President Obama's critics list his faults to date

This is an official list. Or it's officially a list. I forgot which.

1. He breathed.

2. He signed something.

3. He spoke.

4. He made a decision. Followed by another. A trend is emerging, here.

5. He picked so-and-so for this or that position.

6. He breathed again.

7. He shook hands with someone.

8. He did this, that, and the other thing.

9. See 1-8.

10. He declared support for something.

11. He spoke to the press.

12. He acted in the capacity of POTUS.

13. He ordered a pizza over the phone.

14. He wrote and sent a memo.

15. He sat down.

16. And adjusted his chair.

17. He greeted somebody.

TO BE CONTINUED AT SOME POINT


Lee

Cheery sounds to start the day!

Click here to reach zip file: FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE


PLAYLIST

WOULDN'T IT BE LOVERLY--Columbia Record Club D 63. TELSTAR--The Cyclones UH-OH--The Three Beavers I LOVE HIM SO MUCH (I COULD SCREAM)--Peggy Lloyd, 1954. I SPY--Warren Barker and His Orch., 1968. MR. DRILLON GRILLON--The Archibald Players, 1958. COOL AS A MOOSE (Conniff)--Jimmy Richards (Ray Conniff), 1959. NEUROTIC GOLDFISH (Wilder)--Alec Wilder Octet, 1938. SEA FUGUE, MAMA (Wilder)--Alec Wilder Octet, 1938. HONEYCOMB (Merrill)--Georgie Shaw, w. Jimmy Leyden O. and Cho., 1954. YELLOW SUBMARINE--The Hank Levine Singers and Orch. (1968) THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT--The Elektras


Lee

The swearing-in: a review

I've gotten a ton of emails asking me what I thought of the swearing-in ceremony. No, I didn't. But I'll review it, anyway.

Warren's prayer was fine. Too bad it was by him. Obama's speech was magnificent, his delivery less so. He's not a great speaker. The John Williams arrangement of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts (Elder Joseph Brackett, 1848) was fabulous, as was the performance. I can almost forgive Williams for his awful soundtrack music and that stupid NBC Nightly News theme.

Elizabeth Alexander's moving inaugural poem was terrific, but poetry isn't (and has never been) very popular. Even the great intellects at Beware of the Blog didn't dig it, so (naturally) they're ridiculing it in their usual distinguished fashion: The Inaugural Poem Remix. Not that Ms. Alexander isn't used to that level of response.

Dr. Joseph Lowery was masterful. Beyond masterful, maybe.

Obama's swearing-in ceremony was no let-down. And that's my review.


Lee

The neocons have left the building....

Let the healing begin.


























MY(P)WHAE presents a classic gospel song in tribute to our first Christian president in eight years, and to his mission.

Click here: Higher Ground (Oatman, Jr._Gabriel)--The Tabor Family



Lee

MLK Day, 2009

Image from here, where you can read about the great Charles Albert Tindley.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase," said the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. I find that very meaningful and moving, but, in the interests of equal time, let's hear what the Huffington Post's sam harris has to say on the topic:

"It is time that scientists and other public intellectuals observed that the contest between faith and reason is zero-sum."

It's too bad that sam and other similarly enlightened bloggers weren't here to school King on the errors of his worldview. Sure, the great man of faith whom we honor today helped, in no tiny way, to bring about vastly important and necessary changes to our society, our democracy, and our vision of humanity--but, at the same time, he had an irrational faith in, well, faith. And it's possible that sam (or some other illustrious "bright") could have cured him of that irrationality.

Our loss. One can only imagine what a rational King would have sounded like. Maybe something like this: "I have a dream that all the people of the world will come to see how foolish it is to dream! I have a dream that all the citizens of our great land will have the wisdom to move forward into the darkness only when they're absolutely sure what's there--only after they've thoroughly and carefully tested the space before them. And consulted with a futurist. What kind of foolish person steps into the unknown? I mean, based on what? Faith? Please!"

Anyway, we can be sure that the logic and reason brigade is on its way to accomplishing King-sized things for our culture. Any moment now. I can feel it. Just give it... um....

Any... moment....

Okay, it's still early. We'll give the "brights" time to finish their coffee. Meanwhile, Happy Birthday, Reverend King! Oh, and our playlist includes the great man's favorite hymn, I Want to Be Like Jesus. In fact, it includes it twice. Oops. (I never claimed to be an expert zip-file maker.)

Click here for today's zip file: MLK Day, 2009

PLAYLIST

HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW (Martin-Gabriel)--Mahalia Jackson, 1958.
AN EVENING PRAYER (Battersby-Gabriel)--Mahalia Jackson, 1958.
WE SHALL OVERCOME (Tindley)--Mahalia Jackson.
I WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS (Spiritual)--Tuskegee Quartet, 1927.
HOW I GOT OVER (C. Ward)--Mahalia Jackson.
I WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS--Oops!
TAKE MY HAND PRECIOUS LORD (Thomas Dorsey)--Jimmy Dean.


Lee

Sunday morning--I mean, afternoon--gospel: The Millie Pace Trio with Bob Summers

I featured this a while back in abridged form, then I reposted three tracks. But I never featured the entire album--until today. And I've always wanted to type "--until today."

If the Millie Pace Trio (with Bob Summers) sounds like Mary Ford in overdubbed-trio form, keep in mind that two members of the trio--Eve and Carol Summers--were sisters of Mary. Guitarist Bob Summers was her brother, which may or not explain why he sounds like Les Paul.

Okay, now that I've cleared that up, let's enjoy these remarkably Les-and-Mary-sounding gospel tracks recorded in 1965 or 1966 for Christian Faith Recordings (actually Alma Records, Inc.).

Click here to reach zip file: FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

LEAD ME BACK TO CALVARY
DOWN THE SAWDUST TRAIL
IT'S NOT THE FIRST MILE
WHEN GOD DIPS HIS LOVE IN MY HEART
HEAR THEM BELLS
WE'LL UNDERSTAND IT BETTER
DO LORD
MOM, GOD HEARD MY PRAYER
SERVE HIM WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART
JESUS THE MASTER
WHEN WE GET HOME
STANDING IN THE NEED OF PRAYER

(Christian Faith Recordings 1371; 1965 or 1966)


Lee

This has always bothered me....

I've needed to get this off my chest for a while, and why not now?

Have you noticed how, in the original Outer Limits intro, the "Control Voice" (the late, great Vic Perrin) talks about "the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to The Outer Limits"?

Well, it should be "the awe and mystery which reach from the inner mind to The Outer Limits."

Someone should have spotted that, but apparently no one did.

It took years for it to occur to me. Then I thought, "Wait a minute...."

Glad I got that off my chest.


Lee