An Anniversary to Make You Feel Old

The Rolling Stones played their first ever gig the Marquee Club in London, England 64 years ago today.\

They are still touring.

Musing on Life, Courtesy of John, Paul, George and Ringo

F%$# I'm old.

Remember When Colbert Played the Vince Guaraldi Peanuts Music on his Last Show?

He ended up costing CBS a lot of money.

No amount disclosed for the settlement, the Lee Mendelson Film Productions announced that, "It would donate all proceeds to World Central Kitchen, the disaster-relief food non-profit founded by chef José Andrés."

Sweet, 

So Now What

Now that a jury had determined that Live Nation illegally monopolized event ticketing, what happens next?

My guess is not much, beyond a tiny hit to profits for a quarter, but I am a cynic.

A jury in a high-stakes antitrust trial found Wednesday that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster illegally maintained monopoly power in the ticketing market.

Jurors delivered the verdict in federal court in New York City after around five weeks of trial, which featured testimony from dozens of witnesses. The jury began deliberating Friday.

Personally, I'd like to see criminal charges filed against the executives, but likely we will see a minor financial award and some toothless remedies. 

I Guess That Reddit Is Too Busy Sucking Google's Dick to Run the Site

Paul McCartney was banned from Reddit briefly for sharing concert pictures on r/PaulMcCartney. (Alternate link)

It would seem to me that the basic purpose of the subreddit is Paul McCartney sharing concert pictures, but the site has been complete pants since its IPO. 

Sir Paul McCartney was banned from Reddit after sharing pictures of a concert in the r/PaulMcCartney subreddit. Over the weekend, Paul McCartney’s Reddit account attempted to share pictures from a show at Fonda Theatre to the site via a Dropbox link. Shortly afterwards the account was banned.

Why did this happen? That’s in dispute. At first it appeared that the mods of r/PaulMcCartney had kicked Sir Paul from the subreddit dedicated to him. But moderators insist that’s not what happened and pointed to a Reddit admin comment explaining that Paul was banned site-wide, not at the subreddit level. “Ask yourself, why would we ban the account of the man we're all passionate about? Moderators also have no power over [whose] account is deleted from this website. Only admins do, which again has already been addressed by them,” r/PaulMcCartney moderator RoastBeefDisease said in a stickied post on the subreddit.

In a different thread, an admin explained that McCartney was never banned and that his account was booted from the site due to a glitch. “Just for clarity, that account was never banned from the site (or the subreddit) there was a technical error that made it appear to be banned from the site,” the admin said. “This has now been resolved. Sorry for any confusion this caused or issue for the mod team here!”

So Reddit management's response was basically, "Don't blame us, we're stupid incompetent prats."

Name the Star Trek Actor

Spoiler: It's Iggy Pop, (highlight to find out) who is looking more respectable than I had previously thought possible for him.

My mind is officially blown.

Also, he just turned 79, so I feel old.

Justice

Rapper Afroman, best known as the artist who produced the song, "Because I Got High," just prevailed in a defamation suit filed by Adams County sheriffs for his mockery of them for breaking into his house, disconnecting his security cameras, and stealing his money. (See here for my earlier thoughts on this)

Afroman took the incident, and made lemonade, or possibly lemon pound cake, over, and the sheriff's deputies decided that being help up for mockery for their egregious and unprofessional behavior hurt their delicate feelings, so they sued, and lost.

Before Friday, Grammy-nominated musician Afroman might have been best known for his Y2K hit, “Because I Got High.” But now he has a new claim to fame, as the man who fought the law—and won. The southern Ohio resident, whose legal name is Joseph Edgar Foreman, prevailed in a nearly $4 million lawsuit filed against him by seven police officers in 2023, all of whom claimed that songs and videos he released regarding a raid on his home were defamatory and an invasion of their privacy.

The saga began on August 21, 2022, when a group of Adams County, Ohio, Sheriff's Office deputies raided Foreman's Winchester, Ohio home, which is about 55 miles east of Cincinnati. According to a Fox 19 report from the time, police had obtained a warrant to search the residence based on “probable cause that drugs and drug paraphernalia were located on the property and that trafficking and kidnapping had taken place there.”

Foreman, who was not home at the time, posted security footage of the raid to Instagram, including a door-busting breach into the kitchen, followed by a police pause at a dessert stand populated by what we'd later learn was a lemon pound cake. An additional video showed police rifling through his closet, as one law enforcement agent asks “is he a Raiders fan? Still?”

According to Foreman, police confiscated a joint, a vape pen, and $5,031 in cash. (The latter was returned.) He was never charged. A spokesperson for the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office later admitted that the raid “failed to turn up probative criminal evidence.”

Well, it was about $400.00 short, the cops, "Misplaced," the cash.  Yeah, sure. 

………

In the wake of the event, Foreman says he thought about suing the police, but decided against it. "I asked myself, as a powerless Black man in America, what can I do to the cops that kicked my door in?" he asked NPR. “And the only thing I could come up with was make a funny rap song about them and make some money, use the money to pay for the damages they did and move on.”

The result was Lemon Pound Cake, an album released by Afroman in 2022. Tracks such as “The Police Raid,” “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera,” and the title song retold details of the breach in an exaggerated, hyperbolic, and oft-comedic fashion. Another song, “Will You Help Me Repair My Door," was accompanied by a video that included footage from the breach, set to lines like “Did you find what you were looking for/ Would you like a slice of lemon pound cake/ You can take as much as you want to take/ There must be a big mistake.”

………

It wasn't until this week that the trial began, with Foreman in attendance in a suit patterned with the American flag. He took the stand on Tuesday, WCPO reports. “All of this is their fault,” Foreman said. "If they hadn't wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit, I would not know their names, they wouldn't be on my home surveillance system, and there would be no songs ... my money would still be intact."

“After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door,” he said. “I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time.”

The next day, the jury reached its verdict after six hours of deliberation. "It's been an emotional case, it's been a well-tried case," the judge said. “In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant. No plaintiff verdict prevailed. So the matter will be concluded with defense verdicts.”

I'm not sure what he can do legally in response to what was obviously a SLAPP suit, but there is clearly material for another album in this.

Headline of the Day

Drinking in Country Music: Are Whiskey Songs Going Away?

— Rolling Stone, discussing how a decrees in drinking has effected the genre.

The subhed says it all, "In Nashville, some are wondering how a decline in drinking may affect artists’ own liquor brands and the songs they sing. “There are more weed songs for sure,” says one songwriter." 

I did not predict this.  My prediction was that AI and self-driving cars would lead to country songs about your pickup truck leaving you. 

Unsurprisingly, Willie Nelson is promoting a THC tonic. 

YouTube Comment of the Day

They [The Beatles] weren't "going" prog, they were inventing it.

User @jamescox42317 d explaining to producer and composer Isaac Brown what the Beatles really did.

Brown has a series of videos of him reacting to hearing every Beatles album for the first time. (Thank you for making me feel old as f%$#, dude!)

While listening to, "Happiness is a Warm Gun," Brown says, "What the heck is this, Prog Rock? Hey, The Beatles are going Prog!" (about 27:10 of Part 1 below) 

Over the span of less than a decade, the Fab Four literally redefined rock and roll.

Part 1:

Part2:

FWIW, I do agree with Brown's basic thesis, which is that White Album is less an album than it is a collection of songs from 4 amazingly talented dudes.

It is a chaotic magnificent masterpiece, and my favorite Beatles album. 

Just How Small is Donald Trump's Penis Anyway?

It appears that Donald Trump is so upset that people and performers are avoiding the Kennedy Center like the plague that he has announced plans to "refurbish" the complex which would result in it being closed for 2 years.

To be clear here, he's talking about knocking it down, and erecting another gold plated monstrosity in yet another example of architectural self-aggrandizement and bad taste.

We need to burn down everything that he built when he is gone.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to close the Kennedy Center for roughly two years for the facility to undergo construction. The proposal comes amid a series of cancellations and internal upheaval since he took over the arts institution and presidential memorial nearly a year ago and remade it in his name and image.

“I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “In other words, if we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer.”

Under Trump’s proposal, which he said is subject to board approval, the Kennedy Center could close on July 4, coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary, with construction beginning immediately.

“Financing is completed, and fully in place!,” Trump wrote. “This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center … and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before.”

Needless to say, anyone with any connection to the Kennedy Center, including members of the Kennedy family.

I Like Bruce Springsteen, and I Like Bob Dylan

But I am profoundly unimpressed by Springsteen's latest, a protest song about ICE, where he seems to trying to sound as much like Bob Dylan as possible. 

I appreciate the sentiment, but Bruce Springsteen can do a protest song in his own voice and absolutely kill it.

Hell, Bruce Springsteen could do a song from his shopping list in his own voice and absolutely kill it.

I am Legitimately Surprised

I just came across a study which shows that metal heads are among the most faithful partners among music fans, which surprises me, though the news that jazz fans are the biggest hounds does not.

Jazz fans may want to keep whatever's in their pants in check — according to a recent survey by affair website Victoria Milan, lovers of jazz are almost 10 times more likely to cheat than heavy metal fans.

The study (published by The Sun), which queried more than 6,500 people who admitted to affairs, also found that three-quarters of unfaithful men and women say they can't stop thinking about their lover when hearing their favorite music.

Jazz topped the list of "seductive" genres, followed by salsa and pop, which were most likely to send respondents into sexual fantasy mode. All I'm hearing is "nobody wants to fuck to metal," which is simply not true. Other genres ranked as follows in order of cheaters' preference: 

1. Jazz: 19%
2. Salsa: 14%
3. Pop: 13%
4. Country: 12%
5. Rap: 9%
6. Classical: 8%
7. Blues: 6%
8. Reggae: 5%
9. Rock and Roll: 5%
10. Electronica: 4%
11. Indie: 3%
12. Heavy Metal: 2%

I wish that I had known this when I was single.

There is No Perfect Juxtaposition of 2000s Music and 1960s Televis………

I want to note that Diana Rigg gave me stirrings at about age 7.

Damn!

Howie Klein, former music executive and later a political activist, has died at age 77 of pancreatic cancer, not something I would wish on anyone.

My exposure to him was primarily as the proprietor of the blog Down With Tyranny,  but he was everywhere in pop music during his earlier career.  (Not sure what will happen to the site with him gone)

He and I were on the same page about the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment).

Howie Klein, a veteran record executive, radio DJ and political activist who was a leader in the famously artist-friendly Warner Music family during its golden era of the 1980s and early ‘90s, died Wednesday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, according to a social media post from his sister. He was 77.

He was a top executive at Sire Records during the label’s peak era — a time when the label had everyone from the Smiths and Depeche Mode to Madonna and Lou Reed on its roster — and later was president of Warner’s Reprise label from 1989 to 2001. He was a co-founder of the San Francisco-based 415 Records during the 1970s, and was a strong and vocal presence in the music industry’s anti-censorship efforts in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, focusing on political activism in his later years.

You can read the rest of the article for his voluminous background in music, particularly Punk.

He occasionally wrote about music on DWT, and I wish that he had written something on the Ur-Punk band Death.

 

I am So Jealous

Stewart Copeland, composer and drummer for The Police, has stated that he once, "Bogarted a joint from a Beatle." 

It was Paul McCartney.

He's also a magnificent drummer, and a fine composer.

I want to Bogart a joint with Paul McCartney.  Hell, I want to Bogart a joint with Ringo. 

Q: What’s been your most cringe-worthy run-in with a celebrity?

A: I once Bogarted a Beatle. It was at the after party for the Foo Fighters concert at Wembley Stadium. Somebody says, “Oh, I smell marijuana”, and so I wander over in that general direction just as somebody’s handing a joint. So I said, “OK, sure” – just to be polite – I took the joint, and I looked over and I realised that the intended recipient of the joint was none other than Paul McCartney. And I had just interrupted the passage of this chalice to the great one! I had interloped in this moment.

I went to bed that night not quite sure whether I was mortally embarrassed or if that was kind of a cool brag.

Just so you know, McCartney never held this against him.

This Restores My Faith in Humanity

On Sunday at the Miss Universe competition in Chile, contestant Ignacia Fernández sang a song for the talent portion. 

That is not particularly unusual, what is unusual is that she is in a band, and she brought a band mate on stage to accompany her as she sang a song from the band's repertoire.

What is even more unusual is that her band is Decessus, a progressive Death Metal band.

Who’s to say you can’t be brutal and a beauty? Ignacia Fernández is a 27-year-old model, that much is clear, but what isn’t upon first look is how damn savage she is. While competing in the Miss World Chile 2025 (in Spanish, it’s Miss Mundo Chile) pageant semifinal last Sunday, November 2, Fernández stunned damn near everyone by performing a song from her progressive death metal band called Decessus. Yes, you read that right. Miss World Chile 2025 could be a headbanging guttural queen, and if I could vote for her, I definitely would.

Joined by her bandmate Carlos Palma, Fernández performed an original Decessus song while rocking a ball gown. She understandably garnered a standing ovation, with one of the judges saying he’s never seen anything like it in a beauty pageant before. We haven’t either, sir.

In an interview with the Chilean paper Las Últimas Noticias, Fernández said how she was nervous about her performance and the reactions it might receive. “Television lends itself to people making memes and making fun of you,” she said. The song I sang is by my band. It’s my job, my life.”

Fernández represents the Las Condes district, hoping to move on to represent Chile in Miss Universe. Her performance won her a spot in the pageant finals, which will take place this Sunday, November 9. Imagine how wonderful it’d be to have a death metal maven representing our universe. She’s even said: “I’m not trying to fit in. I’m trying to show myself as I am.” I couldn’t think of anyone better.

She made it to the next round of the pageant, because she was true to herself, and truth is power. 

I Would Work on My French Accent and Start Taunting People

I was talking to Sharon* while driving to Costco today, pricing hearing aids. (F%$# I'm old) 

She mentioned that she had an ear-worm, the  Malvina Reynolds/Seeger song Little Boxes.

I mentioned Levittown, and said that it was still better than McMansion Hell, where you have futuristic houses joined to Medieval turrets.

Sharon noted that she liked houses with turrets, and I said, "F%$# that, I want a real castle."

When she asked me what I would do if I owned a real castle, I replied with, "I would work on my French accent and start taunting people."

Seriously, what would you do if you had a castle. 

I thought that my bon mot should be preserved for posterity. 

^*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Bummer

 Tom Lehrer has died at age 97.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols

I guess I have time to post a musical interlude. 

I was thinking, maybe something to sooth the troubles souls out there.

Then I listened to this album for the first time in years, and said, F%$# that. 

Stay angry, my friends.

63 Years Ago Today

The Rolling Stones played their first gig at the Marquee Club in London, England 63 years ago today.

63 f%$#ing years.

Makes me feel old.