It was a very good year

Here's hoping our long national nightmare ends this year...

I've read a number of people over the past few days who have noted that 2019 was a miserable year.  I get it--Australia is literally on fire and climate change keeps getting the short shrift from republicans; fascism is becoming the norm in India, Hungary, Poland, and Brazil; North Korea continues to make a fool of Donald Trump and is a whisker away from a nuclear catastrophe; every study released this year concerning the Trump tax cuts shows that the only thing it accomplished was making rich people richer; the media continues to be a dead man walking when it comes to exposing how abnormal Donald Trump is vis a vis the Presidency (and just about everything else); and perhaps worst of all--and something I never thought I'd live to see--the greatest experiment in democracy in mankind's history is on the verge of being destroyed because one of the political parties in our home country is much more concerned with appeasing the wealthy and coddling racists than with securing the blessings of liberty that made America the grandest dream mankind ever dreamed.

Despite all that (and plenty more that I'm sure I didn't mention) I will guarantee you that 2019 was a very good year--because despite all the bad news, despite the republican party becoming the Junior Nazi party, despite insurmountable odds...we're still fighting for what is right.  We impeached Donald Trump.  Though we still have far to go, we continue to make strides in civil rights for women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.  The minimum wage will raise tomorrow in numerous states.  We have actionable plans for addressing climate change.  The candidates we have who are sparring to see who gets to challenge Donald Trump next November are all light years better than he (well, except maybe Tulsi Gabbard), and might be the most impressive group of candidates in our nation's history.  Every single day there is some American somewhere in this crazy land that is standing up to republicans' creeping fascination with fascism and saying, "Nope, not on my watch."

And as long as we're still fighting for what is right, there is hope...and as Stephen King once noted in The Shawshank Redemption, "...(H)ope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Onward.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLX--Life, Sex & Death: Fuckin' Shit Ass

What the hell, let's close out year number five with a little ditty whose title would send a bunch of junior high school boys into fits of laughter....

Welp...not every band makes the best of moves.  Life, Sex & Death formed sometime around 1990 (they're one of the few bands I've featured here on Friday Night Jukebox who do not have a Wikipedia entry), and their record label decided the way to sell the band was to claim their lead singer, known only as Stanley, was actually homeless.  "Stanley" turned out to be Chris Stann, who was anything but homeless, and the band lost any and all credibility that it might have had.  They released one LP, and were done within a couple of years--though some have said they may have at least had a competent career without the Warner Bros. ruse.

"Fuckin' Shit Ass" was released on their only album, The Silent Majority, in 1992.  It was not released as a single, and the album never so much as sniffed a record chart.

Embarrassing Fun Fact:  I actually have a playlist on Spotify called "Fuck It" which features songs in which the word "fuck" plays a prominent role.  Hey, we all can't be perfect....

"Fuckin' Shit Ass" opens with what sounds like a man storming around his house saying, "Some...fuckin'...shit ass...ugh!" which becomes rhythmic before adding first a drum beat, than some metal guitars, before finally segueing into a Cheap Trickesque (I shit you not) chorus that calls for love and peace.  Alrighty then...not sure what else I can add, other than for whatever odd reason it caught my fancy, and I still thoroughly enjoy the song's juxtaposing of unbridled anger with a paean to peace.  I doubt Life, Sex & Death would have ever had me as a life long fan (definitely a lot more heavy metal than power pop), but once again we see how every now and again a band can have just one special moment that turns into a lifetime of listening.

Lyric Sheet:  "What will it take to feel love instead of hate?/What will it take to make peace the word for today?..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Money talks and bullshit walks

A History of (Misguided) Violence

Leaving aside the fact that it's easy to talk about another Civil War and a lot more difficult to shoot your daughter's libtard best friend (to paraphrase Al Capone in The Untouchables, "...just a lot of talk and a gun."), the main reason you'll never see another Civil War in America is because it would get in the way of rich folks making money.

While there are a million little pieces that make up America's economy, it's heart is in New York and California, two liberal bastions.  And once the libs start dying in those two states, it will take about, oh, a millisecond for the economy to collapse.  And the minute that happens, I can goddamn guarantee you that the wealthy elite in this country will grab Donald Trump by his shit stained underwear and convince him rather quickly to call off his minions, lest he and his family spend the rest of their lives shoveling shit out of cesspools with spoons.

