The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun!

I apologize to all of you for the long delay in posting, but I am sure that you can understand that when you lose a loved one it takes a while to get your wits back and to fall back into the daily groove. I would also like to thank all of you that sent supportive messages during my absence. They were very comforting during this most difficult time.

That being said, now it is time to get back to business. Thankfully, once again Sarah Palin has leapt to the front of the daily news  queue. She seems to have a knack for injecting herself into the news cycle whenever the Democrats have a positive development. This time she chose the day of President Obama’s National Health Care Reform Summit to announce that she will be the headline speaker at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 14th. The forum is undoubtedly  a step up from her already scheduled speaking gigs at the National Bowling Convention and The Liquor Wholesalers Convention. Just the same, it fits in neatly with the allegedly gun-toting mama bear’s manufactured persona as a sexy, tough “Joanne Sixpack”. Rumor has it however, that the former ex-quitting governor of Alaska was actually only the second choice of the NRA. The first choice of the riflemen was the former Face-Shooter in Chief, Dick Cheney but his fifth heart attack will sideline him for awhile.

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.

It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLtW_XYKM-8

IT’S STILL LOCK AND LOAD FOR SHE

(sung to the Billy Joel song “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me ”)

What’s the matter with the clothes she’s wearing?
I believe they’re made from wolf hide
Maybe she should buy a new pair of glasses
She’s lookin’ just a bit pie-eyed
Just when you think Sarah’s sounding kinda murky,
She gives an interview while someone kills a turkey
Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout polar bears
Funny, but it’s still lock and load for she

What’s the matter with the plane that she’s flying?
It’s not the one she sold on Ebay
She likes to leave the State of Alaska
With her family every single day
First she gave a speech in Minneapolis
Next she was headed right out to Indianapolis
Next day, Green Bay, then it’s off to LA
It’s still lock and load for she

Oh, it doesn’t matter what they say in the papers
‘Cause it’s always been the same damn scene.
She has to leave the state,
‘Cause the politics of hate dictate a nasty travel routine…
Spending the taxpayers’ green.

How about those ethics violations?
And Sarah Baby’s song and dance
She would really love to jail the complainants
If she only had half a chance.
And then there’s Levi and his TV interviews,
If he isn’t careful, he’ll be sporting cement shoes
Defense funds, end runs, new guns for everyone
It’s still lock and load for she

What’s the matter with the company she’s keepin’?
Don’t she know that they’re out of touch?
Like Sarah, they lack a strong education
Can’t accuse them of knowin’ much
That seems to be OK with the G.O.P.
Who needs college when you have a G.E.D.
It’s the new cool, no school, milky eyes and mouth drool
And Sarah is the big Queen bee
Everybody’s talkin’ bout the new party
Funny, but it’s still the same G.O.P.

Tuesday Night Music Byte

As the result of a death in the family, Lynnrockets’ Blast-Off must take some time off.

Wings (sometimes credited as Paul McCartney and Wings) was a rock group formed in 1971 by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney. The group was the only “permanent” group that any of the former members of The Beatles were ever involved with after their break-up. Wings had 12 top-10 singles (including one #1) in the United Kingdom and 14 top-10 singles (including six #1’s) in the United States. All 23 singles credited to Wings reached the US Top 40 (and one single, “Junior’s Farm”/”Sally G”, reached it with each side). Of the nine albums credited to Wings during the group’s life, all went top 10 in either the UK or the US, with five consecutive albums topping the US charts.

Wings was noted for its personnel changes as well as its success. The only three permanent members of Wings were McCartney, his wife Linda, and ex-Moody Blues guitarist and singer Denny Laine. In less than a decade, Wings had three different lead guitarists and four different drummers. As the Beatles were breaking up in 1970, McCartney was working on his debut solo album, McCartney. Backing vocals were provided by his wife, Linda, whom he had married the previous year. McCartney had insisted from the beginning of their marriage that his wife should be involved in his musical projects, so that they did not have to be apart when he was on tour. On his second solo album, Ram, McCartney added select outside musicians, including drummer Denny Seiwell, who had to perform in a secret audition for Paul and Linda before being chosen.

