Most hated man in the world

Trump, known as Jeffrey Epstein's best friend, was booed by 80,663 people at the 2026 World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social) July 19, 2026 at 7:23 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

As shitty of a father as he is Presidnet

Despite Donald Trump saying he cannot attend his son, Donald Jr.’s, wedding due to urgent government matters, his schedule shows that he will be in New Jersey playing golf all weekend

— The Naked Gardener (@thenakeddgardener.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 4:34 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCII--Lenny Welch: Since I Fell for You

 Yesterday it rained in Tennessee, I heard it also rained in Tallahassee, but not a drop fell on little old me, 'cause...I'm (only four days!) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune is twofold.  I originally heard it as a cover version by Charlie Rich (I featured another song of his in Vol. CCCXLV) on an album that my Mom had (and loved).  Fast forward about ten years, and it was featured prominently in a movie I particularly loved (perhaps because my Mom was a recovering alcoholic like many of the characters in the movie), Clean and Sober.  Only in the movie, it was the original version, and if I recall correctly, just a day or two after hearing it in the film I picked up the cassette single from the oldies section we had for many years at Camelot Music.  A long time ago in a land far away, one supposes....

Lenny Welch was born in New York City in 1938 and got his musical start at the ripe old age of sixteen in a local doo wop group.  In 1960 he signed his first recording contract, and three years later had the biggest hit of his career.  Welch would release singles and albums through 1977, at which time his recording career came to a pause.  He drove a cab and put himself through school, first earning his GED, then a bachelor's degree.  In 1990 he joined The Royal All Stars (later The Doo Wop All Stars), a troupe of singers from bands of an earlier time.  He left them in 1992 to pursue an acting career (never panned out) but was able to spend the next twenty-eight years touring as a solo artist before quitting when the COVID pandemic struck in 2020.  For his career, he released five studio albums, one compilation, and thirty-six singles (eight of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100).  Sadly, Welch died just last year at the age of eighty-six.

Fun Fact:  Welch spent the bulk of his youth in Asbury Park, New Jersey, making him the second Friday Night Jukebox honoree to have spent his formative years there.  I'll let you guess the other....

"Since I Fell for You" was released in 1963, from his debut album, the rather imaginatively entitled Since I Fell for You (and yet again no Wikipedia entry...).   The single hit #4 (with a bullet!), while the album peaked at #73.

For some odd ass reason, until I did my half-assed research this week, I thought that "Since I Fell for You" was a wonderful piece of blue-eyed soul, when in actuality it's a wonderful piece of soul brother soul (Welch is black)--which is kind of funny in a way (it's not like I've ever seen him performing the song on some musically related TV show--I was all of four when it originally was released).  No matter in the end.  Enveloped in strings, Welch weaves the tale of a man who gave up his happy home for a love that didn't last and is lamenting the fact that he can't stop loving her.  I'm not familiar with any of Welch's other hits, but I'm guessing this is one of those musical moments in which kismet was ever present in the studio.  Welch's vocals are other worldly--he captures all the man's heartbreak--and ever-present desire--with every single note he sings and carries that sorrow on his back like it's his own cross to bear.  It's one of those songs where an artist creates their moment of perfection--and hangs that perfection around his neck like a golden amulet for the rest of his days.  Welch put the torch in this torch song on this one, and it sounds as good or better with each and every listen.  A gem of a gem if ever a gem there was....

Lyric Sheet:  "Love/Brings such misery and pain/I guess I'll never be the same/Since I fell for you..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXVI--Mary Chapin Carpenter: Passionate Kisses

No, I won't back down, no, I won't back down, you can stand me up at the gates of hell but...I'll still be (over two weeks) late again....

Another kind of ho-hum introduction to this week's tune--back in my Camelot Music days we thought this week's artist's album looked interesting and gave it a spin on the turntable (nah--it was all CDs by then).  I fell immediately in love with this week's song and the rest of the album.  It also began a lovefest with her music, and I anxiously awaited her next four or five offerings...until time and tide, and you know the rest....

