When The President Does It, It's Not A Beagle

Credibility you can trust, my friends

Media Matters: Limbaugh on Specter leaving GOP: "A lot of people -- Specter, take McCain with you, and his daughter"

My regular visitors are no doubt aware of the soft spot in my otherwise-anthracite heart that I have for certain media figures, in this case my pal noted radio funnyman, narcotics-addicted sex tourist and itinerant head of the Republican party Rush Limbaugh, whose ribald japery has done ever so much to enrich the cognitive landscape of political thought.

According to this malignant genius of the lamp, the recent Specter defection has created a kerfuffle of sorts within certain circles.

Frankly, Mr. Specter's somewhat opportunistic realignment is transparent enough to put into a wooden frame and face it south so the houseplants can grow, and it is unlikely that the American Democratic party will get 'value for money' when one takes more than a cursory glance at Specter's public kabuki vs. his actual voting record...But cheap points are always welcome in some quarters where actual relevance is of minor import.

That said, this sort of fluffy frippery is addlepated even by the usual standards of contrived outrage that our Viagra-poisoned jolly fellow has set.

The very thought of John McCain becoming a member of the opposition party in his country and supporting even one of their core objectives is only matched in ludicrousness by the notion that some within that party would welcome him with open legs...and were this to occur would be the final sign that creeping moral relativism has finally triumphed over the need to maintain the fiction of a consistent ideology in 'those United States'.

;>)

It Ain't Easy Being Tea

Hanni-tee, that is.

;>)

You're Slowly Disappearing From My View

...Would you mind going faster?

;>)

Sunday Overnight

...A tribute to Jimmy Giuffre, who passed last year just before his 87th birthday.



The Train And The River, with Jim Hall and Jim Atlas, from The Sound Of Jazz, 1957.



Giuffre on tenor saxophone with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars (Shorty Rogers, Maynard Ferguson, Milt Bernhart, Frank Patchen, Howard Rumsey, and Shelly Manne), Four Others and Creme de Menthe, Los Angeles, 1953.



Giuffre with Herb Ellis, featuring Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Richie Kamuca, Lou Levy, Jim Hall, Joe Montdragon, and Stan Levey, A Country Boy, Hollywood, 1959.



The Jimmy Giuffre 3, with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, Divided Man, 1962.



...and with Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins, Pete Jolly, Monty Budwig, and Shelly Manne, What Is This Thing Called Love, Aurex Jazz Festival, Japan, 1983.

In my opinion, Giuffre was a criminally unheralded innovator and writer of modern improvising music.
If you call yourself a Jazz aficionado and don't have one or two of his works in your collection...you don't have a collection, baby.

;>)

But through the haze her image lasts

Tower of Power, Sparkling In The Sand, 2006.

A stab at relevance becomes a shot to the foot

'Mind Looking Into This, Friend?'

CBC:

Arizona Senator John McCain is the latest high-profile politician to repeat the diehard American falsehood that the Sept. 11, 2001, attackers entered the United States through Canada.

Just days after Janet Napolitano, the U.S. homeland security secretary, sparked a diplomatic kerfuffle by suggesting the perpetrators took a Canadian route to the U.S. eight years ago, McCain defended her by saying that, in fact, the former Arizona governor was correct.

"Well, some of the 9/11 hijackers did come through Canada, as you know," McCain, last year's Republican presidential candidate, said on Fox News on Friday.

Not only did these villains not transit through Canada on their way to various locations in the U.S.(Instead, flying directly to America (PDF) where they stayed for several months, under increasing U.S. government surveillance), but as they were engaging in these activities of interest there was a consensus reached to ignore the threat at the highest levels even as investigators got closer.

This is an American failure, and always has been. Of course, the individual involved in repeating these self-serving lies did lose considerable credibility during the U.S. presidential elections, and at other crucial points of his senatorial career - So, one shouldn't be surprised at how easily the lies roll off of his tongue whether he is aware of them...or otherwise.

...And the rhythm rhymes rollin'

Public Enemy, Fight The Power, 1990.

The Sweet Smell Of Success

I'm A-settin' Straight This Watergate

For my pal Suzanne, who is the law at FDL.

;>)

Play That Kitteh Music, darkblack

Once again, my pal Valley Girl and I have returned to musing on things euphonious in a point/counterpoint fashion, the results of which can be found here. Join us, won't you?

;>)

Right now over me

The Brothers Johnson, Come Together, 1976.

Don't Take The Bait, Old Chum

R.I.P, James Graham Ballard

'A series of optimum hairstyles were constructed.'



Farewell

4:20 Yet?

...so I can keep my little herb to smoke.

;>)

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

...And for those who struggle with this concept...

Sunday Overnight

Sonny Clark Quintet, with Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, Blue Minor, Hackensack, N.J., 1958.



John Coltrane, with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, On Green Dolphin Street, Dusseldorf, 1960.



Thelonious Monk, with Sonny Rollins, J.J.Johnson, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey, Misterioso, 1957.



Charles Mingus, with Clarence Shaw, Jimmy Knepper, Shafi Hadi, Bill Triglia, Dannie Richmond, Ysabel Morel, Frankie Dunlop, and Lonnie Elder, Tijuana Gift Shop, New York, 1957.

I'm gonna make you worry none about your income tax

The Flying Burrito Brothers, Lazy Day, 1970.

Big Bad Bruce Is Sweet Dickie Now

And who's the fool who wears the crown?

Pink Floyd, Fearless, 1971.

'You'll never walk alone'

We Blew It

...Goodnight, man.

And I don't know if I'm ever coming home

Jim & Jesse, Last Train To Clarksville, 1976.

My, What A Lovely Tea Party

Two, two, two nuts in one

Orcinus:

...only a little more than a year later, the hottest talk-show host ratings-wise on cable TV -- Glenn Beck, on Fox News -- would not only be regularly plumping Goldberg's book, he'd be devoting the core thesis of his show to the proposition that under Barack Obama, the nation is proceeding on a direct fascist course.

And that, as he did Friday, he'd devote an entire hour, replete with select historians, to exploring this crackpot notion.

'Whoooo, scary'

The fact that these two kooks have developed a mutual backscratching society based on quantum levels of illogical thought goes a long way toward providing objective proof of the law of attraction.

;>)

Sunday Overnight

Happy Birthday, Herbie Hancock.



With Freddie Hubbard, George Coleman, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, Dolphin Dance, 1965.



with Mwandishi (Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, and Julian Priester), Wiggle Waggle, Molde, 1971.



With the Headhunters (Bennie Maupin, Mike Clark, Paul Jackson, Dewayne 'Blackbird' McKnight and Bill Summers), Actual Proof, Tokyo, 1975.



with Jaco Pastorius and Harvey Mason, 4 AM, 1980.



with John McLaughlin, Turn Out The Stars, New York, 1994.

Always an inspiration. Many happy returns, sir.

Music among the adorable

Although the conjecture regarding what my viewers and correspondents are looking for when they visit these rocky shores is a somewhat vast topic, one expression that doesn't immediately come to mind is 'cute'.

Yes, yes...I know that seems shocking. But like WMDs under George Bush's persian rug, there just isn't a lot of 'cute' here.

;)

That said, the blogosphere is a somewhat limitless construct in the conceptual sense, and many of those who inhabit it enjoy lighter pursuits as a relief from the tedium of, say, discussing politics or the sex lives of the famous.

One of those is my pal Valley Girl, whom I have known since the bad old days fighting the zombie Republican hordes at FireDogLake, and she has a blog which collates the many and varied expressions of all things feline and cuddly.

Recently, as a minor change of pace, she approached me with an idea - a discussion about music, point/counterpoint between enthusiast and professional, the initial results to be found here.

Not to 'toot my own horn', as it were - my opinions, irrespective of experience and standing are, in the end mere opinions with as much or as little weight as any other- but I rather enjoyed the dialog and hope that you might also, dear reader.

;>)

Is it strange I should change?

Neil Young, Mr. Soul (12" remix), 1983.

Stuck On The TV With You

Was that as good for you as it was for me?

;>)

And I got no place to go now

Dawn Penn, You Don't Love Me (No, No, No) , 1994.

Vot's Der Freakwency, Limbaugh?

How not to do promo, lesson one

Back in the days before I became impoverished and marooned within a life of confusion, I did a bit of radio interviewing over various entertainment-oriented projects that I was involved in.

During that time, I was occasionally asked some extraordinarily asinine questions at disgracefully early hours of the day by interviewers who either lacked research skills or on-air conversational savvy. Happens.

Inside, I might be cringing, or seething...or some other descriptive adjective that involved restraining myself from sawing off the host's head with a plastic butter knife.
Outside, I strived to maintain a modicum of poise in order to get through the ordeal and back to where the women were hot and the beer was cold.
Unfortunately, not all of my compatriots retain this ability...and some take opportunity for granted, becoming obnoxious when the conversation strolls into problematic zones, even some performers who should know how to play the f*cking game by now.

I'm going to be blunt here, Billy Bob. Whatever you've supposedly worked on for all these decades that trumps your accomplishments in other spheres just got a oil drum of douche poured over it, live and in living color...And you took your three bandmates along for the swim.

Enjoy that Canadian tour.

Let's go upstairs and read my tarot cards

The Faces, Stay With Me, 1971.

"...breathing deeply and normally."

A year in the hole has taken its toll

King's X, Black Flag, 1992.

...to help me deal with me.

The Shroud Of Turdblossom

Unpaid Bills, Afghanistan Hills

The Police, Bombs Away, 1980.

...Don't live your life like a canary in a coalmine.

;>)

Separate The Conglomerate

Blue Gal and Tengrain, among many others, have united in a worthy cause that will be reaching its denouement this weekend - The ongoing struggle to keep separate Church and State, lest such a duopoly consume the light of reason.

More at Blog Against Theocracy.

Sunday Overnight

Dexter Gordon, with Bibi Rovere, Art Taylor and Kenny Drew, Second Balcony Jump, Switzerland, 1963.



Thelonious Monk, with Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales & Ben Riley, Rhythm-a-ning, London, 1965.



Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond, with Wendell Marshal and Connie Kay, All The Things You Are, New York City, 1962.



Freddie Hubbard, with Tina Brooks, McCoy Tyner, Sam Jones, and Clifford Jarvis, But Beautiful, RVG studios, New Jersey, 1960.

Just one question, America...

Think Progress:

Today on CNN’s State of the Union, Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod hit Dick Cheney for not acting like a “statesman“:

AXELROD: [President Bush] has behaved like a statesman. And as I’ve said before, here and elsewhere, I just don’t think the memo got passed down to the vice president.

When the f*ck was Dick Cheney ever a statesman?

;>)

Tail lights dissolve in the coming of night

Alison Krauss, Big Log, 2004.

h/t aironlater @ 43-Ideas-Per-Minute.

You Are Meddling With The Primal Sources Of Nose Hair, Mr. Beck

Somebody Tell My Mother That I Cried

Spirit, Mechanical World, 1968.

You're Gonna Wind Up In The Wishin' Well Too

The Golden Rule - 'He who has the gold makes the rules'.

I wait for beginnings...She waits for the end

Robert Fripp with Daryl Hall, North Star, 1979.

I fought their "anal probe", my friends...

How Many Dues Do I Have To Pay Before They Take My Soul Away

The Four Horsemen, Nobody Said It Was Easy, 1991.

What a sight to wake up to

Over at Drudge.