The Curse

Up on eBay for auction currently is the David Ortiz jersey that was nearly buried at the new Yankees Stadium with the proceeds going to charity.

Audioslave -- The Curse
From the Out of Exile album.

Wolf Parade -- It's a Curse
From the Apologies to the Queen Mary album.

Earth Moving

I've lived in Seattle for nearly four years now and I haven't experienced an earthquake yet...knock on wood...but this fall I will be moving to Missouri and I thought my danger of death by earthquake would be going down...but after today I'm not so sure.

From the Kansas City Star:

Yes, Kansas City, that was an earthquake this morning.

Area residents reported being shaken awake shortly after 4:30 a.m. by a rumbling sensation, which turned out to be tremors from a 5.2-magnitude quake centered in southeastern Illinois.

Carole King -- I Feel the Earth Move
This is the first song on the best album from a female solo artist of the 1970's.

Cheese Balls

In the same sense as this post and this post:

AC/DC -- She's Got Balls
From the High Voltage album.

Weinland

On my list of "Things to Blog About" is the band Weinland. KCRW gave me a great reason to write about them today as they selected the band's song "God Here I Come" as their Today's Top Tune. It is not the most uplifting song and something you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate but it is beautiful nonetheless.

Weinland -- God Here I Come
From the La Lamentor album.

Mariah & John

I am contractually obligated to post this Mariah Carey video because it stars Jack McBrayer, every one's favorite John Edwards impersonator.



Snow Patrol -- Make This Go On Forever
From the Eyes Open album.

Nature Boy

You know, every once in a while a story comes along that is too perfect for words. To start watch this:



"Woooooooooooooooo!"



But the more and more I think about this, Ric Flair represents more than just the blondest hair any human has ever had. He is exactly the personification of the person I think of when I hear the words "Bush tax cuts." I kid because I love.

Packer Schedule

Next year's Packers schedule came out earlier this week and here are some of the highlights:

Monday, September 8th
Home game against the Vikings
This will be Aaron Rodgers' starting debut and an official end to Brett's starting record [assuming he gets through the pre-season without injury].

Sunday, October 19th
Home game against the Colts
If the Packers are anywhere near as good as they were last season, this will be one of the premier games for the entire league let alone the Green & Gold.

Monday, December 22nd
Away game against the Bears
Above all else, we must avenge our losses to the Bears during last season.

Democratic Debate

I don't know if you watched the ABC Democratic debate last night [which may be the last one as they haven't agreed on a North Carolina debate] but if you didn't, this is all you need to know:

The boyish [George] Stephanopoulos, who has done wonders with the network's Sunday morning hour, "This Week" (as, indeed, has Gibson with the nightly "World News"), looked like an overly ambitious intern helping out at a subcommittee hearing, digging through notes for something smart-alecky and slimy. He came up with such tired tripe as a charge that Obama once associated with a nutty bomb-throwing anarchist. That was "40 years ago, when I was 8 years old," Obama said with exasperation.

If you happen to listen to The Tony Kornheiser Show online or through iPod podcasts, you know Tom Shales [the author of the above article] as the author of some of the best critical essays ever written reviewing Kathie Lee Gifford's annual Christmas specials. He takes on Kathie Lee again as she returns to morning TV here.

Lucky Penny

This is the type of article I love to read about candidates....it doesn't change the way I feel about John McCain but I get to understand a little more about him...in this case, his lucky coins:

McCain has a whole slew of superstitions and rituals, many stemming from his days as a Navy fighter pilot, a notoriously superstitious bunch. He won't throw a hat on a bed (bad luck), and he carries a lucky feather, a lucky compass, and a lucky penny — and nickel, and quarter.

"He had so many of them that we had to cut down — it was like a change purse in his pocket," Buchanan said with a laugh. He carries a lucky penny given to him by New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher Joseph W. McQuaid just before McCain pulled off the win there Jan. 8 (the penny was found heads up, of course).

McCain also carries a nickel he found outside his Columbia, S.C., hotel just before the primary there (and his second primary win gave him momentum into Florida, ending the race). He's also got a quarter in there, "but I think he just found that on the ground," Buchanan said. "It's always what he finds heads up." Still, it's what she called a "a lucky drummer boy quarter" — a 1976 commemorative quarter for the bicentennial.

Jimmy Eat World -- Feeling Lucky
From the newish Chase This Light album.

Radiohead -- Lucky (Live at KROQ)
The studio version can be found on OK Computer.

Confessions Of An Angry Music Fan

I received this from a friend out of the clear blue sky...

"I really hate the Gin Blossoms. Their music is banal and lice-ridden. They're going to be playing at Sawdust City Days this year. That's the mark of a fucking successful band. I want to take rocks to the show and throw them at them, either rocks at the Gin Blossoms or the Gin Blossoms at rocks -- I'm not picky. Have you ever gone to a concert to berate the band playing?

To ape Steven Colbert: "Their music is a taint, not just in the sense of a 'stain on the office,' but literally a taint - the anatomical area between the anus and the testicles."

I hate the Gin Blossoms...a lot"

Gin Blossoms -- Follow You Down
From Congratulations...I'm Sorry.

Gin Blossoms -- Hey Jealousy
From the New Miserable Experience album.

Gin Blossoms -- Allison Road
From the New Miserable Experience album.

Happy Birthday Little Sis!

It is my sister's birthday today, so I thought I would post some songs by artists that she really likes...It pains me to say this but I would have to admit that she has a more eclectic taste in music than I do and she's taught me a thing or two about "wussy music."

Happy Birthday Avril!

Nada Surf -- Always Love (Live)
I don't know that origin of this live version but the studio version can be found on The Weight Is A Gift.

Nada Surf -- Blizzard of '77 (Live)
This is from the official Nada Surf live album, Live in Brussels.

Dolly Parton -- Better Get To Livin'
This is from her latest album Backwoods Barbie.

Dolly Parton (with Alison Kraus, Mindy Smith, and Dan Tyminski) -- The Cruel War
From the Those Were the Days album.

The Notorious B.I.G. -- Hypnotize
From the Greatest Hits album.

Freedom's Watch

The NY Times has an interesting article on the conservative 527 group Freedom's Watch. If you don't know Freedom's Watch, they do ads like this:



And they were the main focus of the push back against Moveon.org's "General Betray Us" adverts last year.

Here is a segment of the article:

But after a splashy debut last summer, in which it spent $15 million in a nationwide advertising blitz supporting President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq, the group has been mostly quiet, beset by internal problems that have paralyzed it and raised questions about what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall.

The group was conspicuously absent this week as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the United States commander in Iraq, returned to Congress to testify. Moreover, the troubles at Freedom’s Watch come as some Democratic-aligned groups are seeking to take the offensive, with one group, Progressive Media USA, planning to raise $40 million to spend on advertisements and other efforts to undermine Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Am I Alone In This?

Am I the only one who thinks this new commercial is full of shit:



I mean, Hitler invaded Poland September 1, 1939 and the United States didn't declared war against Japan until December 8th, 1941 following Pearl Harbor. D-Day wasn't until June 6, 1944 a full 1,740 days after Hitler invaded Poland.

General Lee surrendered April 9, 1865 effectively ending the Civil War. The Civil Rights act was signed into law July 2, 1964. It only took 36,608 days to outlaw discrimination based on race.

America has a long history of dragging our feet and "waiting" on important issues. We shouldn't white wash it by saying we do all these great things "swiftly and with style." Let's not forget Winston Churchill's words: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing -- after they've tried everything else."

The Rolling Stones -- Waiting On A Friend
From the Tattoo You album.

