ITS BEEN A WHILE

But being an election year, and an important and entertaining one as well, I cannot resist the siren call. Its much too hard to resist. Never in my lifetime have I seen a campaign as animated by blind, rabid hatred as the campaigns of the various Democratic candidates in 2020. When they're not slamming President Trump personally, they're "taxing the rich", they're promising Free everything to everybody, And oh yeah, They despise the President. The "Impeachment" fiasco has blown up in their faces and continues to expose the unhinged hatred of the Left. The candidates themselves are attempting to distance themselves from this political stink bomb, but at almost every function, during every speech, Bernie Sanders will momentarily slip into a Tourettes'- like compulsion, snapping and sniping at The President. At this point in Mid January,2020, Joe Biden seems to be leading the pack and that's amazing. Aided and abetted by a compliant Press Corps, his multiple gaffes and memory lapses have largely escaped widespread notice. The Ideal of unbiased news sources has been abandoned, here in the 21st century the very idea is laughable. Every day, all over the world, various events happen. People sitting in offices that are often times far removed from the "real world" they're "reporting to" decide which events will be reported as "news". Oddly enough, if one follows a single news source one soon notices an over-arching narrative (We Hate President Trump) which informs much of what they'll call "news". The briefest perusal of Yahoo News demonstrates this point, but truth be told every "news source" is guilty of the same thing, yes, even Fox News. But to deny that most of what is called the "mainstream media" leans emphatically leftward is to deny that water is wet. In the real work-a-day world, President Trump's accomplishments are many and praiseworthy. The economy is buzzing along, raising all boats, without worrying signs of inflation. Wages are rising due to the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years across all demographics. Our military has been/is being rebuilt. Millions removed from the rolls of government dependency, Immigration control, NATO Allies finally paying up......The Democrats cannot run against this in lunch bucket America, so they're playing an ugly, divisive game of class-envy with a subtext of racism from a society awash in "white privilege. And yet its the left which actively embraces "Identity Politics" (indeed, at present a significant portion of the left are worried, nay, infuriated that all the Democratic Nominees are White folk.) The ONLY thing that unites the left is their hatred of President Trump. Will this be enough for them to rally around one candidate once the primaries have run their course? We shall see. Meanwhile President Trump will continue tweeting to the world, denying those who would do so the opportunity to misquote or misinterpret what he said. (NOTE: they do anyway). It is endlessly entertaining to read the President's tweets and to see the ensuing exploding heads on the left. And so, until next time......

SNL -it's the first Saturday night of Summer - let us rock!

SNL -it's the first Saturday night of Summer - let us rock!

Pipe Dreams: Zombie Alert!!

Pipe Dreams: Zombie Alert!!: "........They're everywhere, all around us.  They move about like you and I, they laugh, cry, walk, talk and think like you and I.  But they'..."

Pipe Dreams: Zombie Alert!!

Pipe Dreams: Zombie Alert!!: "........They're everywhere, all around us.  They move about like you and I, they laugh, cry, walk, talk and think like you and I.  But they'..."

FREEDOM!!!!

p>..........We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all man are created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.......

....Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit Of Happiness.....

..... ....We The People are rising up all over the middle east...in protests largely devoid of the usual anti-American/anti-Israeli rhetoric...in a search for self-determination. They are tired of being ruled by tyrants, and tired of being browbeat by clergy. Tired of their chattel like status in their own lands. Tired of Kings & royal families...........tired of isolation. We may not like what emerges.......it may not fit our ideal..........but Freedom is a powerful battlecry.

...........There is so much we, as Americans, take for granted. We exhalt in our glut of information....we glory in our excesses........The average fast-food joint throws away more food in a day than many villages in the world see in a week. This is not a knock on us.....far from it........we, as a free people have built the most successful society the world has ever known...with longer, healthier lives, a middle-class that was non-existant for most of human history........

......And to those who would focus on our imperfections, on our long hard road to equality....on our inability to find common ground on a wide range of issues, I say this...

...

................& I would ask this question.........We erected a government which serves to protect the rights of individuals. A government that cannot abridge the citizen's right to speak his mind. Great. So how did we get to 21st century America where the fricken feelings of certain designated groups trumps the individual's right to speak? Just asking. I'm willing to listen.........

..............but that was an unnecessarily provocative stray thought.

