Wednesday Musical Tribute: Todd Snider's "Iron Mike's Main Man's Last Request"

The awesome Todd Snider CD, "East Nashville Skyline," was at the center of Harrogate's Big Birthday Musical Haul. This song, as the title implies, represents the point of view of one of Mike Tyson's entourage. Great stuff. Harrogate definitely hearts Todd Snider.

Sunday Night Musical Tribute

Hello all. Unlike Roof Almighty Harrogate believes strongly in straight-up here's a cool song posts.

Here's a song Harrogate has listened to at least once a day since he discovered its existence early last week. This badass's name is Shawn Mullins. The record is Honeydew, the sublime song is called "Cabbagetown." Roof, you'll like this Song. Harrogate's gonna go ahead and chalk it up in the label, in fact,

Harrogate will be buying this record at the nearest opportunity.

This is one of those songs, you just sit back and let it happen.

A Response to M's Recent Separation of Spheres Post, And a Follow up To Harrogate's Last Post on TRS

On Friday, M Sublimely Wrote the following: I Really Wish that I would wake up tomorrow and find my dissertation finished. That would be a lovely thing to discover.

Indeed. Reading that this morning put Harrogate in mind of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," one of our long-cherished songs about what it means to wish and dream. The version that Harrogate provides below also closed out the movie 50 First Dates, by the way: although inexplicably (pet peeve! pet peeve!) the song did not make it onto the Soundtrack for that Movie.

But Scrubs, in its 5th Season, made good narrative use of it. So here ye go M, this one's for you!

Wednesday (that's right, Wednesday!) Musical Tribute

When Harrogate reflects on the relationship between the following glorious drinking song, and the TRS Board Members, his thoughts turn naturally to Paperweight first, because Harrogate knows DAMN WELL that Paperweight has loved this song for a long time, even though he and Harrogate have never spoken of it.

But the song certainly casts a broad net. Chances are high that this song has a special place in the hearts of p-duck and m, for example. And perhaps even if you caught him in the right mood, Roof Almighty would admit that this is indeed the "perfect country-western song."




"Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison;
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck,
She got run over by a damned ole train!

And I'll hang around as long as you will let me;
I never minded standin' in the rain.
And you don't have to call me 'Darlin,' Darlin:
You never even called me
(I wonder why you don't call me),
Why don't you ever call me by my name?"

Monday Night Waits

Megs, here is a side of Waits we did not explore when you guys were down here in Texastown. But you need to get to know this side of him. And do not worry, CDs will come, at least one of which will allow you to explore the side of which Harrogate speaks.

Tip of the Hat to Roof Almighty, who feels this is a song that deserves to be taken seriously.

Harrogate's Favorite of All the Videos He, To Date, Has Posted This Year

While getting the ball rolling on the current Retrospective Festival taking place on TRS, oxymoron indicated here that at times, it seemed as though Harrogate preferred Ron Paul to all other Presidential candidates. Reading Oxy's comment, Harrogate was moved to take introspective pause. How much substance, in the end, was there to the claim? It was certainly the case that Harrogate's Award-Winning sequence, "Why Some People Like Ron Paul," included some of the clearest, most passionate prose Harrogate ever placed on these Boards.

But at the same time, while this writing intentionally implied much admiration for the good Dr. Paul, much of it was after all quite hostile, with Harrogate wearing anti-Libertarian bias on his sleeve for all to behold. In the end, the truth is that the thing about Paul that moved Harrogate the most was the incredible response his Call for Liberty evoked in citizens across the country. Paul, unlike every other candidate this season, did not at all come across as having tailored his Rhetoric to Focus Groups. Indeed, he neither hemmed nor hawed. There was never any doubt as to the sincerity of his position, no confusing for anything else his intellectually-grounded Love for the United States of America.

Do many of Paul's convictions nauseate Harrogate? Indeed they do. But one both can and should live with that in the arena of ideas. And the rejection of many of Paul's ideas, by Harrogate, did not thereby insinuate a questioning of his patriotic motives, his Constitutional breadth of knowledge, or his Political Bravery.

Some, by the way, have said that Situationers post too many videos. But Harrogate disagrees. The videos, musical, or political or otherwise, accomplish many important Rhetorical goals, not the least of which is the kind of community-building work that Oxymoron has recently identified with Feminine Sociolinguistics. But the Videos are also expressions of what move each indiviual blogger, and chance to put out into the Blogosphere "stuff {insert name} likes."

The Above Video Homage to Ron Paul, Harrogate posted on two separate occasions in this Year 2008. Now he has posted it for the third and final time. It takes one of our Nation's greatest Musical Pop Anthems, and uses it persuasively on Paul's behalf. This video is all about America, about ideological substance, and it is beautiful.

And so here is another chance for Readers to check it out.

Wednesday Musical Tribute: There is No Point in Grabbing Hold of Your Socks, for They Are About to Be Knocked Off

Not so very long ago a'tall, we had a wondrous thread running in which Contributors indicated what their entrance music would be. There were far too many contributors who did not respond. What would p-duck's entrance music be, for example? What about paperweight? Etc. Ye who ignored the call, know who ye are, and the litany of those who have yet to respond stands as a blight on our noble blog. So here Harrogate offers redemption. What would your entrance music be?

Meanwhile, those who already responded can of course feel free to change their minds, or offer alterntatives here. Harrogate unsurprisingly stands by his choice of "2001: A Space Odyssey." Still, Ennio Morricone's Transcendant piece, "The Man With the Harmonica" (careful with this link it is so freaking good it might make you cry), finishes a VERY CLOSE SECOND.

Which brings us to today's Harrogateian Musical Tribute. Bear Witness as Muse tears "The Man With the Harmonica" a new one, and then performs a breathtaking segue into "Knights of Cydonia."

Toooo sweet.

Shirley Manson is a Badass

Harrogate has been meaning to post this for a couple of months, but now seems a good time, given his featuring of Garbage earlier in the week. Shirley Manson on stage with Blondie performing "Call Me," seems an odd combo, but they pull it off well.

Hmmm. Ever comfortable with his abundant raw masculinity, Harrogate celebrates the fact that this video has the Lifetime Channel written all over it.

Musical Tribute Part the Second: More Indispensable Bruce!!!

It's been a Springsteen kind of day for Harrogate, as so many turn out to be. "Eyes on the Prize" is one of our most cherished songs, and this version of it reminds us why.

UPDATE: The transition at the 2:58 mark is guaranteed to make your Soul take flight.

"High Hopes" By Pink Floyd

Harrogate rode Pink Floyd hard down the homestretch of this election, and a lot of the songs were dark as hell. It is fitting that their most optimistic song of all, "High Hopes," off of the much-underrated Division Bell album, would be Harrogate's closing post of election 2008. He hopes his fellow Board Members take a moment and feel this wonderful song.

"Dress You Up" Now Counts as Political Music!!!

This was always one of Harrogate's favorite songs by Madge, anyway. Go ahead and make fun of him for it & see if he cares. It's a damned good song, and certainly merits consideration as the new GOP theme song.

You've got style, that's what all the girls say
Satin sheets and luxuries so fine
All your suits are custom made in London
But I've got something that you'll really like

A Rambling, Sentimental, Political Response to M

In her most recent post on Separation of Spheres, m wonderfully discovers herself as a Bette Davis figure, and ruminates on what it all means.

What's serendipitous about this is that, while reading the Post, Harrogate was also listening to what he considers to be--STRONG STATEMENT COMING--the Kinks' Greatest Song: "Celluloid Heroes," which points out how very much we ask of our Movie Stars, the Grandiosity of the Mythos that surrounds them, and the often terrible toll this role takes on the much-envied Hollywood Class (here we might pause to reflect on megs' warning that in our hunger for gossip and glee at celebrity's expense, we too-often venture into Really Hurting Real People territory). [LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!} {heh}

And, not to go too far into politics with this post, because Lord knows we've got enough of that going on in the Situation. But it does strike Harrogate as somewhat disturbing, how much zest the Right takes in pillorying "Hollywood." Don't get Harrogate wrong: nobody is a harsher--often to the point of intentional unfairness--critic of our most cherished stories than he.

But Rhetorics suggesting that Moviemakers count less, not only as thinkers but even as "Real Americans" (or for that matter even as human beings) is really ridiculous, considering how much, and on how many moral, practical, and imaginative levels the entire nation relies on them and what they do.

Hmmmm ... Leave it to a British Band to nail the American Pathos Harrogate is trying to get at, here. "Celluloid Heroes" includes the following verse:

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that youve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on bela lugosi
cos hes liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by bette davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.

Tuesday Night Musical Tribute

It might surprise some Readers (doubtful, but it might), but Harrogate has indeed been infinitely thankful for the existence of this song since the first time he heard it on the radio, many moons ago.

"Two Pina Coladas" proffers a sense of life that is, pun intended, top-shelf. And such is the wondrous Rhetoric of Song: tis hardly necessary to drink the drinks, to drink the drinks.

One of Those Songs Meant to Be Listened To At Night

Damn.

Late Tuesday Night Musical Tribute

Such a soft touch. How distilled.



Phone's off the hook
No one knows where we are
It's a
long time since I
Drank champagne
The ocean is blue
As blue as your
eyes
I'm gonna take it with me
When I go

The Transcript of Bush's September 24th Bailout Pitch

Wednesday night George W. Bush made his bailout pitch on a prime time, 15 minute address to the nation. Rhetorically it was necessary to try it, as every public opinion poll seems to be reflecting this sensibility: "Fuck no you can't have 700 Billion Dollars!!" The real problem now of course is that the GOP has "bailed out" on George W. Bush. Pelosi and others Dems have said that they will not let a Bailout Bill be branded as Bush+Congressioanl Democrats. If we are going to do this, it will have to get at least 100 Republican Congressmen to sign on.

And so part of the fascination is that for the second time ever (the first time being Bush's attempt at an Immigration Bill), we have the poster child for partisan polarization, George W. Bush, basically putting himself at the mercy of the Democrats, asking them to help him get something done at cross purposes with GOP sensibility.

Oh well. But enough parsing what is being parsed to death already. Here is the full transcript of the speech Bush gave.

Somewhere the ghost of Herman Melville laughed when W. said this:

Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence, and major sectors of America's financial system are at risk of shutting down.

Take that, free market ideologues!!!!! Perhaps now some of ye will be intellectualy honest enough to follow (GASP!) the President's lead, and admit that ye are ideologues who put every marble in the world into a doctrine that depends wholly on the good faith and CONFIDENCE of the people in the society.

That's right, Andrew Sullivan. Your smug little dismissal of Naomi Klein was the last straw for Harrogate, as far as you are concerned.

Sully, while Harrogate will be happy if your blog generates some votes for Obama, that is really where anything other than truly ill will ends. One of the most distasteful aspects of this whole election. for Harrogate, has been getting acquainted with the thought processes of a Randian zealot who is mad at the Republicans for not liking gay people and for neocon adventurism. In truth, ye do not see that all is interconnected. That the forces that allowed the corporate lockdown (which you want to roll around with naked) are interwed with the forces that encourage homophobia at home and push for imperialism abroad (which you denounce).

Ahhh!!! Human frailty. Such is betrayal of our Rhinestone Desires. Suffice it to say, on the level of public policy and social thought, and not to mention on the level of ART, it is people like you, Sully, who have been most exposed this week. Verily, ye forfeit your claim to three-dimensional human staus when your response to a problem like this is to quote Adam Smith.

For God's sake, Sully!!!! Be like (Gasp!!!!) George W. Bush and grow a third dimension into your thinking.

In Honor of the Paperweight and M Contingent's Impending Visit To the Solon and Megs Contingent

Harrogate is jealous.

Because Someone Had To Lighten The Mood

And also, because Harrogate will guarantee it. There are Board Members afoot, perhaps several--YEA, perhaps all!!!--who like this song.

The New Nader Ad Part Deux (Harrogate and Oxymoron Got A's in a Graduate Level French Course)

Jeralyn at TalkLeft continues to build on her her heroic creds. Unhappy with both Clinton and Obama in the Primary, she sided with Clinton, not as a feminist statement but because she believed Clinton was to Obama's left on criminal justice issues.

Then when Obama won she found her way strongly into his camp, despite her strong difficulties with his criminal justice record. And even with the selection of Biden for VP, who Jeralyn has been skewering for years as a Drug Warrior and a Draconian advocate for all things Prosecution. Even then, Jeralyn did what Democrats ask us to do: understand that the dangers the GOP poses are so much more severe than the Dem Standard Bearers, that the first order of business has got to be to get the GOP out of Power.

All of which brings us to the beauty of this post, which responds to the Nader Ad that no less prestigious a personality than Harrogate celebrated only moments ago. Here is a piece of blog-writing from that post that is fit to bring a smile to the face:

I would like to see Nader's VP candidate, former public defender Matt Gonzales, in the Biden/Palin debate, just so the public could get a sense of what a progressive agenda is about on criminal justice issues. Between Biden, who's never met a crime bill he didn't like and Palin, who probably can't even understand one, it would be refreshing and enlightening in the way Dennis Kucinich, whose position on issues most closely match mine, was during the debates he participated in.

Exactly.

Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, Distilled: A Response to Roof Almighty

Naomi Klein has for some time had the GOP's number in a way that few public figures have been able to boast. Her ability, moreover, to break down a thesis cleanly for people to understand is something all of us on this Blog should appreciate.

So here is Klein in distilled form, in case anybody has been hearing about this "Shock Doctrine" stuff for a while, but never had time to read the book. The first couple of minutes is the money part, then she and Sullivan start arguing and at some point or another Sullivan begins to confuse himself with Patrick Henry. Sullivan got a couple of good points in, but overall this clip illustrates his incredibly callow side.

Ahh, the temporary alliance is almost over......