Franz Ferdinand -- What Are You Waiting For? (Gwen Stefani Cover)
This is from a Q Magazine CD called Q Covered -- Best of 86/06.

The Last Shadow Puppets

If I get through this post without calling this band the "The Last of the Shadow Puppets" it will be a miracle....They are instead The Last Shadow Puppets and are a sort of side project of the Arctic Monkey's leader Alex Turner and some other guy who is popular in England...to say that it is much different from the Arctic Monkeys would be a dirty lie. If you like them, you will like this.

The Last Shadow Puppets -- The Age of the Understatement

The Last Shadow Puppets -- In the Heat of the Morning (David Bowie Cover)
Both songs are from the Age of the Understatement EP.

David Bowie -- In the Heat of the Morning
From The Deram Anthology 1966-1968 collection.

Music & Lyrics: Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom!

One of the best games I have ever played is called Songburst in which teams battle each other for their knowledge of music lyrics. The best version is the 50's and 60's edition and as I've played with my family when I'm home some of the questions are pretty easy while others are incredibly hard.

The most difficult question is for Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and if you get it right, you are ceremonially named "King of Songburst." The question: what are the lyrics in the opening line of "Tutti Frtti?" It sounds easy, but in Songburst the exact wording is needed and different syllables can cost you points.

The answer is: "Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom!"

The "Tutti Frutti" article in Wikipedia summarizes the back story about the writing of the song nicely and to show you how great Little Richard is, just listen to Pat Boone covering "Tutti Frutti!"

Pat Boone -- Tutti Frutti [Little Richard Cover]
From the Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Songs.

Little Richard -- Tutti Frutti
From pretty much every Little Richard Greatest Hits collection, such as Greatest Gold Hits.

There Is Nothing Wrong With Kansas or Pennsylvania

As part of the political bloggers of America, it is my solemn duty to weigh in on the flap about Barack Obama's comments about Flyover Country America.

If you have not read them, here you go.

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Most of the furor has focused on two words: bitter and cling. Those words make the voters sound like the American electorate's version of Hiroo Onoda. Those two words are why Obama is out there today apologizing for his word choice. But what struck me was not bitter or cling, but the references to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them."

Guns are a cultural issue. To a working man in Pennsylvania or Indiana or Wisconsin, gun control is an issue about how you view him and his life, independent of whether or not his job was shipped to Central America. For those men (and women), advocates of gun control are showing they don't understand how he lives. They were taught gun safety at a young age and have a deep reverence and understanding for the carnage a gun can cause. They have a gun for hunting, which is likely a part of family tradition. I know in my family, most hunts involve three generations of Smith men. They own that gun for the off chance that someone decides to mess with them. But they would no more use a gun to commit unprovoked violence against another human than they would use their car to mow down children playing at recess. And the same goes for the guns owned by the neighbors, friends and co-workers. And this was true when the blue collar jobs were still in towns like Scranton and Lancaster and Harrisburg. The streets of Chicago may have a problem with gun violence, but the towns of Pennsylvania do not and gun ownership represents a distinct part of their lifestyle. That is why those voters focus on that issue -- it is a microcosm for understanding them.

To say that voters turn to religion or to xenophobia because their jobs are gone is just as befuddling. It is part of an argument that liberals constantly make: the working class should vote Democrat because Democrats are best for their pocketbook. As George Will put it, "The crux of the political left's complaint about Americans is that they are insufficiently materialistic." Ironically, this argument fits best within the contours of Hillary's campaign. Her agenda is a checklist of ways to make life better for ordinary Americans: making college tuition more affordable, reworking health care, addressing the housing market. It is all about small transactions beyond a larger strategy of saying, "I'm the best candidate because you will benefit most from what I will offer." And when these voters still elect Republicans, we get asked what is the matter with Kansas.

But politics is more than choosing whose transactions will benefit you the most. Voters want to leave the country in a better place for the generations to come and that doesn't just mean they want affordable college tuition and middle class tax cuts. It's about competing visions of morality. And those issues are microcosms for what kind of country they want to bequeath. To dismiss that as nothing more than the fevered rants of a populace distracted by the loss of jobs shows a real misunderstanding of the role of culture in society. It shows an underlying belief that the cultural struggles are really nothing more than class struggles. Not only is that elitist, but it is empirically wrong.

Had Obama left his remarks to only immigrants and trade measures, he would have come much closer to truth. There is a rational relationship between saying, "The jobs are leaving. Don't bring in any more cheap labor or cheap products." But to say, "The jobs are leaving. Don't you dare touch my gun," or "The jobs are gone. But better keep the homos from getting hitched," strains the logic. Even if Obama had been more judicious in his word choice, it would not have altered the fundamental message; a message that should give us pause.

A Resolution

In Support of the Stone Temple Pilots song "Vasoline" being named the All-Time Grunge Anthem

Whereas, Stone Temple Pilots have reunited and will be touring the 2008 summer festivals, AND

Whereas, Stone Temple Pilots best album was Purple, AND

Whereas, the best song on Purple was "Vasoline," AND

Whereas, "Vasoline" starts of with that cool reverb humming, AND

Whereas, the lyrics of "Vasoline" are vague and yet important sounding [like every good grunge song], AND

Whereas, "Vasoline" has one of the best opening guitar riffs in history, AND

Whereas, "Vasoline" includes such great lyrical snippets as "blow a kiss and tried to take it home," "it has rendered me punch drunk and without bail," and "you'll eat the lies," AND

Whereas, "Vasoline" has one of the greatest videos ever made, AND

Whereas, the video includes folk dancers in lederhossen, clowns dancing, and Scott Weiland at his most healthy looking, AND

Whereas, it has Scott Weiland doing that weird dance with the cane, AND



Whereas, if Nirvana were The Beatles and Pearl Jam was The Rolling Stones, the surely Stone Temple Pilots would be The Who or maybe the Kinks, AND

Whereas, suicide should not be celebrated, AND

Be it resolved that, Stone Temple Pilots' song "Vasoline" will be considered the All-Time Grunge Anthem.

Stone Temple Pilots -- Vasoline
From the Purple album.

Ken Lee

I laughed so hard that I cried. Amazing.

Marla

If you've got a free hour and a half, check out the documentary My Kid Could Paint That about 4-year old painting sensation Marla Olmstead. For nothing else, it makes good old Charlie Rose look like one of the biggest dicks of all time as he goes after Marla as possibly a fraud in a segment for 60 Minutes.

I couldn't find the particular 60 Minutes segment on YouTube but the trailer has some segment of the piece:



Deep Purple -- The Painter
From the Deep Purple album.

The Law -- Watching the Paint Dry
This is from an NME CD about artists on the 1965 Records label.

Music & Lyrics: The Left Banke -- "Walk Away Renee"

At the same time, The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" is one of the most compelling 60's recordings and also one of the most unintelligible songs ever. The title helps us some and over the years I think I have pieced together Michael Brown's lyrics for the most part but the second verse is still somewhat of a mystery to me.

"Walk Away Renee" Lyrics:

And when I see the sign that
points one way
The light we used to pass by
every day

Just walk away Renee,
You won't see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my
block are not the same
You're not to blame

From deep inside the tears that
I'm forced to cry
From deep inside the pain I
I chose to hide

Just walk away Renee,
You won't see me follow you back home
Now as the rain beats down
upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

(Flute Solo)

Just walk away Renee,
You won't see me follow you back home
Now that the rain beats down upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

Your name and mine inside
a heart upon a wall
Still finds a way to haunt me,
though they're so small

Just walk away Renee,
You won't see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my
block are not the same
You're not to blame

The Left Banke -- Walk Away Renee
You can download the entire There's Gonna Be A Storm: The Complete Recordings 1966-1969 on Amazon.com for $8.99.