Mary Chapin Carpenter was born in Princeton, N.J. in 1958, and got her inspiration to be a musician from her mother who was a folk singer.  Carpenter learned the ukulele and classical guitar at a young age and began writing songs as a child.  After graduating from Brown University (how many country performers have Ivy League degrees?), she began playing covers in folk clubs around Washington D.C., before adding her own material.  During this time, she would meet John Jennings who would play a crucial role in her career as a songwriting partner and producer.  Carpenter was signed to a contract by Columbia Records in 1987, in which year she also released her debut album.  Chapin's second record would have her first hit and by her third she had become a country music star.  Carpenter has been nominated for eighteen Grammy Awards, and won five, including four straight from 1992-95 for Best Country Female Vocal Performance.  For her career, Carpenter has released seventeen studio albums (with one top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, and eight top ten albums on the Country chart, including one #1), two live albums, and four compilations.  She's also released forty-one singles, with nine reaching the Country top ten, and one of those being a #1. Carpenter has been known for her liberal politics (yea!), and her support for feminism.  She has performed with numerous artists over the past thirty-eight years and released her latest album this past June.

Fun Fact:  Carpenter joins Friday Night Jukebox alumni Stevie Nicks, Roseanne Cash, and Sheryl Crow as female musicians emaycee has had a crush on at one time or another.  Probably not quite the honor of winning a Grammy....

"Passionate Kisses" was the third single from Carpenter's 1992 release, the rather alluringly titled Come On Come On.  The single would reach #54 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and #4 on the Country singles chart.  The album hit #31 on the Billboard 200, and #11 on the Country albums chart.

Somehow, over the course of the thirty-three years since its release, I managed to either forget (likely), or never knew (could be?) that "Passionate Kisses" was written and originally recorded by Lucinda Williams (I loved two of her albums and then see time and tide comment above...).  No matter, though I did give a listen to Williams' version to which Carpenter's version is remarkably similar.  The song opens with a soft but loving (and short) piano riff before breaking into a rollicking call for all the good things in life to be hers.  Carpenter has a wondrous voice and makes the most of it here bringing forth all the uh, passion, to carry the song.  In the end, it's a smart pop song performed with the gusto of a woman not afraid to ask for the good life--and a good love as well.

Lyric Sheet:  "Is it too much to demand/I want a full house and a rock and roll band..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXV--Looking Glass: Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)

 Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming, we're finally on our own, this summer I hear the drumming...I'm (eleven days--yikes) late again....

You could read my introduction paragraph to last week's (at least technically last week's) tune of the week, and it could serve as this week's paragraph.  Huge single from the seventies gets played everywhere.  I will add this about this week's song:  I sincerely doubt there is a seventies pop compilation ever released that doesn't contain it.  Zero.  It is literally the epitome of seventies pop....

Looking Glass formed at Rutgers University in 1969, but the original lineup broke up after graduation.  Lead singer Elliot Lurie and Larry Gonsky recruited two new members and continued the band anew.  They released their first album in 1972 and their second a year later.  In 1974 the band changed its name to Fallen Angels at which time Lurie split, and in 1975 changed their name to Starz. (who would go on to develop a small following and gain some reputation as an influential heavy metal band).  That would also be the last year that the original band would be together until 2003 when Lurie reformed the band with all new musicians.  They continue to play the oldie circuit, and it's my guess it beats the hell out of working in a grocery store.  For their career, Looking Glass released the aforementioned two albums and five singles (they actually had a second hit that reached #33).

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was the first release from their 1972 debut album, the ever so conveniently named Looking Glass.  The single would reach #1 (with a bullet!), while the album peaked at #113.  Look how cool those kids are in the Great White North--#1 there, too.

Fun Fact:  Looking Glass owes a good deal of their big single's success to one Harv Moore, program director at WPCG in Washington, D.C.  He gave the radio release of the song a chance over two days and later said the station's switchboard "lit up like a Christmas tree."  Epic Records quickly released a single and other stations around the country caught on shortly.

