Thanksgiving Eve Music

Here's some music about being thankful. We all have some we're grateful for so let's celebrate it:

We can start with the greatest thank you song ever by Led Zeppelin:




Natalie Merchants Kind and Generous is a peppy upbeat song that shows off her excellent vocals:




That little old band from Texas ZZ Top with I Thank You.

All Things Can Be Explained By The Offspring

Whether it's people with self esteem issues, pop culture insanity, bad drivers, sexual abuse or the downside of the hook-up culture, Dexter Holland and the boys have written about it and do it in a whimsical but intelligent way.

 This one seems fitting at this point in time so close after the conventions:

Going to see The Offspring in a couple of weeks. They still rock, check out this crowd down under a few years ago.

*Note: Videos and pictures seem to be sized wrong, I've tried different things and they don't work well. Just click on pictures or video to see full size.

Friday Night Music--Sublime (with Rome ) Edition

Going to see Sublime with Rome tomorrow at one of the coolest concert venues in Philly, the Festival Pier at Penns Landing. It sits right on the Delaware River with views of the Ben Franklin Bridge and always a nice breeze.

Here's a good shot:

I've seen the Wailers, Offspring, 311, RatDog and Pepper there and tomorrow should be a fun one as well.

Since the death of Bradley Newell from a heroin overdose (heroin is the devil), the surviving members of Sublime just kind of floated around and played some with the Long Beach Dub Allstars. But still, Sublime was more than a band, they were an attitude and there was no way they weren't going to carry on. There was some legal wrangling but eventually they worked it out and they are touring pretty regularly. 

While I'm looking forward to the show, the rule of thumb is that when the lead singer dies, a band tends to never be as good. Think Johnny Van Zant replacing his brother Ronnie. The one argument may be AC/DC but I'm not sure if Bon Scott was ever really replaceable, but I digress.

Unfortunately, there's very few clips of high quality captured live. Remember, Bradley died before Sublime really hit it big. 

Let's start with the epic Garden Grove, which captures them in all their mash-up glory. Elements of reggae, Ska and hip-hop make this a classic

 Next we have Sublime's talk on the Rodney King riots. Bradley Newell could write about social events if he wanted and this is a great example of that with humor. They interspersed actual police chatter:



And finally, every good band takes anthers song and makes it their own, Sublime did that with the Grateful Dead's Scarlet Begonias. I did find a live version with Bradley of decent quality but embedding is restricted (link here) but you get a feel for what a live Sublime show was back in the day. Instead I'll play a live one with Rome:

 

An Open Letter to Tom Morrello

Tom,

I read yesterday that you are not such a fan of the fact that VP candidate Paul Ryan is a fan of your band Rage Against the Machine. I believe the words you used were that Ryan is the "machine you raged against". A clever turn of phrase there, buddy.

Anyway, as you may have learned throughout your career with first Rage and further on with Audioslave, your fans base is made up of a great many people with differing views, some of which would be considered conservative--but listening to you over the years I'm convinced that anyone with a viewpoint to the right of Hillary Clinton is a conservative in your eyes.

You see Tom, us with a conservative world view listen to music and some of what we listen to is harder rocking than gospel. You have to understand that our selections are kind of limited because in the entertainment industry as a whole and the music business in particular, there aren't all that many bands with a similar set of values and principles for us to listen to. I guess the only one that comes to mind quickly would be POD, the rap-rock hybrid band from South San Diego that sings of God and redemption, but I digress.

As much as it may unnerve you, us on the right enjoyed your music but as Paul Ryan noted, we didn't necessarily agree with your lyrics. Your band wrote songs about hard-left issues and thought you were (and I'm using the past tense because the band now is a caricature of what it was) some kind of secular messianic leaders. Newsflash Tom, you weren't. You were a flavor of the month band that gave testosterone-filled teenage boys a chance to feel bigger than they were. You sang of things that an seventeen year old from the suburbs thought were cool and made him seem rebellious.

But overall the lyrics were mundane and pretty basic from an intellectual standpoint. You sang of liberal concepts but just didn't have the intellectual capacity to make a difference and string together phrases and choruses that would equal your heroes such as Springsteen. Saying the same words over and over about how cops are white and mean grows tiresome after the first paragraph.

It seems to bother you as a person that your songs didn't motivate people to take down the "man" and fundamentally change the country. Case in point: you played a benefit concert for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal and you personally have spoken up for him. Even though every shred of evidence and numerous court appearances have confirmed that the former Black Panther shot Officer Danny Faulkner in cold blood on a Center City Philly street. Jamal should be six-feet under by now but instead is considered an icon in the left-liberal community thanks in no small part to you.

Getting back into it, your music was okay. You are an immensely talented guitar player who thought could change the world. Instead, you played behind lyrics that were shallow and infantile. Zack de la Rocha screaming "fuck you I won't do what you tell me!" repeatedly is not going to change anything except maybe the chances that the idiot teenager screaming them along with you has of getting laid that night. Believe me, that idiot teenager is going to calm down, come down and go back to the suburbs to his comfy basement with X-Box and cable TV. His mind wasn't changed--at least until he gets out of college with his degree in Native-American studies and no chance of a job in Obamanation.

Now granted, you have come out in support of the Occupy movement because they are what you've always hoped for; an angry mob of liberals that have been contaminated with the lefty gene. Years of elementary school, the entertainment industry, marxist college professors--and perhaps small bit of RATM music--have made them what they are today and that is a bunch of unproductive losers whom feel they are entitled to things from the government. This is your dream and it's populated by a group that once melded together raped, murdered and generally made pests out of themselves in the eyes of hard-working Americans. It took about a month after OWS started before people said enough. It's got to make you feel bitter that 20-years of pumping out lefty anthems was destroyed by six months of watching your disciples give the finger to what America stands for while taking a shit in the street. The enemy, the Tea Party lives on while every sensible politician--even those inclined to your world view-- has run away as fast as they can.

So in conclusion, yes, some of us on the right listen to your music or did back when you were somewhat relevant in the mid-nineties. And yes, we admit it and have you in our I-Pods. But don't believe yourself to be any bigger than you are or were. It's got to be balling that your band never had the lyrical talent of your contemporaries such as Tool, Alice in Chains or even Metallica. RATM threw together hard-left phrases but never in such a coherent fashion that it made any difference. Although you did out the fans and the alleged movement by going corporate with Audioslave, made your money, then went back to playing the lefty anarchist again. A typical elitist liberal move but we won't hold it against you.

Thanks for your time Tom and keep on raging against the machine.

Regards,

ER

Commemorating Jerry Garcia's 70th Birthday

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 17 years since Jerry Garcia passed. I still recall that day very clearly in my mind, what I was doing and where I was when I heard the news. I recall it feeling like a punch in the gut. His 70th birthday would have been on the 1st of this month.

The Grateful Dead hold a special place in my heart. I saw over a hundred shows if you combine the Jerry Garcia Band into the mix and met my wife at the July 7th, 1989 show that ended up being the last event at JFK Stadium in Philly.

In the preceding years, I had seen Garcia on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater (after which I weirdly met James Earl Jones but that's another story), Toured with the Dead throughout the South and East Coast and made the treks to Foxboro, Saratoga and Buffalo. Being young with no real responsibilities it was a great time.

After meeting my future wife, we saw unique tours like the JGB on tour with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman acoustic, sold tape covers in Landover and planned our summers around shows.

But it was the JGB who really got us rocking. The best show either of us had ever seen was at the San Diego Sports Arena. My friend "G" and another old Navy buddy Leighton made and entire day out of it. My wife brought two work friends; one completely straight-laced and one a partier who had never seen the Dead or Garcia All-in-all, a weird but enjoyable mix of people. An epic show that, unfortunately my buddy Leighton didn't get to see as too much beer and other intoxicants in the parking lot left him a bit, shall we say, incoherent. The rest of us had a blast.

Anyway, in the ensuing years since Jerry passed, there's been a void. There were tours by the remaining members as The Dead (with the excellent Warren Haynes), Bob Weir's Ratdog, Phil Lesh and Friends and the current incarnation of Furthur but it just never seem to fill the void. I've been to Ratdog shows that came pretty close but still something was lacking.

