14 September 2008... On The Garlic
Ring of Lying - The New McCain-Palin Campaign Theme Song
How Little We Know ...
14 September 2007... On The Garlic
I Second The Motion! ..."More Than Ever, Impeachment Is the Cure"
Top Ten Cloves: How President Bush Came Up With New Slogan of "Return On Success"
Don't Look Now... Troops Might, But Habeas Corpus Won't Be Coming Home Anytime Soon
14 September 2006... On The Garlic
Developing Story! Bush Using ‘Third Awakening’ Against Critics, Controversial Law For Insurgents; New Shift By White House To Battle Critics and Insurgents Embraces Religious, American Roots; President Ties Critics To ‘Slave Owners”; Planning Taking Place To Impose Eminent Domain On Anbar Province
Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Will Try To Keep John Bolton At The U.N.
14 September 2005... On The Garlic
Robertson To Ballmer: "I've Got Your Back"; Looking to Strike Deal With Microsoft Chief For Help With Offing Chavez
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons President Bush Took Responsibility For Federal Response To Hurricane Disaster
Monday, September 14, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
Sunday, September 13, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
13 September 2008... On The Garlic
Enormous Searchlight Burning That Gigantic "P" Tonight
Well, I Guess It Rules Out On-Line Gambling Too ...
Golden Boy Petraeus Giving Up His Seat On The Dead Campaign Express
13 September 2007... On The Garlic
Garlictorial: Stop The Lies ... Bring The Troops Home
The PetraeusReportpalooza ... Ready For Your Close-Up, General?
Retro Garlic ... Katie, Katie, Katie ...
13 September 2005... On The Garlic
Schumer, MLB Call For New Roberts Probe; No Records Found Of His Work As Umpire; May Have To Abstain From Potential Steroid Cases
Bush Taps 'America's Fire Chief' As Temp FEMA Honcho; Paulison Takes Helm During Crises; Calls For Pronto Shipments of Duct Tape and Plastic
Top Ten Cloves: What Mike Brown Is Going To Do Now That He Resigned
Saturday, September 12, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
12 September 2008... On The Garlic
McCain Admits He's "Divorced from day-to-day challenges people have"
Oh Boy! ... I Can't Wait For The Debates!
12 September 2007... On The Garlic
The PetraeusReportpalooza: "After two days, no answer to 'how this ends'"
Retro Garlic ... A Sidewalk Full of Banana Peels
Top Ten Cloves: Since Petraeus Can't Say That We Are Safe, The President Will Have To Change His Slogan To ...
12 September 2006... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Ways The Pentagon Plans On Winning Back Western Iraq
12 September 2005... On The Garlic
Patronage Group Protests Brown Demotion; Says President Knew of No Qualifications; Three Association Rules Broken
Google Fires Back At Ballmer; Microsoft Omitted From Searches; Google Maps Highlight Home
EBay Purchase of Skype Prelude To Apple Announcement; Internet Phone Company Key to iPhone Deal and Millions in Resale of Calls
Top Ten Cloves: Tough Questions The Senate Will Ask John Roberts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Rebecca Solnit: How 9/11 Should Be Remembered
It was nearly two-years ago that we highlighted Rebecca Solnit here on The Garlic, and, on this specific day, we are compelled to have her return.
Over on TomDispatch, Ms. Solnit has a fantastic post, an excerpt from her new book, that should be read by one-and-all;
How 9/11 Should Be Remembered - The Extraordinary Achievements of Ordinary PeopleFor this eighth anniversary of that terrible day, the first post-Bush-era anniversary, let's remember what actually happened:
When the planes became missiles and the towers became torches and then shards and clouds of dust, many were afraid, but few if any panicked, other than the President who was far away from danger. The military failed to respond promptly, even though the Pentagon itself was attacked, and the only direct resistance that day came from inside Flight 93, which went down in a field in Pennsylvania on its way to Washington.
[snip]
We failed, however, when we let our own government and media do what that small band from the other side of the Earth could not. Some of us failed, that is, for there were many kinds of response, and some became more radical, more committed, more educated. Mark Fichtel, the president of the New York Coffee, Sugar, and Cocoa Exchange, who scraped his knees badly that morning of September 11th when he was knocked over in a fleeing crowd, was helped to his feet by "a little old lady." He nonetheless had his Exchange up and running the next day, and six months later quit his job, began studying Islam, and then teaching about it.
[snip]
Far more people could have died on September 11th if New Yorkers had not remained calm, had not helped each other out of the endangered buildings and the devastated area, had not reached out to pull people from the collapsing buildings and the dust cloud. The population of the towers was lower than usual that morning, because it was an election day and many were voting before heading to work; it seems emblematic that so many were spared because they were exercising their democratic powers. Others exercised their empathy and altruism. In the evacuation of the towers, John Abruzzo, a paraplegic accountant, was carried down 69 flights of stairs by his coworkers.
[snip]
Many New Yorkers that day committed similar feats of solidarity at great risk. In fact, in all the hundreds of oral histories I read and the many interviews I conducted to research my book, "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster", I could find no one saying he or she was abandoned or attacked in that great exodus. People were frightened and moving fast, but not in a panic. Careful research has led disaster sociologists to the discovery -- one of their many counter-stereotypical conclusions -- that panic is a vanishingly rare phenomenon in disasters, part of an elaborate mythology of our weakness
[snip]
New Yorkers triumphed on that day eight years ago. They triumphed in calm, in strength, in generosity, in improvisation, in kindness. Nor was this something specific to that time or place: San Franciscans during the great earthquake of 1906, Londoners during the Blitz in World War II, the great majority of New Orleanians after Hurricane Katrina hit, in fact most people in most disasters in most places have behaved with just this sort of grace and dignity.
[snip]
After the 9/11 storm struck, the affected civilians in New York were seen as victims; after Katrina, those in New Orleans were portrayed as brutes. In both cities, the great majority of affected people were actually neither helpless nor savage; they were something else -- they were citizens, if by that word we mean civic engagement rather than citizenship status. In both places ordinary people were extraordinarily resourceful, generous, and kind, as were some police officers, firefighters, rescue workers, and a very few politicians. In both cases, the majority of politicians led us astray. All I would have wanted in that September moment, though, was politicians who stayed out of the way, and people who were more suspicious of the news and the newsmakers.
[snip]
The dead must be remembered, but the living are the monument, the living who coexist in peace in ordinary times and who save one another in extraordinary times. Civil society triumphed that morning in full glory. Look at it: remember that this is who we were and can be.
September 11th may never become the holiday, or, day-of-remembrance, it should be, chiefly due to the dwarf, finks, phonies and frauds of The Bush Grindhouse, and all the cronies - the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show, and the cheerleading Corporate Media - how they exploited the tragedy for the masturbation of their own warped ideology (ironically, killing hundreds-of-thousands more).
It takes ordinary people - like Rebecca Solnit, and many, many others - to put it in the right perspective.
Go read Rebecca Solnit's "How 9/11 Should Be Remembered - The Extraordinary Achievements of Ordinary People", and leave a comment, if you were able to keep your eyes dry while absorbing it.
And, you can go here to purchase her book, "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster"
This Date ... On The Garlic
11 September 2008... On The Garlic
Peace Piece
11 September 2007... On The Garlic
Good Post Alert: Author under gag order assails producer, ABC for 'Path to 9/11'
11 September 2006... On The Garlic
Minced Garlic Trois - Special September 11th Special Comment By Keith Olbermann: “This Hole In The Ground”
Breaking and Developing News! ABC Fesses Up; Plan For 'Path To 9-11' Is To Launch ‘Dancing With History’ Series; Establish “Dancing” Franchise In Same Vein As CSI, Law and Order; Disney Signs Coulter for New Death Wish Projects
Cheney Woozy After MTP, Failed To Continue Nazi Thread; Cheney Briefly Hospitalized After Television Appearance Yesterday; Vice President Complained Of Dizziness After Relentless Spin Session on ‘Meet The Press’
Thursday, September 10, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
9 September 2008... On The Garlic
Yeah... But Was She A Good Tipper?
We Told You He Was Just Like Bob Dole
Top Ten Cloves: Ways Charlie Gibson Can Screw Up Interview With Sarah Palin
9 September 2005... On The Garlic
New iPod Phone Requires Downloading Calls; Discount Offered On Call/Song Combo; Plans Coming To Allow Selling Of Calls
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard On Vice President Cheney's Tour of Hurricane Region
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
8 September 2008... On The Garlic
The Lies To Nowhere Report
MSNBC Waves The Right Flag
Elmera Gantry
8 September 2007... On The Garlic
Leave Freddie Alone, He Knows His Symbolism - As Good As The Red Paint On An Old Pick-Up Truck
The Real Rudy
8 September 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! When It Rains, It Pours ... More HP Board Leaks; HP Said To Be Readying Appeal To Congress For Greater Surveillance Powers; Dunn Echoes President, Calls Employees Who Tolerate Leaks “Appeasers”; May Bring In Cheney, Rumsfeld For Pep Talks
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At ABC Meetings About “Path To 9/11” Movie
Monday, September 07, 2009
Happy Labor Day!
Happy First-Monday-In-September, otherwise known as Labor Day!
It is a Federal Holiday today, and Wikipedia tells us;The holiday originated in Canada out of labor disputes ("Nine-Hour Movement") first in Hamilton, then in Toronto, Canada in the 1870s, which resulted in a Trade Union Act which legalized and protected union activity in 1872 in Canada. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration in Canada. In 1882, American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto. Inspired from Canadian events in Toronto, he returned to New York and organized the first American "labor day" on September 5 of the same year.[citation needed]
Wow!
The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.[1] In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the US military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[2] Cleveland was also concerned that aligning a US labor holiday with existing international May Day celebrations would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair.[3] All 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.
A President who makes something a "top political priority" and then gets it done - Imagine that!
Today is also, unofficially, the demarcation point, signaling the end of Summer (you can put away those white pants now).
So, for our contribution, we'll give you, what became, a Jazz standard, recorded by just about everybody (including Bobby Darin).
Work Song, written by Nat Adderley (HERE"S an interview with Nat), however, more associated with his brother, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (and, sometimes given the title "The Chain Gang Song").
At least one line of the lyrics is still, unfortunately, on-the-money for today;Been workin' and workin', and still got so terribly far to go ...
Whatever you do today, however you celebrate it, Happy Labor Day!
Cannonball Adderley Sextet- Work Song (From Oscar Brown Jr's Jazz Scene, with Nat Adderley, Louis Hayes, Sam Jones, Joe Zawinul, Yusef Lateef)
Bonus Bonus
Here's another rendition from a killer, All-Star line-up of Sonny Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Watrous, Hubert Laws, McCoy Tyner, George Benson, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Airto Moreira;
Down Beat 1975 poll-winners' show: 'Work Song'
Or, Oscar Brown Jr. hittin' it
Nina Simone
Grant Green
Monty Alexander Trio
Ray Barretto & New World Spirit
Eddie Harris
This Date ... On The Garlic
7 September 2008... On The Garlic
Good Post Alert: Sarah Vowell's "Party Guy"
We Have Our Winner ...
7 September 2007... On The Garlic
"And Now We Come To The Sanity Clause ..."
He Should Have Used "The Google"
7 September 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! President Speech “Absolutely un-American” Says Chicago; Chicago Council Stirs New Controversy, Passes Ban On Bush Speeches
Garlic Exclusive - Developing Story “We Have To Fight These Afghan Narco-Fascists”; Bush Admits, Defends Afghanistan “Just Say No” Policy
Top Ten Cloves: Problems Created With President Bush Admitting To CIA Black Site Prisons
7 September 2005... On The Garlic
Cheney To Visit, Beef Up New Orleans Security; Will Patrol and Bring Law and Order; Also Paving Way For Halliburton Contracts
Justice Dept. Swamped With Flood, Hurricane Confessions; Thousands Say They Are To Blame; White House Orders Log Kept For Future Use
Top Ten Cloves: Things That Can Go Wrong With Playboy Magazine Offering On-Line Version
Sunday, September 06, 2009
"That's What Canino Said To Little Jonesy ..."
Well, we need to walk around out here a bit, get our bearings, as it has been awhile.
A super-sized Lo Siento, Garlic Fans, for our disappearance this past week.
Now, nothing as the title of the post may suggest, as complicated as 'The Big Sleep' plot, and who killed Sean Regan.Look angel, I'm tired. My jaw hurts and my ribs ache. I killed a man back there and I had to stand by when a harmless little guy was killed. Do you think I can tell them all that happened because Geiger tried to throw a loop over Carmen? If I tell them that, they'll swarm over your house so fast that every closet you and your family have been in for the last six years will look like a police convention. They'll all ask the same question - where's Sean Regan? Why did Eddie Mars hide his wife to make it look like she ran off with Regan? Why did you hide out there? You're playing with dynamite.
Merely, we had multiple things happening on the homefront, and for a few of the AWOL Days, we didn't even fire up the computer, between dealing with what needed to be dealt with, piled on by major allergies, and just, at the end of the day, being bone-dead tired (perhaps the Full Moon at the end of the week kicked in something, as well).
We're planning on getting back into the groove tomorrow, so hang in there - fresh copy is in the pipeline.
As always, Mucho Thanks for visiting The Garlic.
Bonus Bonus
Since teasing this post with 'The Big Sleep' ....
The Big Sleep Trailer
The Big Sleep - music scene
This Date ... On The Garlic
6 September 2007... On The Garlic
New Garlic Song: Bush Could Write A Book
6 September 2005... On The Garlic
Baghdad Blockbuster! - Sunni's Offer Deal To Support Vote In Exchange For Sections of New Orleans; Believe Better Chances of Revenue in Flooded US City Than Iraq; Can Offer Security Services As Area Rebuilds
DOD Adds Carrot Top, Omarosa To Freedom Walk; Rumsfield Adding 'Hollywood Glitz' To Festivities; Commemorative Levee To Be Built
Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Kayne West Knows That President Bush Doesn't Care About
Saturday, September 05, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
5 September 2008... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons McCain Campaign Is Keeping Sarah Palin Away From The Media
5 September 2007... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons How Air Force Mistakenly Flew 5 Nuclear Warheads Across Country
5 September 2006... On The Garlic
Minced Garlic Redux! ... New Keith Olbermann Special Comment - 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?'
News In Brief: Pluto Move Won’t Change Standing With President Against Intergalactic-Fascists; Pluto Planning Run With Independent Solar System; Takes Cues From Lieberman, Who Says May Caucus With New Galaxy
Friday, September 04, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
4 September 2008... On The Garlic
Legally Alaskan ...Or: Base Hit
Well, Well, Well ... We Found Those Republican Hats!
4 September 2007... On The Garlic
Minced Garlic ... New Keith Olbermann Special Comment ... Lying, Lying, Lying!
''Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in ... another stall.''
Today's Hysterical Must Read: White Flour!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
3 September 2008... On The Garlic
Noonan Gives Palin, McCain A "Full Detroit"
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Vetting Sarah Palin In One Day
3 September 2007... On The Garlic
Photo Op Accomplished - Hooah!
Good Post Alert - Edward Copeland's Review of 'No End In Sight'
3 September 2006... On The Garlic
Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
This Date ... On The Garlic
2 September 2008... On The Garlic
There Is No Greater Cause ...
2 September 2007... On The Garlic
Katie ... Now, Just Click Your Heels Together Three Times ...
Editor's Note - Another Mea Culpa For Absence and Low Posting
2 September 2006... On The Garlic
We Zigged, When We Should Have Zagged ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Killing Weeds
This comes rather late in the season, however, it should be filed away, to help you next year
Dr. Knowledge, in 'The Boston Globe' today, asks, and answers, a question that plagues just about anyone;
How do weed killers kill weeds but nothing else?This is an interesting summer question, and the answer is a bit complex, since there isn’t really a good scientific definition of weed.
You can hit the link to get into all the wonky stuff, about weeds, and the chemicals that kill them.
Basically, a weed is a plant you don’t want, and a weed killer is something that should kill it. So it all boils down to figuring out what you want to kill and how it’s different from what you want to keep.
But Dr. Knowledge does offer an alternative;Many choices, many herbicides — or you can just pull up what you don’t want by hand and skip a trip to the gym.
Maybe, next year, Dr. Knowledge will ask, and write about, the various muscle creams, and how they work.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
My Foolish Heart
Ahhh ... It was one of those days ...
Caught between wanting to be lazy, yet, duty called, with a few various tasks on the homefront (including having the television go on the fritz - well, actually, die - and having to juggle around some things).
And, while there are some juicy items laying out there, we gave in to, upon finishing the above-mentioned, to chilling out.
With the help of Chet Baker.
This is one of our favorites, though, there is even a better rendition, killer stuff, on the 'Chet Baker in Bologna' album.
It fit the evening perfectly, offering optimistic sadness to lay about and swim in ...
Enjoy!
Chet Baker - My Foolish Heart
My Foolish Heart - Chet Baker
This Date ... On The Garlic
30 August 2008... On The Garlic
The 1,001 Points of Light
Let's Give It To Mikey ... He Hates Everything!
30 August 2006... On The Garlic
Minced Garlic ... Keith Olbermann Special Comment - Feeling morally, intellectually confused?
Developing Story: Iraqis Fume, Charge Bush With ‘Cutting and Standing”; Bush Promise To Hurricane Victims Inflames Iraqis; May Sue In World Court; Fear Unfinished Job; Maliki Says “He Was Here First” and “He Can’t Stand In Two Places”
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Where Did We See This Before?
Seems that The Washington Post is giving Stephen Hayes a run for his money, of being the Chief Cheney Fluffer, with an enormo article today, essentially, endorsing the Shadow President's view that torture is good.
But it is the Politico article that has rung bells for me;The story -- which seems sure to provoke an intense reaction from the many critics of President Bush's interrogation policies, and comes just before Dick Cheney's appearance, taped Friday, on Fox News Sunday ...
Hmmm ...
I guess with Little Timmy Russert gone, MTP isn't quite the friendly place for Shadow President Cheney to go promote his propaganda (not that David Gregory would, necessarily, do anything different in making Cheney as comfortable as he could, tossing big, ol' Russert-like softballs).
Now granted, the Politico piece notes the interview was taped on Friday.
You have to figure that Shadow President Cheney has his sources, if not given an advance copy outright, so it will be interesting to see how much of it Cheney quotes, or, coincidentally, states in similar, if not the exact same language.
Not as sharp as the old NYT/Judy Miller days, but, you have to figure, not actually still being in power, they have to work a little harder to pull those strings.
And, Little Timmy Russert must be smiling in his grave.
Bonus Links
Greg Sargent - Stephen Hayes: Cheney Himself Didn’t Actually Torture. So There!
DougJ: Post goes pro-torture
Emptywheel: The WaPo Declares Itself Unable to Find the Truth
Melvin A. Goodman - Exposed: The WPost’s One-Sided Account of Torture and Abuse
This Date ... On The Garlic
29 August 2008... On The Garlic
McCain VP Confusion; Staff Had Canadian Actress Sarah Polley In Dayton Hotel For Three Days
29 August 2007... On The Garlic
Breaking News! Another Bombshell - Craig To Enter Rehab; Cites Suffering From 'Restroom Leg Syndrome'
29 August 2006... On The Garlic
More Than A Few Cloves ... The Garlic Special - Hurricane Katrina Redux
Friday, August 28, 2009
New Ignorant Dolt: Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins
Or, better yet, Congress's "Great White Dope".
That being Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, for bursting through to grab the Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre.
We go to the local Kansas paper for the call;
Jenkins' remark raises eyebrows"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," Jenkins said to the crowd. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."
Sorry, there Representative Jenkins (and Mary Geiger).
[snip]
The phrase "great white hope" is frequently tied to racist attitudes permeating the United States when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson fought in the early 1900s. Reaction to the first black man to reign as champion was intense enough to build support for a campaign to find a white fighter capable of reclaiming the title from Johnson.
[snip]
Mary Geiger, a spokeswoman for Jenkins, said the reference to a great white hope wasn't meant to denote a preference by Jenkins for politicians of a particular "race, creed or any background." Jenkins was expressing faith fellow GOP representatives in the House would be key players in returning Republicans to a leadership role in Washington, Geiger said.
"There may be some misunderstanding there when she talked about the great white hope," Geiger said. "What she meant by it is they have a bright future. They're bright lights within the party."
If you meant to reference the young, "bright lights" PartyofNoicans, then you would have said something like "we have some young bright lights in the PartyofNoicans"
There is no other context to "Great White Hope";The phrase "great white hope" is frequently tied to racist attitudes permeating the United States when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson fought in the early 1900s. Reaction to the first black man to reign as champion was intense enough to build support for a campaign to find a white fighter capable of reclaiming the title from Johnson.
If you don't want to go back to Jack Johnson, just go back to the early 1980's, and the Larry Holmes - Gerry Cooney fight;Holmes successfully defended the WBC belt 17 times until December 11, 1983, when he voluntarily relinquished that title for the championship of the new International Boxing Federation. In 1982, Holmes gained some measure of notoriety when he fought Gerry Cooney, a white boxer who many thought had a chance to unseat Holmes. A lot of racial tension was involved with this fight, with Cooney considered "the great white hope" and the best white heavyweight since Rocky Marciano. During the prefight introductions, Holmes was announced first and Cooney second. Although champions are traditionally announced second Holmes himself had been introduced second when he won the title from Ken Norton. Despite bitterness and racial tension among fans of both fighters, the two became friends. In the 1990s, a movie called The Great White Hype starring Damon Wayans and Peter Berg was loosely based on the Holmes-Cooney fight. Holmes defeated Cooney by TKO in the 13th round.
We're fairly confident, that in referring to Gerry Cooney as the "great white hope", the boxing world wasn't articulating they thought Cooney was one of boxing's "young bright lights".
Ignorant Doltness of this level, the stupidity to say it, and then, the extra dollop of stupidity, to try to spin a different meaning on it ...
This should disqualify Jenkins for any elected office, at any level, including grade school government.
Let it be known, with our growing roster of Ignorant Dolts, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins is one of our young, bright lights of Ignorant Dolts.
We can only look forward to more incredible denseness coming from her.
Bonus Ignorant Dolt Lynn Jenkins Riffs
Logan Murphy: KS Republican Lynn Jenkins Says GOP Struggling To Find "Great White Hope" To Take On Obama
Ta-Nehisi Coates: GOP In Search Of A "Great White Hope"
Colby Hall: Health Care Debate Gets Racial With “Great White Hope” Comment
Matthew Yglesias: GOP Member of Congress Looking for “Great White Hope” to Tackle Obama
Bonus Bonus
Hmmm ...
Wonder if Ignorant Dolt Jenkins will be putting this on her iPod?
Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson(Remix)
Good Parody ...
This thing has been making the rounds today, from the Onion News Network.
It pretty funny, and remarkably, watching it, brings to mind watching almost any cable news show, (and in particular, Faux News).
Check it out.
Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?
Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?
This Date ... On The Garlic
28 August 2008... On The Garlic
Here's Where Time Magazine Screwed Up
"You're Not Big Enough To Do This To Rocco ... I Kill You ..."
28 August 2007... On The Garlic
This Is Just Too, Too Rich ...
Top Ten Cloves: Things About Admitting You Have A Wide Stance
28 August 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! President Calls Hurricanes Meteorological-Fascists; With Katrina Anniversary Comes Bush Move To Push Hurricane Season Back; Cites Potential To “Disrupt Too Many Vacations”; Reaffirms War, Adjusting To Win Against Powerful Storms
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At The Emmy’s Last Night
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Happy 100th, Prez!
No, we won't be a dolt, and leave you hanging, sitting there, reading this, thinking "Okay, what President would have been 100-years-old today?"
This guy was never elected.
Check that.
He was, perhaps, unanimously acclaimed as the coolest cat on the planet.
The original hipster.
The Prez we speak of, and herald today, is Jazz giant Lester Young.
Many of my friends know, one of my biggest laments in life is that I don’t wake up in the morning with the ability to play the tenor saxophone like Lester Young (if I could play it at all, that is).
Man, Prez just beat it to death ... A monster player, paid his dues in the Basie Band, and swung with the best of them.
From All About Jazz;Lester “Prez” Young was one of the giants of the tenor saxophone. He was the greatest improviser between Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong of the 1920s and Charlie Parker in the 1940s. From the beginning, he set out to be different: He had his own lingo; In the Forties, he grew his hair out. The other tenor players held their saxophones upright in front of them, so Young held his out to the side, kind of like a flute (see picture above). Then, there was the way he played: Hawkins played around harmonic runs. He played flurries of notes and had a HUGE tone that the other tenor players of the day emulated. Young used a softer tone that resulted In a soft, light sound (if you didn't know better, you would think the two were playing different instruments). Young used less notes and slurred notes together, creating more melodic solos. He played the ordinary in an extraordinary way, using a lot of subtleties to produce music that Billie Holiday said flips you out of your seat with surprise.
And, lest you think that it is only our opinion about Lester Young being the "coolest cat on the planet";
From Jamie Katz, in 'Smithsonian Magazine';Like many of Young’s phrases—musical and verbal—the comment was both deft and shrouded. He was known for speaking a private language, some of which has entered the American lexicon. The expression “that’s cool” was probably coined by him, as were “bread” (for money), “You dig?” and such colorful sayings as “I feel a draft”—code for prejudice and hostility in the air. He also wore sunglasses in nightclubs, sported a crushed black porkpie hat and tilted his saxophone at a high angle “like a canoeist about to plunge his paddle into the water,” as the New Yorker’s Whitney Balliett put it. Rolling Stone later pronounced Prez “quite likely the hippest dude that ever lived.”
And, Wikipedia;Young was viewed as an eccentric by those he chose to exclude from his circle (those he did not trust). He did so by creating his own language that his friends could understand, that might baffle outsiders. Those on the outside viewed it as a rococo and often inscrutable personal slang, famously referring to a narcotics detective or policeman as a "Bob Crosby" (referring to Bob and Bing Crosby if multiple police officers were present), a rehearsal as a "molly trolley", and an instrumentalist's keys or fingers as his "people". He dressed distinctively, especially in his trademark pork pie hat. When he played saxophone, particularly in his younger days, he would sometimes hold the horn off to the right side at a near-horizontal angle, like a flute. Joop Visser believes that it was Lester's residence in the stuffy Reno Club with the Count Basie Band that caused this idiosyncrasy, as by holding it that way it was the only way Lester could keep his tenor sax from knocking into someone else's instrument. He is considered by many to be an early hipster, predating Slim Gaillard and Dizzy Gillespie.
This here isn't the rendition we were looking for, but it is one of our favorites.
Billie Holiday / Lester Young - This Year's Kisses
It was Billie Holliday who dubbed Lester Young "Prez";Since the days of Joe "King" Oliver, jazz has bestowed lofty titles upon its ace practitioners. Bessie Smith graduated from "Queen of the Blues" to "Empress of the Blues," Benny Goodman was proclaimed "King of Swing", there was a "Duke" Ellington, a "Count" Basie, and Lester Young was dubbed Prez (short for president, a title given to him by Billie Holiday). "We called my mother 'the Duchess,'" Holiday said in a 1959 interview, "so he [Lester Young] named me 'Lady Day' and I called him 'Prez'--we were the royal family."[3] It has been suggested that Young was called "Prez" long before meeting her, but there is no evidence of that.
If I had a time machine, probably, the first place I would go back to, is the era of Lester Young.
What a gas it would have been to be around him.
Go now, and dig his music.
Happy B'Day Prez!
Lester Young - Lester Leaps In
Lester Young - Jitterbug Jam
Lester Young & Teddy Wilson - All of Me
Almost Like Being In Love - Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio
Bonus Bonus
The Pork Pie Hat.
Charles Mingus (speaking of Jazz giants), wrote this tune for Lester Young.
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat-Charles Mingus
(And, Joni Mitchell - Yes, that Joni Mitchell - wrote lyrics for it, that you can check out HERE)
