Agnes by Tony Cochran

"Country Blues"

I let a guy at work listen to my mp3 player tonight. "Eclectic" was the review I got a couple of hours later. I think that's Latin for 'I don't know what the hell to make of that.' I wonder if he heard this one...

Country Blues - The Chieftains


The Chieftains, the Irish folk band, traveled to Nashville and recorded Down the Old Plank Road. The point was to show how Irish music transformed into bluegrass and country music in the hills of Appalachia. "Country Blues" was originally recorded by Doc Watson. Here, the Chieftains play, and Buddy and Julie Miller sing.

Update: I just realized that the whole song won't play unless you're logged onto Imeem.com. If you're not a member and don't want to sign up, here's a BugMeNot logon:

Username	shnkfpl6cx748oy@jetable.org
Password	password

Quote of the Day

I've gotten away from writing about politics. I hope to detail why in a post soon. I've also gotten out of the habit of coming up with a Quote of the Day lately. One problem is finding a pertinent quote everyday. Another problem is that if I don't make other posts for a couple of days, I end up with several quotes in a row with nothing much else going on. So let's just call this the Quote of the Day with the understanding that it probably won't be a daily feature here, but hopefully several days a week.

To get back in the swing of things again, here's a lovely thought from Fox News talking head Bill O'Reilly...

The other day, left-wing muckraker Seymour Hersh went on MSNBC and said he had information, provided by the usual anonymous sources, that Dick Cheney was running an assassination squad out of the White House.

I have but one simple observation: If Cheney really had such a crew, Hersh would have been dead a long time ago, and so would most everybody at MSNBC.

Nothing Unique About Cramer

A follow-up to my previous post about the Jon Stewart-Jim Cramer interview on the Daily Show: Glenn Greenwald asserts that "there's nothing unique about Jim Cramer"...

Compare (Tim) Russert's self-defense to how and why he uncritically amplified Government lies ("I wish my phone had rung") to Cramer's pretense of victimization over the fact that CEOs lied to him and so there was nothing he could do but assume they were telling the truth ("I don't have subpoena power"). Stewart's primary criticism of Cramer applies with exactly equal force to the excuse offered by Tim "Wish My Phone Had Rung" Russert, who -- to this day -- is held up as the supposed Beacon of Tough Adversarial Journalism in America:

I'm under the assumption that you don't just take their word at face value. That you actually then go around and try to figure it out.

The point that can't be emphasized enough is that this isn't a matter of past history. Unlike Cramer -- who at least admitted fault last night and said he was "chastized" -- most establishment journalists won't acknowledge that there was anything wrong with the behavior of the press corps during the Bush years. The most they'll acknowledge is that it was confined to a couple of bad apples -- The Judy Miller Defense. But the Cramer-like journalistic behavior during that period that was so widespread and did so much damage is behavior that our press corps, to this day, believes is proper and justified.

(emphasis Greenwald's)

"Nothing Else Matters"

Apocalyptica has been around for quite a while, but I've only recently learned about them. They're a group from Finland, classically trained cellists who play covers of Metallica and other heavy metal songs as well as some original material. It's not something I could listen to a lot, but it makes a nice change of pace. Here's their version of a Metallica classic...



Just as a point of reference, here's Metallica's original version...

Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

Battle of the (Basic Cable) Network Stars

Earlier this month CNBC's Rick Santelli was scheduled to appear on The Daily Show to discuss his prior rant on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange about "subsidizing the losers' mortgages". He "bailed out" of the interview at the last minute, but The Daily Show aired a segment that took CNBC to task for the quality of their reporting...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The money quote:

"Wow, if I'd only followed CNBC's advice, I'd have a million dollars today -- provided I'd started with a hundred million dollars."

The segment got a lot of attention in the blogosphere and even a few parts of the mainstream media. Then Jim Cramer waded into the fray, asserting in a column on Mainstreet.com that the clips that featured him were taken out of context. So The Daily Show put together another segment with more context. Cramer then appeared on several shows on the NBC family of networks to criticize Jon Stewart which led to another Daily Show segment.

Last week, Stewart announced that Cramer was going to appear on the Daily Show and took an opportunity to poke a little fun at what the cable news networks were calling a "War of Words."

Thursday night was the big night. Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart going mano-a-mano on The Daily Show. Comedy Central put the unedited interview on their website. Here's Part One...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Part Two
Part Three

Cramer spent much of the interview defensive and apologetic, but it wasn't so much a "War of Words" between two competing basic cable network stars, and as Stewart said, "this song ain't about you." It was a call for CNBC to be a better financial news network, to do a better job of actually reporting and exposing the wrongs of the financial markets. It was very reminiscent of the time Stewart appeared on CNN's Crossfire and lambasted them for turning political discourse into mud wrestling.

Soup to Nutz

"The Unforgettable Fire"

U2 has a new album out, No Line on the Horizon, and kicked off their latest tour with some unorthodox performances. In late February they performed on the roof of the BBC building in London. They did "Vertigo," "Beautiful Day" and a couple of new songs, "Magnificent" and "Get on Your Boots."

There was a time when I thought "The Unforgettable Fire," the title track from their third album, was one of the greatest songs ever written. Now, 24 or 25 years later, I still think it's pretty damned good...





Lyrics | U2 lyrics - The Unforgettable Fire lyrics

"Shine Down"

It seems like every year around this time my sinuses go haywire, making me susceptible to every little bug that comes along. I've been under the weather for the last week and a half or so, making for light posting here at the old Blogspot. I'm feeling better now.

To get back into a blogging frame of mind, here's a musical interlude from Godsmack...

Shine Down - Godsmack


Lyrics | Godsmack lyrics - Shine Down lyrics