Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXCV--The Vines: Ride

I keep a notebook which lists all of the songs I've featured here on Friday Night Jukebox, and on any given week I usually have the next two to two and a half years of posts already lined up.  Which means that on occasion I have weeks like this week, in which I listed the tune o' the week quite some time ago--which makes the week all that much better as I get to visit an old friend I haven't seen in a long time.

The Vines formed in Sydney, Australia in 1994, and by the early 2000's had people proclaiming them as the second coming of Nirvana or the Jesus of pop music, resurrecting rock from the dead.  While they didn't quite live up to that hype, they've had a nice run (especially in their native land), and continue to record and tour to this day (though lead guitarist/lead vocalist/songwriter Craig Nicholls is the only remaining original member).  Over the course of their career they have released seven studio albums, with the first three being the most commercially successful, including a top ten in both Australia and the U.K.  They've also released twelve singles with the best being a top twenty in the U.K.  They've won an Aria Award (Australia's equivalent of our Grammy Awards), and they released their latest LP in 2018.

"Ride" was released in 2004 from their second album, Winning Days.  The single failed to chart here in America, but hit #44 in Australia and #25 in the United Kingdom.  

If you like seventies punk and nineties grunge, "Ride" is a song for you.  Opening with some righteous jangly guitars, Nicholls sneers through the stanzas that lead into the jubilant (and simple) choruses.  There's plenty of jangly guitars throughout, a guitar solo that recalls one Kurt Cobain, and some blasting drums to drive the song until its end.  It's two minutes and forty-three seconds of pure power pop punk--and another fine entry into now nearly three hundred of my hallowed hall of fame songs.

Lyric Sheet:  "That's the start, the middle, and the end/Aren't you glad the universe pretends..."

Enjoy:

187,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Racist much?

Donald Trump addressing his fellow republicans

A whopping five hundred people showed up in New Hampshire yesterday to view Donald Trump's return to the campaign trail.  And what idiocy did Donald Trump treat them to?  That Kamala Harris--who has put herself through law school, been a prosecutor, was Attorney General of the most populous state in America, and has been elected to the U.S. Senate--isn't qualified to be President of the United States.

But you know who is?  His daughter Ivanka, whose--near as I can tell--only accomplishment in life is to be born the daughter of a rich boor.  Oh, and she's white.

Trump's claim concerning Sen. Harris is nothing more than a dogwhistle to his racist followers.  Their only justification for her disqualification is the color of her skin.  Period.

187,000+ Dead Americans,
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Requiem for the republican national convention

It is what it is...

From the clips I saw of the republican national convention, the TV networks could have gone into any mental institution across America, found a mental patient who said, "You know, the problem with America is that ants are eating Grizzly bears and they're being shot from a cannon into the moon which is causing moon rocks to crash into the Rocky Mountains and the resulting dust storm is causing Americans too many brain seizures which is why pop rocks are great for breakfast!' and that mental patient would not have sounded one whit crazier than anyone who spoke at the RNC this past week.

185,000+ Dead Americans
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. VII

185,000+ Dead Americans
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

You know they just don't care

Maybe we can pretend it never happened...

After six months, the Trump administration has finally had someone acknowledge the over 185,000 Americans who have died due to its epic mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.  Both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump (though not the man responsible, Donald Trump) mentioned in their RNC speeches this week that a lot of Americans had died--with a very stiff sniff, sniff. 

Awfully fucking convenient that it finally happened at their convention, don't you think?  My guess is this is the last time republicans will make any note of the over 185,000 Americans who have died due to COVID-19.  Or register the least bit of empathy for the survivors of those who have lost their lives because Donald Trump is an incompetent idiot.

185,000+ Dead Americans
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXCIV--Suzanne Vega: Marlene on the Wall

A thousand years ago when I first took over a Camelot Music store in Fairview Heights, Illinois it was not the best of times.  But the debut album by this week's featured artist went a long way toward helping me survive one of the toughest stretches I went through as a music store manager....

Suzanne Vega was born in Santa Monica, CA and moved to New York, New York at a young age.  While attending Barnard College she began playing her folk music at clubs throughout Greenwich Village and in 1984 landed her first recording contract.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  While Vega has never had commercial success of great heights, she has had more than enough to support her career over the past thirty-six years.  Vega is most known for her single "Luka" about an abused child which, despite its rather dark subject matter, reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.  She is also well known for the DNA remix of her acapella song "Tom's Diner."  For her career, Vega has released nine studio albums (one of which hit #11 on the Billboard 200), a four LP set of acoustic material, two compilation albums, and five live albums.  She has released 23 singles, but only two of them charted here in the states, though she has had considerable more chart success in the U.K. (so many cool kids in Great Britain!).  She has won a pair of Grammy Awards and written a number of songs for movie soundtracks.  Vega continues to record (last album in 2016) and tour, and is sometimes joined by her daughter for her live performances.

(Not So) Fun Fact:  In 1989, Vega became the first woman to headline the Glastonbury Festival in England.  Unfortunately, a crazed fan had threatened her before the show and she had to perform the entire concert while wearing a bulletproof vest.

"Marlene on the Wall" was the first single from Vega's debut album, entitled appropriately enough, Suzanne Vega.  The single did not chart here in America, but did reach #21 in the United Kingdom (so many cool...never mind, already hit that number).  The album only reached #91, but was listed at #80 on Rolling Stone's list of the hundred best albums of the eighties.

"Marlene on the Wall" tells the story of a young woman who has had a series of lovers move in and out of her life, with the only constant being the stare of a Marlene Dietrich poster from the wall of her abode.  Every now and again as I do my half-assed research of my weekly tunes, I find something that I'd never noticed before but makes the song even more special.  This week it was how fast Vega delivers her vocals--which fuses with the spinning of her character's life, a life that she's beginning to question (is she actually falling in love with this one?) and the destiny of which she may be changing.  It's a nice slice of folk (emaycee fave!), literate without being pretentious, and Vega delivers it with a subtle yet melodic (I never really noticed or had forgotten how marvelous her voice is) overtone.  Listening to "Marlene on the Wall" this week was like seeing an old friend who you hadn't seen in a while and couldn't believe you'd almost forgotten about--a fine trip down memory lane for a damn fine song.

Lyric Sheet:  "But the only soldier now is me/I'm fighting things I cannot see/I think it's called my destiny/That I am changing...Marlene on the wall..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Apparently, all lives don't matter

Death be not such a big deal

By a margin of 57% to 43%, republicans say that 180,000 deaths from the coronavirus is an acceptable number.

As long as republicans can keep their ill-gotten grip on power, it seems that life isn't so sacred after all.

Republicans are beginning to look as oblivious to reality as the 900 followers of Jim Jones who drank the Kool-Aid rather than accept that their views were little more than magical thinking.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. VI

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. V

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Quote of the week

Donald Trump, after his election loss

From Digby:

"Honestly, if Charlie Manson were alive and he endorsed Trump, Trump would call him a good guy who disdained Hollywood elites."

Truer words....

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Bestseller of the year

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The fine whine

And Trump's a fucking loser, too

With Joe Biden officially becoming our candidate for the Presidency in 2020, I can officially say how sick and fucking tired I am of all the whining Donald Trump does.  From his "epic" mistreatment by the press (they should have run his ass out of town after his first six months in office) to the Pity Poor Me the Economy Collapsed Because I Fucked Up the COVD-19 Response So Badly, it all vastly pales in comparison to the pain Joe Biden has felt.  I mean from losing a wife and an infant daughter in an auto accident to losing a son to a brain tumor, Biden has known pain, and it's a lot more than Trump's disappointment when his Big Mac arrives and it's lukewarm.  And instead of lashing out, Biden reaches out to ease others' troubles.

Frankly, Trump needs to temper the crybaby bullshit by sitting the fuck down and shutting the fuck up.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The revolution is in the mail

Let it all fall down

I'm in no way advocating it, but I firmly believe if people on the left believe Donald Trump wins this election because of cheating (specifically sabotaging the Postal Service) the violence we saw this past summer in the protests spotlighting racial injustice are going to seem like the jolly holiday Mary and Bert went on in the movie Mary Poppins.

We're pretty much going to believe the country is done for anyway, so there's no good reason not to burn the motherfucker down.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Comrade Trump

The whole goddamned family

While I was having some (thankfully) minor car repair work done today, the TV in the auto shop was turned to MSNBC and a gentleman (debatable) from Pennsylvania was being interviewed about his support for Donald Trump.  The questioner asked if there was anything Trump could do to lose his support and the man said only if Trump suddenly got really stupid but that was never going to happen (see also, Dunning-Kruger effect).

I nearly spit my partial plate out of my mouth with laughter.

