I was wrong, I have 4 readers and one of them is not on MySpace. Sorry, Dave.

The link to the new blog is here. If that doesn't work, copy and paste:

http://www.myspace.com/wharfratmusic

in to your browser's address field.

When I first decided to dabble in blogging, I chose Blogger because it was one of the first widely available services that offered free hosting and content management. This is before I knew anything about html and before Blogger was acquired by Google.

Soon after, I became somewhat enamored with MySpace, mostly because I had so many friends (including ones I hadn't seen in years) on there. Eventually, the errors, slowness, advertisements and acquisition by NewsCorp drove me away. Or, at least drove me to pare down my profile to something just useful enough to comment on my friends MySpace blogs. So I went back to the newly Googled (not evil; how un-NewsCorp) Blogger.

Well, things have changed. For good or ill I have become an amateur musician and one thing that MySpace is good for is networking, especially amongst musicians. I have a job that takes up a lot of my time and the rest is spent practicing or recording. The pain of maintaining more than one blog is just too much at this time.

I thereby regret to annouce that I'm going back to MySpace. The music site blog will be my personal blog as well, from now on. What is here will remain here, unmaintained as an archive, linked to the MySpace blog. I realize that I don't have to do things this way, but when it comes to music, I'm a total whore.

So, to the 3 of you who read this blog, I'd like to say thank you and since you're all MySpace friends, the transition shouldn't be too difficult. :)

Wharf Rat Intro

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I'm really getting sick of projection. If I hear one more person accuse another of the exact same shit they're doing, I'm going to scream.

I'm sick of closeted conservatives who bash homosexuals, sure. Forget Larry Craig, this winner of a trend has been going on since Roy Cohn or J. Edgar Hoover.

I'm sick of fundamentalist religious types accusing atheists, homosexuals, liberals and anyone else they don't agree with of "indoctrinating" our youth or culture, or whatever. Who's got the market cornered on doctrines, is what I want to know?

Most of all, I'm sick of Arab and Muslim bashing. Remember how the segregationists used to try and scare people with the old "the men will come after our women" saw? But you saw Roots, right? Who, exactly, was raping who?

Well, it seems that there's an upward trend in pornographic websites featuring Middle Eastern and Indian sub-continent models (don't ask how I know; I get lonely, OK?). Some women from the Middle East have a very exotic look that is titillating to the Western eye. No wonder their men wish them to be covered up! Wish - I say; no one should have to do anything they don't want to.

I want to tell a little story about a couple of Egyptian guys I know. They co-own a little hotel and restaurant in Harrisburg, where I used to live. Those guys let me slide on the rent when a crackhead took all my money and let everyone who lived there order food in the restaurant, charge it to their room and pay with their rent.

One time, I'm afraid to say, I got blacked out drunk and tried to drive. When they let me out of the drunk tank, the closest place to go for help was the hotel (this was after I had long since moved out, though I patronized them often). Those guys lent me a lot of money to get my car out of impound, with never a thought of what it might benefit them.

You see, those who follow Islam, those who really follow Islam, believe it is not a privilege, a joy or a mitzvah to help their fellow man. It is a duty. When someone needs your help - not even a relative or a neighbor or a friend - Allah commands that you drop what you are doing and help him. And a religion like that can't be all wrong.

Fundamentalists and zealots can take any kind of plan for living in peace, harmony and love and twist it to their own agenda. The wisest thing any Christian (or person of any faith, for that matter) ever told me was, "The devil may quote scripture to serve his own ends". Constant vigilance!

So, I hope one day to return to the 'burg and say hello to two of my favorite Arabs people. Until then, Said and Ali, this one's for you.

Check it out on on my MySpace music page!

Free documentary.

I was just re-reading some of the last few month's posts and it occurred to me that the author/illustrator of the cartoon posted 11/06/07 forgot one subtle but important difference:

Jesus: Jewish
Jeezus: Christian

Really, that says it all, don't you think?

Hmm, better have this one too...

Despite my misgivings about MySpace, it's still one of the best ways to get your music out there.

*sigh*

So be sure to visit myspace.com/wharfratmusic. All the tunes are Public Domain, due to MySpace's terms of service.

N-joy!

I've linked the .mp3s to the top left hand column. Who Will Sing For Me is available for your listening enjoyment. I'm real proud of the backing vocals I did.

Also, check out my new MySpace Music site!