Instapoet is on-line

Instapoet is now on-line. Verse for every occasion.

Words, do not fail him.

Check out today's poem here.

Men in Blue now on MySpace

Check out videos and gig info on our new MySpace page.

Men in Blue rock!

Some vids from the Men in Blue gig on 2 Feb. at Sounds club in Brussels!

For more videos from the show, go here.

"Tush"



"Born Under a Bad Sign"



"Rusty Cage"

Apologies to Steve Earle

Last year, I wrote this about Steve Earle and his political speechifying from the concert stage. I argued that his song lyrics make his political statements more effectively than his sometimes irksome between-song commentary, which at a show I saw last year even included a reference to the Financial Times op-ed page (to be fair, apparently Bruce Springsteen has been making references to writs of habeas corpus on his current tour).

Anyway, I'm here to say, "sorry Steve."

I think Earle's new album, "Washington Square Serenade," is among his best work ever. It's like John Dos Passos set to music.

One of the songs, "Down Here Below," is a classic. And "Steve's Hammer (for Pete)" sounds as if it is a direct response to my complaints about Steve's political harping.

As long as he keeps making music like this, he can bitch all he wants from the concert stage and grow his Taliban beard as long as he wants, I'll be right there with him...

Here's Steve playing the fantastic opening track to the album, "Tennessee Blues":



And here's a short promo film in which he talks about making a record with ProTools, name-checks Lou Dobbs of all people, and plays a couple of incredible songs. His wife, Allison Moorer, is there, too, looking eerily like a young Holly Near.

Cracklin' Rosie

It's been an eventful month. For updates on our little Rosalind, go here.

Essential Reading

If you're not reading Wonkette, you should be. Its attitude is exactly right for today's political scene.

Here's a classic recent post on the current (and incredibly boring) political crisis here in Belgium.

The site's current editor is leaving. Hope his replacements don't screw it up.

The Art of Cartooning

The Onion has been running editorial cartoons, or at least a great parody of an idiot editorial cartoonist. The guy is a total reactionary--a nice replacement for the late, lamented Ed Anger.

Plus, I love the little nod to Tom Toles in the bottom corner...