Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you
My first thought, upon hearing that Donald Trump was going to make a speech to America on race, was, "What if, by some miracle, he makes a great speech that goes down in American history like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?" After about thirty seconds it dawned on me that this was the equivalent of me thinking, "You know, if I wake up tomorrow and can throw a baseball 100 mph I could be in the major leagues...." At the age of sixty-one, it's a good day if my first step out of bed only results in a modicum of pain for my entire body, let alone throwing an orb hard enough to break a brick.
Believe you me, the November elections cannot arrive soon enough. Not only to send Trump packing, but to give me hope that I can keep my sanity intact for the remainder of my days.
So...Donald Trump is going to have his first Maggot Rally next week, and to show his appreciation for his supporters coming to cheer for him, the Trump campaign is forcing all attendees to sign a waiver which says that neither the Trump campaign nor the venue will be held responsible for any COVID-19 illnesses or deaths resulting from their attendance.
If Trump treats the people who worship him like this, can you imagine how the mother fucker feels about the rest of us?
How long before the blindness results in vengeance?
After another week in which our government decided that the killings of two innocent, unarmed black men were justified (in Tulsa, OK and Sacramento, CA), one has to wonder just exactly when police will be confronted with questions concerning why they shot a man with his hands in the air, why they shot a man in the back, why they shot a man several more times after he was already knocked to the ground by his bullet wounds, how a phone gets confused for a gun, why they turned off their street cams, and why they failed to announce themselves.
While one tries to appreciate the often difficult decisions police officers are forced to make in a split second with their lives (and their families' well being) on the line, too many of these decisions are turning out to be outrageously bad and carried out with an overkill of force. And to not have the prosecutors acting as a check on said behavior makes it seem all the more ruthless.
One has to wonder how much longer public trust in our local police forces will last if marked change is not forthcoming...and right soon.
It's easy to forget now that MTV has become whatever it is it's become (far too old to watch it anymore) but doesn't have much to do with music, that at one time it was a place where pop music geeks could go in the wee hours of the morning and find little pop gems...just like this week's tune.
Dwight Twilley is another in a long line of musicians who could have been a contender. While I'm only nominally familiar with his work, Twilley has been a critical favorite for many years and has a small but devoted fan base. Starting out in the thriving metropolis of Tulsa, Oklahoma (Twilley's career has taken him all over America, but he's settled down near his home), Twilley originally formed the band Oister with Beatle movie buddy Phil Seymour before the band went to L.A. (via Nashville and Tupelo, Mississippi), teamed up with Leon Russell, and became the Dwight Twilley Band. The band had a hit single in 1975 with "I'm on Fire" but couldn't mount much more and went their separate ways a few years later. Twilley went solo at that point, and had another hit single, "Girls," in 1984 (with Tom Petty, a longtime friend, performing backing vocals). Unfortunately, bad labels, bad timing, and plain old bad luck seemed to follow Twilley's successes and he never quite achieved the stardom some felt he had within him. Still, he released 4 albums with the Dwight Twilley Band and 25 solo albums (the latest in 2014) and is still performing some forty some odd years down the road. Not a bad gig if you can get it...
Alas, the story of "Somebody to Love" is not the stuff that dreams are made of. Originally released in 1979, it was supposed to be Twilley's breakout hit--and ended up being a dud. His label was so disappointed with its sales performance that they cancelled the album it was supposed to be released on (Blueprint), and Twilley moved on to a new label . Twilley took some songs from that album (including "Somebody to Love") and with a few new ones released Scuba Divers in 1982 (at which time I heard "Somebody to Love" in its MTV incarnation). The single did not become a hit the second time around, either.
It's really a shame it didn't--the song is anthemic in nature, and one with a discerning ear (well, at least me) can see it as the kind of song thousands of fans pack into an arena to hear every time Twilley tours. It's power pop in the Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick (among many others) mold, featuring some solid guitar work from Twilley that turns it into rock and roll overdrive. The song is basically a call to arms--we all need somebody to love and Twilley outlines the many reasons we do (somebody to spend your money on, somebody to hold on tight to, somebody to break your heart) with "somebody to love" being crooned over and over in the background. And when Twilley sings the chorus and finishes the last "love" with a drawn out "la-ah-ah-ah-ove" it's pure pop heaven--which, come to think of it, pretty much perfectly describes "Somebody to Love."
Lyric Sheet: "Somebody to love/Somebody that you can depend on/One place in the sun/One feeling there's just no denying...."
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.
