Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCI--Ian and Sylvia: Four Strong Winds

Oh to live on Sugar Mountain, with the barkers and the colored balloons, you can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain, though you're thinking that...I'm (eight days) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune came when I was writing my first post about Neil Young (here).  As I did my weekly half-assed research, I discovered that Young was much smitten with this song as a young man and how much it influenced his career, so I gave it a listen.  Turns out, it was a hell of a song even if I didn't discover until I did my half-assed research this week that it wasn't a solo effort but rather a duo....

Ian and Sylvia began performing as a duo in 1959, were married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.  Ian Tyson set out to be a rodeo performer, but while recuperating from injuries incurred while striving for that goal, he learned the guitar and it eventually led to a long career.  Sylvia Tyson (nee Fricker) began playing in clubs in Toronto at the ripe old age of nineteen before meeting up with Ian and forming their duo.  They had some success, mostly in their native Canada, before their divorce and their band Great Speckled Bird (formed in 1969) is considered one of the progenitors of country rock.  After their demise, Ian raised horses and performed sporadically as a solo artist; Sylvia became a solo artist before joining Quartette in 1993 and later performing one-woman shows.  Along the way they were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a duo, and both were also inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame individually.  For their career as a duo, they released twelve studio albums, one live album, and six singles.  Ian passed away in 2022, but Sylvia is still performing and released her latest album in 2023.

"Four Strong Winds" was the first single from their 1963 album, the rather uniquely titled Four Strong Winds (again no Wikipedia entry--again, WTF?).  The single did not chart in America but hit #9 in Canada (so many cool kids in the Great White North!).  The album hit #115 on the Billboard 200 but surprisingly did not chart in their homeland.

Fun Fact:  In a poll conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 2005, "Four Strong Winds" was voted the greatest Canadian song of all time.  That's a pretty damn good legacy.

Fun Fact #2:  "Four Strong Winds" was the first song Ian Tyson ever wrote.  Their other charting hit in Canada (it reached #4 and through the years has become something of a folk standard), "You Were on My Mind," was likewise the first song that Sylvia Tyson wrote.  Talk about your strong starts....

"Four Strong Winds" may be one of the saddest songs ever written.  It tells the tale of a man heading out to find a job and leaving a relationship that's over.  But he still holds out hope--but nope they've gone over it again and again.  Maybe when he gets where he's going (Alberta) he can send her fare--but nope, it'll be very cold in the winter and not much to do.  But he still knows he'll go looking for her if he ever comes back--but regardless of his sadness the world is going to keep spinning.  Ian Tyson sings with the plaintive voice of a man who's still in love but knows his love will be unrequited.  Sylvia Tyson provides backing vocals throughout that seem to only deepen his sorrow.  Softly sung, softly performed, and acoustic from beginning to end--if this one isn't a modern (ish) folk classic I don't know what is.  A beautiful, beautiful song (says the old fart folkie...).

Lyric Sheet: "Still I wish you'd change your mind/If I ask you one more time/But we've been through this a hundred times or more..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXXXIII--Neil Young: The Needle and the Damage Done

She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side, and the coloured girls go...I'm (seventeen days late, a new Friday Night Jukebox record!) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune came one Christmas in the late seventies (couldn't remember which one, though 1978 would be my guess) when my parents bought me this week's artist's triple album greatest hits, Decade.  I was just beginning to learn there was a lot more to life than they taught me in high school, and simultaneously that there was a lot more to rock and roll than top forty radio, and that album opened my eyes even wider to both.  And I'll never forget Young's self-penned liner note about this week's song:  "I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men."  Just as true today....

I've written about Neil Young as a solo artist twice before (here and here) and once as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young for the greatest protest song every written, "Ohio."  In the little more than a year since I last wrote about him, Young has released two albums (one of which has been in the vaults since the 1970's) and headlined the Glastonbury Festival.  Even better, last year he released another protest song, "Big Crime," which he wrote in response to Donald Trump, piece of shit that he is, sending the National Guard into Washington D.C.  One of its lyrics was "Got to get the fascists out, got to clean the White House out...."  Bravo, Mr. Young!

"The Needle and the Damage Done" was originally released in 1972 on Young's rather accumulatively named album, Harvest.  The song was released as the B-side of Young's single "Old Man" which peaked at #31 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (it reached #4 in Young's native Canada--so many cool kids in the Great White North!), The album was the only #1 of his career.

(Not so) Fun Fact:  Young wrote the song about the effects of heroin addiction on musicians he knew, including his Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten.  Sadly, Whitten would die of an overdose the same year the song was released.  Even worse, the next year Young's roadie Bruce Berry also died of an overdose.

"The Needle and the Damage Done" is two minutes of sheer fucking brilliance.  Rather than record a studio version, Young used a version he'd performed in concert, just him and his guitar, for the album release. The sparseness of the show strips the song to its bare essence which captures both the song's beauty and its sorrow.  Neil Young has written a lot of great songs, but this is his greatest.  The lyrics reveal Young's compassion for these troubled folks and avoids even the slightest hint of self-righteousness as he chronicles heroin addiction and the chains with which it wraps up its victims.  Young's vocals are spare, honest, and convey the tragedy he has seen unfolding around him.  Add in Young's beautiful melody, picked adeptly on his acoustic guitar, and you have a masterpiece, a short story in song. 

Lyric Sheet:  "I've seen the needle and the damage done/A little part of it in everyone/But every junkie's like a settin' sun..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXIV--Joni Mitchell: The Circle Game

 Alas, this one is not on time, but merely a week late.  Still better than two weeks late....

As I was doing my half-assed research this week, I learned that this week's song was written in response to a song written by last week's artist, Neil Young, called "Sugar Mountain."  Oh, the things you learn--and the odd coincidences--here on Friday Night Jukebox!  For my loyal readers (all three of you), my introduction to this week's tune was probably listening to the radio in the seventies, though my reintroduction and love of the song came sometime in the nineties when I scored a free copy of this week's artist's greatest hits. Pretty sure I've had much cooler intros to our featured songs....

I wrote about Joni Mitchell in Vol. LXXXIII, and for the life of me, I don't know why I didn't mention the aneurysm she had in 2015 (though I seem to recall there was some question for a while as to exactly what had caused her health crisis).  Though Mitchell had to learn to talk, walk, and play her guitar again, she managed to do so and returned to performing on a limited basis in 2023 to much acclaim.  As if her health struggles and return to performing weren't enough, Mitchell has also won two more Grammy Awards since I last wrote of her.

Fun Fact:  In solidarity with Neil Young, Mitchell pulled all of her music from Spotify in protest of piece of shit Joe Rogan's lies about the COVID-19 pandemic (both reinstated in 2024).  Mitchell also believes Donald Trump to be a piece of shit.  Even more reasons to like her!

"The Circle Game" was first written in 1966 (and was recorded by two other artists before Mitchell's version) but did not appear on an album of hers until 1970 on the rather deeply entitled Ladies of the Canyon.  The song was not released as a single by Mitchell, while the album would reach #27 on the Billboard 200.

In response to Neil Young's lamenting turning twenty (oh, the horror--note that "Sugar Mountain" is one of my favorite songs by Young), Mitchell composed this week's tune to give herself (and all of us) a little more hope on aging.  At song's end, Mitchell has turned the tables and made note of the new dreams we have with aging, which replace those we had when we were younger.  Mitchell's vocals are sweet and stunning, lingering on each word with the caress of the angels.  The music is as hopeful as the song's theme, and features--emaycee fave!--a catchy as all hell catchy chorus.  Mitchell was all of twenty when she wrote "The Circle Game"--and it certainly seems the hope she sought was found, and the new dreams she had came true.  A wondrous song from a wondrous talent. [Aside:  Bonus points for using the word grandeur in the lyrics--how many pop songs have used grandeur in the lyrics?]

Lyric Sheet:  "So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty/Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true/There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty/Before the last revolving year is through..."

Enjoy:

Bonus--the song that inspired it:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXIII--Neil Young: Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

Yikes--almost two weeks late.  To steal a phrase, it's alright, Ma, it's life and life only....

My introduction to this week's tune was my turntable in my bedroom at my parents home in Kokomo, Indiana.  I had a big assist from noted rock critic Robert Christgau and a stellar review he wrote in The Village Voice for this week's album--which prompted me to rush right out and buy a copy.  Christgau nailed it--it was a great record and with the passage of time became quite the influential album....

I wrote about Neil Young in Jukebox Vol. LXXX, and if I do say so myself, it was a nice bio paragraph, and other than his marriage to actress Daryl Hannah, releasing nine (!) more albums (Young was nothing if not prolific) and adding one more Grammy nomination it was a pretty bland nine years for Young (note:  tongue planted firmly in cheek).  I also wrote about Young for his brilliant protest song, "Ohio" in Vol. CCLII, which was ever so nobly performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. That's six links in three sentences--you'd think this was Wikipedia....

"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" was the closing song on Young's seminal 1979 album, the rather oxidizingly entitled Rust Never Sleeps.  The single would peak at #79 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, while the album hit #8 on (just to show you how old the album is) on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.

Fun Fact:  Rust Never Sleeps opens with an acoustic version of this week's song, entitled "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)."  Pretty damn sure that's a Friday Night Jukebox first (and one hell of a song in its own right).

Give "Hey Hey, My My" one listen and you can instantly tell why Young is considered the Godfather of Grunge.  From the thrashing slashing guitars to the ripped raw lyrics, Young takes on his relevance, his music's relevance, and what exactly should become of rock and roll (one of pop music's great ironies is that punk music did burn out rather than fadeaway).  It was a singular achievement for Young and sparked a musical movement for the rest of us.  Did I happen to mention that it's also simply a great song?  The vocals, the guitars, the band, the lyrics--just an ultimate piece of work that ranks with any of rock's greatest songs.

Lyric Sheet:  "Hey hey my my/Rock and roll can never die/There's more to the picture than meets the eye/Hey hey my my..."

Enjoy:

Bonus acoustic version:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

A heart of gold

I stand with @NeilYoungNYA https://t.co/hLz75ABoEP

— Nils Lofgren (@nilslofgren) January 25, 2022

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLII--Crobsy, Stills, Nash, and Young: Ohio

Regular readers (both of you) may recall that way back when Friday Night Jukebox began, the first song I wrote about was Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Suite:  Judy Blue Eyes."  We're two hundred and fifty some odd featured tunes into this experiment, and this week we're going back to our first group...and adding the inimitable Neil Young, with arguably, the most powerful protest song ever written.

Crosby, Still, and Nash formed in 1969, with each of the members (David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash) coming from successful groups (the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies respectively).  Joined off and on by Neil Young, CSN had a lot of success from the late sixties (including an appearance at the original Woodstock) to the late seventies.  To call the band volatile would be an understatement--Neil Young has left numerous times (in fairness, Young did have much more solo success than the others), Crosby did time in prison, and both Crosby and Stills had serious problems with freebasing cocaine.  Still, they have managed to release eight studio albums throughout the years, four of which hit the top ten (including one #1), and have had a #1 live album and #1 hits collection as well, and they have also had 30 (!) tours over the course of the last fifty years.  CSN was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; each of the members was also inducted with the bands noted above (Neil Young has gotten in for his solo work and, like Stills, his work with Buffalo Springfield).  While the band has not been together since their last tour in 2015, all of the members have said they wouldn't rule out another reunion.

"Ohio" was released as a single only in June of 1970, though a live version was released on their #1 live album, 4 Way Street.  The studio version did not appear on an LP until their first greatest hits collection, So Far, in 1974.   "Ohio" would go on to reach #14 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.

Written (by Neil Young) and recorded only two weeks after the National Guard murdered four students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, "Ohio" is a powerful testament to the evil the right wing is capable of, even as people exercise their constitutional right to peacefully protest.  It wasn't an accident that Young singles out Richard Nixon--conservatives have never believed in the right to dissent, only believing that dissent should be crushed by any means necessary.  From it's ominous guitar at the song's beginning (not sure Young has ever played a better guitar part) to David Crosby's plaintive wail of "How many more?" toward the end, CSNY sing a song that indicts a subset of American leaders who, for all their talk about the sanctity of life, seems to only revere life when it still resides in the womb.  It also serves as a stark reminder, especially in the age of Donald Trump, of the people who seek to subjugate us--and the power we still have in numbers to mourn the dead, to honor their sacrifice, and to change the world.  Literally one of the most stunning works of art pop music has ever produced.

Lyric Sheet:  "[Ad-libbed] How many more?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLI--Lynyrd Skynyrd: Sweet Home Alabama

When I think about music today, I often wonder if there are any songs like this week's featured tune:  one in which the first three guitar notes can be played and an entire generation of people recognizes the song.  There very well may be (I'm admittedly hopelessly out of the loop on newer music), but I've yet to hear it.

Lynyryd Skynyrd (pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd--get it?) formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964.  Skynyrd paid their dues for eight years, performing throughout Florida and later the rest of the south before being "discovered" by Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat, and Tears fame in 1972.  They released their debut album in 1973, which sold a million copies, and the band worked as the opening act for The Who on their Quadrophenia tour further increasing their profile.  The band had another hit and a couple of albums that were disappointments before releasing what would be their last album in their original form--which ended up being one of their bigger hits, unfortunately much of the success due to tragedy: a plane crash in 1977 killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines.  Several other members of the band and its crew suffered severe injuries in the accident, as well.  The band called it quits for ten years before reuniting with Ronnie's brother, Johnny, on lead vocals.  They're currently completing their final tour (albeit with one, count 'em one original member left--sadly most of the rest of those not killed in the plane crash have passed as well), and are supposedly releasing their last album sometime this year.  For their career, Skynyrd has released fourteen studio albums, 24 compilation albums (we have a new Friday Night Jukebox record!), and 12 live albums (also an FNJ record).  The band has sold 28 million records here in the U.S., been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and regularly shows on on all-time lists both as a band and for their various works.

Fun Fact:  Lynyrd Skynyrd was named for a high school gym teacher (Leonard Skinner) several band members were students of who was something of a hard ass when it came to young men with long hair.  Over time, Mr. Skinner embraced the band, and they him, even introducing the band at one of their concerts in Florida.

Fun Fact #2:  When you check out the comments for "Sweet Home Alabama" on its YouTube viewer, 99% of the comments are incest jokes.  I mean, I get it, but 99%?  Sheesh, give it a rest.

"Sweet Home Alabama" was the first single from their second album, Second Helping, released in 1974.  The song would reach #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album hit #12 the Billboard 200.  The song also was ranked #398 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.

Welp...this week's ain't easy.  There seems to be all kinds of debate on whether or not the song is a celebration of racist former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, or a condemnation.  Songwriter Ronnie Van Zant claimed he was not a fan of Wallace, but music writer Ed King said he thought it was a tribute to Wallace.  The song was originally written as an answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man" which condemned the south's racism--and ended up being a tribute to one of the nation's most racist states.  And to top it off, none of the song's writers were even from Alabama.  In the end, it's an imperfect song about one's home, enlivened with three guitars worth of strumming, some jaunty piano, and Van Zant's stellar vocals.  While I'm not a fan of all the song's themes, I'm also not a fan of all the themes in Nabokov's Lolita--but it doesn't mean either isn't a remarkable piece of art.  Which is a fancy way of saying, yup, I can shake my fanny to it and that's enough for me.

Lyric Sheet:  "Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers/And they've been known to pick a song or two/Lord they get me off so much/They pick me up when I'm feeling blue..."

Enjoy:

 

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

It took a Village (Voice)

It's alright, Ma, I'm only crying

I noted a couple of posts back in Friday Night Jukebox that I spent my formative years (ages 14-21) in the small (but completely uninteresting) town of Kokomo, IN.  Our newspaper there, The Kokomo Tribune, reflected the town itself and what many of its residents would consider an ideal America--Mom, baseball, apple pie, and hot dogs (not a caricature).  Somehow when I started college at the regional Indiana University campus there in Kokomo, I came across the New York City weekly The Village Voice.  

The big city newspaper in Kokomo was The Indianapolis Star, a conservative beacon in Indiana.  Television consisted of five channels--the big three (only ABC, NBC, and CBS existed back then), one local channel that showed nothing but reruns, and if the weather was just right (no clouds) you could sort of get the PBS station on the TV.  Radio was top forty out of the big city there in Chicago, and again, if the weather was just right, you could get one of them rock and roll FM stations out of Indianapolis.  There was no internet.

You can imagine what it was like, then, when I started subscribing to The Village Voice, an alternative weekly before there were alternative weeklies.  It introduced me to the punk movement and Neil Young (after a hella review of his Rust Never Sleeps LP) and the work of music critic Robert Christgau (whom I continue to have a love/hate relationship with to this day).  It taught me that not all people who were gay were in the closet.  That there were Americans who were a lot more liberal than that commie Jimmy Carter.  That there were a lot of people angry just like me at the state of America.  And that there was a lot more to America (both good and bad) than I had been taught in my high school history classes.

So it was with some sadness that I read this past week that The Village Voice is ceasing publication, though I'd quit subscribing sometime after my daughter was born (not a justifiable expense for a young family) roughly thirty-five years ago.  Not surprised--printed newspapers have pretty much become a quaint nod to our past, which I suppose is what this whole post is.

Give 'em credit, though--in a world that is still screaming for the coolness quotient, they scored a perfect ten on their final cover (Dylan saluting, as seen at the top of this post).

If you gotta go, as the saying goes, at least leave a beautiful corpse.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXX--Neil Young: Like a Hurricane

In August of 1983 I saw Neil Young in concert for the first time (in Bloomington, Indiana, with my kid brother who I had to talk into going and was only eventually able to sway because our Dad paid for the tickets) and about halfway through the show he played a ditty called "Like a Hurricane" (which I was somewhat familiar with from his greatest hits package, Decade) and after hearing it I went from being a Neil Young fan to being a Neil Young disciple.  That's a bit of hyperbole--the whole show was fantastic--but I kid you not when I tell you that both my brother and I listened to shitloads of Neil Young over the next couple of years after that show.

Neil Young has had quite the storied career and quite the tragic personal life, a lot of both which have ended up on his records.  Starting out in 1960 in his native Canada, Young has been performing for more than 55 years now, being a member of Buffalo Springfield (classic hit, "For What It's Worth"), Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young,  (where he wrote the seminal protest song, "Ohio"), and releasing 35 studio albums as a solo artist.  He's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice (solo and as a member of Buffalo Springfield), has won Grammy Awards, Juno Awards, still tours regularly (and he's in his seventies now), was Village Voice's artist of the decade for the 70's, is considered the Godfather of Grunge, and for some odd ass reason is probably one of the most overlooked rock and roll icons still going today.  Part of it is Young himself--his musical output has been nothing if not eclectic (releasing albums that were electronica, rockabilly, country, folk, grunge, and rock, among others) and it's often hard for folks to keep up with so many changes (or keep up with a prolific output--I haven't bought a Neil Young album in 15 years). 

Young has also been surrounded by quite a bit of sorrow throughout his life--he had polio as a child, his two sons both were born with cerebral palsy, his daughter is epileptic (as is Young himself), and he suffered a brain aneurysm which almost cost him his life in the early 2000s.  Through it all Young has kept releasing music which both thrilled and mystified fans and disciples alike.  He probably won't get quite the deified send off that Prince got when he passed earlier this year (much deserved, and, in fairness, sudden and untimely celebrity deaths sell a lot more commercial time than old rock and roll geezers going to the great rock and roll concert in the sky), but he is certainly as worthy.

Released on his American Stars 'n Bars album in 1977, "Like a Hurricane" is a different breed of song for me--I grew up on top forty radio (WLS out of Chicago to be exact) and any song longer than three and a half minutes is far too long and extended guitar solos are for geeks who are positive that some morning  they'll wake up and have become Jimi Hendrix/Eric Clapton/Eddie Van Halen.  Well, "Like a Hurricane" lasts eight minutes and features not one, but two lengthy guitar solos.  Sigh--when a song grabs you it grabs you.  "Hurricane" is basically an ode to falling just a little too far in love and features some wondrous vocals from Young in his one of a kind alto singing voice.  While I generally hesitate to use the word "epic" when it comes to songs (The Iliad is epic--rock and roll songs are...uh...cool?), I would definitely call "Like a Hurricane" an epic--from the beginning guitar intro, through Young's two guitar solos, to its fade out, the music is grandiose, overarching, and spellbinding (if hurricanes had a soundtrack it'd probably sound just like this song).  It's another in a long line of songs in the classic rock pantheon--and like much of Young's work says multitudes with its sheer simplicity.

Lyric sheet:  "I am just a dreamer but you are just a dream..."

Enjoy:

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XX--Hayden: Bad as They Seem

Every now and again a song comes along that reminds you that sometimes the best music is the simplest music.  A guitar, a harmonica, and some heartfelt vocals and you're listening to pure pop gold.

Such is the case with Canadian singer/songwriter Hayden and his song "Bad as They Seem."  Originally released on his album Everything I Long For in 1995 in Canada and in 1996 for the rest of us poor bastards, the song might best be described as alternative folk.   The critically acclaimed album launched quite the bidding war for Hayden's talents, made him a very rich man, but also a very miserable man.  He eventually walked away (well worth the ten minutes it takes to read) from fame and has quietly continued to make music for the past twenty years.

"Bad as They Seem" is ostensibly a song about a young man whose life, amazingly enough, is as bad as it seems.  Stuck in a dead end job, still living at home, longing forlornly for the love of his life--and all of it tied around some low string heavy acoustic guitar playing, a harmonica break that's reminiscent of fellow Canadian Neil Young (who was among those involved in the aforementioned bidding war), and it's all delivered in an almost monotone vocal that manages to find the right inflections just when they're most needed.   The song manages to convey a hopeful hopelessness--not sure if that's possible, but when I hear the chorus it's as if the protagonist is singing "it ain't gonna happen...but it might."  And sometimes that's enough.

And who among us in our darkest hours isn't looking for "someone to be [our] better half"?

Enjoy:

Peace,

emaycee

Tin soldiers and Nixon's not coming

This is a photo from protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was shot to death by a police officer last week.  Yesterday the police in Ferguson announced they wouldn't be releasing the name of the officer who killed Michael Brown.  Today, the police in Ferguson asked/told/announced to their citizens that there would be a curfew tonight after dark.  As I type this, tear gas is flooding the streets of Ferguson, despite the peaceful nature of the protests.

Every now and again I come across a piece where the writer proclaims we are becoming more and more of a police state every day.  I usually scoff.

After the actions of the police department in Ferguson (and the lack of action by Missouri elected officials from the town itself on up to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon), those proclamations are having a little more credence.  How can anyone look at that picture and trust their local police would behave any differently?  What if it was your unarmed child shot to death?  Wouldn't you want answers and not an army trying to prevent your right to them?

Maybe we finally are on our own.

Peace,
emaycee

Throwing shadows on our eyes

It's not hard to see why Americans are so cynical about our political process and why so many have given up completely.  I came across this Matt Taibbi piece on how Wall Street has fleeced policemen, firefighters, and teachers out of their pensions, and it helps to highlight why people feel so helpless.  Imagine working your whole life--giving up pay now for a few (and few is the correct word) more dollars in your retirement only to see it taken away because you have to pay for the sins of Wall Street (see also, The Great Recession).  It seems the lords of the manor won't be happy until they have it all. And it doesn't help that far too many of our elected representatives are the best money can buy.

Unfortunately for Wall Street, as some of our wealthy elites have seemed to notice, not everybody is ready to take the last train home.  Some of the lords are even a wee bit familiar with income inequality's outcome in the French Revolution.

Some people, when they can't feed themselves or even worse, their kids, get pissed off.  And pissed off people are a lot harder to control than those who have thrown in the towel.

Just ask King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Peace,
emaycee