Category: Music

The Danger Of Music

Today is my day with the cancer doctor so I want to leave you with some history….it is never too late to learn.

Think back to the early 2000s and all the mash-up about this hip hop song or another…..Congressional mental midgets held hearings to try and ban the music of a generation…..thank goodness their attempts to ban music did not succeed but it did elevate the sells of the songs and albums in question.

The conservative South has always had a hard on for music if it was not clean and wholesome (whatever that means)….in my youth songs were deemed too shameful for radio…..I am talking about rock icons and their traditionally great songs….songs like Louie, Louie, Gloria, Light My Fire, etc etc.  They wanted anything that did not conform to what these narrow minded twats considered proper…..

T o show you how bad it was I have a video explaining what songs were banned and why….it is a lengthy video but you will see just how far conservatives in the South will go to control what people listen to as music.

Rock classics were not acceptable to the conservative religious twats in the South and were banned from the radio.

Joe McDonald–R.I.P.

The name may not mean much to the younger readers but I one served in Vietnam then Country Joe and the Fish was the anti-war song that meant the most.

The anti-war icon has died….

A voice that helped soundtrack the Vietnam era has gone quiet, USA Today reports. “Country Joe” McDonald, the frontman of Country Joe and the Fish and a defining figure of 1960s protest music, died Saturday in Berkeley, Calif., at 84 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his band announced. He was “surrounded by his family,” according to the statement; no public memorial is planned.

Born Joseph Allen McDonald in Washington, DC, and raised in California, he served in the Navy before emerging in Berkeley’s folk and protest scene and co-founding Country Joe and the Fish in the mid-1960s. Their 1967 debut, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, helped cement San Francisco’s psychedelic rock sound, but McDonald became best known for his biting anti-Vietnam War song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” (a “talking blues” song done in the “deadpan” style of Woody Guthrie, the Guardian reports) and his expletive-laced cheer at Woodstock—moments he later said “changed everything in America.” NPR calls the song “a signature anthem of the 1960s counterculture,” and the Woodstock performance “one of the defining scenes of the festival.” The cheer, however, did once get McDonald arrested and fined after he used it at a Massachusetts show.

After his band broke up, McDonald continued to perform and release solo work for decades, often focusing on civil rights, environmental causes, and humanitarian issues, before retiring to focus on his family. He also expressed consistent support for the troops, and was involved with veterans’ issues throughout his life. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, five children, and four grandchildren; the family suggests donations to Swords to Ploughshares or the Michael J. Fox Foundation in his memory.

For me his voice and conscience will be missed for he help us antiwar protesters get through all the torment….

Thank you for your help and your voice in protest to a dumb ass war…..you and your morals will be missed.

Plus old farts like me will not forget what you did in our name.

His most famous antiwar song in remembrance of a great musician for the cause.

Thank you Country Joe and may you rest in peace.

chuq

The Tragedy Of Billie Holiday

Was listening to a local blues station because I had enough of Little Drummer Boy and all, and a song came on that was a favorite of my mother….she had several albums, 78s, of Holiday and her fantastic voice….this was one of her favorites…..

This lady had a fabulous voice it is a real shame that her life was so messed up and the American government was no help at all….

Despite her status as one of the world’s most influential jazz and blues singers, Billie Holiday passed away penniless and alone.

The artist rose to stardom in the 1930s with chart-topping hits such as “Strange Fruit,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “Gloomy Sunday.”

Her distinctive and emotive vocal delivery solidified her place among the all-time greats. However, behind the scenes, Holiday’s life was fraught with difficulties.

Throughout her career and life, she endured pervasive racism. Holiday was denied entry through the front doors of venues and faced segregation in hotels and public accommodations.

In 1938, Holiday made history by touring with Artie Shaw, becoming the first Black woman to lead a white jazz band. Yet, she was forced to find her own lodging as she was prohibited from staying in the same hotels as the rest of the ensemble.

The alleged catalyst for the racism she encountered was her performance of Strange Fruit – a potent protest song against the lynching of Black Americans.

Holiday’s struggle with drug addiction throughout her career made her a target for the US government, which reportedly hatched a scheme to ruin her career.

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, headed by the purportedly racist Harry J. Anslinger, had a particular fixation on controlling and punishing Black musicians.

https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/music/193210/music-icon-penniless-hospital-bed-government

A real shame that racism was so readily accepted…..she had more talent in her little finger than some of today’s “mega-stars’….

Not many know the whole story of Holiday only her voice and music….she deserved so much better than she ever got.

And it appears that that same destructive racism is returning….will we let it?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

‘Rain Dogs’ Turns Forty

It is a Friday and this is my last post of the week…..I do not write many reviews but this one hits home for me.

Back in the mmid-70s I was the late night bartender at a local pub and that was when I was introduced to the musical styling of Tom Waits.  From the very first song of his first album, Closing Time, I was hooked.

I even went to a small club in New Orleans where Waits was performing….a club that sat about 200 people and I was not disappointed.  His storytelling was spot on especially in the early hours of the morning when the creatures were out and about…..if you have lived that life then you know how spot on his storytelling was.

This review is about his album, Rain Dogs, who some say was one of his best works.

I can’t recall what went through my head when first listening to ‘Telephone Call From Istanbul’, a rhythmically buoyant song that seemed to be about broken glass, blue donkeys and never trusting a man in a blue trench coat. All I know is that I was open-mouthed, and nothing musical was ever the same again. Especially for my long-suffering mother, who would have to deal with me imitating Waits’ possessed, wolf-like howls whenever I entered a room.

Even now, she refers to Waits as the sound ‘Woooouh!‘ as opposed to his birth name – both as a reference to my insufferable childhood antics but also, I suspect, to the fact that listening to a Tom Waits record is, for her, the equivalent of that scene from The Pink Panther Strikes Back when Herbert Lom dons the clawed gauntlet and goes to town on the chalkboard. Some apples do fall far from the tree.

Years later, I wandered about in my then-favourite music store, on a mission: I was looking to buy my first Tom Waits album.

At the time, I didn’t know his discography like the back of my hand and was searching for the album that featured ‘Telephone Call From Istanbul’. To my distress, I couldn’t find it and settled on the only record they had, ‘Rain Dogs’, not realising in the moment that it was the best buy I was ever going to make.

I mainlined the album again and again, completely drunk on Waits’ gravelly growls, his ominous whispers, the carnivalesque musical accompaniments that enriched the stories of one-armed dwarves, millionaires shoveling coal and protagonists falling out of windows with confetti in their hair.

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/09/30/rain-dogs-turns-40-celebrating-tom-waits-greatest-album-and-his-unparalleled-discography

Waits’ voice may not be everyone’s cup of tea but for me he speaks volumes….his storytelling is superb.

The truth of the matter I prefer his early years his album Nighthawks At The Diner will forever be number one on my list….for those that do not know Tom Waits this is the album I most liked…..although they all are good.

Please listen

and enjoy.

Now for the album Rain Dogs….

I hope you enjoyed the unusual musical styling….

That is it for this week…..enjoy your weekend and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Domestic Disturbance Force?

WTF?

The moron SecDef has announced, I am sure with Little Donny’s help, that the defense department will intervene in domestic problems…..

The Department of Defense is planning to create a rapid response force of National Guard troops to quickly deploy to American cities where protests or unrest are occurring.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that it obtained documents showing the Pentagon is creating a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force.”

“The plan calls for 600 troops to be on standby at all times so they can deploy in as little as one hour,” the outlet explained. “They would be split into two groups of 300 and stationed at military bases in Alabama and Arizona, with purview of regions east and west of the Mississippi River, respectively.”

One hundred troops at each base would be on standby to deploy within an hour, while the entire quick force would begin operations within 12 hours. The National Guard will be equipped with weapons and riot gear, and the deployments will be limited to 90 days to prevent burnout among the troops.

On Monday, Trump announced a major crackdown on crime in Washington, DC, by federalizing the Metropolitan DC police and deploying 800 National Guard troops to the capital city. “This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “I’m officially invoking the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. And placing the DC Metropolitan Police under direct federal control.”

“In addition, I’m deploying the National Guard to help restore law, order and public safety,” he added.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said residents of DC will soon see the National Guard in the capital. “You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week,” he explained. “At your direction as well, sir, there are other units we are prepared to bring in — other National Guard units, other specialized units. They will be strong, they will be tough and they will stand with their law enforcement partners.”

The new quick reaction force may be deployed to other American cities if Trump perceives that there is too much crime. Trump threatened to take similar steps in other major cities, noting he hopes some of them “self-clean up.” “If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” the president said.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/pentagon-to-create-domestic-civil-disturbance-quick-reaction-force/

So the fate of American cities is left up to a lying sack of crap that makes up stats to justify is idiotic policies.

This smells like an attempt to silence any opposition by using some lie to justifying using troops to break up any and all protests.

I said this smells….and it does….

Donald Trump has opened a new, explosive salvo in his battle with elected Democrats across the country.

By revoking part of Washington DC’s right to govern itself and announcing the deployment of National Guard troops to deal with a largely non-existent crime wave in the city, the US President made it clear that he planned to take similar actions in other Democratic Party strongholds in the months ahead.

Trump’s description of life in the nation’s capital bears no resemblance whatsoever to the experience of the vast majority of its citizens. He described a city riddled with “crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor and worse”, and in cadences redolent of his “American Carnage” inaugural address of January 2017, spoke of a city of “complete and total lawlessness”.

Trump himself so rarely ventures outside the protective bubble of the White House that he may not even understand how ludicrous his claims sound to the ears of DC residents. Official statistics – as opposed to the unsourced numbers that the US President shared with reporters on Monday – show that violent crime is now at a 30-year low in the city.

Trump’s troop deployment won’t end with the US capital – it’s his blueprint for America

Most idiots get their info from sniveling weasels like Charlie Kirk…..who thinks it is a great idea for the occupation of American cities…

MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk celebrated President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” takeover of the nation’s capital by calling for the Trump administration to unleash a “full military occupation” of other large American cities “once we liberate” Washington, D.C.

In what appeared to be spurred by the recent late-night attack on former DOGE employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, who was allegedly assaulted during an attempted carjacking, Trump announced on Monday that he was deploying 800 National Guard troops and temporarily taking control of Washington’s police department to fight crime in the city.

“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore,” Trump exclaimed on Monday. Despite violent crime falling for two straight years in Washington under the current chief of police, the president likened the city to the “worst places on Earth” while repeatedly framing it as a dystopian hellscape.

Having already deployed thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles earlier this summer to quell protests that erupted over his immigration raids, Trump also suggested that other large cities in Democratic-led states – such as New York City and Chicago – could be next.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/charlie-kirk-trump-military-occupation-b2805750.html

I have NO use for anyone that supports this invasion into our rights….and protests are a right….and crime figures are not fact…..not anymore.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Coca-Cola: The Battleground?

While I do not drink many sodas these days I did enjoy an ice cold Coke in my younger days….and then the formula changed and it did not taste the same….then I found the Coke from Mexico that still uses real sugar and not some concoction of corn syrup….if you are my age you can remember those days when Coke was the bomb.

Moving on.

Donny has fired a warning shot for a new battle he that he has in mind….the Coke you enjoy….

President Trump says he has persuaded Coca-Cola to Make Coke Sugary Again. “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” he said in a Truth Social post Wednesday. “This will be a very good move by them—You’ll see. It’s just better!” The BBC reports that the company didn’t confirm the change, but a spokesperson said they “appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm” and “more details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”

Coca-Cola uses cane sugar in countries including Mexico, so the change would “turn all Coke into Mexican Coke,” Business Insider reports. For the US market, the company switched to corn syrup more than 40 years ago. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed concerns about ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, though he has also criticized the amount of sugar in American diets, reports Reuters. The BBC notes that Trump prefers Diet Coke, which uses the artificial sweetener aspartame.

Donny has stated that Coke has agreed to change their recipe….but have they?

President Trump surprised a lot of people Wednesday when he announced that Coca-Cola will go back to using cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. The company has yet to confirm, though the Guardian reports that Coke took pains on Thursday to defend corn syrup:

  • “The name sounds complex, but high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—which we use to sweeten some of our beverages—is actually just a sweetener made from corn,” Coca-Cola said in a statement. “It’s safe; it has about the same number of calories per serving as table sugar and is metabolized in a similar way by your body.” Trump asserted that cane sugar is “just better!”
  • A story at CBS News digs into the health differences and concludes that moderation is best for both. “Despite minor differences in chemical structure and metabolism, both cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup have similar health impacts when consumed in excess, especially in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages like soda,” says dietician Avery Zenker. Both provide “empty calories,” meaning they deliver energy but without nutrients such as protein.
  • The fallout of all this echoed in the business world, where shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland—a top producer of corn syrup—fell as much as 6% before the losses were trimmed, reports CNBC. Another major refiner, Ingredion, suffered a similar fate.
  • The corn industry is alarmed, with the Corn Refiners Association warning that the switch would “cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs,” per Axios. The outlet also notes that the move would hurt Iowa, the top corn producer, and help Florida, the top cane sugar producer.

For once I can agree with something Donny has said….it is better with real sugar!

Then there is the blow back from the Corn industry….

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” the CRA wrote in their statement.“President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers and reducing the trade deficit.”

“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”

While it has been claimed previously that high-fructose corn syrup is more harmful than other sugars, a Healthline article last updated in December 2023 said high-fructose corn syrup and regular table sugar have similar effects on a person’s health, and both are harmful when consumed excessively.

…

In a statement, Coca-Cola did not confirm a full shift to the use of sugar cane.

“We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand,” a spokesperson said. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range will be shared soon.”

(independent.co.uk)

There you have the back and the forth on this subject…..

What say you about the possible change?

I ask….will that jack the price of Coke up?

Is this another one of Donny’s BS proposals just to get the attention of the country away from this whole Epstein debacle?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

James Lowe R.I.P.

James Lowe?

Not a name that too many will remember but I do for as a fan of ‘acid rock’ his group the Electric Prunes was a favorite.

In the beginning of ‘acid rock’ there were few names like First Edition, Procol Harum, Cream , Hendrix, Canned Heat, Moody Blues and the Electric Prunes…..these names brought the electric guitar to new heights.

Lowe passed away at age 82….

Psychedelic rock pioneer James Lowe, of The Electric Prunes, has died at age 82.

Lowe’s family — namely his three children — announced the news of their father’s passing via the band’s official Facebook page on Thursday, May 29.

“It is with heavy and electric hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, James Lowe – lead singer and founder of The Electric Prunes,” Lowe’s kids wrote in their heartfelt tribute to their father. (Lowe shared children Lisa, Cameron and Skylar with wife Pamela, to whom he was married for more than 60 years.)

“He passed away peacefully of natural causes on Thursday, May 22nd, 2025, surrounded by music, our incredible mom, and the three of us – his kids: Lisa, Cameron, and Skylar,” they continued. “Dad leaves behind a legacy of sound, love, and boundless creativity. At the center of it all Was our amazing mom, Pamela – his guiding star, enduring muse, and wife of 62 years.”

The Lowe family concluded their statement with wise words from the “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” singer.

In his words – Rock On!” they declared. “And we will.”

The Electric Prunes were known for their psychedelic sound in the 1960s, with hits like “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” and “Get Me to the World On Time.”

(parade.com)

This was probably their most popular song…..

When I was in base camp in Vietnam I would play this tune for my fellow grunts every Sunday.

For people like me he will be missed…..and wish his family all the love and respect that he deserved.

May his legacy live on in people like me and those that appreciated fine music and talented musicians.

James Lowe…Rest In Peace.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pentagon Does It Again

The War Department has wasted truckloads of money on weaponry…..the F-35 comes to mind (it is called a ‘flying brick’ because it spends more time on the ground than in the air)….wasted money that that cannot let go and just scrap the POS.

This and a story I read over the weekend reminds of a movie about the design of a new tank for our troops….the movie is called the Pentagon Wars and it describes the process of a new weapon with humor.

For those interested the movie is clever and can be watched here…..https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144550/

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle project, already stalled in development for seventeen years and at the running cost of $14 billion is the charge of Major General Partridge. In an effort to curtail further excessive Pentagon spending, Congress appoints U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Burton to observe the Bradley’s field development and tests.

Burton delves into the extensive and protracted development history, beginning in the 1960s originally under design supervision of then Colonel Robert L. Smith, who quickly becomes frustrated with the continuous change of design by the higher ups, eventually leading to the Bradley being drastically changed from its original role as a light troop carrier into a bulky tank-like vehicle that can only carry half of its original capacity.

The report that I referred to is about a new tank that has a similar humorous outcome.

As the 101st Airborne Division prepared last year to receive their first M10 Bookers—armored combat vehicles designed specifically for infantry forces—staff planners realized something: eight of the 11 bridges on Fort Campbell would crack under the weight of the “light tank.”

It turns out that though the vehicle was initially conceptualized as relatively lightweight—airdroppable by C-130—the twists and turns of the Army requirements process had rendered the tank too heavy to roll across the infrastructure at the infantry-centric Kentucky post, and nobody had thought about that until it was too late.

“This is not a story of acquisition gone awry,” Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, told Defense One. “This is a story of the requirements process creating so much inertia that the Army couldn’t get out of its own way, and it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling.”

It’s a twist on the classic Pentagon procurement snafu—a program that moves so slowly that it’s outdated by the time it reaches the field.

In this case, the Army knew early on that it wasn’t going to be able to make the thing it had set out to make, but it was bound and determined to make something. So it made something it doesn’t actually need.

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/04/army-made-tank-it-doesnt-need-and-cant-use-now-its-figuring-out-what-do-it/404877/

Classic case of stupidity….wasting butt-loads of cash all in the name of national defense.

Can you now see the problem with the War Department and its defense industry co-conspirators?

On an unrelated topic….Hogsbreath (Hegseth)…..the idiot Donny put in charge of the US War machine….

Apparently he still using unsecured lines of communication and betting on sports.

Remember when defense secretary of the United States Pete Hegseth, the man at the center of all the “Signalgate” drama, accidentally texted a journalist about the need to maintain “100 percent OPSEC” about secret war plans?

As the New York Times reports, the same phone Hegseth used when he accidentally shared those covert military maneuvers is also his personal one. And embarrassingly, its number could easily be found online on a variety of public apps as recently as March, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Airbnb, and — we kid you not — a sports betting website.

“There’s zero percent chance that someone hasn’t tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone,” Mike Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told the NYT. “He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage.”

According to security experts, it’s not surprising that Hegseth’s personal number is on the web, since he was a private citizen before being sworn in. Instead, the former Fox News host’s staggeringly stupid mistake was using the same phone number to do all his official top secret military stuff, like announcing the details of an airstrike in Yemen against Houthi forces in a group chat that also had his wife and brother (we should clarify: that was a separate incident from when he accidentally leaked stuff to a journalist).

As the NYT notes, even low-level government employees are forbidden from using personal devices for work-related tasks — and here’s the guy in charge of the entire nation’s defense efforts, leaving it all out in the open.

https://futurism.com/head-pentagon-personal-phone

This is what we get when amateurs are allowed to govern….if these transgressions do not worry then you need to return to head in sand.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Got The Music In Me

A little something for a Friday afternoon….simply because I am bored with the news….

Do you like music?

I like all types depending on the situation….when I am on the ‘puter I listen to classical guitar or blues….otherwise it is music from my past….Cream, Canned Heat, Electric Prunes, etc etc.

A recent study finds that music is being dumb down since its glory days…..

If you’ve ever seen the viral clip of popular radio tunes that all use the same four chords, this latest study will, well … strike a chord. The research published earlier this month in the journal Scientific Reports isn’t about chords per se, but about rhythm and pitch—both of which scientists say have become increasingly less complex in pop songs over the past 75 years or so. Computational musicologists from Queen Mary University of London used mathematical models and algorithms to examine the top five songs on the Billboard charts from 1950 to 2023, which Smithsonian notes included such hits as the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” and Madonna’s “Vogue.”

Study leader Madeline Hamilton says they found that the complexity of both rhythm and pitch fell by about 30% over that time period in the more than 360 songs they listened to. The researchers also discovered that there were three distinct “melodic revolutions”—in 1975, 1996, and 2000—where song melodies became exceedingly simplified. Hamilton says that the mid-’70s shift came down right around the time disco and stadium rock came on the scene, while the later two tracked with the rise in popularity of rap and electronic music, as well as MTV.

Hamilton says that just because a melody is simple, it doesn’t mean the song overall is, or that it’s necessarily lacking. “It’s not that music is getting less complex,” she tells the New York Times. “The melody is getting less complex, but maybe the chords are getting more complex, or maybe the production.” Hamilton says she needed “sanity checks” during her experiment, which at one point had her in COVID lockdown listening to songs in a dorm room for 10 hours a day. She says she now finds it difficult to listen to many popular songs, with one in particular that “haunts” her: UB40’s 1993 cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Listen if you dare.

If you would like to see more of this study then I have a spot for you….

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/04/music-has-dumbed-down-in-three-stages-since-1950-study-find/

Back in May I wrote about music as well….

The Day The Music Died

A little 60s music to end your reading day….Be well and Be Safe….