Take a minute or two . . .

JOHN LEE HOOKER & MILES DAVIS. Turn it up. Here's another, called "Murder". Way, way cool groove. Yum, even.

Rock on!

With none other than Lindsay Stewart, resident at Canadian Cynic and a regular commenter here at TGB.

Way to go, PSA!

Forty Years Later . . . .

For the good times . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

The Revolution Is Being Streamed

I don't want to hijack the blog to sell stuff, but if you have a look over at the Woodshed, you can find out how, for less than ten bucks, you can score some awesome music and help progressive politics. The Revolution Will Be Streamed is now available for sale.

As noted in an earlier post, this is an album of MP3 I've collected from various artists who have donated their creative energy, talent and time to help out Netroots Nation with its online activities. I'm not making a dime, it all goes to pay for things like streaming the speeches and workshops at the Netroots Nation convention online in Second Life.

There is very little in the way of overt politics on the album, just a lot of good music. There's a little bit of everything: Folk, Roots, Salsa, Blues, Comedy, funky pop, alt-country, gothic tinged rock, even some reclaimed '80s dance pop.

And if you just want to listen, you can tune into Radio Woodshed, where I'll be streaming the entire album in constant rotation over the next few days.

I should point out that I have no official affiliation with Netroots Nation and they have no official involvement with this project. I, along with some other like-minded people, took on this project because we think Netroots Nation does good work and wanted to raise some money for them. Any errors, transgressions or omissions are mine, not theirs.

Speaking of protest music...

That there is the cover of the MP3 album I have spent the last month putting together. And man, is it suh-weet! 14 tracks of great music and all the money goes to Netroots Nation in Second Life. And I'll send a free copy to whoever is the 50,000 visitor to the blog, which should be sometime today -- if you think it's you, leave an email address in the comments so I can send you your prize.

I'll be putting the album into heavy rotation on Radio Woodshed when it shows up for sale on Amazon.com as an MP3 download soon -- it should be on itunes in Canada and the US in February. In the meantime, here's the liner notes and song list:

As the famous anarchist "Red" Emma Goldman may or may not have said: "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution"

There are few things more popular in Second Life than music and dancing. After all, in a virtual universe, we are all young and fit and we can all dance like the genetically cross-bred children of Martha Graham, Fred Astaire, Alvin Ailey, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson and Gypsy Rose Lee. But while we dance, we talk, and as often as not, we talk politics.

And you can't dance without music, whether it's the hot salsa of Los Gatos, the sunny folk-funk of Richard Maynard-Langedijk, the brooding, country-flavored power-pop of Calliope's Radio or even the off-beat satirical stylings of Billy Bob Neck -- it's all here.

The proceeds from this album will go to aid Netroots Nation in Second Life in its efforts to support progressive politics through online activism, networking, advocacy and work on behalf of progressives running for elected office. We are grateful to the artists for the donation of the their inspiration, creativity and hard work. And to you, the listener for contributing to this worthy cause.

Special thanks to all the artists who contributed, Gen. J.C. Christian, Jillan McMillan, Jane2 McMahon, Rocky Torok, Michele Migrish, Jackson Street Books, and all the regulars at Cafe Wellstone, the Lonely Yak and the Red Zeppelin.

Check out the website:http://www.nninsl.org/

The Revolution Will Be Streamed

1. So Glad - Richard Maynard-Langedijk

2. My Strange Love - Brian Lillie and the Squirrel Mountain Orchestra

3. Super Evil - Spoon Spatula

4. Arianara - Los Gatos

5. Hank Paulson's Blues - The Black Tie Martini Club

6. Gimme a Job - the Extras

7. Jesus: The Anti-Rap - Billy Bob Neck

8. Endless Night - Richard Ainslie

9. Zumbro Valley - Zathras Afarensis

10. One More (Land of Beginning Again) - Katherine King Segal & Charlie Brown

11. Watcha Gonna Do? - Golgotha

12. Rachel's Song - Scott & Michelle Daiziel

13. Samba Do Sueno - Pete Siers & Los Gatos

14. Darker, Longer - Calliope's Radio

(Shhhhhh, don't tell the Yanks that the first and last tracks are by Canadians)

McCain needs more cowbell

From "You Are My Sunshine" to "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" campaign theme songs are a venerable part of presidential political campaigns. McCain/Palin '08 seem to be having some trouble finding someone who wants to be associated with the campaign.

Foo Fighters tell McCain to stop using song
NEW YORK (AP) — Yet another band is complaining about John McCain's use of their song to promote his campaign. This time, it's the Foo Fighters.
The rockers sent out a missive telling the Republican presidential candidate to stop using "My Hero." They said they learned it was being use through news reports.
"The saddest thing about this is that `My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential," the band said in a statement. "To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song."
The band noted it's not the first time McCain has been told to stop using a song. John Mellencamp, Heart and Jackson Browne have also complained — Browne even filed a lawsuit.

Maybe they should ask Jackson Browne if they can use "Running on Empty"

When the flag waving stops

Ross over at The Gazetteer has an interesting question: Who will write the song about our kids' experience in Kandahar?

It came about as a result of this post when Ross pointed out that one of the most popular songs in Australia is Khe Sanh, a pub rock song written in the late 1970s about an Australian Vietnam veteran (and conscript) who receives no help adjusting to life after returning to Australia.

There is a curiosity associated with the song. No Australians, with the exception of close support bomber crews from 2 Sqn, RAAF, were involved in the siege of Khe Sanh. The base was manned by US Marines and any Australians there would have had to have been members of the USMC.

In any case, the song became wildly popular and is now considered an Australian cultural piece and a pub classic. Whenever it is played virtually everyone sings along and it seems every Aussie knows the words. When it was first released the Australian censors classified it unsuitable for air play and it was banned from radio. An Adelaide radio station defied the ban and the song became wildly popular.

Wars, particularly protracted conflicts, tend to generate a form of folk music for that era. The Great War and the 2nd World War certainly spawned a lot of music. Korea, for some reason, didn't seem to have the same basis to produce wartime specific music or even protest songs. Vietnam became the petrie dish of a steady stream of service specific songs but particularly anti-war and protest songs.

The thing is, if some sharp young Canadian does write a song about Afghanistan, it will likely be much like Khe Sanh and Springsteen's Born In The USA: Laments of things gone wrong.

You can hear Khe Sanh at The Gazetteer.

I wanna hold your hand

It's Sunday night. Television is a reality in most North American homes. At 8 p.m. most of the television viewers from the Rio Grand to Cold Lake have "warmed up" the set to watch Ed Sullivan.

On a Sunday night, on the Ed Sullivan Show, 44 years ago tonight, this happened.



And our parents watched our reaction in horror.

Hat tip to Clarkspick.com... who's terrific music site is being added to the blogroll.