She--and others like her--is the future of our party
In several interviews this week as her worthless ass exits the Senate, former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill has taken pot shots at incoming New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling her a "bright shiny object," wondering what she did to deserve all the attention she's getting, and giving the usual republican lite Democrat warning about the party moving too far to the left to appeal to white working class voters (who aren't going to vote for us anyway).
Not really sure what McCaskill did to earn her soapbox...can't think of a single thing she accomplished while in the Senate other than being a DINO, a wishy washy vote for Democratic policies, and absolutely getting her ass handed to her last November by Josh Hawley in the biggest Democratic wave election since 1974. Heck of a job, McCaskill!
Thankfully, Ocasio-Cortez isn't one of those wishy washy Democrats, and fired back at McCaskill, specifically faulting her for supporting Trump's agenda and getting beat badly while progressive policies were passing in her home state of Missouri. And I believe we are going to see a lot more striking back at centrist Democrats, who have played a crucial role in where the country is today due to their lack of fortitude and political cowardice. About goddamn time.
Ocasio-Cortez and those like her are the future of our party, and one need only look at how scared republicans are of an incoming freshman to appreciate the scope of what she's accomplished--which is to get people talking about our policies and how much good they do for ordinary Americans in comparison to the republican (and McCaskill like Democrats) agenda of fealty to the wealthy elite and Corporate America.
As for McCaskill, I'd be willing to bet she's angling for one of those Fox News Democrats Who Toe the Republican Line pundit jobs.
And as to the loss of her in the U.S. Senate, frankly it's good bye and good fucking riddance.
It's been said that when one makes a mistake more than once, the first one can be an accident but by the second one it begins to look like carelessness.
For the second time in less than a month, a child whose family was seeking asylum here in the U.S. has died under the care of the Department of Homeland Security. At best, this looks like indifference on the part of the Trump Administration. At worst, it's out and out cruelty. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen issued a statement which sounded a lot like she was more bothered by having to issue the statement than she was by the child's death. Donald Trump predictably blamed the Democrats for our immigration policies, ignoring, of course, that republicans have controlled the federal government for the last two years and could have implemented their horrid policies at will (and faced an even worse backlash at the polls than they did last November).
Anyone want to imagine the republicans reaction had either of these children died under the Obama administration? It would have been the first and second time that republicans ever cared about people of color, and it would have been more about scoring political points than the loss of the children.
Anyway you slice it, two families have now suffered the most horrific nightmare a family can suffer, and the Trump administration bears all of the responsibility. And whatever evil should befall those whose indifference and cruelty allowed the two deaths will be richly deserved.
At first glance, I thought this week's tune wasn't ending 2018 in a very positive manner here on Friday Night Jukebox, but as I thought more about it, it dawned on me that it is very human (and in a way, somewhat hopeful) to chronicle tragedy to channel our empathy, even if, as this week's tune acknowledges, there really are no reasons for said tragedy. Our tears, so to speak, pull us together.
The Boomtown Rats (truly one of rock's great band names) formed in 1975 in their native Ireland and had a fine bit of success through 1985 when they broke up, but it has largely been overshadowed (probably rightfully so) by the charitable work of lead singer Bob Geldof. Over the course of those ten years, the Rats released six LPs, three of which reached the top ten in the UK. They also had nine singles reach the top twenty on the UK charts, including two of which went to #1. The Rats did reunite--and are still together minus a player or two--in 2013. The band's musical work, though, pales in comparison to Geldof's tireless devotion to making Africa and her many peoples a better place to live. Geldof, with Midge Ure of Ultravox fame, wrote the now classic Christmas tune "Do They Know It's Christmas" to aid with the famine in Ethiopia in 1984 and it would go on to sell over eleven million copies and raise more than ten million dollars. Geldof would also stage Live Aid, a star studded concert across the continents, a little later to raise even more money for Africa, and has worked tirelessly through the years for debt relief and numerous other programs to help the continent. Sometimes jokingly referred to as "St. Bob" for his work, Geldof does have a demon side and has been criticized for numerous comments throughout his life. Still, the tale of the Boomtown Rats shows that while pop music has its decadent and its silly side, it is also capable of quite a bit of good--as many in the nations of Africa will readily attest.
Fun Fact: The Boomtown Rats took their name from a group of children in Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory.
"I Don't Like Mondays" was released in 1979 on their LP, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The single reached number one in the UK, their native Ireland, and the top ten in eleven other nations. Surprisingly (or not), the song only reached #73 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100--but I'm not sure if this is because of a lack of cool kids here in the states or because the mass shooting chronicled in the song happened here and some stations were reluctant to play it.
For those not familiar, "I Don't Like Mondays" was written by Geldof in response to a school shooting in January of 1979 by Brenda Ann Spencer in San Diego, CA in which two were killed and nine others injured. When asked why she had done it, Spencer replied, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." As I listened to it in prep for this week's post, I was struck by several things, the first of which is how well it's aged. One could listen to it in comparison to other songs through the years chronicling school shooters, such as Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" from the nineties or Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks" from this decade (there are probably others I'm not familiar with or don't remember off the top of my head), and both musically and thematically it would hold its own. I was also impressed by Geldof's compassion for all those involved: the school's students, the school's parents, other parents worrying about their own children, and even, to a degree, the shooter herself. Lastly, I was truly amazed at how much Geldof and the Rats did within the confines of a pop single. From the use of a single piano (there may be strings, I wasn't sure) to convey both the horror and the sadness, to the rat-a-tat hand claps, to the understated backing vocals, to Geldof's vocal performance itself, invoking anger, empathy, and confusion (but never despair), "I Don't Like Mondays" is a testament to what a well written, wonderfully orchestrated, and dexterously performed pop song can accomplish.
Lyric Sheet: "Sweet 16 ain't that peachy keen/No it ain't so neat to admit defeat/They can see no reasons 'cause there are no reasons/What reason do you need..."
Choosing a song from Stevie Wonder's vast (and excellent) catalog of songs to be featured here on FNJ is a bit like looking at a counter full of candy bars when you have the munchies--you finally end up choosing one because you know that eventually you'll be hungry again and you can choose another candy bar later. I'll be amazed if another of his songs isn't featured again somewhere down the road...says the man who wrote posts about 207 songs before finally getting to the inimitable Stevie Wonder.
Writing a one paragraph synopsis of Stevie Wonder's career is a tall task...but I'm going to attempt it anyhow. Starting out in my adopted home of Detroit, Wonder signed his first music contract when he was eleven years old with Motown. Wonder's musical success started slowly as he didn't have his first hit until he was all of thirteen ("Fingertips"--it also made him the youngest person to top the Billboard Hot 100). Wonder added more hit singles throughout the sixties, before coming into his own in the seventies. By the time he was twenty-five, Wonder had won two Grammys for album of the year, and would go on to win three album of the year Grammys in four years. After the seventies, Wonder settled into a more commercial groove, and while he never again reached the artistic success of his earlier works, he sold a shitload of records. Overall, Wonder has released 26 LPs, sold over 100 million records, three of which hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and ten of which hit the top five. He's had ten number one singles and thirty which hit the top 40. He's won twenty-five Grammy Awards (you read that right, 25--the most for any single artist in Grammy history), won an Academy Award for best song, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and been given an honorary music degree by Yale. He's also been a political activist, fighting against racism, hunger, AIDs, and war, as well as championing Nelson Mandela when it wasn't popular to champion him, and also performed at Barack Obama's first inauguration. Wonder is also known for collaborating with too many artist to count (he's a multi-instrumentalist, and his harmonica playing has been featured on numerous songs). Did I mention that he's been blind since shortly after his birth? Taken as a whole, that's a legacy to end all legacies.
Fun Fact: Wonder was instrumental (so to speak) in establishing Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday--he wrote the song "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign and also staged a rally which helped to bring in a petition with over six million signatures in support of making King's birthday a national holiday.
"If You Really Love Me" was released in 1971 on the album Where I'm Coming From. It would eventually reach #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Wonder wrote the song with his first wife Syreeta Wright, and played piano, synthesizer, and drums on the song.
One of the reasons I chose this week's tune (other than it's one of my favorites of his) is that I like how Wonder opens with the catchy as all hell chorus and then moves into the considerably slower, almost ballad-like stanzas--it's a fine juxtaposition of the two styles. As I did my half-assed research for this week's tune, I noticed that the album "If You Really Love Me" came from was the last of Wonder's career before Motown turned control of his work over to Wonder himself, and in a lot of ways you can see in this song what was to come in his seventies work over the next few years--Wonder was really stretching out a little bit, seeing just what he could do with his music. I also chose it because there's a joyousness, a playfulness, to the song that is a hallmark of Wonder's work--he did some great socially conscious songs through the years, but Wonder's genius has always been that he could do it with some of the greatest pop music sensibilities of any artist I can think of. I would be remiss if I didn't note that the song has some fine horn work from Motown's in house band, the Funk Brothers, and that Wonder's wife at the time also provided some fine backing vocals. All in all, it's a hell of pop tune from one of the greatest practitioners of pop this country has ever seen--and a man with the heart of a lion.
Lyric Sheet: "First the feeling's alright/Then it's gone from sight/So I'm taking out this time to say.../Oh, if you really love me won't you tell me..."
As a child of the seventies, I can tell you there were a whole lot of cool kids who were fans of Chicago, and while I was one of them (fan of Chicago, definitely not a cool kid), they were the kind of band that I was more than happy to own their greatest hits (formidable) without really desiring to get into their catalog. And then when their ninth studio album rolled around, I thought what the hell and gave it a try--good thing, too, lest I'd have never heard this week's tune. (Aside: I also bought their twelfth--and it was the last album I ever bought by Chicago....)
Chicago was formed in 1967 in, not surprisingly, Chicago. Originally known as the Chicago Transit Authority (probably a good career move to shorten that a bit), their first three albums were double LPs (could you imagine anyone trying that these days?), their fourth was a live four LP box set of their sold out week at Carnegie Hall, and released their first ten albums in ten years (again, anyone do that these days?). Sadly, shortly after the release of their ninth LP, founding member Terry Kath was playing with a gun and accidentally shot himself to death. After Kath's death the band went from being a socially conscious band into being a pop music juggernaut. Over the course of the last now more than fifty years, Chicago released twenty-four albums, 23 of which went gold, eighteen platinum, sold over a hundred million albums, and at one time had a string of five consecutive number one LPs. They have had 20 singles reach the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, and three members have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They've had numerous incarnations, literally dozens of band members, and won a Grammy Award. Not a bad career for a band that originally dubbed itself "rock and roll with horns."
"Till the End of Time" was released in 1977 on the oh, so cleverly titled LP, Chicago XI.The song was never released as a single, and the LP was the last of the big picture works they were to release (no doubt related to Kath's tragic death). It is considered by some to be Chicago's best album.
