The FBI’s unprecedented seizure of 2020 election ballots and records in Fulton County, Georgia has election experts raising red flags for 2026.
One expert warns the raid was a possible test run for future midterm interference in swing districts.
🚨BREAKING: President Donald Trump urged Republicans to seize control of elections and place voting under national authority Monday — one of his most explicit signals yet that he plans to interfere with the workings of democracy. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
A little ditty, about...another FNJ post that's (stylishly?) late....
My introduction to this week's tune came back in the day when I was still living in my one-bedroom apartment in Belleville, IL. Memories being what they are, I can't remember if it was via the video on MTV or VH-1 or Much Music, or on my cable services radio on the TV. I was intrigued but not certain of the song after my first listen, if I recall, but after a few more times hearing it came to love its take on L.A.'s lifestyles of the rich and famous....
If ever there was an artist here on Friday Night Jukebox that met the definition of one hit wonder, it's Shawn Mullins. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Mullins got his start musically in high school (Clarkston Hight School in Clarkston, GA, not to be confused with Clarkston High School in Clarkston, MI where my youngest son went to school...oh the things we learn here on our Friday Night posts, or Sunday night as the case may be), continued during his time in the military (honorably discharged as a first lieutenant), and began in earnest when his military service ended. His big hit came in 1998, and it's allowed him to carry on as a musician now for thirty-five years. He also joined a supergroup (of sorts--they all had modest success), The Thorns, with emaycee kind of fave Pete Droge (first post, second post) and Matthew Sweet. For his career, Mullins has released 10 studio albums, five live albums, and three compilations.
Fun Fact: Please don't take this in the wrong way, because I thoroughly believe having even just one minor hit, let alone a top ten hit, in your musical career is utterly astounding, but one of Mullins' compilations is called The Essential Shawn Mullins and it struck me as kind of funny because how "essential" can the music of a one hit wonder be? Again, see opening words of previous sentence....
"Lullaby" was the first single released from Mullins' sixth album, the rather existentially entitled Soul's Core.The single would reach #7 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100(and #2 in Canada--so many cool kids in the Great White North!), while the album peaked at #54 on the Billboard 200(and was eventually certified as platinum--another feather in Mr. Mullins' cap).
For a hit single, "Lullaby" is certainly something of an oddity. For one, it's a nuanced portrait of a sad rich girl, growing up around the stars in L.A., and a gentle poke at the Los Angeles celebrity culture. For another, other than the chorus, it's more a spoken word performance than actual singing. But Mullins makes it work, delivering a deadpan description of her life and the star-studded city, and, probably most importantly to its hit status, absolutely nailing a catchy as all hell chorus. Throughout there's a discerning acoustic guitar, some nice electric guitar bits in the chorus, and just enough from the drums to keep the rhythm flowing. In the end, it's just a different enough take on a pop tune to keep you coming back for more, and a pat on the back to Mr. Mullins for rolling the dice and having it come up Top Ten Hit.
Lyric Sheet: "I ain't so sure about this place/It's hard to play a gig in this town/And keep a straight face/Seems like everybody's got a plan/It's kind of life Nashville with a tan..."
After another eighteen Americans died in two more senseless mass murders this week, Senator Ted Cruz said he wouldn't apologize for sending out utterly useless "thoughts and prayers" messages. Apparently, contrary to all reason, the power of prayer actually works. Sort of like belief in Santa will get that toy you want so badly--just ask any homeless child how well that works out.
The apology Cruz (and all those of his ilk) should be giving, though, is the one for all of the Americans who have died needlessly through gun violence because of their misguided faith in an amendment written two hundred and thirty years ago that could never have imagined the destruction that guns could cause. Good luck in explaining your responsibility for those deaths to your God.
On the bright side, plenty of us will be sending you "thoughts and prayers" messages while you're rotting in hell. Hope it helps.
Daily Reminder: Zero Republicans Voted for the COVID-19 Relief Package
For the life of me, I cannot remember my introduction to this week's tune, though I do remember it was one of those songs that I heard once and immediately had to hear again...and again, and again, and again....
Cee Lo Green was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and did not have the easiest of childhoods--his father died when he was two, and his mother was a firefighter who was paralyzed in a car crash and died two years later when Green was just eighteen. By that time, though, his career had started with the hip hop group Goodie Mob with whom he released three albums. He then began his solo career, releasing two albums before joining up with DJ Danger Mouse to form Gnarls Barkley and release the killer song, "Crazy." Shortly thereafter Green returned to his solo career which has been his focus since, and has resulted in much commercial and critical success. Over the course of the last twenty-six years, he has released four albums with the Goodie Mob, two with Gnarls Barkley, and five solo albums (with a sixth to be released next month), and has seen three of those records hit the top ten. He has twice had singles hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. He has won five Grammy Awards and one Brit Award, and spent three seasons as a coach on one of the worse shows on television, The Voice. Green has also had some controversy in the past few years and was investigated for sexual battery (he pleaded to a lesser charge), and also made some severely misguided tweets concerning rape which seem to have stalled his career a bit (his last album was the only one of his career that failed to chart).
"Fuck You" was released in 2010 on the album The Lady Killer.It would eventually reach #2 (with a bullet!) here in the United States, and hit number one in the United Kingdom. It was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and would win a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
Imagine if you will, a song that has the pop sensibilities of classic Motown and makes use of one of my favorite words in the English language, and you would have one hell of a single. Green has written a ditty which is ostensibly about telling a former flame who has left him for greener pastures (cash money) and her new boyfriend to blow it out their ass. "Fuck You" (you can't believe how odd it is to type those words in reference to a song) also contains one of my all-time favorite moments in a song, when Green sings, "Ain't that some shit" and the backing vocalists follow right up with an "Ain't that some shit" of their own. Green makes some great pop culture references, has a voice to die for, and manages to turn a song that could have sounded bitter into a joyful rebuke to a lost love. It's also one of the few times you can say fuck you at the top of your lungs and not have to feel guilty about it later....
Rap Sheet: "I see you driving 'round town with the girl I love/And I'm like 'fuck you'/I guess the change in my pocket wasn't enough/I'm like 'fuck her and fuck you too'..."
Thanks to this week's tune, I picked up a copy of Atlanta Rhythm Section's greatest hits at a library sale for a buck. I'd never been all that crazy about the band other than that particular tune, so imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later I threw it in the CD player in my car figuring I'd listen to it a time or two and then file it away forever...and ended up spending the next six months listening to it. I literally could not wait to get into my car every day to listen to it--hell, I still have it in my car just in case I get a hankering for a listen again.
The Atlanta Rhythm Section (ARS) were formed in 1971 from the ashes of the Candymen and the Classics IV as a session band for Studio One in Doraville, Georgia. I'd be hard pressed to find a band that was more generic--true to being session musicians, there really isn't a band member who stands out as a leader (in fact, twenty four people have at one time or another been a member of ARS). Their first five releases sold just slightly more than my first five releases (that would be zero copies sold for me), but their sixth and seventh albums became hits, both hitting the top twenty. Their next would peak at #26...and that would be it for commercial success for ARS, though the band is still touring to this day. For their career they have released 13 albums, two live albums, and six compilations. They also released 15 singles, five of which cracked the top twenty. The band still features a couple of the original members, though sadly six former members have gone to the Great Rock and Roll Concert in the Sky. I should also mention that on the coolness quotient, the name "Atlanta Rhythm Section" scores quite high in my book...
"Do It or Die" was released as a single in 1979 from their album Underdog. It was actually a bigger hit than I remember it being, reaching #19 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Do It or Die" is a nice slice of Southern Rock pop, a reminder (especially relevant in these coronavirus trying times) that even when the dice are coming up craps, one needs to keep on playing to have a chance to win. Lead singer Ronnie Hammond sings it with the soft confidence of someone who's been through rough times and lived to see the other side. The rest of the band provides a subtle background with some fine guitar and organ work, as well as backing vocals that are a gentle breeze for Hammond's vocals to float upon. Yeah, it's a little sappy, but in the end it's a surprisingly good song from a surprisingly good band.
Lyric Sheet: "Life is a gamble all along/Winners are losers who keep rollin' on/So go on and roll the dice/You only live twice/Do it or die..."
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..."
A million years ago when I first started managing a music store, CBS Records and its affiliates used to send every store a promotional copy of every single they released for public consumption. As you might imagine, my store received hundreds of promotional 45s every year, and which ever ones the people who worked for me didn't want, I'd take home and my first wife and I, being poor newlyweds with a baby on the way, would listen to each of them for an evening of cheap entertainment. You'd be surprised though how many of them actually turned out to be decent little singles--just like this week's tune.
The Producers formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981 and thanks to some success through the southeastern U.S., were able to cobble together a ten year career. The band does occasionally reunite for one off affairs in Georgia, but for the most part its members have moved onto other bands/vocations. The Producers released three albums during their initial run, and had an unreleased album hit the shelves to little fanfare in 2001. They also still have an unreleased album from 2012 just waiting in the vaults for a little magic to help it see the light of day. They only had one album and one single chart over the course of their career. While two of the band's original members are still making music, two have joined the mundane masses, one driving a taxi and the other as the owner of his own cleaning service.
"What She Does to Me (The Diana Song)" was released in 1981 on the band's cleverly named debut LP, The Producers.The song reached #61 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album hit #163 on the Billboard 200. As noted above, these were the only chartings the band ever had...and still two more than I've ever had.
A couple of years after the Producers debuted, Rolling Stone released a record guide, entitled appropriately enough, The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Under the entry for the Producers, the critic noted that they were the kind of band that made him wish he'd devoted his life to baseball after all...which in light of my love for "What She Does to Me" seems a bit harsh. Frankly, the song was another in a long line of great 1980's power pop singles, and as the YouTube video notes, is a lost gem from that era. It's a tale of a woman torn between two lovers (actually based on one of the band members' wife), and the torment of one of her paramours knowing that even when he's with her, his competition is right there, too. The band has some nice guitar work throughout, the drums drive the single into the fast lane, and the band as a whole does a great job of conveying the angst of falling in love with someone and knowing that no one else makes you feel the way he or she does. No, the Producers will never make anyone forget the Rolling Stones, but they did put together a hell of a song about the pain of love, and one great song is a hell of a lot more than any Rolling Stone critic ever had.
Liner Notes: "He's looking over my shoulder/Though I'm with you tonight/He knows that he'll have you tomorrow/And you'll be holding him tight..."
Alas, devoting a paragraph to the life and accomplishments of Kanye West would be like devoting a paragraph to the solar system--way too much there to encapsulate with a handful of sentences. Suffice it to say, West started out as a hip-hop producer extraordinaire before becoming a rapper in his own right (believe it or not, West had all kinds of trouble finding a label to finance his first album--since he came from a comfortable middle class upbringing, many felt his image wouldn't play in the world of hip-hop), releasing eight albums (of which the first six debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart), having umpteen top 20 singles, won 21 Grammy Awards, and performing otherworldly concert tours. I originally thought of claiming that West was the Bob Dylan of hip-hop until I realized that Dylan didn't even come close to accomplishing--at least commercially--what West has accomplished in the last 20 years. He is probably the music artist of the 21st century--at least thus far.
All of West's accomplishments have not come without controversy. West is a horrid loser at awards shows, tends to let his mouth move without checking with his brain first (welcome to the club!), and runs the gamut politically from compassionate activist to just another rich asshole. His marriage to Kim Kardashian, a woman who has no discernible talents and basically became famous because her family is rich, is something of a head scratcher, too, but like the song says, the things we do for love....
It's not often that a forty-five year old man will be sitting in his living room flipping channels late in the evening and a when a video for a previously unknown hip hop artist appears on his TV (and a song about spirituality to boot), sits up and says, "Man, I've got to hear that one again..." but that's exactly what happened with me the first time I heard "Jesus Walks." Fortunately, the Beautiful Girl was already a fan and burned me a copy of his debut CD, The College Dropout, which I would listen to for the next couple of months. The song would go to to reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, win a Grammy Award for best rap song, and appear at #273 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time. "Jesus Walks" is one part military cadence, one part gospel song, and one part angry young black man ranting about the fucked up world he sees. In the end it's an acknowledgement of both his real and perceived faith, which, while not my cup of tea, one certainly has to respect for bringing a heretofore untouched subject matter to the world and music of hip hop. It's a tour de force in the pantheons of pop music: unforgettable, passionate, and startling.
Rap Sheet: "Yo, we at war/We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we at war with ourselves/Jesus walks..."
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.