In August 1971, Seiwell and guitarist/singer Denny Laine joined Paul and Linda McCartney to record Paul’s third post-Beatles project on Apple Records. The result was Wild Life, released December 7. It was the first project to credit Wings as the artist. In an attempt to capture the spontaneity of live performances, five of the eight songs on Wild Life were first takes by the band.

The band name is said to have come to McCartney as he was praying in the hospital while Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella McCartney. Paul McCartney recalled in the film Wingspan that the birth of Stella was “a bit of a drama”; there were complications at the birth and that both Linda and the baby almost died. He was praying fervently and the image of wings came to his mind. He decided to name his new band Wings.

In late 1971, McCartney added ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Henry McCullough, a native of Northern Ireland, to the line-up of Wings and returned to touring, mounting an impromptu tour of U.K. universities and later a tour of small European venues (with the group driving around in a van), playing no Beatles numbers. In February 1972, Wings released a single called “Give Ireland Back to the Irish”, a response to the events of Bloody Sunday. The song was banned by the BBC for its anti-Unionist political stance and only mentioned in chart rundowns on BBC Radio 1 as “a record by Wings”. Despite its limited airplay, it reached #16 in the United Kingdom, as well as #1 in the Republic of Ireland and #1 in Spain.

Partly in reaction to the ban, Wings released a children’s song, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, as its next single, which surprisingly reached the Top 10 in the United Kingdom. However, Wings followed that with November 1972’s “Hi, Hi, Hi”, which was again banned by the BBC, this time for its alleged drug and sexual references. The B-side, “C Moon”, was played instead. The single made it into the Top 5 in the United Kingdom and the Top 10 in the United States.

In late 1972, Wings was re-christened Paul McCartney and Wings for the 1973 album Red Rose Speedway, which yielded the first U.S. #1 Wings hit, the romantic ballad “My Love”. One possible reason for the renaming was that two songs on this album had been recorded by Paul, Linda, and Denny Seiwell during the Ram sessions; Denny Laine added backing vocals to one of these songs, but Henry McCullough was not on either. Among the unreleased songs recorded by Wings during the extensive sessions for this album (which stretched over seven months and two continents) was the Linda composition “Seaside Woman”, which was finally released in 1977 (although credited to “Suzy and the Red Stripes”).

Near the end of these sessions, in October 1972, Wings recorded the theme song to the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which reunited McCartney with Beatles producer/arranger George Martin. The uptempo song, released as a non-album single in the summer of 1973 (immediately after “My Love”), became a sizable worldwide hit and has remained a popular part of McCartney’s post-Wings concert performances (often accompanied by pyrotechnics). That same year, McCartney released his first American TV special James Paul McCartney, which featured extensive footage of Wings but was savagely criticised by noted rock journalist Lillian Roxon.

After a successful British tour in May-June 1973, Wings went right into rehearsals for the next album. However, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell left the band in August, at the end of rehearsals, leaving the McCartneys and Laine to cut what turned out to be Wings’ most successful album, Band on the Run, at EMI’s primitive 8-track recording studio in Lagos, Nigeria. The album went to #1 in both the United States and United Kingdom and spawned three hit singles: the rockers “Jet” and “Helen Wheels” (originally included on the U.S. album only) and the title track—a suite of movements recalling side 2 of Abbey Road. It also included “Let Me Roll It”, which was seen as an affectionate impersonation of John Lennon’s vocal style, and “No Words”, the first song released by Wings that was co-written by Denny Laine (all Wings releases to this time were either Paul and Linda compositions or cover versions). Band on the Run enjoyed very positive critical reception and did much to restore McCartney’s tarnished post-Beatles image among critics.

In the Autumn of 1975 Wings embarked on the Wings Over the World tour, starting in Bristol, which took them to Australia (November), Europe (March 1976), the United States (May/June), and Europe again (September), before ending in a four-night grand finale at London’s Wembley Empire Pool. For this tour, added to Wings’ stage act was a horn section consisting of Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard, and Steve Howard on horns, brass, and percussion.

In between, Wings recorded Wings at the Speed of Sound, which was released at the end of March 1976, just prior to the U.S. leg of the world tour. It represented a departure from the prior Wings template in that each of the five primary members of the band (including Linda and Joe English) sang lead on at least one song, and both Laine (“Time to Hide”) and McCulloch (“Wino Junko”, again with Colin Allen) contributed songs. However, the two U.S. #1 singles, “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ’em In”, were both written and sung by Paul. Four of the album tracks were played in the 1976 portion of the tour, which also included five Beatles songs. Laine sang lead vocals on several songs (including his old Moody Blues hit “Go Now” and Paul Simon’s “Richard Cory”), and McCulloch on one (“Medicine Jar”), emphasizing that Wings was more than just Paul McCartney’s backing band. One of the Seattle concerts from the American leg of the 1975–76 world tour was filmed and later released as the concert feature Rockshow (1980). The tour also spawned a triple live album, Wings over America (1976), which became the fifth consecutive Wings album to reach number 1 in the U.S.

Please enjoy the following “threefer” of Wings videos. The first is a video montage of the 1972 contovertial and BBC banned “Give Ireland Back To The Irish“. The second video is Paul McCartney‘s response to the banning in the form of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” which was aired on the long forgotten Flip Wilson Show in 1972. Finally, there is a live clip of Wings performing my all time favorite version of “Band On The Run” in 1976 in Seattle.

Monday Night Music Byte

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner.

With five number one singles and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the U.S. according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and the band was ranked #75 on the magazine’s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They also had the best selling album in the U.S. with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They have toured intermittently since then, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2007, Eagles released Long Road out of Eden, their first full studio album in 28 years. The next year they launched The Long Road out of Eden Tour in support of the album. The tour continued on into 2009, crossing North America and Europe, and will continue in 2010 with additional North American tour dates.

Please enjoy this version of the Eagles performing their hit “New Kid In Town” from the 1976 album Hotel California.

Run Sarah, Run !!!

Palin - Gump 2012

Sarah Palin is not the type to disappoint. When the former ex-quitting governor of Alaska gave up on her constiuents and walked away from her job last July, we all worried that we would lose our favorite source of entertainment and target of witty criticism. There was no need to worry however, because she announced that her memoir would soon be released and that there would be a nationwide small hamlet book tour. She delivered in true Palin fashion. The book was a non-fact checked, hilariously poorly written work of fiction and the bus tour turned into a secret private jet tour that nonetheless drew a multitude of bloodthirsty shut-ins into the light of day for all to marvel at. A freak show if you will.

In addition to the book, she also informed the world that her plans were to embark as a featured speaker on the lecture circuit. As a warm-up for this new vocation, she flew off to Hong Kong so as to address a group of investors. The reviews were not kind. Consequently, the demand for her services dwindled to the point where she was forced to accept gigs at such spectacular forums as the Bowling Convention and the Wine and Alcohol Wholesalers’ Convention. imagine the fun we will have when the transcripts of those speeches become public?

She then accepted a position as a guest host on the Fox News network. She promptly began to appear on such shows as Hannity, The O’Reilly Factor and The Glenn Beck Show. Needless to say, she fit right in with the Fox menagerie. She was at ease in the comfortable environment of friends and candidly answered such hard hitting questions as, “What is your favorite color?” and “Does it snow a lot up where you live?”. We are sure to have much more fun as she appears regularly on these programs.

Finally, this weekend she was the keynote speaker at the first Tea-Bagging Convention in Nashville. Of course other than Terrible Tom Tancredo, she was just about the only speaker at the event as the result of multiple cancellations. But Sarah Palin came through in spades. During the convention she taped a segment with Fox News in which she announced that she would consider a run for president in 2012 if the situation was right for her family and the nation. Our prayers have almost been answered. CNN reports that she said she would run,

…if I believed that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family. I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country. I won’t close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future.