I thought of the man from Pennsylvania as I read another postmortem of the Senate Intelligence Report released this week which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only was Donald Trump colluding with the Russians, but his entire fucking family was as well.  And his campaign staff.

I'd like to think if a Democratic President was colluding with another country I'd have the moral decency to call for his resignation and seek out another candidate, but that's just me.

I guess I'm just not a fucking moron.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

President COVID-19

Presidential portrait of Donald Trump

As I've been watching the Democratic National Convention (exceedingly well done, especially considering the short preparation time and the unique logistics) I continue to see people laying out exceptionally good reasons why we should elect Joe Biden our next President.  But the easiest and simplest is this:  170,000 Americans are dead in the last six months because of Donald Trump's colossal mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.

To give you an idea, more Americans have died from COVID-19 in the last few months than have died in any war in our history except the Civil War and World War II--and more than have died in all the wars America has fought since 1950 combined.  It's more Americans than have been killed by the flu over the last four years combined--and we had over 130 million cases of the flu compared to five and half million cases of the coronavirus.

I just don't think it can be overstated how historically bad Donald Trump's response to the pandemic has been--and Americans are going to continue to suffer from it for at least a generation. 

And that in itself is more than enough reason to vote for Joe Biden.

Fuck Joe Biden,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXCIII--The Ting Tings: That's Not My Name

My introduction to this week's tune came some years back one New Year's Eve when the Ting Tings were a guest on one of the countdown shows as I waited for the clock to strike up the New Year.  Couldn't begin to remember which show it was, but the song was one I knew I had to hear more of and I haven't come close to forgetting it since.

The Ting Tings formed in 2007 when Katie White and Jules De Martino bonded over the fact that they were both fans of Portishead.  With a friend they formed a band called Dear Eskimo, only to quit a short time later due to a dislike of their label's management style (theme for their career).  White got a job as a bartender at a club and she and De Martino formed the Ting Tings around an incorporation of sounds heard at the club.  They eventually landed another label deal and released their first LP in 2008.  It became a big hit and started them on path that lasts to this day, though commercial success has been scant since that first release.  For their career, the Ting Tings have released four LPs and have had a #1 album on the U.K. Albums chart.  They have also released ten singles and had two of them hit the top ten on the U.K. Singles charts, including one #1.  They have received two nominations for the Brit Awards and a Grammy nomination as well.  They released their latest album in 2018.

Fun Fact:  The Ting Tings were named for a coworker of White's at the aforementioned club whose name was, surprisingly enough, Ting Ting.  It supposedly sounds a lot like the Mandarin word for "bandstand," and also means "the sound of innovation on an open mind."  Alrighty, then.

"That's Not My Name" was released as the third single from their first album, We Started Nothing.  Both the album and the single reached #1 in the U.K. (so many cool kids across the pond!), while here in the States the song hit #39 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album #78 on the Billboard 200.

"That's Not My Name" started out as a rant by White over her anger at the recording industry...and became a nice slice of pop pie.  The song is a cornucopia of rhythm--the drums are prominent throughout and they make liberal use of (emaycee fave!) hand claps.  Even the vocals are delivered as if shot from a machine gun.  White sings with a fierce fury, evoking the determination of a woman who has been wronged for the last time.  There's a nice bridge where De Martino tosses out some sing song lyrics while White sings over it with a harmony that borders on the ethereal.  In the end, the Ting Tings make use of a plethora of musical styles--rock, electronica, rap, funk, dance--and engender a syrupy sweet pop gem.

Lyric Sheet:  "Holding back, everyday the same/Don't want to be a loner/Listen to me, oh no/I never say anything at all..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Putin in your pipe and smoke it

Uh, Trump weighs just a few hundred more pounds than that

Though no one knows for certain if Trump is serious or just blowing smoke, there are reports that Donald Trump wants to meet with Vladimir Putin somewhere in the United States before the elections on November 3rd.

If it should come to pass, Democrats should be united in proclaiming in every interview or news story that the meeting is nothing more than a losing candidate asking the Russian President to interfere in our elections again.

Using the words "treason" and "traitor" several times in said interviews and news stories would also be most beneficial.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

If you could see what I just heard

Because I couldn't find an image of a lying sack of shit

Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on CNN's State of the Union yesterday that somehow having no proof of voting fraud was proof of...voting fraud?

That would merit serious consideration for stupidest idea ever espoused by a republican.