Written and sung by James Pankow (one of four original members--seven in the initial lineup--still with the band), "Till the End of Time" is your basic blues cum soul love ballad with horns. Pankow spins the tale of a man who wonders why his woman stands by him, but is oh, so glad she does--and he's asking her to love him till the end of time. The song is interspersed with trumpet, trombone and saxophone, and some playful piano. As regular readers (both of you) know, emaycee is a big fan of blue-eyed soul...and this one rivals Van Morrison, Daryl Hall, and Boz Scaggs at their best. Pankow infuses the song with joy, wonder, and a conviction that this love is all the love he needs. It closes with some dandy backing vocals embellishing Pankow's fiery vocals as he freelances his way through celebrating their love. "Till the End of Time" is another in a long line of rock and roll songs that remind us of the glory of love--and the glory of a beautifully crafted pop song.
Liner Notes: "Why...even though you know I'm crazy/Do you still believe in me/Why...does a smile come so easy/Baby since you set me free..."
For the past year, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been trying to rewrite an Obama era rule known as the Borrower Defense to Repayment, which basically helps students who were cheated out of money by for-profit colleges, so as to give for-profit colleges who grifted people out of thousands of dollars the fruits of their cheating.
Isn't this akin to convicting a bank robber, and then saying, "What the hell, here's the money you stole--enjoy!"
Nothing quite like the rich helping the rich to get even richer--and what an embarrassment Betsy DeVos is to everything that decent people consider proper.
Probably equally as tasty as a McDonald's cheeseburger
News this week that the Trump Foundation will shut down with an assist from the courts due to its rampant corruption (read enrichment of the Trump family, helping those in need not so much) is just another reminder of how depraved the Trump family truly is. Shuttering a charitable foundation because of its decadency is neither Presidential not does it make America great.
Seven-year-old Jakelin Maquin died of dehydration and shock this week just hours after being taken into custody by Border Patrol as she and her father tried to escape the violence in Guatemala by trekking a thousand miles to America. Department of Homeland Security Secretary and resident sleazebag Kirstjen Nielsen went on Fox News and blamed her father for literally walking through a desert trying to give his daughter a better life, though one supposes Border agents who have been filmed breaking jugs of water left for migrants in said desert may have played just a teensy role themselves.
Make no mistake--this, every single bit of it, is today's republican party.
Poor seven-year-old Jakelin made two mistakes: for one, she wasn't white. And for two, she wasn't a zygote in some woman's womb. Those are the only two ways republicans would have cared about her.
This is Humanity 101 and republicans are failing. What does it say about what republicans have become that they can be so callous over the death of a little girl?
Donald Trump this week claimed he wasn't worried about impeachment, because if he was impeached the people would revolt.
One presumes he's talking about the forty percent of Americans who approve of the job he's doing (I'd like to say I'm surprised that many Americans are that stupid but I drive the highways of this nation every day), the vast majority of whom aren't about to get up off the couch, turn off Netflix, put away their Doritos and salsa, give up their jobs, leave the wife and kids, and get off their phones before finding out if the Bears won to fight for a fat ass pumpkin head who has shown time and again that if you ain't rich he ain't giving a shit.
So he can count on a few hundred numbnuts who will show up and wave their guns for a bit, and then tuck tail and run once the police show up.
But here's hoping the fantasy lasts until at least the White House door is slapping his ass on his way out.
It appears that the lesson republicans are taking from the ass kicking they took last month is...nothing? New NRCC chair Tom Emmer (R-MN) said this week that, contrary to all evidence, republicans did not lose the suburbs in the past election and don't really need to reach out to women.
Here's hoping republicans continue apace with their Bury Your Head in the Sand strategy for 2020--I really enjoyed all the winning we did last November and would love to continue it two years hence.
The times they are a-changin'...and the longer the republican party refuses to believe it, the better those changes will be for the rest of us.
Have a rough day? Here's something to cheer you up--watching Nancy Pelosi bitch slap the utterly unqualified Donald Trump after the orange tumor thought it'd be a great idea to have the press watch them negotiate Trump's wall and a government shutdown:
And for the cherry on top, later in the day Pelosi told the press she didn't want to embarrass the little man on live TV by telling him he didn't know what he was talking about for all America to see.
Did you know that in roughly three weeks Nancy Pelosi will be third in line for the Presidency?
It sure was a lot of fun this past weekend to watch the party of law and order trip all over their tongues trying to whitewash the fact that Donald Trump committed a felony by using campaign funds to pay off two women he'd had an affair with--especially when you're old enough to remember republican heads exploding because Bill Clinton lied under oath about an extramarital affair.
Not nearly as fun, though, as watching them explain, the next time a prominent Democrat has a legal problem, why it's okay for Trump to break the law but not a Democrat. Here's hoping our national media takes a lesson or two from the reformed Cowardly Lion and actually puts them on the spot.
Better yet, here's hoping that Michigan's governor-elect, Gretchen Whitmer is right, and that republicans are trading short term gain for long term pain.
When my first wife and I were still newlyweds, I used to bring home all the promotional singles from the Camelot Music store that I managed and after dinner we'd listen to several of them to entertain ourselves, in the days when we were too poor to do much else. Admittedly, it was probably more enjoyable for me than her, but I was amazed at the number of songs (mostly from up and coming artists, most of whom we'd never heard of, some who never did hit the big time) that we ended up liking. One such tune was this week's featured song--and it still serves as a reminder to me that there's a hell of a lot of music out there, and even though I'll never be able to discover all of it, to try and enjoy all the more the tunes I do find.
Shakin' Stevens was born Michael Barrat in Cardiff, Wales in 1948 (first artist from Wales here on FNJ, I believe). He started his working career as a milkman while playing gigs on the weekends before embarking on a music career in earnest with his first band, Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, in the late sixties. Stevens' band had very little commercial success though they toured a lot before he was offered a role in the musical Elvis! in London in 1977. Stevens parlayed the hit show into a solo career, and throughout the eighties was the best selling singles artist in the UK. While Stevens has never done anything here in the States, in his native UK he has had 33 top forty singles, four number one singles, two number two singles, and three top ten albums. Over the course of his career, he has released twenty studio albums, twenty-one compilation albums, and 69 singles. He released his last album in 2016, and will be touring the UK and Europe in 2019. Good thing he gave up on that milkman gig....
