Take a trip down memory lane and enjoy perusing the older incarnations of my personal web pages, dating back to early 1995.
take a look at all the image headers at the top of these pages.

If you’re reading this, you should be considering contributing an article, opinion piece or some other form of contribution to Buzz Rant & Rave. If you don’t know what Buzz Rant & Rave is, ask me. The short version is it’s going to be most excellent if people actually contribute to it.

Is Starbucks really trying to take over the world? Even if they’re not, their pervasiveness is becoming ridiculous. Here in midtown, there are two within a one block span: one on 35th and 8th as well as another at 35th and 7th. I think it’s only slightly excessive…

This whole election thing is surreal, like in some twisted weird Bulgakov story. Four more years for Bill Clinton!

wait, that’s richard nixon’s enemies list!
Seriously, Disney sucks. We went to the ESPN Zone in Times Square on saturday in order to watch the Devils game and enjoy some overpriced theme restaurant food and drinks. Unfortunately, Disney took over the ESPN Zone for some corporate function. Corporate monoliths are so nice and friendly, aren’t they? Thanks to them, we missed seeing the Devils rout PIttsburgh 9-0 (4 goals each from Randy McKay and John Madden…)

It’s the stupidity, stupid
“No presidential candidate ever went broke betting against the anti-intellectualism of the American people.

The subway series is here. Will anyone outside of new york watch? who knows. It’s all about the Mets winning for the first time since doc gooden (now on the yanks), straw, keith hernandez, ray knight, gary carter and mookie won over the red sox in 1986.

About half of America is seriously considering electing Dubya as our next leader.
“I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.”

Apartment hunting (surprisingly) is demonstrating how much of a geek I am. I’m bringing along not just my cell phone (to keep in contact with my roommates and property managers and such) but my palm pilot (to keep track of stuff) and my digital camera (to take pictures of the places.) I need more pockets.
That doesn’t discount how miserable of an experience finding an apartment in the city is.

I started work this week. Not only is it awkward transitioning into a new job, but it’s really difficult to transition to a new sleep/waking up schedule. I’m not sure about this 5 day week thing either. To put this in perspective, I had no classes before 11:30am or on Fridays last semester. Aside from golf at 10:30 (and on Fridays) I had a similar schedule last fall, too. Not to mention that classes were generally a 2 to 7 minute walk from my lovely abode. The hour commute from the ‘fly is just a little longer. Let’s hear it for caffeine.

I went to a multimedia listening event for the new [Radiohead][1] album, Kid A, which will be released October 3. The album is very different from any of the other Radiohead albums, and different from anything else I’ve heard recently. It is not a rock record. It was not what I expected in any way and I don’t think I really had enough of a chance to take it all in, but I really enjoyed some of what I heard, especially the first track, Everything in it’s Right Place. The lyrics and vocals take a back seat on the album, as what Radiohead has created here are more like different textures than different songs. ([more about my kid a impressions][2] )[][3]

[1]: www.radiohead .co.uk [2]: /music/reviews/000906radiohead/ [3]: /photos/kid_a/P9050094.jpg

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are heading outbound to their new contract on Columbia in fine form. This album is much broader than any of their previous works. For the most part it is very successful. I found the more that I’ve listened to this album, the more I’ve enjoyed it. Read the full review.

I’ve been doing a decent amount of reading recently. Here are some of the books that I’d recommend. First, Thomas Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem. This deals with the Middle East in the 1980s, but the dynamics at work then are still at work today, and this book really does eplain them easily. I also like his second book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree as well as his <a href= http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/index.html#friedman">Foreign Affairs column in The New York Times.
David Remnick’s Resurrection : The Struggle for a New Russia. This is the sequel to his Pulitzer prize winning Lenin’s Tomb and it discusses post Soviet Russia under Yeltsin until 1997. He does a great job of describing the opportunities and missed opportunities. I’m sorry I waited so long to read this.
Where Remnick leaves off chronologically, Mark Ames and Matt Taibbi pick up in The eXile : Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia (no, I’m not comparing the eXile with David Remnick!) While this is not a great book, it is an interesting story, especially if you’ve ever read the eXile newspaper.
Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan. This was Vonnegut’s first novel to get significant recognition and it’s one of my favorites of his. At the same time, I read some of his short stories from the compilation <A HREF=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385333501/andrewraffcom">Welcome to the Monkey House. I started God Bless You, Mr.Rosewater, too, but I find I can only read so much Vonnegut at once.
Right not, I’m reading Everyday Stalinism by Sheila Fitzpatrick, about urban life in Soviet Russia during the 1930s.

After well over a year in limbo, Needle and Thread, the latest album from Agents of Good Roots will be available next Wednesday, August 16. As per J.C. Kuhl, “2000 years later, David still kicks Goliath’s ass.” From the bits and pieces I’ve heard, this will be one to watch out for. The story of why it’s only being released now is an interesting one, with deception and theivery and evil. Just getting the long-completed album released is a big step. Congratulations!

I keep watching this page to see when it gets updated, and keep wondering why it doesn’t. Then I realize that I have to do the updating.
I’ve finally joined 1999 and gotten a cell phone. I feel so Russian mafia-like. All I need now is a black Mercedes S-class sedan with dark tinted windows, leather pants, and a tall, thin, beautful girlfriend and I’m there. It’s sad that of those three things the one I have the best chance of getting is a pair of leather pants. (The day that I get leather pants is the day that they take the zamboni machine out on the ice rink in hell!)

Be on the lookout for Andreas Country and the United Nations, an idea hatched last night, who will totally redefine the way you think about music…

The first music reviews that I’m going to have up here on andrewraff.com will be of JC’s two new albums, released simultaneously on atlantic records last week. “Chasing the Gypsy” is a tribute to Django Reinhardt, featuring richly textured acoustic songs, some with a cool central European vibe (mainly due to the presence of accordion in the band). JC plays a bunch of different saxes, including the F Mezzo Soprano and Bass. “Layin’ in the Cut” is JC’s first electric funk outing. Some of his previous originals (particularly the title tracks to “JC on the Set” and “In Carterian Fashion”) drive along with a great deal of funk, so I came into this album with high expectations, unfortunately it doesn’t live up to what I expected.

I put the music section in here. Of course, it’s nowhere near completed, but it’s a start.
What’s up with the weather? Earlier this week it was cold, around 50 degrees out. Today is was up around 90 and very humid– just passed the temperature of “darn hot” and approaching “too damn hot.” Whoever invented air conditioning deserves to be celebrated.