Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXXI--Mr. Acker Bilk: Stranger on the Shore

As we're nearing the anniversary of my father's birth, it's once again time to pay homage to one of his favorite tunes--which hit #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  That it was immediately followed at #1 by my Dad's favorite artist of all time, Ray Charles, with his hit "I Can't Stop Loving You," is probably about as much karma as can be fit into pop music.

Bonus Points 1:  As if the name Acker Bilk wasn't distinctive enough, Bilk added a Mr. to his name for the single's release.  I mean even Sinatra never released a song by Mr. Frank Sinatra.  Bonus Points 2:  Bilk was the first Brit to top the Hot 100--and the second was a band you may have heard of:  The Beatles.  Bonus Points 3:  The crew of Apollo 10 added the song to a cassette they played while traveling in space.  It's not "Johnny B. Goode" (which was sent into space aboard the Voyager spacecraft for alien civilizations to enjoy), but it's not sliced bologna either.

Mr. Acker Bilk had a long career in the music business as a clarinettist (lest we forget, Big Band great Benny Goodman was a clarinettist, too), most of it with his trademark goatee, bowler hat, and striped vest in place (you can see it in the video below).  While he never again reached the success he had in 1962 (best selling single in both the U.S. and the U. K.), he managed to keep at it until his death in 2014 (though he admitted near the end of his life that he pretty much hated "Stranger on the Shore" after 50 years of playing it).  He was known for his vibrato style of playing the clarinet (caused somewhat by the loss of part of a finger in a childhood accident), and on the semi-coolness quotient, he gains a few extra points for playing on three Van Morrison albums.

"Stranger on the Shore" is an instrumental which features Bilk on the clarinet and some old fart, easy listening strings in the background.  Now when most people think of a clarinettist, they think of a young woman in a high school band who looks a lot like Joan Cusack's character in Sixteen Candles and for whom life would be perfect if only N'Sync would reunite, but Bilk actually takes it to another level. His playing is downright emotive and understandably so as he actually wrote the song for his young daughter.  It was originally titled "Jenny" after her (Bilk was persuaded to change the title so it could be used as the theme song for a same titled British television show).

Alas there isn't much that can be said about an instrumental--suffice it to say that "Stranger on the Shore" is the most hopeful melancholy tune ever written (Bilk wrote it himself).  I've often thought that life is a constant battle between expectations and acceptance, and every time I hear this song it reminds me of that battle--and how you eventually learn that acceptance is a fine place to be.  And "Stranger on the Shore" is two minutes and fifty-five seconds of being in just such a happy place.

Surprise, surprise--no lyrics this week!

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Apropos of absolutely nothing

While we had a relatively mild winter (meaning we only got 25-30 inches of snow instead of 60-70, and only saw a few days of subzero temperatures instead of weeks on end) in Michigan this year, we've had a rather shitty spring--other than Easter weekend, its been rainy with temps in the upper 30s to upper 40s, constantly cloudy and just overall dreary.

Until today.

And so as I was driving home up Interstate 75, when I looked over into another lane and saw a young woman's hand sticking through the sun roof of her compact car, and watched periodically as we drove a mile, and another, and another, and she never pulled her hand back into her car, I just knew.

Spring has finally arrived in Michigan.

In the immortal word of Leonard Cohen (though I believe he may have borrowed it from God), "Hallelujah!"

Peace,
emaycee

And the winner is...

...not Donald Trump.

Look, you're going to have the media and the political parties telling you for the next six months that some poll shows him ahead of Hillary Clinton or some pundit thinks he can win.

He can't--the media just wants to claim a horse race so they can sell more advertising, and the pundits just want to sell more books to gullible republicans.

I can think of no realistic scenario whereby Trump wins--not a financial collapse and not a terrorist attack.  Both will just point out what a lightweight he really is.  Thirty percent of the electorate in this election will be minorities--with his hateful rhetoric, Trump will be lucky to get ten percent of that vote.  Even if he wins the white vote as overwhelmingly as Romney did in 2012 (not guaranteed), it's still going to be an ass kicking.

Still don't believe it?  Well the big money boys are already putting their money into races they might win--like possibly keeping control of the Senate.  And not spending it on Trump.

Frankly, I think the only mystery on election day this November is how many seats the Democrats pick up in the Senate--and I don't think 8 is impossible.

Remember, you heard it here first...

Peace,
emaycee

A real May Day celebration

While most folks are familiar with today as being May Day, in which we frolic around the maypole and elect a May Queen (never done either in my life), not many know that today is International Workers' Day.  It's held in commemoration of the Haymarket Affair--a peaceful demonstration in Chicago on May 4, 1886 for the 8 hour workday which turned violent when a bomb was thrown.  Later, eight of the demonstrators were convicted of conspiracy, four of which would be executed and one of which would commit suicide rather than be executed.  None were likely guilty of the charges, but it is considered a major turning point in the fight for the eight hour day.

So as you're dancing around the maypole today, take a moment today to give thanks to those who paid the ultimate price, especially if you're one of those who's lucky enough to work an eight hour shift and get paid overtime for anything over it.  The idea was originally to be eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for you--and some union members gave their lives in the fight for a better life for you.

And there are still a lot of them fighting for the very same thing even today.

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXX--Weezer: Buddy Holly

Oh-wee-ooo....

If you're like me, certain songs have certain moments that for whatever odd reason, take a song from being a great song into being one of your all time favorites.  For example, there's Paul McCartney's scowl toward the end of "Hey Jude" or Steve Miller's "Oooh, Lord" in "Take the Money and Run" that take the songs to another level.

"Buddy Holly" is chock full of them--from Oh-wee-ooo to Oh, Oh, to Hoo Hoo, if ever there was a song with nonsense syllables to gladden the heart, this week's tune is full of them.

Weezer was formed in 1992 (where the fuck did the time go? seems like just yesterday...), by front man Rivers Cuomo and has had quite the career since, still performing and releasing albums nearly 25 years later.  Their first two albums are considered classics and often show up on best albums of all time lists, and they've had a long collection of singles that have charted.  For those who may be curious (or not), "Weezer" was a nickname Cuomo's father had for him when he was a child.  Cuomo is also one of the few rock stars who possesses a degree from Harvard--a Bachelor of Arts in English.  The band has released ten studio albums since its inception, three of which have gone platinum and two of which have gone gold.  Not too bad for a power pop band.

Released on their Weezer (Blue Album)--not to be confused with Weezer (Green Album). Weezer (Red Album) or Weezer (White Album (hey that one's been used before!)--"Buddy Holly" was actually the second single released from the album ("Undone-The Sweater Song" was actually first, a piece of trivia I had forgotten over the years).  It would eventually reach #18 (with a bullet!) on The Billboard Hot 100.  Another fascinating (or not) fact:  the single was released on Buddy Holly's birthday.  Not really sure why since the song has very little to do with Buddy Holly and doesn't sound much like anything Holly ever did, but there you have it.  Also, we have Ric Ocasek (former Cars front man) to thank for the song--Cuomo thought it was too stupid and didn't want to put it on the album but producer Ocasek campaigned for it and eventually won out.  Thanks, Ric!

"What's with these homies dissin' my girl?"  Uh--how can you not love a song that opens with that line?  Jesus, it's one of those "You had me at hello" moments.  And the song gets nothing but better. There's heartfelt but not overwrought vocals by Cuomo, all the joys and horrors of young love, all kinds of power guitars, a catchy as all hell chorus, a reference to the delightful Mary Tyler Moore , and as noted earlier, plenty of nonsense syllables to help you sing along.  There are plenty of songs that when I hear I am reminded of how good they are, or sound just as good as ever, but there aren't many that get nothing but better with time and "Buddy Holly" is one of them.  It's a song that will get stuck in your head and you'll be smiling all day because it is.  A true power pop classic.

Lyric sheet:  "I don't care what they say about us anyway/I don't care 'bout that..."

Oh--wee-ooo--enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Money, it's a gas

About the only thing I miss from subscribing to The Detroit Free Press are the columns they used to run regularly featuring Leonard Pitts.  For those not familiar with Pitts, he's an exceptionally good op-ed writer for The Miami Herald who has a genuinely unique take on the state of America and isn't afraid to share it, consequences be damned.

As is Pitts' wont, he had a slightly different take than many on the Flint water crisis this past week.  Pitts said for all the hoopla over it being just another in a long line of racism run amok in America, what the poisoning of Flint's children is truly about is poverty.  Pitts points to the city of Morgantown, West Virginia where whites outnumber blacks and those living beneath the poverty line is near 40%--and says he can easily imagine a similar situation as Flint happening there, but not so much in the Hamptons or Orange County, or any number of wealthy communities across America.

And Pitts is exactly right.

And again I ask:  what does it say about a nation when the needs of the privileged few take precedence over the many?  Isn't that in many ways what the Pilgrims first came to America to escape?  And so many immigrants after them?

Remember this?  "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...."

Somehow when the Founding Fathers wrote those words I don't think they envisioned a nation where children would be poisoned for a lack of money.

They wanted us to be better than that.

And so should we.

Peace,
emaycee

An idea that's time has come

While Bernie Sander campaign is "berning" down, so to speak, he has begun to push for issues that can be a part of the Democratic Party Platform at this summer's convention in Philadelphia.  Medicare for all, free college tuition, breaking up the big banks, and an end to Citizen's United are all worthy goals and Sanders is right to use his electoral success this year to drive our party to the left.  Surprisingly, though, one issue Sanders has not broached is the idea of a basic income guarantee.

For those not familiar, a basic income guarantee  is a policy wherein the government guarantees each of its citizens an income (usually, though not necessarily) around the poverty level.  What each citizen does to improve upon that money is up to each individual citizen.  While I was familiar with the idea of a basic income guarantee, I did not know that it has actually had several trial runs in the United States in the mid 60's (Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Seattle among others), Canada in the early 70's, and is being tested as we speak in London among derelicts.  Believe it or not, the results have been exceptional--it's been found that people are healthier, happier, do not work much less than before, and amazingly enough, just a bit wealthier, too.

Richard Nixon actually put forth the idea for all Americans in the late 1960's and it passed the House but was never able to get out of the Senate (and that there will tell you just how much the republican party has changed--anyone imagine a republican putting forth such an idea today?).  With the continued downfall of America's middle class and poor since the 1970's you have to wonder just where we would be as a nation economically had it passed.

But better late than never, and when you consider wage stagnation, the lack of good paying jobs, and a future in which computers will do more and more of the work we do now which will mean less and less jobs, it's perhaps time to revisit the idea of a basic income guarantee.

Methinks it's either that or a second American Revolution--and my guess is the second one will be a lot less pretty than the first, especially for those who have a disproportionate share of the M-O-N-E-Y.

Peace,
emaycee