From its mellow groove opening (replete with some wondrous doo-doo doo doos), "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" just oozes sticky sweet pop vibes and doesn't let up until it's over.  It tells the story of a waitress named Brandy from a "port on a western bay" (screams San Francisco) who spends her life serving sailors.  Alas, poor Brandy fell in love with one who told her the sea was his life, and she spends her days in love with a man who will never be hers.  Lead singer Lurie lays down some blue-eyed soul, and the band makes some bitchin' and joyous music for its three minutes and six seconds.  While doing my half-assed research, I noticed that the song is full of some nice backing horns--how the hell did I miss that the first million times I heard it?  As with last week's song, this is a wonderful slice of pop pie from the seventies that never gets old, which is probably as big of a testament to its greatness as any words I might write.

Lyric Sheet:  "At night when the bars close down/Brandy walks through a silent town/And loves a man who's not around/She still can hear him say..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

New Jersey to Donald Trump: Fuck you!

Mikie Sherrill has won the New Jersey governor’s race, defeating the Trump endorsed MAGA backed Jack Ciattarelli.

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— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social) November 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Democrats for the common good/GOP for the wealthy

At the very same time Fox is criticizing Gavin Newsom for attending a fundraiser for cancer research, Donald Trump is at his country club in NJ hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for himself with fat-cat mega donors while we are on the brink of war..

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) June 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

This is Trump's America

Fascism is when you charge an elected Black Congresswoman for her 'crime' of conducting oversight of an ICE facility as her job requires—but pay $5M in reparations to the family of a white supremacist insurrectionist for getting killed while trying to violently overthrow the Govt. This is America.

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@qasimrashid.com) May 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

And it's a huge difference

Democrats pushed out the longest serving and biggest name in Jersey politics as soon as he was indicted.

That’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans. https://t.co/fofKSAOtaA

— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽💡🔭🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) June 3, 2024

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

What fools believe

It’s endlessly amusing to me that Trumpers think a Jersey beach full of day-drunk dumbfucks in adult diapers and MAGA merch proves he’s going to win.

That’s like someone saying their STD proves they’re good at sex.

— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) May 13, 2024

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

A sign from above?

Wait so you’re telling me the epicenter of the New York City earthquake was…Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster?? pic.twitter.com/uH5uBTnfc6

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 5, 2024

Republican = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXLIII--Dr. Hook: The Cover of "Rolling Stone"

A novelty song, such as this week's featured tune, always runs the risk of having a one way ticket to Dorkville, but I think our song of the week keeps its coolness quotient for three main reasons: (1) It was written by Shel Silverstein of Where the Sidewalk Ends fame (among many others, including writing the hit "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash) (2) It's a tongue-in-cheek look at the lives of rock stars (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), and (3) It was featured in one of the best, if not the best, movies about rock and roll, Almost Famous.  As for my coolness quotient, that ship sailed some time ago....

It was a good week for my half-assed research--not only did I not know Shel Silverstein wrote this week's song, I had no idea Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (shortened to just plain old Dr. Hook in 1975) was from New Jersey (for some odd ass reason I thought they were a Southern band).  They began their career in 1968 in Union City and developed a reputation as a good live band.  It led eventually to their being signed by the great (or not) Clive Davis who was then at CBS.  While the band had a number of hit singles, they were not able to sell albums, and coupled with their inability to manage money, the band filed for bankruptcy in 1974.  A few more hit singles helped the band get back on its feet, but by 1983 they had run the course of their most success.  Dr. Hook broke up in 1985, reunited in 1988, broke up again in 2015, and reunited for the last time in 2019 and continue to pay their bills playing on the Never-Ending Nostalgia Tour.  For their career, they released twelve studio albums (the last in 1983), twenty-three (!!!) compilation albums, and thirty singles (six of which hit the top ten).

"The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" was the second single from the group's second studio album, the rather crudely titled Sloppy Seconds.  The song would hit #6 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album would peak at #41, the highest charting album of their career.

Fun Fact:  Dr. Hook did make the cover of Rolling Stone, in March of 1973.  Sadly for the band, it was just a caricature of three of its members.  You'd think Rolling Stone would have enough class to give the entire band a photo shoot just for the free advertising....

While I'm sure that someone somewhere has written a dissertation on a novelty song, this post isn't going to attempt to wax poetic about a song that's more or less just a lot of fun.  The song is catchy as all hell, Silverstein's lyrics have some nice word play, there's a knowing wink at the life of a rock star, and the band engages in a lot of banter (apparently a part of their live show).  "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" hearkens back to an era when rock stars were troubadors who played music for the love of the music, and not so their brand could sell perfume and condoms.  If nothing else, it's a nice reminder that once upon a time Corporate America didn't rule the airwaves, and people made music to make other people smile.

