This too shall pass

or catch the video here after the click, of course!

Republicans believe strongly in property rights

... unless the property happens to be yours:

Chris Christie Rips Off Monty Python, Risks Copyright Infringement

Jackson Brown v. John McCain

Heart to Sarah Palin: Quit Playing 'Barracuda'

Aerosmith to House GOP: Don't Use Our Song

Satire, Parody, and Copyright: Republican Govs Ape NYT’s Format netting a cease and desist order.

Dont' Worry, Be Happy: The song was used in George H. W. Bush's 1988 U.S. presidential election campaign until McFerrin, who was a Democrat, objected and the campaign desisted.

I guess it's always easier to defennd a lawsuit beg forgiveness than it is to ask for permission?

Were we really THAT young?

... or catch it on YouTube after the click.

... and whatever happened to singing harmonies?

Culture Wars?

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
Theres a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

-- Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a Changin'

The last time those words were heard in earnest, they came with a full blown social and political revolution. Just who won that revolution is debatable. It's focal point was the Viet Nam War and the revolution was instrumental in stopping that war and in changing the way we all look at everything. The back lash to that revolution started with Nixon, flowered with Reagan and saw it's zenith with Gingrich's "Contract with America" and the election of George W. Bush, where it withered and died over the course of the last eight years like air leaking overnight from a faulty air mattress - leaving only aches and pains at dawn.

Well, the dawning is here and we are in a revolution now. It's not a social / political revolution like the 60s. It's political and economic. This time around, the revolutionaries are not naive flower children bent on stopping a war by sticking flowers in the ends of loaded rifles and dancing half naked in the streets. This time around the revolutionaries are older and (we hope) wiser. They are middle class tax payers with children and mutual funds; with health insurance and monthly bills ... and they all fear that tomorrow will be a repeat of today only worse. More than three million of their friends and neighbors are standing in unemployment lines and their biggest worry is they'll be next.

They've been listening, perhaps not paying direct attention, but they've been listening for years. They've heard the debates and they've watched the artificial economic bubble of asset inflation sold as economic growth expand and then burst. They knew who did it and they know the rationale ... they know that they bought into a line of unworkable bu11$hit. They know who screwed 'em.

They share one bit of clear understanding: tax cuts aren't worth a pi$hole in the snow if you don't have a job or if the prospects for the one you have are lookin' mighty grim! Tax cuts to corporations are worth even less. They've watched companies move operations and jobs off shore in good times - downsizing and right-sizing here at home in the process. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to figure out that those tax cuts go directly to the bottom line in hard times and won't create any jobs if the company isn't selling anything - and, frankly, nobody is buying anything. They've heard about tax cuts for a generation and they're still waiting for the benefits.

They've watched their buying power shrink out of sight, waiting for the trickle down benefits they were promised - while, all the time, watching the rich get richer.

It often takes time to consciously work through the flaws in the logic. Many people don't take the time to think through the knee-jerk doctrinaire pronouncements - like capitalism always good, socialism always bad; like a rising tide lifts all boats; like the "invisible hand" of the market will right all wrongs. They may not ever think through the arguments. After all, those bumper sticker phrases sound pretty good. However, they most certainly recognize, often with a blinding flash, when things are not working for them.

We're at the beginning of a revolution and the "tax cutters" in Congress, basking in the glory of the bygone Reagan years, praying for the resurrection of a legendary leader who never was, close their eyes tightly and throw tantrums on CSPAN that effectively end with "Bring it on!" They look to Reagan as a tax cutter - conveniently forgetting that he raised taxes in virtually every year of his administration except the year that he moved to lower taxes on the most wealthy. They praise Reagan as a "Cold Warrior" prepared to take on the world, conveniently forgetting that in 1983 he did everything he could to back away from retaliating when Marines were killed in Lebanon. They live in a selective reality, not realizing that Reagan wasn't nearly as good as they remember him to be (nor nearly as bad as some of the rest of us see him).

There's good advice for them from Mr. Dylan:

"Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled"

For the times they are a changin'!


... or watch the video on YouTube.

In the beginning ...

... or catch the video on YouTube.


... ... then there's this one.

and lets not forget THIS one.



Rock and roll may have changed over the years ... but that only makes it different, not better.

Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin

... or catch the video on YouTube after the click.

In My Life

... or watch the video here on YouTube.

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

R.I.P Delaney Bramlett

Played and sang with (and influenced) EVERYONE from Dylan and George Harrison, and The Alman Brothers to Eric Clapton.

Delaney Bramlett with Bonnie, George and Eric: "Commin' Home" ... appropriate somehow.


... or catch the video here.

Delaney and Bonnie with Eric Clapton 1969


... or check out the video here.

Thanks for everything, Delaney.

Ennio Marchetto

... or get the video here.

The Leningrad Cowboys

or ... catch the video here!

Thought for the day

"When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself."

-- George Thorogood

Leonard Cohen: inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

"Democracy" / Leonard Cohen

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.


or watch the video here ...
UK concert tour to follow.

If you're not all that familiar with Leonard Cohen and why he's important, this is a good place to start finding out about his significance.

Voting to the beat

Hillary:

or watch the video here.

Obama:

or watch the video here.

So ... What's the beat of your politics?

Ya know ... if I were gonna vote just on the basis of the music ...

Side bar: Outa curiosity, which tune you think was brought to the campaign and which came from the campaign? There's a difference ... and I think you can hear it.

Wonder what McCain is using to fire up the troops? Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran?

Edit:

Yup, Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran!

(Thank you, Trudy.)

Yes, we can ...

or watch the video here.

The Four Tops

Or get it here ...

My Christmas Gift to All

... or find the video here ...

Words - adapted from the bible, The Book of Ecclesiastes
Music - Pete Seeger as performed by The Byrds ...

Sing along if you like ... and make it loud!!

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late

A Modern Christmas Carol

... or get the video here.

Words and music by Billy Joel. Sung by Cass Dillon. Joel wanted someone a little closer in age to the sentiment ...

John Lennon & Carlos "Tom" Jobim

In praise of great men ...



from a piece by Cris McGowan on HuffPo

December 8 marks the death anniversaries of two of the late 20th century's most influential musical figures: John Lennon, who died in 1980, and Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, who passed away in 1994. In both cases, their songs were the soundtracks for generations who lived during days when it seemed as though anything were possible and a great leap forward was about to occur. The songs of the Beatles and Jobim remain remarkably popular decades after the respective heydays of the Fab Four and bossa nova, and their musical legacies will endure into the distant future.

Lennon and McCartney reinvented rock and pop, with the help of George Martin and George Harrison, and became mythic figures, objects of intense scrutiny by the press and closely identified with the cultural revolution sweeping North America and the U.K. in the 1960s. Meanwhile, in the other hemisphere, Jobim created some of the most sophisticated pop music the world has ever heard, stunning for its harmonic richness and deceptive simplicity. Along with singer-guitarist João Gilberto, Tom transmuted the venerable samba into light and breezy bossa nova, which was closely identified with a booming, optimistic, progressive Brazil of the early '60s. Alas, the country was thrown off track in 1964 when a military coup toppled Brazil's democratically elected government.

More after the click ...

My comment: They sure don't make music the way we used to.

It's Only Rock and Roll

or see the video here ...

Definitely NOT rap!

What Music Is All About

Get the video here.

If this doesn't get to you, you ain't got no soul!