Tuesday Night Music Byte

Lynnrockets recently watched the film Julie & Julia about a thirty year old New Yorker who decided to cook every dish in one of Julia Childs’ cookbooks and to blog about it. It was a novel idea so we decided to copy it. No, we will not be cooking in the usual sense (that could start a fire). Rather, we will adapt the recipe a day concept to our nightly music bytes. From now to infinity (didn’t somebody else coin that phrase?) we will post a music video and brief description of the artist or song in a sort of alphabetical order as culled from Tom Moon’s wonderful reference book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (A Listener’s Life List). The book describes both whole albums (remember those) and individual songs from all music genres that are essential listening. Do yourselves a favor and purchase this book. Where the book deals with an individual song, we will post that song, but when an entire album is the subject, we will exercise judicial discretion and post a single song therefrom. So what do you say, let’s get cooking…

I

Iggy Pop and the Stooges          Raw Power – “Search and Destroy” (1973)

This album, the third from Detroit rockers Iggy Pop and the Stooges, was released in 1973. Hardly a commercial success at the time, it has nonetheless, had an extraordinarily active afterlife. It was a primary inspiration for the punk rockers in London and New York who were just starting to make noise in 1975 and the West coast punks who followed a few years later.

The album has curious origin stories. Plagued by various addictions, the Stooges lapsed into an extended limbo after the band’s second album, Funhouse, flopped in 1970. David Bowie, then flying high in his Ziggy Stardust guise, encouraged Iggy Pop to try again. Pop-known to New York Times readers as Mr. Pop and to his mom as James Newell Osterberg-agreed to a deal brokered by Bowie, which gave the star control over the final product. (Bowie mixed most of the album, attempting to correct what he heard as sonic flaws; Pop did the wilder mix on “Search and Destroy”).

To most rock ears, the initial version was plenty edgy for a rock record in 1973-its torrents of distorted buzzsaw guitar, from newest Stooge James Williamson, proved the perfect counterpoint to Pop’s howling, proudly lewd declarations. But Pop and the Stooges knew that the original tracks held more sonic mayhem – elements Bowie’s mix didn’t exactly optimize. Fans of the record knew it too, as bootlegged versions of pop’s original mixes circulated widely.

So, when Columbia invited Pop to remix Raw Power in 1997, he seized the chance to right an old wrong. Sure enough, the new version expands the smudgy guitar distortion into an enveloping roar, and ramps up the rhythm section so that even when it is playing things straight, on a genius song like “Shake Appeal”, it sounds like it’s blowing rock convention to bits. This, of course, was Pop’s guiding vision all along – music so brutal, it carries a physical jolt. Mission accomplished, Mr. Pop.

“Search and Destroy”

Palins vs. Reality (TV): Round Three – Bristol

First we had Sarah Palin, the former half-term ex-quitting governor of Alaska dip her toe into the waters of reality television with her TLC show known as “Sarah Palin’s Alaska“. Next, we learned that Palin’s would-be son-in-law, Levi Johnston is shopping his own reality series titled “Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office” in which Johnston will follow in the Naughty Monkey steps of Sarah and run for Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Now we hear that Sarah’s daughter Bristol, the former unwed pregnant teen and current unwed twenty-something single mother, will appear as a contestant on next season’s “Dancing With The Stars“. Wow! Remember when Sarah Palin negatively alleged that President Barack Obama was a celebrity and compared him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton during the 2008 presidential campaign? Did that ever prove to be the pot calling the kettle black (pun intended).

What is it with the Palin clan and their obsession with celebrity status? Really, how many normal families would aspire to have three members star in their own reality television series? Talk about low expectations. This group simply should have stuck together as one unit and promoted a joint sitcom possible titled “The Wasilla Hillbillies“. Heck, even the Gosselin family managed to keep nine out of their ten members on just one TV show.

What is next for the Palins? More reality shows? Maybe “Hey First Dude, Where’s My Car?” wherein Todd Palin will steal and then hide the automobiles of unsuspecting Wasilla residents. Or perhaps, the ever elusive Track might star in “Tracking Track“. Can you folks come up with any other suggestions?