"You Drive Me Crazy" was released in 1981 on Steven's only #1 LP, Shaky(Stevens' nickname, for those wondering, which is probably no one...). The single would hit #2 (with a bullet...maybe, because I don't know if the UK Top 75 has bullets on hit records) on the UK Singles chart, and #1 on the charts in Australia, Denmark, and Ireland (so many cool kids in Australia, Denmark, and Ireland...).
Fun Fact: Though I'm sure she doesn't remember it, my daughter did a mean two legged stomp to "You Drive Me Crazy" when she was a toddler...
For those not familiar with Shakin' Stevens (which would probably be most anyone outside of Europe and the UK), his shtick is basically as a fifties cover artist extraordinaire (great gig in the UK which is nuts for fifties rock and roll), though he generally sticks to less well known songs from that era. While "You Drive Me Crazy" definitely has a fifties vibe to it, it is actually an original song written around the time the song was recorded. There's nothing fancy about this one--catchy music, love song lyrics, and an echoed chorus (Cray-ay-zee...). Stevens sings with a lot of joy and gives the song a real rockabilly feel and there's a short guitar solo as well as some "It's got a good beat and I could dance to it" drumming. If you're looking for "Born to Run" or "Baba O'Reilly" this one probably isn't for you, but if you like to shake your hips a bit and sing along, it'll do just fine.
Lyric Sheet: "And when I'm looking in those big blue eyes/I start a'floating 'round in paradise/You drive me crazy..."
Earlier this week during an orientation for representatives-elect, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the incoming congresspersons had been spoken to by four CEOs...and zero labor leaders. Later, Michigan's own Rashida Tlaib tweeted that Gary Cohn of Goldman-Sachs had told the freshmen that they didn't know how the game was played...and Tlaib promptly warned him to prepare his ass for a Congress that puts people over profits.
For all the despair that Donald Trump has created since his election, it fills me with great hope that in spite of it we are electing such congresswomen as Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, who are showing that the new boss is not the same as the old boss, and who are going to remind those in power every day that they serve the people and not Corporate America.
Over the course of the past twenty-five years or so, we Americans have borne witness again and again to once respected institutions covering up child molestation and protecting the perpetrators. The Catholic Church, Penn State, Michigan State University, and now our Secretary of Labor, when he was Miami's top federal prosecutor, have all erred on the side of money and not on the side of children.
For those not aware, in 2007 Alex Acosta (our current Labor Secretary) issued a more than lenient sentence (13 months) to billionaire Jeffrey Epstein who was facing life imprisonment for numerous instances of sex with underage girls (some still in middle school) as well as being suspected of sex trafficking girls from overseas. Nobody seems to know why Acosta cut such a pathetic deal (a good guess would be something to do with the billions of dollars Epstein is worth plus the many notable men--including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton--who may have been involved with Epstein's perversions but as of yet have remained anonymous), but two of his victims are now suing to have the plea overturned.
Can someone explain to me what I am missing here? We are talking the rape of children, and yet what does it say about America when the real estate holdings of the Church or the athletic programs of universities or the comfort of a billionaire all supersede the lifetime trauma of a child? The punishments issued in all of these cases are a mere piddling compared to what the children have suffered.
Have we become that desensitized to the power of money?
Because if we have, it's not a slippery slope we are descending. We have already struck rock bottom.
This is the week that was in the National Fucked (up) League:
The Washington Redskins, the organization with the racist team name, were the only team to pick up one Reuben Foster, who had been released last week by the 49ers (about a year too late, truthfully) who has now been accused of domestic violence twice (in fairness, the first charges were dropped, though there's something not quite kosher about the dropping of the accusation).
And then, after having a second quarterback lost for the season due to injury, the Redskins declined to sign noted national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick as a backup because he doesn't fit into their system (which seems to be the go to answer for not signing Kaepernick among all teams in the NFL--amazing he guided a team to the Super Bowl considering how ill suited he is to NFL offensive systems, isn't it?).
So this is the message the NFL is sending to our kids: Beat a woman and you can have a job, but if you exercise your constitutionally protected right to free speech by taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality, you cannot be employed in the NFL.
This is George H.W. Bush's legacy: racism, a continuation of the republican war on the working class and the poor and giveaways to the wealthy and corporations, war crimes, obstruction of justice, and sexual harassment. He also set the stage for his son's Presidency, which, amazingly, was much worse than his. Just because he wasn't as much of a repulsive cretin as Donald Trump does not mean he was not an asshole, too.
And while we Liberals had to suffer this week yet again as a former President's ugly and utterly mediocre legacy is whitewashed after his death (see also, Ford, Gerald, and especially Reagan, Ronald), I couldn't help but wonder who was more pissed off--us, or Donald Trump's base, having to watch a man they most assuredly consider a sniveling wimp (like the rest of the Bush family) be glorified while so many continue to call out their hero for being an unqualified, boorish, and grotesque twit.
There is much (rightful) consternation now about republican legislatures in my home state of Michigan and in Wisconsin taking away powers from the incoming Democratic leaders who so soundly trounced republican candidates on November 6th. What they are literally doing is undermining democracy and as such, the will of us, the voters.
Keep two points in mind: First, virtually all of these attempts to usurp power will be met with lawsuits, and courts thus far have not shown a propensity to overturning the will of the voters (at least when it comes to elections...our paychecks are another matter). However, this does highlight the importance of State Supreme Court elections--both states currently have a republican majority on their state Supreme Courts and as we've seen over the past few years, when republicans can't win on merit, they're more than happy to cheat. We cannot trust republican judges to do the right thing; therefore we need to make sure we elect Democratic state justices.
Second (and I've noted this before), you can only undermine the will of the people for so long before it gets ugly--there aren't enough republican congresspeople or members of the Chamber of Commerce to stop the barreling train that is the will of a state's (or a nation's) voters.
Republicans may win in the short term, but their victory will most assuredly be Pyrrhic.
In lieu of General Motors having record profits and yet still closing plants and laying off up to 14,000 people, a Fox Business News pundit this past week wondered just how long it would be before Americans woke up to capitalist bullshit and elected not just a Democratic Socialist to the Presidency, but a gee, by golly actual Socialist.
My guess is not too long--especially after all the folks who voted for Trump thinking he'd bring the good manufacturing jobs back realize he's not bringing the good manufacturing jobs back and is only there to further enrich himself and America's wealthy elite.
And considering that Fox has been has been championing the republican agenda of subsidizing the wealthy with our tax dollars since Jesus was a cub scout, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy that bit of schadenfreude.
Outside of themselves, their family members, a handful of Scots, and myself, I'm not sure too many folks remember this week's tune. I first heard it when MTV was still in its infancy (and still playing music full time) in 1983, and it's one of those gems that make me miss MTV as it once was, when one could find a small gem that otherwise would be lost amidst the thousands of songs released each year.
The Bluebells originated in Scotland in 1981 (and until I did my half-assed research this week I had no idea they were Scottish--always thought they were an American band) and stayed together until 1986. In that time they released an EP and one full length album, and had a modicum of commercial success in their native UK (though none here in the States). Their debut LP hit #22 on the UK charts, and they had five singles hit the top 100 in the UK. Their biggest hit was "Young at Heart" which hit #8 in 1984, and thanks to a Volkswagen commercial, became an even bigger hit in 1993, hitting #1 and staying there for four weeks. The band has reunited a time or two--1993 thanks to Volkswagen, and briefly in 2008-2009 and 2011. Most of its members have stayed in the music business in one form or another, though one does make a living now writing about golf. I've always thought they were like the Ramones, if the Ramones had been a pop band instead of a punk band, but this could also be because one of their members (watch the video below) bears a passing resemblance to Joey
Ramone....
"Cath" was originally released in 1983 on their debut EP entitled, appropriately enough, The Bluebells,and was also included on their debut LP, Sisters, in 1984. It was also released twice as a single, reaching #62 (with a bullet!) on the UK charts in 1983, and #38 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the same charts in 1984.
Fun Fact: Though the Bluebells only released one EP and one LP (though they did have a Japan only release, as well), they still managed to release a greatest hits package in 1993. Oh, the wonders of a hit single....
If the gods of music got together and said to themselves, "What we really need to do is create a pop single that emaycee really loves..." (as if) they would have been hard pressed to make one that has more of my faves than "Cath." From the ever present harmonica, to the catchy chorus, to the "woa, woa"s, to the crescendo ending, to the guitar leading into the crescendo (shamelessly stolen from Rod Stewart's "Maggie May"), this one pretty much nails it. It's a pop fan's pop tune, a one off single that shows the glory of the pop single. It's the kind of song that I started Friday Night Jukebox for--I am music fan, hear me roar, this one you cannot ignore...and it's fine addition to the genre that is known as Scottish pop.
\ Lyric Sheet: "I'm shaking with fright/And nothing's going right/You've spoilt my day for the rest of the night..."
After last week's nice character study, we're going back to fun--lookin' out my back door (so to speak) and just enjoying the view....
I wrote about John Fogerty and Credence Clearwater Revival a while back so I won't rehash their history, other than to note that only the Beach Boys (and I'm not even sure about them) were their peers in the annals of American rock and roll bands. After CCR's demise in 1972, Fogerty released solo albums in 1973 and 1975 before taking a hiatus from the music business. He came back with a vengeance in 1985 with his albumCenterfield which would go on to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and propelled Fogerty back into the mainstream of rock and roll. He's released six more albums (for a total of nine solo LPs) since and solidified his stature as one of rock's greats. Fogerty has won a Grammy, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, toured the world over, and has often been a benefactor of veterans groups. Not bad for a kid who grew up, like me, in the San Francisco Bay Area....
"Rock and Roll Girls" was released in 1985 on the aforementioned Centerfield LP and reached #20 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. Surprisingly, the song went to #10 in Austria--who knew there were so many cool kids in Austria?
Fans of CCR may notice the thematic similarity between their 1970 #2 hit "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Rock and Roll Girls" (each penned by Fogerty)--both songs are basically paeans to taking a moment to sit back and enjoy watching the world go by. But while the former is full of dream-like imagery, the latter is based more in the here and now. The song opens with a signature Fogerty guitar line, quickly introduces a pulsating drum (which more or less carries the song until its end), before Fogerty's vocals send us on our way. Two facets stick out: the first is the joyous saxophone (listen to Springsteen much?), and the second, which is one of those special moments that truly make a song great, is the way Fogerty gives the words in the stanza that end in a long "o" a yodelesque (pretty sure there is no such word) quality--it just takes it up a notch and is fun as all hell to sing along (loudly) to as you're flying down the highway...or mowing the lawn...or washing the dishes...you get the picture. One thing is for sure--there are few songwriters who can pack as much into three minutes of music as John Fogerty can (most of his singles--even the ones with CCR--don't even hit three minutes in length), and "Rock and Roll Girls" is another that can be added to his pantheon of pop songs.
Lyric Sheet: "If I had my way, I'd shuffle off to Buffalo/Sit by the lake and watch the world go by/Ladies in the sun, listening to the radio..."
General Motors announced yesterday that it will be closing as many as five plants and laying off over 14,000 employees--and in doing so, also noted that Donald Trump's misguided steel tariffs had cost GM over a billion dollars. Two of those plant closing are here in my home of Dtroit--and one of them, the Warren plant, is roughly thirty minutes from where I live.
It will not be a Merry Christmas for the families of those losing their jobs. Or the businesses that those workers support with the strong wages they receive from said jobs.
I don't think it's an accident that now almost three years into the Trump Administration--after the Herculean efforts by President Obama and his Administration to save the auto industry--that once again good paying jobs are disappearing under republican leadership. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer isn't a bug of conservatism, it's a feature.
Maybe someday it's base will recognize this and start to dig themselves out of the hole republicans have been throwing them into for the last thirty years.
While most Americans were watching football and enjoying the last vestiges of their holiday break this past Sunday, American border patrol agents outside of Tijuana were tossing tear gas at asylum seekers from Central America--including women and children--as they tried to rush a border fence, tired of living in squalid conditions as they waited for a hearing to protect them from political oppression, including death squads, in their native countries.
Because, you know, there's no way we're taking a chance on a handful of tired and poor immigrants running roughshod over our beloved America and taking over the country.
I'm sure the Trumpites are waving their American flags today--nothing shows America's strength quite like tossing a canister of tear gas at a three-year-old.
To republicans, this is good food...for plebes like us
Ir's important to note, as we go through another food safety recall, this time a nationwide one for romaine lettuce, that for the past thirty years republicans have cut funding for food safety again and again at both the state and federal level so as to continually enable their agenda of keeping Corporate America richer while letting the rest of us get sicker.
It's estimated that 80% of the time Americans get sick to their stomachs it's food poisoning, so the next time you're sitting on the toilet pooping water or puking into a waste basket until your throat burns, you'll have one more reason to hate the republican party.
While Donald Trump is rightfully being vilified for his refusal to take action after the CIA has confirmed the crown prince of Saudi Arabia had journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered, it's important to realize that Trump is not only protecting his assets, but the assets of American oil companies and American weapons manufacturers who are also more than happy to sell America's soul for their insatiable greed.
I've often said that if Corporate America could find a way to make money without people its leaders would be more than happy to let us all die...and we're witnessing right now as corporations are willing to let a crown prince kill at will as long as his money keeps flowing into their coffers.
It's hard to believe it's been twenty-five years since the music store I worked at received a promotional copy of Sheryl Crow's debut album, and I, looking for something new, gave it a listen. We received exactly one copy of it for sale, and the CD sat in the store for six months before anyone purchased it--at one time I considered pulling it for return but since I really liked the LP, held onto it (prescient move). Needless to say, Crow has gone on to have quite the career.
Sheryl Crow was born in my one time home of Missouri (meh), was an all state track athlete in high school, graduated with a degree in music from the University of Missouri, and was a music teacher in my actual Missouri home (meh) of Fenton where she also sang commercial jingles before heading westward to chase her dreams. She sang backup for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour and sang backing vocals for a number of artists before hooking up with a group of musicians who called themselves the Tuesday Night Music Club...and the rest is history. Over the past twenty-five years Crow has released ten LPs. sold fifty million records, won nine Grammy Awards, and toured throughout the world. She's had nine top ten albums on the Billboard 200 and three top ten singles. Interestingly (or not), it would be a toss up as to what has more...either artists she's worked with or organizations she's donated to (the woman is a wonder--everything from cancer research to women's organizations to hunger to politics to...you get the picture). Crow is a breast cancer survivor and has adopted two boys.
"Leaving Las Vegas" was released in 1994 from Crow's debut album Tuesday Night Music Cluband was a moderate hit, reaching #60 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by David Baerwald, whom regular readers (both of you) may recall from earlier FNJ featured tune "Welcome to the Boomtown", and his being one half of David + David.
Opening with emaycee fave hand claps and a rock solid bass line, "Leaving Las Vegas" explores the dark underbelly of the American Dream from the confines of our most decadent city. Baerwald writes a nice character study of a woman looking for redemption and seeing a fresh start away from Vegas as her ticket to a happier life, and Crow delivers the goods with an impassioned performance bolstered by some fine "Whoa-oh-ohs" in the backing vocals.. While I have my doubts the protagonist makers her way out (at least for good), I like the way the song juxtaposes the gambling Vegas is known for and her gamble on leaving as a quick fix for what ails her. And in the end, while not necessarily every aspect, a lot of life is just one big crapshoot--and "Leaving Las Vegas" is a fine vignette of one person throwing the dice.
Lyric Sheet: "Such a muddy line between/The things you want/And the things you have to do..."
Listening to piped in music at work can sometimes be painful, but every now and again a little gem will force its way out of the loudspeakers and into my heart. Such was the case with this week's tune--and it gives me a little joy as I count down the hours until retirement (somewhere in the many thousands...).
Ben Lee began performing at the all too young age of 14 with his first band Noise Addict. By 1995 the band had broken up and Lee embarked on a solo career that has lasted to this day. Lee hasn't had a lot of commercial success here in the States, but in his native Australia he's had three top fifteen albums and three top forty singles. He's also won three ARIA's (Australia's equivalent of our Grammy) and been nominated for several others. Over the course of the last twenty-three years Lee has released 14 albums and three EP's. While his career has slowed considerably commercially, Lee released his latest album in 2017 and continues to tour. He is currently married to the actress Ione Skye, who some may remember from the film Say Anything...(among others).
