Jackson Hole Underground

David Sirota will sign his new book, The Uprising, this evening at Valley Books starting at 7. Sirota is a leading voice among upcoming independent American political thinkers.

Sirota has been a critical player in the recent political enlightenment of the West, helping elect Montana governor Brian Schweitzer by educating voters on how the modern pro-corporate, anti-worker GOP undermines the West’s libertarian values.

Since his Schweitzer victory, Sirota has concentrated on a story that corporate-owned media cannot be expected to cover: Normal people have had their fill of robber-baron greed, corrupt politicians and the lazy, overpaid national press that keeps them in power. The Uprising includes the hefty subtitle “An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington.”

Sirota’s weekly column appears Mondays in the Jackson Hole Daily.

Just back from cycling through the Alps, correspondent Favio Snimp went over to Driggs last week for his first taste of the Music on Main free concert series, and promptly had his mind blown. Here’s his account of a two-night bender with the best band to come out of Britain lately.

Photographs by David Swift © 2008. Click to enlarge.

I defer to Jim Stanford’s ample research for specifics about The New Mastersounds, even if he has yet to establish whether or not the band’s name is intended to be ironic.

I’m not sure why they blew me away — why, that’s the very definition of art! — but there I was, dragging myself to the Moose well after bedtime Friday to catch their second local show after NMS had rocked Driggs Thursday night. Because there is plenty of room on the Internets, allow me to dwell on what makes The New Mastersounds one of the best live bands I’ve ever heard.

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(Editor’s note: This post comes from Favio Snimp, just back from motorcycle racing across the Sahara and never afraid to be a contrarian.)

If you’re likeable, recently deceased and have been on TV a lot, you’ll get rave notices. Tim Russert certainly is getting his air time, right up there in Anna Nicole Smith territory. MSNBC seems to have instantly commissioned “Dirge for Tim for Lone Plaintive Horn” and repeats it often.

What, exactly, did Tim Russert offer to our needy nation? All the grim lamenters, on TV and in newspapers, agree. He was “the real deal.” He was “the ultimate dad.” An unending variety of accolades repeat the same sentiment: Russert was a regular guy who loved his family and remained faithful to the Buffalo Bills.

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Controversy erupted at the 33rd World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb late Thursday as event organizers were ambushed by last-minute entries of hybrid snowmobiles.

The four-woman team from California-Amazon Technical School, calling themselves “Team Al Gore Rhythm,” arrived unannounced in a Toyota Prius towing two experimental sleds which they claimed burned an alternative fuel.

Jennifer Flynn, the team captain, said, “We’ve been working on a recyclables-based technology we call pre-apocalyptic craptacular fusion. Using a mixture of sea water, pulverized No. 1 plastic and shredded coated-print stock — we use Victoria’s Secret catalogs because we love the irony — we have created a 55-pound engine that delivers nearly pure energy. The gimbal-mounted flywheel acts as a gyroscopic stabilizer, too.”

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Reactions to Barack Obama’s bright, pitch-perfect speech on Tuesday showed how his candidacy has divided America. It ain’t pretty, but Obama has indeed threshed the noble from the nasty.

Conversationalists vs. Screamers. Obama’s speech was inarguably heartfelt and profound. It opened a door for anyone wishing to explore the many histories of American grievances, if only to see how they overlap. He noted how things have gotten better and that we can make things better still.

On cue, the screamers yelled that it “wasn’t enough” and “it’s too late” and besides, Obama wasn’t serious if didn’t haul out Rev. Wright for a lynching. (Politicized Christians practice forgiveness on a case-by-case basis. Rev. Wright does not qualify; he’s not a white married Southern Republican family values senator caught in diapers with a hooker.)

Rational vs. Emotional. For those of us patiently awaiting a 21st century we can relate to, Obama underscored a crucial point: Old racial wounds are a legitimate source of anger in older people. Knee-jerk racism is expected, and can be forgiven, in older people. Young people aren’t hauling that baggage; now is the time to resume improving who we are as a nation.

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