Guilty as Charged
I often read the New York Times because it's convenient to pick one up at one of the many nearby Starbuckses. (Sometimes, I'll buy one at the cornershop "Bucktown Market" and chat with the friendly, nerdy Indian proprietor. He's getting married in May, mocking my early-thirties, single status). One of the numerous drawbacks to the self-styled newspaper of record is the "All the News That's Fit to Print" box they arrogantly place at the top of the front page. A daily insult to the readership.

Right-wing Punk

"Punks will tell me, 'Punk and capitalism don't go together,' " Mr. Rizzuto said. "I don't understand where they're coming from. The biggest punk scenes are in capitalist countries like the U.S., Canada and Japan. I haven't heard of any new North Korean punk bands coming out. There's no scene in Iran.

Rizzuto is in a way wrong regarding Iran. Is he aware of Marjane Satrapi? If Rizzuto was curious about North Korean punk bands, a good place to inquire would be North Korea Zone.

Taking it to another level, Rizzuto is rebelling against Punk's leftist tilt. The Sex Pistols were nihilists. The Clash were leftist. The Ramones had "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg."

In politics, you have the Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra. Currently, as the Times reports, "Around 200 liberal and left-oriented punk bands have come together under the banner of Punkvoter, a coalition founded by Mike Burkett - a k a Fat Mike - of the band NOFX, with the stated goal of organizing punk fans to vote against President Bush in November. Mr. Burkett started Punkvoter with $100,000 of his own money and has recruited crossover bands like Green Day and the Foo Fighters to his cause."

Exceptions include Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone, a proud Republican before he died in 2001, and right-wing skinheads who are more prevalent in Europe I would guess. Racists here are drawn to Country.

Maybe Rizutto is rebelling against punk's anti-American, anti-conservative bias. He's anti-Punk Conventional Wisdom.

Ian MacKaye, a founding member of the influential punk bands Minor Threat and Fugazi, suggested that such fears might be overstated. As an outspoken "straight edge" punk - one who does not drink or do drugs - Mr. MacKaye was sometimes mistaken for a conservative (he's not) and saw his message of sobriety seized on in the early 1990's by conservative Christian punk bands. Mr. MacKaye likened the punk aesthetic to furniture. "Once it's built you can put it into any house," he said. "You can be a lefty and go to Ikea or you can be a right-winger and go to Ikea." Punk, he said, "is a free space where anything can go - a series of actions and reactions, and people rebelling and then rebelling against rebelling.

Dave Grohl, frontman for the Foo Fighters, has a sublime sense of humor. The Times allowed him to write about what he's listening to. And he reports another reason to get out of bed in the morning, another reason not to take a shotgun and blow your head off: the Pixies are back.