Donald Trump's chief economic adviser and former Goldman-Sachs president Gary Cohn this week noted that with the extra $1000 a year Americans who make $100,000 a year would be getting from Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy, they could buy a new car.
Who knew there were cars coming out that cost $1000? Hell, we'll take three--my wife has never driven a new car, I haven't driven one since 2003, and our son will be 16 in a couple of years. After the trade in for our current cars, we'll end up making money and having no car payments!
What's that? There aren't new cars that cost a thousand dollars? Well, shit.
Who could have ever guessed that a rich prick in the Trump administration had no clue about the economic realities facing 90% of Americans?
A Friday Night Jukebox on a Friday night? Be still my beating heart....
I came across this week's tune on some sort of compilation album (name long forgotten) released a thousand years ago when in Louisville, KY working on a store remodel back in my Camelot Music days. It was one of those tunes that after the second or third listen I just couldn't get out of my head (but in a good way), and when I got back home to St. Louis I immediately bought it on a .45 single. Can you say "He's old!" boys and girls?
The Swingin' Medallions were formed in 1962 in the major metropolis of Greenwood, South Carolina. They are purveyors of beach music, which was born in the mid-40's around the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) area, and revolves around the dance known as the shag (or Carolina shag), and remains popular today primarily in the Carolinas, but also in pockets of the deep South (the things you learn on Wikipedia). While some major pop/R & B groups have performed numbers that one can dance the shag to (the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Foundations classic "Build Me Up Buttercup"), the core bands remain regional favorites in the Carolinas. Some of the original Swingin' Medallions (there were 8 all told, near as I can tell) still perform together to this day throughout the South (there's a video of them singing with Bruce Springsteen in South Carolina a couple years back that isn't worth a listen because someone posted it from their phone and if you turn the volume up to 80 on your computer you can almost hear the lyrics), and they are another in a long line of bands featured on FNJ this year who have made the mostest out of their one hit single. And good on them--who wouldn't rather spend your Saturday night singing for a bunch of happy college kids rather than stocking grocery shelves?
"Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)" was released in 1966 and appeared on their very aptly named debut album, Double Shot (of My Baby's Love). It would become the band's only chart success, reaching #17 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. And just to show you how far we've come, the song was actually banned on many radio stations because it discussed drinking and sex. The horror!
If "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen and "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians got married and had a baby, it would probably be "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)." How's that for an intro? Truth be told, the reason I say that is every time I hear it it reminds me of the two--it's got the mirth and frivolity of "Louie Louie" and the organ reminds me of "96 Tears." Still, the song stands very well on its own, a paean to a good lovin' woman, replete with some fine harmony vocals, plenty of hand claps, a catchy as all hell chorus with a lot of yeah, yeah, yeahs, and enough hootin' and hollerin' (as my dear old Dad used to say) in the background to keep even the most cynical of music lovers happy. All in all, like last week's tune from Kiss, this is a fun song, made to be enjoyed.
Lyric Sheet: "It wasn't wine that I had too much of/It was a double shot of my baby's love..."
You have to be a special kind of stupid to believe that Colin Kaepernick is not currently on a National Football League team roster because he's no longer the player he once was. There are at least four to five starting quarterbacks in the NFL (including the starting QB for Kaepernick's former team, the 49ers) right now that are not as good as Kaepernick, and that's not even counting the thirty-two for the most part no name backup quarterbacks employed in the NFL.
And it begs the question: what would you be willing to give up to take a knee for your beliefs?
Granted, Kaepernick signed a very lucrative contract a few years back and likely isn't going to be homeless any time soon. Still, he spent a lifetime preparing to become an NFL player, realized his dream, and then lost his dream because he had the courage to stand up for his beliefs, the courage to say that African-Americans deserve better than they are receiving from their country and its leaders.
He started a movement, one that's making America and Americans better.
And that's a hell of a lot more than one can say about that son of a bitch Donald Trump and his minions.
Once again republicans have controlled the narrative and turned what was a protest about racial inequality in America into a controversy about the flag and free speech. Turn to most any channel, read most any article, and what they're screaming about is patriotism vs. free speech rights. Colin Kaepernick did not take a knee for free speech (though his actions very much are)--he took a knee to call out African-American citizens being gunned down by our police with impunity. To call out unemployment being greater among people of color. To call out poverty being greater among people of color.
Remember that every time they cry about respect for the flag, or question the patriotism of those who originally took a knee, they are telling you that a piece of cloth is more important than an American life.
And we need to punch back by telling them it isn't.
Alas, my introduction to this week's tune came not from the original, but from a cover version by The Who...which my youngest son thoroughly loved, especially their version from the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. I had mentioned to him that it had originally been done by Eddie Cochran (which I'd heard a time or two, but wasn't really familiar with), and at some point he asked me if we could find his version on Youtube. We did...and it was love at first (give or take) listen. We both listened to it two or three times a night for the next month.
Eddie Cochran began his musical career as so many others have done by forming a band when he was in high school at the wee age of fourteen. A multi-instrumentalist (though he is remembered most for his guitar playing), Cochran would go on to become one of the forefathers of rockabilly, an innovator in the studio, and an influence to a number rock and roll stars higher than most republicans can count. Though he would release only one album in his lifetime, and have 7 singles reach the charts, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Sadly, Cochran's musical career was cut short when he was killed in April of 1960 when the taxi he was riding in while on tour in England blew a tire and ran into a pole. Cochran's last act was a heroic one--when he realized the car was going to crash he thew his body in front of his girlfriend to protect her. Cochran was thrown from the taxi and died of massive head injuries later the same night. He was twenty-one years old.
It would be all but impossible to understate the influence that "Summertime Blues" has had on rock and roll--there are probably fewer bands who have not covered the song than there are those that have. Released in 1958, the single would reach #8 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. More telling is the fact that two more bands would take the single into the top 30--Blue Cheer took the song to #14 in 1968 (wasn't all that crazy about their version), and the aforementioned Who version went to #27 just two years later.
To call "Summertime Blues" the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the 1950's would be flattery of the highest order to both tunes. Cochran tells the tale of summertime angst--and what a bummer it is to have to work a job for money when there's so much other fun to be had when the weather's warm and you're out of school for three months. The song lasts a mere one minute and fifty-three seconds, but it packs an opera's worth of highlights into that short time span, from Cochran's wondrous rockabilly guitar work (I defy you to name a guitarist who hears it and doesn't immediately try to learn it--I did!), to his fuck this bullshit vocals, to the hand claps (and I loves me some hand claps in songs), to the use of a deep voice each time an adult speaks to Cochran's desires. I would honestly say it holds its own with the great early rock and roll tunes like "Rock Around the Clock," or "Johnny B. Goode" or "Blue Suede Shoes." It is a timeless classic that came, like those songs, at a time when American kids were first beginning to question authority and find their place in a rapidly changing America.
Lyric Sheet: "A-I'm a-gonna raise a fuss/I'm a-gonna raise a holler/About a-working all summer/Just to try to earn a dollar..."
Enjoy (and note Cochran trying to keep from laughing each time his band mate does the adult voice):
Bonus Video (because you can never get enough of The Who--well at least I can't):
News that the Koch Brothers have threatened to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions if republicans don't repeal Obamacare and pass tax cuts for the Koch Brothers, and the republicans response of "Yes, sir, may I have another?" isn't surprising in the least. But it does open an opportunity for Democrats to ask Americans just what it is they are getting for republicans fealty to the rich--because from where I'm sitting it sure seems like it's just one big shit sandwich, i.e., the more bread you've got, the less shit you've got to eat.
I'm pretty sure that government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich isn't a government that most of our three hundred thirty million citizens are much interested in supporting.
As part of their efforts to show how pro life they are in letting thousands of Americans die from lack of healthcare, republicans are claiming that the block grants feature of the disastrous Graham Cassidy healthcare "bill" would be to allow for more innovation in how health insurance is provided.
After thirty-five years in Corporate America, let me tell you what passes for innovation in the business world:
1) Pay CEOs more
2) Slash employees
3) Slash expenses
4) Lobby for corporate welfare
5) Blame underlings when "innovation" doesn't make the company successful/more successful
You can keep your fucking innovation--I'd much rather have my Obamacare.
I remember a couple of years back when I'd heard that Kiss was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and being more than a little surprised. Don't get me wrong--I have a greatest hits LP of theirs and six of their songs are on my Ipod favorites playlist, but still, Kiss? I mean just how hard up could the Hall be for new meat? But in the end the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn't about greatness but about entertainment, and if there's anything that Kiss was, it was entertaining.
Formed in 1973 in New York City, Kiss (made up of Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss) earned early kudos for their stage shows which featured the band in make up (as I watched the video for this week's tune it dawned on me that Kiss might have been the original hair band), each with his own persona, and concerts filled with fireworks, pyrotechnics, and blood spitting. Alas, for whatever reason the excitement from their live shows didn't translate to the studio so the band released a double live album, Alive!, and unleashed the commercial whores that Kiss would become. One could become a member of the Kiss Army (no, thanks), buy Kiss lunch boxes, see a Kiss superhero movie (Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park), a movie collaboration with the folks who brought us Scooby Doo, and even all four band members releasing a solo albums on the same day--all of this in addtion to the multiple platinum albums and sold out world tours, As is often the case, fame brought with it the usual band tensions and by the early eighties Criss and Frehley had gone their separate ways (until the obligatory reunion tour in the mid 90's). Simmons and Stanley, though, kept cracking the whip and in numerous incarnations the band has continued to this very day, releasing 24 studio albums (over 75 million sold), enough compilation albums to choke Willy of Free Willy fame, enough tours to embarrass the Rolling Stones, and the creme de la creme, their induction into the Rock Hall. In the end, commercial whores or not, they brought lots of joy to lots of folks and there ain't much wrong with that.
Originally released as a single from their Dressed to Kill LP, "Rock and Roll All Nite" didn't go much of anywhere, only reaching #68 (weak bullet) on the Billboard Hot 100. But when the live version from the aforementioned Alive! LP was released, it gained a new life and would reach #12 (much better bullet!) on the Hot 100. It remains Kiss' signature song, and has closed every live show they've done since 1976.
"Rock and Roll All Nite" is proof positive that sticking to the basics has its merits. It's power chords, a catchy chorus, Simmons half sung, half shouted gravelly vocals, and power drums. It's simple (really just an exhortation to the band's fans to join them in their rock and roll odyssey), but in the end it's F-U-N--I had a smile on my face the whole time I was watching the 900 year old video of the band ripping through their biggest hit. Throw in a section of the chorus where the guitar playing stops and you just have Criss' drumming and a bunch of what sound like hand claps, and you have musical magic moment #142 on our regular Friday (or Wednesday) night journey.
Fun Fact #1: The members of Kiss released their solo albums in 1978, and each sold over a million copies. Less than five years later I purchased all four for a quarter apiece, brand new, making suckers of all those folks who paid $4.99 per LP (gather round boys and girls, and the old fart will regale you with tales of when music was cheap) when they were originally released.
Fun Fact #2: My kid brother originally thought the chorus ("I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day") was "I wanna rock and roll all night and discuss a debate." Who says there's no intellectualism in rock and roll?
Liner Notes: "You say you wanna go for a spin/The party's just begun, we'll let you in..."
With news today that Donald Trump is still apologizing for the Nazis who marched in Charlottesville (all a part of making American great again!), and that white evangelicals are more enamored of Trump than they are of what their good book actually preaches, you really have to think that Sinclair Lewis might turn out to be quite prescient when he said (it's likely he never said it, though he said several similar things), "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
And all the more reason to keep fighting the Nazi fucks.
If you have school age children (or grandchildren), now is the time of year when at each and every turn schools are either A) Asking you for money, or B) Having your kids sell something to give them even more of your money. And each year, with republicans controlling our legislature and public education's purse strings, I'm really tempted to send in a note in lieu of my hard earned cash that says, "Have you tried voting for Democrats instead? We don't cut taxes for millionaires at the expense of our kids' education."
It probably wouldn't go over very well, but I'd feel a whole lot better.
Might as well just make it Wednesday Night Jukebox...
I'm not one for equating pop music lyrics with poetry, but the lyric, "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you..." comes pretty darn close. Pretty sure even the Bard of Avon would have given himself a pat on the back for that line. And when you add in music...well you have a pop gem that was as big a breakthrough single as any band could hope for.
Formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland while they were in college, Coldplay released three EPs in 1998 and 1999 before releasing their debut LP, Parachutes, in 2000. The first single in the U.K., "Shiver," went to #35 on the British charts. Their second single in the U.K. (and first here in the states) was "Yellow" and lead the way for Colplay to become the juggernaut that they are today. Arguably the most commercially successful (and even, perhaps, critically) band of the 21st century (over ninety million albums sold), Coldplay has released seven albums over the past 17 years, gone on seven wildly successful tours, won seven Grammy Awards, nine Brit Awards (the U.K. Grammy Awards), and donate time and money (10% of the money they make goes to charity) to numerous political (generally left leaning) and social causes. Truth be told, other than the occasional song ("Clocks," "The Scientist") I really haven't followed their work since "Yellow," but any band that plays their own instruments and writes their own music in this day and age (do I sound like much of an old fart?) is A-OK in my book. It's also hard to not appreciate how successful they have been on an international scale, especially in an era when radio is godforsaken, the internet offers literally millions of musical choices, the media is more than happy to present overrated mediocre talent, and republicans control all three branches of government in the United States (just kidding about that last one...sort of).
While Parachutes was an immediate sensation (so many cool kids in the British Isles) in the U.K. (hitting number one within a couple of weeks), it never enjoyed the same success here in the States, only hitting #51. Likewise, "Yellow" reached #4 on the British charts, but only #48 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100--yet the album would go on to become double platinum and the single would sell over two million copies. "Yellow" also appeared on eight different charts in Billboard, which seems like a hell of a lot until you realize there are like a thousand charts (only a slight exaggeration) in each issue....
Opening with a lightly strummed guitar before seguing into some simple though not so lightly struck chords (for some reason, whenever I hear them, I think of a match being struck), after which Chris Martin begins his earnest vocals for an unrequited love with the words "Look at the stars...". Martin has said that the word yellow has no special meaning--he was merely looking for the right word while the band was composing it in the studio when he looked up and saw a female friend who was there and she seemed to have a yellow glow about her. He inserted the word yellow until he could come up with a better word, but never found one that sounded better than yellow. One of the features I really like about the song is that the lyrics are subtle enough that it's not your run of the mill sappy love ballad, but not so subtle as to lead you to believe it might be about Dostoyevsky's pet emu. There's a nice bridge where Martin sings about her as being "skin and bones turned into something beautiful." All of which leads to the closing which is basically Martin asking her to see how the stars shine for her over and over before closing up with a lightly strummed guitar as at the intro. It'd been a while since I'd heard this one and listening to it earlier this week reminded me not only of how much I liked it, but also of just how good of a love ballad it is--and of how hard it is to write one that doesn't sound trite after a hundred listens.
Lyric Sheet: "I came along/I wrote a song for you/And all the things you do/And it was called 'Yellow...'"
"Let's put the jam on the lower shelf where the little people can reach it." Smilin' Ralph Yarborough, Liberal Senator from Texas, 1956-1971
I'm having one of those weeks that we all have from time to time, and it was made even worse when I woke up Tuesday morning and realized I'd forgotten to give my yearly hug to Labor Unions for giving all of us better wages, healthcare, the eight hour workday, sick days, paid vacations, safer workplaces, social justice, ad infinitum...but then I figured, what the hell, Labor Unions are deserving of a hug every day, not just on Labor Day.
Good (though not surprising) News: The Economic Policy Institute has just released a study which shows (long story short) that despite the best efforts of nazi loving republicans and rich folks with psychopathic tendencies that Union members have better wages, better benefits, safer workplaces, and more job security, and are the best hope we have for overturning our rigged economy. Cold hard truth...
No one ever wrote a song (well at least one that was any good) extolling the callous assholes on Wall Street or calling for Corporate America to unite in fucking over its workers--but because Unions are not only better at looking out for their fellow workers but also full of cool cats, we have lots of great songs, like "Solidarity Forever," lauding working folks and the Unions that make life better for all of us. Like this one from the Godfather of Union Songs, Pete Seeger:
This week's tune on Friday Night Jukebox I've Had a Fucked Up Week Wednesday Edition features my favorite Conor Oberst song that really has very little to do with Conor Oberst. And just to show you how fucked up my week was, every song by Slim Jim and the Podunk Shitkickers has a video on Youtube, but the only video for this week's tune I could find was a) live, b) sounds like it was recorded in a coffee can, and c) features about a minute and a half of Conor Oberst tuning his guitar. Woo-fucking-hoo.
Conor Oberst is, well, Conor Oberst , he of Bright Eyes and about ninety other bands (actually seven in all) as well as a solo performance or two. The Mystic Valley Band was more or less Oberst's backing band for a few years, in which they released two albums and then took a hiatus before releasing their third and for the time being, last album. While not quite repeating the commercial or historical achievements of The Beatles, Oberst and his backing band did have a modicum of chart success and, if nothing else, were revered and raved about by critics and the cool kids alike. Plus they managed to write and record one of my favorite songs of this century, which now that we're seventeen years in, doesn't seem such a small sample size.
Released in 2009 on their Outer SouthLP, "Difference Is Time" was written and sung by the Mystic Valley Band's drummer, Jason Boesel. Near as I can tell, it's a song about a man seeking a woman's love, a man who loved her once some time ago, and the difference between her two loves is the time that has passed and the hardening of the heart that often comes with aging. Then again, the lyrics are a bit obtuse, so it could be about a bionic dog on Venus for all I know. Nevertheless, it has a nice alt-country sound and would feel at home on just about any Uncle Tupelo album. Boesel sings the frustration of a much wanted but still unrequited love, dragging out the lyrics just enough without turning the song into a twangy mushfest. The music features a nice back and forth between an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar, with an overarching organ and piano. Boesel closes the song repeating "difference is time" while noting that the woman of his desire, "...ain't yours and she sure ain't mine." It's a song of resigned acceptance--which in many ways mirrors the lives most of us live in quiet desperation.
Lyric devotees note that the lyric links I found were all pretty poor, especially considering that the lyrics were included in the CD package--somehow several of them managed to turn the line ",,,and let the feelings roll" into "...and the feet is row" which might mean something to the bionic dog on Venus, but doesn't mean fuck all to those of us here on earth...
Lyric Sheet: "There's an end I will surely meet/When I'm done dancing to this beat/On my headstone it will be written/Life is hard even if you cheat..."
While regular readers (both of you) know that I'm already on the Kirsten Gillibrand for President in 2020 bandwagon, hints (co-sponsoring Bernie Sanders single payer bill, encouraging kids helped by DACA) that Sen. Kamala Harris from the great state of California is preparing to run in 2020 are also very welcome--the more the merrier!
And the best part? Imagine a President who is both black and a woman. Republicans' heads would absolutely fucking explode.
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
