Sarah Palin's Christmas Card

Sarah Palin's Christmas Card from our friends at Weekly Wolrld News



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The English Beat perform Best Friend (with lyrics)

The English Beat--who I am once again enthralled with (after just seeing them live again)--perform Best Friend. It's a great song, and the lyrics are worth checking out. Earlier, I always thought this was a love song; it's something entitely, and wryly different...and altogether roundabout love song. One of the things I've always liked about the tune is the chiming Danelectro guitar line...and it chimes here like the bells of heaven.



Best Friend
By Dave Wakeling


I just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't everybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through, is it you?
talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.
she's on a holiday,
she's got her summer frock on.
suck on an ice cream,
it's meltin' in the hot sun.
first date's made you pray for more.
i wanted you, wanted.
everybody knows the score,
i wanted you, wanted.
what are we pretendin' for?
let's talk about ourselves on the floor.
let's talk about yourselves, nothing more i promise.
talk about ourselves again.
i just found out the name of your best friend.
talk, talk, talk about yourself again.
yes i just found out the name of your best friend.
i just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't anybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through, is it you?
talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.
again, again, again, again.
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend.
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Music That Matters

I have been jotting down notes on bands and singers, partly because I like lists, but also, in reaction to the list on the sidebar of Dean Ericksen's blog: "Music Worth Having Around."
A lot of people and bands I thought would be on this list didn't make it. Some bands I really like like Seattle's Band of Horses, The Raconteurs, or another Seattle band, The Fleet Foxes, haven't been around long enough to make the list. And there are literally hundreds of people and bands like Steely Dan, Yes, General Public, Leon Russell, Joe Jackson, Graham Parker, and others, that just don't hold up. In my booklet, anyhow. And yeah, I know I've missed dozens of people in all categories (let me know), and didn't even create one for classical/serious music...


Rock
The Beatles (all the way)
The Rolling Stones (up to Exile On Main Street)
John Lennon
The Kinks (up to, say, Schoolboys In Disgrace)
The Old 97's
Bob Dylan (up to Desire, and sporadically thereafter)
Rod Stewart (Faces and the early solo albums)
John Sebastian (the first solo record, and of course The Lovin' Spoonful, who had just enough hits to fill up a CD.
Paul Simon (the first couple of solo albums)
Rick Danko
Steve Miller (60's and early 70's SM, not "Fly Like An Eagle" and beyond)
Joni Mitchell
Chicago up through, say, VI
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Costello
The Byrds
Split Enz/Crowded House/Finn Brothers
The Who
The Clash
The Pretenders
Talking Heads
Queen
Lou Reed
David Bowie
Cream
Velvet Underground
Derek and the Dominoes
Buffalo Springfield
The Grateful Dead
Los Lobos
The Posies (NW heroes)
Traveling Wilburys
Crosby Stills Nash/Crosby Stills Nash & Young
The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson (select, but not most, solo albums)
The Doors
The Sonics (NW heroes)
Nirvana (NW heroes)
Paul Revere and The Raiders (NW heroes)
Big Star (now 1/2 NW heroes)
Weezer
The Band
The English Beat
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention
The Ramones
Janis Joplin
Sly and the Family Stone
The Youngbloods
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Jimi Hendrix
The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Carpenters
Simon and Garfunkel
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin (through Houses of the Holy)
Brian Eno
Nick Lowe/Rockpile
Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
Derek and the Dominoes
The Allman Brothers

Country/Western/Bluegrass/folk (ish)
Woody Guthrie
Hank Williams (The King)
Bob Wills
Roy Orbison
George Jones
Willie Nelson
Chet Atkins
Merle Haggard
Emmylou Harris
Buddy & Julie Miller
Dolly Parton
Patsy Cline
Roy Rogers
Sons of The Pioneers
Gene Autry
Johnny Cash
The Carter Family
Earl Monroe
Old and In The Way
David Grisman
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
John Prine
Dwight Yoakum
Lucinda Williams
Lynette Anderson
Dale Watson
Bela Fleck

Jazz/swing/bebop/cool
Charflie Parker
Thelonius Monk
Art Tatum
Paul Winter
Charles Mingus
Duke Ellington
Lester Young
Benny Goodman
Glen Miller
Dizzy Gillespie
Bill Evans
Gerry Mulligan
Jacquo Pastorius
Miles Davis
Charles Lloyd
Jimmy Smith
Weather Report
Return To Forever
John McLaughlin
Count Basie
Chet Baker
Cab Calloway
Herbie Hancock
Bessie Smith
Nina Simone
Bud Powell
Stéphane Grappelli
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Branford Marsalis
Wayne Shorter
Louis Armstrong (solo, and with The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens)
Billie Holiday
The Beau Hunks
Sun Ra
Bill Frisell
Jimmy Smith
Keith Jarrett

Blues/R & B/Soul/reggae
James Brown
Wlly Dixon
Muddy Waters
Al Green
Sleepy John Estes
Jimmy Reed
The Supremes
Lightnin' Hopkins
Otis Redding
The Blind Boys if Alabama
Rev. Blind Gary Davis
Stevie Wonder
Etta James
Smokey Robinson
The Temptations
The Miracles
The Four Tops
Leadbelly
Furry Lewis
Elmore Johnson
Skip James
Jimmy Cliff
Bob Marley
Billie Holiday
Marvin Gaye
Michael Jackson (first few albums)
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Barbra Streisand back in the day, 1977 that is

click Babs to enlarge

Here is the back cover of Barbra's 1977 album Superman. I worked at a music store in NYC that year (Carl Fischer Music Publisher) and the sheet music, with Barbra in her revealing outfit, flew off the shelves.

The cover, was probably the raciest thing she ever did. . .until perhaps Meet The Fokkers, where she plays the nearly deranged sex-therapist mom of Ben Stiller (Fokker)...
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"When Monkeys Fly Out My Butt": George W. Bush and Barbra Streisand Kiss - now that's one awkward smooch!

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Dave Wakeling and Nat Love perform Save It For Later on Luke Burbank's TBTL

It's kind of cool when your heroes meet.

While Dave Wakeling and the English Beat were in town for an awesome show at The Showbox, they dropped by Seattle's (and now, the world's) Luke Burbank's TBTL (Too Beautiful To Live - KIRO 97.3 FM and 710 AM). They play two songs, including one of their greatest, Save It For Later. I have seen The English Beat twice now, but have never seen Dave without his pink Danelectro. They're playing unplugged.

Check out this video on YouTube (or down below) and download the TBTL podcast with songs and interview at the TBTL website. or at the iTunes podast site.


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Portrait of Dean Ericksen

click to enlarge

Dean Ericksen can be found blogging here.

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Typeracer.com - a typing race game

As a four fingered typist, I knew I'd suck at this; still it's kind of fun. You race against other typists and your progress is measured by a car moving in a race with others. Of course, the people on the leaderboard/high score list all type around 150 words per minute. Check it out at http://play.typeracer.com/



As you can see, someone typed nearly 230 words per minute!
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Video: Seattle's Band of Horses play "No One's Gonna Love You"

Band of Horses are one of my favorite bands to emerge from Seattle recently, they're indy, hirsute, and have something of a pop sheen. I saw them in September at Bumbershoot and had a great time. They even managed to sound good in Memorial Stadium.



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painting: self-portrait (of Jack Brummet)

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Only 44 days of Republican madness remain.

Only 44 days of Republican madness remain. It seems like the longest 44 days, ever.
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1,600 cops keep the peace between 700 Nazis and several hundred protesters in Berlin

German Youth give the finger to 700 Neo-Nazis

About 1,600 German cops, mostly in riot gear and helmets, were deployed in a Berlin suburb today to keep 700 Neo-Nazis and a few hundred protesters separated (roughly a 1:1 cops to citizens ratio). The police arrested more than 40 demonstrators trying to block the Nazi march Saturday.

The protesters chanted "Nazis out" and "Get Lost", and then tried to confront the 700 neo-Nazis, who carried black and red banners with the slogans "Young people need a future".

The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) is described by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist (namely that they deny the holocaust).

Television pictures showed cops using water cannons to disperse the left-wingers who held banners saying "Berlin against Nazis". Wrecked cars could be seen in the streets of Berlin's Lichtenberg suburb, where the march and protest took place.

Dustups between the left and right are frequent in Germany, however, neo-Nazi demonstrations are often banned to avoid the violence.

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