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 topical song parody.

Dancing Queen song link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y62OlGvC-bk

DANCING QUEEN

(sung to the ABBA song “Dancing Queen”)

She can dance, she’ll connive, someday she’ll be Levi’s wife
(Ooooh)
Scheming girl, pregnant teen, she is the dancing queen

Not too bright and her sights set low
Stepping out just to earn some dough
Where they play right-wing music, sporting her new bling
Let’s pray that she don’t sing

Baby Tripp is right by her side
Sarah Palin mulls suicide
First Dude, he’s sure to lose it. Here comes Palin decline
There’ll be no second chance
Let’s all watch Bristol dance…

Bristol’s the dancing queen, two left feet, unwed pregnant teen
Dancing queen, seeking green from the cash machine
(Oh yeah)
She’ll enhance her sex drive, and prove that she is pro-life
(Ooooh)
Bristol girl, on TV, she is the dancing queen

She’s a teaser, she leads boys on
Never makes them put condoms on
She’s the unwed teen mother soon to make Baby Two
She loves to take a chance
Let’s all watch Bristol dance…

Bristol’s the dancing queen, two left feet, unwed pregnant teen
Dancing queen, indiscrete on the TV screen
(Oh yeah)
What’s the chance she’ll survive? Will she make it to Round 5?
(Ooooh)
Bristol girl, on TV, she is the dancing queen
Bristol’s the dancing queen

Supporters Keep Bailin’ On Palin

Despite her appearance at Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally in Washington D.C. this weekend, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe Sarah Palin is unqualified to be President of the United States. According to the new survey from Vanity Fair and CBS News’ 60 Minutes, only 1 in 4 (25 percent) of all adults think the former half-term ex-quitting governor of Alaska is qualified to be commander-in-chief while 60 percent say she is not. These numbers are even worse than the four previous polls that Lynnrockets’ Blast-Off has commented upon in the last few months. In essence, all of the polls strongly indicate that in 2008 a vast majority of Americans did not believe that Palin was qualified to be Vice President and since then, even a greater number (which keeps growing) believe that she is unqualified to be President.

To make matters worse, even those groups which one would consider supportive of a Palin presidency are abandoning her. By a narrow 47-40 percent margin, Republicans do feel Palin has the right stuff to be president. But self identified conservatives – constituting the segment of the GOP largely thought to most favor the former Alaska governor – are essentially split 41-40 percent on her abilities to govern the country. Most troubling of all for Palin, is that if she finds herself in a general election matchup, 3 in 5 independent voters (60 percent) don’t think Palin is qualified while only 21 percent do. Among moderates, the numbers are even worse with 70 percent reporting they lack confidence in Palin.

What could Sarah Palin have done since 2008 to so drastically destroy her status as darling of the Republican Party to become the pitiable laughing-stock that she is today? Well, let’s think about that for a moment. After losing the presidential election, she almost immediately blamed the shellacking on John McCain and his staff. Then she quit on the Alaskans that elected her by resigning as their governor after having served only half a term. In a failed attempt to derail health care reform legislation, her mythical “death panels” were exposed by the non-partisan PolitiFact.com as the “Biggest Lie of 2009”. Next, she engaged in an embarrassing and continuous public battle of words with her 19 year old would-be son-in-law. Her oil industry cheer of “Drill Baby, Drill” morphed into the disaster of “Spill Baby, Spill”. Thereafter, she aligned herself with the far-right fringe group known as the Tea Party and heartily endorsed such whack-job candidates as Rand “Get To The Back Of The Bus” Paul and Sharon “Who Needs Social Security?” Angle. And most recently she counseled the self-censoring, “n-word” spewing radio host Laura Schlessinger to “Don’t retreat. Reload”. Sarah Palin has clearly suffered from a self-imposed series of unfortunate events. She is the modern day Calamity Jane.

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 topical song parody.

Low Rider song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro4yhp9L6Ok

POLL SLIDER

(sung to the War song “Low Rider”)

All my friends know the poll slider
The poll slider is a little liar

The poll slider slips a little lower
Poll slider couldn’t be much slower

Hey!

Poll Slider is facing defeat, yeah
Poll Slider is gonna be beat, yeah

Poll slider is outta gas now
The poll slider is on her ass

Better get a grip, better get a grip
She is not the one to be
Better get a grip, better get a grip
She’s shunned by the G.O.P.

Sunday Mid-Morning Coffee (or Tea) – 49

Just a few newsworthy events and comments thereon that have been making their way through the political universe this past week. Please ponder and maybe chuckle a bit before enjoying a wonderful day, but be careful of those eggs!

BREAKING NEWS: Lest we forget, there was another rally in Washington D.C. on Saturday. Thousands of people gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963. The event, billed as “Reclaim the Dream,” included a five-mile march that culminated at the Mall, where conservative talk show host Glenn Beck had organized the simultaneous “Restoring Honor” rally. Avis Jones DeWeever, executive director of the National Council of Negro Women, drew thunderous roars when she challenged those gathered to stand up for their place. “Don’t let anyone tell you that they have the right to take their country back,” she said. “It’s our country, too. We will reclaim the dream. It was ours from the beginning.”

THIS JUST IN: This week’s episode of “Don’t Know Much About History” features Minnesota’s moonbat crazy Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann. The newly crowned Fox News Constitutional Law Expert appeared on “Judge” Napolitano’s program and stated that there are 3 major founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. But Bachmann does not know that.

BREAKING NEWS: In an interview with a conservative talk show host yesterday, Sharron Angle was given two clear chances to disavow the claim that there are “domestic enemies” within Congress, an assertion she previously expressed unequivocal agreement with. Both times, Angle refused. If she knows of the existence of such “domestic enemies” in Congress should she not be compelled to name them? Angle, you might recall is the Sarah Palin endorsed Tea Party sweetheart running for the Nevada Senate seat presently occupied by Democrat, Harry Reid.

THIS JUST IN: This week’s episode of “Where Are All The Black People At?” features Glenn Beck‘s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington D.C.  Take a look at this Washington Post pictorial slide-show of the event and count the African Americans.

BREAKING NEWS: Is anybody really surprised that Sarah Palin endorsed Tea Party darling Joe Miller referred to his Republican opponent, Lisa Murkowski as a prostitute?

THIS JUST IN: This week’s episode of “Wow, I Never Saw That Coming?” (sarcasm intended) stars former Republican National Committee Chairman, Ken Melman who announced that he is gay. Perhaps he now regrets the virulent anti-gay campaigns that he led on behalf of Republicans. Does G.O.P. hypocrisy never end?

BREAKING NEWS: This week on his radio program, Glenn Beck informed his uneducated audience that he dislikes the “Purple Heart” because it rewards people for being victims, which is Beckspeak for being wounded in the line of duty. Why is Glenn Beck, who abused drugs instead of serving in the military, smearing the “Purple Heart” and its worthy recipients?

THIS JUST IN: Why has uber-conservative pundit Michelle Malkin been so silent on the far- right’s recent plot to repeal the 14th Amendment’s grant of citizenship to children born in this country of parents that are not citizens of this country? Oh yeah, that’s right, Michelle Malkin is an “Anchor Baby” herself. Hmm, maybe the wacky rightwing is on to something.

BREAKING NEWS: Republican Sen. David “Diapers” Vitter and Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon easily coasted to victory Saturday in the Louisiana Senate primary, setting up a November race between the conservative senator and the Blue Dog Democrat congressman. For the sake of entertainment, let’s hope that Vitter’s diaper-wearing prostitute-buying scandals become part of the general election debate.

THIS JUST IN: This week’s episode of  “ All In The Family” stars Sarah Palin’s daughter and former unwed pregnant teen, Bristol Palin. It was announced this week that the now unwed twenty-something mother that happens to be famous only because of that dubious status, will appear on this season’s “Dancing With The Stars“. How long will it be before Todd the “First Dude” and Track Palin join Sarah, Bristol and Levi in the world of reality television shows?

