“liberal enough to soothe other liberals without annoying everyone else”
– perhaps unexpected praise from the decidedly non-liberal George Will
Thursday, January 31, 2019
To fix the border, put Washington in timeout
Finally, some constructive suggestions for solving our border security
conundrum. Thanks to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for her ideas, and to Karen
Tumulty for her column.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Remembering Reggie Young
I have to admit I had never heard of guitarist Reggie Young until I
read his belatedly-published obituary in this morning’s Washington Post. It
turns out that he was featured on three of my favorite songs of all time:
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Shuffle #113 (January 26, 2019)
Tha Crossroads – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Ode To A Kudu – George Benson
Against The Wind – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Confidential – The Fleetwoods
The Cheapest Key – Kathleen Edwards
Drive South – John Hiatt
Shooting Star – Bad Company
Accidents Will Happen – Elvis Costello
Friday, January 25, 2019
Favorite Musical Artists: James Hunter
From my review of his 2006 album People Gonna Talk:
Allmusic.com
characterizes Hunter as an “English channeler of American soul from days of
yore”, which is probably as apt a description as any. What it doesn’t capture is
that Hunter manages to draw upon his influences while nevertheless creating a
sound that is uniquely his own. As both the lead vocalist and only guitar
player in his superb band – Hunter now bills the act as “The James Hunter Six”
– his sound heavily features his two sax players to drive his melodies, with
his alternately edgy or supremely lyrical guitar work mainly reserved for the
bridges of the songs. He also writes superb songs, both uptempo and ballads;
one of my favorite Hunter lyrics is from “Don’t Come Back”:
Never have revenge in mind
‘Cos an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind
But forgiveness is the business of some other diplomat
So baby don’t come back.
Hunter has an excellent web site, which includes notes and track
listings for all of his U.S.-released albums, as well as links to a number of
interviews.
Fortunately for his fans, Hunter and his band tour frequently and
generally hit the DC area. He does get around venue-wise: in addition to the
shows listed below, I’ve seen him at Wolf Trap, XPNFest in Camden, and the
Birchmere.
Recent concerts:
Favorite songs:
People Gonna Talk
Don’t Come Back
Look Out
Tell Her
Hand It Over
One Way Love
The Hard Way
This Is Where We Came In
You Can’t Win
Kick It Around
Let The Monkey Ride
How Long
Talkin ‘Bout My Love
Whatever It Takes
(Baby) Hold On
Hear Me Calling
Don’t Do Me No Favours
Believe What I Say
I Don’t Wanna Be Without You
Each of the above is available on one of Hunter’s studio CDs. I would
be remiss, however, to not also mention his classic cover version of The “5”
Royales’ “Baby Don’t Do It”, which is a staple of his live shows.
Favorite Musical Artists
Having finally finished my previous one-year three-year blog
project, it’s time to move on. This time, I’ll be honoring my 12 favorite
musical artists of all time. They will be presented in random order, as I
couldn’t bear to think that any of them were merely #7 or #11. They’re all equally
great to me.
Since there are only 12 entries to work up, and 12 months in the year,
I hope that this project will be completed in time. Feel free to nag me
mercilessly if I should fall behind. (Some may detect a clue at the end of that
sentence …)
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Does anyone deserve such a paycheck?
Nice column from Steven Pearlstein.
“Markets … are social constructs, and the idea that they generate a
distribution of income based on a purely objective measure of individual
economic contribution is a fiction, nothing more than free-market ideology.
When it comes to the distribution of income, there is no “pure” market. Any
distribution is, by its nature, “political,” reflecting changing social norms
and the distribution of political power.
“[If] we, as a society, decide that we find the current distribution of
income unacceptable — if it offends our moral intuitions that a single
financier earns as much in a year as 15,000 elementary school teachers — then
it violates no great moral or economic principle to alter that distribution.”
It’s time to be the grown-ups
From Dana Milbank: “A disastrous presidency has given progressives an
extraordinary opportunity — if they don’t blow it by fighting among themselves.”
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