Wanker Deluxe

OVERKILL

Adam Lanza? Never heard of him. According to the NRA , it's all part of a government conspiracy, but then again, to Wayne LaPierre, isn't everything?
The NRA issued a statement Thursday responding to the release of dozens of official police documents on Newtown, Conn., shooter Adam Lanza, saying that one of the items police found is not being accurately reported.
In searching Lanza's home, investigators found an NRA certificate registered in Lanza's name, as well as one in the name of his mother, Nancy Lanza. The NRA claims that the police records are false.
"There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association. Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory," the statement said.
According to the documents, police found "Adam Lanza National Rifle Association Certificate" in a blue duffel bag. The official police documents detailed more than 100 items police found in Lanza's home.
Here's the relevant portion of the search warrant:

Frankly, I don't think there is much more to say here....
except, that maybe it really is the time to release the photos!
Does America have to be disciplined like a bad puppy and have it nose rubbed in its own shit?
I've probably said too much already....

FREEDOM

Early on the morning of May 13, 1862, a lookout on the U.S.S. Onward spotted a Confederate steamer heading out of Charleston Harbor directly toward the Union blockade. Commander F.J. Nickels was about to fire when he saw that the steamer was flying a white flag. “The steamer ran alongside and I immediately boarded her, hauled down [the] flag of truce, and hoisted the American ensign, and found that it was the steamer Planter, of Charleston, and had successfully run past the forts and escaped.”

The transport ship’s pilot, Robert Smalls, had resolved to escape slavery by steaming out to the Union warships blockading his city. When the ship’s white officers had gone ashore that night, he directed his eight fellow slaves to fire up the boilers and guided the ship to a nearby wharf, where they collected their families. Then Smalls donned the captain’s hat and coat and gave two long and one short blasts on the whistle as they neared Fort Sumter, as he had seen the captain do. The sentry sent him on his way. As he made for the Union fleet three miles away, he put up one of his wife’s bedsheets as a flag of truce.
Harper’s Weekly called the theft “one of the most daring and heroic adventures since the war commenced.” In his Naval History of the Civil War, Union admiral David Dixon wrote, “The taking out of the ‘Planter’ would have done credit to anyone, but the cleverness with which the whole affair was conducted deserves more than a passing notice.”

Smalls was given a monetary reward for the captured Planter and went on to serve in the South Carolina legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. When Abraham Lincoln asked why he had stolen the ship, he said simply, “Freedom.”

Reality Check

Oh, Shit....

TIME!

You know what? I hate the entire concept of Daylight Savings time...Who's saving what? From whom? Tonight here in Europe, my Time Zone, CET is changing the time at midnight. I am a solar powered organism. I hate the change in the fall, when I lose an hour of daylight to the fucking cows?...as far as I can figure, they are the real culprits.  As long as I get my 8 hours of sleep, I'm happy, but the more day light I get each day, the happier I am. I've been ranting about this for years. There are so many good reasons not to switch time and as far as I'm concerned, the most important one is me!

Just Wankers

A wee bit of wisdom from one of my favorite Scottish Philosophers, Irvine Welsh...

The Crisis Of Capitalism

Pretty fuckin' brilliant, I'd say!

Jack Talks

I never saw this before. I have always admired Jack Bruce as totally open, incredibly talented natural musician. He plays Jazz, but has worked with some of the greatest avant garde composers of our time. Beyond being one of the most influential bass players ever, if you don't know who this guy was, he was the bass player of Cream and the vocalist and bass player on the Manfred Man 60's classic, Pretty Flamingo. He is an incredible keyboard player and composer and a classically trained singer. He has used all of these talents to push the boundaries of music in his own work and as a tool to be used by others. Here. Jack talks about music, plays the classical Indian instrument, the veena, then a grand baroque organ.

compréhension de la culture françaises

I hope this helps you understand French culture more profoundly. This is a promo for the Oyster industry located on the Atlantic Coast, in the vicinity of L'ile d'Oleron. And yes, this is a normal TV ad...it was just on during the Noon Time News on the local France3 channels all over France.

Me? I love oysters and I love this ad!

What So Never The Dance

Bootsy Collins in his Cincinnati based, post JB band, The House Guests, with his bro, Catfish Collins.

He left James Brown and took the horn section with him.  

This is their self financed single, What So Never The Dance...Now this is a bass riff for the ages!

ouragan dans un pot de thé

I'm sure that this is much more than you want to or need to know about French politics. I don't do this very often, but I am compelled to give some background on the latest developments on this land I am a part of now and love. It's very hard to explain French politics and the French mentality to Americans. I have been immersed in this culture for the last 30 or so years, but I will always be an outsider. This was the first really secular society, the word is laicitie, yet it remains profoundly Catholic. But for most French, the definition of being Catholic is profoundly different than an American, or an Italian. Your typical French male person who would identify them self as Catholic would be in the strict eyes of the Vatican living in a state of mortal sin. Culturally, most people are Catholics by heritage. There is a large Protestant population, that is what the Wars of Religion in the 16th Century were all about. There was a large Jewish population, but it's just beginning to really recover it's numbers 60 years after WW2. The Evangelist Christians are beginning to make inroads here, especially in the large Gypsy population, which was traditionally and nominally Catholic. Moslem?...don't go there...it's the fastest growing demographic group in France.
But this is a laic country. Churches are not allowed to own property directly. The historical churches all over France are State owned and maintained as our cultural heritage.  The outward expression of religious belief is considered wrong and in many cases, illegal.
There are religious private schools here but they are not state supported. So, most people while they identify themselves as Catholic, do not practice the religion as Americans do in their guilt bound strictures. Most French men are baptized in a church, the do the childhood rituals, first communion, confirmation and then outside of marriage and funerals, usually only are seen inside a church when they are dragged to midnight mass on Christmas...if the church in your village is important enough to rate a visit from the local cure for Christmas.
But it's in the culture, the holiday calendar is based around the cycle of Catholic feasts. Easter is lamb, Pentecost is veal...And everyone gets totally freaked out by the Pope! This whole new pope thing dominated the news for weeks and seemed to reawaken the latent religious DNA lurking in the French genetic makeup. It would seem that this is just another unfortunate coincidence that has dogged the Socialiste Government of Francois Hollande. One of his campaign promises was to make Marriage Equality a part of the French Constitution. It would seem just another step in our social evolution. The same groups would kick and scream. Just like the legalization of abortion, the abolition of the death penalty and the official decriminalization of homosexuality. The Catholics and the neo nationalist far rights all kicked and screamed, but most of the French supported these measures  and after they became facts, they accepted it and moved on. On the surface, that is what was happening with the Socialiste Initiative to legalize Gay Marriage. It is a de facto thing anyway. We have an institution called the Pacte...and there are less and less actual marriages and more and more Pactes. Any one can form a Pacte. It's a legal agreement, a contract both parties can negotiate. So more and more couples eschew formal marriages and make a pacte...there is no discrimination in the legal definition of the union defined by a pacte.
But, the Socialistes had committed to legalizing Gay Marriage and moved on it. Most of the French were in favor and most didn't care. The Far Right Catholics and the unholy alliance with the Neo Nationalists and the absurdly still existent Royalists did...but they traditionally don't like anything. The alliance of these factions had their bonds forged in Pre WW2 France. They became the backbone of the collaborationist Petain Government of Occupied France. Yes, the Royalists still believe that one day France will bring back Royalty and all of their useless titles will magically be restored and we will all become their peons and peasants again.
Suddenly, though there is a new player in the game. The center Right UMP Party. They would be the equivalent of the Republicans in America. They controlled the Presidency with Chirac, then Sarkozy for 15 years. They are now bitterly factionalized after the massive defeat they suffered in the last election. There has been an almost fraticidial war going on between the followers of Francois Fillon and Jean-Francois Cope. During the UMP/Sarkozy administration, The UMP began to attempt to co opt the influence of the far right Front National as a strategy to win the 2012 election. Their rhetoric became more extreme against immigration and more openly traditional values and openly embraced the symbols of Catholicism. They blatantly exploited every supposed terrorist incident and many commentators are saying they were purposely lax and abetted a few incidents to reap the publicity value.
In the long run, this backfired. The Front National spent a lot of energy refurbishing it's image with Marine LePen as it's new leader and presidential candidate. As the UMP became more extreme, the FN tried to appear more user friendly. Behind the scenes of course it was the old FN allied with Neo Fascist groups in France and all over Europe, but they had the economic failures of the UMP and European Union to exploit. Not, that they had any real ideas...Jean-Francois Cope became the most dangerous demagogue in the UMP as Party secretary and the man seen as the architect of the UMP's neo nationalist extremism. After their utter defeat across France in the 2012 election, the UMP split as Filon and Cope sparred for leadership of the party. They had their first ever popular vote among members for the Party leadership which was an utter failure as both factions accuse the other of rigging the election. Six months later and the rift still isn't healed. Six months later and the UMP is trying to re inflate the punctured balloon of Sarkozy to somehow boost their image. Sarkozy is one of the great manipulators of French politics. A demagogue who in the very end, could not govern, but he sure could  manipulate. He was totally into governing by polls and trying to mold his public image according to the latest figures. His relationship to the well used aging model, wannabee pop star and ideological chameleon. She has had affairs with quite a few pop stars in France and powerful left wing political figures. She was Eric Claptons's lover and then dropped him for Mick Jagger.The Bruni/Sarkozy match up was totally the result of his publicist, Claude Gueant, who was an admitted admirer of Karl Rove, bringing Bruni and Sarkozy together after Sarko's marriage implode soon after his election in 2007.  Carla released a cd while she was officially first lady in France which died here, but sold internationally because of the morbid fascination with...hey she's French and like the presidents wife and singing about cocaine. She is releasing a new record presently which features a pretty pathetic ditty insulting Francois Hollande called The Penguin. Of course the morbid interest in Sarkozy is a smoke screen, he can never go back into politics. He is doomed to a legal limbo trying to fend off and fight the litany of corruption cases that he is involved in one way or another dating back to his days in the Balladur Government. Just today, he was linked to the manipulation of the UMP Party Secretary Elections...he is accused of working to corrupt the votes in favor of Cope, because he really dislikes his former Prime Minister, Filon. Meanwhile, this week has seen Sarko being hauled into court in Bordeaux and being charged with taking advantage of an old lady...this is the ongoing Bettencourt affair, where his party is accused of setting up a secret system to defraud Lillane Bettencourt, the dowager of the L'Oreal Cosmetic firm and the richest woman in France out of millions of Euros. This is serious and the right is freaking out.  Carla was on all the major media radio shows emoting and actually crying that her husband was being politically persecuted by the Left. To underline how serious the rupture in political discourse has gotten here, the judges, the media and a lot of left wing politicians have received very credible death threats in the last 72 hours.
Six or Seven months into the Socialiste Administration and France is suffering from it's worst

The Racist poster attacking the Minster
of Justice, Christiane Taubira.

unemployment numbers in decades. The economic idiocy of the Sarkozy years won't go away over night, but all sides are trying to make hay out of the ongoing disaster. The FN still has no real vision except get out of the Euro and deport immigrants. The UMP has become a nonstop noise machine of negativity and Cope and his faction are intent on taking the lessons of the Tea Party in America and running with them. Hence, the massively organized anti Marriage Equality Demonstration that took place in Paris on Sunday.  Suddenly,blatantly racist posters attacking Christiane Taubira, the present Socialiste Justice Minister appeared all  over France.  Taubira is a remarkable woman. She was a politically independent single mother who rose from poverty in French Guyana to become a scholar and professor in economics and agriculture, then political prominence there. Guyana is a French Over Seas Department and she became it's representative in the French Government. I've written about Taubira recently. She is the champion of the effort to push this law through.
The conservative Catholics have been protesting the Marriage Equality Law since it was first proposed with massive organized marches in Paris and other French cities for the last year. Most French support the concept of Marriage Equality. As I said above, it is going to become the law and the brouhaha will be over, like with the death penalty and abortion. The main opposition has been Christine Boutin and her Conservative Catholic Christian Democrat Party. They along with the Front national have been able to mobilize 
militant conservative Catholics from all over France and provide transportation to create the image of

The "martyred' Chrisitne Boutin image.
She got a whiff of tear gas during the
violence and is now playing it for all
she can get out of it....

massive opposition. This time, on Sunday, it was bigger and nastier than ever. This time with the link to the UMP, who is trying to use the Marriage Equality Law as a political tool to discredit the Socialiste Government, we saw for the first time, the conservative arm  of the UMP directly involved. They are in effect, trying to create a French Tea Party type movement. It doesn't matter that their policies are directly responsible for so many of the economic problems in France today. It doesn't matter that they are so deeply immersed in their own corruption scandals. They are effectively out of power and disintegrating. That makes them very dangerous and desperate enough to link to the Front National and the Christian Democrats and try to co opt them both again as way to regain political power. The language in the meda has been hyped up regarding intolerance and racial prejudice. Many of my French friends tell me that they have never seen the level of racism in the national discourse before. Many of these people are able to recall the tensions in France during the Algerian War.

 During the demonstrations in Paris on Sunday, the protestors attacked the riot police, The CRS to provoke them and then used their own children as a "human shield" when the CRS retaliated. Groups of protestors attacked the police and gave the fascist salute singing the national anthem. The UMP is playing with fire. They have unlocked the door and the demons are truly loose on the land. Gay marriage will be the law of the land. The votes will go through. The most popular politician in France is still Manuel Valls, The Socialiste Minister of the Interior. He has remained calm and strong though out all of this. If his government survives the next 4 years, he might be the next President of France! Most French are supportive in the polls, but the unholy alliance, the bad chemistry is something that will haunt this country for decades. For what it is worth, Francois Hollande did make a credible appearance on French Television last night. Hollande is a very intelligent, likable, straight shooter. His biggest handicap is politely saying, a lack of obvious charisma. He seems ready to compromise and find a middle road, but in this extreme political climate, it takes much more. When you are dealing with desperate sharks , reason is like blood in the water.

I realize that this analysis is far from complete, but do you have any questions? Because in tying to answer your questions, I might find more insights that may answer my own questions!

I.m putting together a post on French politics and the marriage equality law and the
real political problems here. It's not as obvious as you might think. So, to procrastinate,
and take a break...I scanned a photo I took in 1981 of the walkway on the
Williamsburg Bridge, back when New York City was literally falling apart....

Eurovision 2013

Why do I get so excited over the yearly ritual of Eurovision? I love trash culture! I actually anticipate the 4 hour ritual of the performances, the trans continental voting...the idiotic commentary, the national shame suffered each year by Britain! I am beginning to believe that the economic onus of being the Eurovision winner has a lot to do with the actual quality of the entries. If your country wins, well, they have to be the host of the next years competition..and what with the Euro Crisis, who needs that?  I just found this, the Estonian Band, Winny Puhh....this is going to be Estonia's Eurovision entry. This is kind of beyond wonderful in my universe. I have a lot of Estonian friends and few Estonian relatives and this explains a lot. They won't win. Nothing I ever like ever wins....But, I wish I was Estonian!

SPAM

I had a comment yesterday from Mr. Mojave Rat informing me that I had the word verification system on for my comments. I never noticed it, because blogger never asked me to use it...He said it was hard to use and I agree, it's pretty annoying to have to decipher the blurry picture and the very creative typography. I went to the dashboard of the blog and lo and behold, it was on! So, I turned it off. The results? This morning I awoke to find almost 300 international annoying spam comments posted from Malaysia, Italy, France, Korea...trying to sell me shoes, handbags and the latest Malaysian Islamic Women's Fashions. They were spread out though the last 3 years of posts on the blog. I'll keep it off for a while, but this is kind of amazing! What do you think?
UPDATE: I'm reinstalling the visual id commenting system. If you really want to comment here, you'll figure it out. I don't want to limit the comments to "authorized" bloggers...but hell if I'm going to put up with 100 or so spam messages clogging up my email everyday...Too Fucking Bad...but these assholes fucked it up for everybody!

Cold Dead Hand

Jim Carrey....TFB!
Probably the deadliest anti gun parody ever made...and the funniest!

NRA OUTREACH

This is the recording of the Robocall that Newtown, CT residents were complaining about this weekend. Cheezofrikin Pizza, those librul parents of dead kindergarden children are just so damn touchy! I guess this hyped up hysterical screed of exaggerations and outright lies is a part of that new conservative tolerance outreach policy they think is going to save their flabby scabby asses...I won't even say, "Good Luck With That!" cause it's already a massive 

fail

Marbles/Businessmen/Spaces

Some music that changed my life when I needed it. Marbles, a cut from the 1970 recording by John McLaughlin, Devotion. Buddy Rich on drums, Larry Young on organ, Billy Rich on bass. This was McLaughlin's first record featuring him as a composer and band leader. He had been playing jazz and rock in England since the early 60's. He was actually the guitarist for Georgie Fame's band, The Blue Flames, but if you ever heard Jack Bruce's real first solo recording, Things We Like, then you heard an original jazz player in 1968, playing in a more traditional, free jazz setting with Bruce, Dick Heckstall-Smith and John Hiseman. The compositions were jazz pieces that Bruce had composed as a teen. Bruce  and McLaughlin collaborated around the same time with the great Jazz Drummer, Tony Williams in his ground breaking band, Tony Williams Lifetime, with the organist Larry Young. Bruce and McLaughlin collaborated with American Jazz Composer, Carla Bley on her epic 1969 masterpiece, Escalator Over The Hill...a journey that went way beyond any concept of jazz...it was rock, it was free jazz, it was big band, it was an opera, a history of music...country, arabic, Kurt Weil with an all star cast of artists. You have to hear it to believe it...Jack Bruce and Linda Ronstadt singing surreal country pop music duets. Here's the piece, Businessmen from Escalator. Bruce's passionate vocal and bass and McLaughlin playing rock that was light years ahead of anything that was happening on the radio:

At the same time, McLaughlin formed a fast friendship with another rock fusion jazz pioneer, Larry Coryell. They recorded the ground breaking record, Spaces. The band Coryell assembled for Spaces was the fertile soil that spawned some of the most influential music of the late 20th Century. The line up was Coryell, McLaughlin on guitars. Miroslav Vitous on bass, Chick Corea on keyboards and Billy Cobham on drums. Within months, Corea formed Return To Forever, Vitous had joined Weather Report and McLaughlin and Cobham had formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Coryell formed his relatively unknown, but incredibly influential band, The Eleventh House. Coryell is still composing and playing today and remains one of America's greatest natural resources. A real master. Here is the composition, Spaces.

When The ATM Runs Dry?

For me, blogging is a form of self education. I want to know and by researching and writing, I gradually absorb and collect material which allows me to understand and be able to explain it. I have had a basic, rudimentary knowledge of economics, but dealing with the evolution of the World financial crisis has led me in many different direction. As a European/American, I am directly affected by the Euro Zone crisis on many levels. On a temporal immediate level, the problems with the Euro as a currency work to my advantage. A weak Euro makes my American income worth more here. When the dollar was weak a few years ago, there was a period when the exchange rate was 59 centimes to an American dollar. That hurt. Now with the stronger dollar, the exchange rate is almost 82 centimes to a dollar. But it's a double edged blade. Food prices steadily rise and the per liter price of diesel for my car is 1 Euro 40 centimes. I also have bank accounts here in French banks. I feel I have to understand this mess to be able to deal with the future. I'm sure you are following the Cyprus Bank crisis, but do you have any idea as to how it will affect you? Do you understand the difference in financial policies promoted by the American Republican fiscal conservatives and the British? And why we have to resist them in every way we can? Because as in Britain, Conservatives can't seem to see beyond austerity born on the backs of the middle classes as a way to protect the banks and the wealthy who stash their money in them. You just have to look at Britain to see how that is working out for them.
There are many reasons for the Cypriot debacle, but a major one stems from a 2010 meeting in Deauville, Normandy, during which Merkel persuaded former French president Nicolas Sarkozy that private bank creditors in Greece should take a "haircut" as part of the Greek bailout.
That triggered a long fight between Berlin and Frankfurt, the German government and the ECB. As usual, Merkel prevailed, though privately she has conceded it was a mistake not to be repeated. Last year, when Greece's private bank creditors were forced to take losses as part of a new bailout, Cypriot banks, heavily involved in Greece, suffered hugely, making a Cypriot bailout inevitable.

But this was like a pebble dropped into a pond, creating a ripple effect. A Pebble? More like the side of the cliff sliding into a pond that was already rippling from the steady erosion of the slope. Why do we refuse to regulate financial institutions? Why are they untouchable, when you see them commit the same crimes of greed over and over again? 

The so called  "Treasure Islands"are the very weak link in the worlds economy. Treasure Islands, like The Caymans, like Iceland and Cyprus were. Read the great book, Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson to really understand how this all works and the inevitable disasters they create.

"Not only do they bleed revenues from cash-strapped governments and enable corruption; they distort the flow of capital, helping to feed ever-bigger financial crises." ...Paul Krugman,NYT

So now breezy warm Cyprus is just another edition of Iceland.  Iceland meant real trouble. Fortunately for the Icelandic population, it was the rude awakening that made them realize they had to take matters into their own hands by prosecuting bankers and rewriting their own constitution. They took their lumps but rejected the austerity bailout loans from the IMF. Iceland is small enough and has a Democratic Constitutional Government which allowed them this flexibility to change. Cyprus is much more serious. 

Officially, 37 percent of the deposits in Cypriot banks come from nonresidents; the true number, once you take into account wealthy expatriates and people who are only nominally resident in Cyprus, is surely much higher. Basically, Cyprus is a place where people, especially but not only Russians, hide their wealth from both the taxmen and the regulators. Whatever gloss you put on it, it’s basically about money-laundering, but this fact in itself goes vary far in explaining why Russia is making the threats it is making today regarding the Cypriot reaction to the bailout proposals.

And the truth is that much of the wealth never moved at all; it just became invisible. On paper, for example, Cyprus became a huge investor in Russia — much bigger than Germany, whose economy is hundreds of times larger. In reality, of course, this was just “roundtripping” by Russians using the island as a tax shelter.

"Unfortunately for the Cypriots, enough real money came in to finance some seriously bad investments, as their banks bought Greek debt and lent into a vast real estate bubble. Sooner or later, things were bound to go wrong. And now they have". ...Krugman,  NYT

The beat goes on.  There are Icelands and Cypruses the world around.  And we're being told by the Republican party that our deficits are the main problem.  Is it possible that Republicans are trying to do what they did regularly during the Bush administration:  use wars and other crises to keep us from turning our attention to what's really going on?  And the real problem is how the top 10% -- not just the top 10% of America's economy but the entire world's economy -- are bleeding the rest of us dry.

Everyone has seen the damage that runaway bankers can inflict, yet much of the world’s financial business is still routed through jurisdictions that let bankers sidestep even the mild regulations we’ve put in place. Everyone is crying about budget deficits, yet corporations and the wealthy are still freely using tax havens to avoid paying taxes like the little people.

"So don’t cry for Cyprus; cry for all of us, living in a world whose leaders seem determined not to learn from disaster". ...Krugman,NYT

Being on the ground in Cyprus is not easy these days.  Here's a report on what life is like now in Nicosia and beyond.
How much longer is the world going to be able to tolerate these parasites sucking the life blood out of humanity? Extractors of global wealth. Rent-seeking, tax-dodging , me me me muther fuckers. And they've got nearly half of western civilization fooled into thinking the problem is the people they keep poor, hungry, and ill but the other half is waking up. Greece, Spain and now Britain...when is America finally going to get THE MESSAGE? Don't Push Me 'Cause I'm Close To The Edge!

Van Gogh 1888 The Langlois Bridge at Arles

Saxby Chambliss Dies And Goes to Hell

Remember when Larry “Wide Stance” Craig said this back in 2007 after he got arrested for lewd conduct in an airport men’s room for allegedly soliciting sex?:

Craig: “I am not gay. I never have been gay.”
He felt compelled to follow that with, “I love my wife.“

So, this week we get this  from Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), 2013 (via Politico) as he explains his avowed opposition to any marriage right equality legislation:

“I’m not gay. So I’m not going to marry one.”

Marry one what? I bet that he, too, really really loves his wife.
There is some kind of real disconnect going on here. How's that reachy-outy thing workin’ for ya, GOP? I'm not speculating that Saxby is gay, I mean we have to take his word that he isn't or that there has never been a member of his family, ever, never, ever, never no way who was uh gay...really, never...ever, never........
But Saxby confesses to bein a good Ol' Christian boy, so since we all make our own reality here, 
Saxby's shure as shit gonna die pretty soon and when he does he's gonna end up in a dank little waiting room with a bunch of other sorry pasty ass nekkid dead folks wondering whaat the fuck is going on.  The door to the room is gonna open and big red dude with horns, black rimmed glasses and a smart tie comes in holding a filing folder and says in a kinda friendly type voice, "Saxby? Mr. Saxby Chambliss? Please follow me, it's time for your three o'clock orientation session. I'm Bruce, the sorta social director personell manager and well, I sort of think you'll like the changes we made around here in the new improved Hell."
Saxby starts to rise indignantly, and croaks, "Hell? This ain't Hell! This is impossible! There's some kind of mistake! I'm a goddam United States Republican Senator from the great state of Georgia! I'mmmm...."
Saxby is cut short by a look from Bruce, who simply says, "Well, US Senator? Republican? From Georgia? That's three strikes right there and need I mention that you just took the name of the Lord in vain? I'm a little pressed for time. This doesn't have to be unpleasant. Follow me."
Chambliss started to open his mouth then realized that he was standing in front of a few very strange guys and a woman who looked like a fat blond hooker who had just been beaten up and they were all looking at him and whispering and giggling obscenely ...he realized he was standing there butt nerkkid  too and he got all flustered and just meekly followed Bruce through the door.
"That's better, Sax, you don't mind if I call you Sax, you can call me Bruce. It's all good" said Bruce, "Look this is the new Hell and we want you to relax, cause' this is forever. Think of me as a kinda social director...Hey, Hell can be a lot of fun! You like to drink?"
Saxby was totally disoriented, and muttered, "Well, I don't mind a snort once in a while, but I have to watch it, my doctor told me to cut back and you know I'm a God fearin Christian!" He raised his head shyly, gazing upward hoping he had scored some points...
Bruce laughed, "Yeah cool but what ever your doctor told you, well, Sax, babe, you're dead already and on Monday, it's open bar day...we have happy hour all day long on Mondays, all we do is drink. Whiskey, tequila, beer, soft drinks, you name it! We drink till we throw up, and then we drink some more. And you don’t have to worry about hangovers because you’re dead anyway."
Sax thought that was pretty cool and then Bruce asked, "You a smoker?"
Sax had to admit he liked a good cigar once in a while, butt....Bruce cut him short, "All right! You’re gonna love Tuesdays. We get the finest cigars from all over the world and smoke our lungs out. If you get cancer—no biggie, you’re already dead, remember?"
Sax said, "Wow, that's awesome" He was beginning to get interested now, "What about Wednesdays?" he asked. 
Bruce rolled his eyes ecstatically and said, "Wednesday? Why that's Vegas Night!   You can gamble all you want. Craps, blackjack, roulette, poker, slots, and Kino. If you go bankrupt, you’re dead anyway. Hey, Sax babe, what about drugs?"
Saxby's eyes bugged out..."Drugs? What about drugs?...I mean..."
Bruce cut him short again, "Well what ever, babe, but hey, Thursday is drug day. Help yourself to a great big bowl of crack…or smack. Smoke a doobie the size of a submarine. You can do all the drugs you want, you’re dead, remember? Who cares?!?"
Saxby, by this time was beginning to see the light..."Wow" he exclaimed. "I never imagined that Hell could be such a cool place!"
"So Sax, babe," says Bruce, "You Gay?"
Saxby straightened up like an iron rod had just been shoved up his ass and automatically yelled, "I AM NOT GAY!!!!!"
Bruce began to laugh his most demonic laugh and replied, "Oooh, You gonna just hate Fridays, then."

(the joke came from a my blog bud, BJ and I in my best Milton Microdot Berle tradition altered it slightly! Thanks BJ...and check out his blog! BJ's Un-Original Thoughts!)

Walking On Thin Ice

 John Lennon was murdered in front of the Dakota Apartment building where he lived with Yoko Ono on December 8. 1980 by Mark David Chapman who purchased a $169 Charter Arms .38 Revolver legally in Hawaii in spite of history of documented psychiatric problems. Chapman was obsessed with murdering a celebrity and was fixated on Lennon.Yoko Ono asked that we remember on their March, 20 wedding anniversary date, that over 1,057,000 other Americans have been been murdered by guns since that date. When Lennon was shot, he was carrying an attache case with the master tape of this song, which tumbled out onto the ground. It was the last piece of music he recorded. Some of the most interesting guitar work that Lennon ever recorded. He tries to do with his instrument what Yoko did with her voice. The other guitar in the piece is Earl Slick. Lennon never tried to be a lead guitarist. He was a composer and stylist but there were a few occasions where he used the guitar as another expressive voice and this song is rather interesting metaphor for a creative process cut short...It was work in progress, like Lennon.....

MEA FUKIN' CULPA! OKAY?

Look it was uhhh, 1970, a sleazy drugged out and drunken teen party in a ranch house in Keego Harbor, Michigan. I was on probation, but well, what the fuck, it was after a Led Zepplin Concert at Olympia Stadium  and I got dragged along with my buddy Doug Ruby to a skagged out party where we thought we could make a few bucks selling stomped and adulterated psychedelic drugs to asshole suburban jocks...The high point of the bacchanalia occurred when one of the one of jerk off wannabee hip jocks shot up a mixture of meth and mescaline and started freaking because he thought he had injected an air bubble into his vein...needles to say, the party broke up...as we all drifted back into some sort of consciousness, there was really rude awakening as our hostess's parents unexpectedly returned around 8 am in morning flipping out because they found their staid suburban reality trashed by totally debauched incoherent semi nude drugged out teens...after an ugly little incident with threats of calling the police if we didn't clear out immediately, I found myself in the back seat of a  a car driving back to Detroit in the cold foggy mist...with a girl who I really didn't recognize, let alone find interesting or attractive, but she seemed to be fixated on my crotchal zone...she unzipped my pants and fished my limp 19 year old penis out of my quite ripe jockey shorts and well, in spite of the fact that it was about 8:30 am and we were both spaced out of our frikin minds in a stinking damp cold car on the I-94 Expressway (perhaps that is why I still am strangely sexually fixated on the giant Firestone Tire on the I-94...well, never mind) and there was an interested audience, well...an 19 year old penis has a mind of it's own and no memory...especially when the lyrics went:

Bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy 

?Diggy?, said the boogy, said, up jump the boogy 

Bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy 

?Diggy?, said the boogy, said, up jump the boogy 

Hey, I don't know what it means, but there's something kinda DNA, genetic coding here that goes way beyond language, oh yeah, baby I get it...and more than that, I have come to the ugly realization that I am probably Kid Rock's real daddy. The dates check out...he was born in 1971. I did something really fucked up and it imprinted his genetic modules with a language that I don't really understand, but it seems to be the language that pushes the buttons of white jock jack asses all over America. How else do you explain Kid Rock? I mean, like I'm frikin sorry if I bonked Dory, Doris, Darla....it was something stupid that began with a D...I don't remember and I hate to say the adulterated drugs I was pushing that evening, probably mutated her chromosomes and we created an entire new sub human species of stoopid...How else do you explain this? A retarded Jock white Rapper who speaks in tongues about drugs and whores and manages to sell millions of cds and is somehow the hippest piece of shit the Republicans can leech onto. I mean, It was none other than Tagg Romney who declared that Kid Rock was like A as in  Awesome after he endorsed his pappa, Bishop Mittens for prez.....Like these are my people, I lived in on the streets of Detroit for 18 years, then I moved to Toledo. Now we got Toledoan Joe the frikin' Plumber or Samuel Weezelfelcher, or what ever he calls himself now, giving away AR-15s for some damn reason...buy my book, it's too damn late to vote for me this time...and what is he using a soundtrack for his insanely stoopid video? KID FUKIN ROCK and his demented damaged chromosome secret message rap spong about drugs, pimps and whores: BATWITDABA!

Look, I'm sorry. What else can I say? It's not like I can go back and make it go away. Maybe one day Kid Rock will wake up and realize his true daddy is some left wing anarchistical radical French dude and he'll just have to do away with his sorry self. Like, I'm just so fucking sorry!

1910, The Aldrich Plan where all of  our troubles truly began.

Pizza Quest

I've been cooking a lot lately. I like to cook. In another lifetime, I was a chef in a few restaurants in Toledo, Ohio. I learned to love to cook as a survival skill. My wife is passionate culinary artist and for the last 10 years, she spends more time obsessed  with creating things in the kitchen and I spend more time slaving away outside. This winter though, she has been forced to stay off of her feet to recover from surgery...which she is rapidly...but I have been doing a lot of the actual cooking. For a few years, I was obsessed with creating the pizza crust of my dreams...I grew up in Detroit and there was a little hole in the wall Pizza place on Kentfield and Schoolcraft with a brick oven that made the pizza that will always be the ideal, my unobtainable dream of pizza perfection. Light thin bubbly crust. Crispy, yet not hard. Dusted with semolina. My friends, two brothers lived on the next block, the older of the two brothers eventually bought 2 Pizza carry out places in Detroit and was the proud owner of Pizza Boy #1 and #2. From Mike, I learned how to make a great pizza sauce. For my birthday one year, he gave me an industrial sized tin of anchovies!  Mike was quite a guy, he owned and operated the Pizza shops and was a Detroit Cop at the same time. We were unlikely, but lifelong true friends. I have to mention that I have been back to Detroit and was introduced to The Supino Pizzeria, up at the Eastern Market. I will give them 5 stars...great crust! Great Sauce! and really affordable! World Class Pizza still lives in Detroit!
When I lived in Toledo, I realized what an art great pizza truly was. I can unabashedly say that there is no good pizza in Toledo. Just franchise crap. Then I moved to New York where the price of a piece of pizza seems to determine the rise of subway fares...One of the first really hip little restaurants in the East Village back in the 80's was a place called Two Boots...why Two Boots? the menu was split between Cajun and Italian...and the maps of Italy and Louisiana both look like boots. Frankly, Two Boots makes one of the best pies I have ever had. The opened a branch two blocks from my apartment at East 3rd Street and Avenue A that was also a very hip video shop...so you could get a great video and a great pie, one stop no fuss no worry...the Sopressata/Red Pepper Combo was our favorite.
Now, I live nowhere near a pizza joint. Brive-la-Gaillarde is 40 kilometers away. Amazingly enough, there is a pizza maker there who has won world pizza competitions twice, but I have yet to taste his wares. There is a stand in the parking lot of the Intermarche Super Market in Terrasson called Pizza Mania, but I don't think so...they seem to owe their success because they are a block away from the local school.
So, I began my quest to make the crust of my fantasy come true. Finally after quite a few years, I realize the most important elements are simplicity and enough time. Above is a snap of what I made last night. The sauce is from my own tomatoes and I jazzed it up with a pinch of sugar, more basil, anise seeds and minced garlic. I used mozzarella (another nostalgic memory of NYC...buying fresh mozzarella from the guys at the Porceria on Grand and Mott Streets in Little Italy...they'd fish it out of the barrel. I first chained my bike to the bars outside their store, but after a few months, they told me, "Don't chain it, don't worry, if any one tries to steal your bike, They're dead...." I loved that store. I tied to find a link, but I think they are finally gone. It was the place to buy fresh pasta, cheese and any Italian sausage and the very best Prosciutto) Well, there's still great places to buy good Italian products in Lower Manhattan.
So, I bought my mozzarella from the Lidl market in Terrasson and found pepperoni at the Simply. I used mozzarella, some emmenthal and sprinkled parmesan on this pizza...but the soul of a pizza is the crust. Last nights crust was texturally perfect. Totally elastic, I could pull it paper thin if I had wished. I use fine semolina to finish it.

Basically, I start with a packet of dry yeast dissolved in a cup of warm water with just a pinch of sugar. When the yeast is dissolved, I mix a cup and a half of Type 55 bread flour. I guess in the USA, this would be your typical bread, not pastry grade flour. Then I cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit in a warmish place for an hour or so. This makes a "sponge" and it lets the dough rise and form gluten strands. The with a wooden spoon, I add a little salt, about 1/8 cup of olive oil and another cup of flour. Then I tuen it out on a floured surface and knead it for a few minutes...adding flour just until it is not sticky any more. I take the dough and fold it into a ball..I cut a cross into the top of the ball to allow for expansion...then the next element...time. Let it sit covered with a towel in a bowl in a warmish place for  at least 3 hours. When you are ready to make your pizza, turn it out onto your floured surface, if it was like mine was last night, it will be the most elastic dough you evert worked with. I had enough dough to make a few bread sticks

 I only wish I could throw it like this guy!

But the real reason I posted this treatise on my quest for the perfect pizza is to ask you if you have any suggestions. My dough is ...uhhh, okay, but it's not what I fantasize...Do you make pizza? would you share your recipes and techniques with me? Pulll-eeeze?

Fearless Vampire Killers When You Need Them?

Nobody knows the real net worth of Pat Robinson...I tried to get a real number today and I found that it's estimated from 40 million to over 4 billion dollars. It's easy to hide money when you are operating one of the biggest scams in the world under the guise of a religion. I wrote quite a bit about his relationship with Charles Taylor, the warlord dictator of Liberia and Mobuto Sese Seku of Zaire. Robertson supposedly was supplying humanitarian aid with planes his organization chartered, paid for by donations to his "700 Club" by poor suckers who were totally behoodled by this redneck vampire.

In reality, the shipments were illegal arms which financed his investment in his own ADC (African Development Company) which is a diamond mining operation which was responsible for the virtual enslavement of thousands of African children who slaved and died in his mines. Robertson never invested a penny of his own money. It all came from the minions who dared to look into his eyes and surrender to the will of this Redneck Vampire Scam Artist. He seems ageless, when was he born? Does he sleep in a crypt in vault beneath the CBN Studios in a world of perpetual artificially lit night. Would he wither up and die if he accidentally let a ray of sunlight penetrate his perpetually cosmetically enhanced pallor? I'm convinced he's a blood sucking Vampire. The Big Boss Redneck Vampire King who feasts on hate and wants to achieve world domination by enslaving all who dare to look into his eyes.

Give Me Your Money, Your First Born Son and Your Blood.

He never rests, yesterday, on his 700 Club Broadcast, he appealed to families who could not pay their bills to trust him, and just give him 20 bucks a month if they wanted him to pray their way out of financial strife. Here's the actual manipulative video he presented to his miserable viewers to convince them to give him their money and surrender their souls and blood. 

Where, o, where are the fearless vampire killers when we need them? A burning oaken stake should have been driven through this demons chest long ago. But Vampire Killers are mere humans and Robertson has been out witting them for eons....

Looking At You

This is just too incredible to be real. It must be a hallucination. Wayne Kramer live in Sweden in 1995 performing Looking At You. The perfect antidote to a bad religion kind of day.

A True Hero

I have 2 nephews who live in Bangkok...I mentioned one in my post on The second anniversary of Fukushima, Alex Kerr and his book, Dogs and Demons which really illustrates how the Japanese mentality deals with modern reality. Alex knows Japan, his first book, Lost Japan won the Japanese equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize...he is the only non Japanese author to have ever won it. It's another look, an intimate look into Japan. He is an acknowledged calligraphy master. But, though I admire and respect Alex, his younger cousin, Tom Kerr is far more nobler in his path. He is a trained architect who has dedicated the last 20 years of his life to helping the poor in South East Asia hold on to their land, invent and design their own communities and give them the means to do so. He worked in India for years and for the last decade has managed the organization ACHR, The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights. ACHR works with the poor throughout Asia...From Mongolia to Indonesia creating projects and providing the legal means to make them happen. They have created a model for the future of urbanization and land management through out the world. They had benefited from the Gates Foundation, but Gates has lost his attention span and is now into something else...so they are back to scrambling for funding, but as the Director of ACHR, Samsook Boonybancha remarked, "Well, now we have to go back to work" and they have. Last year, the work of ACHR was featured in a Cooper-Hewitt exhibition of projects that work which is still installed at the UN Building in NYC.
This week we learned from Tom of the tragic assassination of Pakistani architect.human rights activist Perveen Rehman in Karachi on March 13th, 2013. Ms. Perveen Rehman, who has been working with ACHR to secure the land rights for the tribal populations of Pakistan as they are being illegally forced from their traditional lands. She was involved in a project identifying and mapping land claims by the tribal groups that were being threatened by the Pakistani government. 
This is the starement from ACHR and the Asian Human Rights Commission:
PAKISTAN: The Country has gone Mad, No Doubt
Ms. Perveen Rehman (56), worked for the betterment of the poor and neglected.
When a small lady weighing hardly 60 kilograms working for the betterment of poor slum-dwellers, and amongst the under-privileged in poorer residential areas, is viewed as a dire threat to the Taliban and the local administration, the sanity of these institutions, and those that man them, is called into question. However, with yesterday’s murder of Ms. Perveen Rehman, an even more fundamental
question confronts us: the raison d’être of the Pakstani state itself.
Ms. Perveen Rehman, an architect by profession, was targeted and murdered in broad daylight yesterday, March 13th. Fifty-six years of age, having worked for the poor and underprivileged for 25 of them, Ms. Rehman was murdered close to her office as she arrived in a car. Armed men riding two motorcycles approached and opened fire on her. She was struck twice in the face and once in the neck. She was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where she succumbed to her wounds.
It is believed that she was assassinated by Deobandi militants of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ). These are said to be the same militants responsible for the deaths of the four lady anti-polio workers and the attack on Malala Yusufzai. 

Ms. Rehman was a tireless social activist, working for people living in slum areas. She had, however, been receiving death threats for some time. She had more recently been documenting the situation in villages (Goths) around Karachi many centuries old, now virtually under the control of land grabbers, Muslim extremist groups like the Taliban, and the police. The poor people of these areas have been, and are being, deprived of their residential rights and the lands of the Goths have been demarcated in plots and turned into new colonies. Most of the persons affected are indigenous and poor. The land grabbers enjoy the protection of the police and other law enforcement agencies, and if any questions are asked, Muslim extremists come to the rescue justifying anything under the ruse of defending Islam. 

Ms. Rehman was originally trained as an architect. She started her career with a prominent architectural firm. However, she soon decided to change track and work for the betterment of poor people living in
slums and neglected residential areas without facilities of sewage systems, access to drinking water, and basic health facilities, places where the young have little chance of education and employment. It was
1981 when she made this life-altering decision. Since then she had been working with the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), one of the largest squatter settlements in the world. Inspired by the work of the renowned social scientist Akhtar Hameed Khan, she worked on helping people construct low-cost sewage lines in the area. She was also in charge of the micro-credit programme of the OPP, which has worked for the empowerment of the local women-folk. 

The Governor of Sindh, Ishratul Ebad, in a statement to the media had said that "killing a social worker is inhumane." It is a wonder how the Governor could bring himself to make such a statement. Could it be that the Governor had to resort to such a puerile remark to try and mask a deliberate failure – that of providing adequate protection to social workers? Perhaps the Governor thinks that for their next assassination target militants will take extra care in order to make a more 'humane' killing. 

Pakistan has been plunged into a situation where target and sectarian killings are a daily occurrence. While any person, male or female may become the target of the Muslim extremists simply for holding an opinion contrary to theirs, the most common victims are the religious minority groups who are virtually at their mercy. Recent events have proved conclusively that any woman who dares to work, in any capacity, is also at risk and, as in the case of Malala Yusufzai, this daring behavior includes exercising a right to education.
Perveen Rehman's killing is a message to human rights defenders that they are not invulnerable from the clutches of the extremists and that anyone who works for the benefit of the underprivileged, not
considered to be within the orbit of Islam, does so at their own risk.
The death of Perveen Rehman, who wanted nothing more than to work for the betterment of the people and communities that the government continues to ignore is terribly sad, not only for her loved ones but
for the people that she was trying to help. There is no protection for women who suffer rape and domestic abuse on a daily basis. Similarly, human rights defenders and media personnel who make any effort to expose the truth behind the sectarian violence are considered fair game by the militants and once again the government does nothing to protect them.
Until such time as the governments of Sindh and of the country make a stand against sectarian violence and the crime that pervades the very streets of every city Pakistan will remain a country suffering from
the worst type of insanity; the insanity that allows innocent men, women and children to be harmed in the name of religion and greed. 

Providing security to its citizens is a non-derogable responsibility of the state of Pakistan. If the Pakistani state cannot provide protection to tireless social workers like Ms. Rehman, who help the
poor and vulnerable, which is itself a responsibility of the state, then the most fundamental question regarding the very reason for the state springs. For whom or what does the state exist? For whom does it provide security? What is the social contract that citizens have signed to come together and be citizens of this state, giving up their freedoms in the state of nature to accept the security provided by the entity that is the Government of Pakistan? The failure to provide security to Ms. Rehman indicates how close Pakistan is to complete collapse. Anything good the state does for average citizens can now only be as a by-product of other base motives or simply a miracle. Are we fools or mad ourselves to continue to hope against hope for the miracles that the state will fulfill its responsibility and secure its citizens?

For a more personal insight into Ms. Rehman and the truly heroic, bold and fearless person this little woman truly was. listen to this broadcast from Friday on NCR by Steve Inskeep who interviewed her and rebroadcasts the original interview here.

Serglige Con Culainn

What would St. Patrick's Day be with out The Pogues? Here they are in all their early 80's glory

performing The Sick Bed of Cu Chulainn, or The Wasting Sickness. A classic Irish song dating from the 11th century from the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology, The Book of Dun Cow. It tells of a curse of illness inflicted upon the hero Cú Chulainn by otherworldly women and his recovery with the aid of his wife Emer. His developing relationship with one of his attackers, Fand, occasions his wife's "only jealousy".

ERIN GO BRAGH!
the story of the song below the break:

Latest Live Action Update from CPAC 2013

Well, yesterday, there was the little kerfluffle at the Trump The Race Card segment at the CPAC 2013 Event,  when they actually had a discussion that included an exchange that asserted among other things, "I didn't know the legacy of The Republican Party included women correcting men in public.” and African Americans should accept being subservient to whites and could have voting rights as long as they voted in Africa and that the idea that slavery was evil is debatable because "Blacks should be happy because the slave masters gave them shelter, clothing and food." Here's the video:

Of course there was the usual homophobia, climate change denial and NRA grandstanding led by some of our most prestigious luminary wing nuts, like Donald Trump or Michelle Bachman who asserted the Obama family was living a life of decadent luxury supported by people much more wealthy than they were, like her...Even from here, the rank stench of manic desperation seems a little stronger this year.

But here's 5 more things we learned from yesterdays CPAC 2013. I bet you didn't suspect that....
1. Marxists Control The Catholic Church. Fringe fundamentalist Cliff Kincaid’s organization America’s Survival is handing out a brochure warning Roman Catholics that the church “has been compromised philosophically — not only by infiltrators from the homosexual movement and Marxists. but by adherents of the so-called ‘New Age’ philosophy.” So vast is the communist infiltration within the Catholic Church, one “Catholic insider” told the organization that the bishops “made a deal with the devil to get Obamacare passed.”
2. The UN Will Take One-Quarter Of America’s Land. The American Jobs Alliance, a conservative business advocacy group, is handing out hundreds of fliers warning attendees of the dangers posed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an undeniably controversial free trade agreement that the United States is currently negotiating with a handful of South Pacific nations. Instead of reasoned criticism however, AJA sounds the alarm over Sharia Law, and claims that the Partnership “cedes 1/4 of U.S. to Foreign Control. A quarter of the entire U.S. land area will fall under UN court jurisdiction.”
3. Marriage Equality Must Be Opposed. Reason #8 in the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Prosperity’s “10 Reasons Why Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is Harmful and Must to Opposed” brochure: “It Imposes its Acceptance on all Society.” One example of the horrors of acceptance? “Rental property owners will have to agree to accept same-sex couples as tenants.” 10 reasons weren’t enough for the Ruth Institute, who have a brochure of their own with “77 Non-Religious Reasons to Support Man/Woman Marriage.”
4. George Soros Controls Everything. In another brochure published by Cliff Kincaid’s America’s Survival organization, author Zubi Diamond proclaims that President Obama “hates America just like his master George Soros.” Racially questionable language aside, Diamond’s obsession with French financier George Soros spills over to the rest of the brochure, going so far as to claim that former Fox News firebrand Glenn Beck was fired from the network for “exposing George Soros.”
5. Puerto Rico’s Statehood Referendum Was Rigged. ProEnglish’s singular mission — to promote English as country’s official language and wage war on any attempts to provide civic services in Spanish or any other foreign language — is laid forth in an 8 page newsletter on display at CPAC. Such articles include “Canada’s Struggles with Bilingualism Continue,” “ProEnglish Ally Rep. Steve King Re-Elected,” and cover story “Rigged Vote in Puerto Rico Produces Artificial Majority for Statehood.”

And of course, the high point of CPAC2013, another Magic Moment from Our Little Sarah, the woman they wanted to be president!

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is 80 today! Perhaps the most amazing thing is that he is still around! One of the true funk pioneers along with the original thumb thumpin' bassist Larry Graham (who is responsible for the fact that my right thumb is almost 1/4 larger than my left thumb), they redefined pop. Everyone in this band was an original and Sl;y's sister Rose is the trumpet player. They mixed all genres and helped us to be everyday people who could learn to live, love and dance together. I remember hearing them for the first time in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1967. The LP, A Whole New Thing was just exactly that....here's a cut from that record, 

I'm On A Trip To Your Heart!