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

We Are Family song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpYgpF1bqQ

WE ARE FAMILY

(sung to the Sister Sledge song “We Are Family”)

(Chorus)
Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

Ev’ryone can see that we are crazy
As we walk on by
(HIGH!) And we don’t work because we are lazy
Diana is high
(ALL) All of the moonbats in our clan these days
Like the First Dude, Todd
Just let me state for the record
We think that Levi kid is odd

(Chorus)
Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

Abstinence is fun, OK that’s a pun
We get knocked-up before wedding bells
(HIGH) High hopes we have for the future
If our books can sell
(WE) Oh we dress for success
Here’s what we call our golden rule
No condoms for you, and no pills too
You won’t go wrong
Protect the Family Jewels

(Chorus)
Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

(Chorus)
Palin family
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
Palin family
Let’s put lipstick on a pig!

(Repeat Chorus To Fade)

Mitt(wit) Romney Caves To Religious Intolerance

Romney Supporters

Former Massachusetts Governor and once and future Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney either has a very short memory or he is flip-flopping once again (and as usual). Although he has not yet announced that he will run for President in 2012, he is making public appearances in many early primary states and he is leading in many recent polls which have analyzed G.O.P. member preference for president. Nonetheless his Achilles Heal, the “flip-flop” is rearing its ugly head yet again.

There is an old saying about the weather in New England; “If you don’t like it today, stick around because it will change tomorrow”. They same can be said about Mitt Romney. If you do not like his position on a particular issue today, stick around because he will change his position tomorrow. He is, without doubt, the biggest flip-flopper in politics.

While running for the US Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1994 (by the way, Romney got shellacked) and later while running for Governor of Massachusetts, the Mittwit was firmly pro-choice. While running for President in 2008 however, he claimed that he has always been pro-life. While Governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed strict gun control legislation into law. Later, while running for President, he actually became a member of the NRA and said he has always believed in the sanctity of the right to bear arms. Most recently, he has railed against the newly enacted health care reform law despite the fact that while Governor of Massachusetts, he signed into law the Commonwealth’s far more left leaning health reform law. Mittwit Romney is truly a Flipper.

Romney’s newest flip-flop is on the issue of religious tolerance. Wednesday’s Boston Globe informed us that there is, in this country, an “essential connection between the survival of a free land and the protection of religious freedom.’’ Indeed, “religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.’’ We know this because former Governor Mitt Romney reminded us of it when, during his presidential campaign, some fundamentalist Christians started raising objections to his Mormon faith. But such is not the case in RomneyWorld any longer.

The editorial went on to explain that this week a Romney spokesman said the former governor opposes the construction of the New York City mosque on the grounds that it could be used as a recruitment tool for radicals (thereby pandering to all the falsehoods about the mosque being somehow related to 9/11) and that its presence offends some relatives of 9/11 victims. But there are plenty of relatives of 9/11 victims, among them some Muslims, who support the mosque. In any case, Romney’s flip-flop sets a terrible precedent to curb freedom of religion on the grounds that other people are uncomfortable. After all, the mere presence of Romney’s great-grandparents offended non-Mormon settlers in Utah, whose prejudices eventually drove the Romneys to seek a freer environment to practice their religion in Mexico.

His is a sad show of prejudice with dire implications not just for freedom of religion, but for national security. Radical Islamists play on the idea that Americans are at war with the Muslim faith to win new recruits. That’s all the more reason for someone who wants to be president to stand up and fight on behalf of Constitutionally protected religious freedom.

Romney’s intolerant and misguided position casts an unflattering light on a man who, just two and a half years ago, said,

“You can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: we do not insist on a single strain of religion — rather, we welcome our nation’s symphony of faith.’’

But then, what should we expect from Flipper?

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 topical song parody. Please enjoy!

