A Playlist series
American Crisis Playlist #33
Do you have any convictions?
So much going on in this week leading up to our collective commercial property, Valentine’s Day (which I wrote about over at PS I Love You, but don’t tell anyone in my family yet). Tonight is the Super Bowl. Friday is my late Mother’s birthday. Still celebrating International Clash Day over at my house, and, oh yes…
Someone has a conviction trial starting on Tuesday, though one of his lawyers can’t work past Friday evening at 5:26, I think it is, because that’s the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. He could get a special dispensation to continue defending the OP, but will he? Should he? I’m all for honoring someone’s wishes, but maybe this should have been considered before the OP fired his other lawyers because they didn’t want to use as a defense the OP’s notion that he really did win the 2020 election.
If you’re feeling a bit delusional at this moment, well, so am I. Apparently, the smart money is still on no conviction, especially since members of her own party gave MTG(Q) a standing ovation after she allowed us to rest easy in her own affirmation that 9/11 actually occurred and was not some George W. Bush inspired plot to keep the World Series from going on that fall (I’m making that World Series part up. Could you tell?).
I’m going to watch the Super Bowl tonight, and all apologies to Frank Bruni and my good friend Ali, but I’m pulling for the Chiefs. Probably not a hard pull, but Mr. Brady is a supporter of the previous administration, or so I’ve picked up, and I can hold a grudge with the best of them. Still can’t believe that the Chiefs are getting away with that nickname, but it’s likely on the chopping block.
Life is sure funny.
My wife got her first Pfizer vaccine on Thursday and feels good. She came home and went immediately to work building her second Adirondack chair from Yellawood. I celebrated by downloading more music, and so, here’s what I came up with to entertain you on this sunny Sunday, though it did snow here last night. So beautiful, and since we have nowhere to go…
AMERICAN CRISIS PLAYLIST #33
- “Just Like Me,” Paul Revere and the Raiders, from 1965’s Just Like Us. The first band other than the Beatles that I truly loved. They were the house band for Dick Clark’s weekday teen music show, “Where the Action Is,” and I raced home from fourth grade every day to watch and see my favorite pseudo-American patriots in their three-cornered hats and garish revolutionary garb. This was their first hit, followed soon by “Kicks,” but listen to that organ, and know that I used to pretend sing with a hairbrush in front of my mirror to this song, and I wanted so badly to be Mark Lindsay, with his pony tail, and when I got to be a man, I got the pony tail, just like Mark.
- “Rock and Roll, Pt 2,” Gary Glitter from Glitter (1972). I know. College football teams and god knows who else have appropriated this song for cheers and revivals, and whatever else they can make a buck off of. In 1972, it was an enormous hit on AM radio where I first heard it. I didn’t know much about the “glitter” scene in England and the bands hovering around Bowie, like Mott the Hoople and others. I remember watching a coworker named Phyllis dancing to this song in the old jewelry store where we worked. The boss was gone, my Dad was holed up in his office somewhere, but Phyllis let loose. I’ve never forgotten that moment. Or her.
- “Up the Hill Backwards,” David Bowie from Scary Monsters and Super Creeps(1980). Doesn’t it feel like that right now? “While we sleep, they go to work…it’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it…I’m okay, you’re so-so, up the hill backwards, it’ll be all right.” I suppose it all comes down to what we mean by “all right.” I read today that some believe that Michael Flynn might be Q. I just don’t know what to do with myself sometimes. I do wish Bowie were still here, but at least these guys are…
- “100,000 People,” Kings of Leon, from their forthcoming album, When You See Yourself. “Nothing makes me feel the way you do…” and that kind of says it all when I think about the holiday on the 14th, and my wife and my daughters, and Max. And the Kings. Everything these boys touch turns to golden sounds as far as I’m concerned. I love love songs that have such power and come from sources I wouldn’t have imagined. Imagine is the operative word, and as long as we can do that, we can keep coming back from the last four years when America was made horrible again.
- “chinatown, featuring Bruce Springsteen,” from a new single by Bleachers. I don’t know…if you told me this song was first cut in the 1980’s, I’d have no problem believing that. Not that it’s too excessive with its electronic keyboard background, but I see an MTV video with singing heads amidst a sundown-y backdrop. Another love song, and that’s how I’m rolling in this moment. Bruce doesn’t even seem to be wearing his real age. Maybe I’m not either. We’ll see. Check out the video, live on rooftop of Electric Lady.
- “She’s Lost Control,” Joy Division from 1979’s lost treasure, Unknown Pleasures. I’m teaching a great novel right now in my Southern Gothic Lit class: MO Walsh’s My Sunshine Away. Speaking of love and obsession, the narrator goes through a dark music period where he, and the girl he adores, obsess over Joy Division. I played some for my class. Two people liked it, but even they admitted that they didn’t really want to hear any more. The novel is definitely a mystery, and Joy Division, I have to say, is the least gothic part of it. It’s one of those stories where you begin chanting early on, “Don’t go into that room.” But of course, eventually you do.
- “Wallflower,” Sevdaliza from 2020’s Shabrang. As part of International Clash Day, I heard this song on Seattle’s KEXP, and I have to say that whatever I was doing, I stopped and listened harder and wondered again where I had been and what else I’m missing. So much out there, and maybe songs, like people, come when you most need them. I’m a sucker for oddly-formed sounds from distant places, and there’s enough warning here about who we are to keep me thinking and wondering long into my night.
- “One More Time,” The Clash, from 1980’s Sandinista! One of my favorite songs from this record, showcasing the various Clash sounds in one song — the dub version that follows on the album continues the groove, but the ghetto continues too. I finished reading Prof. Eddie Glaude’s recent study of James Baldwin last week, Begin Again. Glaude urges us to quit apologizing for the misguided rust belters who went Trump and to focus on all the black and brown people who are still victims of American bigotry and policies that keep them from feeling whole and human. That’s more important stuff to know while the Repubs are still trying to sneak guns into the chambers.
- “Save Your Tears,” The Weeknd, from 2020’s The Highlights. Back to romance, and this voice and the attending rhythm section make me feel happy and ready to dance the night away (apologies to Van Halen). I’m so glad that R&B lives on, and even more glad to have discovered The Weeknd, and I repeat typing that just to mess with my spell check. And the notion, “save your tears for another day…” yeah, maybe till Friday when we see how the conviction is going.
- “New Day,” Night Beats from their forthcoming Outlaw R&B. I love this sound, again from a band I know nothing about. I’m ready to learn more, and since we’re only two weeks into this new American day, here’s hoping that the number of those fully vaccinated will catch the number of those infected sooner rather than much later. J&J is coming as is, I hope NovaVax. I’m waiting patiently. And listening.
And thank you for listening and reading; for following The Riff, and give all accolades to Noah Levy for this. My fellow writers deserve good reads, too, so have at them: Oliver Norris, Jessica Lee McMillan, Kevin Alexander, Steven Hale, If Ever You’re Listening, Rob Janicke, MDSHall, and Frank Mastropolo.
Last week’s list is here: https://readmedium.com/american-crisis-playlist-32-8720a40ed80d?sk=b99b1e56f7cce93acb77a4ef4ea500fe
