Bush Needed Bucking Up

Since I buy almost all my text digitally, visiting the Barnes & Noble along Baltimore's inner harbor this evening was a nostalgia trip, like going to a museum. Whoa. A newsstand. Out of sheer guilt I bought a commemorative issue about my favorite band, R.E.M., published by the British music magazine "Uncut," in which I was astonished to read this quote in a May 1988 interview with guitarist and band co-founder Peter Buck:

I recommend anyone reading this who's a psycho and can buy a gun to shoot George Bush. I'm serious. I would consider it myself. I live in a country that I hate! I live in a country where I wanna shoot politicians, where the only way you can make a real dent is not voting, it's murder.

As you might imagine, Buck and vocalist Michael Stipe supported Michael Dukakis that year. A Google search reveals nothing about Buck being questioned by the Secret Service or denounced by talk show hosts. Nor does Dukakis appear to have been forced to return any campaign contributions because of these repugnant comments. Imagine if someone of Buck's stature said this today about the president. Maybe nobody was reading "Uncut."

Good thing I'm learning it after R.E.M.'s breakup. As for the 20 CDs I already own, I don't care what they about it, I'm gonna keep 'em.

"Down By The Water," The Decemberists

From Portland, Oregon, where Kathy and I spent the end of the week, the Decemberists and a song from their album "The King Is Dead." R.E.M.'s Peter Buck plays guitar on the studio version. I don't think guitarist Chris Funk is playing a Rickenbacker, as Buck probably did. But he's definitely got that Buck-Byrds jangle. That's Gillian Welch on backing vocals. This performance is from Conan a couple of months ago.