Anyway, here's a few songs that show Jerry in his element:

First we have an entire JGB show from the Centrum in Worcester, MA in 1991, video quality isn't special but the audio is great:

Next we have Garcia at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ with the soulful classic Catfish John: Next we have the Dead billed as "Formerly the Warlocks" at the always fun Hampton Coliseum. These shows hold a special place in the hearts of Deadheads not only for the set lists but the energy. This was the last really special tour where Jerry was on his game. This is not to belittle later shows and tours, which had great moments (among them the epic So Many Roads from the last show Jerry played) but the post coma time period of 1987-1989 were a great era for the band. Here's the crowd favorite Jack-a-Roe: And finally, from the show where I met my beautiful wife, JFK in 1989 and Ramble on Rose: I highly recommend you type Jerry Garcia into You Tube and start clicking. The footage out there is unbelievable; from this ultra stripped-down version of High Time to a 1967 interview in which Garcia discusses the Monkees. Happy birthday Jerry.

Noted Thief of Black Music to Join Obama for Black History Month Celebration

Mick Jagger; who stole his entire persona from black bluesmen is joining Obama for the festivities:

WASHINGTON - Mick Jagger is going to the White House. He will be part of a celebration of the blues for Black History Month at the White House next Tuesday.

Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Keb Mo will also perform.

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama will attend.

Now Mick was no Elvis is copying the music of noted delta bluesmen but he was a close second:



For the record, I'm a big Stone's fan and this is tongue in cheek but think about it.

Whitney Dies, Sleazy Sharpton Gets Ink

Like most people, I woke up Sunday, went outside (in the snow) and picked up the paper. As I'm walking up the driveway, I'm reading about the tragedy of Whitney Houston dying and I see this:

Houston had been at rehearsals for the show Thursday, coaching singers Brandy and Monica, according to a person who was at the event but was not authorized to speak publicly about it. The person said that Ms. Houston looked disheveled, was sweating profusely, and smelled of liquor and cigarettes.

Rosen said police received a 911 call from hotel security about Ms. Houston at 3:43 p.m. local time Saturday. Paramedics, already at the hotel because of a Grammy party, unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate her, the lieutenant said.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he would call for a national prayer Sunday morning during a service at Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

"The morning of the Grammys, the world should pause and pray for the memory of a gifted songbird," Sharpton said in a written statement.

Emphasis mine.

Look at how they just through that in there. Now either the AP actually called Sharpton to get a response or the vile good reverend actually sent a press release with his thoughts in an effort to get his name in the biggest story of the month. I'm betting on the latter since Sharpton is an attention whore of the highest order. He has no perceptible skill that I've every been able to identify except finding high-profile issues that can somehow be perceived as containing a racial content and exploiting them for his benefit.

The a-hole that is Sharpton began his tawdry career by using race to try to destroy some cops and it blew up in his fat mug. The only reason he even assisted the "victim", Tawana Brawley was to get on TV. He smeared numerous good people and ruined lives, all for his chance at some fame.

He got it too thanks to a media that is too lazy to actually interview some African-Americans who really help their race or too biased to talk with conservative blacks like Niger Innis because they aren't really black in the eyes of the MSM. Does Niger Innis's opinion matter less than Al Sharpton's? Evidently so because the AP just jammed a sentence into a story about the death or of drug-addled superstar that had no business being there. Does the AP really believe that people were reading about Houston's death and thought to themselves "hmm, I wonder what Al Sharpton thinks about this"? evidently so because they didn't even try to fit the sentence in where it may have fit.

Leave it to Al Sharpton to speak for the entire black community on every issue and leave it to the AP to parrot his drivel at every opportunity.

Exit question: Who has a better chance of going to hell; Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart or Al Sharpton? My answer is all three of these con men.

Friday Night Videos--All Cover Edition

There are so many good covers out there that picking a few is difficult. Perhaps I should pick the worst covers ever like Smashing Pumpkins doing Fleetwood Mac or Pat Boone doing Metallica.