Lyric Sheet:  "(Rolling Stone) Wanna see my picture on the cover/(Stone) Wanna buy five copies for my mother/(Stone) Wanna see my smilin' face/On the cover of the Rolling Stone..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXVII--The Lumineers: Ho Hey

[For those excited about a Friday Night Jukebox post actually appearing on a Friday, note that this one is a week late...sorry!]

My introduction to this week's tune was its featuring in a commercial (thanks to my half-assed research I discovered it was for the search engine Bing).  I took a chance and bought the CD based on the song...and hated it.  A few weeks later I came home from work one night and my wife was playing an album on the stereo that was quite good.  When I asked what it was, she replied "The Lumineers album you hated."  I spent the next several months enjoying it on my rides to and from work....

The Lumineers got their start in 2005 in New Jersey when Wesley Schulz and Jeremiah Fraites began writing songs together.  After a gig in which the emcee accidentally introduced them by the name of the band they were replacing, they became the Lumineers (the word has no meaning).  They relocated to Denver in 2009, and in 2011 released their debut album, which became a hit, and the rest as they say, is history.  Much to my surprise, the band has done quite well through these last ten years, becoming one of the top touring bands and having a string of hit records, the last of which was released just last week.  For their career, The Lumineers have released four studio albums with the first three charting at #2, #1, and #2.  They've also released 19 singles, though only the first three reached the charts.  They have had three world tours, opened for U2 in 2017, and have been nominated for two Grammy Awards, as well.

Fun Fact:  In a fact that only people born on June 4th will appreciate, they Lumineers released this week's single on my something-somethingth birthday:  June 4, 2012.

"Ho Hey" was the first single released from the very aptly titled debut LP, The Lumineers.  The single was the highest charting of their career, reaching #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  As noted above, the album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200.

For a song that was originally written to annoy members of their concert audience who were bored (that's what the "Ho" and "Hey" shouts were originally for), "Ho Hey" became a pretty darn good little single.  Ostensibly a tale about a boy telling a girl she's dating the wrong guy because said boy is the one who loves her most, it's chock full of catchy choruses, the "Ho/Hey" shouts punctuate the song with a funky rhythm, and the band members make the most of two acoustic guitars, a mandolin, and a cello.  If nothing else, it's proof that America's folk tradition is alive and well, and capable of adapting to any era and music fans of any age...and can make an old fart folkie like me bounce around the house singing it for days.

Lyric Sheet:  "I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCLXIV--Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: I Don't Want to Go Home

 A thousand years ago (truthfully, it's actually a little more than forty), shortly after I'd begun to recognize that Bruce Springsteen was the second coming of Christ an exemplar of the best of what rock and roll had to offer, I began to research his musical history, and as such, came across this week's band.  While I have not kept up with their catalog through the years quite like I have with Springsteen, their first few albums still bring back a lot of good memories...and a number of hellacious tunes.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (truly one of rock and roll's better band names) began as a union between Steve Van Zandt (of E Street Band and The Sopranos fame) and John Lyon (later known as Southside Johnny) in the early 70's, a time in which they played in numerous bands together (some including Springsteen as well).  In 1975 Van Zandt followed Springsteen on his Born to Run tour, at which time Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were more or less born.  Van Zandt would produce as well as write songs for their first few albums, and though the Jukes never quite achieved the commercial success they might have hoped for, they have been able to make a living (in a number of different incarnations) playing music these many years now.  For their career, the Jukes have released (more or less as they've had a number of different band names with the only constant being Southside Johnny) seventeen studio albums, sixteen live albums, and seventeen compilations.  

Fun Fact:  Over one hundred musicians have performed in one of the numerous forms of the Jukes, including Jon Bon Jovi and a number of members of the E Street Band.

"I Don't Want to Go Home" was not released as a single in the United States, but it was the first song on their debut album, the not so surprisingly entitled I Don't Want to Go Home.  The song is considered one of the Jukes signature tunes, and the album is often mentioned as one of the forerunners of the Jersey Shore sound.  

