It was a very good year

Here's hoping our long national nightmare ends this year...

I've read a number of people over the past few days who have noted that 2019 was a miserable year.  I get it--Australia is literally on fire and climate change keeps getting the short shrift from republicans; fascism is becoming the norm in India, Hungary, Poland, and Brazil; North Korea continues to make a fool of Donald Trump and is a whisker away from a nuclear catastrophe; every study released this year concerning the Trump tax cuts shows that the only thing it accomplished was making rich people richer; the media continues to be a dead man walking when it comes to exposing how abnormal Donald Trump is vis a vis the Presidency (and just about everything else); and perhaps worst of all--and something I never thought I'd live to see--the greatest experiment in democracy in mankind's history is on the verge of being destroyed because one of the political parties in our home country is much more concerned with appeasing the wealthy and coddling racists than with securing the blessings of liberty that made America the grandest dream mankind ever dreamed.

Despite all that (and plenty more that I'm sure I didn't mention) I will guarantee you that 2019 was a very good year--because despite all the bad news, despite the republican party becoming the Junior Nazi party, despite insurmountable odds...we're still fighting for what is right.  We impeached Donald Trump.  Though we still have far to go, we continue to make strides in civil rights for women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.  The minimum wage will raise tomorrow in numerous states.  We have actionable plans for addressing climate change.  The candidates we have who are sparring to see who gets to challenge Donald Trump next November are all light years better than he (well, except maybe Tulsi Gabbard), and might be the most impressive group of candidates in our nation's history.  Every single day there is some American somewhere in this crazy land that is standing up to republicans' creeping fascination with fascism and saying, "Nope, not on my watch."

And as long as we're still fighting for what is right, there is hope...and as Stephen King once noted in The Shawshank Redemption, "...(H)ope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Onward.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLX--Life, Sex & Death: Fuckin' Shit Ass

What the hell, let's close out year number five with a little ditty whose title would send a bunch of junior high school boys into fits of laughter....

Welp...not every band makes the best of moves.  Life, Sex & Death formed sometime around 1990 (they're one of the few bands I've featured here on Friday Night Jukebox who do not have a Wikipedia entry), and their record label decided the way to sell the band was to claim their lead singer, known only as Stanley, was actually homeless.  "Stanley" turned out to be Chris Stann, who was anything but homeless, and the band lost any and all credibility that it might have had.  They released one LP, and were done within a couple of years--though some have said they may have at least had a competent career without the Warner Bros. ruse.

"Fuckin' Shit Ass" was released on their only album, The Silent Majority, in 1992.  It was not released as a single, and the album never so much as sniffed a record chart.

Embarrassing Fun Fact:  I actually have a playlist on Spotify called "Fuck It" which features songs in which the word "fuck" plays a prominent role.  Hey, we all can't be perfect....

"Fuckin' Shit Ass" opens with what sounds like a man storming around his house saying, "Some...fuckin'...shit ass...ugh!" which becomes rhythmic before adding first a drum beat, than some metal guitars, before finally segueing into a Cheap Trickesque (I shit you not) chorus that calls for love and peace.  Alrighty then...not sure what else I can add, other than for whatever odd reason it caught my fancy, and I still thoroughly enjoy the song's juxtaposing of unbridled anger with a paean to peace.  I doubt Life, Sex & Death would have ever had me as a life long fan (definitely a lot more heavy metal than power pop), but once again we see how every now and again a band can have just one special moment that turns into a lifetime of listening.

Lyric Sheet:  "What will it take to feel love instead of hate?/What will it take to make peace the word for today?..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Money talks and bullshit walks

A History of (Misguided) Violence

Leaving aside the fact that it's easy to talk about another Civil War and a lot more difficult to shoot your daughter's libtard best friend (to paraphrase Al Capone in The Untouchables, "...just a lot of talk and a gun."), the main reason you'll never see another Civil War in America is because it would get in the way of rich folks making money.

While there are a million little pieces that make up America's economy, it's heart is in New York and California, two liberal bastions.  And once the libs start dying in those two states, it will take about, oh, a millisecond for the economy to collapse.  And the minute that happens, I can goddamn guarantee you that the wealthy elite in this country will grab Donald Trump by his shit stained underwear and convince him rather quickly to call off his minions, lest he and his family spend the rest of their lives shoveling shit out of cesspools with spoons.

Quod erat demonstradum--i.e., money talks and bullshit walks.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLIX--Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

Whatever gene it was in my generation that sent millions of my peers into music stores to buy Pink Floyd records apparently was not a part of my DNA.  I can't think of one of their songs, outside of this week's tune, that I remotely liked, and their whole psychedelic rock shtick was lost on one whose soul was much quainter than those souls whose idea of fun was dropping acid.  Still, my liking of their one tune fits nicely into my opinion that if any band sticks around long enough, you're bound to find at least one song of theirs that you like (except REO Speedwagon, who put the shit in shitty pop tunes).

Fortunately for me, the history of Pink Floyd is a bit long to cover in a paragraph, especially considering that their Wikipedia entry was far too long to read in its entirety for someone whose interest in the band is middling at best.  They formed in 1965 in London, England, with original members Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright.  David Gilmour would join in 1967, followed shortly by the departure of Barrett due to mental health issues.  The band would continue in that form until the eighties, with Wright and Waters departing, and Gilmour and Mason continuing on through the mid-nineties.  The band has had a pair of small reunions since, though they have not overcome their personal differences enough to make that Big Bucks Reunion Tour.  For their career, Pink Floyd has sold over 250 million records, having released 14 studio albums, three live albums, and 14 compilations.  My opinion of the band notwithstanding, they truly do stand in the pantheon of great rock bands, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  Roger Waters, for his songwriting, and David Gilmour, for his guitar playing, would also make many a best of list for their respective talents.  Sadly founding members Syd Barrett and Richard Wright have passed away and joined many other wondrous talents at the Great Rock Concert in the Sky.

Fun (and heartwarming) Fact:  The band members always made sure that Syd Barrett was taken care of financially for his contributions to the band, which allowed Barrett to face his personal difficulties with plenty of financial stability.

"Wish You Were Here" was released in 1975 on Pink Floyd's appropriately enough titled album, Wish You Were Here.  Though the song was never released as a single in its original incarnation (a live version was released at one point), the song is considered a classic and was ranked #324 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.  The album, though poorly received critically at its release, is also considered a masterpiece and was voted #211 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.  Just for good measure, the LP also sold over 13 million copies.

There are songs that come along that force the listener to put on their big boy pants (like Seger's "Night Moves" or Springsteen's "Born to Run" to name but a pair), and "Wish You Were Here" is one such song.  While there seems to be some debate as to what the song is about--lyricist Waters claims it's about himself, music writer Gilmour says he never sings the song without thinking about Syd Barrett--most fans tend to side with Gilmour as to the song's intentions.  Hear the opening acoustic guitar solo and you will never, ever, ever forget it.  Gilmour's plaintive vocals echo a sadness that is still palpable.  Even the song's nuances are stunning--the chorus part after another piece of the the acoustic guitar intro, the emptiness of the wind blowing at the song's end--one wouldn't think it possible for a band that one doesn't care for to make a song that would be on one's top ten songs of all time, but Pink Floyd has done it for me.  I've never been one for believing pop music is an art form (it's called "pop" music for a reason), but "Wish You Were Here" is one of those songs that would certainly leave me open to thinking that it is.

Lyric Sheet:  "Cold comfort for change?  Did you exchange/A walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

While we were sleeping

Greed will eventually be the end of the U.S. of A.

Sadly lost again in all of the hoopla surrounding the piece of shit that is Donald Trump, is the fact that  Fortune 500 companies last year had an average tax rate of 11.3% on record profits, which is less than most average citizens pay on millions less in income.  Ninety-one companies in the Fortune 500 paid nothing, another 56 paid less than 5%.  Corporate taxes have fallen to 1% as a share of federal revenue, as republicans continue to ensure that the rich get richer and the rest of us get fucked.

Something to think about the next time you're driving down the road and get cut off by a Fed Ex driver:  remember that that truck that is driving on roads you paid for belongs to a company that paid zero in federal taxes last year, and therefore zero for the road on which you just got cut off.

It's only a matter of time before the economic payback shit storm hits, and it will not be pretty for Corporate America at all.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Lost in the shuffle, Part 2

Not quite at the bottom but getting closer

The Social Justice Index is a report which ranks 41 highly developed nations with regard to poverty, education, the labor market, health, justice, and social inclusion.  Want to guess where the Make America Great Again administration has us ranked?

Thirty-sixth!

That's right, despite having wealth beyond what most countries can only dream of, the "best" healthcare in the world, a "growing" economy, and some of the best educational institutions in the world, Donald Trump has managed to make it so that the people of thirty-five nations (out of 41!) are better off than we are.  Only the people of Israel have a greater chance of falling into poverty than Americans--even worse, this affects children at an even higher rate than the general population.

Just so much greatness.

A few more years and they can turn The Land of Opportunity into The Land of Uneducated Pestilence Stricken Starving Children.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Lost in the shuffle, Part 1

This should never happen in the richest nation on earth.  Never.

It's easy to lose sight of signs of the further decline of America's greatness in the daily onslaught of all the terrible deeds of Donald Trump and his impending impeachment.  But it's important to note that the republican party's War on the Poor continues apace, as the Trump administration has recently proposed changes in food stamp rules that this spring will result in three million more Americans going hungry--and most of them will be in the republican stronghold of rural America.

Most Americans are a major hospital bill or a blown car engine away from joining folks the like of the young man in the picture above.  We would be wise to see this move by Donald Trump for what it is--another way for republicans to take care of the wealthy and let the rest of us (literally) starve.

The Make American Hungry Again movement continues its quest to turn America into a third world country.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee