IT'S A NEW DAY

Images from The New York

Times. What else can you say about it that hasn't been said? It's the end of a long, painful, dark and embarassing chapter in American history. I'm sure Barack will make mistakes and make unpopular decisions. People are looking to him almost as a messiah it seems, and that's a lot to live up to, even for someone who was just elected to the most powerful position in the world. Today wasn't quite as incredible and euphoric as Election Day, but still pretty great. At my office, a bunch of us gathered together to watch the inauguration ceremony in the lobby of our office. A well known conservative walked through the crowd and looked like Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons (voiced by another well-known conservative, Kelsey Grammer) with a look like, "We'll be back! We'll get you next time!"

Whatever: I've never been so proud to be an American as I have in the past few months. Despite all of the dangers in our future (America's and the world's), with Barack Obama in The White House, I feel quite optimistic.

WELCOME HOME, BOOTS!

In 2008, a lot of people prayed that Barack Obama would be elected President of the United States.  With a lot of hard work from a true grass-roots organization, an incredibly well-run campaign, an incredibly inspiring leader (and, lets face it, a terrible campaign run by the opponent who couldn't escape the failures of the current-president) Barack will be inaugurated later this month, and the entire world will be a better place for it. 

Which is an odd beginning for a post about my friend's cat who ran away last year. 

My dear friend Erin loves her cat Boots, who ran away last year. Basically, Boots was sitting in the window of Erin's apartment (the bottom floor of a house, and someone walking by opened the window and Boots got away. Poor Erin was shattered by this, but she never gave up on her cat. She even caught glimpses of him, but was never able to catch him. Then, one night, she found him in her humane trap that she'd left outside her house. I remember her calling rather late at night to tell us the good news.  I woke my wife with the phone, and I told her it was Erin ... what a great moment. 

It doesn't change the world, but it makes Erin's world a lot nicer, and Erin deserves that. I guess if could have only wished for two things to happen in 2008, it would have been for Barack to be elected President, and for Erin to get Boots back.  It was an awful year for many, but at least some good came out of it. 

YES WE REALLY CAN!

I've never been so proud to be an American as I am right now. I will never forget this night, how it feels, where I was when I found out that Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States of America. 

Because of some things going on at my office, I've been working long hours. Tonight, I went out to get some pizza and popped into Times Square, there was such a sense of excitement. CNN was broadcasting live from the middle of Times Square, ABC was broadcasting live from their studio, Comedy Central had their bi-partisan John Stewart/Stephen Colbert show on MTV's giant Times Square screen. The Square was packed, and there was such a great energy. 

I left the office at 10:20 or so. Usually I avoid Times Square like the plague, but tonight, I went right for the crowd. I wanted to be among everyone, all people who wanted the same thing. Change, and an end to our long national nightmare and embarrassment.  Of course, as Barack himself would say, he's not Superman, things won't improve the day he takes office, or even in the first hundred days. He's not a guarantee of change, but he does represent an opportunity to change. 

I couldn't believe I didn't have a radio with me in the bus.  When I left Times Square, the numbers were looking good, but in the bus I was wondering what was going on. Until everyone's cellphone went off at the same time. I wanted to scream, but I didn't want to be rude to anyone who may not have been happy with those result. 

I'm so happy to have seen this historic moment. And I think better days are to come for America, even for those (and sometimes, especially for those) who didn't vote for him. Thank you Barack Obama, for your incredible strength and your remarkable campaign. Tonight's speech hit all the right notes. Not to beat on the Cheney/Rove/bush pinata too much, put it was totally the anti-bush speech. Also, big props to Hillary Clinton: I don't think Barack could have done it without her. Her graciousness is really pretty amazing. 

Time for bed: but what a great night. 

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM LIZ PHAIR

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I'm a big Liz Phair fan. My friend Larry has suggested that it's because I'm straight and want to sleep with her. I don't doubt that many artists - particularly females - get attention because of their looks, and Liz is definitely a good looking woman. But not even the hottest woman on earth's looks will help the experience of listening to her bad record. You don't hear me rockin The Pussycat Dolls or Danity Kane or whoever.

Anyway, in a recent interview with emusic, Liz talks about her experiences with major labels. After venting a bit here is what she said:

"I mean, God, what happened to leaders? Where did they go? What is with the dysfunction in seats of power? How do they get there? I was talking about this with my mom, and what we came up with is that they're willing to do stuff other people aren't. They are willing to stab in the back, or they don’t have particularly healthy personal lives. So they rise and rise because people who want to protect what they have tend to step out of the way when they see people like this."

This is an interesting comment, not just about record labels, but also corporations, and even (or especially) politics. It probably describes, to certain extents, guys like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. But I hope that Barack Obama is a different kind of guy.