Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LX--The Low Anthem: The Ballad of the Broken Bones

It's not often that Friday Night Jukebox features a band from Rhode Island--well, actually, never--but tonight we will.  And there's a good chance it'll be the last time for a while--the list of artists from Rhode Island is neither long nor well known by me.

Not so The Low Anthem, though.  Formed in 2006 in Providence, Brown University students Ben Knox Miller and John Prystowsky have been the core of the band since its inception with various other musicians added to the mix.  Their second album, What the Crow Brings (whence this week's tune), was a DIY recording if ever there was one--the band self released the album, and even dumpster dived for empty cereal boxes which they created silksceens for and turned into LP sleeves.

Another reason why devoting so much of the last forty years of my life to music has most assuredly not been a waste--dumpster diving for empty cereal boxes?  How much do you have to love what you do to do that?

Alas, their love has not turned into commercial success.  The Low Anthem have released four albums, exactly one of which has cracked the Billboard charts, and that at #198 (probably not with a bullet, but we can dream....).  Nevertheless, they tour continuously and seem to have carved out a fine niche for themselves.

I'd like to tell you what "The Ballad of the Broken Bones" is about, but I really have no idea.  At times I've thought it was about suffering in silence, redemption, healing, and/or the search for inner peace and they all may or may not be right.  I will tell you this:  any song that sings lovingly of the dreams the moon can bring and the healing powers of the oceans is A-OK in my book.  The music is sparse, merely an acoustic guitar, an organ, and (because it happens so often in pop music) a clarinet, but the three provide the soothing canvas for Miller's artful vocals which are nothing short of redemptive in themselves.  He sings with an understated air, the voice of a man who has reached a place where the healing can begin and he's only too ready for its forgiveness--or as he sings, "...And over the world am I."  All in all, what you have is one of those magical nuggets of music that makes you extremely grateful that your Mom met your Dad so you can be here to enjoy it.

Cheat sheet:  It's a toss up this week between "The poets are going insane" and "'Cause I've been all over the whole goddamn world and over the world am I."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

The content of their character

Pope Francis today noted that anyone (that means you, Donald Trump) who is more interested in putting up walls than constructing bridges is not a Christian.  Trump responded by calling the Pope's comments "disgraceful' which was met with applause from his audience.

I'm not sure you could find an example that is more reflective of today's republican party--a man who is the party's leading contender for the Presidency, whose platform is one of hatred and fear, deeming a man who preaches love and hope, as disgraceful.

How exactly such a misanthrope can convince millions of Americans that he is going to make American great again is truly one of history's greatest mysteries.

Peace,
emaycee

Cuban delusional crisis

Mark Cuban told an interviewer this week that he's not going to run for President in 2016.

Well I'm glad he cleared that up--because so fucking many Americans have just been clamoring for him to enter the race.

What the fuck is up with that?  He seriously had to tell us he wasn't going to run?  Like we all don't know he knows absolutely nothing about domestic policy or foreign policy and belongs in the White House about as much as my youngest son's cat?  That there already isn't a billionaire buffoon running in 2016?

What is it about being a billionaire that can make someone so fucking delusional?

Peace,
emaycee

Can we please dispense with the bullshit?

In his private life, Antonin Scalia may very well have been a wonderful man.  But as a public figure he was a cretinous goon who in his role as a Supreme Court Justice made life immeasurably worse for the vast bulk of Americans, and especially those who were not white, heterosexual, and wealthy.  For Democrats to claim that he merely "disagreed" with us is the height of disingenuousness--Scalia's actions and words were the antithesis of everything we as a party stand for.

His death also creates a very real gut check for the Democratic Party.  While we may not be able to get an Obama nominee through the Senate, we must make republicans pay for their obstructionism each and every day until his replacement by a Democratic nominee--in the court of public opinion and at the ballot box (especially in this year's Senate races),

By any means necessary.

The time to prop up American's poor and middle class, and to empty the feeding trough that the Roberts court has been for Corporate America, is now.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LIX--The Long Winters: Stupid

It never ceases to amaze me how fluky it sometimes is when we discover great music.  Channel surfing one night and you come across someone doing a gig on a talk show and she's singing a song that you're still listening to thirty years later (Rickie Lee Jones, "Chuck E.'s in Love").  Standing in line at a fast food restaurant and something comes on overhead and you're rushing home to google a couple of the words so you can find it on Youtube so you can hear it again to see if it really was that good (King Harvest, "Dancing in the Moonlight").  A music review read while you're sitting in the dentist's office (The Darkness, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love") or a free sample CD stuffed in a music magazine (Okkervil River, "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe").

When my daughter was in college, she would on occasion send me mix CDs containing songs that she had been enjoying.  One such song is this week's featured tune, "Stupid" by The Long Winters--and I can guarantee you that had she never sent it, I never would have heard it.

A small miracle?  Perhaps...

The Long Winters are a fine Seattle band (the only constant is one John Roderick) which began in 2001 and have recorded three albums and an EP, though none since 2006.  Since 2008 their website has been promising a new record soon, but it has yet to come to fruition.  There are no Hall of Fame inductions, no Grammy nominations or awards, and no Billboard Hot 100 appearances in their history, though they are generally well reviewed.   Mr. Roderick's other claim to fame is that he ran for the Seattle City Council in 2015 (unsuccessfully, unfortunately).  And what are the odds I ever hear a song from a band such as this if my daughter doesn't send it my way?

And what a shame it would have been to have missed "Stupid."  Released on their When I Pretend to Fall LP, "Stupid" is the tale of a young man chasing his dream girl, despite being told by a friend that his pursuit is stupid, and his telling said acquaintance that no, what would really be stupid is to find out years from now that she'd had a thing for him, too, and that he'd given up before finding out.   Which in the wrong hands could turn into a maudlin piece of garbage, but here turns into a pop music marvel.  Roderick's vocals are filled with the right amount of angst (and not desperation) to make us believe that his feelings for her and his fear of missing his chance at her are genuine.  Even better, at song's end we're left hanging just like him--we don't know if he won her heart or not.  "Stupid" is simply arranged, with some really nice jangly guitar work and a driving drumbeat, and even features a nice short instrumental break.  All in all, it's a wondrous and honest pop music peek into the heart.

Truer words, once again:  "She has no idea/She could make me do anything...."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Three pennies for three thoughts

1)  Rachel Maddow noted on her show last night that Democratic turnout is down from 2008 in the first two primaries this year and wondered if this was cause for concern for Democrats (it should be noted that it's still at historically high levels).  It may well be, but I wonder if it has more to do with the fact that we have two very good candidates this time around and many Democrats will be happy to support either in November.  In all honesty, we have trouble getting Democrats to vote in the midterms and it's hard to imagine them taking the time for a primary when both candidates are appealing.

2)  At the risk of proving just how bad I am at political prognostication, is it possible that Jeb! Bush can mount a comeback in South Carolina?  Probably not, but with Marco "Hal 9000" Rubio, Ben "Delusional" Carson, and John "The Dullard" Kasich as the only republican establishment candidates left, you have to admit there is an opening for him.  Maybe his Mom can put in a good word for Jeb!....

3) Jim Webb announced today that he will not be seeking the White House as an independent  candidate.  Now it's entirely possible that reality set in and his advisers told him that an oak tree had as good of a chance as he did to be the next President, but I have to wonder if it had anything to do with Michael Bloomberg announcing that he was considering an independent run--pretty sure Webb can't sink a billion dollars into a losing campaign just because he thinks he knows better than the American people who our Presidential candidates should be.

Chutzpah aplenty in Neverland these days....

Peace,
emaycee

Much ado about nothing

For the record, I watched about five minutes of the coverage of Tuesday night's New Hampshire primary election results.  Once the projections were made (and nothing that was a surprise) it was on to bigger and better shows.  How the hell MSNBC spent the rest of the night covering it is beyond me--Christ, you could have called this one for Sanders and Trump three months ago.

That being said, boy was I surprised the next morning when everywhere I turned there were folks telling me that because 91% white New Hampshire had voted overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders that the revolution had officially begun.  I mean it's over--Hillary can pack her bags and head back to upstate New York.

This despite the fact that the two split the Democratic vote evenly in New Hampshire, the fact that there is absolutely nothing in the national polling that shows Sanders had made the slightest dent in Clinton's rock solid support among people of color, and that the next two primaries are in states that are approximately 60% white (South Carolina) and approximately 50% white (Nevada).  I appreciate the fact that campaigns have to spin their victories (a la Clinton turning an underwhelming victory in Iowa into a big win), and Sanders may well win the nomination, but it won't have anything to do with his victory last night

So wake me when the real revolution begins--Clinton won New Hampshire in 2008 and we all know where that got her:  the Secretary of State gig and an eight year wait for another shot at the oval office.

Peace,
emaycee