Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Donnie's Year in Pictures #4: And a tampon on the ear (for a fake assassination)
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Donnie's Year in Pictures #1: Shitbag in more ways than one (Depends?)
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee...
Monday, December 30, 2024
Shocker--rich guy helping other rich guys at the expense of poor guys
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Sunday, December 29, 2024
James Earl Carter, 39th President of the United States, 1924-2024
 |
| A man who actually made America great |
The first Presidential election I ever voted in was in 1980. I had followed Jimmy Carter's meteoric 1976 campaign, even staying up until 2:00 am on Election Day (a school night, no less) to watch him be projected the winner over Gerald Ford. Though I was too young to vote, my parents had ingrained in me that Democrats were always preferrable to Republicans, and I enjoyed his victory immensely (especially in redder than red Kokomo, Indiana). But by 1980 I had thrown my support to his primary opponent, one Ted Kennedy, disappointed in the job that Carter had done (though I shouldn't have been). Carter won the primary easily, and after watching Kennedy give a brilliant speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, I was convinced that the Democratic Party had blown their chance and as a protest I gave my precious vote to a third-party candidate, John Anderson (no matter how disillusioned I was, my vote was not going to the Republican candidate). On election night, after Ronald Reagan had been projected the winner (at 6:00 pm EST, which caused many west coast voters to go home because the Presidential race was already over, and thus was the last campaign where a winner was projected before the west coast polls closed), Anderson (who did not win a single voting precinct) gave his concession speech, and the first words out of his mouth were to the effect of "at least Carter didn't win." And I knew instantly that I'd pissed my vote away on a charlatan.
I have never made that mistake again.
Jimmy Carter passed away today. At age 100, he was the longest living President in the history of our country. His legacy will be the greatness with which he handled his post Presidency (Habitat for Humanity, Nobel Peace Prize, his tireless devotion to bettering our world through peace initiatives and disease eradication), but his Presidency was a lot more consequential than he is given credit for (have a hunch the same is going to happen to President Biden). Carter was the first President to acknowledge climate change, fought for a wide range of energy options (created the Energy Department), created the Department of Education (if you have a special needs child getting help at school you can thank Carter), and brokering an unprecedented accord between Israel and Egypt.
While our world is most definitely a worse place without such a selfless humanitarian, I am grateful today for the fact that he passed away while Joe Biden was President. I would not even want to imagine how crudely and crassly the Trump administration would have handled it.
May Jimmy Carter rest in peace.
Peace,
emaycee
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXX--Kasey Chambers: We're All Gonna Die Someday
Since this is the last one of 2024, thought it might be nice to finish it before the year ends....
My introduction to this week's tune came about because of a good review in Rolling Stone. I took a chance on a new artist, and it paid off as I really enjoyed listening to her album and our song of the week became an all-time fave. As an added bonus, I eventually learned how to play it on my guitar, making me quite the musical maven...or not.
Kasey Chambers, who incidentally just happens to have the same birthday as me (though considerably younger), has had quite the career in her native Australia. At the ripe old age of sixteen, she began playing with her parents and her older brother in the Dead Ringer Band (so-called because many people noted the children bore striking resemblances to their parents) before embarking on a solo career in 1998. Over the course of the last twenty-six years, Chambers has had numerous hits, toured regularly, performed with a Who's Who of Australian music, won fourteen ARIA Music Awards, and written three books. She also gets bonus points in my book for playing the banjo in addition to the guitar--a dual threat. Along the way she had three children, two broken relationships, a miscarriage, an eating disorder, and a nervous breakdown. Still, she's come out on the other side, and credits music for helping her to rebuild her life. For her career, Chambers has released thirteen studio albums (five #1's in Australia, and seven of which have charted on the Billboard Country Albums Chart) and thirty-seven singles (with one #1 and three other top ten hits--again, in Australia). Chambers is the youngest solo artist to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, still tours regularly, and released her latest album earlier this year.
Fun Fact: Chambers has won nine--count 'em, nine--Aria Music Awards for Country Album of the Year. That is downright dominating.
"We're All Gonna Die Someday" was the last song on Chambers 1999 solo debut LP, the rather nautically entitled The Captain. The song was not released as a single (should have been!), while the album rose to #11 in the Land Down Under and #49 on the American country charts.
Despite the rather downcast sentiment in the song title, "We're All Gonna Die Someday" is all about the fun. Chambers makes the case, humorously, that our faults don't matter all that much because, well, we're all gonna die someday. Her vocals are pure unadulterated twang and they are used to perfection. The band breaks in with a couple of nice hillbilly instrumental breaks, and a rollicking good time is had by all. The song also brings to a close year ten of our musical journey here on Friday Night Jukebox, and I hope it's been as fun for you as it's been for me. Onward to more musical musings in 2025!