Just imagine all the side splitting laughs we will enjoy as she spars with the likes of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty in Republican primary debates. “Please give me a moment Mr. Romney as a I consult the crib notes on my hand”! “Mr. Gingrich, do you mind if I call you ‘Cute Newt'”? The possibilities are endless. Of course she will also be required to appear on serious Sunday morning news programs such as Face The Nation and Meet The Press. We will all enjoy looking at the puzzled visages of the hosts as she tosses up one of her signature word salads. Not to mention, a long presidential run will also afford Levi Johnston the opportunity to have a book tour of his own as well as the chance to appear on even more gossip minded television shows.

RUN SARAH, RUN !!!

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.

Y-M-C-A song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k

2-0-1-2

(sung to the Village People song “Y-M-C-A”)

Sarah, there’s no need to feel down
I said, Sarah, just because you’re a clown
I said, Sarah, a smile isn’t a frown
There’s no need to be unhappy.

Sarah, you lost a race with McCain
I said, Sarah, you flushed him right down the drain
And you messed up all of your interviews
But you’re still on the nightly news

We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2

We’ll have such a good time when you fall on your face,
And we’ll revel in your disgrace…

We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2

You will have SarahPac, and a new running mate
To help spread Politics of Hate…

Sarah, are you listening to me?
I said, Sarah, you’ll have to go on TV
I said, Sarah, I’m sure we’ll laugh till we pee
And you’ve got to know this one thing!

You make a big ass of yourself
Every time that you open your mouth
You give ammo, to our friend Tina Fey
She just repeats the things you say…

We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2

You’ll get all of the votes from the states that are red
But, the G.O.P. is now dead…

We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at you in 2-0-1-2

You can wink and then blink, and twit everyone,
But, you’ll need a fork cuz you’re done…

Sarah, you’ll have a case of the blues
I said, Sarah, has no grasp of world views
But that’s OK, cuz she amuses us,
As we throw her under the bus…

That’s when she will realize that,
Her future, is modeling for “Arctic Cat”
Maybe she’ll host a reality show
If they pay her with enough dough.

We’ll all laugh at her in 2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at her in 2-0-1-2

She can wink and then blink, and twit everyone,
But, she’ll need a fork cuz she’s done…

2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at her in 2-0-1-2
Sarah, Sarah you’ll wear a big frown
Sarah, Sarah to us you are a clown

2-0-1-2
We’ll all laugh at her in 2-0-1-2
Sarah, Sarah you’ll have a case of the blues
Sarah, Sarah I said, why don’t you just go vamoos.
2-0-1-2

Superbowl Sunday Night Music Byte

In honor of the performance of what is left of The Who during halftime of tonight’s Superbowl, we thought it would be appropriate to feature the band with its full original lineup in tonight’s music byte. This is the last full video of all four band members playing together. Drummer Keith Moon died shortly after taping in 1978.

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for energetic live performances including the pioneering spectacle of instrument destruction. The Who have sold about 100 million records and have charted 27 top forty singles in the United Kingdom and United States with 17 top ten albums,including 18 Gold, 12 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone.

The Who rose to fame in the UK with a series of top ten hit singles, boosted in part by pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline, beginning in January 1965 with “I Can’t Explain”. The albums My Generation (1965), A Quick One (1966) and The Who Sell Out (1967) followed, with the first two hitting the UK top five. They first hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1967 with Happy Jack” and hit the top ten later that year with “I Can See for Miles”. Their fame grew with memorable performances at the Monterey Pop and Woodstock music festivals. The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top ten albums in the U.S., followed by Live at Leeds (1970), Who’s Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), The Who By Numbers (1975), Who Are You (1978) and The Kids Are Alright (1979).

Moon died at the age of 32 in 1978, after which the band released two studio albums, the UK and U.S. top five Face Dances (1981) and the U.S. top ten It’s Hard (1982), with drummer Kenney Jones, before disbanding in 1983. They re-formed at events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour (1989) and the Quadrophenia tours of 1996 and 1997. In 2000, the three surviving original members discussed recording an album of new material, but their plans temporarily stalled upon Entwistle’s death at the age of 57 in 2002. Townshend and Daltrey continue to perform as The Who, and in 2006 they released the studio album Endless Wire, which reached the top ten in the UK and U.S.

The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, their first year of eligibility. Their display there describes them as “Prime contenders, in the minds of many, for the title of World’s Greatest Rock Band.” The Los Angeles Times wrote that during their tenure as a quartet, the band “rivaled The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones as the most vital rock voice of youth.” Time Magazine wrote in 1979 that “No other group has ever pushed rock so far, or asked so much from it.” They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988, and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001. In 2008 surviving members Townshend and Daltrey were honoured at the 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors.

Please enjoy this video of The Who performing “Who Are You” for the last time as the original band. Pay close attention to drummer Keith Moon as this is some of the last footage of him ever taken. Also below, is the  cover from the Who Are You album. It is eerie to note that Keith Moon is sitting upon a chair on which it says, “Not To Be Taken Away”.

Sunday Morning Coffee (or Tea) – 28

Just a few noteworthy political meteorites and comments thereon that have been careening around the galaxy this past week.

BREAKING NEWS: The first (maybe annual) Tea-Bagging Convention is taking place this weekend in Nashville. The event is being attended by every uneducated, Fox News watching retard (oops, sorry Sarah) that could scrape up the $ 500.00 admission fee to help fund Sarah Palin’s six figure speaking fee. The opening speaker was former Republican Colorado Senator Tom Tancredo and he was way over the top. Here is a portion of what he said to the grey matter deprived audience,

People who could not even spell the word ‘vote’, or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama. So the race for America is on right now. The president and his left-wing allies in Congress are going to look at every opportunity to destroy the Constitution before we have a chance to save it. So put your running shoes on. Because I’ll tell you, I’ve heard we need a revolution. My friends, we already had it. We lost. I mean, what happened to us in that last election was a revolution.

This guy is a racist of the first order. Let’s hope that the rest of the speakers are just as hate filled as Tancredo. If this type of ideology is branded to the Tea-Baggers, the movement will implode sooner than later.

THIS JUST IN: Don’t you wish that John Edwards was Republican so that blogs like this could have some fun?

BREAKING NEWS: This week’s edition of “Republicans Eating Their Own” co-features The Club For Growth and Newt Gingrich. CNN reports the conservative Club for Growth is hitting back at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for criticizing the small government group during an appearance in Utah for Republican Sen. Bob Bennett. The Club is actively working to defeat Bennett, who is seeking re-election in November. Gingrich said,

I wish the Club for Growth would spend as much time and energy to defeat liberal Democrats as they do dividing Republicans,” Gingrich told a crowd at Bennett’s formal campaign launch, according to the Deseret News. “I try to defeat liberal Democrats. I don’t spend much time trying to defeat Republicans.

The Club For Growth fired back through its president Chris Chocola ( by the way, where do Republicans get these names, Chocola, Boehner,  etc.) who said,

Newt has proven time and again that he will support any Republican, regardless of policies and principles. That’s his right, but the Club for Growth PAC puts principles over party

Keep up the feuding, G.O.P. Divide and collapse.

THIS JUST IN: The Fox News network reports that 75 million people have already attended the Tea -Bagging Convention as of Sunday morning. Glenn Beck predicts that another 200 million will appear for Sarah Palin’s speech.

BREAKING NEWS: This week’s edition of “Flip-Flopping Republicans” features the addle-minded John McCain. Remember in 2006 when he said this about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding gays in the military,

The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, ‘Senator we ought to change the policy’ then I think we ought to seriously consider changing it.

Well, that was then and this is now. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen (i.e. “leadership of the military”) have now said that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy should be abandoned. McCain’s response?

It would be far more appropriate, I say with great respect, to determine whether repealing this law is appropriate and what effects it would have on the readiness and effectiveness of the military before deciding on whether we should repeal the law or not, and fortunately it is an act of Congress and it requires the agreement of Congress in order to repeal it…

Well, I’m happy to say we still have a Congress of the United States that would have to pass a law to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, despite your efforts to repeal it, in many respects, by fiat.

They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightening…

THIS JUST IN: The Queen of Stupid, Sarah Palin spoke at the Tea-Bagging Convention last night. She repeated all oher usual drivel and added this to the Pig with lipstick’s lexicon, “How’s that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you?”.  Don’t worry however because CNN reports that opinion on Sarah Palin breaks down along party lines, with 7 in 10 Democrats disliking her and 7 in 10 Republicans with a positive view of Palin. She has a net-negative rating among Independents: 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable. She is unelectable.

BREAKING NEWS: For those wondering, Lynnrockets’ heart is with the Saints but his/her money is on the Colts to cover. GO COLTS!

Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along to today’s song parody.

A Day In The Life song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7fKh3Vbj8&feature=related

A DAY IN THE LIFE (OF THE G.O.P.)

(sung to the Beatles song “A Day In The Life”)

I read the news today oh, boy
About a senator who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
Is there a photograph?
John Ensign’s tryst will leave a scar
A “family values” guy who’s values changed
His dirty laundry will be aired
We’ve seen his kind before
In hypocrisy the G.O.P. wins all of the awards

I watched the news today oh, boy
Seems David Vitter spent time with a whore
It was a girl so he’s not gay
But here’s the funny hook
It’s all in her book
He’d love to make her gone

Horned up and out of bed
Larry Craig needed some head
Went to the airport to find a pup
Things looking up, he thought he found some bait
Found a leg to give a pat
Caught a bust in seconds flat
Gave a poor excuse when the news broke
Just another joke in the dirty G.O.P.
Ah, ah,ah, ah, ah, ah ,ah ……….

I read the news today oh, boy
The Sunshine State’s Mark Foley is a queer
These guys spew hate but have no balls
The party’s sure to fall
Hypocritical A-holes heading straight into a wall
They’d love to turn you on

Saturday Night Music Byte

Supertramp were a British progressive rock band that released a series of top-selling albums in the 1970s and early 1980s.Their early music included ambitious concept albums, from which were drawn a number of hits including “Goodbye Stranger”, “Bloody Well Right”, “The Logical Song”, “Breakfast in America”, “Dreamer”, “Give a Little Bit”, “It’s Raining Again”, and “Take the Long Way Home”. Supertramp attained superstardom in the United States, Canada, most of Europe, Australia and Brazil, although they were not quite as popular in their home country, the UK. Nonetheless, the album Breakfast in America was a big hit there, reaching number three on the UK charts and featuring two top 10 singles.

Crime of the Century, released in September 1974, began the group’s run of critical and commercial successes, hitting number four in Britain, supported by the iconic countercultural opening track “School”, and the top-10 single “Dreamer”. Its B-side “Bloody Well Right” hit the US Top 40 in May 1975, peaking at #35. Siebenberg would later comment that he thought the band hit its artistic peak on this, their third album, though their greatest commercial success would come later.

The band continued with Crisis? What Crisis? released in November 1975. It achieved good though not overwhelming commercial success. The following album, Even in the Quietest Moments, released in April 1977 spawned their hit single “Give a Little Bit” (#15 U.S.), and the FM radio staple Fool’s Overture. During this period, the band eventually relocated to the United States and moved steadily from the progressive styles of their early albums towards a more song-oriented pop sound.

This trend reached its zenith on their most popular album, Breakfast in America in March 1979, which reached Number 3 in the UK and Number 1 in the United States and spawned four successful singles, “The Logical Song” (#6 U.S.), “Take the Long Way Home” (#10 U.S.), “Goodbye Stranger” (#15 U.S.), and “Breakfast in America”. The album has since sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

The run of successes was capped with 1980s Paris, a 2-LP live album, in which the band stated its goal of improving on the studio versions of their songs. Instead of focusing on songs from the hugely successful Breakfast in America, it included nearly every song from Crime of the Century, another testament to the importance of that album in the group’s development. Initially, it was supposed to be a show recorded in Quebec City, Canada, but A&M vetoed the idea for a “more mainstream city”. Also in 1980, the song “Dreamer” was finally released as a single in the U.S., where it reached #15.

Please enjoy this video clip of Supertramp performing “Goodbye Stranger” live in 1983.

The First Dude Set The Mood

Todd Palin instructs Sarah on what to say at VP Debate.

He may not have much of an education. He may not be able to hold onto a job. He may never have been elected to public office. He may not even have his wedding band any longer, but Todd “The First Dude” Palin was personally involved with running the state of Alaska while his wife “what’s her name” was governor.

MSNBC.com reports “Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that Todd Palin exchanged with state officials, which were released to msnbc.com and NBC News by the state of Alaska under its public records law, draw a picture of a Palin administration where the governor’s husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked “confidential” from his oil company employer to a state attorney”.

Ah-ha, so Todd was the brains behind the operation and we use the term “brains” loosely.

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.

The Ballad Of John And Yoko song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t3oaPNJieg

THE BALLAD OF TODD AND SARAH

(Sung to the Beatles song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”)

Standing in the airport at Juneau,
Todd sporting his new campaign-bought pants.
But then SarahPac
Said,“They’ve got to go back”,
“You look just like a homo from France.”

Christ you know it ain’t easy,
You know how hard it can be,
To play second fiddle,
To the Caribou-Barbie.

Finally flew into Indiana
Sarah giving a Pro-Life speech
Her decision rejoiced,
As to her Baby Trig choice.
Because she practiced exactly what she preached.

Christ you know it ain’t easy,
Sarah admitted as much.
She did have a choice, though
She would deny one to us.

Meanwhile in her home-state of Alaska,
Wayne Ross was tapped for an open seat.
The Dem’s had a fear
That he was too anti-queer,
They said, “He’s never going to be the A.G.”

Christ you know they’re so sleazy,
But they’ll keep their wallets fat
By wearing those outfits
That they get from “Arctic Cat”

Keeping every penny of per-diem pay,
Lying about clothes to charity,
Daughter that’s unwed,
Boyfriends in her bed.
Her chances of  election
Pretty low – Think!

Relatives all getting arrested.
Family dignity in free-fall.
Constituents claim,
“Sarah is to blame”
Not much of a role-model at all.

Christ you know it ain’t easy
You know how hard it can be.
You know where she’s going?
Into the Party of Tea.

How did we choose Sarah to begin with?
She is just a political hack.
A dumb “hockey mom”,
That can’t think and chew gum.
Why didn’t we elect “Joe Sixpack?”

Christ she makes us uneasy.
In Yiddish we say, “Oy Vey.”
We’d love to replace her
With our good friend, Tina Fey.
We’d love to replace her
With our good friend, Tina Fey.

Friday Night Music Byte

The Housemartins were an English indie pop band that was active in the 1980s. Many of the Housemartins’ lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity, reflecting singer Paul Heaton’s beliefs at the time (the back cover of London 0 Hull 4 contained the message, “Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope”).

The band was formed in 1983 by Paul Heaton (vocals) and Stan Cullimore (guitar) who initially performed as a busking duo. They recorded a demo tape with Ingo Dewsnap of Les Zeiga Fleurs, which brought them to the attention of Go Discs. They then expanded by recruiting Ted Key (bass), former guitarist with The Gargoyles, and Dodger (drummer on loan from 3-Action!) who was then replaced by Chris Lang. The band’s membership changed considerably over the years. Ted Key left at the end of 1985 and was replaced by Norman Cook — the future Fatboy Slim — and drummer Chris Lang was replaced by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with The Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway.

The band often referred to themselves as “the 4th best band in Hull”, referring to Hull, the city in England where the band formed in 1983. (The three bands that were “better” were Red Guitars, 3-Action!, and The Gargoyles)

In 1986, having recorded two John Peel sessions, the band broke through with the single “Happy Hour”, which reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The single’s success was helped by a claymation animated pop promo of a type that was in vogue at the time, featuring a cameo by television comedian Phill Jupitus, who toured with the band under his stage name of ‘Porky the Poet’.

The band split in 1988, but the members have since remained friends and worked on each other’s projects. Norman Cook has enjoyed significant success with both Beats International and then as Fatboy Slim, while Heaton, Hemingway and roadie Sean Welch formed The Beautiful South.

In August 2009 the music magazine, MOJO, The Housemartins’ original members came together for a photo-shoot and interview for the first time in many years. However, in the interview all the members maintained that the band would not be reforming.

Please enjoy this video clip of The Housemartins performing their first hit song, “Happy Hour“.

Scott Brown Is Fast Becoming A G.O.P. Clown

Well it did not take very long for the nudist Scott Brown to show his true colors. The newly elected 41st Republican senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was sworn into office yesterday and immediately started lying. During his recent campaign against Democrat Martha Coakley, he often skirted the truth without outright lying. For instance, he constantly told the working class and middle class voters that he was just like them because he drove around in his old beat up pick-up truck. He failed to mention however, that he also owns five homes. Additionally, he sponsored a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that would allow hospitals to deny emergency contraceptive services to rape victims. Thankfully it failed. Nevertheless, when he was questioned about the bill during a televised debate with Coakley, he responded that he believes Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and should remain so. So, what is the truth? Is Scott Brown pro-choice or pro-life? Finally, while in the state legislature, Brown voted in favor of Massachusetts’ comprehensive health care reform law which passed and now insures 97% of the state’s residents and has mandates which obligate everyone to purchase health insurance (if a person cannot afford to purchase the insurance, the state subsidizes the purchase). Yet despite that vote, he publicly declared that he was proud to be the 41st senator to vote against a weaker form of health care reform for the entire nation. Is what is good for the goose not good for the gander? A flip-flop? As Sarah Palin would say, “Ya betcha”.

The clothing challenged Brown was sworn into federal office yesterday. He promptly called a press conference. Two of his first public statements were outright lies. First he said that the federal stimulus package has not created one single job. You heard that right. He said that the stimulus has not created one single job. Is he blind? Does he not read? The White House has released documentation which indicates that close to 600,000 jobs were created directly as the result of stimulus fund spending in just the last three months of 2009. When those numbers are dissected and analyzed by the experts we might discover the figure is not exactly accurate. Nonetheless, it is an outright lie to claim that not even one job was created. The naked Brown then lied again by saying that “we have terrorists trying to kill not only in our airports, but in our shopping malls.” Is he nuts? Does he have information after only a few hours on the job that terrorists are planning to kill in shopping malls? The answer to the first question is “yes’ and the answer to the second question is “no”.

We can now confidently say that Scott Brown is like so many other lying Republican politicians that will deny the truth and continue to parrot false G.O.P. talking points. Scott Brown is truly an empty birthday suit.

Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the parody.

It’s My Party song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRbsz1Ha7Zo

IT’S OUR REPUBLICAN PARTY

(sung to the Lesley Gore song “It’s My Party”)

It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to
You would cry too if you had who we do

Nobody knows where Mitt Romney has gone
Delay had to resign
McCain was one we can’t stand
The rest just wallow in slime

It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to
You would cry too if you had who we do

Naughty Mark Sanford’s romancin’ tonight
Michele Bachmann’s spewin’ bile
We don’t like Mike Huckabee
Cheney will soon be on trial

It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to
You would cry too if you had who we do

(musical interlude)

Aw, Sarah Palin behaves just like a whore
She’s a mean ding-a-ling
Jindal should open his eyes
He’ll never be our king

It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to
You would cry too if you had who we do

Oh, It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to
You would cry too if you had who we do

Oh, It’s our party, and we’ll cry if we want to
Lie if we want to, die if we want to