The Great Pretender song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1oJuwkXr0E

MITT IS THE GREAT PRETENDER

(sung to The Platters song “The Great Pretender”)

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Pretending that he is so swell
His needs are such; he pretends too much
The truth he simply cannot tell

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Romney’s true beliefs are unknown
Mitt plays the game; flip-flops without shame
With no firm beliefs of his own

He was pro-choice he had us all believe
But when he faced strife, he switched up to pro-life

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
His opinion changes by town
Mitt claims to be what he’s not; you see
He wears his deceit like a crown
Romney is a flip-flopping clown

In Mass., health reform was what he achieved
He now says he feels health reform needs repeal

Yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Just switching positions around
Ol’ Mitt Romney is not what you see
He wears his deceit like a crown
Romney is a flip-flopping clown

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 topical song parody. Please enjoy!

The Great Pretender song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riFR_UxRwaQ

MITT IS THE GREAT PRETENDER

(sung to The Platters song “The Great Pretender”)

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Pretending that he is so swell
His needs are such; he pretends too much
The truth he simply cannot tell

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Romney’s true beliefs are unknown
Mitt plays the game; flip-flops without shame
With no firm beliefs of his own

He was pro-choice he had us all believe
But when he faced strife, he switched up to pro-life

Oh yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
His opinion changes by town
Mitt claims to be what he’s not; you see
He wears his deceit like a crown
Romney is a flip-flopping clown

In Mass., health reform was what he achieved
He now says he feels health reform needs repeal

Yes, Mitt’s the great pretender
Just switching positions around
Ol’ Mitt Romney is not what you see
He wears his deceit like a crown
Romney is a flip-flopping clown

Friday Night Music Byte

Lynnrockets recently watched the film Julie & Julia about a thirty year old New Yorker who decided to cook every dish in one of Julia Childs’ cookbooks and to blog about it. It was a novel idea so we decided to copy it. No, we will not be cooking in the usual sense (that could start a fire). Rather, we will adapt the recipe a day concept to our nightly music bytes. From now to infinity (didn’t somebody else coin that phrase?) we will post a music video and brief description of the artist or song in a sort of alphabetical order as culled from Tom Moon’s wonderful reference book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (A Listener’s Life List). The book describes both whole albums (remember those) and individual songs from all music genres that are essential listening. Do yourselves a favor and purchase this book. Where the book deals with an individual song, we will post that song, but when an entire album is the subject, we will exercise judicial discretion and post a single song therefrom. So what do you say, let’s get cooking…

H

Tom T. Hall          In Search Of A Song – “The Little Lady Preacher” (1971)

By the time Tom T. Hall began making records in the 60’s, most of the basic themes of country songs – cheating hearts and brawls and sad girls left alone at the bar – had been well explored. This did not deter the sharp-eyed singer, songwriter and guitarist who grew up in Olive Hill, Kentucky. First he wrote about morality and manners – his best-known song is the Jeannie C. Riley hit about hypocrites, “Harper Valley PTA”. Then, after a few years of mid-level success, Hall set out on long solo drives, searching for the truths known only to residents of small town America. He found characters and song ideas by the bushel, and these he harvested for several years, earning the moniker “The Storyteller”.

This album plays like a rambler’s road diary, or a novel filled with larger than life characters. It begins with “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died”, a portrait of Hall’s childhood hero Floyd Carter, a hard-drinking musician. Then come tales of love in vain (“Tulsa Telephone Book”) and journalistic accounts of tragedies (“Trip To Hyden” visits the scene of a mining accident).

Every now and then Hall, who’s straight forward singing style is bolstered by equally unaffected arrangements, shares his own experiences. “Kentucky, February 27, 1971” is his account of a pilgrimage he made to a wise and weary farmer. He was, as the album title implies, in search of a song. Instead, he gets an earful about why kids don’t hang around the unforgiving hills, and then an apology from the farmer: “Guess there ain’t no song here after all”.

Another gem, “The Little Lady Preacher”, sounds as if it might be autobiographical; it finds the narrator, a drifter who fits Hall’s general profile, playing bass for a weekly religious radio show. Hall describes the guitarist next to him as a good musician with a penchant for drink and reckless living, and over several verses describes how the guitarist and the pious lady preacher become friendly. One week Hall shows up for work and they’ve vanished. together. Stunned because he’s unemployed, and because he will miss that attractive preacher, he can’t help but wonder “who it was converted whom”. They just don’t write ’em like that anymore.