Quod erat demonstradum--i.e., money talks and bullshit walks.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLIX--Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

Whatever gene it was in my generation that sent millions of my peers into music stores to buy Pink Floyd records apparently was not a part of my DNA.  I can't think of one of their songs, outside of this week's tune, that I remotely liked, and their whole psychedelic rock shtick was lost on one whose soul was much quainter than those souls whose idea of fun was dropping acid.  Still, my liking of their one tune fits nicely into my opinion that if any band sticks around long enough, you're bound to find at least one song of theirs that you like (except REO Speedwagon, who put the shit in shitty pop tunes).

Fortunately for me, the history of Pink Floyd is a bit long to cover in a paragraph, especially considering that their Wikipedia entry was far too long to read in its entirety for someone whose interest in the band is middling at best.  They formed in 1965 in London, England, with original members Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright.  David Gilmour would join in 1967, followed shortly by the departure of Barrett due to mental health issues.  The band would continue in that form until the eighties, with Wright and Waters departing, and Gilmour and Mason continuing on through the mid-nineties.  The band has had a pair of small reunions since, though they have not overcome their personal differences enough to make that Big Bucks Reunion Tour.  For their career, Pink Floyd has sold over 250 million records, having released 14 studio albums, three live albums, and 14 compilations.  My opinion of the band notwithstanding, they truly do stand in the pantheon of great rock bands, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  Roger Waters, for his songwriting, and David Gilmour, for his guitar playing, would also make many a best of list for their respective talents.  Sadly founding members Syd Barrett and Richard Wright have passed away and joined many other wondrous talents at the Great Rock Concert in the Sky.

Fun (and heartwarming) Fact:  The band members always made sure that Syd Barrett was taken care of financially for his contributions to the band, which allowed Barrett to face his personal difficulties with plenty of financial stability.

"Wish You Were Here" was released in 1975 on Pink Floyd's appropriately enough titled album, Wish You Were Here.  Though the song was never released as a single in its original incarnation (a live version was released at one point), the song is considered a classic and was ranked #324 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.  The album, though poorly received critically at its release, is also considered a masterpiece and was voted #211 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.  Just for good measure, the LP also sold over 13 million copies.

There are songs that come along that force the listener to put on their big boy pants (like Seger's "Night Moves" or Springsteen's "Born to Run" to name but a pair), and "Wish You Were Here" is one such song.  While there seems to be some debate as to what the song is about--lyricist Waters claims it's about himself, music writer Gilmour says he never sings the song without thinking about Syd Barrett--most fans tend to side with Gilmour as to the song's intentions.  Hear the opening acoustic guitar solo and you will never, ever, ever forget it.  Gilmour's plaintive vocals echo a sadness that is still palpable.  Even the song's nuances are stunning--the chorus part after another piece of the the acoustic guitar intro, the emptiness of the wind blowing at the song's end--one wouldn't think it possible for a band that one doesn't care for to make a song that would be on one's top ten songs of all time, but Pink Floyd has done it for me.  I've never been one for believing pop music is an art form (it's called "pop" music for a reason), but "Wish You Were Here" is one of those songs that would certainly leave me open to thinking that it is.

Lyric Sheet:  "Cold comfort for change?  Did you exchange/A walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

While we were sleeping

Greed will eventually be the end of the U.S. of A.

Sadly lost again in all of the hoopla surrounding the piece of shit that is Donald Trump, is the fact that  Fortune 500 companies last year had an average tax rate of 11.3% on record profits, which is less than most average citizens pay on millions less in income.  Ninety-one companies in the Fortune 500 paid nothing, another 56 paid less than 5%.  Corporate taxes have fallen to 1% as a share of federal revenue, as republicans continue to ensure that the rich get richer and the rest of us get fucked.

Something to think about the next time you're driving down the road and get cut off by a Fed Ex driver:  remember that that truck that is driving on roads you paid for belongs to a company that paid zero in federal taxes last year, and therefore zero for the road on which you just got cut off.