"Catch My Disease" was released in 2005 on the album Awake Is the New Sleep(nice title). While it was never released as a single here in America, it was a success in Australia, reaching #27 on their charts and also winning Lee an ARIA for Song of the Year. Surprisingly enough, the song is used quite often in medical TV shows here in the States....
I've noticed in songs featured over the past few weeks and a few to be featured in the upcoming weeks, how many of the songs are ones that I've picked for the sheer joy they've given me. Which isn't to say they are vacuous pop songs, just that they have made me very happy in the listening. And "Catch My Disease" was written specifically for such moments--Lee had been known as a somewhat somber artist until visiting India where he was encouraged to put joy into the world. I originally thought this song was about asking a woman to catch his disease, which was love, but actually it's asking all of us to catch a little joy in our day to day lives, and hey, that's not such a bad message. Anyhoo, the song opens with emaycee fave hand claps in conjunction with a pulsating bass drum, slowly adds in some keyboards and a little guitar, and then Lee begins singing little vignettes, all of which are punctuated with the line, "And that's the way I like it." Lee does a nice job of both capturing the joy he feels vocally and spreading it to the rest of us--and joy ain't such a bad disease to catch. In the end, this one's just fun--it makes me smile every time it comes on at work, and God knows I can use all of that I can get in my workday....
Lyric Sheet: "I hear Beyonce on the radio/And that's the way I like it/And that's the way I like it/They don't play me on the radio/But that's the way I like it...."
Though I don't watch her show anymore, Rachel Maddow has spent considerable time over the past eight years explaining (and rightfully so) how Michigan has been a laboratory for implementing the republican game plan--everything on the GOP wish list, from passing a right to work (for less) law to privatizing government responsibilities, from taxing seniors and giving tax breaks to corporations to cutting working folks' pensions, the GOP has done here in Michigan.
No more. Last week Michiganders delivered a gut punch to the republican agenda from top to bottom. For the first time since I moved here nearly twenty years ago, Democrats will control the top three spots in our state--Governor (Gretchen Whitmer). Attorney General (Dana Nessel), and Secretary of State (Jocelyn Benson). For the first time since 2010, Democrats will be on par with republicans for the U.S. House, with seven representatives each. Also for the first time since I moved here, my U.S. House representative will be a Democrat (Elissa Slotkin). While we didn't end republican control in our state legislature, we did end the republicans' super majority which means their agenda is done through at least 2022. We added a Supreme Court seat, elected the first Muslim woman to the U.S. House (Rashida Tlaib), and passed propositions ending gerrymandering, implementing automatic voter registration, and legalizing marijuana.
I know I'm biased as Michigan is my adopted home, but the Democratic rout in Michigan has to be the most under reported story of the 2018 midterm elections. In a state that is a must win for Donald Trump in 2020, we provided a blueprint for turning a recovering purple state blue again. And it's a very progessive blueprint.
Michigan is a bellwether for 2020 because Michigan voters resoundingly found the republican experiment to be a massive failure.
Not content with their legacy of standing idly by while Mussolini turned Italy into a racist haven for fascists and Hitler murdered six million Jews, the Catholic Church has decided to vocally embrace the far right government currently ruling Poland, even though the party is inching closer and closer (through disregard of its constitution, court packing, and politicizing government jobs) to authoritarianism.
But, hey, as long as the Church's real estate holdings and cash assets are safe and the government is hating on abortion and gays, what's the loss of a few civil rights and a little human suffering, right?
The Catholic Church: Enabling Fascists Since the 1930's.
Two men who show us every day what courage really means
While most folks are familiar with Colin Kaepernick, not nearly as many are familiar with Eric Reid. Reid was Kaepernick's teammate on the San Francisco 49ers, and was among the first to join him in taking a knee to protest police brutality and systemic oppression of African-Americans in the United States. After his contract with the 49ers ran out after last season, Reid was unable to secure another until reaching agreement with the Carolina Panthers four games into this season. Rather than take the easy route and temper his protest, Reid has continued to take a knee and speak out quite eloquently about inequality in America.
For his troubles, Reid has found himself drug tested five times in the six weeks he's been back in the NFL--note that the drug tests in the NFL are random, and the odds of any player being tested five times in six weeks is less than 1/2 percent. Can you say "harassment" boys and girls?
It's too bad ESPN has become the TMZ of sports journalism because this seems like quite a coincidence to me.
Anyway, the next time you see the NFL and their television network cohorts doing one of their support the troops spectacles, remember that the only troops they truly care about are the white ones.
This man has done more damage to our country than Donald Trump
Mitch McConnell wrote an op-ed for Fox News this week in which he called on Democrats to work with republicans in a bipartisan way for the good of the country.
Yessireee.
God what I wouldn't give for one, just one, Democratic member of Congress to stand before God and media and say, "Bipartisanship? Mitch McConnell can go fuck himself."
Outside of Bruce Springsteen and the Avett Brothers, I'd be hard pressed to name a musical artist whose work I have enjoyed more over the last fifteen years than Fountains of Wayne. And while I admittedly do not keep up with new music anywhere near what I once did, their final album, Sky Full of Holes, would be my choice for album of this decade, bar none. For me, they're the perfect mix of smart, pop, and humor (much of it tongue in cheek)--and this week's tune showcases all three.
Fountains of Wayne formed in the tiny little village of New York City in 1995, when college friends (and college band mates) Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood reunited after a few years apart. They released their self-titled debut in 1996, met with a modicum of success and critical acclaim, followed that up with another well received LP, Utopia Parkway, before reaching the cusp of fame with their third album, Welcome Interstate Managerswhich featured their biggest hit single, "Stacy's Mom" (which was nominated for a Grammy). The band would go on to release two more albums before calling it quits earlier this decade. The band toured extensively throughout their seventeen years, and while they never quite achieved the success they should have, they did have a devoted following for their music, which some have described as Geek Rock.
