Ah, now the race was "close." Or, the media's latest version of reality.

For many weeks, things were hopeless for Hillary, the party-destroying, power-mad, win-at-all-costs candidate who simply had to be stopped for the good of the country, even if it meant calling in Rodan and Godzilla.

Now, suddenly, the race was "close." That's the word the MSNBC talkers are employing--close. So how did history change so suddenly and dramatically? How does a primary election go from no hope for Hillary to a close battle? People ought to be asking this question to the media--especially Teeth Doberman and Jonathan Alter-the-Facts. But they aren't. And they won't.

Let's face it--as much as people go on about never, ever trusting the press, the reality is that they hew to its line religiously--at least when they like what they're hearing. Progressives, moderates, conservatives--doesn't matter. People take what they like and condemn the rest. Every anti-Hillary sentiment I've encountered in cyberspace has been straight out of the TV Talkers' Handbook. Coincidence? Hardly.

Take, for instance, the media cliche that Hillary and her supporters have changed the rules at every turn. Let's not even deal with the question of how we'd have gotten away with such a scam--rather, let's look at some basic facts. To win the primary election, a candidate has to gain a set number of regular/pledged/elected delegate votes. When all was said and decided, that count was 2118. Were superdelegate votes included in that count? No, not according to the rules. But yes, according to the media.

So, um... who changed the rules?

Don't take my word for it--look it up. Two sources I found helpful were The Congressional Quarterly Weekly and The New York Times, but you can find the info nearly anyplace.

No, neither candidate won the 2118 votes. That's where and when the superdelegates were supposed to come in--AFTER the primary was over. Not during. The primary election was a tie in that neither Hill nor Barack won the nomination. That's when the superdelegates, as a body, were supposed to step in, look at the post-primary metrics, and make a decision. Chief among those post-primary numbers? The popular vote.

No rules were changed, at least not by Hill and her fans. Ditto for the role of the superdelegates, ditto for the fact that SD input is, by definition, post-primary. Those rules were in place long before we started griping about media coverage.

Simply put, the pro-Obama forces didn't want the primary ending without Obama topping 2118 votes, even if it meant a premature piling-on of SD votes. They knew that, so long as there was the appearance of a victory, there was a victory. They knew that folks like me would be branded poor losers (and worse) if we dared to suggest that the media had covered things dishonestly. (Gosh--imagine that. The press, lying! Every good progressive knows that the press never lies.)

I'm told that it's time to move on, that Obama won, that I need to suck up and face the facts. Kind of like 2000 all over again, no? Only this time, it's happening within the party.

Progress? Change? Maybe. The type we need? Hardly.

Great hits of the Sixties--in cheap cover versions.

Big hits of the Sixties as imitated on the cheap for the Song Hits Records, Hit Parader Records, and Hit Records labels. Some of these are quite good, some not so good, some... yeah.

Only the Hit Records artists get label credit--hence, for the other two labels, I've listed the label and # in place of whomever performed them. Whatever I just typed.

Song Hits Records and Hit Parader Records look to have been sold by the magazines of the same names.

You Don't Have to Paint Me a Picture copies Gary Lewis, Summer in the City copies The Lovin' Spoonful (and not badly!), I Couldn't Live without Your Love--Petula Clark, Run Baby Run--The Newbeats, Five O'Clock World--The Vogues; I Can't Stay Mad at You--Skeeter Davis; and Love Potion Number Nine--The Searchers.

Can't Stay Mad was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin in the manner of Neil Sedaka, as in vastly, and Leiber and Stoller's Love Potion Number Nine was originally a hit for The Clovers. Not sure which version I prefer--theirs or The Searchers'. The Roamers' version, which we hear here, isn't especially memorable. Fittingly, my copy isn't in the greatest shape.

Great hits of the Sixties--in cheap cover versions. A MY(P)WHAE special to be cherished always, and in all ways.

Click here to reach zip file: Great Hits of the Sixties.


PLAYLIST

GOOD VIBRATIONS--Hit Parader 43
YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAINT ME A PICTURE--Hit Parader 43
SUMMER IN THE CITY--Song Hits 42
I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE--Song Hits 42
BLOWIN' IN THE WIND--Song Hits 42
PAINT IT, BLACK--Hit Parader 41
GET OFF OF MY CLOUD--Song Hits 38
POSITIVELY 4TH STREET--Song Hits 38
RUN BABY RUN--Song Hits 38
SOUNDS OF SILENCE--Hit Parader 39
FIVE O'CLOCK WORLD--Hit Parader 39
A WELL-RESPECTED MAN--Hit Parader 39
I CAN'T STAY MAD AT YOU--Kathy Taylor
LOVE POTION NUMBER NINE--The Roamers




Lee

Yelling back the TV, part 367

Tonight on MSNBC, Dan Abrams asked Newsweek's Jonathan Alter why he'd been declaring for months that Hillary was without a chance. How did he come to that conclusion so early? Alter, looking a bit uncomfortable, explained that his verdict was based on feedback from the superdelegates, who simply weren't going to vote for a candidate who didn't have enough elected delegates. Hillary, he noted, didn't have enough elected delegates.