Sarah Palin Has Labor Pain

Sarah Palin is having a difficult time with labor once again. No, she is it not having another baby to use as a prop. She is however, the target of the AFL-CIO labor union. Union president Richard Trumka called Sarah Palin “almost a parody of herself” who will “go down in history like McCarthy” in a speech in Alaska yesterday. When it comes to Palin, he said, “you just have to laugh — but it’s not really funny.”

The labor leader also blasted the former half-term ex-quitting governor of Alaska’s thinly veiled violence inspiring rhetoric by saying,

“In this charged political environment, her kind of talk gets dangerous. Don’t retreat… reload’ may seem clever, the kind of bull you hear all the time, but put it in context. She’s using crosshairs to illustrate targeted legislators. She’s on the wrong side of the line there. She’s getting close to calling for violence. And some of her fans take that stuff seriously. We’ve got legislators in America who have been living with death threats since the health care votes.”

Trumka was not finished. He criticized Palin railing against “union thugs” despite the fact that her husband is in a union. He asked: “Is she calling him a thug?” “There’s history behind that rhetoric,” Trumka will say. “That’s how bosses and politicians in decades past justified the terrorizing of workers, the murdering of organizers.” Sarah Palin he said, “will go down in history like McCarthy. Palinism will become an ugly word.”

Hey Mr. Trumka, tell us how you really feel about Sarah Palin. Don’t sugar-coat it.

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.

I’m Stone In Love With You song link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nmaGZPN54I

HER FAME IS OVERDUE

(sung to the Stylistics song “I’m Stone In Love With You”)

If Palin could, she’d like to be a big Tea Party star
Lots of compensation and a big expensive car
Telling lies ‘bout everything while preaching to her choir
These things she’d do, cuz her fame is over-due
(Fame is over-due)

If Palin pursues her plan, accomplishes her quest
She’ll be so successful, it will scare Glenn Beck to death
She would hold a meeting for, Fox News to let them know
She earned it all, cuz her fame was over-due
(Fame was over-due)

One hundred grand she will demand
The price to hear her sing paid by her fans
And if she could, she’d tell them all to screw…

She’d like to someday be the owner of Fox News and its Brit Hume
Doling out her favors when they forecast doom and gloom
Some might say the stupid fool just screams both night and day
And yes it’s true, cuz her fame is over-due
And yes it’s true, cuz her fame is over-due
And yes it’s true, cuz her fame is over-due

Thursday Night Music Byte

Lynnrockets recently watched the film Julie & Julia about a thirty year old New Yorker who decided to cook every dish in one of Julia Childs’ cookbooks and to blog about it. It was a novel idea so we decided to copy it. No, we will not be cooking in the usual sense (that could start a fire). Rather, we will adapt the recipe a day concept to our nightly music bytes. From now to infinity (didn’t somebody else coin that phrase?) we will post a music video and brief description of the artist or song in a sort of alphabetical order as culled from Tom Moon’s wonderful reference book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (A Listener’s Life List). The book describes both whole albums (remember those) and individual songs from all music genres that are essential listening. Do yourselves a favor and purchase this book. Where the book deals with an individual song, we will post that song, but when an entire album is the subject, we will exercise judicial discretion and post a single song therefrom. So what do you say, let’s get cooking…

G

Rory Gallagher          Irish Tour 1974

Those who think they’ve heard it all in the realm of the electric guitar are referred to the first two minutes of this album. Rory Gallagher comes onstage to roaring applause – he was already a star in his native Ireland, and one of the few brave souls willing to tour the country during the bitter civil strife of the 1970’s. He tunes his instrument quickly, sends out a few test signals, and then jumps into his original “Cradle Rock”. What follows is solo guitar machismo – ninety seconds of crow-bar like single note attacks and flamboyant lunging pitch-blends followed by a Delta blues taunt that lets the band know it’s time to go to work.

Even if you are immune to daredevil rock guitar tricks, this is jaw-dropping stuff. Gallagher (1948-1995) was one of the few virtuosos who kept his considerable technical mastery in his back pocket, for emergency use only. When he lets loose, it’s a real eruption, not stagecraft. On “Cradle Rock” , “As The Crow Flies”,  and other songs on Irish Tour 1974 – this uniformly thrilling collection drawn from concerts in Belfast, Dublin and elsewhere – Gallagher’s rhythm guitar has a strutting Aerosmith quality. Just when that seems to be his stock in trade, he’ll turn around and drop a stupendous melody line that sounds like it was beamed from rock and roll heaven. And then he’ll deliver another one until these phrases gather into an epic fable.

Gallagher built several originals on the blues, and was equally comfortable reaching back to a standard or two – this set features a steamrolling cover of Muddy Water’s “I Wonder Who” and a sorrowful reading of J.B. Hutto’s “Too Much Alcohol”. Where other rockers seize the blues as a chance to show off, Gallagher positively sings on the guitar, to the point where you wonder whether his fingers are even on the strings.

After Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix was asked what it felt like to be the greatest guitarist in the world and he answered, “I don’t know. Go ask Rory Gallagher”. “Nuff said.

“Cradle Rock”

“Walk On Hot Coals”

Tea Party Is Nothing More Than G.O.P. Fringe

We came across an insightful column in yesterday’s Boston Globe which analyzes the true makeup and possible impact of the Tea Party. Lynnrockets’ Blast-Off could say it no better, so here is that column. After reading it, please review Scott Lehigh’s other well written work by visiting The Boston Globe.

“AT TIMES, the Tea Party movement has seemed less an authentic expression of grass-roots outrage than a counterfeit crop seeded by well-connected conservatives and nurtured in the hospitable hothouse that is Fox News. And yet the movement, which doesn’t have particularly deep roots in New England, has turned out some impressive crowds, including a sizable gathering on Boston Common in mid-April.

Will the Tea Party will be a lasting force in mainstream American politics? Or, like most American protest movements, is it destined to fade away after an election cycle or two? That question has been difficult to answer, in part because it’s hard to bring the movement into sharp focus.

If you’ve looked for a unified field theory that explains it all, you’ve no doubt been frustrated. As New York Times reporter Kate Zernike writes in “Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America,’’ her new book about the movement, the phenomenon doesn’t lend itself to one simple explanation. Instead, the movement is the complex sum of many different parts and motivations.

Zernike (full disclosure: she’s a former colleague and a friend) persuades me that it shouldn’t be written off as just a synthetic creation, despite the energetic involvement of FreedomWorks, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s corporate-cozy conservative nonprofit, which includes Astroturfing tricks among its organizing tactics.

In part that’s because of the everyday American faces “Boiling Mad’’ puts on some of the Tea Party activists. For example, there’s Tom Grimes, a jovial 65-year-old laid-off stockbroker who adopts the satirical title of “bus czar’’ as he arranges transportation for Tea Party protests. And Diana Reimer, a gregarious 66-year-old who got involved as a way “to get your frustrations out’’ after her husband, a former Navy man, lost his job and she had to take a low-wage post at Macy’s.

Zernike’s reporting gives you a good sense of the camaraderie the Tea Partiers enjoy, as well as the anger, fear, and frustration they feel. I found myself impressed by their energy, commitment, and passion.

And yet, “Boiling Mad’’ also reinforced something I’ve experienced in my own exchanges with Tea Party types. Their views often betray a gut-level emotional element or a lack of policy knowledge or inconsistencies or contradictions that would hinder any easy or long-term translation into a governing philosophy. (Unity, as any political tactician can tell you, is far easier in opposition than in support of something.)

Grimes, for example, rebuts the pro-Obama arguments of friends this way: “The problem is, you guys are trying to sell this on facts. You can have all the facts, but if you don’t trust the mind-set or the value system of the people involved, you can’t even look at the facts anymore.’’

Reimer, meanwhile, wants smaller government, but not cuts to Medicare or TRICARE (the military health care program), on which she and her husband rely.

There, she’s hardly alone. Despite their anti-government bent, half of those who considered themselves Tea Party supporters either benefit from programs like Social Security or Medicare or have someone in their immediate family who does, according to New York Times polling.

Further, one can’t help but be struck by the solipsism that marks the movement. Eighty-four percent of Tea Party supporters think their views reflect those of most Americans, according to that same polling. (Perhaps they’ve watched too much of Glenn Beck’s coverage of their events.) That’s just silly. Among a larger sample of US adults, only 25 percent thought Tea Party sentiments typified the majority’s thinking, while only 18 percent actually called themselves Tea Party supporters.

In sum, Zernike’s book leaves me more confident in the idea that the real effect of the Tea Party won’t be in the middle of American politics. Rather, it will be within the Republican ranks, where the newly minted activists are engaged in a power struggle with the establishment.

It’s a struggle that may well drag the GOP even further out of the mainstream. If so, some who celebrated the protests as the start of an anti-Obama backlash may find the movement has boomeranged on them in ways they never imagined.”

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 topical song parody.

Garden Party song link:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x89fev_ricky-nelson-garden-party_music

TEA BAG PARTY

(sung to the Ricky Nelson song “Garden Party”)

I went to a Tea Bag party hoping to make some brand new friends
But they became my enemies, those right wing racist men
When I got to the Tea Bag party, they all looked the same
That really surprised me, and no one had a brain

But its all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Crazies there from miles around, mostly with white hair
Locals brought their shotguns, there was hatred in the air
‘n’ over in the corner, not to my surprise
Sarah Palin sportin’ F-me pumps while just winking her eyes

But its all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so they can go to hell

Lot-in-dah-dah-dah, lot-in-dah-dah-dah

Told them they were so wrong, Glenn Beck is insane
Drill Baby, Drill’s stupid,  and Palin is to blame
I said Rand Paul is crazy too, best not drink his tea
Then I told them things about Michele Bachmann they would not believe

But its all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so they can go to hell

Lot-dah-dah-dah (lot-dah-dah-dah)
Lot-in-dah-dah-dah

Someone opened up a closet door and donned a white pointy hood
Punching his railroad ticket to Hell and just the way he should
If you’re goin’ to a Tea Bag party, I wish you a lotta luck
Bring a misspelled sign, use racist slang and drive a pick-up truck

But its all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Lot-dah-dah-dah (lot-dah-dah-dah)
Lot-in-dah-dah-dah

But its all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Wednesday Night Music Byte

Lynnrockets recently watched the film Julie & Julia about a thirty year old New Yorker who decided to cook every dish in one of Julia Childs’ cookbooks and to blog about it. It was a novel idea so we decided to copy it. No, we will not be cooking in the usual sense (that could start a fire). Rather, we will adapt the recipe a day concept to our nightly music bytes. From now to infinity (didn’t somebody else coin that phrase?) we will post a music video and brief description of the artist or song in a sort of alphabetical order as culled from Tom Moon’s wonderful reference book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die (A Listener’s Life List). The book describes both whole albums (remember those) and individual songs from all music genres that are essential listening. Do yourselves a favor and purchase this book. Where the book deals with an individual song, we will post that song, but when an entire album is the subject, we will exercise judicial discretion and post a single song therefrom. So what do you say, let’s get cooking…

F

Fairport Convention         Liege and Lief – “Matty Groves” (1969)

To appreciate how far Fairport Convention took British folk, cue up its version of the traditional murder ballad “Matty Groves”, one of several groundbreaking reworkings of old tunes on the band’s exquisite Liege and Lief. It starts as a relatively conventional yarn, with vocalist Sandy Denny retelling how a cheating wife met a violent end. As the tale winds down, guitarist Richard Thompson steps out of the shadows. He doesn’t immediately assert himself; instead he picks up Denny’s sense of tragedy and incorporates it into what becomes a guitar epic. What follows, over the next four minutes, is not folk and not rock, it’s more like an instrumental treatise on honor and betrayal offered by a shrewd student of human nature. The rest of the album is equally captivating.