>>>>>>

Thank you...if you made it this far.....Tracks 1 & 2 are From a performance at The Town Hall.... Charles Mingus

Track # 3.............Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, & Ben Vaughn

Track 4.............James Carr

Track 5..............Ken Boothe

Track 6.............Little Richard

 

Willie Dixon

....The orphans group thing is such a pale imitation. I'll sit here in the ghost town mumbling to myself. I mean...really....what's the harm, right? The chances are 1 or 2 people may stumble across it....plus the usual gang of suspects...(if a loyal 3 can be counted as a gang.) I stroll though this echoing crypt, not even bothering to call out names any more.  Its sad...nothing is as we would have it...but it rarely is.........".....and somebody points to you and says 'its his'. And you say "what's mine?" and somebody else says "Where what is?"

the answer of course is music....."I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us." Martin Luther

.......Which brings us to Saturday Night Live....with some real Saturday Night music.

...and it doesn't get much better than this....

In any discussion of seminal American musical geniuses...Willie Dixon's name will loom large. As arranger, composer, musician, defacto engineer, discoverer & nurturer of talent he had few equals.  To say that he single-handedly created the "Chicago Blues" sound may be overstating things...but not by much. His pudding deep bass graced more blues sides, credited & not, than i can count.  His collaborations with the Great Muddy Waters still stand as towering achievements, as vital & honest & raw today as they were when they were recorded.

.....with Hubie Sumlin: Guitar)

.....Now...the honorable Spike 1 (say hello, Spike1)said in these very pages not long ago that when someone says "The Blues" his eyes tend to glaze over......and i know what he means.  To far too many people the blues is long masturbatory guitar solos with little pieces of song that serve as intro & exit.  Bore me to tears.  But as President Clinton might say....This is not that.  This is not the music of massive stages & strobe lights. This is not the music of pyrotechnics & razzle-dazzle. No....this is the true music of Saturday Night. The music from the bar in the city.  The music of paychecks & pool tables. The music that sweeps away the back-breaking work week.  The music of release & redemption....

...music that erases today until tomorrow ..."You are the music while the music lasts." T.S. Eliot.. .... .... .....This is the music that connects performer & audience...a shared experience, as much about community..(There's that word again)...as it is about the music...."Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me." Janis Joplin.

..........and yet....music is far from anti-intellectual.  Indeed, it may well be among the highest forms of the intellect's manifestations. The ability to speak the inarticulate language of the spirit, to express one's self in ways that bypass conscious thought, that relies on the atavistic response..........this ability may well be a gift from another plane.....

.............But none of that matters on a Saturday night. Saturday Night is for the music....the blessed release

.......................

..........and the best part is.....it goes on every Saturday Night...where ever the week weighs heavy on the spirit

Happy New Year!!!!

General consensus slid through the crowd un-noticed until the last.....he glanced around at the wondering faces and passed a little gas. He stepped to the podium and puffed out his chest....he paused for effect...he needed some rest.....but matters had to be settled.

(Major Malfunction saluted his host...and then picked up Angel who looked like a ghost and left for the coast. The audience rumbled, expectant, impatient, excited and wild. Weathered & rumpled, raw & reviled. Unknowing, unknown, the Salt Of The Earth, they wriggled & writhed for all they were worth)

With Major Malfunction out of the way the general felt more assured. He smirked at all his followers waiting for the word. The Sargent at arms was calling for silence & wrestling with his gun. Private Concern pulled up in a limo that was painted like the sun.

The junkyard orchestra started to play....

.

At last......The General spoke........."Friends and roaming countrymen, lend me your ears.....feed me your fears, and lend me a twenty 'till payday!"....He began, warming to the task.....the crowd murmured appreciatively.............no longer bored...

"I would gladly pay you Tuesday..." he whispered ...."FOR A HAMBURGER TODAY" they roared. "Money don't get everything, its true" he continued.."WHAT IT DON"T GET I CAN USE!!! they enthused. "YABBA" he screamed. "DABBA DOOOOOO!" they answered.

"The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, a tree fell and a frog got smashed".......(Henry Gibson)

General Consensus looked out at the crowd where the joy resembled violence. He cleared his throat with a loud "harrumph!" and waited for the silence. "The only thing we have to fear going forward is turning back", he exclaimed. "Yakkity-Yak!" he bellowed "DON'T TALK BACK!!!" They roared, dancing in what used to be a street.

By silky degrees it started to freeze & the crowd was all a-fidget.

The General played his trump card..................."Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, and those who just don't know......Now's the time to pay your dues and watch your savings grow! I never kept a dollar past sunset....it always burns a hole in my pants".....he intoned to the delight of the crowd......."We have never seen a dollar", everyone thought..but no one said it aloud.

At last the sun began to rise blinding all unseeing eyes.

"Ring my friend I said you'd call......."

General consensus held up his hands & a hush fell over the crowd........"GAGA" He bleated, "GAGA" they bowed.