While I am tempted, of course, to open things loudly by proudly trumpeting the historic establishment of marriage equality across the nation, I’d like to set a more somber tone by asking you to take a moment to, after your jubilation, remember that these changes have been a long time coming.
Real “Christians” aren’t supposed to be about hate. Who among us can see through the social programming in a compiled book that was written by humans, instead remembering to love each other? We must. Love wins. That’s the important part, not the adulterer-stoning, goat-killing, war-mongering Old Testament bullshit, but the compassion of Christ. I don’t care if Jesus or the Bible is literal or not. I have faith in the only part that I can prove means anything — the literal call to love thy neighbor. If there is a judging God, I don’t think I’ll be in trouble for that. The only thing transcendent that is not mired in blood or opportunism in any religion is love and looking within. Almost all else is utter dogshit that does us no good at all.
My family has ministers going back to the 16th century but we are all cut from different cloths and have many open-minded and many LGBTQ people in our ranks. We must all be resurrected as a species, use science as a gift and learn from mistakes to seize a peaceful life for the world, heal psychic cultural wounds, end economic injustice and keep an eye on each other. Let’s build the crystal Dragonlance city/Elven towers of Qualinesti or cool flying cars from the Jetsons I’ve been waiting years for (such a bad idea ’cause no one can drive on land, let alone air). Let’s stop the real enemies — Skynet!
Funniest quote of the weekend on the local Pride front goes to drag sensation Isis Vermouth, who wrote late Sunday (June 28) night on Facebook, “Don’t call into work tomorrow or else they’ll all know you’re gay!!!”
Doomstar rises July 10
Now to some doom/anger! Woo-hoo! The Paul Green Rock Academy will present The Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem featuring Brendon Small, creator of the hit Metalocalypse TV show and Scott Ian of mighty Anthrax at BSP this Friday, July 10. Select Anthrax numbers will be performed with The Paul Green Rock Academy Showband too. Doors open at 7 p.m., show’s at 8. Tickets are $15 advance or $20 at the door.
I can’t recommend this enough, as Scott in small club-show mode is always a real treat. I remember when he came with his wife’s band Pearl to The Basement years ago. Dude was a class act and took an hour extra out of his time so my pal Carl from Painmask could run home and grab his son so the longtime Anthrax fan could get to meet one of his guitar heroes. Dude is on VH-1 all the time and tours the world playing “Caught in a Mosh.” He didn’t have to take the time to do that. Guess there’s some love in metal after all, right? Actually, I know there is. Metalheads were just statistically polled to be more devoted partners and less likely to cheat than fans of other genres.
Even Mondays aren’t safe
I used to turn this column in on Thursdays as I like to be well ahead of deadlines. Nowadays I usually push it to Sunday or early Monday morning out of a desire to catch as much weekend action or be as up to the minute as I can. The downside is I am often bleary-eyed and typing on Monday after being up late on a Sunday night when normal humans are in bed. The Anchor was awesome Sunday night with a high-energy performance from country punk agitators Red Neckromancer opening for the still-Confederate flag reppin’ (yikes, guys) Bob Wayne and his band of merry men from Nashville. It was good to see fellow Kingston Times scribe Jesse Smith there and here’s a happy birthday shout-out to him!
Even Mondays aren’t safe in these parts anymore for music fans who want sleep. Last week saw BSP have a packed, sold out at nearly 200 Monday night show as Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins led the crowd in an acoustic/emo-tastic night of singing and smiles. My favorite was his cover of Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” but the whole show was a delightful example of people loving wordplay and the joy of a good melody. Frank McGinnis opened and was clearly having a blast with a heartfelt set of originals that held up quite solidly in tandem with Adkins’ hit-filled songbook of underground anthems.
Rasputina: Hard to kill
Not everyone knows that among the musical geniuses in our Hudson Valley midst is Melora Creager of Rasputina. Creager crafts daring compositions featuring historical characters springing to life or her own narratives of personal growth. Her voice, dramatic costumery and integrity have won her many fans over the years and she even toured Europe with Nirvana on their final Euro tour. The heavy cello-based long-running theatrical Rasputina project from the former Parsons School of Design student is a cult favorite. The sound and visual concepts that began in Creager’s Rasputina manifestos presaged and influenced movements and trends such as Steampunk, freak folk, corsetry and crafting.
“I love it so much here. It drew me up like it does so many,” Creager says of our area. “It looks like a painting here. I’m really involved in the music scene with Club Helsinki in Hudson and there are many supportive musician friends. It’s a great community for the arts. A lot of the energy and people … not all of them … but most of them are totally satisfying.”
Rasputina’s new album Unknown is out now, available on the web via meloracreager.space.
As we wrap up celebrating the Fourth of July, let’s continue to raise our voices not in blind Nationalism but in camaraderie. Obama had a good week last week but all the credit doesn’t go to him, though he has been mostly really awesome lately despite some highly regrettable shady trade-deal stuff. The progressive or liberal candidates, even the late-to-the-LGBTQ-equality-party Hillary Clinton, are miles better than all the Republiquacks we have running right now. They all have less to do with being fiscally “Conservative” than supporting corporate greed, big pharma, archaic religious constraints, environmental destruction and war with Russia and Iran. Mike Huckabee says he has no intention of raising his “white flag of surrender” in regards to marriage equality but meanwhile we’ll be tearing down Confederate flags and raising up rainbows. Millennials are replacing the crusty old guard and the old white dudes are freaking out. Guess what? In the words of my favorite band of mostly Catholics who sing about Satan all day, a.k.a. mighty Slayer, “payback’s a bitch, motherf–ker!”
Now let’s get back to other vital questions of the day: How to reverse economic injustice, why is there no T-1000 Robert Patrick cameo in the new Terminator, how come they are making a Top Gun sequel and why aren’t more people protesting Ben Affleck as a bad Batman choice? Oh, and legalizing marijuana already. Until we meet again, God bless us, every one!
Join the family! 
