Who gives a Dame?

Waste not and many will want not

This one's going to go over like a fart...in, uh, church.

First let me say that in a perfect world, the Notre Dame Cathedral would never have burned,  but as most of us are well acquainted with, we don't live in a perfect world.

That being said, I can't think of a bigger waste of money than spending a billion dollars to rebuild an eight hundred year old building, especially one that's a symbol of one of the world's most hateful and perverted organizations, the Catholic Church, which has spent the better part of the last forty years a) covering up the rapes its leadership committed on children in order to preserve its real estate holdings, and b) snuggling up to right wing politicians who think the Golden Rule is for wimps so that the Church's hate for the LGBQT community and its desire to keep letting men control what happens to womens' bodies can remain on the political agenda.

It's an old building--most eight hundred year old structures are no longer standing and the world is none the worse for it.  Meanwhile, we still have poverty, children going hungry, diseases that kill, people who can't afford decent housing, and underfunded education systems throughout the world.

No, a billion dollars isn't going to solve the world's problems--but it's going to bring a lot more joy and better living to a lot more people than restoring an antiquated structure so that less than 1% of the world's population can ooh and aah over its architecture.

Frankly, they should take a couple hundred thousand dollars, plow it under, and make a public park of the space.  It would be of much better use and the rest of the money could be spent on more pressing problems than a centuries old church.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

All ye need to know

Truth will be beauty after we see the full report

All you need to know about "Attorney General" William Barr's "press conference" today on the release of the redacted (key word!) Mueller report is that he noted not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, but five times that Mueller found no evidence of collusion.

His denials mean beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, an enemy of the United States of America.

Period.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXIV--Chatham County Line: Speed of the Whippoorwill

A few years back when I was working at a thrift shop, they had Pandora piped in over the intercom and after a few months of listening to drivel, I decided one day to punch in "folk" and see what came up on the system.  I've always been something of a fan of Americana music and it seemed a good opportunity for hearing something new for a change (plus it was run by a religious organization and folk seemed a little less likely to feature devil's music that might offend our Christian customers).  What I didn't realize at the time is that this week's tune--as well as a host of others--proved to be a renaissance of sorts for my love of music, and I've spent a good chunk of what free time I've had since then letting my curiosity get the best of me and finding even more tunes that make my heart go pitter-patter.

Chatham County Line was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1999 and as you might guess, have yet to become a household name.  However, they have released nine albums over the years and have had at least one #1 album on Billboard's bluegrass charts (once again this week, getting info on a small band has proved to be most difficult).  Chatham County Line features four nattily dressed musicians (often in coats and ties) who play acoustic guitar, upright bass, fiddle, and banjo respectively.  They have become known for a lively live show, and have become very popular in Europe (especially the Netherlands--so many cool Dutch kids!).

Needless to say, "Speed of the Whippoorwill" was not released as a single, but it was originally released in  2006 on their most appropriately named album, Speed of the Whippoorwill.  For those wondering, typing a double "o" after a double "p" is extremely odd....

Fun Fact:  I got curious as to just how fast a whippoorwill flies, and while I found they are a nocturnal bird that feeds on moths and other flying insects, lay two to four eggs a year, care for their eggs without a nest on the forest floor, and are named for the sound of their mating call. I could find nothing that said the whippoorwill was a particularly fast flying bird.  Kind of a bummer!

"Speed of the Whippoorwill" tells the story of a man working on the railroad back in the day, the rigors of the job, and why he's doing it--to earn money to get back home so he can be with his true love.  What could be more Americana than that, for Christ's sake?  The song features simple yet heartfelt lyrics, vocals that capture the protagonists hurt as well as hope, an upright bass which keeps the song's rhythm (I'm sure I've featured a song without drums but I'll be darned if I can remember it), and two emaycee fave's, a fiddle and a banjo (how can anyone not love a fiddle and a banjo?).  In all honesty, it certainly might not be everyone's cup of tea musically, but it's a fine example of what American traditional music has to offer, and it's also a nice reminder that the playing of instruments makes some beautiful noise...and it's good once in a while to appreciate that.