"Neither did Obama!" I yelled at the TV.

So, why did the superdelegates rush to Obama's aid? And at the proverbial last minute?

Answer: to help the media create the illusion that Obama had won the primary election--an election that was, in fact, unwinnable by either candidate.

Alter knows that as well as I do. No wonder he looked a little sheepish. Then again, he didn't lie--Hillary was without the required number of elected delegates.

But so was Obama. So was Obama.



Lee

Friday morning Burt!--Dee Clark, Lena Horne, The Kids from Wisconsin, more!

Five Burt Bacharach and Hal David (or Sydney Shaw, as on track number three) classics for Friday morning. Or any morning, afternoon, evening, early a.m., or early late mid-morning. I wonder if I could get Blogger's spell checker to recognize "Bacharach"?

Click here to reach zip file: Friday morning Burt.

PLAYLIST

YOU'RE TELLING OUR SECRETS--Dee Clark, 1961.
OOOH, MY LOVE--Vic Damone, w. Jimmy Carroll Orch., 1958.
OUT OF MY CONTINENTAL MIND (Bacharach-Shaw)--Lena Horne, 1961.
ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK A HEART--Ed Hardin, 1962. (Hit Records 33)
A SALUTE TO BACHARACH--The Kids from Wisconsin.



Lee

Sinatra worship's gotta go

I talked to Frank today, and he said he wants everyone to cool it with the Sinatra worship, that it's getting out of hand.

Do not take his request lightly.



Lee

Siboney/Hambone

We are about to hear the Bo Diddley beat as featured on the Siboney portion of Andre Kostelanetz' Rumba Fantasy of 1935. Listen for the click..click..click...click.click... in the background.

This fades into the Frankie Laine/Jo Stafford cover of Hambone, which quickly switches over to Red Saunder's original version (both 1952).

R.I.P., Bo Diddley. Bo's getting a lot more respect these days than he had been receiving. The 1980 Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, which (for some ungodly reason) we used as a text in my pop music courses at Bowling Green State U., didn't so much as devote a chapter to him. And some famous rock writer--can't remember who--got all annoyed when Bo pointed out that Buddy Holly had swiped Bo Diddley in the form of Not Fade Away. Never mind that Bo was correct.

Things are changing. Slowly, but they're changing.

Click here to listen to the Bo Diddley beat as it existed before Bo put his unforgettable stamp on it: Siboney/Hambone.




Lee

Monday morning Burt (File fixed as of 3:56 PM, EST)

All ripped from my vinyl collection, save for the Jay and the Americans side, which I ripped from a thrift store cassette. Now you know.

The Rikki Henderson side is a Embassy (U.K.) label cover version. Enjoy.

Click here to reach zip file: Monday morning Burt


PLAYLIST

DON'T ENVY ME--George Hamilton, 1963.
THE DESPERATE HOURS (Stone-Bach.)--Eileen Rodgers, Ray Conniff O., 1955.
TWENTY FOUR HOURS FROM TULSA--Rikki Henderson, 1963.
THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING THERE TO REMIND ME--Jay and the Americans, 1967.
HUMBLE PIE--The Four Preps, 1958.
HEAVENLY (Bacharach-Shaw)--Johnny Mathis, 1959.
THE LAST TIME I SAW MY HEART--Marty Robbins, 1958.
FOREVER YOURS I REMAIN--Bobby Vinton, 1964.



Lee

Sunday morning gospel--G.M. Farley and the Foggy River Boys

(FILE NO LONGER EXISTS--Sorry!)

Some great country/bluegrass gospel by G.M. Farley and the Fogger River Boys on the legendarily crappy Crown label. At the risk of sounding humble, I worked wonders with the sound, a task that included splicing out clicks and clunks, leveling the track volumes, and applying the usual MAGIX filters as discreetly as possible. Crown label pressings were some of the worst that budget labels had to offer, so thank God and Greyhound for digital declicking and decrackling. And for bloggers crazy enough to spend a couple hours manually removing the larger bits of noise. (Bits of noise?) For want of a better term.

I have this mental image of a Crown label inspector holding up a disc and saying, "Yup, it's a record."

But we're not here to bash Crown. We're here to... bash Crown.

I mean, we're here to listen to some great country/bluegrass gospel. All but four of these titles were unknown to me when I placed the stylus on these grooves. Of the four familiar songs, There Ain't No Grave, We'll Understand It Better, and A Picture from Life's Other Side are gospel mega-standards, while Ezekiel's Bones has (have?) appeared once before at MY(P)WHAE, in the form of the Tabor Family's Ezekiel's Bone Yard.

Meanwhile, Blogger's spell-checker now recognizes "blog" and "blogger." But not "bloggers."

Nor the possessive form of Blogger. But we can't have everything.

Click here to reach zip file: FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE--SORRY!

PLAYLIST

There Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
After Awhile
Let Me Walk with Thee
He Came a Long Way
When I Call Him
The Works of the Lord
The Wilderness of Sin
We'll Understand It Better
Ezekiel's Bones
Happy Am I
A Hill Lonely and Gray
Only a Prayer
A Picture from Life's Other Side
Judas


Lee