Instead I'll start with the JGB doing Bob Marley's classic Stir It Up:



Or how about Metallica doing Dire Straits' epic Brothers in Arms:



Or what about Cake with the song you hear at every wedding and bar mitzvah mixed in a different way. Freddie Perrin's I Will SAurvive made popular by Gloria Gaynor:



Finally, a song that kind of grew on me. Alien Ant Farm doing Michael Jackson:

Everything's Backward in Americana My Way

An interesting August, eh?

We've seen Obama's polling numbers tank quickly, real Americans put the feet of their elected leaders to the fire and get panned as "un-American" and "terrorists" for it and an economy that is still in a quagmire. We've seen a president ignore a war he supported while his signature issue has been essentially sunk by a poor bill written by the House and a Senate that is unsure how to proceed even though they have a veto-proof majority. They've become unhinged because of it.

As a conservative, I could not have even hoped Obama would tank so fast. Hope and change has been replaced by "what have we done"?

I'll leave it to Dexter, Noodles and the boys to say it for me:

Friday Night Videos--Saturday Afternoon Edition

It's a stormy Saturday in the Garden State and the Sox are putting it to the Yanks so I figured I crack a cold one and post some good music. As I write, the rain is pounding and the thunder is ragin' overhead. A great excuse to get out of doing the yard work that needs to be done.

Let's start with the Dead doing the classic Merle Haggard piece Sing Me Back Home. No video but incredible audio. Jerry always soared on songs like this including the epic Stella Blue, High Time and I Shall Be Released and is why I was drawn to the band in the first place...Jerry's voice.



Next we have the late, great Stevie Ray doing what has to be the most frequently played songs by great blues guitarist's: Little Wing. Hendrix, Clapton and myriad others did it but SRV's version is most excellent. It's been almost 19-years to the day that SRV died at the young age of 35 when a helicopter: he was flying in crashed after playing a gig with Clapton and Robert Cray:



Finally, Alice in Chains classic Rooster without video but nice quality audio. Layne Staley had a great voice and a flawed personality and that may be why he was so brilliant. Jerry Cantrell and the boys are out on the road in support of some new stuff and sounding good:

Saturday Morning News & Notes

As I've said, time is lacking and I've had to cut back on some things. This blog has always been a hobby and has led me to money-making opportunities but still remains my bastion of sanity in Obamanation. I'll try to increase posting as time progresses.

Here's what's new in the world.

-Gregg Allman calls Rolling Stone magazine "tired" and says their piece on him "sucked". He takes aim at them for calling him a "redneck". Considering the Allman's were an integrated band before integration was cool, he's right, Rolling Stone has been garbage ever since PJ O'Rourke left. An altogether good interview before the Allmans played in Camden last night.

-Lost in all the empty rhetoric being thrown around by the media calling health care protesters everything from fascists to rednecks is the simple fact that it is a fundamental good for our elected representatives to be scared of the people who voted for them. They were elected to speak and legislate for us and have grown accustomed to the elitism that pervades the nation's capital. Democrats are feeling it now and the will of the electorate has forced them to take notice of what we as a nation want for our future. That future does not include socialized medicine.

-The race card is such a tired and lame excuse for failure but then again, David Paterson is tired and lame as a governor so there you go.

-Americans are living longer than ever thanks to the best health care system in the world. That would be the system Obama wants to break.

-Conservatives own Twitter according to, well, everyone. Witness this where Sarah Palin's Facebook page is enormously popular.

Let's end this with the great Lowell George leading Little Feat playing the epic Dixie Chicken in London in 1977:

Friday Night Videos--All Stones Edition

The Rolling Stones are a band that did more for rock than any other band before or since. The Beatles were singing about yellow submarines and the Stones were singing about the dark underbelly of life with Paint It Black and Mother's Little Helper.

They are a great studio band that, to me, never achieved that electricity live after the 70's.

