The Pre-Read

The Walkmen

It no secret that when it comes to current popular music I'm fairly out of the loop. My channels of choice on Sirius/XM range from political discussion to 70s, 80s and country western music. My favorite is probably channel 22 which is a return to the New Wave tunes of the early to mid 80s.

But the other night I caught David Letterman's musical guest and I was blown away. The Walkmen are a five member band whose music is ... well hard to categorize. It seems vaguely old fashioned in a way I can only describe as having memorable melodies. Of course I don't mean to intimate that current popular music doesn't have meoldies, it's just that I seem to ahve trouble discovering them.

Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's vocals can be described as a cross between Rod Stewart and Bob Dylan but with an intensity that I haven't found in either.

There's something I enjoy about a singer who seems lost in his music; for that brief two or four minutes to be inveloped in the story he sings. Leithauser doesn't just have a great voice, he has a great sense of feeling. And he's really great to look at which is nice.

It's amazing that this band has been together for 10 years and whatever they're doing seems to be working. Their latest album Lisbon has received great acclaim and for good reason.

I always feel I'm too old to go to concerts these days. But if The Walkmen find their way to my neighborhood I will probably pay them a visit.

If they come to your 'hood, check them out and let me know what you think.

 

Wanda Jackson

I don't know much about Wanda Jackson, but I do know this.  I think she's great.

A musical career that really took off in the 50's and continued in different forms until the early 70s, Jackson seems to have had a resurgence in the 21st century.

Teaming with Jack White, she has a new album; The Party Ain't Over. She appeared on Late Night with David Letterman on Thursday and well, she's right, the party is far from over.

Here's the clip from that show. Again, I don't know much about her, but I can tell you i'm going to order this CD and will look through her catalogue. She sounds fun, and who can't do with a little more fun?

 

Controversial Snow Day

Okay, it's a controversy only on YouTube, but the title sounded interesting.

Recently a video was posted on YouTube that was ... well sweet. Narrated by a guy who belongs on PBS or NPR and a story that was both affirming and inspiring.

Of course now there are detractors. Was the story real? Is this all a set up?

Who knows? I certainly don't. But I will say this. I'm tired of both cynicism and people attempting to elicit a certain emotion by lying. I"m tired of those complaining that everything is a conspiracy and that if it's something really positive, then it must be a set up. I'm also tired of people setting things up to seem real when it's not.

So is there a happy medium? Do we jump from one extreme to the other? Do we protect ourselves from being made fools by being cynical and not believing things we see or hear or read. Or do we lead with our hearts and accept things as they are presented?

For me the answer is simple. Take things with a grain of salt. i would rather believe the good stories I hear and hope they are real. If not, no harm, no foul. But if it is true...well then how much better to be open to it and share in the joy.

I know this all sounds abstract but look at the video below. i choose to believe it's real. And from a guy who was actually OFFERED money by a homeless guy, I have no doubt the story of the $26.00 could be true as well.

LIfe is good and there are good people. Let's hope this video shows that.

 

The Party Of No

When the House of Representatives went to the democrats in 2006, there were loud calls for investigations and subpoenas on all aspects of the War on Terror. From why we switched our focus from Afghanistan to Iraq, how did that 32 billion dollars supposedly disappear and even calls for investigations into the president and vice-president.

Among her first statements as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi said that the congress would endeavor to look forward, not backward and as a result there would be no impeachment proceedings, no investigation in the war and so on. The focus, she said, was to move the country forward and that couldn't be accomplished by taking the peoples time by pursuing those investigations.

Well, Pelosi will step down from the spearship this week, and the republicans will take over.  And how is it that they plan to put the country first? By instigating investigations in a variety of ways.

Republicans have committed to repealing the new Health Care bill that was signed into law last year, they plan to subpoena White House officials in an effort to ... well I'm not really sure to be honest.

Among the people leading the charge is Darrel Issa, the Republican millionaire congressman from California. Some might remember him as the person who spent nearly 2 million dollars to mount a recall of then democratic Governor Gray Davis.  Issa had made no issue of the fact that he planned to run for governor.

Well the recall effort seemed to be working and just a couple of days before the deadline, Republicans convinced Arnold Schwarzenegger to run....the rest is history.

I guess I'm amazed that people will put politics before duty. Gray Davis wasn't the best governor but far from the worst. In the end some of the issues he was blamed for in the recall drive were found out to not be his doing at all.

Now Issa wants to tie up government because he can't stand the democrats and wants them spend time answering subpoenas rather than move the nation forward.

Let's see if the president stands his ground, and lets see if the democrats can shame the republicans into  doing the right thing. And that is to shut up and get to work.

Princess Boy

It's not always easy to accept people that are different or things that we may not understand.

This little boy and his family have a great outlook on life. And ultimately I think the perfect quote from this story is "why can't you let him be happy?" That's a great quote regardless of how one wants to dress.

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