Tommy Stinson's Latest and Jenna Jameson For President

"It's as political as I'm gonna get," Tommy Stinson tells me. It's as political as you need to be I say. Stinson's gripping opening track, a little beautiful ditty called "Without a View" from his brand spankin' new and damn fine solo outing (the rather unfortunately titled Village Gorilla Head…or is that effectively titled?), is in fact the most effective rock as politics I've heard in a long, long time (think Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding"). Especially when heard in the dreadful vacuum that is election 2004. With so many celeb goofs walking around calling this one (Election 2004) the "most important election in a generation" you'd figure we THE PEOPLE would have a better selection to choose from. Yet, here we are with Dufus and Dumbshit; Bozo and Bonzo Redux. Christamighty, if THIS is how we go about CHANGE and HISTORY and ANY OTHER HYPERBOLE of the ABSURD in this cracked-but-beautiful country of ours - if these two jabbering sitting-on-their-mountains of money nitwits (the wisest of men may have once said "I'm the king of my own pile of shit" - rest assured he'd never imagined the sort of donkey and jackass show we're now witnessing) are the best we have to bring forth for "the most important election in a generation", well then WE ARE FUCKED beyond belief.

Or are we? Of course we aren't. Why? Because these clowns really DON'T MATTER. They really don't. Ah ah ah…now, now there my politically minded friends, I don't want to hear your jibberish. I've been told that the END was near since I was 7 years old and the Devil himself, Richard Nixon, won a seat in Uncle Bills Blow Job Palace. They were ALL in, one way or another, going to destroy this grand old flag of ours…people said so, and don't go trying to deny it.

Ronnie Raygun was a bomb wielding maniac; Jimmy Carter a pacifistic goat who'd roll over and do tricks for any 3rd world nation that held a biscuit to his schnozz; Daddy George was a CIA operative on the make who finally got the BIG assignment to DESTROY all MEN and then lost the Holy Grail Gig to some smooth talking pimp daddy from Arkansas; George W. is a vengeful bullying twit who couldn't spell USA if you spotted him the U and the A; and Gerald Ford was an utter oaf who couldn't believe he got to sit in a leather swivel chair for a couple of years (okay…that one WAS dead on).

In the end, to be honest, my life hasn't changed a bit really. None. Nil. I still drink my booze; still listen to rock and roll; still gamble my money away; still have illicit and perverse sex; still buy Jenna Jameson DVD's; still piss and shit and wipe my nose on my sleeve. Still…still…still…

So what's this got to do with Tommy Stinson? What is this song of which you speak oh smart-assed know-it-all wise one?

Glad you asked.

"Without a View" - Tommy Stinson (from the LP Village Gorilla Head)

"Lookin for a little peace / maybe some days you don't need to hear the truth / there's a place for every war and every other tear / a place for everyone and everyone's fears / do you trust yourself at night / do you trust yourself at all"

It's only the first line, but it sets the stage right off. There's a question in there…a vital question…a question that everyone should answer…to themselves…for themselves…honestly. Have you done it yet? I recommend you listen to the song a dozen times before you do…especially the pleading vocals that Stinson uses to close the track out. Then come back to this query…and think about it.

"take another look outside / do you see it raining / or maybe even worse"

Reassessing a point of view, Mr. Stinson wonders aloud and rhetorically just what that view is…and does it really have a point? Hmmm…

"not in my house / not in my room / not in my home / my home without a view"

Apathetic? Hardly. I'd suggest quite the opposite. Stinson knows that his world depends on something deeper…something more personal…something spiritual (not religious, spiritual…there is a difference, but I'm not so sure the deeply religious believe that anymore).

"got to take a walk outside / got to hear the traffic / a need a little noise / a murder on the bus / a dealer and his shame / a baby that just wants a different name"

Ahh, as good as his old sidekick Paul Westerberg at his finest, and twice as good as anything The Paul has done since he could operate at his finest (in my estimates about, oh, say 18 years ago). In fact, Stinson sounds much like Westerberg on this track -right on down to tone and phrasing. Where he deviates from Westy is in the rockroll relevance of this music; Village Gorilla Head is, bar none, the finest post-Replacements work by ANY post Replacement since post-Replacements became a line of demarcation ("Without a View" is where we are currently focused but this record is out-fucking-standing I tell ya).

"do you ever think twice / do you ever think at all"

Well, well, well…he's getting to the point now, isn't he? Well…do ya?

"everybody's talking loud and all at once / with a poison in their tongues / there's got to be a better view"

Yes…right to the point. A shot through the heart/psyche/conscience. Then his voice soars…

"there's got to be a better view….there's got to be a better view…there's got to be a better view…"

And the congregation of the tired, the poor, the weak and meek, the thoughtless and the thoughtful, all come together in chorus - "Amen! Amen! Amen!"

It is a beautiful and ghostly song (one of three on the record - dig the 3rd/Sister Lovers Chilton-esque "Light of Day" and "Hey You") that drifts along an acoustic strum and a looping footstep drum beat. Stinson's vocals are measured; pointed; assured; mature. He is serious about the subject matter as well we all should be. There's got to be a better view: a question? An answer? A plea? Expectation? Hope? All of the above?

I'm tired. Very, very tired. I used to think I liked politics. I used to think they mattered in some small way. Maybe they did once, but I am sure they don't anymore. They've become marginalized. They are snippets and sound bites and my Dad can kick your Dad's ass arguments. They're all about haircuts and white teeth and fancy suits and phony rhetoric. They're nothing more than People Magazine masochism brought to you - the great people of this Great Nation - by the dolts with the dollars.

Do yourself a favor for the night…hug your wife, kiss your kids, play with them, say hi to your neighbor, have a beer with a friend, listen to some good tunes (let me recommend Centro-Matic's Love You Just the Same, The Libertines latest, We Shall All Be Healed by the Mountain Goats, Tim Lee's No Discretion, John Wesley Harding's "Nothing At All", and Steve Earle's thoughtful stab at trying to be half as effective as Stinson's "Without a View" is without even trying - the affable The Revolution Starts…Now), sit on a summer's end porch and drink in the night air and wave at everyone who goes by…because THESE are the things that REALLY matter. These are the little things that make a life complete. These are the things Tommy Stinson is singing about.

By no means am I telling you not to have a view…and by ALL means I say VOTE (for what…you decide). But in the midst of an election that has so little to do with WHO YOU ARE, take a step back and love the world you live in…right there…wherever you are. Stop talking about this election in such extreme terms. It isn't THE MOST important ANYTHING of this generation…it's an election. There are so many more glorious places to put your heart - today, tomorrow, and forever.

There's got to be a better view! And HOW! But you've got to be a part of that to believe in it.

All of this from a kid who started playing bass in a punk/rock band when he was thirteen years old!

Long live rock and roll…the view from where I stand just got a whole HELLUVA lot better!

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