Here's some Stones classics:

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), a song that showed just how tuned into the dark side the Stones were:



Next the epic Gimme Shelter where Mick and the boys showed just how good they could be live:



Next we have a great moment at the Concert for NYC in the aftermath of 9/11 where Mick and Keith sang Salt of the Earth for the Police, Firefighters and other emergency responders:



And finally we have the classic Angie with Mick sounding excellent:

Compassionate Conservatism In Action

It's not often you read of the good works of George W. Bush in the Inquirer. That said, it's probably a first that he was mentioned in a nice tone in the Arts and Entertainment section. The arts community has generally hated Bush for his politics, policies and the fact that it was a prerequisite to suffer from BDS to be accepted among ones peers in that chosen vocation.

Now that he's gone, we're starting to hear of the good he did in the world including his phenomenal effort to rid the African continent of HIV and, now, his support in releasing a rapper--John Forte--from federal prison:

His reemergence - which continues with shows tomorrow at World Cafe Live and Friday at the XPoNential Music Festival in Camden - came through the efforts of two unlikely champions: singer Carly Simon, who is Taylor's mother, and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R., Utah).

But if Hatch, who has called Forté "a genius," and Simon, who says that working for the reduction of the musician's sentence "became my calling," were the midwives at Forté's rebirth, the delivery-room doctor was even more improbable.

In one of his final acts as president, George W. Bush on Nov. 24, 2008, commuted Forté's sentence. A little less than a month later, Forté walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix a free man.

...For a good part of his life, he wasn't. He spent seven years and eight months "away" - first in a federal prison in Texas, then in Loretto, in western Pennsylvania, and finally in Fort Dix. He was moved there in 2004, thanks to Hatch, not only a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee but also a songwriter. Simon, a Democratic fund-raiser, says she turned to Hatch in frustration after getting little assistance from the other side of the aisle.

In a 2006 letter obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, Hatch did not deny that Forté was guilty of a crime, but argued that the artist should be freed in part because "he was no risk to society, because he was not a drug-user. And frankly, he's a genius." Hatch, who could not be reached for comment for this story, obtained privileges for Forté to have a guitar, which he taught himself to play in prison. Forté has called Hatch a "superhero of a mentor to me."

Emphasis mine.

Note that no Democrat would aid Simon nor Hatch in getting this man released from prison. I suspect it was simply because they feared being called soft on drugs while ignoring the fact that our drug laws are draconian. Sen. Hatch and President Bush had no such qualms. They had the personal and political guts to see the right thing done and damn the consequences.

I suspect we'll see more stories like this in the future as the good Bush did was overshadowed in the venomous world of partisan politics and the media's constant barrage of ridiculous charges and downright hatred has finally subsided.

Exit question: If it had been Ted Kennedy or John Kerry championing the release of this man, would he be a household name now?

CSNY Palate Cleanser

Neil Young surprises his old bandmates and they don't quite know the words. A little fun when the world is crashing around us:

About Those Peter King Comments

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) had some intriguing comments about the absolute media meltdown over the death of Michael Jackson:

A New York congressman says Michael Jackson was a "pervert" and calls on society to stop "glorifying" the late entertainer in a YouTube video.

Rep. Peter King said Jackson -- whom he called a "low-life" -- is being glorified in the days after his death while society ignores the efforts, of teachers, police officers, firefighters and veterans. In the two-minute video, King claims the "day in and day out" coverage of Jackson's death is "too politically correct."

"Let's knock out the psychobabble," King said in the video taped outside an American Legion Hall on New York's Long Island. "He was a pervert, a child molester; he was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? I just think we're too politically correct."

Yesterday we were force-fed coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service. We couldn't avoid Al Sharpton eulogizing Jackson or the medias fawning tribute.

Let's be honest here; the man was a freak. He was a talented black man who opted to become a white man through surgery. He had a strange habit of taking in families with young kids and sleeping with those kids. It was never proven that anything untoward happened and even if nothing did, that's just plain weird.

King was on the mark with his comments IMHO and it's about time America gets our priorities straight. Seven young men died in a war that even Obama considers just. They died defending freedom and fighting those who attacked us. Jackson died from an apparent drug overdose after living a life of insane luxury in which he practiced some very odd habits.

We, as a culture, glorify those who least deserve it. Jackson had talent but he also did things that, were he not famous, would have been immoral at best and illegal at worst. Imagine if the dude down the street asked for a sleepover with your kids. Now imagine if he looked like Michael Jackson.

I support those who deserve my support. The firemen, cops and and military men and women who protect the freedoms that allow a man like Michael Jackson to live his life and die as he did. They've earned my support and Rep. King was stating was should be crystal clear to anyone who gets their news from a source other than MTV or TMZ. Even the grief of a mother gets downplayed to focus on Jackson coverage.

Video below:

RIP: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett Dead

Michael Jackson was an enigma and one who never looked comfortable in his own skin. So he tried to change it and his looks. He lived a tough life and today passed at 50 of a heart attack. There are implications it was drug-related like Elvis but I'll not link to them. My prayers go out to his kids.

Farrah Fawcett rocketed to fame, invented a hair style and was the "it" girl for awhile. Who would ever forget the iconic poster at right that inspired a zillion young boys to take five showers a day. She too passed today at 62 from cancer.

Friday Night Videos--All Cover Edition

Yeah, I know it's Saturday but what the hell. Nothing like a few beers with nice weather and good music.

Here's a great cover of Eric Clapton's classic Promises done live by Tom Hell and Marit Larsen. Based on her name I'm guessing this in Sweden. Marit's voice is phenomenal:



Next we have Cake doing Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. Not many songs improve on the original but this does:



Next we have the lovely Natalie Merchant doing David Bowie's Space Oddity in 1999. Her voice is perfect:



Finally we have the Allman Bros. and the Dead putting it together for the Band's classic The Weight.

Sweet:

Random Dead Show

Buffalo in late March 1973 with the single best Box of Rain I've heard:

Friday Night Music--All Inspirational Edition

With the economy in disarray and the Obama administration doing everything in their power to make it worse, we can all use some inspirational music to wake your soul to the coming of spring and the feeling of rebirth it signals. These songs give me a lift when I'm down and I hope they do the same for you.

Let's start with the Allman's in their latest iteration with the excellent Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes (playing the Les Paul sunburst)singing Soulshine. Love the Derek trucks finger pickin'. As they say "it's better than sunshine, better than moonshine; damn sure better than the rain":



Next we have the Jerry Garcia Band doing what was a standard in their repertoire: Dylan's I Shall Be Released. This was almost a religious experience with Jaclyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones singing in their angelic voices. Melvin Seals' keyboards could be heard in any Baptist church in the South on a Sunday morning and Jerry's guitar soars. "Yet I swear I see my reflection, somewhere so high above this wall":



Next we have Bob Marley live in Germany doing the epic Redemption Song. The dude could capture a crowd and I'd love to have seen him live. I'm guessing this near the time he found out he had cancer based on the length of his dreads:



Next, The Blind Boys of Alabama doing the eternal Amazing Grace. I heard them do this live on Imus yesterday and these dudes can flat out play. I was hooked from the third note:



Finally Eric Clapton adds reggae to the old Negro spiritual Swing Low Sweet Chariot. Love the backing vocals. I believe it's Yvonne Elliman with the female lead:



Update: Oddly enough, here's 10,000 Maniacs with These Are Days celebrating the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993. Natalie Merchant's voice is stunning and deserves to be in the pantheon of uplifiting tones. Her liberal naivete was ingratiating--if misguided--as well as is the Obama supporters who are realizing that they may have made a slight mistake in the voting booth:

Wednesday Evening News and Notes

What's up? Just relaxing and watching a little WBC baseball with Puerto Rico taking on the upstart Netherlands squad that beat the vaunted Dominicans twice in three games.

Here's what's new in the world:

-Dude, no way! Cops confiscate over a million bucks in cash and dope from Phish heads in Hampton, VA. They were way cooler when I saw the Dead there for this epic show in 1988. That's serious harshing of a man's mellow. I'm guessing the state of Virginia may just balance their budget if Phish comes through town in the summer.

-Joe Biden is a buffoon and a hypocrite. But then, you already knew that. So is Obama but you knew that as well.

-Tom Harkin is shameless but you knew that as well.

-95% of professors were shown to be liberals in a survey but denied they let that permeate into the classroom. Uh, okay, I believe that.

-Zo meets Michelle Malkin at CPAC and channels his inner Erkel: