Who knew She was a Democrat?

Michelle Bachmann this week said that God, Herself, "raised up" Donald Trump because of the 17 republican candidates for President, he was the one most likely to win.

Apparently Michelle Bachmann is quite detached from reality, because from where I sit, an historically bad candidate like Trump is proof that God either has a hella sense of humor or that She most certainly despises the republican party.

Peace,
emaycee

Worse than it seems

As the Trump campaign becomes the third straight republican Presidential ticket to be hoping against hope that those pesky, all too scientific polls are wrong (and good fucking luck with that strategy), I've been wondering just how many women there are being polled who aren't about to tell a pollster in front of their Donald Trump loving husbands that they aren't about to vote for a potential psychopath and will be voting for Hillary Clinton instead.

Or even just that they really want to see a woman President before they die.

I don't have any empirical evidence to back this up--but I have a hunch that at the end of the election, the voting numbers might be even worse than they already appear to be for Mr. Trump.

Peace,
emaycee

Um, what?

Apparently, the Trump campaign has figured out his polling problems.  It's not a matter of his being an historically shitty candidate, it's that voters are embarrassed to tell pollsters that they're going to vote for him, and on Election Day all these embarrassed voters are going to pull the lever for Trump and give him the victory.  Left unsaid is exactly why anyone would actually vote for a candidate that they were embarrassed by.

But I'm not a republican, so there you go.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXXVII--The Killers: All These Things That I've Done

One of the thrills of being a big music fan is how you can be going about your life, reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle, and in an otherwise extraordinarily ordinary moment in your life, a song can pop up on the TV, a commercial or a coda to a show, and that song thrusts itself into your consciousness and you immediately think, "Holy shit, I've got to hear that one again..."

Such was the case with "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers--I don't remember exactly what I was doing but the TV was on in the background, the song was featured in some commercial (couldn't begin to tell you for what), and I spent the next several days singing "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier...."

The Killers formed in 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and among their many claims to fame is that they are the most successful Nevada band ever--but their success isn't just limited to Nevada.  They've sold over 22 million albums worldwide (they enjoy quite a bit of success in the UK), been nominated for 7 Grammy Awards, toured constantly at the world's biggest venues and festivals, and have all around enjoyed a hell of a career over the last fourteen years.   The band's name came from the logo on a bass drum of a fictitious band in a New Order video for "Crystal" (no clue--not very familiar with New Order or their work).  Their music has never been cutting edge or music changing, but like
Bruce Springsteen, they incorporate the best of many musical styles into their very own sound.

Released on their Hot Fuss album (which I have to admit I wasn't familiar with until this past year, but I'm oh so glad I now am--a really fine debut LP) in 2004,  the song surprisingly would only reach #74 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Nonetheless, due to its anthemic nature, it's been covered live by U2, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Imagine Dragons, and Walk the Moon, among others.  And it's not hard to see why--as someone who grew up listening to songs that would eventually be considered Classic Rock, "All These Things That I've Done" would be right at home on any stage in that era.

As for the song itself, the only thing you really need to know is "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier."  I have no idea what, if anything, it means, but I'm not sure a cooler line has ever been written in a pop song, and it can literally make me march around the house like I was forty years younger and sing it over and over again.  That's not to take anything away from the rest of the song--it's a sum of its parts and it all comes together as an intrepid whole, but there are moments in some songs where a great song gets shot into another stratosphere and "I've got soul, but I'm not a solider" is one such moment.  Repeated by the gospel choir The Sweet Inspirations in the middle of the song, it is bookended perfectly by the earnest calls for redemption in the stanzas surrounding it.  And "if you can hold on" it's a marvelous five minutes of music.

Lyric sheet: This will be some kind of surprise, but... "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

What's in a name?

Say what you will about the right wing in this country, but they really know how to name their sects.  First they had the Tea Party and its positive connotations with the American Revolution, and now Donald Trump's racist supporters are being referred to as the AltRight.  You can put "Alt" in front of any word (Alt-Country for example) and it immediately makes it sound cooler--if there was such a thing as an Alt-Jock Strap, we'd all be running around wearing them, guaranteed.

We Liberals really need to beat them to the punch--Racist Dickheads or Bigoted Ass Hats is truly a lot closer to the truth and doesn't quite convey the same approving tone.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXXVI--Patti Smith: Because the Night

We have another Friday Night Jukebox first--Patti Smith is the first featured artist to have written more books (18), than have released albums (11).  She's also a National Book Award winner (for Just Kids,about her friendship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe), to boot.

Patricia Lee Smith was born in 1946 (which means she'll turn 70 this year and is another in a long list of reminders that I'm getting old) in Chicago, and her career has not followed the usual rock and roll trajectory.  She started out as the "Punk Poet Laureate." married Fred "Sonic" Smith (of the MC5 and "Kick Out the Jams, Motherfuckers" fame--another fine music addition from Detroit), had two children, and settled into a semi-retirement of domestic bliss, watched her husband die all too young in 1994, and opened a new chapter both musically and in her writing, and through it all she remained one of the most activist performers ever (AIDS, war protests, anti-Israeli terrorism, political prisoners, women's rights, etc.).  You would be hard pressed to name a woman that has been more influential for female rock and rollers than Patti Smith, other than Joni Mitchell, and to an extent Aretha Franklin and Carole King.  And you'd find it even harder to find anyone (other than the Godfather of Punk, Lou Reed) who was more influential on a music genre than Patti Smith was for the punk, new wave, and alternative movements.  And for this, she's rightfully got a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a special place in the hearts of anybody who likes their music a bit on the esoteric side.

And did I mention that for many years she made her home right here in my adopted home, Detroit, Michigan?

Released on her Easter album in 1978, "Because the Night" would go on to become the biggest hit of Smith's career, reaching #13 (with a bullet!) on The Billboard Hot 100.  The history behind the song is a story in itself--originally recorded (though not finished) by Bruce Springsteen for his Darkness on the Edge of Town LP, Springsteen gave up on the song and his engineer/producer, Jimmy Iovine, who was simultaneously working on Smith's Easter album liked the song and had Smith try it--she rewrote the lyrics (other than the chorus) and the rest was history.  Springsteen has been known to play his and Smith's version live to this day.

And believe you me, musically when you hear the song it is most definitely a Springsteen composition.  Power chords, driving rhythm, laying it all on the line vocals--but in the end the song belongs to Smith, becomes hers.  Her vocals are probably the most confident of any she's ever done, and the Patti Smith Band's playing is tight and solid around her performance.  Springsteen ended up not putting the song on his album because he said it was just another love song--I'm not sure how often Springsteen has been wrong in this world, but he missed this song by a mile.  In Smith's hands it is anything but just another love song--it's a testament to the good and the bad of the hold that love takes on us all, all done while driving 110 mph.

Lyric sheet:  "With love we sleep/With doubt the vicious circle/Turns and burns..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Put a (red) sock in it

Former major league pitcher and political moron Curt Schilling has decided that before he runs for President in 2024 (following, the delusional Mr. Schilling believes, Donald Trump's two terms), that he wants to run against Elizabeth Warren for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts in 2018.

Can't wait--seems we Democrats do very well against failed businessmen who aren't particularly bright and have a history of putting their feet in their mouths when it comes to all things racial, religious, and gender oriented.

Peace,
emaycee

You broke it, you bought it

In a stunning twist, the party of personal responsibility has taken to blaming Liberals for the rise of Donald Trump.  Seems if we weren't so fucking PC, republican voters wouldn't have been so pissed and might not have voted for Trump.

Two words:  Fuck you.

I don't know of a single Liberal who voted for Trump.  I don't know of a single Liberal who campaigned for Trump.  Republicans need to put on their big boy pants and own this disaster.

And don't blame me for your mistake that has been nearly forty years in the making.

Peace,
emaycee

I'm glad it's your birthday

Today marks Social Security's 81st birthday--the Social Security Act (the brainchild of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman to sit in the U.S. Cabinet--and how apropos that is in the year we'll elect our first woman President...) was signed into law on this day in 1935 by the Father of the modern Democratic Party, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,  It has become the most successful program in the history of the United States and is the biggest anti-poverty measure in America.

In honor of its allowing working class folks like me to have a few years of comfort after our bodies, minds, and spirits have been exhausted by the cretins of Corporate America (as well as all the good it's done for the disabled and children), I've "come (to) pipe a tune to dance to, lad..."--the second greatest birthday song ever written ("Happy Birthday to You" might be dull and common, but it's served birthday parties quite well since 1893, thank you very much).

Enjoy (and Happy Birthday, Social Security!):

Peace,
emaycee

Confederate flag = Swastika

In a completely unsurprising turn of events, a Confederate flag was seen waving at a Donald Trump rally this past week, which a Trump supporter tried to defend as being a symbol of Southern pride.

Make no mistake, in much the same way that a swastika is a symbol of six million Jews being killed by Germany, the Confederate flag is a symbol of American citizens who fought for the right to buy and sell other human beings and use them in forced labor.

There is no pride in such a heinous act.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXXV--Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Message

Though it was released thirty-four years ago, the central message (so to speak) of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five 's single "The Message" unfortunately remains as true today as it was in 1982--there are still far too many African-Americans in poverty whose lives are defined and destroyed by said poverty.

It's pretty rare for a band with such a small output (two albums, total, though there are a number of singles as well), to be as influential as Grandmaster Flash.  From Public Enemy to Tupac, from NWA to Eminem, there's not a socially conscious hip hop star who doesn't owe a great deal to the first overtly political rap song ever.  While they're time together was relatively short, Grandmaster Flash (who doesn't appear on any of their recordings--it's all the Furious Five) set a number of firsts:  first emcee rap group, first rap group to refer to the vocalists as emcees, first band to put scratching and turntablism on a recording, first socially conscious rap song (and second rap hit single ever, after Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight") and the first hip hop act to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  By 1987 they were done, though, and while there have been various incarnations of the band's members through the years, those two albums remain their legacy.

Originally released as a 12" single (believe me, you have to be of a certain age), "The Message" would end up on an album (entitled, appropriately enough, The Message) in much the same way singles did in the early days of rock and roll, i.e., "We have a hit!  Let's see if we can make more money selling it on an album full of otherwise mediocre tunes!"  Written by Duke Bootee and performed by Melle Mel and Bootee, the song is a series of vignettes of life in the city (presumably New York City, Grandmaster Flash's home base)--a woman comes to the city and ends up selling herself to a pimp, a man at his wit's end steals his Mom's TV, a young man who can't resist the lure of gangbangers and their easy money who ends up in prison, all told through the eyes of a protagonist who admits, "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge/I'm tryin' not to lose my head, ha-ha." It would rise to #62 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, which isn't a bad showing for a lesson song in a music form in its infancy

The music (or what passes for it) is most assuredly machine made (and oddly enough, it has a real futuristic sound to it) and really only serves as the background for the forceful vocals.  Equal parts anger, sorrow, and chastisement, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee offer a snapshot of people painted into a corner and in the end offer up no easy answers for their escape.  The guy doesn't get the girl, the hero doesn't rise from the ashes--life in the ghetto is an unending vortex of hopelessness, until you realize that in the anger, in the sorrow, and in the chastisement  lies the hope therein.  And still all these years later, African-Americans are still screaming, crying, and teaching....

Rap sheet:  "Broken glass everywhere/People pissin' on the stairs, you know they just don't care....

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

But on the other hand...

Having a candidate like Donald Trump at the top of the republican ticket is a boon for Democratic chances for the White House...but my biggest fear with Trump wallowing in his own shit has always been that the republican party and its (deep-pocketed) donors will cut their losses and instead of throwing half a billion dollars into a losing Presidential ticket, use that money instead for down ballot races, trying to convince swing voters not to give Hillary Clinton a blank check.

David Nir at Daily Kos thinks this strategy is a recipe for disaster (depress republican voters, running against President Obama didn't help Dems at all in 2014), but I'm not so sure.  We generally have trouble keeping pace with republicans in the money wars (at least down ballot) and even more money being spent on republican candidates certainly isn't going to help.  The big hitch I see, though, is the mainstream media--not only are they going to be much more interested in the dichotomy between a republican Congress and a President Hillary Clinton, the whole idea of a republican Congress being a check on Hillary Clinton has to be spot on for their misguided "let's be fair to each party regardless of the damage done to ordinary Americans" type of journalism.  Or their willful ignorance of just how crazy the republican party's ideas and candidates have become.

Four more years of a Democrat in the White House would be a sweet, sweet victory (and a safety valve for keeping republican bills from being passed into law), but at the very least we need a majority in the Senate for the upcoming Supreme Court nominee battles or the victory of the first woman President will be for nought.

Peace,
emaycee

Night and day

It was really quite striking today to read the accounts of Hillary Clinton's speech here in Michigan (here and here) and the pride that shone through those accounts--she's not perfect, but she's a real and very talented candidate, who has solutions and ideas and wants to empower us:  "This is personal for me.  I'm a product of the middle class."

Compare and contrast to the train wreck that is the Donald Trump campaign.  I'd compare him to a circus clown, but circus clowns have some discernible talent and actually provide some much needed humor to a world that often needs it.

In eighty-nine days we have a chance to show America in resounding numbers that our best days are ahead of us and that our future is now.

Let's hope we have the courage to seize that chance with both hands.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXXIV--Joe Jackson: Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Ever had a secret crush on someone and then seen his or her spouse/significant other and thought to yourself, "What the fuck?"

Well, Joe Jackson has written the song for you.  And not only does it question why everyone isn't walking arm in arm with a beautiful woman/handsome hunk it's catchy as all hell, too.

Fascinating (or not) fact:  Actually born David Jackson, Jackson acquired the name Joe because it was said when he played the piano he looked like Joe Piano, the Snoopy/Peanuts character in the guise of Joe Cool...

Joe Jackson was born in England and his introduction to music was the violin.  Eventually he moved on to the piano and won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music.  At 16 he began playing in clubs, and in 1978 got his first record deal with A & M records which resulted in his debut album with the aptly named Joe Jackson Band, Look Sharp (and the source LP for this week's single).  It would earn Jackson comparisons to Graham Parker  and Elvis Costello (a bit overstated--he really wasn't in either of their leagues).  Jackson would eventually foray into jazz in the early 80's, where he had his biggest hit album with Night and Day, which won him legions of new fans (alas, I was not among them and pretty much stopped following Jackson there).  He's also composed classical pieces, and his career, as with so many other Jukebox artists, continues to this day.

Originally released to little fanfare in September of 1978, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" was reissued in May of 1979 and became a surprise hit, reaching #21 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  As noted above, the song is basically a bemused man noting the myriad of "...pretty girls walking with gorillas down my street...."  Jackson has noted that while many heard much anger in the song, he always thought the song was more humorous than angry (I personally always heard humorous bewilderment).

A couple of notes:  1) The song features a killer bass line as Jackson weaves his tale, and it goes hand in hand with the acid tongued protagonist, 2) Jackson does sarcastic humor very well ("they say that looks don't count for much, if so there goes your proof" "if looks could kill there's a man there who's more down as dead"), 3) It has one of those "magic moments" that just make a great song so much better when Jackson sings "Look over there" and on cue the band screams in the background "Where?" and 4) The tune's true genius comes because Jackson takes a topic that often becomes sappy (lack of love) and turns it into a wry commentary on the dysfunctional relationship between the head and the heart.

Rap sheet:  "Tonight's the night I go to all the parties down my street/I wash my hair and kid myself I look real smooth...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Down is up

You want to know how fucked up America is these days?

After last week's nearly flawless Democratic National Convention (seriously, the worst part of the four days was Paul Simon's horribly off-key rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"--embarrassingly bad), the best I have ever seen in following conventions of both parties since 1976, and the previous week's Republican National Convention which strongly resembled a freak show, as of today, Hillary Clinton has only a roughly 65% chance of defeating Donald Trump to win the Presidency (election snapshots here and here).

While I'd much rather be where we are than where republicans are, but for fuck's sake you'd think after the last two weeks (and Trump's insulting a fallen soldier's family, to boot) we'd be talking about who's going to be in Clinton's cabinet rather than whether she can win enough electoral votes.

Peace,
emaycee