As Washington state’s Democrats are congregating in Denver, celebrating the nomination of Barack Obama for President of the United States, Washington state Republicans are back at home marking this historic moment in their own typically Republican fashion:
The head of the Snohomish County Republican Party apologized Tuesday after the organization’s booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe sold “$3 bills” depicting Barack Obama wearing Arab headgear and featuring a camel. […] Obama’s face, in the traditional Arab headgear, is pictured above the words “Da man.”
The Arab headgear and the camel on the bill are clearly references to the false rumor spread by some Obama critics that he is a Muslim.
Of course, Snohomish County Republican chairwoman Geri Modrell apologized (that’s the lede after all), telling the Seattle Times that “volunteers are being told very clearly they must not do these sorts of things.” Wink, wink. But I guess that pretty much sums up the kind of issue oriented campaign the Republican grassroots want… and will get.
UPDATE:
In the comment thread I’m told the Everett Herald had the story first. I don’t know, as I haven’t had the time to scan the dailies closely this week, but I did love this tidbit from the Herald:
The serial number, “IBD14UOK” when read aloud, is fractured English: “I be de one for you, OK.”
But, you know, they apologized… so I guess it’s okay.
This is the ugly face of Republicanism in this State.
We have to Get OUT THE VOTE, GOTV, GOTV, GOTV.
To utterly defeat the mean-spirited, ugly, smirking, BIAW tool that is Dino Rossi.
http://www.therealdinorossi2008.com
Credit the right paper. The story is in the Everett Herald.
As an “R” don’t believe for a second that most R’s put up with this kind of crap. Of course we know Obama isn’t a Muslim, Arab, or anti-American. He’s an accomplished public servant. R’s just think McCain would be a better president, but don’t think it’s a wink wink at all. Each party has their extreme folks and when they do something stupid like this…it’s the majority of moderates that put them in check.
I for one point would have pointed out the person that pulled this stunt that it’s racist crap and self-defeating.
You know, I’m always skeptical when candidates and Olympic presidents talk about their campaigns/organizations as a “movement,” but I have to think that the Obama campaign is a movement as well as a moment. I’m also optimistic. When it is successful, it will fundamentally change the country, and crap like this will look, not just vile and racist, but extremely antiquated and foreign to our national politics.
Yea there are a few decent repugs one can have a conversation with but the fact of the matter is most condone all the nasty shit done in the name of their party. They will never get any leeway from me. LTFO we ain’t see nothing yet!
three dollars bill are very queer
using the play on the old saw, the Seallte’s Gay Lesbian annual film festive is called – “three dollar cinema festival”
the funny thing is if some of them get spend at wall-mart, etc.
Republicans fight! Democrats are spineless wimps: Example 6,434,987
Obama said:
“Strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries. That’s what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That’s what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That’s what Nixon did with Mao. I mean, think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’ And ultimately, that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall.
McCain translates into this ad:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....21751.html
3 – A large part of your party’s plan is to pull stunts like this – whispering campaigns, push-polls, e-mail chain letters, the whole nine-yards. Roveism is mainstream in your party. You can wish it away but that won’t make it go away.
Right.
So Democrats can honestly lie about McCain and say he is owned by big oil.
But Republicans can’t make silly jokes about Obama that are not meant by anyone to be taken seriously.
Yawn.
There was nothing remotely dirty about this. It was not a smear. It was no more of a smear than a MAD Magazine poster about Obama. Seriously, get a life.
Man, that’s just nasty.
I expect that cr*p on the internet,where seemingly normal people flame and type stuff that I cannot imagine saying in person, like byebyeGOP and Iburn and Marvin do all the time.
But do be so embolden to do that in public, at the fair, where the public brings their families? What’s next, selling of cross burning kits or those really gawd awful cartoons the Aryans put out to depict black men, so long as they apologize afterwards? It’s stunts like that make me want to broad brush all repubs and conservatives as racist and unworthy of respect.
I’d like us all to attack the policies and ideas, not the person. But that’s apparently not possible for small brained conservatives.
This shit only appeals to the knuckle-dragging, bible-thumping, inbred faaaar right racists who won’t vote for a Democrat, let alone a black one anyway. So it’s no harm to our cause for truth.