Lyric Sheet: "Well they can all kiss my ass lord/They can all kiss my ass/If they want to kiss my ass well they better do it fast/'Cause we're all gonna die someday..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Echoes of Neville Chamberlain
Rep. Ryan Zinke responds to Russia allegedly downing another passenger jet by suggesting Ukraine pledging to not join NATO and handing over Crimea to Russia would be "a good start" for negotiations to end Putin's war on Ukraine pic.twitter.com/iJl5DG1Nb7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 26, 2024
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
The ghoul of Christmas Present
Donald Trump’s Christmas message to the American people:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 25, 2024
“Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics… I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky “souls” but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL!” pic.twitter.com/BJ5RYZfuEr
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Friday, December 27, 2024
The fight for working people
The soul of the Democratic Party is the fight for working people.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) December 21, 2024
Together, in an inseparable strategic partnership with the union movement, we can launch a new golden era for labor organizing—and for working families everywhere. https://t.co/XSmN6mlpCO
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXIX--The Replacements: Merry Go Round
Hey, it was Christmas week....
My introduction to this (last?) week's tune was its video on MTV--it was one of those songs you hear once and fall in love with immediately. I have a vague remembrance of playing its album in my old 10' x 10' store (slight size exaggeration--but not by much) in Fairview Heights, Illinois, but I don't remember much of it from back then. Sometime in this century's teens I played the CD regularly in my car while driving to and from Southfield, Michigan. Turned out it was a hell of an album, too.
I've written about a Replacements song (Vol. CL), album (Vol. CCLXXXIII), and a solo single by Paul Westerberg (Vol. CXV), and as my loyal readers (all three of you) know, they are one of my all-time favorite bands. Alas, there have been no more reunions in the intervening years, and aside from some small-time releases and touring by Westerberg, nothing much has changed since my last post. Oddly, I did notice that I haven't posted a link to their discography (it's here) for anyone who would also like to discover such musical greatness. Notably, though, it still saddens me that they're still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"Merry Go Round" was the first single from their 1990 release, the rather swayingly entitled All Shook Down. While the single did not chart on the Big One, it did hit #1 (with a bullet?) on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and stayed there for four weeks. The album rose to #69 on the Billboard 200.
Fun Fact: The song is written about Westerberg's relationship with his younger sister Mary ("Merry"--play on words, clever, clever), who would go on to become a DJ in Minneapolis for many years.
I've been thinking how I would ever be able to do this week's song justice in a simple post, and the plain truth is that I can't. But what I can do is tell you how much I love Westerberg's vocals (many years later I noticed how he accentuated the hard C's in the song and I don't know if it's a speech tic or if it was planned but I love it), how stunning the lyrics are, how catchy the song is, and how the Replacements always manage to absolutely nail their jangly fucking guitars. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention how the guitars mimic a heart pounding whenever her little heart pounding is sang and how it always makes me smile. In the end, it's a beautiful song of a brother's appreciation (love?) for a sister who isn't quite like everyone else. In a word, wondrous.
Lyric Sheet: "You wake to another day and find/The wind's blowing out of key with your sky/Only you can see/And the rain dancing in the night/Everybody stands around in delight..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Let it sink in: Trump nominated a child molester for Attorney General
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
If the GOP doesn't give a shit about children, imagine how little they care about the rest of us
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, December 23, 2024
Sunday, December 22, 2024
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Friday, December 20, 2024
Gee, wonder whose interests the Trump administration is looking out for?
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXVIII--Abra Moore: Four Leaf Clover
My introduction to this week's tune was on a promotional compilation album (entitled, interestingly enough, Spite Girls: Hits Post Modern Syndrome) I took home just shortly before my time with Camelot Music came to a close. In looking over the album's song selection, I didn't see one song other than our song of the week that I recognized. Don't know if that's a reflection of my memory or the rest of the songs being shit, but I have to admit that one killer tune on a free album is pretty much the cat's meow....
Abra Moore was born in San Diego in 1969, and eventually her family migrated to Hawaii (there's some great weather to spend the bulk of your life in). At the age of sixteen she joined the band Poi Dog Pondering (now there's a great band name), and in 1986 the band started on a yearlong busking tour across North America (tres cool) before settling in Austin, Texas in 1987. At that point, Moore decided to embark upon a solo career, with the highlight of being nominated for a Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy (for this week's tune, no less) in 1998. She's also done some acting. For her career, Moore has released five studio albums, an EP, and three singles. While her Wikipedia entry says she's still active, she hasn't released a new album since 2007, and the entry had no mention of continued touring.
Fun Fact: Moore's father named her for Abra Bacon, a character in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Must have been lots of fun trying to explain her name to the kids at school....
"Four Leaf Clover" was the first single released from Moore's 1997 album, the rather weirdly entitled Strangest Places. The single would reach #63 (with a kind of bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album did not chart, though it did reach #24 on the Heatseekers chart, which is kind of like charting without actually charting (and still worlds better than any album I ever released, of which there have been zero).
Fans of Friday Night Jukebox (all three of you) will take one listen to "Four Leaf Clover" and think to themselves, "Yup, that's an emaycee fave tune." It has a lilting female vocal, it's catchy as all hell, has an oft repeated chorus that's to die for, and is one pop tune extraordinaire. And just to keep it interesting, Moore throws in numerous evocative "yeah's" and "uh-huh's" for those of us who suck at remembering lyrics. That's not to mention the song's theme, which is, more or less, taking a chance on love. If ever there was a kismet moment (finding a great female singer song on a promo album) for me musically, this one was it. An utter delight.
Lyric Sheet: "See, I've been thinking it over/It's all just a little too much/You see I've got a four leaf clover/It's gotta bring a little luck..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Monday, December 16, 2024
This is what happens when you disregard your likeliest customers (aka Libtards)
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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