It's only a matter of time before the economic payback shit storm hits, and it will not be pretty for Corporate America at all.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Lost in the shuffle, Part 2

Not quite at the bottom but getting closer

The Social Justice Index is a report which ranks 41 highly developed nations with regard to poverty, education, the labor market, health, justice, and social inclusion.  Want to guess where the Make America Great Again administration has us ranked?

Thirty-sixth!

That's right, despite having wealth beyond what most countries can only dream of, the "best" healthcare in the world, a "growing" economy, and some of the best educational institutions in the world, Donald Trump has managed to make it so that the people of thirty-five nations (out of 41!) are better off than we are.  Only the people of Israel have a greater chance of falling into poverty than Americans--even worse, this affects children at an even higher rate than the general population.

Just so much greatness.

A few more years and they can turn The Land of Opportunity into The Land of Uneducated Pestilence Stricken Starving Children.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Lost in the shuffle, Part 1

This should never happen in the richest nation on earth.  Never.

It's easy to lose sight of signs of the further decline of America's greatness in the daily onslaught of all the terrible deeds of Donald Trump and his impending impeachment.  But it's important to note that the republican party's War on the Poor continues apace, as the Trump administration has recently proposed changes in food stamp rules that this spring will result in three million more Americans going hungry--and most of them will be in the republican stronghold of rural America.

Most Americans are a major hospital bill or a blown car engine away from joining folks the like of the young man in the picture above.  We would be wise to see this move by Donald Trump for what it is--another way for republicans to take care of the wealthy and let the rest of us (literally) starve.

The Make American Hungry Again movement continues its quest to turn America into a third world country.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLVIII--Nanci Griffith: On Grafton Street

I first discovered Nanci Griffith on Other Voices, Other Rooms, her paean to the artists who influenced her (which won a much deserved Grammy Award for Contemporary Folk Album in 1994).  I have been quite a fan of hers since (even went to see her with John Prince--a dream concert for an Old Fart Folkie), and could quite easily have picked any one of eight or nine songs on that album for this week's tune.  But I wanted to highlight a song that she had written (all fifteen of the songs on Other Voices, Other Rooms were written by the artists she was influenced by), and chose this week's tune because it seemed to me to reflect best her songwriting abilities...though any of another seven or eight could have probably done the same.

Nanci Griffith's career got its start in 1978 in Austin, Texas and has extended to the present day.  While she has never had a great deal of commercial success, she can best be described as an artists' artist--with the testament of the plethora of musicians who have played at one time or another on one of her albums (Bob Dylan, John Prine, Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2, and Adam Duritz to name a few).  Over the course of the last forty-one years, she has released 20 studio albums, five compilations, and one live album.  While her highest charting album here in the States broke the top fifty on the Billboard 200, she has had two top twenty albums on the U.K. charts (so many cool kids in the U.K.).  Griffith has also written a couple of top ten hit singles on the country charts for Kathy Mattea and Suzy Boggus.  Griffith's backing band is known as the Blue Moon Orchestra (kind of cool for a backing band name).  She is a survivor of breast cancer and thyroid cancer. 

(Not so) Fun Fact:  Griffith's high school boyfriend was killed in a motorcycle accident after taking her to the senior prom.  He has been the inspiration for a number of her songs since.

"On Grafton Street" was never released as a single.  It appeared on Griffith's 1994 album Flyer, which was the highest charting album of her career, peaking at #48 on the Billboard charts.

In "On Grafton Street," Nanci Griffith weaves the tale of a woman walking the streets of a foreign town at Christmas time who is reminded of a lost love (Griffith has noted that Flyer was her most autobiographical album, so there's probably a germ of reality in this one), but despite once having believed she couldn't live without him is surprised to find so many years later that her life has gone on just fine without him, and that the memory of him can still bring a smile to her face.  While it would have been easy to turn such a song into a sappy affair, Griffith does a nice job of letting the unexplained remain unexplained, with her nod to the path to happiness not always being the one we wished.  Griffith has a beautiful voice, makes good use of the sweet melody that permeates both song and chrous, and lets the instruments throughout speak softly but carry a big stick.  Every now and again a song comes along that--while maybe not your exact experience--has a ray of truth to it that you've seen reflected in your own life, and makes for some winsome listening.  "On Grafton Street" is one such song, and is a testament to the enduring--if sometimes fleeting--nature of love.