For those not familiar, one listen of "I Don't Want to Go Home" and you are going to realize that you are familiar...with the Jersey Shore sound.  Lots of horns, a righteous rock and roll band, and some raucous vocals lead the way as Southside Johnny weaves a tale (written by Van Zandt) of a man who at first we think is having a good time but later come to see that he doesn't want to go home because his baby has left him and he doesn't want to return to an empty house.  Lyon sings the vocals with the longing of a man adrift, and the band backs him with just enough oomph to keep the song from becoming maudlin.  I hadn't heard this one in years when I added it to my list of future Jukebox posts, but you can bet I've more than caught up in the last couple of years.  Another in a long line of great songs in the "My Baby She Left Me" genre.

Lyric Sheet:  "I know we had to try/To reach up and touch the sky baby/What ever happened to you and I/That I don't want to go home..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

And another media fail

Just checking in on how Murphy’s narrow win and Youngkin’s decisive victory are doing. pic.twitter.com/FecUNlKPwQ

— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 7, 2021

Republican = Racist

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXX--Halsey: Hold Me Down

 My introduction to this week's tune was an acoustic version Halsey performed on the TV show Roadies (this is the fourth song featured on FNJ that I discovered on its ten episodes).  While I've never been able to find the acoustic version anywhere else, it did lead me to check out the original, which in and of itself was a very nice listening surprise and turned out to be one hell of a song.

Halsey hails from New Jersey, and released her first album in 2015 at the ripe old age of twenty-one.  Over the course of the last six years, she has had quite the influence on both music and American culture.  She is a fierce advocate for women, sexual assault survivors, mental health, racial justice, and LGBTQ issues.  At the 2018 Women's March Halsey performed a five minute poem called "A Story Like Mine" which detailed sexual assault and violence in her life and was hailed around the world.  Musically, she has released three albums, one of which reached #1 on the Billboard 200 with the other two reaching #2.  Halsey has also released 21 singles, with two # 1's (one with the Chainsmokers), and four others that have hit the top ten.  She's also been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and has toured after the release of each of her albums.  It's quite a resume for a woman who will turn twenty-seven later this year.

"Hold Me Down" was the first single released from her first album, Badlands, though it was released as a promotional single rather than a traditional single.  Still, it has had over 100 millions streams on Spotify and has been certified platinum.

Fun Fact:  Despite her rather busy musical career and activism, Halsey has found time to get 29 tattoos, one of which features a lyric from Friday Night Jukebox honoree "Loser" by Beck.

While doing my half-assed research for this week's post, I read that while Halsey definitely had musical influences, she felt as if filmmakers were actually a bigger influence on her art.  And as I listened to this week's tune several times in the run-up to writing this post, I noticed that the music in "Hold Me Down" is often very much like the soundtrack of a movie--it adds a sense of urgency and it illuminates her overarching message and its delivery.  She has said that the song was about an asshole of a man who tried to make her feel small and how she wanted to tell everyone not to let anyone make you feel small, and Halsey delivers a defiant performance.  Her staccato vocals are full of a cadence that illuminates a headstrong woman's call to arms.  It's a tour de force for a young woman who is wise beyond her years, and whose convictions are strong in word and deed.

Lyric Sheet:  "Hold me down, hold me down/Throw me in the deep end, watch me drown/Knock me out, knock me out/Saying that I want more, this is what I live for..."

Enjoy:

511,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Peace,

emaycee

Apparently, not all rich people suck

A little good news for a change

I'd be the first to admit I've never been much of a Bon Jovi fan (my youngest son makes up for me, though), but after reading how he and his wife started Soul Kitchen in 2011, a restaurant (there are now three of them) devoted to helping those in need that has no prices on its menus, but where people pay either through donation or according to their means (if at all), I just might start.

Even better was reading how last Sunday, instead of hunkering down in his home like most wealthy folks (his net worth is north of $400 million), Jon Bon Jovi was in his restaurant fucking cleaning the dishes to help make sure that those many families whose economic lives have been turned upside down by Donald Trump's incompetent handling of the coronavirus pandemic could eat.

That is a class act.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

States' rights

Apparently there's a lot of rich folk seeking handouts...

The state of New Jersey under Democratic Governor Phil Murphy has created a task force to study corporate tax breaks...which has found--surprise, surprise!--that corporate tax breaks result in lots of our taxpayer dollars being given to corporations with very little in return for the public good.

In the maelstrom that is the Trump administration, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that not all issues resonate at the national level, and that a lot of good work is being done by Democrats at the state and local levels to make this nation a better place for us all.

It would do us all well to remember come November of 2020 that Donald Trump is not the only corrupt idol that needs to be felled--a lot of victories in local elections can lead to a lot of victories for those of us who don't have both hands stuffed in taxpayer filled cookie jars.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXI--Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul: Forever

Back in the day when I thought Bruce Springsteen walked on water, anyone that had anything remotely to do with him was worth a listen...and Miami Steve Van Zandt was a lot more than that.  He was a long time friend of Springsteen's, played guitar for the E Street Band, and had helped produce a Springsteen effort or two.  Turns out, he was pretty damn good in his own right--and not just musically.

Steve Van Zandt has had one of the most interesting and diversified careers we've had here on FNJ and he doesn't seem to be slowing down one bit.  He started out, as so many musicians do, with different bands of his own when he was a teen, joined up with Bruce Springsteen on a couple of his early bands, before helping to co-found Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (cool band name, and not a bad little band, to boot).  He joined up again with Springsteen about the time Born to Run was released (Van Zandt has been credited by Springsteen with helping to create the signature guitar line of "Born to Run" and with producing the horns on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out").  In 1982 he formed his own band, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul (you gotta admit the dude has a knack for cool band names), had a small degree of success, and would part from The E Street Band right after Born in the USA was released.  In 1999 Van Zandt would rejoin the E Street Band (and has toured with Springsteen pretty regularly since), and he also began his role as Silvio Dante on a little show called The Sopranos.  In 2002 he began his nationally syndicated (and highly acclaimed) radio show Little Steven's Underground Garage--which he parlayed into a gig as program director for two more radio shows on Sirius.  Van Zandt has released ten solo albums, produced albums for artists from Meatloaf to Darlene Love, became a noted political activist (especially for his work in bringing attention to apartheid in South Africa), and was eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The E Street Band in 2014.  Quite the resume, I'd say--and I kept quite a bit out just to keep this from becoming a novel....

Fun Fact:  Van Zandt got his nickname, Miami Steve, because after finishing a tour with a band called the Dovells in Miami, he returned to New Jersey and would only wear Hawaiian shirts because he--much like emaycee--hated winter.

"Forever" was released in 1982 on the album Men Without Women (for those familiar with Hemingway, the title is a nod to a collection of his short stories entitled, surprisingly enough, Men Without Women).  It would reach #63 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, though it would fare better in Norway and Sweden making the top 25.  So many cool kids in Scandinavia!  

"Forever" would be a fine exemplar of the Jersey Sound--lush, full of horns and plenty of instrumentation, with a slight nod to Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound, and a wee bit of Springsteen, too. It's your basic love song--nothing much of life matters if she isn't there to share it with you.  Van Zandt delivers an animated vocal performance--his vocals are somewhat reminiscent of Blood on the Tracks Dylan (though it would be hard to imagine Dylan singing such a pop song).   In the end, there's a sweetness to the single--Van Zandt infuses the music with a 1960's girl group charm but gives the lyrics enough of an edge to not make it sappy.  It's another of those singles that still sounds as good today as it did thirty some odd years ago and that I've spent the better part of the last week happily singing as I bounced around the house.  A real delight.

Lyric Sheet:  "If I give you my heart would you love me forever?  Would you pick up the pieces if I stumble and fall?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Oh yeah

Kickin' some republican ass tonight!

The devil gets his due:  for the first time since 1989, Democrats have won the Virginia governorship, the New Jersey governorship, and the race for mayor of New York.  We picked up at least twelve House seats in Virginia, won both the Lt. Gov. and AG elections there as well, won the special election in Washington state (giving us control of all three legislative branches in both New Jersey and Washington state), and passed the Medicaid expansion in Maine.

It doesn't quite make up for last November's election debacle...but it's a fucking good start.

Oh yeah, indeed...

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee