This Boston Globe article takes a look at President Obama's defense of the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as a criminal in federal court. Here's the money quote:

Obama said that critics won't find the decision "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."

If you believe that KSM and his cohorts should be treated like terrorists who committed acts of war - and here's an excellent Wall Street Journal article on that subject by UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo - the concept of treating them as criminal defendants is appalling. But if we're going to classify them as criminal defendants, aren't they entitled at the very least to a presumption of innocence and a fair trial? If the President has already determined the verdict and the sentence, what is the point of holding a trial?

The President apparently believes that objections to criminal trials for terrorists can be chalked up to simple bloodlust; he evidently either doesn't realize or can't believe that there are serious, legitimate concerns about the intelligence and security implications of this decision.

We've already seen what this approach to terrorism in the Clinton years got us. Has Obama really managed to miss the lessons of the 9/11 attacks?

Posted by: benweasel at 09:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 226 words, total size 2 kb.

Screeching Weasel plays Reggies in Chicago on Friday, February 26th with Lemuria and The Seething Coast. Tickets on sale tomorrow at noon central HERE. This is a 17+ show. See ya there!

Posted by: benweasel at 04:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

The Riverdales are playing Reggie's in Chicago on January 23rd. This one is 17+. Tickets available HERE. A couple of notes:

1. Vapid's back on bass. Sleepy Lamb, who played bass for our last show, is on second guitar. He is also now part of the band and will be playing second guitar on our new album.

2. Speaking of our new album, we're doing our final demos next week and recording the album in December for Recess Records. We'll be heading down the home stretch on the mix by the time of the 1/23 show so we'll probably play a couple of the new tunes.

3. Justin Perkins will be taking a break to come down to Chicago to record the show for a live album. Make your voice heard! Be part of history! Etc.!

4. Supporting are Tenement and the Sugar Stems, two of my favorite Wisconsin bands.

Hope to see ya there.

Posted by: benweasel at 03:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

Tickets still available for Screeching Weasel at New City Compound in Edmonton on December 11th. Click HERE to buy. Old Wives & Spinoffs support.

Tickets for the Riverdales at Reggie's in Chicago on January 23rd went on sale today. Click HERE to buy. Tenement and Sugar Stems support.

Posted by: benweasel at 04:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 58 words, total size 1 kb.

Three bands that have been getting a ton of play lately here at Weasel Manor:

Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy and Common Rider has a band called Classics Of Love that just released a killer 6 song EP on Asian Man Records. Jesse hasn't lost a step - this EP is fantastic. Listen HERE and buy the EP HERE

Chris Barrows of the Pink Lincolns is fronting a ferocious new punk band called the Spears these days. Chris is great as always and the songs are a little more complex musically than I was expecting which was a nice surprise. Kick ass guitarist too. This is terrific stuff. Listen HERE, buy HERE

And finally, out of Ottawa come the Visitors reminding me how good Ramones-based pop punk can be when done right. This stuff is sheer idiot savant bliss. Listen HERE, buy HERE and HERE

Posted by: benweasel at 02:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

Sorry about this gang - Riot Fest Chicago is still happening but Riot Fest L.A. has been postponed. I just got this from Riot Mike:

Riot Fest West Postponed until Spring 2010

Firstly, I want to apologize to the people who were excited for Riot Fest to come to Los Angeles - it was always a dream of mine that one day Riot Fest would be able to take place in another part of the U.S. But, sometimes those types of dreams need to be put on hold.

A few weeks ago, I found out that my health was failing, and I was advised by doctors to take a few months off for treatment. It was somber news to say the least, but my immediate reaction was how this would inherently affect Riot Fest. After speaking with family and close friends about the situation and mulling it over for a few days, I decided that if I couldn't give it my all because of health related issues, then, I should postpone Riot Fest West until I'm cleared by doctors, which should hopefully be in Spring 2010.

With all of that said, there is no way in hell I would let Riot Fest Chicago not happen. For people who are attending the Chicago fest - don't fret, it is all systems go.

Even with all of this stuff happening with me right now, the amount of good wishes I've already received from bands, agents, managers and fellow promoters makes me feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world -- and so goddamn thankful that DOA made its way to my walkman in 5th grade . This is by far the best music scene, and it was completely evidenced by talking with the bands, agents and so forth in the past 7 days

For all of you who have already purchased tickets for Riot Fest West, a refund was issued this morning, and once again I deeply apologize - this was the one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make... but, mark my words, we'll see you in 2010.

Your chum,
Riot Mike

Posted by: benweasel at 08:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 363 words, total size 2 kb.

Screeching Weasel is playing Riot Fest L.A. on November 14th at the Palladium.

TICKETS:
Available Saturday, August 22nd at 12:00 PM PDT
BUY TICKETS HERE

Posted by: benweasel at 01:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

The neat thing about my phone is that there's a timer on it showing me how long I've been on. Currently I've been on hold for 19 minutes after a customer service rep left me hanging to go look into why the online system won't allow me to file a claim for the box of merchandise UPS lost. That's in addition to the ten minutes I spent on hold the first time I called when I didn't even get as far as an actual human.

The value of the merch is just under $200. I need that money back. UPS seems determined to make me jump through so many hoops while they put so many obstacles in my way that I eventually decide that my time is more valuable than the merch and give up. Which I'm sure I'll eventually do. At which point I'll write and YouTube a song about the whole experience.

Lemons out of lemonade.

23 and a half minutes and counting...

Posted by: benweasel at 03:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

Invasion USA is getting a warm reception for which I'm very grateful, but the Holy Grail of skyward thumb is the coveted positive review from N.B.T.'s Lindsay Hutton. Good morning indeed!

Posted by: benweasel at 08:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

I did some press HERE and HERE and with Jim Testa of Jersey Beat HERE (there's Screeching Weasel talk in the last one too).

Also, one last reminder that the Riverdales release show for Invasion USA is this Saturday at the Majestic in Madison - you can buy tickets HERE. Hope to see ya there!

Posted by: benweasel at 08:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

Riverdales - Invasion USA 14 song LP out today!

Buy the CD

Buy the MP3 album

Buy the blue vinyl

Buy the red vinyl

Buy the clear vinyl

And while you're at it you might pick up my live album, The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Posted by: benweasel at 06:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Second Floor East has just got the Invasion USA skateboards in. Limited to 51. I'm not a skater but this board looks pretty bad ass! $55 PPD. Check 'em out HERE

Check out the Second Floor East MySpace page HERE

Posted by: benweasel at 09:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

It's three years to the day since my last cigarette. I've quit before - once for almost a year - but I never thought it would stick. I'll breathe a little easier at the five year mark but these days I only want a cigarette about 3-4 times a week which isn't really all that bad in my book. I don't like thinking about all the money I wasted on nicotine patches only to discover the only way that worked for me was cold turkey but ho hum. Three years. I'm going to go pat myself on the back.

Posted by: benweasel at 07:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 103 words, total size 1 kb.

Check out The HellZippies, comrade!

There's a NSFW photo on the player so if that's a problem in your cubicle you really ought to find some other way to listen to "Hawaiian Girl" by The Marxmallows from Paris. What a great tune! See, France is good for something after all!

House Boat is the unfortunately named band formed by Grath Madden and Ace from the Steinways after that band imploded. If the last Steinways record left you a little cold, check these songs out, especially "My Life Hurts."

Posted by: benweasel at 07:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 106 words, total size 1 kb.

Single day tickets for Screeching Weasel, Sunday, October 11th at the Congress Theater in Chicago are available HERE for $25. The show is part of the 5-day Riot Fest. Also on the bill are the Alkaline Trio, Pegboy and the Arrivals - I'm really looking forward to sharing a bill with all those bands. Plenty more bands to be announced.

Also, tickets are still available for the Riverdales record release show in here in beautiful Madison Wisconsin on Saturday, July 25th with the Jetty Boys and Shot Baker. Invasion USA is out on Asian Man Records on July 14th and we'll be playing plenty of new songs plus all the old favorites. This is the last Riverdales show of the year. You can buy tickets HERE

Posted by: benweasel at 08:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 142 words, total size 1 kb.

THE RIVERDALES "INVASION USA" PRE-ORDER DEAL

Asian Man Records is offering a killer deal that includes all three vinyl LP colors (red, white, and blue), a digipak CD copy of the album, an Invasion U.S.A. t-shirt, three buttons (red, white, and blue), and a beer koozie (or juice-in-a-can koozie), all for $38.00. You can order HERE

Orders will be taken through next Saturday, JULY 4th. All orders will ship JULY 6th. The street date for the record is JULY 14th.

Posted by: benweasel at 11:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

Out now: Ben Weasel - The Brain That Wouldn't Die LP/CD. This is Ben Weasel and Danny Vapid backed by Ben's band playing the My Brain Hurts album (with a couple of substitutions) live at Reggie's in Chicago last summer.

Interpunk is offering and LP bundle pack (red vinyl, yellow vinyl and a t-shirt) HERE

They're selling the CD HERE

Posted by: benweasel at 10:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

I just read Greg Kot's new book, Ripped, in one sitting. Kot's covered my music a lot over the years and I've found him to be an intelligent, thoughtful guy. Most rock critics are imbeciles; Greg's actually good at his job. But while the book is good for what it is - a brief history of the ongoing digital revolution - I couldn't help walking away disappointed that yet another writer has covered the advent of digital music and illegal downloading without once even broaching the subject of how music is going to be recorded when artists have no money to pay for recordings because people aren't paying for music. It's an issue near and dear to my heart, as you might imagine, and to most of my peers as well. Kot dutifully recaps the stories of the early winners of the digital revolution (Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, et al) but doesn't mention that they're the exception to the rule. Most of us - especially us little guys - have been squashed like bugs by illegal downloading. We little guys don't hate our record labels. We get paid good royalty rates and have signed fair deals with them. We don't subscribe to the notion that record labels are uniformly bad. And most importantly, for us they're still necessary.

The music industry is still evolving (or mutating, if you prefer) but one thing that isn't changing - and that never will change - is that the little guy (those of us who have nothing to do with, and are of no interest whatsoever to the RIAA) is still getting the short end of the stick. I haven't the slightest idea what to do about the latest wrinkle in the 101 Ways To Fuck Over Musicians saga. I imagine when the dust settles the people who have always made a killing in the industry will still be making a killing, and the only thing I know for sure is that if the industry changes to an ad revenue-based system, like Hulu, when the money's all been counted and plays have been prorated and so forth, chumps like me will be standing in line at the bank holding our $34.52 checks from whoever's running the show and that's just the way it's going to be.

So the world will always have its Billy Joel's, along with its hot shot Internet sensations of the moment. But what I want to know, again, is who's going to be paying for the recording of all this free music dreamed up by small-timers (which description, if you're not aware, covers most of us)? And if the answer is "nobody," that means that music made by people who are even a little bit outside the mainstream, off the beaten path, or just plain fucking weird, is going to disappear (save, of course, for those with disposable cash - the hobbyists and the rich kids - but those people tend to make music that people can't even be bothered to download for free). Long term, this isn't going to work out well for music fans. I'm not scolding. I'm not trying to stuff the genie back in the bottle. I just want the emperor's distinct lack of clothing noted: the alleged death of the music industry is in actuality the death of interesting music.

I said the same thing six years ago when I first wrote about this stuff. And what's happened since? Music has become more boring than ever, that's what. Even punk rock has become more mind-numbingly mediocre than I ever remember it being before, and I came of age when bands like Youth Of Today and Corrosion of Conformity were hot shit with the dimbulb set. I haven't seen so many bands playing it safe and copying what's popular since the skulls and anarchy-symbol craze of 1984. If I hear another band aping the Dillinger Four and shouting their Cookie Monster vocals at me through their hobo beards I may begin to sob.

At the time I was first bemoaning the effect file sharing was bound to have on the best music, I was informed (rather condescendingly, as I recall) that all those fans who were illegally downloading my music were going to be paying me back in spades via sales of show tickets and merchandise. And while my showing in that department is dandy at the moment, it certainly hasn't picked up any in the ensuing six years. In fact, merchandise sales are almost exactly the same. Granted, these days that's cause to break out the bubbly and perch a lampshade on the old noggin, but I can't help but notice that this whole file sharing thing hasn't quite worked out as advertised - not just for me, but for any other working musicians I know either. Now maybe that's all a big, fat coincidence, but it's kind of hard to escape the conclusion that what this is, was, and always will be about is people getting something for nothing. It's not about crazed rock fandom. It's about as gobbling up as much free stuff as you can with little regard for what it is or might be, and virtually no patience at all when it comes to evaluating the goods because, after all, if it's free, what can it really be worth? And the reason people are doing it isn't because any sort of revolution has occurred; it's not a consequence of us poor artists having been unshackled from the chains of the evil record labels and their PR teams and A&R men and distributors and lawyers and accountants. It's happening because people can steal music easily and without any real risk of getting caught. That's the way the music business is these days and while I'm not happy about it I'm well aware there's no point in fighting it. I refuse to allow people to dress it up as something noble when it's nothing more than simple greed and theft, but don't get the idea that I'm raging against the dying of the light; I assure you that at this stage the cupboard has been rendered so bare that record royalties are more or less a moot point. I'd be happy to give away future albums, settling for crossing my fingers and praying for the odd licensing deal, if only I could figure out how to pay for the damned recordings!

Ho hum. I know all too well that musicians can't discuss the negative side of the digital revolution without being branded as whiners, prima donnas and cranky old Luddites who want everybody to go back to horseless carriages. But hey, Greg Kot? Maybe you could see fit to say a few words about it in your next book, huh?

Posted by: benweasel at 09:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1135 words, total size 6 kb.

We're playing Riot Fest in Chicago this October. We're at the Congress Theater on October 11th. I'll let you know when tickets are on sale. In the meantime check out the Riot Fest site.

UPDATE: 5 day passes are on sale for $99 this Saturday at noon central. Buy them HERE. Single day tickets for the Screeching Weasel show will go on sale at a later date - I don't know when that will be yet. When I know, you will!

Posted by: benweasel at 09:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 91 words, total size 1 kb.

I've posted "Crawling Eye" from the upcoming album Invasion USA on the GPC Guitars MySpace page. GPC is a company I'm involved with that makes signature line guitars, including my own Weaselrite guitar, for which we'll be taking pre-orders very soon. Add us as a friend, keep an eye out for an updates, and enjoy the new tune!

Posted by: benweasel at 06:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.