Of course by that logic, I suppose I could say that because republicans think Donald Trump is doing a good job it's proof he's doing a bad job so we should all vote for Joe Biden.

Which come to think of it....

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Leaving on a jet plane

Buh-bye Trump family...

I've actually had this thought for a while, but after Trump loses this November and either walks out of the White House tucking tail after being crushed by Joe Biden or is sent on his way by the U.S. Military, many folks are pressing for Donald Trump and his enablers to be prosecuted and if he is, I can easily see the entire Trump family jump on a plane and head for Russia. 

Goodbye and good riddance.

Though I'm not entirely sure what Vladimir Putin would do with them.  Maybe set them up with a shack in Siberia?

I kind of doubt he has much use for losers.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Please proceed...

U.S.S. republican party...

With each passing day I become more and more convinced that republicans are stupid beyond reason or deliberately killing their electoral chances so they can start over in 2022.  These are their best laid plans these days:

• Abandoning the coronavirus relief bill talks...so that unemployment can remain significantly above ten percent coming into the election.  Not to mention watching consumer spending plummet--which is two-thirds of our economy.
• Running on Trump's economy--it's in the tank, and if memory serves (see also, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and John McCain) voters tend to blame the party holding the White House for bad economies.
• Suing to overturn Obamacare in the middle of a pandemic with untold millions of Americans losing their healthcare due to pandemic layoffs.
• Sabotaging the USPS so people are getting their bills late, making late payments, and not getting much needed medication on time.
• Pushing for schools to reopen so more kids can get sick (see also, Florida and Georgia).
• Using racism to combat the utterly brilliant choice of Kamala Harris for Vice-President.
• The kicker--claiming that Trump has handled the coronavirus well when in all likelihood by election day we'll have at least 200,000 dead Americans.

All in all, this election is shaping up to be the biggest ass kicking Democrats have inflicted since Lyndon Johnson opened a serious can of whoop ass on Barry Goldwater in 1964.

And republicans will deserve every bit of it.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Could it be...Satan?

My sad sack alma mater...

Today the Big 10 and the Pac 12 both decided to shelve their college football programs this fall, and unsurprisingly there is much unhappiness among players and fans over the loss of three months of crisp autumn Saturdays spent watching young men engage in one of our favorite sports.

It's important to point out, though, that the reason we reached this point is not because of college Presidents, is not because of fear, and is certainly not because of political calculations.

No, the reason we will not be enjoying watching our favorite universities battle this fall is Donald Trump.

If he had shown a modicum of competency in overseeing the coronavirus pandemic instead of the shit show he ran and continues to run we would have returned to normal long ago as numerous other first world countries already have...and I'd be spending New Year's hoping against hope that my Hoosiers could finally win a bowl game.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Kamala for the People

Madame Vice President...

I couldn't be more thrilled with Joe Biden's choice of Kamala Harris to round out the Democratic Presidential ticket for 2020.

The fact that in five months, republican heads may be exploding over having not only a woman, but a black woman, a heartbeat away from the Presidency is just icing on the cake.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXCII--The Postal Service: We Will Become Silhouettes

My introduction to this week's tune was actually an acoustic cover version by the Shins while listening to Pandora at the thrift shop I used to work at a few years back (and come to think of it, listening to Pandora was pretty much the only highlight of that job).  I go back and forth as to which version I prefer depending on my musical tastes at the time, though I eventually decided on the original version for this post out of a sense of fairness to its creators....

Here's the part where I'm supposed to play the cool pop music expert who knew that Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie fame) and Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley fame--both bands I've written about for FNJ) were in The Postal Service...but sadly until I started my half-assed research this weekend I had no clue (or if I did I'd completely forgotten).  Anyhoo, the Postal Service had its beginnings when Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello put a song together for a compilation album, liked what they had done, and began work in earnest on an album of their own which they made via mailing each other music and lyrics (hence, The Postal Service).  The band released its one and only album in 2003, had some success with it, and proceeded to spend the next ten years thinking about a follow-up.  They reunited in 2013 for a reunion tour, and at its end, announced the band was splitting for good.  And that's about as easy of a band history as I've yet written.

Fun Fact:  The label The Postal Service released their one and only album on, Sub Pop, had only one album in its history outsell the Postal Service's LP:  Nirvana's debut album, Bleach.

"We Will Become Silhouettes" was released in 2005 from their one and only album, Give Up.  It would eventually reach #82 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, though it had much greater success in Canada, reaching #3 (so many cool kids in Canada!) on the Canadian charts.

