A few things

Just a few interesting things that I have seen lately.  Completely music related.

First, The Day After the Sabbath, a great blog that makes mixtapes of obscure 70s bands, focusing on psych and hard-rock/proto-metal.  Most of this stuff has long been out of print and was ripped directly from  vinyl, so you probably do not need to feel bad about downloading this stuff.

Here


Next, Cosmic Hearse.  Cosmic Hearse is a blog run by Aesop Dekker, the amazing drummer for Ludicra--Here--the fantastic Bay Area black metal band.  Similar to the Day After the Sabbath, Aesop posts obscure or out of print music.  However, Aesop's music tastes are far more broad than the Day After the Sabbath, which focuses on a specific era.  Cosmic Hearse runs the gauntlet from punk to old country to black metal to death metal demos.  While not everything he posts fit my tastes, I have discovered some fantastic stuff through his blog.

Here


Finally, just want to give a shout out to one of my favorite blogs, Invisible Oranges.  Run by music writer Cosmo Lee, Invisible Oranges is an intelligent and honest look at metal.  Worth checking out.

Here

An Introduction

Hey everyone,


Well, I have finally decided to do it: I have started a blog.  I have been hesitant to start a blog, in large part due to the fact that my wife works for the Department of State, which is can be a bit sensitive when it comes to social media.  That, coupled with the fact that my wife and I are in a relatively small embassy (Brazzaville), has dissuaded me from being vocal about my views and thoughts on international politics, American current events, and foreign service life in general.  However, recently I have felt more and more that I need an outlet and, indeed, a forum to address and, in some cases, redress the things that strike me as important in my daily life.


That said, I have decided to throw caution to the wind and start posting.  And what, pray-tell, will I be posting on?  Really, it will depend on the things that have been playing on my mind.  Likely topics?  News of note, music I dig, my life in Brazzaville, my impressions of the foreign service life, so on and so forth.


If anyone wonders, the title of the blog comes from a quote from John Maynard Keynes.  "A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind."  I have been thinking about Keynes a great deal lately, in large part due to the continuing recession and all the political machinations which have occurred in its wake.  I won't go into whether or not I think a Keynesian remedy is appropriate (maybe in the future), but I really appreciate the quote and feel that it encapsulates some of my own interests.  


Posts to begin soon.