So this is real. I thought it was an April Fools joke. I watched it and proceeded to laugh my butt off.
I'm from Pennsylvania. Here's the deal with Rick Santorum. Anything that ever had to get done, long-time Republican senator Arlen Spector did it. Then we had this ultra right-wing horror show emerge from the wings every few months to say something ignorant. That's what he does. He says ignorant Fox News soundbytes that get people mad, and not much beyond that. This idea of him as a viable presidential candidate was always laughable.
With his campaign winding down, he's not mincing words. Called the president a nigger. I don't keep up with mainstream news and I have no idea if they're reporting on this beyond the blogosphere. I would hope so. I still remember when the 4th Estate decided to ruin Howard Dean's presidential campaign by turning an enthusiastic campaign speech into a running joke. I guess because they were bored. Santorum's earned their ram-rodding far more, in this case.
I laughed, but I am not mad, and certainly not shocked by his moment of candor. A potential president is a racist? You mean like Dubya? You mean like Andrew Jackson? Been there, done that. It takes a certain amount of privilege to be shocked. That a Christian conservative hates black people is far from shocking. Nor is it when a Muslim hates Jews, or a Jew hates gentiles, or an Asian hates whites, or a black hates Latinos. The Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s did not cure racism and people still find strawmen to vent their anger on. The difference is, thanks to the current rhetoric, you can once more express those feelings and be condoned. Santorum felt perfectly safe calling people niggers. We are venturing ever closer to Birth of A Nation territory.
But we're not there yet, which is why he stopped himself. The guy slipped and go caught. Dumb bastard.
Recording
I recorded the audiobook yesterday. Here's some pics from the studio:
Yes, that's as big as I could make them. We recorded "Safe Space." Well, re-recorded. I was listening to the first session and there's way too much noise. I did a lot of takes this time so I'd have material to work with. My producer told me that, if this was a professional recording, we'd do dozens of takes for each page, and have a set time for each story, and he'd have a copy of the script to follow along, etc. In other words, I'm a wunderkind at recording. I know exactly what I'm doing.
Had a good session, and then...turns out it didn't record. We went over the playlist. Nothing. Only the last take recorded, maybe ten minutes of material. Possible it can be retrieved, but as of now it's looking like we're a day behind. Some confusion caused by Mills' 30-year-old recording equipment. Ah well. If we have to do it over, we do it over. Count it as practice. There was also a cute moment when the producer asked me if the headphones were on, and I'm like "Yeah, yeah," and he turns it up, and he's like, "Is it louder?" and I'm like "Yeah!" Turns out they weren't even plugged in. I don't know anything about headphones.
Anyway, a giant "D'oh!" for today.
About my influences: there is a part in "Safe Space" where Ingrid is singing with her mouth on the microphone. This is an homage to Aimee Argote, singer and soul of one of my favorite bands, Des Ark. Seriously, check this out. Mouth right on the mic. She's so cool.
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