Etta James, RIP

Say goodbye to a singer so talented she could make an Eagles song sound good:

Here she is covering Tammy Wynette. Here she is covering Ray Charles. Here's her most famous hit, in which she reinvigorated an old Glenn Miller song. And here's her obit in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Comments

[Warty]

That sucks.

[White Indian]

I wonder what I have to say about this?

[Iconoclast]

Dunno, but somebody soon will mention how you like to save boogers in a Sucrets tin. And I’ll laugh and laugh.

[Too Soon?]

? Aaaaaaaat laaaaaaaaaast…?
I’m dead.

[.]

Frankly,she butchered that Eagles piece. Other stuff was good though.

[John]

How do you “butcher” something that already sucks?

[Warty]

You know what cheers me up? Kittens.

[Sparky]

You sonofabitch. Stop trying to make me smile.

[Warty]

Eee! Eeee!!

[Warren]

fuck

[Iconoclast]

I can handle gospel music (“soul” if you prefer) for about two minutes before I feel the irrational need to firebomb a church. Does that make me a bad person?

[sarcasmic]

Only if you act on your impulses.

[Iconoclast]

What if they had it coming? What if they were really bad gospel singers?

[sarcasmic]

Unless you’re an employee of a government, you’re just not allowed to kill people on a whim.

Even if they deserve it.

I know it sucks, but that’s life.

[Iconoclast]

I know! I’m afraid to leave my apartment. All those government whim-killers out there, just waiting for me!

[sarcasmic]

Sucks to me you.

[sarcasmic]

*be*

[Iconoclast]

Paranoia is no laughing matter.
As you must know.

[sarcasmic]

It is indeed a laughing matter. I’m laughing. At you.

[Iconoclast]

And I’m feeling it!
[/sarcasm]

[John]

No. It just makes you a philistine with no taste in music.

[Iconoclast]

Oh John, you’re an Etta James fan? And not worshipping her makes me a “philistine” with no “taste” in music?

Should I submit my commentary to you for approval before posting?

[John]

No. Not appreciating gospel and soul is what makes you a philistine. I like Etta. But not liking her is a forgivable sin. But not liking gospel and Soul?

[John]

And you can have whatever tastes you like. That doesn’t make them good however.

[Iconoclast]

Indeed. And it doesn’t mean that you and your endless pronouncements are not full of shit, either.

[John]

What is the fun of being on here if not to kick others around? I kid. But you really don’t like any soul or gospel? Wow. You are missing out.

[Iconoclast]

I said I liked it for two minutes. But put on a Jennifer Hudson tune and I swear I’ll cut somebody, I mean it!

[John]

YEah but she sucks. That is like listening to Micheal Bolton and judging it by that.

The truth is that that kind of music was a product of its time. It really peaked in the 40s 50s and 60s. It is in a sense a dead art form since it has already been done about as well as it will ever be done. I am not sure what it is, but people now just can’t recreate that.

[Iconoclast]

Since this is confession time, I’ll take standard, repetitive, 12-bar blues over gospel and soul any day, but even blues gets old in just a few minutes. The formula has been beaten to death, just like all other forms of pop. When you know what’s coming before it gets there, it’s time for something different, regardless of how awesome the musician’s instrument is.

[John]

I had a musician friend sum up blues for me back in my 20s. I was listening to the then new Eric Clapton record, Out of the Cradle, which is a bunch of blues covers. And I am telling him how great it is. And tells me, “why would I listen to Eric Clapton cover Muddy Waters when I can just listen to Muddy Waters?”

And I had no response. He was right. I love the blues. But I almost never listen to anything made after about 1970. Since the great British blues bands of the 1960s (the Fleetwood Mac is widely underrated) and maybe the early Allmon Brothers, there hasn’t been a single new thing of note down. There can’t be. That is it. You are not playing that kind of music better than people like Muddy Waters and Elmore James and their generation played it. So I like to listen to it too. But off and on. I have heard it all, a million times.

[Iconoclast]

It’s a dead idiom. Sure, there are brilliant practitioners of the form, but how many times can you hear a C-F-G progression or its harmonic equivalent?

“Woke up this morning…”

Please.

[sarcasmic]

but how many times can you hear a C-F-G progression or its harmonic equivalent?

I don’t know. How many songs did the Beatles record?

[Iconoclast]

How many songs did the Beatles record?

Lots. How many more times can you listen to them after 50 years?

[sarcasmic]

How many more times can you listen to them after 50 years?

Once in a blue moon when I’m surfing the dial I may stop on one, but most of the time I keep going until I find a college station. That’s about the only place these days where I’ll hear something I’ve never heard before.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Once in a blue moon when I’m surfing the dial I may stop on one, but most of the time I keep going until I find a college station. That’s about the only place these days where I’ll hear something I’ve never heard before.

Too cool for the freaking Beatles. This is why I repeat myself.

[sarcasmic]

Too cool for the freaking Beatles.

Played out != too cool.

If you insist that it is then your butt-buddy Iconoclast is as well.

Don’t you have a question to answer on the other thread?

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Played out != too cool.

Given your record, I doubt that’s your motivation.

If you insist that it is then your butt-buddy Iconoclast is as well.

What? What does somebody else’s opinion have to do with this?

Don’t you have a question to answer on the other thread?

I don’t respond to homophobic remarks. It just encourages the trogs.

[sarcasmic]

I don’t respond to homophobic remarks.

You just answered the question. Thanks.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

You just answered the question. Thanks.

You’re a fucking retard, dude.

[sarcasmic]

I huwt teh wibowaw waggies feewings.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

[Rev. Blue Moon]

I huwt teh wibowaw waggies feewings.

I am sure that in whatever cave you live in its real “hip” to call people fags, but the rest of us recognize that you’re a hatemonger.

*shrug*. I am sure you live a miserable life, so I’ll let you have your little “UR A FAG” ‘insult’.

[sarcasmic]

You liberals are all the same.
Toodles.

[sarcasmic]

Wait. So you’re a chick?

[John]

A lot if you bring something to it. And guys like Muddy Waters and such brought something to it. There is a sound and a rhythm to it that just can’t be created. I guess you had to grow up in the South in the 20s and had to be recording on primitive equipment to do it. Almost no white acts ever got the beat right. The Stones probably as much as anyone along with the Band and the Allmon Brothers. But the White Blues men as good as some of them were, just didn’t get it.

It is played out. You can’t do it better than it has been done. But fortunately there is a lot of it out there to be heard.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes…

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Why don’t you write a blues song that starts out, “I didn’t wake up this morning…”

[Iconoclast]

I actually did write and record (and sell) a blues parody that began, “Woke up this morning / Felt pretty good / I will not repeat that line / tho’ I know I should”

[John]

The only blues song I can think of that actually begins “Woke up this morning” is Walking Blues.

There are however a few solid rules for the genre.

1. If you go to jail, it is usually to county

2. If a women will not do something, her sister always will

3. Any woman you are with is waiting for you to leave so another man can take your place

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Iconoclast, if you aren’t listening to old musicians who do offbeat music and instead spend all your time listening to KISS FM and watch American Idol, don’t you know how stupid you are? God, I swear, you people and your mainstream crap, I have no idea how you go through life not listening to Robert Johnson on a 78…

[Iconoclast]

I prefer the old 78s of Rachmaninoff doing Chopin, but hey, I’m a pervert.

[Paul]

Not Rachmaninoff! You’re not ready for Rachmaninoff!

[John]

Art Tatum. Drop that little bomb around your hipster acquaintances. They will give you a card right then.

[John]

Robert is an acquired taste. The guy does inhuman finger work. It sounds like two guitars. It is astounding. I can see why guitarists worship the guy. I can’t imagine what it took to play like that (a deal with the devil allegedly). But anyone who tells you they put Robert Johnson on for a little mood music while fixing dinner or plays it loudly getting their drunken groove on is probably lying.

[robc]

Speaking of inhuman finger work

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

If that were Warty or SugarFree posting a link with that title, I absolutely would be afraid to click it.

[Warty]

Rodrigo and Gabriela are huge metalheads, too.

[robc]

Yes they are. They got their start in a Mexican Thrash Metal Band.

Huge Metallica fans. They always play some covers in concert, which is why they are all over youtube (especially One and Master of Puppets).

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Speaking of inhuman finger work

Meh. Lots of wah pedal makes almost anyone’s playing sound cooler.

There are tons of YouTube videos of impressive guitar playing out there. Seems to me there are a lot of undiscovered stars out there – lots of nobodys who have developed guitar playing to a very high level – easily equivalent to many huge rock stars. So what prevents them from being such huge rocks stars? Lack of massive ego and constant, overt self-promotion, I’d wager.

[John]

That and lack of song writing ability. Any monkey can play the opening to Smoke on the Water. But thinking up something that catchy is a bit harder.

The problem with being a guitar player is that you are only one piece of the band. Have a lousy drummer or front man and the band still sucks even though you are great.

See Eric Clapton for example. The guy is a guitar god if there ever has been one. But he has also managed to produce a lot of forgettable music. Why? Because he is not a great singer and after he left Cream never had a great drummer or front man.

[robc]

Who needs a drummer?

let your guitarist handle the percussion.

No pedals needed.

[BakedPenguin]

he has also managed to produce a lot of forgettable music

For good bands, it’s always about more than one person, even if that person writes everything. Good side musicians will bring a lot to a bands sound – almost “pre-production”. I liked the Police until their last album, but I can’t think of one Sting song I’d want to hear.

[John]

You are right. There is more to a band than great musicians. It is kismit. Poor Eric was always like the pretty girl everyone was afraid to ask on a date. Both the Band and the Rolling Stones thought about asking him to join but both thought he would never go for it, when he wanted to join both. All he ever wanted to do was be in a band.

With Sting, I think it was the need to be in a band with someone who had the stature to tell him no. Without the other members of the Police to fight with him, he was able to indulge his worst instincts.

[Pro Libertate]

Love Cream’s music, though.

[robc]

Ive seen R y G live. She is amazing without the wah pedal too.

They arent undiscovered either. Not huge stars either, but when all your music is acoustic, you have a limit.

I saw them in 2010 in Louisville. Only 1400 seat venue, but it was sold out.

[Pro Libertate]

You are such a disappointing pair. I prayed so hard for you. It saddens and hurts me that the two young men whom I raised to believe in the Ten Commandments have returned to me as two thieves, with filthy mouths and bad attitudes. Get out! And don’t come back until you’ve redeemed yourselves.

[John]

Shut up you fat penguin.

[Pro Libertate]

[The nun hits John on the hand with a ruler.]

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Only one of the best fucking movies ever made.

We had that on VHS, and I swear I wore that tape out. I watched that movie literally at least 50 times; possibly more.

Haven’t seen it in years, though. I’d love to watch it again, but I know I would end up watching it alone, because my wife doesn’t think it’s funny, and there’s a bit too much cursing for me to comfortably watch it with my daughters – who probably wouldn’t think it’s too funny anyhow.

[John]

We have both kinds country and western. Greatest line ever.

[Pro Libertate]

I love it. I regularly refer to it as “The Greatest Musical of All Time.” Which offends everyone.

I went to school pretty close to where a lot of the movie was filmed, worked at the Daley Center (where the finale happened), and even saw the building where the mall was (it was something else–don’t remember what). I have to believe that my decision to go to school in Chicago was partially influenced by the film.

[John]

It is the greatest musical ever. The Aretha Franklin and James Brown numbers alone make it that.

And the mall was torn down shortly after the filming of the movie. That is how they were able to drive cars through it.

“Hey the new fords are in early this year”

And in a just universe Carrie Fischer would be remember for her part in that movie as much or more than she is for being Princess Lea.

[Zeb]

It might make you a literal iconoclast.

[Iconoclast]

Sorry, that comment was addressed to the world, not Cleveland.

[sarcasmic]

Did anyone pick her on Howie’s Death Pool?

[?]

Johnny Otis, who “discovered” Etta James, inspired Frank Zappa’s beard (and music), and made Shuggie Otis with his penis, died on Tuesday.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Say goodbye to a singer so talented she could make an Eagles song sound good

Oh, Jacob, I found your Hipster Cred Card on the street. Wouldn’t want you to be without it.

[Iconoclast]

It was Jesse’s Hipster Cred Card you found.
Not that you are not on fire this afternoon, RBM.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Thank you for the correction.

The Eagles: Their Greatest Hits is one of the best-selling albums in music history. Naturally, that means that people just HAVE to hate them. Wouldn’t want to like anything *shudder* popular or anything.

[John]

Some of their music is okay. I hate their country music followers more than them.

[Iconoclast]

Why would you “hate” people with different musical opinions than yours? Sounds psychotic to me. Not that you are not commenting in the right place.

[John]

Hate is a word with many meanings. Do I hate Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks and the rest of the kids who grew up in the 70s and 80s who went on to ruin country music? Not in the biblical sense no. I don’t with a plague on their next three generations. But they are annoying.

[Libertymike]

Not a big Alan Jackson fan, but being somewhat of a Buffet fan, I do love Its Gotta be Five O’clock Somewhere.

[Iconoclast]

You said “hate.” And now you’re walking it back to merely annoying. Is there anything else you’d like to retract today? Think hard. Your admittance into Heaven is at stake.

[John]

It is called hyperbole Iconoclast. Is there a reason why you decided to be a pedantic dick this morning?

[Iconoclast]

Kicks.

[Iconoclast]

Nuttin’ personal, but you do invite it.

[John]

Sure I do. But I will still whine about it.

[Iconoclast]

You’re a good sport.
Most of the time.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

It is called hyperbole Iconoclast. Is there a reason why you decided to be a pedantic dick this morning?

Because’s he’s an Iconoclast?

[Iconoclast]

+13

[The Dude]

I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin’ Eagles, man!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I dig the Eagles. Some of their lyrics are kind of “evil”. Witchy Woman, One Of These Nights, Hotel California all have evil imagery. I bet the 70’s were a fun time for those guys.

[Libertymike]

I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten all goose bumpy while listening to the following:

Pretty Maids in a Row

I Can’t Tell You Why

One of These Nights

In a NY Minute

Desperado

[Paul]

If I ever hear One of These Nights again, it’ll be too soon.

[BakedPenguin]

I actually think the verse is okay. Then that BeeGee disco chorus starts, and I begin projectile vomiting.

[Paul]

Oh wait, I was thinking of Hotel California. So scratch that.

[Jesse Walker]

This reminds me of one of the dumbest conversations of my life, from back around 1989 or so. Someone was offended that I didn’t like some band or another and went on the attack.

OTHER PERSON: I know your kind. You don’t like any music that’s popular.

ME: I’m not sure where you got that from. I like plenty of music that’s popular.

OTHER PERSON: Oh, yeah? Name one popular musician you like.

ME: Well, the most popular musicians around right now are Bruce Springsteen and Prince, and I like both of them.

OTHER PERSON: That doesn’t count. Everybody likes Bruce Springsteen and Prince.

[John]

That is awesome. And your hispster card is definitely revoked for liking Springsteen.

[Paul]

Having your hipster card revoked is a feature.

[db]

I really dislike Springsteen.

[John]

He just can’t sing. And his music is so bland. The guy never wrote a good guitar riff in his life.

[Franklin Harris]

This sucks. I hate Springsteen and hipsters!

[Iconoclast]

Oh yeah?
Well I like Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Put that in your Commemorative Microbrew Mug and swill it!

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Well I like Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Put that in your Commemorative Microbrew Mug and swill it!

And Miller Lite! And Blue Moon (of course)!

I think tonight I will get a #1 from Mickey D’s, a six-pack of Coors, and watch American Idol…and I will love every fucking minute of it.

Roll that in your clove cigarette and smoke it.

[Iconoclast]

I think tonight I will get a #1 from Mickey D’s, a six-pack of Coors, and watch American Idol…and I will love every fucking minute of it.

I swear, RBM, if I wasn’t a red-blooded he-man who didn’t like girls who like Keystone Ice, I’d ask you to marry me, here, in public, just like the biggest narcissist at a nationally televised football game.

[Warty]

It’s not so much that I hate Springsteen, it’s just that I don’t get it. What is the attraction?

[Pro Libertate]

I concur in this opinion.

[John]

I think it is upper middle class white people trying to get in tough with the other side. They really can’t stand poor or working class white people. So they would never want to hang around with them. But they can listen to Springsteen and pretend they are doing so. Springsteen is kind of a minstrel show like that.

[Warty]

That said, the chorus to “We Were Born to Run” is catchy, I have to admit.

[John]

That is catchy. But the guitar riff sounds like bad Ennio Morricone.

[Iconoclast]

The comical leftist sloganeering?
The pity-the-poor-farmers pablum?

[John]

Every character in a Springsteen song is a pathetic loser who has no control over his life. They are all victims. It is really insulting to lower class people.

[Warty]

If only Springsteen aspired to sound like bad Ennio Morricone. That would be an enormous improvement.

[Zeb]

Meh, I’m no Springstein fan, but this is a silly criticism of him. Songs about desperate victims are more insteresting. You don’t write songs about the working class guy who just happily lives his life and does what he needs to do. Unless I am missing the part where he says that all poor people are just like what is depicted in his songs, I don’t see the insult.

[John]

Fair enough Zeb.

[Mongo]

Warty ~ Springsteen is great.

His E Street Band is what ruins his music.

Think about it.

[John]

Mongo,

The only Springsteen record I ever liked was Nebraska. And that was him and his guitar only. So maybe you have a point.

[BakedPenguin]

I liked “Because the Night”, although that was probably due to Patty Smith. She teamed up with better bands as well.

[John]

Patty Smith always sounded like a broken down Tranny to me. Never got her voice.

[SIV]

Patti Smith is the ultimate stylist

[Iconoclast]

Patty Smith is grossly overrated.
There, I said it.

[John]

You are being too kind Iconoclast. I think grossly overrated is putting it mildly. The woman has a four note range.

[Iconoclast]

The woman has a four note range

Well, Billie Holiday had only a seven note range…

Not that she is not overrated too.

Kidding! She’s the tops! She’s the Coliseum…the Louver Museum!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

It’s a New Jersey thing, apparently. I’m not a fan.

[SIV]

Springsteen wrote some great songs. You can tell when they are performed by other people. Because the Night and this come to mind.

[killazontherun]

‘wrapped up like a douche’ has to be one of the oddest lines ever. I still recall the look on my mom’s face when I asked her what that meant.

[John]

It was actually “wrapped up like a deuce” Manfred Man changed it for reasons known only to Manfred.

[BakedPenguin]

your hispster card is definitely revoked for liking Springsteen

I don’t know. He hasn’t been popular for a while.

[John]

So it is like ironic music tastes. I see what you are doing here BP

[SugarFree]

Springsteen? Meh. He’s made it abundantly clear he doesn’t want to have anything to say to my generation. Abundantly clear.

Prince is a amazing, up to a point. He sort of devolves into a parody of himself after Diamonds and Pearls / Graffiti Bridge.

[Mongo]

SF ~ Prince is great.

His entourage is what ruins his music.

[Pro Libertate]

He plays great basketball and makes a mean pancake, too.

[SugarFree]

Prince confirmed that the entire Charlie Murphy story was true, except the part about him dunking.

[Pro Libertate]

Honestly, the Charlie Murphy bits on Chappelle for Rick James and Prince are some of the funniest things ever on TV. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw each for the first time.

[SugarFree]

They should have given the show to Murphy after Chappelle threw his paranoid tantrum.

[Pro Libertate]

Who actually came up with the Charlie Murphy stories? Was it Chappelle? Because whoever did needs a show.

[Warty]

Sure, but Prince’s dickguitar performance was a masterpiece of fuck-youness.

[Mongo]

Prince shoulda deep-sixed his fruitcake hangers-on and went Guitar God.

[John]

He should have. I think Prince was just too damned talented for his own good. That kind of talent makes you crazy.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Saw prince at The Forum this summer, with Maceo Parker. Great show. Man can that little guy play some guitar!

[highnumber]

This reminds me of one of the dumbest conversations of my life […]

It’s H&R regulars steering the Etta James Death Thread to talk about Eric Clapton. This IS one of the dumbest conversations of your life.

[Pro Libertate]

This from the guy who posted 7,000 consecutive Drug Songs of the Day? You’ve changed, man!

[highnumber]

I think I was able to avoid ever posting an Eric Clapton song.

Did we ever get to the bottom of who put the Benzedrine in Mrs Murphy’s Ovaltine?

[Pro Libertate]

I think you’re correct.

And no, that’s still an unsolved mystery.

[Pro Libertate]

I don’t care much for their music, but I don’t hate them because they’re popular.

[killazontherun]

Agreed. Not only were they pretty damn good in heir hey day, but I’ll say almost any musician could learn from Walsh’s highly fluid arrangements.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Heretic! Don’t you know The Eagles are popular? Get thee to the record store and say 10 Hail Johnny Ramones.

[killazontherun]

I like Blitzkrieg Bop, but if you heard that, you’ve heard pretty much everything they ever did.

[John]

Pretty much. I like the Ramones and I like the Clash. But the rest of punk is beyond me. I get it that attitude matters. But dude, you have to do more than just scream and spit on people. I can’t see the point of music played by people who openly admit they can’t play their instruments.

[Zeb]

“I can’t see the point of music played by people who openly admit they can’t play their instruments.”

Isn’t that the Ramones? I don’t think you have heard much punk if you think everything besides those two are just screaming and spitting.

[John]

Zeb,

The Ramones can play a little bit. They can at least play a catchy tune. And the Clash could play a lot. The rest of them, The New York Dolls, The Voidoids, the Sex Pistols, the whole lot of them, couldn’t play a damned thing.

[Zeb]

There are a lot of shitty punk bands. I would defend the NY Dolls though. Clash is definitely the best on your list, I agree there. But there is more to punk than early 80s noise bands.

[highnumber]

How many punk bands couldn’t play their instruments? I think Sid Vicious gave everyone the idea that punk was all attitude, no skill, but in reality I think you’d find a lot of them downplayed their musical aptitude.

[SIV]

You have a tin ear.

[Iconoclast]

Yeah, but you must include Beat on the Brat.

[John]

I like the Ramones cover of the Tom Waits song “I Don’t Want to Grow Up”.

[killazontherun]

heir hey day

So much fail. Porn on the other screen. Distracted!

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Never was a big Eagles fan myself. They had a couple tunes that were ok, but their huge hits were just overplayed to death.

To this day, as soon as I hear the first opening notes of “Hotel California,” I’ll practically break an ankle trying to get to the radio to change the station.

[SugarFree]

For me, I’ll always have a soft-spot for “HC.” I spent a rainy afternoon at Baptist summer camp listening to a wacko Christian talk-show host explicate it line by line to explain how it is a song about Devil worship and The Eagles are devil worshipers. That guy probably had an aneurysm after he heard “Shout at the Devil.”

[John]

I don’t get it RBM. Does liking Etta make Jacob or hipster or prevent him from being one?

[OWS VPS]

Let’s face it, profit is money and money is capital and people who control capital are capitalists.

Capitalists do not care if workers are crippled by unsafe plant environments.

Capitalists do not care if workers are thrown out of their jobs by log exports or antiquated equipment.

Capitalists do not care if the parents of workers must rot with untreated disease, or the children of workers die at birth.

Capitalists do not care if major groups of citizens are discriminated against at work or in the community.

Capitalists certainly do not care if union organizers are run out of town.

Capitalists do not care if workers are paid a living wage.

Capitalists do not care about your job security.

Capitlists do not care if a town is decimated because the steel plant is sent off to China

Capitalists do not care if they enrich foreign countries at the expense of the American worker.

Capitalists do not care about YOU.

These are harsh words but they are conclusions compelled by the facts. Capitalists care only about one thing–P R O F I T.

[OWS-VPS]

“Let’s face it, profit is money and money is capital and people who control capital are capitalists.

Capitalists do not care if workers are crippled by unsafe plant environments.

Capitalists do not care if workers are thrown out of their jobs by log exports or antiquated equipment.

Capitalists do not care if the parents of workers must rot with untreated disease, or the children of workers die at birth.

Capitalists do not care if major groups of citizens are discriminated against at work or in the community.

Capitalists certainly do not care if union organizers are run out of town.

These are harsh words but they are conclusions compelled by the facts.”

[John]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t…..fZfHktOmeg

That is my favorite Etta tune. What a shame. A whole era of music, and probably the best era of American music, is passing from living memory.

[Dagny T.]

Pretty. I hadn’t heard that before.

This is my favorite Etta song.

[El Duderino]

I had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Eagles, man

[John]

Get out of my cab.

[OWS Virtual Public Spaces]

“Let’s face it, profit is money and money is capital and people who control capital are capitalists.

Capitalists do not care if workers are crippled by unsafe plant environments.

Capitalists do not care if workers are thrown out of their jobs by log exports or antiquated equipment.

Capitalists do not care if the parents of workers must rot with untreated disease, or the children of workers die at birth.

Capitalists do not care if major groups of citizens are discriminated against at work or in the community.

Capitalists certainly do not care if union organizers are run out of town.

These are harsh words but they are conclusions compelled by the facts.

[John]

Wade in the water
Wade in the water
Children wade, in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water
Who’s that young girl dressed in red
Wade in the water
Must be the children that Moses led
God’s gonna trouble the water

[Chorus:]
Wade in the water, wade in the water children
Wade in the water,
God’s gonna trouble the water

Who’s that young girl dressed in white
Wade in the water
Must be the children of the Israelite
Oh, God’s gonna trouble the water

[Chorus:]

Who’s that young girl dressed in blue
Wade in the water
Must be the children that’s coming through,
God’s gonna trouble the water, yeah

[Chorus:]

You don’t believe I’ve been redeemed,
Wade in the water
Just so the whole lake goes looking for me
God’s gonna trouble the water

[bmp1701]

“Let’s face it, profit is money”
– And the Winner of the 2012 Golden Derp Award goes to OWS! Profit is gross revenue minus the costs of generating that revenue.

“people who control capital are capitalists”
– True. So if the central government controls all the capital, then it’s the biggest capitalist of them all. Only it will spend its capital to maximize its chances of staying in power, not profitability. See Collapse of the USSR.

“Capitalists do not care if workers are crippled by unsafe plant environments.” – Assuming that the plant owner is a sociopath, AND that his workers are immediately replaceable by equivalently-skilled workers. Otherwise, he has plenty of motivation to prevent his workers from being injured.

“Capitalists do not care if workers are thrown out of their jobs by log exports or antiquated equipment.”
– And the Golden Derp Award for Incoherence goes to OWS! What, pray tell, is a “log export?” And of course capitalists care if their equipment is antiquated, if the antiquated equipment is inefficient and not profitable.

“Capitalists do not care if the parents of workers must rot with untreated disease, or the children of workers die at birth.”
– Shockingly enough, they pay their workers and expect those workers to use that money to help themselves.

“Capitalists do not care if major groups of citizens are discriminated against at work or in the community.”
– As opposed to socialists, who wish to favor different groups of citizens at work and in the community?

“Capitalists certainly do not care if union organizers are run out of town.”
– Yes. And?

[Dan Connor]

I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin’ Eagles, man!

[Warty]

Is the thread total shit, then? Fine. Time for psychedelic rock.

[Dagny T.]

Well, now I at least understand why my parents “dance” the way they do. Fortunately for all of us this is rarely demonstrated.

[Warty]

I prefer the Monster Magnet version, but that’s because I’m a redneck or something.

Were your parents the kind of old hippies who tried to conceal their dope smoking, or the kind who did it in the open?

[Dagny T.]

I actually like that version better too.

The hippie dancing is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? Some attempt at concealment was made when us kiddos were little but when you live in rural BC the jig will inevitably be up sooner or later. I had friends who’d smoke with their parents. I always thought that was a little awkward.

[Warty]

It’s weird enough to drink anything harder than beer with my dad. I can’t imagine how awkward it would be to do lines and dispose of dead hookers with him, you know?

[Dagny T.]

That would only happen if your father was Episiarch so I think you’re safe.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Saw Monster Magnet, White Zombie and Fu Manchu at the Whisky A Go Go way back in probably March 1994. I was fucking out of my gourd on acid, but I swear Dave Wyndorf levitated above the stage for a few minutes.

[Warty]

Dave is wildly underrated as a frontman, and his band is wildly underrated as a band.

[OWS Virtual Public Spaces]

“We Need to Defend Our Race” – An 11th Grader’s Award-Winning Essay

Every year Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh gives out the Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards. The contest “encourages Pittsburgh-area high school students and CMU students to explore their personal experiences with race and discrimination through poetry and prose.”

I’ve read the winning pieces, and they’re all powerful. I’d like to focus, though, on the piece by Jesse Lieberfeld, who took first prize in the category for high school students. A junior at Winchester Thurston High, he has penned an essay entitled, “Fighting a Forbidden Battle: How I Stopped Covering Up for a Hidden Wrong.”

Jesse’s piece is about his precocious political and spiritual journey. Growing up Jewish (observantly so, apparently), he was constantly hearing about the “perfect society” in Israel. That image didn’t jibe with what he was coming to learn. Government propaganda is one thing; but what if it’s coming from the people who are supposed to teach you about the world?

Although I was fortunate enough to have parents who did not try to force me into any one set of beliefs, being Jewish was in no way possible to escape growing up. It was constantly reinforced at every holiday, every service and every encounter with the rest of my relatives. I was forever reminded how intelligent my family was, how important it was to remember where we had come from, and to be proud of all the suffering our people had overcome in order to finally achieve their dream in the perfect society of Israel.
This last mandatory belief was one which I never fully understood, but I always kept the doubts I had about Israel’s spotless reputation to the back of my mind. “Our people” were fighting a war, one I did not fully comprehend, but I naturally assumed that it must be justified. We would never be so amoral as to fight an unjust war.

Yet as I came to learn more about our so-called “conflict” with the Palestinians, I grew more concerned. I routinely heard about unexplained mass killings, attacks on medical bases and other alarmingly violent actions for which I could see no possible reason.

Jesse began to discuss his concerns with other Jews, who used distressingly neutral language to describe the IP conflict (itself a description that Jesse came to understand is a euphemism.) They said it was “a difficult situation” or some such. He learned that for some, behind the euphemism and evasion lay the ugliest of emotions.

It was not until eighth grade that I fully understood what I was on the side of. One afternoon, after a fresh round of killings was announced on our bus ride home, I asked two of my friends who actively supported Israel what they thought. “We need to defend our race,” they told me. “It’s our right.”
“We need to defend our race.”

Where had I heard that before? Wasn’t it the same excuse our own country had used to justify its abuses of African-Americans 60 years ago?

To be clear, he’s not comparing the plight of American blacks in the 50s to that of Palestinians today. He’s referring to the lies dominant groups tell themselves to rationalize their oppression of others. (I would argue that racism is more result than cause of the occupation, because as Chomsky says, “If you’re sitting with your boot on somebody’s neck, you’re going to hate him, because that’s the only way that you can justify what you’re doing, so subjugation automatically yields racism.”)

I can obviously never know what it must have been like to be an African-American in the 1950s. I do feel, however, as though I know exactly what it must have been like to be white during that time, to live under an aura of moral invincibility, to hold unchallengeable beliefs, and to contrive illusions of superiority to avoid having to face simple everyday truths. That illusion was nice while it lasted, but I decided to pass it up. I have never been happier.

Jesse seems to have abandoned not just the lies but also his religion. I hope (and assume) he understands it’s possible to be both a religious Jew and an opponent of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Support for brutality is not a tenet of any kind of Judaism.

Many Jews have gone on journeys similar to Jesse’s. I grew up in a liberal, secular household, yet my “liberal” mother and my “liberal” grandmother (as I learned once I got to college) gave me a one-sided (untrue) take on the IP conflict. Their distortions were more subtle than the ones inflicted on Jesse, but they nonetheless led me to value the lives of Arabs less than the lives of Jews. It was deeply liberating to begin to think for myself.

I hope Jesse’s courageous essay inspires other young Jewish Americans to reject the chauvinistic lies they’ve been fed. In fact, there’s evidence that this is already happening on a broad scale. It’s a promising development for the prospect of peace. A truth-seeing American-Jewish population, one that empathizes en masse with the Palestinians, would be good for the Middle East, good for Palestinians, and good for the Jews.

[shorter OWS VPS]

JOOOS!!111!!!!

[Apatheist]

There’s a whole lot of “back in the day music was so much better” going on above. Some music from the past is good but most of it sucks. Some music today is good but most sucks. Different people place different music in those categories and even like some music they admit sucks because of personal experiences. Arguing about what music is good is a waste of time and arguing that music used to be good but not anymore is pathetic. Fuck off old people!

/end rant

[robc]

The Eagles would be awesome if they fired everyone except Joe Walsh.

Guess I will go listen to some Barmstorm.

[John]

They were pretty much done when he joined. Bernie Lydon had quit. They needed a guitarist and a new direction. The LA cowboy thing was played out. Joe gave it to them.

[robc]

Agreed, but I thought Joe was better with Barnstorm than with The Eagles.

Nice paycheck for him though. So cant blame him.

County Fair is one of my favorite guitar songs.

[John]

Life’s Been Good To Me So Far is an anthem. I love that song. Joe has something few rock stars have, a sense of humor.

[robc]

Saw an interview with him once, he said that sometimes he will be at home reading and the stereo will be too loud, so he will go to turn it down and it wont be on.

[John]

I saw an interview with him once where he said he was in a limo and the Richard Marx song “It Don’t Mean Nothing” was playing. He heard it and was immediatly outraged at how the guitarist on the song had ripped off riffs from his songs. He called his agent to see about suing only to be informed that he himself at actually done the studio work for the song and had just forgotten he did.

He was a guest DJ for a week on a hard rock station back in the mid 1980s where I lived. It was hysterical. His take downs of Springsteen were classic rants. Had he not been a great musician he could have been a great DJ.

[robc]

Saw him in concert once. He has multiple guitars of each type so that he can change out during songs and get the other retuned.

I could see a little backstage and the guy would run out, switch guitars with Joe, then run off stage and start tuning, then switch again 2 minutes later and repeat.

Im pretty sure Joe was the only one who could tell that they were “out of tune” after 2 minutes of playing.

[killazontherun]

Sounds a little OCD. The closest to that I’ve known was a bassist who switched up between every tune but never during.

[robc]

Weird thing is, I dont see it in youtube clips. He may have only done it for a few songs and I have blown it up in my mind. But yeah, still a little bit OCD.

[robc]

Found something verifying what I saw, from some random review:

One thing that was obvious throughout the show was that Joe Walsh is a guitar god. Changing guitars almost every song, and at times mid-song, he played every one of them to the point where I think the guitars may have been asking for a rest.

[killazontherun]

My bassist friend likely only waited between tunes because it would have been too distracting to switch during. Some even fantastic musician need full concentration. Not everybody can play like they are a member of Rush, and suddenly sample from a keyboard with their toes!

[Libertymike]

John, total agreement. By being able to play that tune fairly well on the 88s has helped me, more than once, with the ladies.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Malarkey. You Belong to the City is a great song! So are Boys of Summer and Dirty Laundry.

Somebody get me my pokin’ stick…mah stories are coming on!

[Warty]

Jesus Christ, you have bad taste.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

I know…I don’t even listen to ear-bleeding Swedish death metal. Don’t worry about me: I am going to Ladies 80s tonight and drink myself to death off moonshine.

[Warty]

Eaten

[killazontherun]

You wouldn’t keep Schmit?!? Do people even listen to what is going on in a tune before judging it these days?

[Rev. Blue Moon]

killaz, please, The Eagles are popular, and that is all you need to know. Please stop asking that people actually justify their hate for mainstream music. The fact that it is mainstream speaks for itself.

[killazontherun]

I’ll admit I’m not perfect. If Madonna’s pussy tasted like pumpkin pie I wouldn’t eat it. Same thing with her music, if it sounded like the Heavenly Choir, I’d dig a hole to Hell to get away from it. She is bad for the human condition.

Okay, even after that, Celebrate was catchy. So was Ray of Light. Excellent sample editing there.

[SugarFree]

What makes hipsters so contemptible? Is it the sneering dismissal or the arrogant monomania?

[Episiarch]

It’s the look. When you choose to actively make yourself both ridiculous and aggressively unattractive, it bothers normal people’s sense of aesthetics, even if they don’t realize it.

[Warty]

As bad as the hipsters are, the Counter-Hipsterformation is almost as bad.

[SugarFree]

Warty gets it…

[John]

What is counter hipster formation?

[Warty]

See Blue Moon.

[John]

It is the fact that they deny shit that is so obvious even the casual observer can see it. You don’t exactly have to be a music genius to realize that some enduringly popular band like the Rolling Stones or Prince was better than some two bit punk band that sold 5,000 records back in the day. Hipsters hate that. They hate the idea that there is anything the general population does equally well as they do. So they deny what even your great grand mother who still listens to Lawrence Welk could tell you and pretend that some ridiculous thing is really the truth that only they know.

[Slap the Enlightened!]

Meet the Boswell Sisters.

[John]

Actually hipsters love the Welkster

http://www.amazon.com/Upstairs…..546&sr=1-2

[Warty]

GREGOOOOOOOOOO

Fuck off, cunt.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Guys, I love ya like my own family, but looking down on others for “sneering dismissal and arrogant monomania” is…a bit rich, alright? We’re all arrogant dicks here, so let’s just embrace who we are and watch a gladiator movie together, alright?

[SugarFree]

It’s not so much that I disagree with you, it’s the need to keep repeating yourself that I find tiresome.

You don’t like hipsters. You do like The Eagles. Noted.

[Oh My]

Says the guy who repeats himself daily.

[SugarFree]

But, Rev… I’m not saying I’m not up for a gladiator movie…

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Turkish bathhouse?

[Libertymike]

Just love gladiator movies.

Hey, that’s another birthday gift possibility?

[Libertymike]

Yes, Life’s Been Good, but can you show some love for Mr. Glenn Frey?

[Clown]

Turn around, Brighteyes

[rather]

Etta

[Etta James]

[tap tap]

Is this thing on?
I thought this was all about me?
Still dead here!

[Warty]

I’ve missed Jesse. His threads are always the best.

[SugarFree]

Suck-up.

[Warty]

You’re a towel!

[Oh My]

I find this routine comical and fresh! Don’t ever stop, kids!

[Zeb]

Your shtick is getting old too there, chief.

[SugarFree]

Well, Zeb… people wouldn’t talk to her as Iconoclast any longer, so she had to switch it up. Schizophrenics are like that.

[Zeb]

I want not to care, but I can’t look away from the trainwreck.

[Warty]

WE MAKESES THE PUPPETS DANCE

[Oh My]

Stop not noticing me!

[killazontherun]

Jesse gives out lobsters that have been kissed by the lips of lobstergirl to his favorites.

[Warty]

Lobsters don’t have lips, moron. You’re a moron.

[SugarFree]

Learn to read, moran!

[Warty]

I read as much as I cared to read, and you can’t makes me read another word.

[killazontherun]

Coming from you, I’ll take that as a complementary pillow mint.

[Warty]

The only candy I give out for free is chalky and unpleasant.

[killazontherun]

Obviously, you haven’t been to the Waldorf Astoria in recent years. Their mints are completely bleech. Designed to make you swing from their overpriced bottled water. Doesn’t work. I swing from their overpriced little bottles of liquor instead.

[Zeb]

Sorry everybody, but you are all wrong. My taste in music is actually the correct one.