Let's Get Political

497 Hatch F7

Add transition relief for the excise tax on high cost insurance plans for any State with a name the (sic) begins with the letter "U"

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you an amendment added by Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-U fucking kidding me) - Utah, to Sen. Max Baucus' (D-MT) health care mark because of the likelihood that the transition would benefit states like New York, New Jersey and California where the cost of insurance is higher than Utah's.

“The transition relief provided in the chairman’s mark for the 17 states with the least affordable health care is obviously arbitrary and unfair,” Mr. Hatch wrote, explaining the rationale for his amendment. “What about the 18th state? This amendment would add further transition relief in another, but no less arbitrary way to certain states.”

Here are some other amendments added by Republicans:

Ensign 409 - Transparency in Czars.

Hatch 511 - Strike the word “fee” everywhere it appears in the bill and replace with the word “tax.”

Roberts 137 - To prevent Medicare payment policies which discourage physicians from fulfilling their Hippocratic Oath to maintain the good of their patients as their highest priority, and instead encourage the rationing of health care.

Roberts 144 - To ensure that if people like the hometown hospital they have, they can keep it.

No word yet if Republicans will be asking that states that begin with double "U" should be given the same transition relief. You know, states like Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
Two versions of the same song by two great men.
Randy Newman - The Beehive State from Randy NewmanHarry Nilsson - The Beehive State from Nilsson Sings Newman
And something that just feels appropriate
The Sharades - Dumb Head

Kanye Being Kanye or People Talk So Much Shit About Me At Barbershops. They Forget To Get Their Haircut.

Alright, as you all must have seen or heard of by now, Kanye West pulled a real dick move this past Sunday at the VMA's by interrupting a speech by "country star" Taylor Swift. First, I still can't believe they give out awards for music videos to the people who had nothing to do with the creative process of the video, let alone let them speak about what it means to win the award. Why not let the director or someone story boarded the video get up there? Oh, right. Ratings. Anyway, if they just gave the video to the director or someone this whole Kanye/Taylor Swift thing could have been avoided. I blame MTV entirely.

Now anyone who is surprised by Kanye's actions must live under a rock or is over 30 (looking at you everyone in the media) because everyone else knows that Kanye + MTV award show = ahh shit! It doesn't even have to be on this continent and the proverbial shit will still hit the fan.

Kanye West's MTV Tirade | Celebrities | SPIKE.com

See! And you know what, I don't care. Part of my admiration for Kanye West and his music is his ego and the ability to just be a huge asshole. Granted it looks bad when it's done to a 19-year-old, but come on! Did you see that video?

For the last few days we've all had to put up with those godawful, unfunny Kanye interruption memes, and I for one cannot wait to see what Mr. West does with this new found backlash. If you happened to watch him on The Jay Leno Show (is anyone watching that?), you might have seen how an artist can focus all his anger and intensity into a song. Putting up with Leno and his asking about how Kanye's deceased mother would feel about his actions.

In the end, if he refuses to apologize anymore and please God no duet Swift, this will become just another entry on Kanye's wikipedia page, and I may even go in and edit it myself to "Kanye was right" and "whatever happened to Taylor Swift." After all, he was just being what we all expect him to be: himself.

Kanye West - Hey Mama (Grammy 2008 Version)

Kanye West - Robocop from 808s and Heartbreak

Kanye West - Everything I Am from Graduation

Kanye West - Jesus Walks from The College Dropout

Kanye West ft. Consequence & Cam'Ron - Gone from Late Registration

I'm also including the songs that are sampled on "Gone" and "Everything I Am" because they're great.

Otis Redding - It's Too Late from The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads

Prince Phillip Mitchell - If We Can't Be Lovers

So Long, Summer

That's it. Summer is officially done now that Labor Day is behind us. This post will be used to look back on the songs that made up the soundtrack to both MY summer, which seems to include a lot of Kanye West. Oh well, I'm not complaining. There just seemed to be lacking something this summer when it came to the music. There was no "American Boy," (2008)"Hey Ya!," (2003) or "Umbrella" (2007). Nothing that you could hear blasting out of every car that had its windows rolled down or stoop party that went on for the whole night. The closest the summer got to that was when Michael Jackson died and you could literally scan the radio from end to end and hear a Jackson song on nearly every station. That little trick went on for two weeks or so.

I see this summer belonging to the underdog - not counting MJ or Kanye. The songs that made up my summer came from musicians that wanted to make their mark and managed to do so during the time of year that is traditionally the hardest. My number one isn't from a traditional band nor is the sound of the song. Japandroids turn its thrashing lo-fi/noise rock into sing-alongable pop, with childlike glee and superb hooks.

Many of these bands were able to break into the mainstream because the summer lacked that one hit, and I think this summer was better because of that.

1. Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire

2. KiD CuDi - Make Her Say (Ft. Kanye West and Common)

3. Dirty Projectors - No Intention

4. Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill

5. The Dream - Walking On The Moon (Ft. Kanye West)

6. Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others

7. Jarvis Cocker - Leftovers

8. Drake - Best I Ever Had

9. Camera Obscura - French Navy

10. Jay-Z - Run This Town (Ft. Kanye West and Rihanna)

Special Mention

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

R.I.P. Ellie Greenwich

I have been meaning to do a post about the far-reaching effect the music of the song "Be My Baby" has had on pop music, particularly that opening drum beat. You know the one I mean - "Boom! Boom boom, cha! Boom! Boom boom, cha!"

But with the passing today of songwriter Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote not only "Be My Baby," but also, "Leader of the Pack," "Then He Kissed Me," "River Deep Mountain High," "Baby, I Love You," "Chapel Of Love," "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry," "Da Doo Ron Ron," and the holiday favorite "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home," I'm just going to let the song speak for itself and maybe get back to writing about the music when the time is right.

Today we pay homage to Greenwich who died of a heart attack in New York. She was 68. It's no surprise that she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 1991, not only for her immense talent as a songwriter - she had been writing songs since the age of 14, - but also for, I'm guessing, being the cause of many a persons romantic memories.

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

The Dixie Cups - Chapel of Love

The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me

Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep - Mountain High

The Ronettes - Baby, I Love You

Let Me Roll It

Here's another installment of The Beatles and their what if albums. This material is culled from the albums Band on the Run, Mind Games, Some Time In New York City, Living In the Material World, and Ringo. This is by far the best material that was written by the former Beatles (not counting material off their first solo records because that was really work done while The Beatles were still around) after the group's demise but, like the last two albums, it's difficult to see anything done post-Beatles as an actual Beatles album. For example, Band on the Run is really an album that came from its recording in Africa and the life McCartney was living at the time. As much as I'd like to believe that a talent like McCartney could create classic music like the songs that make up this album, I have to say that the title track would definitely not be around if The Beatles were still around, which unfortunately makes it unavailable for these 'what if' track listings. Not to mention Lennon's 'lost weekend.'

David L. Ulin's Third Album: Let Me Roll It

1. Band on the Run

2. Let Me Roll It

3. Woman Is The Nigger of the World

4. Bluebird

5. I'm The Greatest

6. Mind Games

7. Hi Hi Hi

8. Photograph

9. Living In The Material World

10. John Sinclair

As much as I appreciate Ulin for getting the ball rolling on these albums, I can't help but be underwhelmed by his song choices, save for the John Lennon and Ringo Starr tracks. As far as I'm concerned, this was McCartney's strongest output of solo material, and what does he do? He includes "Bluebird." You've got to be kidding me!

Here's My Version

1. Jet

2. Photograph

3. Let Me Roll It

4. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

5. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World

6. Try Some, Buy Some

7. Helen Wheels

8. Tight A$

9. Live and Let Die

10. Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)

Punk Rock Did Not Save My Life

There's a great line in Chuck Klosterman's book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs about a guy coming up to him at a funeral and telling him that punk rock saved his life, which leads Klosterman to ask why his friend didn't just buy some Black Flag records instead of wasting time in chemo. I like Klosterman's humorous approach to that situation, but I also envy the guy that owed his life to punk. I've never been that enamored with a genre of music that I feel the need to openly say that it was my salvation.

Recently I picked up a book called A Cultural Dictionary of Punk (1974-1982) that is actually set up like a dictionary (ABC order and all that jazz) but is filled with a non-linear history of punk, which has given me a much deeper respect for punk's roots before it was branded and Hot Topic-ized;a dictionary doesn't help the cause much either, now that I think about it.

There are great entries for songs like "Dot Dash" by Wire, but there are also wonderful sections dedicated to punk writers and zines and to the politics of the era which lead to the punk scene becoming the force that it was, as well as a fascination with 50's greasers and that era of life as a blueprint for living - Think "What're you rebelling against?" "Whaddya got?" from The Wild One - and a resentment towards hippies, apparently.

The whole book is fascinating and I recommend it to anyone who has never understood punk or just needs a new emergency contact number, because apparently punk will be there for you.

(1975) Lester Bangs and Peter Laughner - Seventeen

(1977) Richard Hell and The Voidoids - Blank Generation

(1978) Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly

(1978) The Undertones - Teenage Kicks

(1978) The Clash - All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)

(1978) Wire - Dot Dash

(1979) Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods

(1980) The Jam - Going Underground

(1980) Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor

(1981) Government Issue - Anarchy Is Dead

(1981) Ejectors - Hydro-Head

(1981) Black Flag - Six Pack

Too Many People

Part II of this what if Beatles extravaganza:

As you know from my earlier post, David L. Ulin wrote about the albums The Beatles could have made had they not split. This is the second album in that alternate universe. It's called Too Many People and is made of material from the years when Lennon released Imagine, McCartney made Ram and Wild Life, Harrison organized the first benefit concert with Concert For Bangladesh, and Ringo released "It Don't Come Easy," a song co-written by Harrison. Not bad for a bunch of Liverpool lads, eh?

When it comes to Too Many People, we reach a speedbump which is Lennon and McCartney really hated one another at this time. And not in the dumb hatred we see today in popular music feuds. These guys wrote some pretty rough songs attacking each other like "How Do You Sleep?" a song from Imagine that had Lennon singing "The only thing you done was yesterday." Ouch! This song came out of McCartney putting the line, "You took your lucky break and broke it in two," in the song "Too Many People" off of Ram, which had on its back cover a picture of two beetles copulating. So, you see, they both kind of couldn't stand each other. So, how would this album even be if we are to use the material they created at this time? Well, we're going to to give it the old college try anyway.

David Ulin's Second Album: Too Many People

1. Imagine

2. Crippled Inside

3. It Don't Come Easy

4. All Things Must Pass

5. Another Day

6. Too Many People

7. Jealous Guy

8. Gimme Some Truth

9. Awaiting On You All

10. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

11. Monkberry Moon Delight

As you can see, Ulin stays away from the jabbing songs from Lennon and McCartney, because how can you have two band members openly tearing each other apart on record and still manage to complete an album? You can't. So no "How Do You Sleep?" or "Dear Boy." Harrison's contributions are still coming from All Things Must Pass because there's enough material there for a decades worth of Beatles records. "Imagine" seems like an odd choice to include on a Beatles record. I feel that if they had still been around, Lennon would have released this under his own name anyway, with a B-Side of "Gimme Some Truth." It just seems to political, especially for a group that was weary of releasing release "Revolution" as a single.

Here's my version:

1. Art of Dying

2. Jealous Guy *

3. It Don't Come Easy

4. Crippled Inside

5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

6. Heart of the Country

7. I Dig Love

8. Too Many People

9. Monkberry Moon Delight

10. Oh Yoko!

11. The Back Seat of My Car **

* Recycled melody from "Child of Nature," a song considered during The White Album

**Considered during the Let It Be sessions

As a special bonus here is Harrison's vocal guide of "It Don't Easy." Pretty sure Stephen Stills, Klaus Voormann, and members of Badfinger appear here.

We All Shine On

Damn you, David L. Ulin! Ok. Maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic but the guy stole my idea for an article about The Beatles and imagining a post-breakup discography. The only hitch is he did it better. His article appears in the July/August issue of The Believer, which just happens to be their music issue. In it, Ulin goes into detail about imagining if The Beatles didn't break up in 1970 but still called it a day somewhere around 1975, leaving plenty of time to "record" new material that really just appeared on post-Beatles solo records.

Now, I have had this idea for the longest time of what would it be like if The Beatles never split and kept making music together. It's something that you do with friends or fellow Beatles enthusiasts and it usually turns into people yelling their favorite solo stuff and making their own albums, which is what Ulin's piece is about (only with no yelling). The problem I always had when it came down to this imagining is, had The Beatles stayed together would these solo songs have come about? For instance, "God" by John Lennon. Maybe it would have come out without that extra stinging lyric of "I don't believe in Beatles," but for arguments sake, that's the whole fucking song! I mean, sure, Lennon said a lot in that song, but I doubt we'd hold that song in such high regard if it weren't for the meaningful kiss off he gives to his former band.

But Ulin does the right thing when it comes time to pick his tracklists. He keeps it strictly Lennon/McCartney, gives Harrison a few slots just like a regular Beatles album, and keeps the Ringo to a minimum. He splits the four albums he creates between seventies material that, for all critical purposes, wasn't very good when compared to work of The Beatles when they were a group, which just goes to show how much they needed each other just as we need them.

David Ulin's First Album: Instant Karma!

Side One
1. Remember
2. Mother
3. Look At Me

4. Teddy Boy
5. Working Class Hero
6. What Is Life

Side Two
1. Cold Turkey
2. Isolation
3. Beware of Darkness
4. Instant Karma!
5. Maybe I'm Amazed

As you can see, Ulin's tracklist is mostly taken from Lennon's solo work from Plastic Ono Band with McCartney and Harrison getting two tracks each. For me, this was always going to be the strongest imaginary record, but Ulin goes a different way from where I would have taken it. The problem that arises when you load it up with Lennon's work from Plastic Ono Band is that it becomes way too personal for a Beatles album. "Mother" as a Beatles song? I don't think so. And where's "Every Night?" How do you sleep at night, David L. Ulin?

In any case, here's my version of Instant Karma!.

Side One
1. Well Well Well

2. Wah-Wah
3. Instant Karma!
4. Every Night

5. My Sweet Lord
6. Cold Turkey

Side Two
1. Behind That Locked Door

2. Junk

3. Beware of Darkness
4. Isolation
5. Maybe I'm Amazed

I'll be tackling these imaginary albums all week, so stay tuned. And remember, this Beatles breaks up in 1975 so no McCartney II. Sorry folks.

Manhattan Island Serenade

I really can't take this rain anymore. So here are a few songs I've been listening to while I've been stuck inside all day, since I don't really have the mindset to write. Lots of Beach Boys for some reason.

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows from 1967 Recording Session

The Beach Boys - Disney Girls from Surf's Up


Leon Russell - Manhattan Island Serenade from Carney

You Wax Poetic 'Bout Things Pathetic

I can't seem to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Because of this, I was able to watch some VH1 Classic the other night/morning, particularly 120 Minutes, a show that is dedicated to alternative music videos. This show has long been off MTV where it got its start, but you can still see it in all its glory (that is, see it in all its glory through increasingly droopy, reddening eyes). Anyway, the other night when I was watching, I had to fortune of seeing a video for Paul Westerberg's "World Class Fad." It's not a very good video but it's fun. Westerberg crawls out of bed, jumps around, orders room service, and plays guitar in the mirror while wearing pajamas and a sparkly suit jacket. Yeah, it's self-masturbatory, but only the best can pull that off. Well, the best and ten-year-old me.

I have always been a fan of Westerberg's fuck off attitude but not because I want to share that outlook. I just respect him for that attitude. Plus, the guy was in The Replacements. How cool is that!? I was, too, once. In fact, we wore the same pajamas.

Music Video 101: Zack Snyder, future director of 300 and Watchmen, directed the video for "World Class Fad."

Paul Westerberg - Dyslexic Heart from Singles Soundtrack

Paul Westerberg - Making Me Go from Come Feel Me Tremble

The Replacements - Androgynous from Let It Be

The Replacements - Tossin' N' Turnin' from Please To Meet Me Reissue