But what it MIGHT do is impact the few right-leaning folks who are not yet in the “GOP” camp and make them feel bad about aligning with a bunch of ass-licks.
Never know.
@9 The difference is, we could discuss whether by john “Noun, Verb,’I was a POW'” mccain’s actions, he is heavily influenced by Big Oil and who has the best energy policy.
Instead, you conservatives just derail the subject and shout that Obama is a muslim and slink away.
—
Oh I see, racist smears is what passes for conservative humor. Got it.
I’m a little creeped out that the knuckle-dragging, bible-thumping, inbred faaaar right racists are as close as Snohomish County.
YLB #@ 8: In the early 1960’s, Dick Tuck became famous for pulling political “dirty tricks” against Richard Nixon in California.
But Dick Tuck did things with a sense of humor. Like pretending to be a Nixon advance man, Tuck arranging for Nixon to appear in a huge hall before a crowd of a couple dozen supporters, making the small size of the crowd even more apparant. During Nixon’s 1962 California Gubenatorial campaign, Nixon was making a visit to Chinatown, where Chinese-American children were holding up “welcome” sings in chinese characters – except Tuck had arranged for the signs to read “What about the Hughes Loan”, a reference to a very large loan Howard Hughes had given Nixon’s brother. When someone told Nixon what the sign said, he became very angry and ripped the sign out of the hands of the children and tore it up – in front of the smiling news cameramen who had their story of the day. During the 1968 election, Tuck hired a very pregnant black woman to walk around a Nixon event, wearing a Nixon campaign T-shirt that proclaimed “Nixon’s the One!”
Nixon blamed Tuck for his 1962 election loss, and never quite got over it. Although the “Watergate Plumbers” were initially created to find the source of leaks within the Nixon administration, Nixon had it quickly morph into a “Bill Tuck type of unit”, designed to inflict political damage on the Democrats. But what Tuck did with humor, Nixon’s unit did with malisciouness. They engineered the break-in of a psychiatrist’s office in order to find material to use to discredit the leaker of the Pentagon Papers. They forged government documents intended to discredit former President John Kennedy. They forged and released to the press a letter which purported to have Democratic Presidential candidate Muskie in 1972 uttering a racially derogatory term. They attempted to access the IRS records of opponants, set them up with call girls during the 1972 convention so they could be “caught in an indescretion”, and – most famously – broke into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel in an attempt to gather intelligence which could be used against them in the 1972 election.
The Nixon people never saw the distinction. In an exchange between H.R. Haldeman and Dick Tuck, Haldeman said: “You started all this.” Tuck replied, Yeah, but you guys ran it into the ground!” As Dick Tuck explained later: “I didn’t hide what I did. I never tried to be malicious. It’s just the difference between altering fortune cookies to make a candiate look funny and altering State Department cables to make it look as if a former President were a murderer.”
The story would end there – except that Nixon’s protoge and convicted plumber Daniel Segretti was the mentor of an occassional student with an indefinate draft deferrment who eventually became President of the College Republicans – Karl Rove. Before the Watergate scandal broke open, Karl Rove was teaching classes to fellow Republcans on how to go through garbage cans to find evidence with which to embarrass Democrats. Rove himeself engineered his own election to head the College Republicans by coming up with an alternate constitution – probably forged – and holding a seperate convention which was populated by his own delegates. When the dispute was forwarded to the then-head of the Republican Party for resolution – George H.W. Bush – Rove leaked stories that his opponant was behind stories leaked to the press about Rove’s involvement in the classes which taught dirty tricks. (His opponant wasn’t involved in the leak, but one of his opponant’s close supporters probably was). An outraged Bush not only gave the election to Rove, but pretty much threw his opponant out of the party for disloyalty.
In the succeeding years, Rove crafted his skills as a character assassin. He engineered a whispering campaign against an incumbent highly respected State Supreme Court justice, falsly claiming he was a pedophile who used his children’s charity as a source for victims. As for others, he often portrayed his opponants as gay, anti-Christian, or anything else which popped up as a “hot button” on his polling. He even had volunteers leaflet doorways in the middle of the night with obviously false allegations against his own candidate so his candidate can go in front of the cameras in the morning decrying his opponant’s “viscous smear tactics”, with his opponant only left to respond with a weak “We don’t know anything about it”. Then when Rove opened with his own smear campaign, he would brush aside complaints saying that “the other side started it”.
