Celebration

I wish more people would approach their weddings with this kind of joy and freedom:

RIP Michael Jackson

The Jackson 5 on the Ed Sullivan Show, 1970, the way I'll remember Michael Jackson fondly, before his life went off the rails.

Stand By Me

It's weird to wake up and hear that the New York Times is filing papers with the state today so they can close the Boston Globe and lay off all the employees in 60 days. "Just in case" they don't win the negotiations and win deep concessions and layoffs from the employees. So whatever the result, the Boston Globe will be diminished if not dead. Will my boxes of Boston Globes from championships gone past become collector's items for more than one reason?

Thanks a lot, Grey Lady, for buying our hometown paper with lots of debt. Who could have anticipated that debt financing was a house of cards? Bloggers, that's who, and that's one of the things that's bringing down the newspaper industry. Newspapers didn't see the internet as a threat until way too late and never came up with an effective strategy to compete online.

Where will we be getting our news in 10 years? Change is a coming.

Today I heard a piece on NPR about a musical project called "Stand By Me", one of those great, great songs from the Sixties. Watch the video below of the song, sung by street performers, the filmmakers layering artist upon artist as the song progresses. Something I learned about from public radio. Will public radio still be here in 10 years? I have no answers, just questions and a great video.



Playing for Change.com

What A Voice

Susan Boyle sings on Britain's Got Talent and wows the crowd. Ignore the cretin judges and the hokey set up. This woman can really sing.

Fuck AIG

Another headline that will get me banned by nanny software in airports and libraries everywhere. Fuck 'em. This is one funny song.

FREE MONEY IN THE USA

I cant pay my bills, my cards are maxxed
but the same old greedy banker hacks
are taking million dollar bonuses from my tax
Busting laws and breaking backs
AIGee your dumb said the man in the suit
With his bonuses and his sack of loot
The same guys who caused the train to crash
Are the only people still making cash

AIG I'm dumb FDIC my thumb
Shoved up my BofA
Free money in the USA
I got no place to stay
I lost my 401k
Now it's all gone away
Free money in the USA

Binding legal obligations
In a broke and worthless paper nation
one six five million in bonus pay
Free money in the USA
The first banker to press that case
may win in court but will one day face
an angry mob that he will meet
coming through the gates of easy street

Cancel all bonus's or put them in jail
We're all to goddamn big to fail

With so many people out of work
I hear some wealthy banker jerk
Say they can't attract the brightest and best
Like the ones who got us into this mess
Without hundreds of millions in retention pay
Free money in the USA
Go down to the unemployment line
There's a lot of people who'd do just fine
To right this ship and fix your bank
For a decent wage and a hearty thanks
for some honest pay for an honest day
Fuck aig fuck BofA-holes

© Paul Hipp 2009

Obama's Elf

An 18 second giggle:

Best Christmas Albums

I am a collector of many things, among them Christmas CDs. Which makes me look up at the title of this post and realize that I have carbon-dated myself by writing "albums". That's how music came when I was a kid and that's how my brain will continue to refer to CDs unless I really think hard about it.

And of course I love lists. I just compiled a list to post on this post by dooce asking for Christmas music recommendations. So here goes. From my years of collecting and listening to Christmas music, here's my top six list of Christmas CDs/albums:

1. Mixed Nuts Soundtrack. My personal all-time favorite Christmas CD. The best tracks are Fats Domino's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby"

2. Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas. The classic.

3. Bullseye Blues Christmas. Best track, "Five Pound Box of Money" by Michelle "Evil Gal" Willson

4. The Alligator Records Christmas Collection. Best track, Tinsley Ellis's "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'"

5. The Platters A Christmas Album,

6. and last but not least, The Brian Setzer Orchestra Boogie Woogie Christmas

LOL

Musical Interlude

It's a New Day, from will.i.am

Dancing In the Streets

From BlueGal

My Friends - The Musical

By the makers of Baracky:



And for a blast from the past, The Empire Strikes Back:

I Love These Kids

A different performance of "Vote However You Like" by the Ron Clark Middle School students. Every time I watch this I smile.

Musical Interlude

Obama Zydeco from Louisiana, via Fighting Liberals

Musical Interlude

Inspiring song parody by 7th graders at Ron Clark Academy, at the Coca-Cola Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia:

"We Can Vote However We Like"



I'm still humming "Obama on the left, McCain on the right, so we can talk politics all night, and you can vote however you like!"

Vote Barack!

Funny, goofy rap video:



I love it when they call Sarah Palin "Moose-olini".

Musical Interlude

Takin' It Back With Barack, Jack! Swing along:

Vote for Hope

A musical interlude, by MC Yogi:


Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Today's Viral Video

Joe Cocker at Woodstock -- with subtitles explaining what those lyrics really were!

RIP Al Wilson

Boston Globe: Al Wilson, at 68; '70s soul singer

Music to Drive You Crazy

Mother Jones: The Torture Playlist

NEWS: Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose.

I actually like three of the songs:

Don MacLean, American Pie

Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.

David Gray, Babylon

You can listen to all 20 songs at the Mother Jones link. For all young parents, yes, the Barney theme song made the list.