Lyric Sheet:  "It's been twenty years or more/Since I last said your name/I hear you live in Dallas now/In a house out on the plains/Why Grafton Street brought you to mind/I really can't explain..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLVII--Indigo Girls: Closer to Fine

A folk song and female vocalists...does it get any better than that?  Not for emaycee it doesn't....

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met in elementary school, began playing together in high school, and by the time they reached Emory University, they had become the Indigo Girls.  They released their first single in 1985, an EP later that same year, and their first full-length album in 1987.  They then signed to Epic Records and released their first major label album in 1988, which also became their first hit.  Over the course of the last thirty-four years, the Indigo Girls have released fifteen studio albums (two of which hit the top ten), three live albums, and five compilations.  Both Ray and Saliers have released solo albums, but they continue to tour and record together, having released their latest album in 2015 and completing their most recent tour in 2018.  They have been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, and won once for Best Folk Album.  Ray and Saliers are both very politically active, having associations with environmental groups, animal rights groups, anti-death penalty groups, and are considered icons in the gay rights movement (both are lesbians).  Overall, a nice little career for the duo.

"Closer to Fine" was the first single released from their ever so cleverly named 1988 album, Indigo Girls.  It would go on to be the highest charting single of their career, reaching #58 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  They are joined by the Irish band Hothouse Flowers for backing vocals on the single.

Fun Fact:  There's a great scene in the movie The Hollars (hardly an Oscar nominee but well worth 90 minutes of your time) where as a woman is being carted into surgery for a brain tumor, her two sons and her husband serenade her with "Closer to Fine."  Not quite as good as the Indigo Girls' version, but uplifting in its own way.

Written by Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls do not collaborate on their songwriting, just work together on the arrangements once they're in the studio), "Closer to Fine" is a song about the many paths that life offers us to happiness, and that the less one thinks about said paths, the happier one is likely to be (as an official old fart, I can attest to the accuracy of this).  There are several aspects of the song that stand out to me--first being, as a devotee of the acoustic guitar, is the wondrous harmony between Ray and Saliers guitar playing, which shines through the song.  Though written by Saliers, Ray takes the lead vocals, but Saliers harmonizing on the chorus is as wondrous as their acoustic guitars.  But what really takes the song to another level for me is one of those special moments that so many great songs have, and in "Closer to Fine" it's where their voices jump up an octave as they accentuate the word "fine."  It not only makes for fun singing along, but emphasizes the notion that they are indeed fine, and that happiness is right at their fingertips.  I can honestly say this is one of the better folks songs of the last thirty years, and one that reminded me of the joy I took from folks music, and would send me on a folk finding spree that would last for the better part of the next ten years. A great, great song.

Lyric Sheet:  "And I went to see the doctor of philosophy/With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee/He never did marry or see a B-grade movie..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Phrase of the year

On a day in which I learned that Merriam Webster's word of the year was "they" (explanation here) and that most of the year's top words revolved around the impeachment of Donald Trump, and after reading about Attorney General William Barr's lie-filled interview on MSNBC earlier today concerning the IG Report on the FBI's conduct concerning Donald Trump's collusion with Russia, in the spirit of both I would like to nominate "Lying sack of shit" as the phrase of the year.  To wit:

Donald Trump?  Lying sack of shit.

William Barr?  Lying sack of shit.

Mike Pompeo?  Lying sack of shit.

Mick Mulvaney?  Lying sack of shit.

Devin Nunes?  Lying sack of shit.

Mitch McConnell?  Lying sack of shit.

Trump children?  Lying sacks of shit.

Think of it--it's the perfect phrase for republicans these days:

"Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Lying Sack of Shit, said today..."

"Lying sack of shit and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was on Capitol Hill this morning to..."

"Ivanka Trump, lying sack of shit, was set to debut her new line of..."

It's short, it's sweet, and in direct opposition to republican distortion of facts, it's truthful.


Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

False prophets and their enablers

How stupid do you have to be?

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."  Matthew 7:15

It was beyond pathetic to watch as Rick Perry and Nikki Haley embarrassed themselves this past week trying to stroke Donald Trump's  penis  ego by proclaiming that he has been chosen by God to lead America.

After supposedly sending his only begotten son to be mankind's savior, who instructed his followers to heed the golden rule and to look out for the least among us, why in the fuck would make anyone think that God--if one chooses to believe in such--would decide that what America most needed now was a selfish, greedy, perverted, and cruel idiot for our leader?

For fuck's sake, if there was ever an argument for there being no God, Donald Trump being God's chosen would have to seal the deal.  There is no way in hell any God that stupid could have created such a magnificent universe.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

It's the little things in life

Piss off, douchebags

You know, I have my ups and downs with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (often because I think she toes the centrist line a bit too much), but the woman is absolutely fearless.

Having a bad day today?  Then make your day a little bit better and watch as Speaker Pelosi absolutely bitch slaps a simple-minded reporter from the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Corp. after he asks her if she hates Donald Trump:

Swear to God, when you look up "Badass" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Nancy Pelosi next to the definition.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

High horse horseshit

Need I say more?

Seems that republicans are outraged--outraged, I tell you!--that during this weeks impeachment hearings before the House Judiciary Committee, Professor Pamela Karlan said that while Trump can name his son Barron, he cannot make him a baron.

The horror.

Let me tell you, when the leader of your party has paid off prostitutes, probably slept with underage girls, has used the office of the Presidency to enrich himself again and again, is a racist, and in all likelihood, is a traitor to his own country, you should probably tamp down the outrage on what was actually a clever play on words.

More simply, go fuck yourselves.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLVI--Adam and the Ants: Antmusic

And again this week we have another tune discovered during the After Dinner Music Sessions, courtesy of CBS Records and their promotional single extravaganza...

Adam and the Ants formed in London in 1977.  Their first incarnation lasted until January of 1980 when three members of the band left to form Bow Wow Wow .  The second incarnation would go on to have considerably more commercial success than the first, especially in their native U.K., and last until 1982.  Adam Ant (yeah, nobody really named their kid that--real name Stuart Goddard) was the only link between the two, and he would go on to some solo success, as well.  The band released three LPs during their short tenure, with one going to #1 and another to #2 on the British charts.  Adam Ant would release six albums before calling it quits (two more top five albums in the U.K.) in 1995, though in another instance of Money Matters in Rock and Roll, resumed his solo efforts in 2013 and has released two more albums.  The band had six top five singles, and Ant himself had two more.  The band has also released 11 compilations and three box sets, which is pretty impressive considering Adam and the Ants have only released eleven studio albums in their careers.  Still, they had an impressive run for four years, and are considered part of the second British Invasion into the U. S. music market (though with considerably less financial success than the first).

"Antmusic" was released in 1980, and was the third single from their album Kings of the Wild Frontier.  The single would reach #2 on the British charts, though it did not have any success on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album would reach #1 in the U.K. and was the best selling album for 1981 in their native land (it would peak at #44 on the Billboard 200).  The album would also go on to win a Brit Award for album of the year.

Fun Fact:  In what will be a first and last here on Friday Night Jukebox, this week's band makes use of Burundi drums and their music is considered to be Burundi beat (for the music it borrows from comes from Burundi--the only other band to employ the sound is Bow Wow Wow and I didn't like any of their songs).

And speaking of Burundi drums (segues are for amateurs), one of the many things that sets "Antmusic" apart from so many other minor hits is the drums, which are almost like two drumsticks clicking together and really help, along with the chants, to make the chorus ever so memorable.  The song itself, I believe, is a kick in the ass to disco (though it could just be to the music industry's trend of over saturating talentless tripe in the name of making a buck), and suggests that this month's flavor should be, surprisingly enough, "Antmusic."  Ant does a fine job of of vocalizing his disdain for flavor of the month as a means to making music, there's some nice guitar (nothing fancy, just your average 80's pop song guitar solo) that adds a little edge to the song, and the lyrics are a bit clever as to why one should prefer to be an ant rather than a coked up disco dancer.  No, this one won't make anyone forget "Night Moves," "Baba O'Riley," or "Born to Run," but it's a nice cut that provided a bit of a segue (that word again!) from the punk movement to new wave.  And every now and again, a little fun goes a long way in providing listening pleasure.

Lyric Sheet:  "It's so sad when you're young/To be told you're having fun/So unplug the jukebox/And do us all a favor, yeah/That music's lost its taste/So try another flavor/Antmusic..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee