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Friday Night Music

Friday, March 22, 2013

A week or so ago I realized that I did not have A Whiter Shade of Pale either in my CD collection or on iTunes, and I set out to correct this massive oversight. I’ve done so, but in the process I learned a lot about this venerable song. First, I found out that the CD of the original Procol Harum album is prohibitively expensive, so I went with their Greatest Hits. But, more importantly, I learned from Wikipedia that:

It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009), and the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.

and

More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known.

Since I got those quotes from Wikipedia, they must be true.

There is even a website devoted to cataloging these cover versions, which you can peruse here. It is truly reassuring to know that the world is big enough to contain at least one person obsessive enough to collect every version of this song ever made.

So I decided to visit youtube and find some of these cover versions. This is not unprecedented; I recall doing the same for Stephen Foster’s Hard Times Come Again No More. If you’re not interested in checking these out, skip to the last video, which will surely be worth your while, and of course, feel free to pick and choose.

I want to assure you that I’ve been selective here. Sara Brightman, who apparently has sung the song often, didn’t make the cut. Absolutely awful.

Before we start let me say that the song deserves the multiple covers, even if I can say with some assurance that I defy anyone to give a coherent explanation of the lyrics. It truly is one of the greatest rock songs ever.

First, a moment of silence for some that didn’t make the cut for reasons other than awfulness. I decided not to break the rules and post a version featuring Eric Clapton, as it has no video. For the same reason Johnny Rivers didn’t make it. Clapton’s version was great, and featured Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker on vocals. River’s wasn’t actually too bad, but the most surprising also ran was Willie Nelson, who would have made it had there been video to go along.

So, let’s start.

First, in honor of the new Pope, here’s Gregorian, giving us a slightly different take, but nonetheless an interesting one, on this worthy song:

Here’s Percy Sledge, and while I wouldn’t have come up with him as a candidate, once I saw he’d covered the song, it seemed like a natural fit.

As did Joe Cocker:

We can’t be parochial about this. Here’s an Italian guy I never heard of named Claudio Baglioni teaming up with Michael Bolton:

Before we get to the finale, here’s an instrumental version by King Curtis and the Kingpins:

Now, the video you’ve all been waiting for. As the old song said, the original is still the greatest. Brooker sounds the same now as he did back in 1967. This was recorded in 2006 in Denmark. The group is backed by the Danish National Concert Orchestra. It’s just great.

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Something completely different

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Sometimes, a bloggers life is not a happy one. On those days, becoming more frequent of late, that I have trouble bestirring myself to comment on the sad state of the world, I feel a vague sense of guilt, as if I have some obligation to satisfy the reading requirements of what is a largely non-existent readership. These days, life is tough. As Yogi Berra probably could have said, it’s always deja vu all over again. The gun bill won’t see the light of day, or maybe it will, but either way it will go down to defeat, Harry Reid is mysteriously disappointed that his toothless filibuster reform has proven to be—wait for it– toothless, Wall Street Banks are still too big to prosecute, and our media is still too easily led astray by the memes propagated in the Beltway to distract them, and by extension the American people, from the real problems we face, and the real solutions to those problems. What else is new?

So, something completely different, and rather cool:

A nine-year-old girl has had a prehistoric beast named in her honour after fossilised bones she found turned out to be an undiscovered species.

Daisy Morris from the Isle of Wight stumbled upon the remains on Atherfield beach four years ago.

A scientific paper stated the newly discovered species of pterosaur would be called Vectidraco daisymorrisae.

Fossil expert Martin Simpson said this was an example of how “major discoveries can be made by amateurs”.

Daisy’s mum Sian Morris said her daughter had started fossil hunting aged three and came across the blackened “bones sticking out of the sand” in 2009, when she was four years old.

(via BBC News)

Apparently the Vectidraco daisymorrisae represents a brand spanking new genus, so Daisy’s achievement is quite impressive.

There is no obvious political component to this story, but it was so neat I had to pass it on in lieu of engaging in another futile rant. It brings back happy memories of my younger son, who spent several years living with a dinosaur obsession. Alas, he never discovered a species of his own and at some point his ardor cooled, for he is not now, nor will he ever be a paleontologist. Still, while the obsession lasted, it was great fun.

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Grifters extraordinaire

Monday, March 18, 2013

I just love reading stuff like this:

In August 2008, as the right wing of the Republican Party grew increasingly disenchanted with the party’s direction, the men from Russo, Marsh and Associates sensed opportunity: They created a political action committee, Our Country Deserves Better, and in time launched the Tea Party Express.

Russo, Marsh—an established California outfit of Republican consultants—was just getting started. The firm formed a second political committee, this one with a pro-military agenda. And eventually, seizing on the President’s unpopularity in certain circles, they opened a third, the Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama.

Throughout the 2012 election cycle, the committees were relentless. In email after email, they pleaded for small donations to run ads supporting candidates who would defeat President Obama’s “socialist” agenda. And it worked: They collected more than $14 million in donations – from all over the country, and from donors who gave as little as $10 to elect Ted Cruz as a Republican senator from Texas or to put Mitt Romney in the White House.

Yet an examination of the PACs’ expenditures shows they spent a small percentage of the money they raised on work directly aimed at getting candidates elected – paid ads, say, or contributions to other political committees. Mainly, they paid consultants. And the biggest chunk of that consultant money went to Russo, Marsh and Associates, and people connected to the firm.

Of the $9.3 million spent by Our Country Deserves Better, more than $3.8 million went to Russo, Marsh and Associates, employees or others connected to the firm. Of the $3.9 million spent by the Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama, $2.4 million went to the firm and its associates. The pro-military Move America Forward Freedom PAC spent almost $143,000. Of that, $92,000 went to the firm and people connected to it.

(via Pro Publica)

If there’s anything like this on our side, it’s well hidden. If you’re interested in grifting, after all, you go where the marks are. It would be interesting to know how far the right wing dollar goes compared to a dollar  donated to progressives. Maybe their money advantage is not as great as it looks.

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Too good to last (probably)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge in California ruled in a decision released Friday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing so-called NSLs across the board, in a stunning defeat for the Obama administration’s surveillance practices. She also ordered the government to cease enforcing the gag provision in any other cases. However, she stayed her order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

(via Wired.com)

The judge is obviously right, but I wouldn’t bet money on this ruling surviving on appeal. The Ninth Circuit might go along, but not the Supremes, unless their Obama hatred gets the better of them. Sometimes good things happen for bad reasons.

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Sarah, the gift that keeps on giving

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Sarah Palin has raised the art of grifting to a new high, and we lefties couldn’t be happier:

These days, many of Palin’s Facebook posts are about her family’s latest exploits; her scorching political missives seem fewer and farther between. Her political action committee, Sarah PAC, collected about $5 million during the 2012 election cycle, most of which went to operating expenses. Palin’s PAC sent just $306,000 to Republican candidates during the cycle, including the maximum of $5,000 to Romney for President – on Oct. 17, 2012, just 20 days before the election.

(via NBC Politics) via Firedoglake.

Keep in mind, “operating expenses” in this context means supporting Sarah in the style to which she’s become accustomed. So, that’s about $4,694,000.00 that she drained from the pool of money available to help Republicans. I know it seems like they have an infinite supply, but that’s still a lot of money, and it mostly came from people who probably couldn’t afford to donate elsewhere. After all, the smart money has moved beyond Sarah.

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Obama punts on climate

Saturday, March 16, 2013

No surprises here:

The Obama Administration has, tragically, signaled it may retreat on two major climate issues.

The UK Guardian reported Friday:

Barack Obama’s grand vision of action on climate change shrank to $200m a year to fund research into clean fuel cars, with signs of retreat on the big environmental issues of the day….

But on the most immediate environmental decision in his in-tray — the future of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project – White House officials indicated on Friday that Obama’s green and liberal supporters would be in for a disappointment. Officials signalled that the president was inclined to approve the project.

(via ThinkProgress)

On the plus side, this may very well mean that it doesn’t really matter if he institutes chained CPI and otherwise cuts social security and Medicare, as we may not be around to experience the devastation when the effects of those cuts really kick in. (By the way, as the Think Progress writer notes, since Obama needs Congressional approval for the money on clean fuel, and he’s not likely to get it, it really means he’s doing pretty much nothing on the entire issue. Money talks in the Obama administration; not as loudly as it would have with Romney, but plenty loud enough)

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Statistical questions

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Apparently, Wayne LaPierre said this yesterday.

“The one thing a violent rapist deserves to face is a good woman with a gun,” he said.

(via Washington Post)

It would be interesting to know the following statistics:

  1. How many rapes are foiled on a weekly basis by good women with guns. (I am having a bit of difficulty constructing a scenario under which such a thing is likely to happen, but then I’m a bad man without a gun).
  2. Does the weekly number of foiled rapes equal the weekly number of children mowed down by negligent parents. (Kagro X, at Kos, has been reporting an average of two a week, in that minor category of accidental gun violence alone.)
  3. Have the number of such foiled rapes in the history of the entire United States equaled the number of deaths at Sandy Hook?

I’m assuming, of course, that there’s a media conspiracy (the media such as Fox being liberal, and all) to keep the facts of foiled rapes from the American public, though it’s hard to understand why the NRA doesn’t publicize each good woman who saves her virtue at the point of a gun. If there were no such conspiracy, and but for the NRA’s surprising reticence on the subject, I wouldn’t have to ask such obviously stupid questions.

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Spring comin’

Saturday, March 16, 2013

We’re in Boston. Yesterday, we took in the Boston Flower Show. Herewith some pictures, none too great, but at least they serve as a reminder of things to come. In my defense, photo-wise, the lighting at the Seaport World Trade Center, where the show is held, is a nightmare. It’s almost impossible to get a proper color temperature setting. Pictures tend to come out with an orange cast. 

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Friday Night Music-35th Anniversary Edition

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Tuesday will mark 35 years of wedded bliss for me and my girl. Well, not all bliss, especially for her, but we’ve been hanging in there ever since the JP made us legal in our living room before a crowd of four. Somehow, against all odds, she’s put up with me for that long. So, this is dedicated to her. Oddly enough, for such a wonderful song, this is the best video version I could find. The pickings were slim. I was disappointed I couldn’t find a decent video (as opposed to audio with pictures of album covers) that included the introductory verse.

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Here comes the new pontiff, same as the old pontiff

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

But of course, we’ll all get fooled again. This is from an article written in January of 2011:

Benedict XVI gave us words of great comfort and encouragement in the message he delivered on Christmas Eve.

“God anticipates us again and again in unexpected ways,” the pope said. “He does not cease to search for us, to raise us up as often as we might need. He does not abandon the lost sheep in the wilderness into which it had strayed. God does not allow himself to be confounded by our sin. Again and again he begins afresh with us”.

If these words comforted and encouraged me they will surely have done the same for leaders of the church in Argentina, among many others. To the judicious and fair-minded outsider it has been clear for years that the upper reaches of the Argentine church contained many “lost sheep in the wilderness”, men who had communed and supported the unspeakably brutal western-supported military dictatorship that seized power in that country in 1976 and battened on it for years. Not only did the generals slaughter thousands unjustly, often dropping them out of aeroplanes over the River Plate and selling off their orphan children to the highest bidder, they also murdered at least two bishops and many priests. Yet even the execution of other men of the cloth did nothing to shake the support of senior clerics, including representatives of the Holy See, for the criminality of their leader General Jorge Rafael Videla and his minions.

As it happens, in the week before Christmas in the city of Córdoba Videla and some of his military and police cohorts were convicted by their country’s courts of the murder of 31 people between April and October 1976, a small fraction of the killings they were responsible for. The convictions brought life sentences for some of the military. These were not to be served, as has often been the case in Argentina and neighbouring Chile, in comfy armed forces retirement homes but in common prisons. Unsurprisingly there was dancing in the city’s streets when the judge announced the sentences.

What one did not hear from any senior member of the Argentine hierarchy was any expression of regret for the church’s collaboration and in these crimes. The extent of the church’s complicity in the dark deeds was excellently set out by Horacio Verbitsky, one of Argentina’s most notable journalists, in his book El Silencio (Silence). He recounts how the Argentine navy with the connivance of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now the Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires, hid from a visiting delegation of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission the dictatorship’s political prisoners. Bergoglio was hiding them in nothing less than his holiday home in an island called El Silencio in the River Plate. The most shaming thing for the church is that in such circumstances Bergoglio’s name was allowed to go forward in the ballot to chose the successor of John Paul II. What scandal would not have ensued if the first pope ever to be elected from the continent of America had been revealed as an accessory to murder and false imprisonment

(via Hugh O’Shaughnessy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk)

So, if Mr. O’Shaugnessy is correct, we’re about to find what scandal will ensue, for Bergoglio is now, indeed, infallible. As regular readers know, I am an expert on the Catholic Church, having been rigorously schooled by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Our Lady of Sorrows School, and no, you are not reading that wrong, and I still can’t believe that I was probably in my forties before it occurred to me that it is really a bizarre name for a school. Sorry, I stray. I was about to say that, expert that I am, even I don’t know if a pope’s infallibility is retroactive. If it is, then there is obviously no problem in naming a man who chose to aid murderers to the papacy, since as soon as you do so his prior sins are retroactively converted to works of mercy or something. I am afraid I can’t share Mr. O’Shaughnessy’s belief that a scandal, any scandal will ensue. After all, if we can blithely accept a Pope who was a member of the Hitler Youth, we can easily accept one who hid mass murderers from the clutches of the human rights police.

Acknowledgment: Source material shamelessly stolen from a post my younger son put on Facebook.

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