One of his favorite tactics was to take a “hot button” talking point and beat it to death, with absolutely no regard for the truth. For example, a charge that a candidate was a child molester would be circulated. Then if the media failed to pick it up, he would start a “why won’t the media investigate these charges?” Then eventually the media would have to respond with a story about the “controversy”, which Rove would turn into “see, the media is covering up for my opponant”. Then he keeps hammering with the “why won’t the candidate respond to the charges?” and “What is he hiding”? If the candidate takes the bait and respondes, Rove’s story then becomes “my opponant is so pressured by the charges and mounting evidence against him, he had to issue a weak and hardly believable denial which only raises more questions”. By continuing this line, he could keep the issue alive through most of the campaign – even though there is absolutely no substance to the initial allegation.
Today, you can see the results of Rove’s tactics in Republican campaigns across the country. Republican talk-radio and Fox News pundits keep alive the name-calling and maliscious lies from which the candidate himself can distance himself. Even more viscious rumors are circulated on the internet and in whispering campaigns circulated in Republican events from which cameras and recorders are excluded.
If you want to see Rove’s loyal minions in action using these tactics, you need only to read the posts of Troll, Marvin, Klake, and others who frequent this forum.
@14 Nice post
Blue John: Man, that’s just nasty.
No, it is not. There is not a single nasty thing about it.
Next I expect you to protest the offices of MAD and Cracked.
The difference is, we could discuss whether by john “Noun, Verb,’I was a POW’” mccain’s actions, he is heavily influenced by Big Oil and who has the best energy policy.
Wow.
So in the very same discussion where you say it is “nasty” to make jokes about Obama, you make a joke about McCain being tortured in a prison camp for five years.
Instead, you conservatives just derail the subject and shout that Obama is a muslim and slink away.
You’re lying. No one here, or at the fair, ever said Obama was a Muslim.
I’m a little creeped out that the knuckle-dragging, bible-thumping, inbred faaaar right racists are as close as Snohomish County.
You’re lying. There’s nothing racist about it. It’s a joke. However, the Democratic “Sopranos” ad against Dino Rossi WAS racist. That was YOUR state party.
john “Noun, Verb,’I was a POW’” mccain started it when he used that as an excuse on Leno as to why he couldn’t remember how many houses he owned.
I’m not bothering to try to have civil discourse on this thread. It’s lost on the people who think racist whisper campaigns are MAD Magazine humor.
So when the wife and I came across a $3 with Hillary’s face on it in WA State, that was the Republican’s doing? Don’t think so.
I sent it to CA so my sister could see what Donkey were doing up here!
Puddy
1. I thought we were going to get together> Give me a call!
2. The difference her is in how the twop communities repsond when an asshole does this sort of thing. This is the second Reprican racist act in out state and the FGOP has done nothing to stop this sort of crap. The firsy nincident was in Clark Co .. again tha prty said tsk tsk but never identified the culprit or discharged then from party work.
I think you know I take pride in NOT being loyal to the Dem party. I voted for Rossi in the last general and am tempted to do so again as I am NOT impressed with CG. BUT, how the f can anyone vote for someone whose idea of tolerance is to accept this sort of thing?
Are both parties capable of this, yes. Bill Clinton did play the race card. BUT, he was called on this by Dems and I suspect a good part of why his wife lost was that she and he were too self righteous to understand what they had done.
Dems obviously have done worse things, esp in the South.
BUT .. I live in the there and now. Racism is disgusting and must not be tolerated. Whatever it si about Dino that allows him to tolerate this sort of shit is more than enough reason to reject the man.
where can i buy a few of these?
# 20: you can find all the crap like that you want in hell. Just ask Hitler when you see him, I’m sure he’ll hook you up.
Blue John:
I’m not bothering to try to have civil discourse on this thread. It’s lost on the people who think racist whisper campaigns are MAD Magazine humor.
There was nothing racist. You’re lying, as usual. This thing was not, in the least bit, in any way, racist. You can say it was, but you’re lying.
