Did you read Bode’s comments in the new "Newsweek"?

He’s on the cover.  Yup, never underestimate the need of NBC and the other investors in the Olympics to sell their story and get their money back and the rest of the compliant news media to play along.  I mean this cover story is just a lead-in to an overview of American Olympians.   But "Newsweek" recognized what it’s got here.  A STORY!

It’s tough if you’re print today.  You’re too far behind.  You need something to burnish your image.  "Time" would never do this story.  And "Rolling Stone" is too busy up liquor and car companies’ asses to even know what’s going on.  But under the rubric of a NEWS story "Newsweek" knows it’s profiling an American iconoclast, an American HERO, of a type they don’t make anymore and his personality, identity, THOUGHTS will resonate and offend all across this great country of ours.  Because like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men", America WANTS the truth, but most of America can’t HANDLE the truth.

"’Look, a lot of the people involved with the U.S. Ski Team-the people that I’m representing-are unbelievable a–holes.’"

That’s what I’m waiting for.  Neil Diamond to come down on Andy Lack and the rest of the Sony BMG fucks for their hare-brained rootkit scheme that killed his comeback.

Can you imagine someone calling out a record exec?  Shit, that would NEVER happen.  Look what happened to George Michael.  His career was RUINED by suing Sony for homophobic remarks by its executives (never proven, but hell, O.J. didn’t kill Nicole either.)

They just don’t make them like this anymore.

God, with the labels propping up the Grammy Awards and Eminem getting remarried and essentially retiring, all the drama, all the honesty, all the EDGE has been REMOVED from the music scene.  Sure, 50 Cent might SHOOT you, but there’s no evidence of reasoned thinking and questioning of authority.

Then there’s the language.  Bode talks like a real person.

Can you imagine a Grammy nominee even SAYING the following?

"’If it wasn’t such a cluster-f– for me to pull out now,’ he said, ‘I’d definitely consider it.’"

I’ve never even SEEN the word "clusterfuck" used in a national magazine.  Not even in the ROCK press!  But I hear it all the time.  Like when you’re at a music business convention…

Furthermore, Bode even questions the GAME!

"When the subject of medals comes up during his talk with NEWSWEEK, he grabs a copy of his autobiography and flips to the Prologue, which opens with a reprint of the Olympic oath. ‘Here it is,’ he says. ‘Read it. "The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle …" Now, does that sound like the Olympics to you? I mean, seriously, that is not what the Olympics are all about when I go there, and I’m doing this s–t.’"

Not only is Bode questioning the framework we’re all supposed to believe in, like a denizen of the sixties, he’s LAUGHING about it!  I mean is this a guy you want to hang with or WHAT!

Furthermore, Rule Number One of music stardom is you respect your fans.  It’s just that the concept of respect has been twisted.  You’ve got to sacrifice your identity to play along with the lowest common denominator, which WANTS something from you.  Yup, your manager will tell you to do an in-store, to sign autographs, to be there for your public.  WHY???  Your business isn’t to be a wimp subservient to all comers, but an unreachable, untouchable ICON!  Separate from the hoi polloi.  A role model your fans RESPECT!  That’s what MTV has done, eviscerate all the CHARISMA from the acts.  Listen to Bode:

"’I don’t need the money. I don’t need the media. All that stuff just makes you into a worse person, and I am, for sure, much more of a dick now than I used to be. Because I have to deal with people all the time who feel like they know me from seeing me on TV. OK, you might think you know me, but I don’t know you, so don’t f—ing come up and give me high-fives and say "sign this."’"

Wow.  He even used DICK!

That’s why Beavis & Butt-head were successful.  They ACTED like kids that age.  (And isn’t it funny that cartoon characters have/had more credibility than the ACTS that were on MTV…)  People say DICK!  How come it’s a no-no in the media?

I no longer believe in music.

Oh, don’t tell me about good records, it’s the people who MAKE THEM I can’t identify with.  Employing stylists, selling out to sponsors, massaging their message so they get rich.  Fuck the hair products, just give me some honesty, SOME TRUTH!

I’m fifty two years old.  I’m still looking for role models.

And I can never find them in the entertainment/media landscape.  I just get talking heads, shilling for the team. So to be confronted at this late date with someone inspirational blows my mind.

Yup, inspirational.  I want to be just like Bode.  Calling bullshit when I see it.  Beholden to no one.  And SO GOOD that I can get away with ANYTHING!

That’s what being an American is all about…