Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

The British website Metro is carrying an interview with Fall frontman (as well as Rock's greatest curmudgeon and certified Manchester's Greatest Citizen) Mark E. Smith. Those of you who have seem interviews with him before will be shocked that his answers consist of complete sentences and are free of misdirected vitriol. I wonder if his doctor has him on new meds?

The interviewer asks him if he keeps up with the newer bands:

The group members are all a good ten years younger than me and they keep me informed on Green Day and all that. That Party Bloc, or Bloc Party - whatever they're called - they're not bad.

Wow, Mark, keeping up with Green Day...way to stay hip. I wonder when they will tell him about Oasis or Veruca Salt.

Here was another bit I enjoyed. Bear in mind...he missed a gig here in Tucson because he decided to go on a bender in Houston:

You've got a reputation for being a boozer and quite confrontational. Is that fair?
No. They can't pin much on The Fall. I'm not a heavy drinker but I'm not a secret drinker.

Sheesh. I noticed he didn't address the confrontational thing, probably because that would have led to a confrontation.


Okay, I don't mean to kick people when they are down. But, damn, we just aren't the sort of people we used to be in this country.

Take, for example, the goings on at the Boy Scout Jamboree being held in Virginia. There was a time when a Boy Scout was seen as the guy that would know all of the basics of how to stay safe in the outdoors. Not that things don't happen, but you expect really basic mistakes not to be made. Heck, if you were stuck in the woods, the young scout would have field dressed some squirrels, cooked them up for you, then built you a lean to out of moss and branches before the sun even set.

First thing that happened was four scout leaders (not novices, right?) were electrocuted while putting up a tent. Apparently, they let an aluminum pole get too close to a power line. Heck, I know this is bad from the PSAs that the power company runs.

Then, they had a memorial service for the leaders, complete with President Bush. Three hundred people collapsed due to the heat. I've survived a place a heck of a lot hotter than Virginia through 35 Summers (hey, that's a great name for a band, I'll call Chris Holliman), and I have never had this trouble. But the scouts, who are supposed to be so prepared, apparently didn't realize that when it gets hot, you have to keep hydrated. I know that, and I don't have the fancy badges or the cute blue shorts.

With this sort of thing happening these days, it's no wonder why the Chinese are kicking our ass.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.