Fun Fact: The band tooks its name from a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, called, appropriately enough, Fountains of Wayne.
Fun Fact #2: Schlesinger has also been nominated for an Oscar--he wrote the title track for Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! which received an Academy Award nod for Best Original Song.
"A Dip in the Ocean" was the sixth song on their fifth and final album, the aforementioned Sky Full of Holes, released in 2011. The song was never released as a single, but the album, surprisingly enough (as it didn't have a hit single like Welcome Interstate Managers), was the highest charting of their career, reaching #37 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard 200.
As I've noted a time or two here on FNJ, you can take the boy out of California but you can't take California out of the boy, and any song about spending a day driving up the coast and eventually hitting the beach for swim is probably going to be the berries for me. Add in some killer power pop hooks, a driving rhythm section, and some pitch perfect backing vocals (especially the "Yeah by the water now" in the chorus) and you've got all the makings of a great song. As I noted with the Secret Machines and FM radio last week, I've a hunch that had "A Dip in the Ocean" been released in the 70's it would have been all over top 40 AM radio. As is, it's a song that has filled me as much joy as any song in recent memory, and every time I hear it I'm ready to hit the beach somewhere along the California coast and suck in all the sea air while I'm floating in the Pacific....
Liner Notes: "It's you and me on a beach in 1998/Leaning into the breeze from the willows/And rhythm and grace are reborn in this place/I'm assured the procedure is painless..."
Forget the spin--Trump can claim victory because of the Senate and the media can claim it was a split decision, but all the evidence points to Tuesday being a humongous night for Democrats. The House alone means that cuts to Social Security and Medicare, as well as a repeal of Obamacare, are dead. We turned it around in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and my home here in Michigan, and if we hold the states Hillary Clinton won in 2016, plus add those three, Donald Trump can move to Moscow or take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut (either way I don't care). The Democratic margin of victory of +.9.2 is the largest in recent times (even beating Dems in 2006 and 2008 and republicans in 2010). Even though we lost the Senate, our candidates garnered more votes than theirs. And all of this despite electoral maps that were absolutely brutal for us this year.
Yes, we lost some races we would have liked to have won, and we may need to rethink strategies in Ohio and Florida (write them off and pour money into more likely winners?), but this election was a complete and total repudiation (seriously, read the link, it'll make your day) of Donald Trump.
So celebrate (for about five minutes and get started on 2020):
There's a lot to be nervous about going into tomorrow's midterm elections...like basically the future of this experiment that we've been conducting surprisingly well for the last 242 years.
Like...will there be a blue wave?
Can we win the Senate?
What if the blue wave doesn't materialize?
What happens to the Mueller investigation?
What will the election's outcome mean for 2020?
In the end, try to remember that even if we don't win as many as we'd like, if we win just one more seat in the House than they do we can effectively end much of the Trump agenda (cuts to Medicare and Social Security will be dead, dead, dead). Or that every governorship we win means that there's one more state where republicans will not be able to gerrymander its districts to their own advantage. And that even if we just break even in the Senate, it still means republicans are going to have to tailor their agenda to make sure they can get 51 votes.
It's a cliche, but this is a marathon, not a sprint.
So don't get caught up in the future--fight the battle that we can fight tomorrow.
You'd think for #200 that I'd have come up with some super special single--nah, just another rock solid tune from a small band who did their part, like so many other bands, to bring a little musical joy into my life.
The Secret Machines started out in Dallas in the late 1990's, moved on to Chicago where they released their first EP, and eventually landed in New York where buzz about their music brought them interest from Warner Brothers and shortly thereafter they released their first LP. The trio's music has been described as krautrock (new to me--experimental music from German bands of the late 60's...so many cool kids in Germany!), shoegazing (also new to me--experimental music from Brit bands of the late 1980's...so many cool kids in Great Britain!), psychedelic rock (see also, Zeppelin, Led and Floyd, Pink), and they themselves describe their music as space rock (experimental music by the Secret Machines...so many cool kids here in the States!). David Bowie (who really should have an FNJ tune of his own by now...someday!) was a big fan of the band. Since 2002 they've released three LP's and four EP's and while the last was in 2010, the rumor mill has another one just around the corner (or not). Original members Brandon Curtis and Josh Garza still remain, though sadly, other founding member Benjamin Curtis (brother of Brandon) died in 2013 at the all too young age of 35 from lymphoma.
"Sad and Lonely" appeared on the Secret Machines debut album Now Here Is Nowhere (great title) in 2004, and although it was released as the album's second single, never made any dent on the Billboard charts.. I've often felt, though, that if it had been released in the 1970's. it would have been a staple of FM radio for the last forty years.
The first thing I'd note about "Sad and Lonely" is...how it doesn't really seem like the type of song that would make a list of my favorites. The Secret Machines have been compared to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, both of which rank right up there with The Doors for three of my least favorite bands of all time (as millions of 70's hard rock fans think to themselves, "emaycee sucks!"). The song opens with over a minute of instrumental, and originally it was the drumming from the intro that got me hooked on the song. There's some nice industrial guitar throughout, and though the vocals are awfully reminiscent of Zeppelin's Robert Plant, there's an urgency to them that draws you into the song. "Sad and Lonely" closes with roughly a minute of what could best be described as ethereal ambience--space music for the masses. All in all, it's one of those out of left field tunes that continues to surprise me with each new listen, for both its simplicity and its complexity--and how much I just love the song despite its not being much like my usual musical tastes.
Lyric Sheet: "And it feels like those around want you to die/Well sometimes you feel just like crying/You're still in love with me and you don't know why..."
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.