Despite it's rather upbeat music, "We Will Become Silhouettes" is not the happiest of songs--it's subject matter is what becomes of us after a nuclear holocaust.  The narrator tells the tale of being stuck in his home (eerily familiar...) and wanting to go outside but he cannot because if he does the fallout will invade his body until he eventually explodes.  Yeah, happy, happy, joy, joy for a Sunday night.  Still, despite its rather maudlin story, there is a touch of the resilience of the human spirit in it, and I suppose that's enough for me.  Gibbard delivers some fine vocals and the song is amazingly catchy for such a downbeat message.  I'd guess you'd need somewhat of a cockeyed view of the world to appreciate this one.  And to think you saw it all on Friday Night Jukebox....

Lyric Sheet:  "Because the air outside will make our cells/Divide at an alarming rate until our shells/Simply cannot hold all our insides in/And that's when we'll explode (and it won't be a pretty sight)...

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Burning down the house

The republican plan for America

With each passing day, it becomes more and more obvious that republicans realize they are going to lose this November, and as such are going to do everything they can to leave as big of a mess as they can for Democrats to clean up next year.  From half-assed "negotiations" on the coronavirus relief bill to their insistence on only short term aid (up until, surprise of surprises, election day) republicans seem perfectly content to let their scorched earth view of our economy harm as many Americans as they can.

My guess is they're hoping for a replay of 2010 when the economy hadn't heated up as fast as many had hoped and a too small recovery package doomed Democrats mightily in the mid-term elections.

All of which makes it imperative that we take the Senate so we can set forth robust economic policies to help as many Americans as we possibly can. 

Half measures will need not apply.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Bye Don 2020, Vol. IV

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, CCXCI--The O'Jays: Love Train

There are very few songs that fill me with more unadulterated joy than this week's tune...and while it will also cause me to put on my dancing shoes, sadly, it does not have the magical capability to improve my dancing skills....

The O'Jays got their start in 1958 in Canton, Ohio.  They had a few small hits through the sixties and were considering calling it quits in 1972 when they signed with noted producers Gamble and Huff and their career began an upward trajectory.  They would have a steady string of hits through the seventies and while their chart success would slow they still managed to chart into the nineties.  For their career, the O'Jays released 29 studio albums with eight of them reaching the top twenty.  They also released 92 singles, and had 7 of them hit the top twenty while enjoying one #1.  They are still together performing and released their latest album just last year.  The O'Jays were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.

"Love Train" was released as a single in 1972 from their album Back Stabbers.  It would go on to be their only #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  The song has also been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

"Love Train" is the O'Jays anthem asking us all to join hands and love one another, which is quite the noble sentiment.  Add in the Philadelphia soul sound and some righteous vocals (from members Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, and Eric Grant) and you have yourself a classic single.  There's a nice break where the O'Jays show off their vocal chops, and I also love the shout outs after each line in the chorus ("c'mon" "'round the world, y'all").  I don't remember when my love affair with this song began (though it was a number of years after its initial release), but as I noted above it still fills me with as much bliss as it did when I first marveled at its exuberance.  And it's just another reminder of just how much fun--and how hopeful--pop music can be.

Lyric Sheet:  "People all over the world (Sisters and Brothers)/Join hands (join, come on)/Start a love train (ride this train, y'all)/Love train (come on)..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

True greatness

What a real President looks like

Barack Obama gave an eloquent and moving eulogy at John Lewis' funeral yesterday, and--cue me looking completely unsurprised--republicans are having a hissy fit because he--gasp!--made it political.

You know what's really pissing them off?  The fact that President Obama was a true President, a gifted leader who guided America through one of its greatest crises with the calm sturdy hand that this nation needed.  And that he was intelligent, caring, a good husband and father, and a man whose oratory gifts moved a nation.

And having to relive all that, knowing that their leader, Donald Trump, completely failed his greatest political test and is basically a worthless tub of shit.

Own it, chickenshits.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Good for thee, good for me

Republican hypocrisy on display once again

I find it kind of interesting that the republican justification for allowing doctors to use hydroxychlorquine to treat COVID-19 despite overwhelming evidence that it doesn't work and can be injurious to those taking it is that it's a matter that should be between a patient and a doctor.

You know what else should be between a patient and a doctor?  Whether or not to have an abortion.

Somehow I doubt republicans are going to welcome that choice any time soon.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee