Shlep D-O Double Gizzle's Web Pizzle

Mildewed and Smoldering

Ok, I lied, I was too tired last night to post, but here we go...

Since there's almost always bad news being reported, I thought I'd bring some sunshine into the pizzle. Each year TIMEAsia does an issue on Asians who have contributed to the world in a positive way. This year they profiled celebrities like Yao Ming and Yoko Ono, but I would like to highlight a few of my favorite and more obscure stories:

Asma Jahangir , a Human Rights Lawyer in Pakistan, has expanded her fight for women's rights in Pakistan to the rest of the world. You go girl.

Gulla Jan Hairran found an amazing and ultimately life-saving way to stand up to Soviet and Taliban rule.

The women of Gujarat who looked beyond religious extremism and reached out to all those affected by hatred and violence.

Anonymous slum dwellers in Cambodia who saw past class differences and resentment to save lives during anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh.

*****

I had the privelege of seeing the White Stripes in concert Tuesday and I have to say I was blown away. The set was non-stop energy. A full-force rock and blues assault made all the more astounding by the fact that it's produced by just two people. The level of Jack's mastery on the guitar was made fully evident ( I officially nominate him for the Guitar God Pantheon) and Meg was as solid as any drummer I've ever heard. I was constantly wondering how such big noise could come from someone so small. Other entertaining sidenotes: Jack getting angry at crowd surfers and threatening to leave, Jack calling Meg his sister twice (I thought it was settled that they were ex husband and wife, what does he mean by sister? Sister as in his companion on their unique musical mission? Sister, in the existential sense that we are all brothers and sisters on this crazy journey called life? who knows...) and the bizarre on-stage antics of the guitarless opening band, Whilrwind Heat.

The music and performance were amazing, almost antagonisitic in tone, it was perfect rock n' roll. All the elements were there for an awesome show, but there was something extra that the White Stripes brought that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then I stumbled upon The Sports Guy's latest column on ESPN.com's Page 2 (for those that have not explored the greatness of Page 2 please do so, RIGHT NOW). In describing the on-court game of Arizona's Luke Walton, The Sports Guy likens his passing skills to the instinctive chemistry between Jack and Meg White. Chemistry! That's it exactly.

The White Stripes fucking rock, but what really sets them apart is the way the play together. Meg tolerantly keeps the rhythm through Jack's many digressions, responding instantly to changes based on a single glance. An entire lifetime of mutual love and hate comes pouring out as they perform, adding an immediate and urgent emotional undertone to the music. As The Sports Guy says, it was indeed magical.

******

I'm going to end on an important, if quite dark, note that left me speechless:

"Two marines cautiously approach the car. It is shot up, its doors wide open, lights still on. Sgt. Charles Graves sees a small girl of about three curled up in the back seat. There's a small amount of blood on the upholstery, but the girl's eyes are open. Graves reaches in to pick her up--thinking about what medical supplies he might need to treat her, he later says--then the top of her head slides off and her brains drop out.

No weapons are found in the car. A translator asks the father, sitting by the side of the road, why he didn't heed the warning shots and stop it. He simply repeats, "I'm sorry," then meekly asks permission to pick up his daughter's body. The last the Marines see of him, he is walking down the road carrying her corpse in his arms."

-------Evan Wright, contributing editor to Rolling Stone, who spent two months in Iraq living with the Marines of the First Reconnaissance Battalion. The three-part article can be found in the June 26, the July 10 and the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, or just follow the links:

Part 1

Part 2

Posted by sheelpi at June 26, 2003 01:01 PM