In fact, the only unethical acts going on here are you and the other Democrats feigning indignance.
Heh. Pudge, that Snohomish County Republican, is in full damage-control mode.
I guess his “argument” against apologizing for a mere “joke” fell on deaf ears among the local party brass.
Patrick Bell! LOL! Doesn’t “condone”.. wink. wink.
@9
When Mad Magazine does something like this they’re lampooning the racist behavior of other folks.
See the difference now?
Typical fear-mongering, race-baiting, Republican bullshit.
“I know! We’ll dress him up like Ahab the Arab, put a camel on the front with him, and throw in some of that ebonics sounding stuff. It’ll be great!”
Anyone who would deny the racist overtones of this is either willfully ignorant or a damned fool.
YLB: Heh. Pudge, that Snohomish County Republican, is in full damage-control mode.
Sorry, did you have an actual argument to make? Looking, looking … nope. Look up the phrase “red herring.”
michael: Actually, no, when MAD Magazine does something like this, they are simply having fun with a stereotype.
Steve Elliot: no, it is the DEMOCRATS — including you — that is fear-mongering and race-baiting here. There was nothing remotely wrong with that $3 bill. At all. And you and other Dems would say the same thing if it was about a Republican candidate. Your fake indignation is the definition of fear-mongering and race-baiting.
Ryan: anyone who would claim it has racist overtones is lying to push their own political agenda.
Hey Ryan, how are things in Spokane?
@27
Yeah a stereotype put forward by right wing nut jobs. What they are doing is is showing everyone that the the stereotype is completely wrong and thus, so are the nut jobs that created it.
Michael: nice nonresponse.
@28: Good, thanks. Met my new class today, looking forward to a few days off before the school year begins in earnest. And you?
Pudge says “there was nothing remotely wrong with that $3 bill,” so I’m guessing he’s the “volunteer” that set up the display at the GOP-Party booth. Everybody else is distancing themselves from this. Even Bob Clark!
I’ve posted this snippet before, but it seems appropriate to post it again:
“You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
And it never gets any more true.
So close your eyes once more, and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.”
from “Redneck”, by Lamb of God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYPn_en6OU
The only way to kill a lie is to overwhelm it with truth.
Where can we buy these bills? Please let us know, we are Republican and think these are very funny and “worth a sizable amount of money to the Republican party”.
Where can we buy these bills? Please let us know, we are Republican and think these are very funny and “worth a sizable amount of money to the Republican party”.
messenger: it wasn’t me, no. But I won’t back down to stupidity. I note that still, no one has actually provided an argument for what is wrong with the bills.
Philomena: you can get those bills, and bills about McCain too, at slick.com.
Hey Pudgefucker, maybe you should call your pals at the “GOP” and ask them what’s wrong with it. After all – THEY are the ones who apologized….
“The head of the Snohomish County Republican Party apologized Tuesday after the organization’s booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe sold “$3 bills” depicting Barack Obama wearing Arab headgear and featuring a camel.”
That’s funny. Maybe he should jump up and down on Opra’s couch and proclaim he’s a Christian.
It worked for Tom Cru…….well maybe he shouldn’t.
Where can I get one…
“ByeBye”:
They apologized because it offended people, and they did not want to offend people. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the bills, only that it was poor judgment to have them at the fair, where over-sensitive people would be offended by them.
Ask the Apostle Paul. It’s the old “don’t cause your brother to stumble” thing. It’s not wrong to eat meat sacrificed to idols, but wrong to do it when it may offend others.
Isn’t it illegal to print Money??
I thought the Secret Service is very tight about these things??
Anything that offends is wrong, if the situation was reversed an Mccain was shown with a white hood standing in front of a burning cross, no one would appreciate that.
but them maybe I am one of those sensitive people who have seen to many things of this type get put on the sly
So far as I know “Muslim” is a religion not a race. So I don’t understand where the “racist” comments come from. Political correctness is a blindfold on what Americans really think. It’s political humor and thats older than the Roman empire. It wasn’t that long ago that you could buy a phony 3 dollar Bill Clinton bill.
All you have to do is look in his eyes, read his body language, and follow his meandering positions.
Remember, if you vote for Obama, you will be voting for all the self interests and the socialist that are already set up to control this naive, ignorant, bleeding heart.
Freedom of speech– whats up? This is just funny. So laugh and move on.
I am sure the right wing reaction would be VERY different if this parody were done against a “GOP” candidate. And if the right wingers were concerned about the WHOLE Bible Pudgey – then they’d change a GREAT DEAL of their conduct.
TYG: Anything that offends is wrong
Wow.
You actually write that on a web site called “HorsesAss”?!
I am sure Goldy would agree with me that sometimes offending people is a GOOD thing.
if the situation was reversed an Mccain was shown with a white hood standing in front of a burning cross, no one would appreciate that.
That is a far cry from a headdress (especially since, in fact, Obama HAS worn a headdress a lot like that one).
“ByeBye”:
I am sure the right wing reaction would be VERY different if this parody were done against a “GOP” candidate.
It depends on the content of the parody. There actually is another bill a lot like it for McCain from the same company, and it doesn’t bother me at all, regardless of the fact that most of it isn’t true.
I could suggest a lot of “lies” for a McCain parody that would be funny to me, like stuff about him doing something wrong in Keating or not knowing much about the economy or wanting to keep troops in danger in Iraq for 100 years. All lies, but fair game for parody.
And if the right wingers were concerned about the WHOLE Bible Pudgey – then they’d change a GREAT DEAL of their conduct.
Such as?
@42 “Mccain was shown with a white hood standing”
No, no, it’s OK to do this shit if you’re a Republican. If you’re a Democrat it would be very offensive. Trolls would whine incessantly.
Besides that, I’d have McCain fucking a goat on the bill. Or maybe McCain blowing a black cop in a Florida park toilet. I’m certain the trolls would get the humor.
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/Lewd.html
@46 “And if the right wingers were concerned about the WHOLE Bible Pudgey – then they’d change a GREAT DEAL of their conduct.”
@47 “Such as?”
Is blowing a black cop in a Florida park toilet something the Bible would condone?
Leviticus 20:13
“If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood [shall be] upon them.”
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.c.....convi.html
How about fucking a mule?
Exodus 22:19
“Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.”
Leviticus 20:15
“If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.”
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/.....htwing.php
@46 Way to set Pudge up for me, BBG. Sweet. These damned America-hating, commie-fascist, treasonous goatfuckers might as well get used to having their asses handed to them.
Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio said this in regards to convicted Republican Rep. Allen, who offered to pay a black cop $20 if he could blow him in a park toilet, “This conviction makes it impossible for Rep. Allen to represent responsibly the citizens of his district.”
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.c.....convi.html
So that’s it. Obama’s paygrade is equal to a $3.00 bill.
Seriously folks, if you talk about this as coming from the conservative majority, then what is to be said of the ridiculous billboard in Minneapolis, bought and paid for by the liberal left? Not to mention the infidelity smear the liberal left is readying for John McCain right after the RNC. And we all believed Mr Obama when he proclaimed he would not stoop to “old politics” in his campaign, ha!
Shit, Vern, you’re all fucked up. You should do something about it, man. Vote for Obama. You’ll feel better. Hell, it might even lead you to a better outlook on life. No need to be so fucked up, Vern.
Steve, now really, you can (?) communicate effectively without the F-bomb in every other sentence, can’t you? Make your point without embarrassing faction, okay; now go somewhere and play nice. You are much too angry, Steve.
Steve, you can’t be that stupid that you think you actually “got” me. You can find people of all political, religious, and philosophical stripes doing terrible things. Obviously, ByeBye was speaking about something more than just a few isolated individuals. You just look stupid by pretending you made a good point.
You’re all fucked up, Pudge. You were had. There are hundreds of Republican pedos and goatfuckers. Hell, those are only the ones who’ve been busted. You’re the underbelly of that scene. What the fuck does that say about you? Get your mind right. Yup, you’re all fucked up.
how can i buy one
Love it! Depict him as he is. Where can I get one?
Easy children. Please try using grownup language.
The 3 dollar bill is funny, why so much hate? What is going on with the Barry supporters? Why aare they going crazy? I guess they see that the end is near.
Steve: lucidity please.
Why is it always O.K. for the crappy things the Democrats do regarding Republican figures… Bush, McCain, and any other Republican politicians… Hitler associated with GW Bush, good ole Holywood & the liberal music world can do and say anything the darn well want to… and a 3 dollar bill upsets the Democrats! Well go figure… whinny little babies.. always have to complain and b**ch about something!
This is more racist than the ad against Rossi.
Mike Barer:
No, that is impossible. The ad against Rossi was racist, but this bill was not. So it is not possible for this bill to be “more” racist.
@64 Why are your songs filled with hate towards your fellow Americans?
I’m sure the Italian “race” is deeply disturbed.
Steve: why would you think I am filled with hate toward anyone?
And yes, Italians are a race. Way to show your ignorance of history, especially the rampant racism against Italians and Irish in the late 19th and early 20th century.
@67 Why? You’re a fucking Republican traitor, that’s why. Christ, you’re stupid.
Bye the bye, humans are one species. “Race” is superficial, used by “racists” such as yourself to divide humanity into subgroups for purposes of hate.
Let me get this straight. If you are not for Obama you are a racist?
I happen to vote a mixed ticket, but I definitely see more hate on the left than the right. Steve take a deep breath and get a life. Once the election is over, all the rhetoric will start all over again just as it has for the past 60 years since world war 2 when the last time this country stood united. The only change we may see is three ones instead of a three dollar bill. I was for Hillary but now I doubt if I will vote. You people make it easy not to want to be part of it.
@70 Dave, I don’t believe I said or even inferred that, “if you’re not for Obama that you’re a racist”. I can be mean spirited towards trolls, goatfucking and all, but I do not say stuff like that. I would be interested to know how you got that impression. I went through the posts here and I don’t see it. If I did cross that line, or even remotely approached it, then I’ll readily apologize. I would apologize because I do not believe that not supporting Obama equates to racism.
I encourage you to vote, Dave. You can cast a write-in vote Hillary, if she is still your preference. She was my candidate too. I’m going to vote for Obama now. After this last week’s convention, I’m in the tank.
Maybe I said something on the other thread? I did react to the “dancing darkie” line thrown out by a troll over there and I’ve been giving Pud grief for not denouncing it. If I pushed the “cesspool” envelope too much for you then I really am sorry.
As for more hate left than right, you might try Niewarts blog, Orcinus, to learn about what right-wing hate is really all about.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/
Me? I don’t hate. The right has for too long labeled myself and the good, decent and patriotic people I love and care about as Godless, terrorist sympathizing traitors. Enough.
No, I don’t hate. I’m feeling mean. There is a huge difference.
Steve:
By merely offering an ad hominem in response, rather than actual evidence, you tacitly admit have no reason for believing I am filled with hate.
Thanks for your apology!
Apology? Ad hominem? Delusional. Go fuck yourself, Pudge.
Steve:
Sorry, I thought you understood what you were actually saying. When you won’t give me a reason, and instead give only ad hominem or some other red herring, then you are implicitly admitting you have no reason. And I figured since you knew you were implictly admitting that, you were therefore admitting that you were admitting that, which concession is essentially equivalent to an apology, even if a half-hearted one.
But you apparently didn’t realize you were doing that. Sorry for giving you too much credit!
I actually like that response, Pudge. A dose of clever humor is usually sorely lacking in right-wing blog posts. It’s like some of these guys got their first laughs blowing up frogs or something. You just might be better than that. Sorry I went after you the way I did, and especially for saying what I did about your music.
If we could drop the political hostility and all for a bit, I’d be glad to discuss recordng techniques – how you came up with your CD. I have a home recording studio and play multiple instruments – all as a hobby these days. It’s been a while since I checked out your music. I’ll have to check it out again and focus on the recording itself, rather than the lyric content.
Ask away.
You could just post questions on my web site. This post would be as good a place as any.
Although if your posts follow the same basic line there as they usually do here (with me, at least), I’ll ban your ass. I’m sure you understand. :-)
(BTW, most of my songs are *not* political. But my CD is almost all political.)
This is funny! Everyone getting so mad over a fake dollar bill. Boo Hoo! You can buy 3 dollar bills making fun of McCain and also of George W. (his price on his bill 00) They are made and sold from slick.com. I had an old Hilary one someone sent to me back around 97′. These are not made from the Washington State Republican party.
@79 spoken like a true republican – if I don’t like what you say – I’ll try to stop you from saying it.
You right wingers always prove that America is just as bad as anyplace else on this planet.
ByeByeGOP:
Once again, you’re proving yourself a liar. I never said I would stop anyone from saying anything. I will, however, keep bullshit off my own personal site. On Sound Politics (or here), I don’t care. Bullshit away.
For starters, did you do the recording yourself? I’d be curious what mics you used on vocals and guitar, the pre-amps used and recording platform. Did you do songs in one take? Or did you lay vocals over guitar? Did you use a click track?
I did all the recording myself. All the writing (except where noted), recording, mixing, etc. Go to my PudgeTunes page and click on “equipment” (under “Notes”) to see all the equipment I use.
My electric guitars are varied, but recent stuff is all Line 6 Variax guitar and bass, through a Line 6 PODxt Live. Acoustic is a Martin, usually through a mic, direct to software, or sometimes through the PODxt. No external preamps (except for the ones built-in to my recording hardware for mics), basically all guitar straight to digital.
I don’t even own an amp or preamp anymore, except for a Pignose.
Many of my songs that are just acoustic and voice are recorded in one take, and don’t have any click track. For stuff that has drums and multiple instruments, like Christine, Christine, Christine and Just Getting Started I overdub the vocals.
I use Logic Studio primarily for software, plus Line 6’s Gearbox plugin for post-recording effects (which uses the PODxt hardware).
Pudge, I followed the link but under “notes” I didn’t find a link to equipment, just a “Last modified..” note. Did I miss something?
A lot of people trash the Pod (computer modelling of a variety of amps, speakers and effects for anybody following this) but I find it to be a very useful tool. I record direct for clean guitar. I do, however, agree with others that for leads and crunch, the pods don’t sit well in the mix. It’s hard to get the leads out front. For leads I run the Pod through a 10″ powered monitor that I close mic with a SM 57 and mic the room with a NTK LDC tube mic, both run through a RNC/RNP compressor and pre. It sits just fine that way.
I got into low-wattage tube amps a couple years ago looking for recording options. I presently have a Songworks 1/4W and the Epi Valve Jr. 5W. Both have their virtues. The Epi loves pedals, the Songworks not so much.
Let me know about that link. I’d like to check it out. I’m at a dial-up today so I can’t really check out your tunes further.
Try clicking “Notes”. I wondered if people might miss clicking on that. But here’s a direct link.
The POD is great. People who trash it are stupid. :-) I think it even sounds great for leads and crunch, you just need to play with it a bit. Since I don’t play harder music anymore, though, it’s not something I would run into. Also, I never had the original POD or POD 2.0, but everyone I know says the PODxt is better. YMMV.
I have been able to get some utterly fantastic tone out of the POD + Variax. “Wasting Time” is a Marshall with a Les Paul. “Just Getting Started” has a great 12-string Rickenbacker sound. I also use it for the bass stuff, and that’s harder to hear, but I am quite pleased with the bass sounds in “Just Getting Started” and “Christine.”
I have the 2.0. I also have the bass Pod. I actually get as much use out of the bass Pod for recording as I do the 2.0. I’ve heard great things about the Variax although I’ve never tried one myself. I’ve considered it as I record some classical guitar and I’ve had issues getting the tone I’ve sought. You mention the Rick 12-string (is there any better electric 12-string sound?)and my interest in Variax goes up a couple degrees. I often go for ease in recording. For instance, while I have a B3 and Leslie 122R, I usually bail out of micing the Leslie (3 mics and tracks)and simply use my Yamaha Motif B3 sounds for recording. Speaking of the Motif, I picked up the PLG-150 module for cpu modeled horns and strings – talk about a great recording tool!
Thanks for posting the direct link. I’ll check it out and get back to you.
BTW, I have the PODxt with bass expansion pack, so it is basically a PODxt and Bass PODxt in one.
The Variax electric does NOT have a good classical guitar sound, though the Variax acoustic does, and the Variax bass has a good upright and acoustic bass guitar sound (I use the upright on “Lines and Squares”).
