Thank You To Everyone at WordPress

I wanted to take a monent to thank you all for the hard work and the confidence you instilled in me as I fumbled thruogh the ins and outs of building this site. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Come by for a visit at the new URL If you get a chance.http://www.utahblue.info/

Tom Russell

Tom Russell preordering information

Hello to all. We’re coming to you here off cycle just a bit with special news and a limited offer just for our customers. Next month Hightone Records will be releasing the all new studio album from Tom Russell. It features eleven new songs about you guessed it: Love & Fear and what feeds them both. The themes are explored as only Tom can do it. Gretchen Peters, Fats Kaplin, Gurf Morlix, Joel Guzman and of course Andy Hardin all contribute. If his albums “Borderland” and “Modern Love” are your cup of tea then get ready for a full pitcher as he returns to the sounds of the Southwest. Here’s where the fun part comes in. In honor of this release the early pressings will ship with a limited edition EP that contains five tracks. Three of the songs are from the new album, the other two are exclusive covers. Tom takes a swing at Emmylou Harris’s “Red Dirt Girl” and then hits it out of the park on Leonard Cohen’s “Tower Of Song.” Due to the royalties involved with the two covers this EP will be limited to a single run. There are two ways you can purchase the new disc. The album can be purchased with or without the bonus disc. To get the bonus EP the total price is $18.99 plus shipping. If you only want the new album it is $15.99 plus shipping. Placing your order now using the link below will guarantee that you get your copy reserved and shipped about a week ahead of the March 21 street date. As we’ve told you in the past ordering directly from us is the same as ordering directly from Tom. A sale through out site guarantees that Tom will see the largest share of the sale and that the sale will go through SoundScan where it will be tabulated for the label. This benefits everyone and lets Tom and his label know exactly where their sales are coming from. This helps with his touring and advertising clout. Thanks to all of you that support his work that we so strongly believe in. Enjoy the rest of the month and look for a new action packed mailer in a couple of weeks. For those who are interested in acquiring or seeing his original artwork check out this website for all of the details www.yarddog.com .

Gaping Holes and Ringing Bells

The undisputed go-to site for Utah news — from headlines to the obscure — is LaVarr Webb’s www.UtahPolicy.com. The sheer volume, on a daily basis, of content (or links to it) is almost suffocating.

That’s why when something is missing, especially when its political, bells start going off — as well they should.

The gapping hole at Utah Policy dot com was a Sunday Tribune article that describes what is possibly the greatest single power grab in recent Utah political history.

Legislature tries to grab more power
Proposed laws: Several bills being considered give state lawmakers more say.

Just “follow the money.”*

* LaVarr Webb's Exoro Group provides lobbying services to the state legislature.

Good Call Todd

They really called?    And since we’re on the Trib,Holly, we hardly knew ye.

Utahtrueblue

There are 366 trueblues at google.   Nothing when I add Utah.  Comments? How do we change the name?  Just do it?

Utah Suffers National Ridicule Again. Thanks Gail!

They talking about us again on one of the largest national blogs

Can’t see this

“A movie theater owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller abruptly changed its screening plans and decided not to show the film “Brokeback Mountain.” The film, an R-rated Western gay romance story, was supposed to open Friday at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Instead it was pulled from the schedule… read more and the comments…

This Divided State also has the whole story here.

Sometimes its hard to laugh, but we must try.

Good belly laugh

Not One Thin Dime From Abramoff to Democrats

On what might be considered in “these parts”, a slightly hyperbolically named blog there is a video of Howard Dean on CNN’s Late Edition in which he forcefully corrects the now over-sung republican talking point that the Abramoff thing is just more partisan politics, and that democrats took money from Jack too. NOT TRUE!

Not a single democrat has been implicated in any part of the Abramoff scandal.

Utah Most Certainly Does ROCK!

There was an opinion letter in today’s Trib about Ed Firmage.

I was reminded that despite being a deeply conservative state buried deep in the mountain west, we have in our midst some of the greatest thinkers and teachers in the world.

I look forward to hearing from and engaging with Ed Firmage at his new blog

What I think

I think somewhere along the line, we stopped listening to the smartest people in the village, until we got to the point where we only heard the voices of our elected leaders, and media.  With few easy options in sight, and in fear of losing our humanity, I think we began looking for moral leadership from politicians.

I think we expect too much when we do that.  Lets hold our elected leaders responsible for spending our tax money effectively, and to one “moral value”–civic responsibility — to protect us from the influence of powerful interests, in favor of what is best for our communities now, and in the future.  That’s ALL!

I say, lets find and define our moral values in our own communities, and through our relationships with and neighbors, friends, church, and family.

You don’t “find” humanity damn it, you GIVE IT!