Baron Dave Romm
The Capitol Steps and George Mann
By Baron Dave Romm
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The Liberal Shop of Horrors
The Capitol Steps perform timely political humor in front of a live audience, so I better hurry up and review their most recent CD already creaking ancient from the dim mists of April 2010.
Humorists from John Stewart to David Letterman have a problem. The stark evil of Bush/Cheney was easy to sting; it's harder to squeeze jokes out of a president who speaks English and refuses to pander to extremes. Still, there are mistakes, policy disagreements and just plain stupidity everywhere. The Capitol Steps doesn't have to turn over many rocks to find the ticklish underbelly of American politics no matter who is in charge.
Liberal Shop of Horrors is the second of their Obama Presidency albums. The targets are those in power, no matter who and no matter what political stripe. Naturally, the easiest targets are the people who are the most strident. For example, "The Battle Hymn of the Tea Party":
The next best song is another easy target: Sarah Palin. She gets a little monologue ("Hello to the great state of Washington DC!.... In my book, I have a whole chapter on my foreign policy experience. And on that page...") before launching into "Everything's Coming Up Roguey":
An Arabic-sounding person sings of being a "Taxicab Driver" because he's on the TSA's Do Not Fly List. Flying springs forth another subject to skewer, in "The Twitter":
Like in Obama Mia, the jabs at Obama seem a bit forced. But hey, you can make fun of right-wing obsessions at the same time as you can make fun of right-wing obsessiveness. "You Can't Hide That Nobel Prize" (about the nonexistent "backlash" from the prize "giving fuel to the right wing") and "Secret Kenyan Man" (skewering the craziness of Lou Dobbs).
Joe Biden falls under their musical lens, as does Tiger Woods, Gov. Mark Sanford, environmentalists, the Iranian "election", swine flu and more. And naturally, one of the best bits is saved for the end. "Lirty Dies: 2009: Yite A Queer" is a recitation of politics done as spoonerisms. ("Just wip your flords and it will make a lot more sense.")
Liberal Shop of Horrors is, as usual, highly recommended for anyone who appreciates a good political zinger. While it probably helps to be to the left, even conservatives will find much to be amused by. The Capitol Steps have 28 years worth of albums, all on CD now. They're more fun live, when the humor is extremely topical. See them if you're in "the great state of Washington DC" during one of their shows (which I will be next week, hmm...) or at a road show.
Songs for Julius and Bruce
George Mann is a busy guy. When he wasn't making CDs with the late Julius Margolin he's been issuing his own CDs. Unabashedly pro-union, pro-soldier (but anti-war) and Bush-hating (but hasn't said anything about Obama as yet), George is out on the musical front lines. His latest CD is a tribute to labor folkies Julius Margolin and Bruce "U Utah" Phillips, both of whom passed away in recent years but are not forgotten.
Songs For Jules and Bruce will keep the memory of both alive for a while longer. Julius recorded several songs with George, and sings either lead or backing vocals on four songs. Bruce is credited with two songs (one as "Utah Phillips" and one "Words by Duncan Phillips"). The spirit of the three old folkies intermingle.Why anyone would take advice from a drunken hobo who dies penniless in a boxcar after bumming a drink is beyond me, but Kenny Rogers had a hit with "The Gambler". U Utah Phillips' unsparing look at the same man in "Old Buddy Goodnight" is far more authentic:
Somehow, I don't think anyone is going to make a movie of this one. Nor "Long Gone"("I headed up to Utah to see what I could do/ Got me a couple of wives and this big old rose tattoo")
A tribute album to dead friends is going to be have a little bittersweet, but also a little hope. George captures the spirit of a long hard life with hope in several songs, notably "I Wish That I Could Stop Your Tears From Falling":
Old folkies also filk, and use old tunes with new lyrics. Especially when you're referencing Depression Era unemployment, you might as well try for a sing a-long. "The Soup Songs" is to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean":
Even a cause for celebration has it's downside. The heroic hippie era of the 60s was capped by the major victories of the resignation of Richard Nixon and the US leaving Vietnam, which was also the high water mark of the leftward political movement in the US. In much the same way, the end of the Bush/Cheney imperial presidency was a major victory for the sanity of the left, but also took the wind out of much protest action. The flip side of Tom Lehrer's 60s anthem "The Folk Song Army" is Mann's "The Unemployed Folksinger's Blues". We can start rebuilding our nation, but it's not as fun to hear people sing about abolishing ill-advised tax cuts or re-regulating offshore oil drilling.
Songs for Julius and Bruce is not always an easy album to listen to. It's a memorial and a memory, with more looking back than looking forward. Amid anti-war songs, anti-Bush songs and Depression songs are only a few nuggets of hope for the future. The tireless George Mann comes up with well-produced music and meaningful lyrics that appeals to a small but dedicated slice of America. So I can recommend this album for those of a certain bent, those old folkies (or neo-old folkies) who mourn the passing of even older folkies, those who want to keep fighting the good fight even when you know that it's an uphill climb. I suspect that's a lot of my readers so it's worth your while to preview the music.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. A nascent collection of videos are on Baron Dave's YouTube channel. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Overview of the six lessons in the self-study course 'Manage Your Money' (Ohio State University)
Lesson 1: Getting Started This lesson focuses on individual and family values about money. It gives you some suggestions about ways to talk with your partner and family about money matters. You are asked to think about and develop some financial goals for the future. There are also suggestions and tools to help you start tracking your expenses.
roger ebert's journal: Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!
I vowed I would never become a Twit. Now I have Tweeted nearly 10,000 Tweets. I said Twitter represented the end of civilization. It now represents a part of the civilization I live in. I said it was impossible to think of great writing in terms of 140 characters. I have been humbled by a mother of three in New Delhi. I said I feared I would become addicted. I was correct.
STEVEN PINKER: Mind Over Mass Media (nytimes.com)
NEW forms of media have always caused moral panics: the printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television were all once denounced as threats to their consumers' brainpower and moral fiber. So too with electronic technologies. PowerPoint, we're told, is reducing discourse to bullet points. Search engines lower our intelligence, encouraging us to skim on the surface of knowledge rather than dive to its depths. Twitter is shrinking our attention spans.
Terry Savage: Wave of Uncertainty Takes Toll on Market (creators.com)
What hit the stock market? That's what investors are asking after the recent decline, which left the Dow just barely over 10,000 and the S&P 500 at 1,071 - both breaking significant historical support levels.
CHARLES M. BLOW: Gay? Whatever, Dude (nytimes.com)
An exploration of why, for the first time, more men than women are perceiving gay couples as morally acceptable.
This column will change your life (guardian.co.uk)
Limiting the hours worked will increase output, says Oliver Burkeman.
T.L. Stanley: Sean Hayes won't touch gay controversy in Tony Awards talk (latimes.com)
Sean Hayes, who'll be hosting the 64th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday night, has been at the center of an ongoing controversy fueled by a Newsweek writer who criticized the actor's performance because he's a gay man playing it straight on Broadway in "Promises, Promises."
Penny Woolcock - runaway success (guardian.co.uk)
She was a teenage mother who escaped bourgeois Argentina for Britain. Award-winning director Penny Woolcock talks to Charlotte Higgins.
Susan King: "Classic Hollywood: Henry Winkler finds a lot more happy days" ((latimes.com)
He credits a long hiatus after his iconic Fonzie role with helping him mature as an actor. He is appearing on USA's 'Royal Pains.'
Who, me? Why everyone is talking about Rebecca Hall (guardian.co.uk)
Rebecca Hall is used to people always wanting to talk about her dad, but now the Bafta-winning actor is having to get used to another line of questioning: her role in the break-up of a Hollywood golden couple. She talks to Simon Hattenstone about gossip, girls' schools and growing up.
Ben Child: Mr T pities the fools who made The A-Team film too violent (guardian.co.uk)
The A-Team's most recognisable star, who played BA Baracus, laments adaptation's neglect of 'fun and family entertainment.'
Barbara Kingsolver: from witch hunt to winner (guardian.co.uk)
This week's Orange prize winner talks to Kira Cochrane about communism, Frida Kahlo - and the hate mail she received after 9/11.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"The Fortune of Stan Maslowski"
Bittersweet Memories of Father's Day
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Falling on Her Sword' Edition
I don't believe an introduction is needed for this question...
Should Helen Thomas 'un-retire' and write for another news service such as The Nation or The Progressive?
Send your response to
Friendly Reminder:
Polling cut-off is tonight (Monday) at 8pm EDT
(5pm PDT fer you 'Left Coast' types, haha)
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
PURPLE GENE Reviews
"KARATE KID"
'"KARATE KID"
Directed by Harald Zwart
Ok He ain't Ralph Macchio or Hillary Swank....but Jaden Smith is Hella cute in the new "Karate Kid"....they couldn't changed the title to "Kung Fu Kid" (cuz that's what he does)....but it also coulda been called the "Korn Row Kid" !
This movie is better than "Rottens" 69 %.....but not by a lot....like I said, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett's kid is way too kute.....and too frail for this role but he is charming (and sullen and sassy)
Jackie Chan as a has been teacher helped a little bit...but pretty generic plot..nuthin new except Jaden"s Korn Rows!
Purple Gene gives "Karate Kid 2010" 7 and 1/2 curly gotta touch in China Korn Rows out 10 for being not bad and mildly entertaining!
Links from RJ
Two-Fer
Hi there
A few possible links for you... hope you find them interesting!
New Version
Mamma Mia!
From the 'It can't get any weirder than this' File...
BEIJING June 14 (Xinhuanet) -- After more than six months in the pipeline, China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) has signed a licensing agreement with UK's Littlestar to produce a Chinese version of smash-hit musical MAMMA MIA!, marking a significant milestone for the development of musicals in China... the musical stays close to the original version, even after translation. "In little details, it has to be changed, when the translation has been done, you know something may not work. Something like a joke, which in China, wouldn't work, it has to put into something that Chinese think is funny."
MAMMA MIA! in Chinese!
If filmed and played repeatedly at maximum volume, I think this would be an ideal method to break captive terrorist suspects and make them talk... I know it would me...
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The June Gloom continues and I'm not complaining.
Honored At Chicago Film Festival
Ron Howard
The Chicago International Film Festival has honored Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard with a career achievement award.
Howard received the award Saturday night at a gala at the city's Museum of Science and Industry. Howard has directed movies such as "Splash," "Apollo 13," "The Da Vinci Code" and "Backdraft." He won the Academy Award for best director in 2002 for "A Beautiful Mind."
Howard says he's had "the career of my dreams."
Ron Howard
'Never Give Up'
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton says Democratic incumbents can't run away from their records, so they might as well embrace them. "Tell your story," the former president advised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other embattled Democrats.
"Never give up," he added.
Clinton, considered one of the sharpest political minds of his generation, also urged Reid to avoid getting "ground down" by all the talk of this being an anti-incumbent, anti-Washington, anti-Democratic election year.
At the rally, Clinton told voters to channel that anger against Reid's opponent, tea party favorite Sharron Angle, whom he accused of hiding from the spotlight because her positions are so extreme.
Bill Clinton
Metropolis Unveils Statue
Lois Lane
The southern Illinois city that calls itself the "official home of Superman" has unveiled a statue of the superhero's lady love, Lois Lane. Metropolis leaders unveiled the statue on Friday. The city already has a 15-foot bronze statue of Superman in Superman Square. The Lois Lane statue is modeled on actress Noel Neill, who played playing the female reporter with a crush on Superman in movies and on television in the 1940s and 1950s.
Artist Gary Ernest Smith created the statue and says making the piece was a dream come true because he grew up watching Superman. Neill says she was honored to memorialized with the statue.
Metropolis Mayor Billy McDaniel says the statue will be a source of pride for the city for years to come.
Lois Lane
Alaskans Recruited For Film
Drew Barrymore
Shooting on "Everybody Loves Whales" is expected to begin in September. The movie is based on an attempt to rescue three gray whales trapped by sea ice near Barrow in 1988, and it stars Drew Barrymore as a Greenpeace worker and John Krasinski of NBC's "The Office" as a news reporter.
Executive producer Stuart Besser tells the Anchorage Daily News he needs at least 1,000 extras, and 30 to 40 people for small speaking roles.
The whole film is being shot in Alaska, mostly in Anchorage.
Drew Barrymore
Film Festival Fundraiser
Val Kilmer
A day at actor Val Kilmer's Pecos River Ranch in New Mexico will cost you, but organizers of the Santa Fe Film Festival say it's for a good cause.
Festival co-executive director Michael Hare says Kilmer has agreed to help the festival raise money by offering up his northern New Mexico ranch.
For $500, a person can be a range boss for the day, getting a taste of ranch activities and fishing on the Pecos River. For $250, a person can be a ranch hand, or $125 will get you the position of wrangler for a half-day.
Hare says it's been tough for any nonprofit to raise money these days. So when Kilmer threw out the idea of using his ranch, the festival took him up on it.
Val Kilmer
Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Donation
Travoltas
John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston donated 70,000 rand (about $10,000) to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund on Saturday, during their visit to South Africa, and spent some time singing and dancing with children the foundation has supported.
The children treated the "Hairspray" star, Preston and their daughter Ella to a drum concert and serenaded them with a poem titled, "Eyes in the sky, foot on the ground." Travolta later did a few dance steps with the children.
South Africa's first black president set up the fund to provide a variety of services for children, including support for street children and the children of refugees. Its plans include a children's hospital to be built in Johannesburg.
Travolta, a spokesman for the Australian airline Qantas, will stay a few days in South Africa to support the Australian World Cup team.
Travoltas
Pulls CD
Wendy's
The fast food-chain Wendy's has pulled a disco CD included in kids' meals because of racy lyrics in one of the songs.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that one of the songs on the Disco Fever CD was Donna Summer's "Last Dance." The song has two sets of lyrics. One version includes the words "so bad." But some heard the alternative lyrics "so horny" on the CD, which had been marked as safe for 3 years old and up.
The Atlanta-based chain announced on its website Saturday that it would continue to put three other CDs in the kids' meals. Those CDs include the songs "ABC" by Jackson 5 and "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang. The website said Wendy's is "no longer offering" the Disco Fever CD but doesn't mention the reason.
Wendy's
No Buyer For Toronto Tape
Beatles
A 14-minute tape recording of a 1966 Beatles news conference in Toronto did not find a buyer on Sunday.
The two reels up for auction feature John Lennon responding to questions about his statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
The auction house, Los Angeles Bonham and Butterfields, estimated the artifact would fetch between $20,000 to $25,000.
While the tapes did have the auctioneer taking a few bids, the numbers being thrown around weren't high enough for a sale.
Beatles
Celebrity Sex-Tape Scandal
Indonesia
Indonesians grappled with their first-ever celebrity sex-tape scandal, casting aside social taboos as they swarmed around office computers and mobile phones to watch clips allegedly showing a much-loved pop star with two girlfriends.
The story topped newscasts for a week and dominated chatter on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. But just as controversial was the reaction of officials in the newly democratic nation.
Police initially threatened to charge the "stars" under a strict anti-pornography law.
Indonesia, a secular nation with more Muslims than any other in the world, emerged from 32 years of dictatorship in 1998. It won praise for tackling the tough tasks of fighting corruption and terrorism and implementing widely lauded social and economic reforms.
Indonesia
Chevron's Oopsie
Great Salt Lake
Emergency workers believe they have stopped a 21,000-gallon oil leak from reaching the environmentally sensitive Great Salt Lake, one of the West's most important inland water bodies for migratory birds that use it as a place to rest, eat and breed.
But the spill has taken a toll on wildlife at area creeks and ponds, coating about 300 birds with oil and possibly threatening an endangered fish.
The leak began Friday night when an underground Chevron Corp. pipeline in the mountains near the University of Utah broke. The breach sent oil into a creek that flows through neighborhoods, into a popular Salt Lake City park, and ultimately into the Jordan River, which flows into the Great Salt Lake.
The 10-inch pipeline was shut off Saturday morning, when workers at a nearby Veterans Administration building smelled oil and called the Salt Lake City fire department, which notified Chevron. The pipe carries crude oil from western Colorado to a refinery near the Salt Lake City International Airport.
Great Salt Lake
5,500 Years Old
Oldest Leather Shoe
About 5,500 years ago someone in the mountains of Armenia put his best foot forward in what is now the oldest leather shoe ever found.
It'll never be confused with a penny loafer or a track shoe, but the well-preserved footwear was made of a single piece of leather, laced up the front and back, researchers reported Wednesday in PLoS One, a journal of the Public Library of Science.
Worn and shaped by the wearer's right foot, the shoe was found in a cave along with other evidence of human occupation. The shoe had been stuffed with grass, which dated to the same time as the leather of the shoe - between 5,637 and 5,387 years ago.
Previously the oldest leather shoe discovered in Europe or Asia was on the famous Otzi, the "Iceman" found frozen in the Alps a few years ago and now preserved in Italy. Otzi has been dated to 5,375 and 5,128 years ago, a few hundred years more recent than the Armenian shoe.
Oldest Leather Shoe
BC Salmon Fan
Shatner
William Shatner wants British Columbia's wild salmon to live long and prosper.
The Canadian icon, made famous for his work as Capt. James T. Kirk in the "Star Trek" series, has waded into efforts to protect wild fish from sea lice.
B.C. aquaculture critics have long accused farmed fish of spreading parasites to wild stocks.
Fin Donnelly, the federal New Democrat Fisheries and Oceans critic, introduced a private member's bill last month that would force fish farm operators to move from open nets along the B.C. coast to closed-containment systems.
Shatner joined Donnelly on a conference call Thursday in which he urged Canadians to prevent their precious resources from being destroyed.
Shatner
Weekend Box Office
'Karate Kid'
Sony's remake of 1984's "The Karate Kid" debuted at No. 1 for the weekend with a whopping $56 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The big-screen adaptation of the 1980s TV series "The A-Team" came in at less than half that, the 20th Century Fox release opening in second place with $26 million.
After three weekends at No. 1, DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" slipped to No. 3 with $15.8 million. The animated hit raised its domestic haul to $210.1 million, becoming the fourth movie released this year to top $200 million.
With a relatively modest production budget of $40 million, "The Karate Kid" far exceeded the studio's expectations. Early on, Sony executives would have been happy if the movie opened to half its $56 million debut weekend, said Rory Bruer, the studio's head of distribution.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Karate Kid," $56 million.
2. "The A-Team," $26 million.
3. "Shrek Forever After," $15.8 million.
4. "Get Him to the Greek," $10.1 million.
5. "Killers," $8.2 million.
6. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," $6.6 million.
7. "Marmaduke," $6 million.
8. "Sex and the City 2," $5.5 million.
9. "Iron Man 2," $4.6 million.
10. "Splice," $2.9 million.
'Karate Kid'
In Memory
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean, a country music legend for his smash hit about a workingman hero, "Big Bad John," and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died on Sunday. He was 81.
His wife, Donna Meade Dean, said her husband died at their Henrico County, Va., home.
She told The Associated Press that he had some health problems but was still functioning well, so his death came as a shock. She said he was eating in front of the television. She left the room for a time and came back and he was unresponsive. She said he was pronounced dead at 7:54 p.m.
Born in 1928, Dean was raised in poverty in Plainview, Texas, and dropped out of high school after the ninth grade. He went on to a successful entertainment career in the 1950s and '60s that included the nationally televised "The Jimmy Dean Show."
In 1969, Dean went into the sausage business, starting the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in his hometown. He sold the company to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.
Dean lived in semiretirement with his wife, who is a songwriter and recording artist, on their 200-acre estate just outside Richmond, where he enjoyed investing, boating and watching the sun set over the James River.
In 2009 a fire gutted their home, but his Grammy for "Big Bad John," a puppet made by Muppets creator Jim Henson, a clock that had belonged to Prince Charles and Princess Diana and other valuables were saved. Lost were a collection of celebrity-autographed books, posters of Dean with Elvis Presley and other prized possessions.
Donna Meade Dean said the couple had just moved back into their reconstructed home.
Dean grew up in a musical household. His mother showed him how to play his first chord on the piano. His father, who left the family, was a songwriter and singer. Dean taught himself to play the accordion and the harmonica.
His start in the music business came as an accordionist at a tavern near Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., where he was stationed in the 1940s. After leaving the Air Force in 1948, he fronted his band, the Texas Wildcats, and drew a strong local following through appearances on Washington-area radio.
Besides his wife, Dean is survived by three children and two grandchildren, Donna Meade Dean said. Arrangements have not be made, but it will be a private service, she said.
Jimmy Dean
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