Lyric Sheet:  "Water boy come running, I'm dry as the dirt/The day's keep getting longer, I've got hurt on top of hurt..."

Alas, I could only find a live version on YouTube--it doesn't quite do justice to the studio version, but it still showcases the band's talent.  Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXIII--The Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop: Punkrocker

This week's tune has a bit of the bittersweet to it, as it was introduced to me by my nephew Josh, who we lost last July to the ravages of ALS at the all too young age of 34.  Rest in peace, Josh--and thanks for the tune...

The Teddybears hail from Stockholm, Sweden, and originally formed in 1991.  They started out as a hardcore punk band (as Teddybears STHLM) but over the years have incorporated electronica, hip-hop, rock, and reggae into their music (and are now just the plain old Teddybears).  Over the course of their career they have released 7 albums, 5 EPs, and 18 singles--which must have done quite well in their native Sweden but have done fuck-all here in the States for all the information I could find on their chart success.  Since 2006 the band members have begun donning bear masks for all of their tours and album artwork...I suppose because they can.

Fun Fact:  Because so many Norwegian and Swedish hardcore metal bands (don't know why but it seems a bit odd that such bands hail from Scandinavia, too) have dark and macabre sounding names, the Teddybears went for something soft and cuddly...just to be a wee bit different.

"Punkrocker" was originally released in 2000 on the album Rock 'n' Roll Highschool (no relation to the Ramones soundtrack of the same name, near as I can tell).  It was re-released in 2006, this time with vocals featuring Iggy Pop on their album Soft Machine, which is the version we're celebrating this week.  The Wikipedia entry for "Punkrocker" said it was a minor hit here in America, but I could find no proof of it ever charting so no shout out for Billboard magazine this week.  The song did have a run as the background music for a Cadillac commercial...because the first thing I think of when I think of Cadillac is punk rock....

For those who sit around and wonder, like me, just how important vocals are in rock and roll, one only has to compare the original version of "Punkrocker" to know the answer.  I gave it a listen and it's a nice little pop tune that had I heard back when it was first released, I probably would have liked.  But I tell you what, give the lead vocals to Iggy Pop, and the song soars from nice little pop tune into the realms of great pop singles.  There's a desperation to his vocals that ties in perfectly with the mood of the song, and it takes quite a vocalist to make nihilism sound cool, but Iggy pull that off, too.  The Teddybears liven it up with some scrumptious drumming that really drives the song and some subtle guitar and even a bit of synthesizer that carries it to Catchy As All Hell Heaven.  I defy you to listen to the chorus and not have it swimming in your head happily for the next week.  In a testament to its high quality, it's the kind of song that will almost make you forgive Sweden for ABBA....

Lyric Sheet:  "See me die on Bleecker Street/I'm bored with being good/See me sneering in my car/I'm driving to my star...

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump.
emaycee

(Raised arm with clenched fist)

Oui! Oui!

I've been thinking the past few days about a poster that hung on a wall in one of my high school classes (couldn't begin to remember the class or the teacher) which contained a quote from French Resistance Fighter and Nobel Prize winner for literature, Albert Camus.  The quote was thus:  "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

What brought this quote back to me, after forty some odd years, is our current political predicament and the often hopeless feeling one has watching it unfold.  We literally have a party--republicans, obviously--who is rewriting the rules of our political discourse not in the service of the common good but for its own thirst for power and to placate the minority of Americans who are wealthy.  We've watched--all in the past few weeks--an Attorney General whitewash a report questioning whether the President colluded with a foreign power and/or broke the law.  We've had to watch as Mitch McConnell breaks all decorum in confirming judges for our courts to ram through candidates who are both unqualified and also out of step with the beliefs of a large majority of Americans.  We've watched as the government tries to take healthcare away from 20 million Americans--not to provide a better alternative or to even cut costs, but just as a spiteful move to wreck the legacy of one of the greatest--and first African-American--Presidents in our history.  We've watched as Facebook and Twitter have decided that it's fine to let foreign powers interfere in our political process--as long as it helps their profitability.  We've watched as a white nationalist in New Zealand killed 49 Muslims and the President of the United States barely offered a "tsk, tsk."  And just to show that he truly is a racist, the President also doesn't seem to care that the people of Puerto Rico are as much an American citizen as he is.

But despite the drumbeat of despair, we haven't quit.  We're still out there making donations, running for office, talking to folks who are on the fence, sending postcards, hanging our political signs, and writing heartfelt blogs.  We do not see the dream as breaking, and it's certainly not broken.

For us, it's an invincible summer.

And fuckin'-A to us for that.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXII--Sweet: Ballroom Blitz

Dork Alert:  Me, my kid brother, and one his friends used to like cranking this week's tune really loud and playing air band in my family's living room.  Let me just say that whatever we lacked in talent (actually, we had none) we more than made up for with enthusiasm for the song.  Or not--time often plays tricks with the mind...

Sweet had a very convoluted (and not all that interesting) beginning before finally coming together in their most successful incarnation as a foursome in the early 70's (give or take).  They originally started out as bubble gum pop before they decided to rock the casbah like their musical heroes The Who (nnnnnoooottttt quite...).  They released their first album in 1971 and had some success in their native UK, but by the time their second album was released they were ready to move on from the top of the pops into glam rock.  They would have a fine run of success through the mid-1970's including fifteen top forty singles in the UK and four top ten singles here in the states.  Unfortunately for the band, their albums never sold quite as well as their singles and they were also unable to draw crowds when they headlined their tours (though they had some success as an opening act) and by the early eighties they were done releasing new material.  Over the course of their career Sweet released nine albums, and had a gold record here in the States and a gold and a silver in the U.K.  Sadly, lead singer Brian Connolly succumbed to the ravages of alcoholism (probably played a part in the band's lack of success after the 70's) in 1997 at the age of 51, and drummer Mick Tucker died of leukemia in 2002 at the age of 54.  The band still tours--guitarist Andy Scott performs with his version of the band in the U.K., while bassist Steve Priest has a version here in the U.S.A.  Not a bad gig if you can get it...

"Ballroom Blitz" was originally released as a single in the U.K. in 1973 where it reached #17 on the charts.  It was released here in America on their album Desolation Boulevard  in 1975 and re-released in England and it went on to reach #2 there, #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in Canada (so many cool kids north of the border!).

Not So Fun Fact:  The album cover for Desolation Boulevard was photographed near the entrance of a Sunset Boulevard music club called The Central.  It would eventually become The Viper Room--which is where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween in 1993.

In one of the more interesting origins for a song here on FNJ. Sweet wrote "Ballroom Blitz" about being driven off stage from a show in Scotland by a slew of bottles being thrown at them (there seems to be some question as to whether this was because the band had changed its musical persona or because it was four men on stage with long hair and eye-liner).  The song is quintessential 1970's rock--lots of electric guitar and prominent drumming with a smidge of bass line thrown in the obligatory instrumental break.   Connolly delivers vocals that convey the band's plight--note the beginning when he asks each band member if they'e ready to rock--and Steve Priest throws in some haunting spoken vocals that further enrich the story.  The song plays as an adrenaline rush of rock and roll gone out of control--and is a nice reminder that there were a hell of a lot of good tunes that came out of the 70's.  Or else that I was a lot younger then and had a lot more time to appreciate music...either way, it's cool.

Lyric Sheet:  "Are you ready, Steve?  Uh-huh/Andy? Yeah/Mick? Okay/Alright fellas, let's go..."

Enjoy (and note that these guys had to be an inspiration for eighties hair metal bands...):

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Profiles in stupid

Just wait until she's President...

Seems Donald Trump had a rally here in Michigan this week (Grand Rapids) and got the Hitler youth to scream "AOC sucks!"

It really says something about how far under republicans skins Ocasio-Cortez has gotten when they're maligning her at a Skinheads 'r' Us rally and she's been a Congresswoman for all of three months.

Twenty bucks says 95% of them couldn't even tell you what the acronym "AOC" stands for.

Or the meaning of "acronym" for that matter.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee