Thursday Night Night Music Byte

Last week Ringo Starr released his 15th solo album since the break-up of the Beatles. The album is titled Y Not and it is receiving wonderful reviews. As usual, Ringo surrounds himself with lots of his musical friends on this disc including his brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart and longtime Roundheads member Steve Dudas on guitar, Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on keyboards, Don Was and Mike Bradford on bass. The album also features Starr’s engineer and co-producer Bruce Sugar on keyboards, as well as some special guests like Edgar Winter on horns and alto sax, and Joss Stone, Ben Harper and Richard Marx on vocals, Ann Marie Calhoun on violin and Tina Sugandh – aka Tina The Tabla Girl – on tabla and chanting. Starr’s songwriting collaborators on Y Not also include familiar and new names like Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart. Joss Stone, Glen Ballard, Richard Marx, Van Dyke Parks, Gary Nicholson plus Gary Wright and his former Roundhead band member, Gary Burr.

The most compelling of his pals to contribute to the album however, is Paul McCartney. McCartney contributes bass to the song “Peace Dream” and vocals on “Walk With You”. They sound like a couple of good buddies having fun being together. Please enjoy this video clip of “Walk With You”.

McCain/Palin II: Dumb And Dumber Again!

The hilarious film that inspired the sequel.

In a world where up is down, where right is left and where confused Tea-Baggers aimlessly roam our nation’s highways and by-ways, there is hope. And that hope is personified by the reunification of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Coming to a theatre near you this Spring, McCain/Palin II: Dumb and Dumber Again!

Yes, it is true. The Washington Post reports that Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate will join John McCain, the failed 2008 Republican nominee for president, in Phoenix on March 26 to help campaign for his re-election to the U.S. Senate. Said McCain,

I’m looking forward to getting back on the campaign trail with my former running mate, and I know my fellow Arizonans will welcome her, as well,

If this coupling sounds a bit strange to you, it most certainly is. Immediately after the addle-minded Senator and the educationally-challenged Governor were whipped like a rented mule in the 2008 presidential election, their two respective camps began to brawl like a couple of spoiled, jealous siblings. The McCain staffers claimed Palin “went rogue” and the Palin staffers claimed Palin intentionally was left in the dark. That was only the beginning. Things heated up when Palin released a ghost-written novel titled, Going Rogue in which she lambasted the McCain staff for handling her incorrectly and refusing to allow her to give a speech of her own at the time when McCain was delivering his consolation speech. Thereafter, McCain’s campaign manager described Palin’s book as a “work of fiction” and just two weeks ago appeared on television’s 60 Minutes and said that the McCain staffers felt that she was so ill prepared for the office of vice president that it was “terrifying and unfathomable.” To add fuel to the fire, when asked after the airing of 60 Minutes whether he felt the initial vetting of Palin by his staff was inadequate, McCain responded, “I wouldn’t know”. Talk about an out of touch politician?

We can only hope that this renewed union will develop into another very public family feud. Until then, please enjoy today’s song parody which describes round one of the McCain/Palin relationship.

In honor of the troops, please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.

El Paso song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SgLrFHs0Jk

WASILLA

(sung to the Marty Robbins song “El Paso”)

Up in the Alaskan town of Wasilla
They had a guv’nor that would make you hurl
She and her husband would ride snow-machina’s
But nobody ever saw her in Juneau

She was a blight and nobody was meaner,
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
Palin was all for politics of hatin’
And her beehive was slathered in hair gel

One night old Johnny McCain came in,
Reeking and stinking of gin
Cursing and swearing,
His dentures were baring
Searching for the queen of
Snowbound Wasilla

We remember he

Searched out this stranger cuz his hopes were fadin’
He did not know that she dressed like a whore
She got a new wardrobe thanks to the RNC
But prep for debating proved too much a chore

All McCain could do was stand there in silence
Knowing his election hopes were all done
Many thoughts raced through John’s mind as he stood there
And each of them involved his using a gun

She could not name the leader of Iran,
Evolution she denied
This sure was no fun,
Her brain was a wood one
Poor Johnny Mac’s
Election hopes had died

Could he send her back

Up to the Alaskan town of Wasilla
Bury her up to her neck in the snow
Sarah Palin proved to be something worthless
The “First Dude” and his wife jokes of the left
She could not name anything she was readin’
Of intelligence, Palin was bereft

Nobody liked her except “Plumber Joe”
And that guy’s brain was in “park”
Her head was hollow
Her rhetoric slimy
This Palin was worse than a
Poisonous dart

They suffered defeat

And poor Sarah was shipped back to Wasilla
But Palin disliked the Governor show
She felt Alaska was pulling her backwards
And she developed a hatred of snow

No longer enamored by northern cowboys
And denied most of her per diem dough
Shouting and shooting, “I can’t let them catch me!”
She quit her job and just “went with the flow”

Something went dreadfully wrong for that heel
Yet she kept on winking her eyes
She kept on lying
And waging her battle
Politics of fear
Yet office denied

But her love for

Tea-Baggers was strong and when they came a callin’
She wrote a fictional book to digest
The grammar was poor and the tone was spiteful
But off to Walmart they went on a quest

She signed the books and collected her bounty
Seldom in her motorcoach did she ride
She flew in a jet till bloggers did spy her
And they exposed just one more of – her lies.

Wednesday Night Music Byte

Before there was Beck, there was Jeff Beck. Geoffrey Arnold “Jeff” Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds. He was ranked 14th in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”and 2nd greatest rock guitarists of all time in DigitalDreamDoor, a site that ranks movies and music.MSNBC has called Beck a “guitarist’s guitarist” and Rolling Stone Magazine has described him as “one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock”.

Much of Beck’s recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and most recently, an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck has earned wide critical praise; furthermore, he has received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance four times. Although he has had two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not been able to establish and maintain a broad following or the sustained commercial success of many of his collaborators and bandmates.

Beck was nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and chosen for induction for the 4 April 2009 ceremony. He was inducted by his good friend (and fellow former Yardbirds guitarist) Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.

Please enjoy this video clip of Jeff Beck performing a three song medley at the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.