Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCVI--Buddy Holly: Oh Boy

Pop quiz:  What do the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and the Grateful Dead all share in common (other than being superstar rock and roll performers, of course)?

They all cite Buddy Holly as a major influence on their careers.

As is sometimes the case here on Friday Night Jukebox, there are some performers who transcend my mini biographies, and Buddy Holly is one such artist.  Suffice it to say that the pride of Lubbock, Texas may have been the first rock and roll artists to write, perform, and produce his own material, as well as paving the way for the two guitars, bass, and drums band arrangement that has defined thousands of bands since rock and roll's inception,  Holly was in the first class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was listed at #13 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists.  And perhaps most amazing is that Holly accomplished this in a little more than three years before the plane crash that took his life all too soon at the age of 23 (and immortalized in Don McLean's "American Pie").

Released in 1957 (yup, older than even me) on his The "Chirping" Crickets LP, "Oh Boy" would go on to reach #10 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on The Billboard Hot 100.  The flip side of the 45 was "Not Fade Away" which makes it one of the greatest, if not the greatest, two-sides of a single in the history of rock and roll.

Oddly enough, I might not have become all that familiar with "Oh Boy" had it not been for my two oldest children's adoration of the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba.  There's a scene in the movie where Valens and his brother play it at a concert (actually done by Los Lobos) and it's hard not to fall right in love with the song after seeing it.  While the Los Lobos version is a raucous and loving tribute, it's not the original.  Holly busts out maybe his most vibrant vocals in this paean to the joys of spending time with your baby.  The guitars have that jangly sound that has been copied by too many bands to count since, and the drums thump, thump, thumps their way through the song in such a way as to make it all but impossible not to shake your body at least a little while it's playing.  And all of this in two minutes, five seconds.  In simplicity is beauty, he said to no one in particular...

And did I mention the cherry on the top of the Crickets echoing Holly every time he sings the words "Oh Boy"?

Lyric sheet:  "All of my life, I've been waitin'?Tonight there'll be no hesitatin', oh boy (Oh Boy!)..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

No, thanks, to Assholes 'r' Us

There's a talking point in the national media that despite the fact that Donald Trump is going to get decimated by Hillary Clinton on November 8th, we still need to pay attention to Trumps rabid supporters because a) they'll still be here after the election, and b) they have legitimate concerns.

This is, of course, complete and utter horseshit.

As to the first point, yes, they'll still be here but since as a group they are overwhelmingly white and old, their members will do nothing in the future but diminish, both in total numbers and as a percentage of the voting public.

As for the second point, these are the people I'm supposed to pay attention to because they have legitimate concerns:

• Former U.S. representative Joe Walsh, who says if Hillary Clinton wins, he's going to engage in armed rebellion.  In a nutshell, this is treason--we don't celebrate Benedict Arnold and we shouldn't celebrate the likes of Joe Walsh either.  
• Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, is already calling for impeachment hearings of President-elect  Secretary Clinton.  Because we all know the Founding Fathers fully intended for impeachment to be used as a way for parties with bad candidates and bad ideas that don't resonate with the American people to impede progress that would actually benefit said American people.
• Sean Hannity, a man who, near as I can tell, has accomplished nothing in his life other than propagating hatred and bald-faced lies, has offered to pay for a one way ticket for the Obama family anywhere in the world as long as they never return to the U.S.  The Obama family is one of the classiest, most generous, smartest, and most gracious families ever to grace the White House, and President Obama is going to go down as one of the five greatest Presidents in our rich history, but still I need to pay attention to a scum pig piece of shit like Sean Hannity?

Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about the concerns of Donald Trump's supporters--they've done nothing but drag this country down for a generation.

We shouldn't be interested in the concerns of pitiless assholes--we should be encouraging our better angels.

Peace,

emaycee

Broken records

One thing you can say for sure about the Stepford School for Republican Candidates and Politicians is that they do an exceptional job of ingraining in their students the three talking points when it comes to the U.S. Economy:  Balanced Budgets, Tax Cuts, and Spending Cuts.  You'd be hard pressed to name a republican pol who can't recite their big three like Christians quote the Scripture.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the pursuit of all three couldn't be worse for our financial well-being:

• You know when budgets get balanced?  When people have good paying jobs and are paying taxes and spending money--exactly like it was when Democrat Bill Clinton was President in the 1990s and hasn't been for a republican administration since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.
• Spending cuts--just ask the good folks of Greece and our own state of Kansas how well all spending cuts all the time works out.  Contrary to what republicans would have us believe, government spending helps put money in ordinary folks' pockets and provides a greater return than most mutual funds.
• The only thing tax cuts do is make rich people richer.  Whatever cuts they give to folks like us is usually gone with the next tank of gas we purchase; for the wealthy, it means they're worth $8.9 billion instead of $8.4 billion.  And they definitely don't create jobs--businesses hire people when they're selling more of their products, not when they have a higher cash flow.

You know what economic initiatives you won't hear republicans advocating?  Raising the minimum wage, investing in improving our infrastructure, and increasing spending on education.

Know why?  Because for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck they actually work to make our lives and our finances better.

Peace,
emaycee

Not so altogether fitting and proper

In a speech today at Gettysburg (yes, that Gettysburg, where Lincoln gave one of the most famous addresses in our nation's history, and yes, rest assured Honest Abe is still spinning furiously in his grave). Donald Trump laid out for Americans what his plans for the first 100 days of his imaginary Presidency are, which apparently includes suing all of the women who have accused him of sexual assault.

Considering that the list of women who have accused Trump is expanding like nanobots, it's a good thing he's a billionaire--he's going to need every penny of it just to pay the lawyers defending him.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCV--Butthole Surfers: Pepper

Every now and again a song comes along--like say, "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)"--and it is infused with more than a little magic and it leads to One-Hit Wonder groups like Edison Lighthouse.  Nothing wrong with that--my favorites playlists have plenty of One-Hit Wonder bands.  On the flip side, though, are those not so commercial bands who develop quite the loyal following over the course of a number of years, and then out of the blue have that one big, deal with the devil hit of their careers.

And that would be the case with this week's tune.

Formed in San Antonio, Texas in 1981, Butthole Surfers are best known for being experimental in their music and outrageous in their live performances.  While in recent years they've become more traditional in the studio and onstage, their early years were marked by a diverse set of musical styles and stage shows that were described as decadent, violent, and bizarre, and which gave then a devoted if small following.  Although together for more than thirty-five years now, the band has only released eight albums in that time, though they toured regularly.

Released in 1996 on their Electriclarryland LP (the title is a take off on Jimi Hendrix's famed Electric Ladyland album), "Pepper" would go on to become the only commercial hit of Butthole Surfer's career, reaching #29 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Sometimes a song defies an easy classification, and "Pepper" is one such song, though it's another one of those songs that could easily have devolved into little more than a novelty song--and it did nothing of the sort.  Basically a song about people who are touched by brushes with death (and nobody seems to know what the hell the "Pepper" has to do with it), it's verses are spoken in sync with some nice and rhythmic drums and the choruses are catchy as all hell with driving guitars.  I'm not sure Friday Night Jukebox has ever featured a song quite like this one--listening to it is a true visceral pleasure.  It's definitely different, but in the end it works and becomes a song one isn't likely to forget.

Lyric Sheet:  "Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain/That is pouring like an avalanche comin' down the mountain..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Losing

I'd be hard pressed to name a Presidential election in which I was more disappointed than the 2004 election in which George W. Bush edged out John Kerry.  When I went to bed on election night, Kerry's chances were slim and none.  When I awoke on Wednesday, it was over, and George W. Bush had won re-election.  I just couldn't believe that the American people could re-elect a man who had proven himself such a colossal failure (little did I realize how much worse he would get!).  I remember talking on the phone to both of my older children and hearing their downcast and dejected voices, and just having an overwhelming sense of doom.  But, for whatever reason, when I woke up on Thursday morning, the first thought I had was, "Fuck it--time to get started on the next election."

I mustn't have been alone--in two years we Democrats had taken back both houses of Congress, and in 2008 we won the White House in a landslide, both by convincing a majority of voters that we had better ideas and solutions and could fix what republicans had done to America.  And we did.

Compare and contrast that with today's republicans, whose reaction to Donald Trump's impending defeat is to scream about rigged elections and threaten peaceful citizens with talk of armed insurrection.

Who do you suppose the real Americans are and which ones do you suppose are just the posers?

Peace,
emaycee

Winning

Laura Clawson wrote a great piece today for Daily Kos  in which she argues that it's important to realize that Donald Trump didn't just lose the debates--Hillary Clinton won them.  She showed herself to be more knowledgeable, more experienced, have a better temperament, to be smarter, and frankly, by far and away the best candidate to lead the people of the United States.

We as a party would be wise to realize much the same about her victory on November 8th--Clinton's margin of victory will be greater than it might have been because Trump is such a piss poor candidate, but a majority of Americans were still voting for our candidate before his candidacy imploded because we have better ideas, grow the economy better, look out for average Americans, are more inclusive, aren't racist, homophobic, or misogynistic, and frankly, have shown over the course of the last eight years that we are much better at running the country than republicans are.

No matter how the national median spins it, this will be a victory for progressive policies and a sound rebuke once again of the failed conservative agenda.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCIV--The Hold Steady: Banging Camp

For whatever reason, my youngest son only listens to two musical stylings:  anything (and I do mean anything) by The Who and the concert film of The Band's The Last Waltz.  Lately he's been on a huge Last Waltz kick and when I listen with him I find myself often thinking, "Man, nobody makes music like this anymore."  I'm wrong, of course--sometimes being an old fart you forget that you have neither the time nor the finances to listen to everything that's out there musically anymore and that there are probably plenty of bands still making music like they did back in the day.

And if I had taken a second to think, I surely could have come up with The Hold Steady (and The Decemberists and The Avett Brothers and Okkervil River and...), which interestingly enough, was formed after the band members from an earlier incarnation of The Hold Steady watched The Last Waltz and lead singer Craig Finn asked the future lead guitarist, "Dude, why aren't there bands like this anymore?"

Sometimes it truly is a small world.

Formed in 2004 in Brooklyn, New York (though lead singer Finn is from Minnesota and carries that midwestern ambiance), The Hold Steady have had a nice run as an "it" band garnering lots of good reviews for their early albums and their live shows.  Known in some circles as America's best bar band (not really sure what that means as I've never been much of a bar aficionado and what few times I have gone, the bands usually did shitty covers), they have released six LPs, six EPs, and one live album in the last dozen years.  They also did an absolute killer version of Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" for the Whatever The Fuck It Was movie I'm Not There.  While they haven't enjoyed a lot of commercial (i.e., chart rankings) success, they're still making records and touring so....

Released in 2005 on their concept album Separation Sunday, "Banging Camp" is a song about...fuck if I know.  Kids trying to find their way, I suppose.  There are religious allusions and lots of teen angst and bravado in the lyrics, but the song is driven by a wondrous back and forth of guitars (if you listen carefully on a system with a pair of speakers the guitars alternate between speakers) and Finn's vocals (which sound a little like Springsteen, not a bad rock and roller to sound a little like).  At approximately the 3:35 mark the song also has a false ending (emaycee fave) before the guitars take over once more and lead us to the end.  It's kind of an odd song for me, because unlike most (though not all) Friday Night Jukebox tunes, there's is no chorus.  Finn tells the story from beginning to end, and though he does repeat the line "There's strings attached to every lover" a number of times, it could hardly be called a chorus.  All in all, it's American rock and roll at its finest--one part Springsteen, one part CCR, and one part the meshing of Minnesota and New York City.

Rap sheet:  "He said, hi, I like to party on the problem blocks/And I can't stand it when the banging stops..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Answering for Santino

As it is beginning to appear that the 2016 Presidential Election is all over save the hooting and hollering of the victors (which would be--yay!--us), one has to wonder if the national media will ever hold the republican party and its leadership/congressional delegation accountable for trying to foist upon the American electorate one Donald J. Trump, a man who has no business being within 10,000 feet of the Presidency.  While they may answer that they can't control their voters primary choice, that really seems like little more than another in a long line of republican excuses that are just so much bullshit.  Either you have the courage to stand up for what's best for America or you don't, and republicans, for all their blather about toughness, are appearing quite weak-kneed.

How can they stand before the American people and be believed when they say they have our best interests at heart?  How can they stand before the American people and claim to want what's best for our nation?  While republicans have nominated (and elected) numerous incompetent boobs to the Oval Office, nominating a man who could literally destroy the country is beyond the pale.

I'm not holding my breath, but somebody needs to call on the republican party and have them answer for what they were willing to do to this great country in the name of expediency.

Peace,
emaycee

Calling their bullshit, part the second

And another thing...

After all the horrid diatribes against Latinos, Muslims, women, a Gold Star Family, Hillary Clinton, the disabled, ad infinitum, republicans pick now, a month before the election, to disavow statements made by Donald Trump.

Awfully convenient, ain't it?

Let's face it, republicans jumping out of the burning building is a craven maneuver designed to hold onto majorities in the House and Senate that they so richly deserve to lose--they've had since June of 2015 to renounce the actions and statements of Donald Trump but they chose to cower like cowards before their party's base.

In the business speak republicans are so fond of, they broke it and now they get to buy it.

Peace,
emaycee

Calling their bullshit, part the first

In light of audio tapes released in which Donald Trump says some seriously nasty shit (and what a surprise that was...) about a woman, republicans are rushing to claim his actions are on a par with the womanizing of Bill Clinton.

No.

Just no.

While I doubt philandering will ever be considered a desirable trait by a majority of Americans in any of our lifetimes, Bill Clinton has also spent his career fighting for women's reproductive rights, equal pay for women, equal rights for women, and, in his personal life, helping his wife realize her political aspirations.

He is also not running for President.

And despite their very personal struggles, the Clintons have managed to keep their marriage together these oh so many years.

Comparing the actions of a man with a wandering eye with those of a pig is self-delusion at best and outright lying to the American people at worst.

Peace,
emaycee
 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCIII--Eric Burdon and War: Spill the Wine

Every now and again a song comes along that I'll listen to numerous times and for some reason it never grabs me and then one day I'll be listening to it and something just clicks and I'll wonder, "How did I never notice before how great this song was?"

Such is the case with this week's tune, "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon and War, which I "discovered" about ten years ago after I'd picked up a copy of War's Greatest Hits in a discount bin in some now long forgotten record shop.  I'd heard it many times before, but somehow listening to it in my car driving back and forth to work triggered something in my brain that made the song into an all-time fave (of course, I was working for Kmart at the time, so I may have wanted a swig of wine as I drove to and from their store...).

Eric Burdon is famed for being the lead singer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, The Animals, which, truth be told, outside of "The House of the Rising Sun" is a band that I'm not terribly fond of.  The Animals had a number of hits in the 60's before the usual rigmarole left them in the dustbins of Rock and Roll Bands that Eventually Broke Up.  At that point Burdon teamed up with War (regular readers may remember my write up of War's "Summer" earlier this year) for a couple of albums before embarking on the Famed Band Member Goes Solo Tour which pretty much went absolutely nowhere.  Still, Burdon is recognized as on of the all-time great rock and roll vocalists (#57 on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time).

Released in 1970 on the very coolly named LP, Eric Burdon Declares "War", "Spill the Wine" was War's first chart hit, reaching #3 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Though not on par with Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin, "Spill the Wine" was an accidental song of sorts--while recording, one of the band members accidentally spilled some wine on the soundboard, which Burdon and War member Lonnie Jordan deemed hilarious (one supposes a bit of the famous weed may have sparked such hilarity over a not particularly funny incident) and composed the song in response.

One of the more amazing things about the song, to me, is how easily it could have been little more than a novelty song, but somehow isn't.  Part of this is the lyrics themselves--a series of rambling and bizarre monologues that sound like they're out of a Tim Burton movie.  Not your average "Gangnam Style" bullshit for your average American.  The rest of it, of course, is the jazz/funk/pop/R & B stylings of War--I'm not exactly a Funkmaster, but even I can't help but both marvel at and shake my tailfeather to the music.  Combine those two with a simple and catchy as all hell chorus--"Spill the wine, take that pearl" is the sum of it--and you have another classic for Friday Night Jukebox.

Did I mention there's also a flute solo in the background throughout?  Another of those Moments You Don't Find All That Often In Pop Songs....

Rap sheet (note that some consider this song to be among the early influences of rap):  "I thought to myself, what could that mean?/Am I going crazy, or is this just a dream..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

The gift that just keeps on giving

From the Who'd Have Ever Guessed Files?:

After Donald Trump went on another of his crazed rants, this time saying even more horrible things about Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe that Trump once called Miss Piggy, there was another huge surge in Latino voter registration searches... and when you consider that Latinos vote Democratic 70% of the time, and that 93% of voters vote for the same party as they voted for in their first election for the rest of their lives, and that 80,000 Latino Americans turn 18 every month, you don't have to be an M.I.T. grad to do the math.

You know, when this election is over Democrats are going to owe Donald Trump a huge thank you--by the time all is said and done, he is going to put us in the driver's seat electorally for at least a generation.

Peace,
emaycee

And the wheels come off the Bozo Bus

Speaking of temperament...

After a week in which he got absolutely crushed in the first debate and watched his already slim chances of winning the Presidential election dwindle even further, Donald Trump showed us yet again why he has no business being anywhere near the most important job in the world at a rally this past weekend.  In the space of a few minutes, replete with cheers from his fans, Trump managed to mock Secy. Clinton's recent pneumonia bout with arms and legs flailing, accuse her of being unfaithful to her husband, and declared that she was crazy.

Why anyone would want Trump for a next door neighbor, let alone the President of the United States, will surely be one of the great mysteries of our times for future historians.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCII--The Hives: Hate to Say I Told You So

While I most certainly hope it never happens, if I ever go stark raving mad, running down the streets of Michigan, screaming like a completely out of his mind lunatic, I'm sure that the song providing the soundtrack for it will be "Hate to Say I Told You So" by the Hives.

Formed in either 1989 or 1993 ( I write 'em, you pick em'), the Hives are a Swedish band that became "overnight sensations" in the early 2000's with their garage rock meets pop music sensibilities.  Over the course of their still somewhat young career, they've released five LPs, three LPs, and have developed a reputation as one of the best live bands going.  They've had a little more commercial and chart success overseas than here in the states, but nonetheless are one of the more fun and lively bands going these days.

Released on their Veni Vidi Vicious LP in 2000, "Hate to Say I Told You So" could best be described as frenzied or frenetic or furious or fevered or frantic or (now that I've run out of  F synonyms) manic or crazed or wild (thank God for the thesaurus).  The song starts with thirty seconds of hyperactive guitar that sounds like it's being played through a bullhorn while jumping up and down on a pogo stick, before there's a short lull with just a drum banging to and fro, before lead vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist shreds his vocal cords with some of the most in your face vocals ever recorded by a pop musician.  And it continues unbridled for three more minutes, with the guitars thrashing, the drums bashing and the vocals slashing, an ode to nihilism or a prayer to the id, and even now, some sixteen years down the road it is still every bit the numbness reducing, demon releasing grandiose pop tune it was the first time I heard it.

And you can thank the gods of music for bequeathing to us all the glory that is power pop...

Rap sheet:  "Gonna get through your head what the mystery man said/Because I'm gonna..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee