Newsflash

One Good Thing out of Nagin's Trap

I'm not sure what I'd do if I was the mayor of New Orleans, with this storm coming. Part of me thinks they're overreacting and skittish about what happened last time...and the other part of me has trouble blaming the skittish part for being so.

I have CNN on in the background here and Ray Nagin is giving a press conference about the mandatory evacuation of the city...which means that you can choose to stay, but if you do, you're allegedly on your own and are not to expect any city services or protection (neither of which appear to be high value commodities even under the best of circumstances, as I understand!)

But they're also instituting a curfew and he warns that the Five-O will be approaching roaming individuals with prejudice and that anyone caught looting will be sent "straight to Angola."

Right on, Mr. Mayor.

NOLA

The wonderful sounds of Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.

"Go forth in love and peace — Be kind to dogs — And vote Democratic."

I came across a mention, the other day, of Tom Eagleton's goodbye note to friends and family when he knew his time was short.

I thought it was kind of funny.

Cindy McCain Logic

Jeez, I hope she doesn't become my whipping girl for the campaign, but I can't reisist...

Just enjoying a nice Sunday AM, reformatting some bootlegs, getting ready for breakfast, and listening to The Princess on This Week.

When pushed on Governor Palin's qualifications, particularly when it comes to foreign relations, Cindy (paraphrasing) said, 'Well, you know that Alaska is the closest state we have to Russia, so you know that she understands what's going on there better than just about anyone else.'

Hmmm...let's just let the fruits of her USC education sink in...

Addendum Sunday Evening....Heh, HuffPo has this as their top story now.

Crybaby of Note

I'm so tired of the campaigns crying foul everytime there's an opportunity to pull out a perceived slight. I think I'll start calling folks on it more regularly here.

Today's winner is Princess Cindy McCain, whining to ABC's This Week about how Barry offended her for poking fun at hubby's inability to remember how many houses they (she) have (has).

It's a silly issue to begin with, but Cindy should STFU and count her Bud bucks.

Barack Obama...Community Organizer

Random observation about the Obama campaign...

Barry's decision to forsake a big job on Wall Street and work as a "community organizer" on the rough streets of Chicago's south side has played a central role in his campaign's narrative.

(As David Brooks put it the other day, "he chose to put his ego aside to become...redeemer of the human race.")

They hold it out there for us, every chance they get, to prove his humanity and feeling for the common man.

That's all fine and good. I'm happy for him.

But isn't it just a little bit strange that I've never seen testimonials from any of these folks he's helped? If I'm Obama, and I've shown no shame about describing my paid employment as if it were a lifelong, clerical vow of poverty, surely I'd be happy to trot out some people I helped during those days...perhaps even wash their feet in some kind of pre-dinner ceremony?

What gives?

Hail Mary, Full of Grace...

While I do find Charles Schumer's choice of metaphor (a Hail Mary) a little bit ironic, my initial reaction to McCain's veep choice is in agreement with the senior Senator from New York.

Governor Palin seems photogenic enough, but I'm struggling to come up with what she has that the other short-listers don't...short of an evidently-functional uterus.

I don't need to go down her list of qualifications in a mocking tone to prove my point. She's a small-town mayor-turned-governor from a sparsely populated state whose problems don't seem, at first glance, to be representative of what one would have to deal with in Washington should she move up one heartbeat on the food chain.

I'm not really arguing that her background disqualifies her from service. It's possible that she would end up being quite competent in her job, but in choosing her, McCain neutered the experience argument he was going to use against Barry.

(So speaking of the experience argument, as of last night, the RNC was still running this ad here in Ohio...why?)

Again, I'm no fan of Chuck Schumer's politics or policies, but the guy's not stupid. John McCain is a hard worker, but this decision just smells of desperation to me. I've yet to hear or read what Palin brings to the table. If the argument is, "She's a woman, so she'll bring disaffected Hillary voters," then why not just add Michael Steele to the ticket and poach the black vote from the other side?

Because it's not that simple.

"Willow's Mom" Just Doesn't Have the Same Ring To It

But Fountains of Wayne's Stacy's Mom was the song somehow going through heads at the office today when we heard about John McCain's tapping of Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential nominee today. They're one of my favorite bands, so I don't mind posting this one again.

I hoped for this choice here in July...

Food Ideas for Your Holiday Party

It might be very hard to decide which one of these recipes to make to impress your friends and family. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks, LY.

Jerry Garcia...Sit Down Comedian

In Honor of the Florida Delegation at the Democratic National Convention

Here's the great Muddy Waters doing a cool song...Deep Down in Florida.

I culled these pictures from an album of their convention delegates.

Yeehaw...I have to stay up later than normal tonight to catch Hill's speech...

Here's to Ann Curry

Usually, fluffers like Ann annoy me when I see them on Today, but I have to admit enjoying her insistence on asking all the Dems she could find whether or not we were going to have an insurrection at the Democratic National Convention.

Three cheers!

Preview of the Convention Tonight

Campaign 2012 semi-officially begins tonight.

Ambinder has sources saying that Bill will be accompanying his gal to the gala...

More fun from Perez Hilton

Very busy with work and monitoring events in Denver...more later.

clipped from perezhilton.com Separated At Birth Filed under: Separated At Birth > Pamela Anderson Left: Pamela Anderson. Right: Tammy Faye Baker.

These Poor People Could Use a Community Organizer

Oddly, the original article in the Chicago Sun Times appears to be deleted...even internal links to it come up blank.

What's up with that?

Anyway, here's a nice little bit of reporting on what Mrs. Obama is up to at the U of C Hospitals.

I'm not saying that I have a problem with it, only that finding ways to push the poor away from her world class facilities into less-expensive ones seems to contradict the image I'd be aiming for if I was their press guy.

And While I'm on the Topic of Democrats

I will beg, one more time, for everyone to please just ignore Bill Richardson.

The guy is such a tool and when I see him in print or on television, it makes my toes curl, wondering why the press doesn't just leave him alone.

Last night, he was on with Matthews jabbering away about how he's not sure if he is interested in the Secretary of State position, since he just got through the rigors of the veep vetting process.

What's that, you didn't know that he was being vetted and a strong contender?

Well, neither did anyone else.

But he went out of his way to assure the New York Times that he was. See, when he didn't see his name in the press, he asked Barry about it and was assured that he was being considered. This call, Bill again makes a point of telling us, took place when Obama dialed Richardson directly...as he always does.

We get it, Bill, you wear big boy pants, now. We'll just forget the possibility that they told you you were being vetted to make you feel better and more inclined to be a good little soldier come fall when they'll need your help campaigning en el oeste.

Barack Cuts Through Partisanship

...or at least that's the refrain of the chorus, recently joined by Joey Come Lately.

Look, I'm just as happy as the next guy that Biden is on the ticket. He brings great potential both for entertainment and possibly raising the bar a little bit in the debates. He's smarter than the other folks publicly mentioned as having been on Barry's short list.

But I don't understand who they think they're fooling with these persistent, so-far-unsubstantiated claims of post-partisanship. Barack's a shrewd guy, and god bless him if he continues to get away with it, but shame on anyone who doesn't sit back and wonder just what he's done that's so "post partisan."

To continue the ramble, I do love how they make these campaign speeches and videos more about the listener than the speaker. It's quite clever how Joe tells me that he's happy to be joining my little club, here...and he wants to pitch in just like I do.

One suspects that the telegram I get from Team McCain will try and mimic this to the best of their ability.

If You Thought the Most Humiliating Thing Pete Rose Did Was Gambling On Baseball and Being Banned from the Sport

You were wrong.

CNN's Obama Drama

Odd Photo Editing

I think Barry's folks could have done a little better job at editing the photo of Joe they put on the homepage this morning...doesn't his head look a little bit too large (har har har...)?

A Tale of Two Joes

I saw a funny post somewhere, although their pic was deleted, so I had to recreate it, noting the slight resemblance of Joe Biden to another famous person of the same first name...Joe Walsh!

Oh, how I'd love to see him stroll up on the stage in Springfield this afternoon and just belt out a quality, "How ya dooooinnnn?!"

Theme Song on O-Force Two?

So the pick came out last night. I wonder how bitter the Obammies are going to feel about getting jipped and not being the first to know by their text message.

Surely in this pre-convention weekend of press coverage, part of the narrative about Joe Biden is going to be what a class-act family guy he is (which I have no reason to doubt, mind you) and that, rather than living the Washington high life, where he's been since 29 years old, he takes the 2-hour train ride to and from Delaware each day.

Let's just enjoy a little bit of Sheena Eason, shall we?

He's So Clean and Articulate

DNC Podium

Courtesy of Ambinder's blog at The Atlantic

clipped from marcambinder.theatlantic.com

Some Friday Grateful Dead

I was never one to go gaga when the Grateful Dead performed Gloria, but I was listening to 11-3-84 at the Berkeley Community Theatre last night on the way home and found it to be quite pleasant. I immediately set out on a plan to share it with you here.

Shows at the Community Theatre always seem, to me, to be the closest the Dead ever got to playing a house party in the 80s. It's an indoor venue in their backyard and on this particular evening, they were in a bit of a spunky mood, pulling out this nice Gloria, Why Don't We Do it in The Road, the first Meet Me in the Bottom and a pre-drumz jam that had Jerry noodling around with Dear Prudence without quite crossing the Rubicon.

Enjoy!

The Problem With Calling Your Opponent an Idiot

While I don't live and breathe the MN Senate race, what I have read suggests that Norm Coleman is running against Al Franken by basically calling him an idiot comedian, unfit for office.

From where I sit, you can go into these races choosing one of two broad strategies. Either you can say you respect, but disagree with your opponent, or you can take the Coleman strategy and call the person fundamentally incompetent.

Taking the Coleman strategy must make it a hell of a lot less comfortable, then, to find out you're tied with someone who you have determined is a total idiot.

What does that say about you (or the electorate, Normy)?

Now I Feel Bad For the Things I Posted About Stephanie

My US Congresswoman died today. Very sad.

Sorry, it's a very busy week....should pick up with some posts tomorrow and might have some Veep commentary...

I'm Far From The World's Biggest Bobby Fan

But I have to hand it to him...Ratdog has come a long way from the crappy-sounding garage band I considered them to be after Jerry checked out.

Here they are, in what must be some kind of commercial release, doing a late-era Garcia song, Lazy River Road. I was listening to the last Dead shows at Soldier Field this afternoon and this song was on my mind...

He's breathed new life into this music, which is a testament to his gang as well as the songs, themselves. Kudos.

New Obama Logo

Well, predictably, after John McCain's performance on Saturday fit the audience he was performing for, Barry's people are bitching that he might not have really been in the 'cone of silence' that Pastor Rick said he was in.

Some are alleging that Johnboy cheated and heard the questions beforehand.

This is silly on a handful of levels. First of all, it seems unlikely to me that this kind of cheating was going on. Second, even if he did, were the questions that were going to be asked by this preacher all that difficult to predict? And third, even if McCain had heard Barry's performance beforehand, it would not change the poor performance of the Democrat.

Each of them, frankly, seemed to be acting and answering in character.

McCain had a lot of short, humorous and to-the-point answers. He probably oversimplified too much and would have been well-advised to stifle a few of his jokes (notably the one where he defined what 'rich' is), but it was vintage McCain...love it or leave it.

Likewise, Barack answered with his trademark professorial stutter, giving far more complete and nuanced explanations than the Republican.

Conjunction Junction

It's only Monday and I've already learned my new word of the week.

I'd never seen the word vainglorious in print until this article in yesterday's Times about Barry and how the party is pushing him to put some meat around his promise for 'hope.'

Speaking of Stupid Pet Tricks...

Below, I had the video of the little dog who knew how to behave for the nice man with the treat in his hand. Little poochie did things that were even a tad demeaning, but with enough practice, he learned what kinds of acts got rewards he craved and what kinds didn't.

The next day, I watched Rick Warren's forum with the Presidential candidates. While I don't know what John McCain believes in his heart, and am open to the possibility that he really believed what he said, his answer, followed by the immediate reward from the crowd, reminded me of the little dog in Tampa's performance.

All Hail, King of the Democrats!

OK, Madame Speaker, let's not go overboard, here...I mean, we all know you wrote a book, but it did not exactly sell like the one from another famous author.

This is how Nancy Pelosi introduced The One this weekend at a fundraiser in the other city of brotherly love, which is juicing up the right-wingers on this beautiful Monday morning.

"...a leader that God has blessed us with at this time."

Jim Has a Blog You Should Check Out

My old friend, Jim, who I worked with in California, now has a neato blog up that I should direct you to.

Enjoy.

Stay in touch, Jim!

Ugh, I Popped The Facebook Cherry

Well, frequent reader Buck, from the Raleigh/Durham Posse sent me a Facebook invite the other day and I had to actually create (technically, at least, I didn't put anything meaningful there) a profile over there.

My space here has always been a nice refuge to semi-anonymously post and not have to worry about things catching up with me or being associated with me by name, so I don't think I'm going to link over to Facebook, but just contact me if you're one of these people who diggs it.

I'm not sure how far I'll take it over there, but it was funny that an old student of mine from my days in the frozen tundra somehow found me already. Interesting...

Funny

I have not been religiously watching the Olympics, so am probably way behind the curve on this one, but I just read a characterization of Phelps' adventures as The Great Haul of China.

That made me laugh.

An Open Request to MSNBC

Please, for the love of God, stop making new plugs using the sound clip of Chris Matthews on the College Tour shouting, "This is so inspiring!" because...This is so nauseating (when I hear it for the thousandth time)!

Picking at the Russert Legend

Lewis Lapham is going to have a piece in the September Harper's that cuts against the almost-embarassing Russert worship that went on this summer when the MTP host passed away.

While the full article is not yet online for non-subscribers, reviews say that the gist of it is that he was just a mouthepiece for the Washington inside crowd and that his reputation for hard hitting questions followed a predictable and impotent pattern when it came to driving real action in the nation's capital.

Since I've yet to read it, I'll withhold judgement, but it is a welcome breath of fresh air on the the guy after all the practically-obscene praise he was getting for a while.

In Prep for the Rick Warren Event Tonight

Some random religious funnies before tonight's faith event with the candidates.

(Cough)Homo

clipped from perezhilton.com Kinda Gay! Blender magazine asked presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to list 10 songs that pump them up. We could not believe how homo friendly some of McCain's choices were! His #1 is Abba's Dancing Queen. Ch-ch-ch-check it out! 1. Dancing Queen ABBA 2. Blue Bayou Roy Orbison 3. Take a Chance On Me ABBA 4. If We MakeIt Through December Merle Haggard 5. As Time Goes By Dooley Wilson 6. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys 7. What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong 8. I've Got You Under My Skin Frank Sinatra 9. Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond 10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes The Platters

Man's Best Friend

This is actually a friend-of-a-friend down south...Kind of funny...

He Is The Messiah!

I told you so...Barack Obama DOES walk on water!

Google Cache To the Rescue

I generally don't pay much attention to gymnastics, but did catch a bit of the womens/little girls competition the other night when the Chinese were competing. I remarked to a friend at work that they just seemed so young. I really didn't care enough to know that the age limit was 16 and there's quite the controversy brewing over their gold medal.

Huffpo comes through with some nice investigative work suggesting, gasp, the Chinese might be falsifying things for competitive advantage.

Sequel to A Few Good Men?

This is great....

George Clooney's production company has purchsed the rights to the book about Osama's recently-convicted driver buddy.

George has his sights set on playing his lawyer in a David v Goliath sort of storlyine.

The picture on the left is from his days appearing on The Facts of Life.

Expect a big story on this from BillO tonight on the Factor.

Get Some Stank on the Old Hang Low?

Today's Music

I realized that I have not posted a link to the Archive's treasures lately, so decided today that I must share what I'm listening to because it's really put a spring in my step...

This is from the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, February 9. 1973. In the 1980s, the boys would play some monster shows outside at the Frost, but this is inside Maples Pavillion. This was their first show of the year and a little warmup before heading out to tour the midwest.

I'm up to Truckin' now and have not heard anything not worth my time yet. Pop it on if you'd like!

The Only Post I Care To Do On the Edwards Story

I really meant to not post anything on the John Edwards story. It's trashy from the act to the coverage.

But I cannot resist just this one...

Why am I not reading more speculation about the odd timing of this?

Doesn't it seem curious that Barry's people are doing all their veep vetting, Edwards' name has been dropped by some journalists as a possible choice (admittedly, not a guarantee that the campaign is actually considering him) and then, right at the beginning of the time when Obama will be away and un-harrassable by the press, the Democratic dirty laundry is dumped?

There was ample opportunity over the last week, let alone year, for Edwards to come clean on this if he was going to. It seems to me that this was timed to do the least damage to the candidate or Democratic party as possible.

Maybe I just need to search more, so if someone has seen better-written speculation on it, please let me know.

As Time Goes On...

...I get more sympathetic to my boy, Bubba. And I sure as hell feel bad for Barry, even though I can't refer to him the same way.

But, I digress.

This damned Hillary has got to be a real handful for the guy and, much as I don't want to condone the exact way he chose to do it, I don't quite blame the guy for looking elsewhere for some affection.

Can you imagine having to look at and listen to that everytime you forgot to pick your socks up off the floor?

In the last week, we've found out about a parade for Hillary in Denver, her selfless demand for a full vote on the floor and now she's going to be the convention's keynote speaker, introduced by her daughter on Tuesday.

If he didn't need Hillary's "fanatical" backers' votes so bad, I wish Barry could just tell her to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. That would be a change I'd get in line behind!

There was a point in time where I found her to be kind of amusing and even admirable by how hard she was fighting, but now this woman is turning out to be every bit the pain in the ass I always knew she was.

Poor Bill...

Evildoers

What Should Be On Shrub's Mind

So Putin went home from the Olympics to take care of business while Bush is running around with beach bunnies in Beijing.

Nice.

Questions I Wish They Would Have Asked

This is something I've been meaning to put up here for some time...when I read interviews in the paper and a lazy, intimidated, immoral or inept reporter doesn't ask what I think is the obvious followup, I'm going to start posting it here.

That'll show them when my army of three readers rise up!

This week, The Other Katie got an interview with old Bubba. She asked him whether he thought Barry was prepared to be President. This is from the AP.

...Clinton gave a philosophical, not political answer.

"You could argue that no one's ever ready to be president. I mean, I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year. You could argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years that no one can ever be fully ready for the pressures of the office and that everyone learns something, and something different. You could argue that," Clinton said.

What Kate Should Have Said: Mr. President, I wasn't asking you what someone who's being passive aggressive (as Jon Stewart joked) could argue. I asked what your personal opinion on Barack Obama's fitness for office at this point is.

Nunn of the Above

Torie Clark made an observation on the This Week round table this morning that should be made more often when we discuss the Veepstakes in 2008 and beyond.

Sam Nunn gets talked about as a Democratic running mate each four years, his resume suggests he's fit for the job, but he won't get the nod.

The Times ran a similarly-themed item in its Week in Review section in June.

I'm not sure why this is so, but thinking back, every time I discuss with friends who the new Dem nominee is going to pick, Nunn's name comes up as the most sensible mainstream choice, but it just never comes to fruition.

So let's give it up, Citizens of the World. Drop Sam off the list and find a new perennial tease. How about someone who really represents the heart, soul and character of the party.

How about Alcee Hastings.

Fare You Well

Has it really been 13 years since Jerry checked out? Time really flies, but I'll never forget where I was working when the word came down...

I don't have much to say here that I haven't said before or intend to say in the future, so just enjoy a little splice I put together.

In keeping with some of their occasionally-predictable choice of songs, I have two songs often used to end a concert, run or tour to put a bookend on our annual celebration of the music of Jerry Garcia.

First up is Brokedown Palace, which wrapped up a four-show run at the Capital Center in Columbia, MD on 9-6-88, followed by And We Bid You Goodnight, the last song played at the Fillmore East on 4-29-71.

This mention of a detail clearly crosses the line into obsessiveness, but I chose this particular Brokedown because at the end, it's Jerry who bids the crowd adieu, rather than Bobby. I kind of liked that touch.

Thank you for a real good time...

"Brokedown Palace"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Fare you well my honey
Fare you well my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Have flown except you alone

Goin to leave this Broke-down Palace
On my hands and my knees I will roll roll roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time - in my time - I will roll roll roll

In a bed, in a bed
by the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

River gonna take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
all the way back back home
It's a far gone lullaby
sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come
since I first left home

Goin home, goin home
by the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

Goin to plant a weeping willow
On the banks green edge it will grow grow grow
Sing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go - the river roll roll roll

Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

Jerry Garcia...Country Boy

As I'm sitting here getting blown away by the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, I wanted to post another tribute to Senor Garcia.

I listened to this show on the way home this evening and it made the trip all that much more enjoyable.

This is from April 17, 1971 at Princeton University's Dillon Gym.

Here's the Grateful Dead doing Merle Haggard's Sing Me Back Home.

Bobby Jindal is Not That Young!

Well, in having a discussion with frequent gadfly, Cody, I had to pull up the wiki entry for The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

Only then did I realize that before he entered Louisiana politics, McCain Veep Short-Lister Bobby Jindal was on this 70s hit!

Amazing!

Bubba Gets a Little Sumthin Sumthin from Barry

Will this keep the Clintons quiet?

How Does This Song Go?

For some unknown reason, I'm not as big a fan of the acoustic/electric shows the Grateful Dead did in the fall of 1980 at the Warfield and then on the other coast at Radio City Music Hall.

The shows were not bad by any means (frankly, there's no such thing as a bad Gdead show), but I rarely find myself jonesing for them the way I might other runs.

That said, there were some gems and this Uncle John's Band encore from the Halloween show at Radio City in 1980 is one of them. The crescendo in the last minute of this song always brings a tingle up my spine and this cut is no exception. It's just so damned pretty.

Sit back, dance, do whatever you do while you enjoy Jerry and the boys belt out one of their most famous and beautiful songs...

Today's Jerry Fest Selection Comes from Southern California

While obviously associated with the San Francisco Bay Area, Jerry and the Dead put on quite a few good shows, over the years, in Southern California venues like the LA Forum, Irvine Meadows and, of course, the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Today, I threw together Jerryband doing "Wonderful World" on his 50th birthday in 1992, down at Irvine.

There's nothing all that technically-amazing, but it's a nice cut on a song you know.

About a year ago, I posted up the Ramones doing the same song.

Random Speculation

Could this finally be the year for my Cubbies?

I'll See You At The Debates, Bitches

Well, we have a first...I've not, until today, posted a Paris Hilton video.

Sorry, Rick's not in this one.

A Little Europe Seventy-Two-Fer

I'll continue Holy Week here with two cuts from the epic Europe '72 tour and subsequent live triple album.

This was Pigpen's last active tour with the band.

While I'm not as big a fan of his as others are, his contribution to the early years of the band cannot be denied by the serious or casual fan.

Enjoy two cool tunes, Ramble On Rose and Big Railroad Blues from Copenhagen on April 17, 1972, the latter of which is prefaced by some horsing around with masks, which is explained in the above-linked wiki entry.

As I've posted here before, Europe '72 was probably the recording that turned me on to these guys and if you want a really good primer, I highly recommend picking this up. It's from a very creative period, the songs are well-played and it's just a hell of a good time.

Ramble On Rose

Big Railroad Blues

IP Address Code Removed

I had a little code thingy on the right hand side of the page for ages that showed you your IP and location. I've removed this. Even though I had no access to it (and even if I did, what the hell would I do with it?) more than one person seemed creeped out by it.

Google Analytics allows me to look at activity by IP, but not by specific address (ditto above parenthetical reference, though).

Grateful Dead Music...Whatever That Is!

Here's a nice interview of Bobby and Jerry by the late Tom Snyder from May of 1981.

The drummers join up later...


Now, here they are from the same performance, doing On The Road Again

How Did They Determine That It Was Dog Poop?

Someone's mad at a Cleveland councilman and ransacked his car. The story makes clear that it was feces from a dog that was left around the car.

Wonder how they figured that out?

In-Depth Coverage from the Plain Dealer

This week, Cuyahoga County goombas Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo had their offices raided as part of a big corruption investigation. The FBI and the IRS, who had to bring agents from Pittsburgh with them, were involved.

It was the talk of the town...even on a day that Shrub had some events here that ruined the evening commute for people at my place of employment.

Anyway, with a story about corruption at that level going on, one would think that it would be the top story of the local paper of record, the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

It was.

And, as usual, the Plain Dealer delivers a crappy article in crappy fashion.

The story's linked off of the main PD page...good

It takes you to a 4-paragraph start to the article. Too much for a teaser, but shorter than what one would expect for a click....bad

Following the link, I find that the full article, including head- and by-line, does not even cover one scroll of the screen. And the article only told us what one could have guessed. Jimmy and Frankie defiantly returned to work today, they denied guilt and the local GOP organization wants them to step down. Gee, no shit, Sherlock....lazy reporting and bad web experience.

I think I just go to the PD's site to find stuff sure to tick me off.

Thankfully, they always deliver.

10ACJED

Tennessee Jed might, lyrically, be the quintessential Hunter/Garcia collaboration.

It's the story of the eternal misfit...just a little bit off from the rest of the folks around him. He bounces around from place to place, getting kicked around, knowing he just needs to get back to that place of comfort.

This song appears on Europe '72 and is probably one of the first songs I really got into and it certainly turned me on to the Dead. Since then, as I posted the other day, it's all been downhill from there...

This is from the spring run out in Eugene, Oregon in 1984...have fun!

"Tennessee Jed"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Cold iron shackles and a ball and chain
Listen to the whistle of the evening train
You know you bound to wind up dead
if you don't head back to Tennessee, Jed

Rich man step on my poor head
When you get up you better butter my bread
Well you know it's like I said
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed

Tennessee, Tennessee
There ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby won't you carry me
Back to Tennessee

Drink all day and rock all night
Law come to get you if you don't walk right
Got a letter this morning and all it read:
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed

I dropped four flights and cracked my spine
Honey come quick with the iodine
Catch a few winks down under the bed
Then head back to Tennessee, Jed

Tennessee, Tennessee
There ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby won't you carry me
Back to Tennessee

I ran into Charley Phogg
He blacked my eye and he kicked my dog
My dog he turned to me and he said
Let's head back to Tennessee, Jed

I woke up a feeling mean
Went down to play the slot machine
The wheels turned round and the letters read
Better head back to Tennessee, Jed

Tennessee, Tennessee
Ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby won't you carry me
Back to Tennessee

The One

This is very corny and, quite obviously, takes some of Barry's sarcasm out of context, but is still amusing...

Republican Party Seal?

House Republicans pulled a nice little stunt yesterday.

After Madame Speaker decided to call it quits for the traditional August recess, they still wanted to talk about energy.

Problem is that she had it cut...the lights, mics and even CSPAN were cut out, but the Party of Lincoln stayed on the floor for several hours.

With Democrats out of the chamber fuming, the Republicans were left there to play with themselves.

They finally gave up several hours later, to cheers and a "USA!" chant from the gallery, singing God Bless America.

Indeed...

Pettycoat Junction

I came across a most-excellent bootleg of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at Irving Plaza in NYC from April of 1999 the other day.

While I'm too lazy at the moment to rig up a video from one of its cuts, I did want to throw up one of my faves from the pride of Gainesville....

Here's the original video from Jammin' Me.

Built to Last

Here's Built to Last from Alpine Valley in 1989. This was a downright awesome three-show run they did in the Dairy State that summer.

If you dig this, I highly recommend you check out the shows on the Archive and purchase or rent Downhill from Here, an apt title for the source of this video.


"Built to Last"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

There are times that you can beckon
There are times when you must call
You can shake a ton of reckoning
But you can't shake it all
There are times when I can help you out
And times that you must fall
There are times when you must live in doubt
And I can't help at all

Three blue stars / Rise on the hill
Say no more, now / Just be still
All these trials / Soon be past
Look for something / Built to last

Wind held by the collar
Got a cloud held by the breeze
You can walk on coals of fire
But sometimes you must freeze
There are times when you offend me
And I do the same to you
If we can't or won't forget it,
then I guess we could be through

One blue star / Sets on the hill
Call it back / You never will
One more star / Sinks in the past
Show me something / Built to last.

Built to last till time itself
Falls tumbling from the wall
Built to last till sunshine fails
And darkness moves on all
Built to last while years roll past
Like cloudscapes in the sky
Show me something built to last
Or something built to try

There are times when you get hit upon
Try hard but you cannot give
Other times you'd gladly part
With what you need to live
Don't waste the breath to save your face
When you have done your best
And even more is asked of you
Let fate decide the rest.

All the stars / Are gone but one
Morning breaks / Here comes the sun
Cross the sky now / Sinking fast
Show me something / Built to last

An Earned Good Retail Experience

So, the old iPod was giving me trouble. I called the Mayfield Heights Best Buy the other night and explained that I was having periodic problems with it...that it was regularly (but not constantly) failing to recognize my touches to the screen. The young lady assured me that even though it was not happening all the time, I could come in and get it swapped out with my repair plan.

Well...I went through the trouble of getting out there today only to find out that they had no interest in doing this. Since it was operating fine at the moment, the best they could do is hold on to it for a few days, try to recreate it and, if they were unable to replicate, would give me my same model back.

Those who know me know that I have a real aversion to being overly-assertive. I don't send food back in restaurants and don't make a habit of asking to see the manager. But I'd had enough of this. I paid good money not only for the iPod, but for the service plan and was assured that I could bring it in and the situation would be resolved to my satisfaction. I stayed calm, but insisted on seeing the manager to explain this.

She came out, explained that the repair plan did only entitle me to the scenario above, but that she'd make an exception and get me a new, identical model.

I didn't want to pull the sappy "you've just lost a customer" routine with her, but that would have been my only real recourse, since I was not going to disrespect myself by making a hysterical scene there.

While I can do without the hassle, I left the store a satisfied customer in the end.

I will admit, though, as I was waiting for her to come back from the office, I did feel a bit like Howard Beales...

Happy Birthday, Jerry!

Jerry Garcia would have turned 66 today!

Like last year (have we been around that long?) I'll start to put together some Jerry goodies for the week between now and the anniversary of his death...so some neato stuff coming....

Take the Golden Road, Instead

So, last night, I got another email from Barry. This time, he's whining that the McCain campaign is "taking the low road" with their "attack ad" on him, mocking his celebrity status.

He spent a good portion of the day yesterday crying about being compared to Paris and Britney. Apparently, that's now a racial attack in Barry's Post-Partisal Excellent World.

Well, citizens of the world (as well as citizens of Berlin), instead of going down the low road, check out Phil Lesh and Friends doing an oldie but a goodie, The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) at Bonnaroo this year ...