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61

The Outpost Cafe / Re: The Man Who Panned the Beatles

« on: March 11, 2024, 06:38:18 AM »

Quote from: uwe on March 11, 2024, 06:06:18 AM

No country on Earth or in history has developed as radically and as quickly as the US of A. You guys are a stark lesson of Western evolution on steroids. Inevitably, that brought growing pains with it.

Politics are a necessity of any governing system where different views compete with one another - as they should. Democracy is the only form of rule that assures that everyone gets to make mistakes eventually and not just one group over and over. It doesn’t ensure better policies per se, just more varied ones, but trial and error is a development concept too.

Popular dissatisfaction is not just an American issue, all Western democracies battle with it. People seem to forget what they have got. Oscar Wilde would say that the migration pressure on most Western countries is the sincerest form of flattery imaginable. It shows how desirable we live if viewed from the outside. All the bickering is out of proportion.

Your aunt is kinda cute, I have people like that in my wider family too. Anything that is too complex or threatening gets shut out.

Once again, it's kind of hard to talk about politics without talking about politics. I realize the necessity of politics. I've got an M.A. in political science. But that doesn't make me an expert. Not by a long shot. The only people that I consider political experts are people who have a Ph.D. in political science or naturally gifted statesmen who've been on the political stage for a while. I don't know what it is, though, that makes so many people overrate themselves when it comes to politics. I just get outright sick of it. So when I say I'm tired of politics, mostly what I'm talking about are all the people out there so convinced that they're the world's leading experts on politics when, obviously, they're not. Personally, I'd rather be a real expert in, for instance, music. But I know even less about music than politics. I certainly like music a whole lot more, though. I think the world could go pretty far just on love and music. And politics be damned.

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: The Man Who Panned the Beatles

« on: March 10, 2024, 11:56:38 PM »

I think the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other was most clearly displayed in comparing and contrasting the 1860s and 1920s.
It would be hard to come up with two decades more different. The differences were so great, it's almost like you're talking about two different countries.

For roughly the past ten years, the mood in the U.S. has not been good. The outlook is not very optimistic, IMO, despite that being uncharacteristic of the country. This became more obvious to me when I would visit the Netherlands and then compare what I had experienced there to what I found here. I would hesitate to say more for fear of being political. Yet even if I could, I would not discuss politics here or anywhere else. There aren't many people who despise politics more than I do. That doesn't mean, of course, I believe in avoiding, for instance, the news. I've got a relative who does that. She thinks if she avoids listening to the news then the problems that are discussed might just go away. I was once watching the local news. I went into the kitchen. While I was there, she changed the channel. It's my aunt, BTW. When I got back, I found speed racing which for audio had some inexplicable country music playing. She said "I was afraid that channel you had on was going to start talking about war in the Middle East!!!"

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: The Man Who Panned the Beatles

« on: March 10, 2024, 06:45:23 PM »

I think Ronson may have a valid point with that song. However, a false impression may be created. Because American music and movies may be the two best things about American culture. Other things about the country may not be quite so good. i do find American history interesting, though, just not current events very much.

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: The Man Who Panned the Beatles

« on: March 09, 2024, 05:28:41 PM »

I just found the part in which he said the rock 'n' roll fad had died when Elvis entered the military. Clearly, writing about modern music was not this guy's forte.

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The Outpost Cafe / The Man Who Panned the Beatles

« on: March 09, 2024, 02:37:15 PM »

I'm sure others have, but I had never heard of this infamous newspaper article about the Beatles before. This is funnier than Decca rejecting them by telling the Beatles that guitar music was going out of style.

https://scottwesterman.com/?p=12552

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Gibson Basses / Re: Music videos that feature EB0 to EB4 and SG variant basses...

« on: March 08, 2024, 01:54:45 AM »

^^^

Most people know the story. All I was pointing out is that American Songwriter had actually gone to the trouble of writing an article about it. Most of what I see from American Songwriter gets my attention. Not necessarily because it's an American publication, but because it's just so good. That particular article on ZZ Top was actually pretty short, though.

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Gibson Basses / Re: Mod collection restock update

« on: March 07, 2024, 07:09:13 PM »

Ilan, thanks for posting. Something like that is right up my alley. I'm always interested in basses like this one.

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Gibson Basses / Re: Music videos that feature EB0 to EB4 and SG variant basses...

« on: March 07, 2024, 07:05:31 PM »

Quote from: Pilgrim on March 07, 2024, 02:27:33 PM

"Incense and peppermints, the color of time...."

"In-a-gadda-da-vida..."

"Rumor spreadin' 'round
In that Texas town
About that shack outside La Grange..."

Classic rock has many of those deep and meaningful lyrics...

"La Grange" was meaningful enough for "American Songwriter" to have an article about it.

https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-the-controversial-blues-rock-song-la-grange-by-zz-top/#:~:text=The%20Best%20Little%20Whorehouse%20in,Best%20Little%20Whorehouse%20in%20Texas.

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Dating American vs. European Women

« on: February 25, 2024, 09:14:15 AM »

Quote from: uwe on February 25, 2024, 07:51:18 AM

Most men’s concepts whether a woman wears “no”, “only a little” or “too much make-up” are vague at best and not really accurate, layman’s views! Women are way better in determining it. Most men mistake “no make-up” with “skill- and tastefully applied make-up”.

I would say that when it comes to understanding the complexities of makeup, most men (including myself) are rank amateurs.

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Dating American vs. European Women

« on: February 25, 2024, 09:09:48 AM »

Quote from: Dave W on February 25, 2024, 12:53:44 AM

Revlon founder Charles Revson used to speak at business education conferences, and he would start out with: "We don't sell cosmetics, we sell hope." He was right!

I agree!

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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Dating American vs. European Women

« on: February 24, 2024, 02:44:48 PM »

Quote from: uwe on February 24, 2024, 07:22:19 AM

No way, if anything it’s the other way around! You guys wish (and project).

The only time a European woman will ever tell you to “sit down and relax” is when she wants to break up with you.

I think whoever made this just did it as a joke. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously. At least that's my take on it. If I took it seriously, I wouldn't have even posted it. It's true I have been around European women quite a lot. But I've been around American women way more. My only real criticism of American women is that many of them wear too much make-up. I do have to admit Europeans have an edge on American women in knowing how to use make-up in moderation. Other than that, though, it's no exaggeration to say I have zero complaints about American women.

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