The Boys Country Corner Returns, with Brad Paisley! / Is It Art, Or Isn't It? / Plus, The Boys' Look At Their Favorite New Blog (Again!)

Yes, the Country Corner is back again. It kind of has to be, since Brad Paisley has a new album. With his tender love songs about pests ("I'd like to check you for ticks") and his ode to on-line personas ("I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight every time I login"), no country artist has provided the boys more joy over the years than Paisley. But the critics are saying that the new record marks a transition into a more mature era for Paisley, one where he tackles serious topics head-on. Let's take a look at the title track, "American Saturday Night," obviously intended as a celebration of multiculturalism (a bold move in itself, given our culture's fondness for Toby Keith sticking a boot in the ass of "furriners.").

"There's a big toga party tonight down at Delta Chi
they've got Canadian bacon on their pizza pie
they've got a cooler full of cold Coronas and Amstel light
It's like were all livin' in a big ol' cup
just fire up the blender, mix it all up

It's a French kiss, Italian ice
margaritas in the moonlight (woahhhh)
just another American Saturday night"

Richard: "Paisley cleverly transforms the hoary old 'melting pot' cliche into a Dixie cup metaphor that's perfect for the consumption of his mainstream audience. Yet the final line of his chorus sort of undercuts the call for diversity, privileging an 'American" worldview that conveniently absorbs cultural differences under a single, normalizing umbrella term ("everywhere has something they're known for / although usually it washes up on our shores," he goes on to sing). And although the song doesn't neglect a few former enemies (the U.S.S.R gets a nod, during a Beatles reference, as do German cars), you'll notice the telling absence of anything Middle Eastern here."

Chip: "So the French invented that tongue-kissing thing? I've never much cared for it, myself."

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Wonder Fair, Larryville's second quirkiest art gallery, hosts their first ever silent-auction tonight. What's being sold?

"...a series of ten assemblages by Jonathan Holley — cigarette packs and fashion photographs clipped from magazines, mounted onto foamcore within plain white frames (invisible in elevation), back-lit with Christmas lights, slathered in decoupage, and quite beautiful in the dark. The assemblages simultaneously evoke the trash neon of a dive bar and the religious glow of stained glass. Each is composed of exactly 100 cigarette packs." (Lawrence.com).

Bidding starts at a dollar.

Chip: "Not beautiful (even in the dark). Not 'religious.' Not worth a dollar. Not art!"

Richard: "With any luck, you'll see at least one of these adorning my living room the next time you come over. Art!"

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Only Cl.thier was paying attention last week when we spotlighted our favorite new blog, a sexy personal blog out of KC called "May's Machete":

www.maysmachete.blogspot.com/

So today we take you back into May's world once more, hoping that more of our readers will discover its wonders.

In this excerpt, May discusses her love affair with a Trekkie:

"In a moment of post-coital geniality, I was examining my armpit hair both visually and tactilely (i.e. I was petting it), "Look how cute it is! All fluffy... it's like a Tribble! [insert cooing Tribble noises here]. That led to a sound kissing, and, less romantically, to a discussion of the Deep Space Nine/Star Trek cross-over episode, which led to a discussion of the Klingon's genetic evolution...".

Chip: "Gross...yet why do I have a boner the size of the Enterprise right now?"