Flotsam

Do you ever get the feeling that our social fabric has not only become tattered but now has more holes than fabric? It seems quaint these days to talk about a social safety net. Recently deceased John Kenneth Galbraith's article at Mother Jones describes incisively the nature of the American government and society under the Bush Administration. Our country has become an economic jungle in which those that hold power are the predators and the rest of us are prey.

And this is a bit weird. The fastest growing name in the baby naming trade is Nevaeh reports the New York Times. The name apparently arose from POD singer Sonny Sandoval, a Christian, who in 2000 appeared on MTV with his daughter Nevaeh and explained to the audience that the name is heaven spelled backwards. You just know there's a boy named Lleh out there somewhere.

There's a nifty service on the Social Security Administration web page that ranks popularity of baby names. The site allows you to look up the popularity of a specific name over a period of time, as well as see the most popular names by groupings by time period. I ddin't realize how popular my name was. When I was born it wasn't even in the top 20 (23rd, actually), but became very popular during the 70s through the 90s, enjoying a 15-year reign at no. 2! Looks like the shine has worn off as Christopher has been hovering around no. 9 for the past several years.

One more item, one of rock's greatest musical geniuses is coming to Seattle and I am finally going to see Mr. Roger Waters in concert. Waters was the driving force behind Pink Floyd until he split with the band after The Wall. As an aside, there are two types of Pink Floyd fans, those that realize Waters was the genius that made Pink Floyd a great band, and the rest of the wankers who are too stupid to understand that basic truth.

He was instrumental in creating the concept album, on Pink Floyd outings like Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Animals. Though The Wall was considered one of the great concept albums of all time, it was as a solo artist that Waters created what is, in my mind, the apogee of concept discs, Amused to Death (itself based on Neil Postman's mordant analysis of why humanity is going to hell in a handbasket. Hint: think idiot box).

Waters' October 23rd show will feature a first half of his solo work and early Pink Floyd. After an intermission Waters and his band will perform the entire Dark Side of the Moon album.