Drinking
By Bob Howard

“Be it destiny or free will, there are those amongst us who might do the rest of society a favor by staying on the couch, taking bong rips and playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.”

A Long History of Stupid: I’ve just started reading a biography of long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and as a result, I’m learning quite a lot about the history of this country and the tradition of our government cracking down on dissent. This latest episode of our history is far from the first time the Bill of Rights has been superseded and suspended in the name of “security.” I have yet to grasp the logic of suspending freedoms to ensure security when I thought that the whole thing we are trying to secure in the first place is freedom; but I digress.
Anyway, here are some interesting factoids I’ve picked up thus far: Remember when in protest of the French dissent against the “War on Terror” our Congress made the brilliant move of re-naming French Fries “Freedom Fries?” Seems like a pretty creative manifestation of nationalistic stupidity, right? Wrong. During World War I, our Congress re-named Sauerkraut “Liberty Cabbage.” Our current stupidity isn’t even original! How do you like that?

Think the threat of terrorism is a new thing? Wrong. Just prior to and then after World War I, the Red Scare developed. Anarchists and Communists were on the rise and there were actually a series of letter bombs and bomb attacks that riddled the nation’s capitol and industrial power figures.
These attacks lead to a complete abridgment of the freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights. Anyone suspected of being a communist, a socialist, or a sympathizer — essentially any Russian factory worker — was rounded up in mass arrests and many were unceremoniously deported so quickly that there wasn’t even time for an appeal.

More heartwarming thoughts after the jump. (more…)

In what is interesting news to some, Ozzfest, which was once a lucrative touring festival, and later a “free”, half- assed touring festival, has now been downsized to a one day metalfest of sorts. My guess is bands finally realized that paying upwards of $80,000 to play for free on a nationwide tour is not worth it anymore. On the positive side, the lineup for one day show (held in Dallas, Texas at Pizza Hut Park) will feature performances from some pretty impressive bands; Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Serj Tankian, Hellyeah, Jonathan Davis and others. Kids that love outdated music and washed up, used-to-be-in-a-big-band-but-have-to-play-less-important-solo-music are stoked.

Sinkhole: a hole formed in soluble rock by the action of water, serving to conduct surface water to an underground passage.

So one of those is now 600 yards wide and 200 feet deep, and has swallowed up the tractor and cab of an 18-wheel farm vehicle. This whole scene is unfolding in the small community of Daisetta, TX, and has everything to do with the local oil production. The powers that be are monitoring the situation and will do what they can to keep the sinkhole from swallowing up any homes. Weird.

It’s always a bit amusing when pop stars of our distant past rear their heads up once again, this time with an air of tabloid/morning talk show hype. Debbie Gibson (or Deborah, as she now calls herself) is probably thankful she still has any fans at all. Still, this did not halt her from filing for a restraining order against one Spaniard, a fan-site operator and self-proclaimed “Debhead” by the name of Jordi Bassas Puigdollers (pictured above with Gibson, courtesy of The Superficial Blog). On Tuesday, a restraining order was issued against Puigdollers, demanding that he stay 100 yards away from Gibson, and stop attending her concerts or attempting to contact her. Especially when there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.

From AP:

The man, reached by phone in Spain, said he meant no harm.
“I wanted to use the fan club to help people who can’t go see her to get autographs and photos,” he told The Associated Press in Spanish…

Our boy can still attend her concerts after all this, but he has to stay far back. I would say I’m surprised Gibson is still playing anywhere, but I happened to see her live a few years back. She played Chico State for a free lunchtime outdoor concert in 2002 or so. Totally Sucked! She closed with her most famous tune, “I Think We’re Alone Now,” which, although to only recognizable number, failed to inspire but the least interest from the audience. Even in my tweenie-bop years I didn’t think it matched up to Tommy James and The Shondells.

We have the visual goods after the jump. From the look of it, homeboy seems pretty harmless; he just spends thousands of dollars a year traveling to see his favorite performer do her thing. But those are always the ones you have to watch after, right?. TMZ has the documents if you want to read them in full. (more…)

Since I was nothing but a wee boy, I’ve sat and worshiped at the altar of ALL. And more notably, their second singer Scott Reynolds has been one of my favorite vocalists of all time. So when I was tipped to a showcase on Friday at Headhunters featuring Reynolds and his new band The Steaming Beast, I pretty much dropped everything and walked myself in circles searching for the venue.

This turned out to be basically the best decision I’ve ever made (although upon typing that, I’m suddenly realizing that I’ve said that about a lot of SXSW-related shenanigans). Headhunters was a tiny little dive on 7th and Red River with a tiki ambiance and a small stage at the back. Reynolds stood playing guitar and crooning with his gruffy voice, with a simple ball cap and his trademark bulging biceps (an imposing physique that belies the tender nature of his songcraft).

I was just simply rocking out for a while, bouncing to and fro, one hand in back left pocket, one leg bending at knee to the beat. But then he had to go ahead and play “Traci Hardman’s Cheek” off his band’s new album Adventure Boy, and it all fell apart. Upon the first notes plucked, I felt a wash of heat ascend up from my heart organ to just below my eyeballs. When the first words were sung - “Patent leather shoes, rain that smells like dirt and driveways, how midday’s purple shadows haunt the hills…” - not gonna lie, started to well up. BUT, I was able to hold it back…barely. It’s pretty amazing when you realize that no matter how much music you listen to, a simple song of love or longing can still tug at your heart strings and transform your face into a geyser.

Full disclosure report, live from Austin, Texas. I’m gonna go try and figure out why the Four Seasons charged my bank card for shit I didn’t get… Oh and, try the veggie burger from room service…only 22 dollars. YUM!