And yeah, that is why I use the Variax: ease. Extreme ease. I have a Washburn I use if I need a tremolo bar or don’t have power for the Variax, and I have an Epiphone “strat” I completely rebuilt that I use occasionally too.
But mostly the Variax. I can even plug straight into the PODxt Live digitally, and I get complete digital signal straight from guitar to PODxt to computer, and the PODxt program changes can also save programs for the Variax (remembering settings and tone controls etc.).
Now, this is a terrible performance, but look what can be done with a PODxt, Variax, and looper pedal. I start out with a bass line (using Variax Workbench software, I detuned a Gibson Firebird an octave), then hit the looper pedal and PODxt pedals to switch to another guitar sound for arpeggios, then to an acoustic sound, and then to a lead sound for the slide, building as I go.
Again, it sounds bad, but I didn’t want to spend much time on it, just did it as a proof-of-concept, and by request.
It’s interesting to me that you can get a decent bass sound from a detuned guitar run through the PODxt I used to play bass in bands back in the day. I’ve retired the old Gibson EB-0 and use an acoustic-electric and a miced upright these days. The variax acoustic really sounds interesting. Have you tried one of those?
I actually listened to your music a few months ago but the cpu speakers sucked. When I get to a high-speed connection I’ll be sure to take a good listen to what you’ve done. I’m thinking that I might even order one of your CD’s so I can listen in a way that does your music justice. In my opinion, MP3’s don’t do that.
I admire you for what you do with your music and especially for putting it out there for people to enjoy. Most people might not understand this, but you’ve really accomplished something. I hope to do the same soon. I have a dozen songs in the works but none are finished. I really am apologetic about my earlier comments.
Have you considered having your disc mastered? It’s not terribly expensive.
Here, check out this Chet Atkins video of him performing “Vincent”. It’s the most recent song I’ve learned on guitar. Check out the use of harmonics. Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsePsTEgiqU
I hope to start recording a cover (a cover of a cover!) of this soon. Only I’m thinking of throwing in a little upright bass and B3.
Note that a detuned Variax is not like a detuned regular guitar. It’s done in software. It basically pitch-shifts it up or down up to one full octave. This is how the 12-string Rick is accomplished: it doubles and shifts the appropriate strings.
I’ve played with a Variax acoustic, but don’t have one. I noticed James Taylor played one for the Star-Spangled Banner at an NBA Finals game in Boston this year (he’s a big Boston fan … and have you noticed that James Taylor is one of the only people that doesn’t do his Star-Spangled Banners a capella?).
MP3s vary in quality. The digital downloads from Amazon.com (VBR MP3s) and iTunes (256 kbps AAC) are better than the MP3s I put up.
I don’t care too much about mastering, if you mean the physical mastering. The duplication services are pretty good these days.
Yeah, Chet’s pretty amazing. I use harmonics sparingly. My fingers are too clumsy to be reliable. My personal guitar hero is Phil Keaggy, though I rarely try to perform anything he plays.
@83-91
Off topic.
I mean like sending your disc to a mastering engineer. They put the finishing touch on the mix, which you are likely doing yourself. The mix is the first step towards the finished product. Mastering engineers have specialized gear, compressors, limiters, for what they do. Good mastering engineers have an ear for this part of production that most people lack, “the Golden Ear”. All pro-audio gets mastered and, with the growth of home studio capabilities, so does a lot of amatuer stuff. Here’s a link to a mastering forum on Gearslutz:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/mastering-forum/
There’s also software available for folks like us that emulates the gear used by mastering engineers. T-Racks comes with pre-sets – pick the type of music and it gives you settings to start with that you can modify as you go.
http://www.t-racks.com/Main.html?prod_TR_24
It took me an hour or two of practice a day for about six weeks before I could pull that song off, beginning to end. And I also had to simplify a couple of parts a little bit at that. I do manage to pull off the harmonics but that took a long, long time. He uses a drop D tuning – the first time I ever tried an alternate tuning.
Yes, I wasn’t sure if that was what you were referring to.
And no, I am not going to do that any time soon. It’s not worth it to me. I have all the tools I need, FWIW: Logic Studio is fully packed. I just don’t have the skill to make it great. But I do a decent enough job, I think, most of the time.