Fighting the Foo

The Westboro Baptist Church brought their virulent mixture of hatred, stupidity and religion to the Foo Fighters show in Kansas City Friday.  Why?  Who the hell knows.  But the Foo Fighters fought the foo, counter-protesting the protestors by showing up on a flatbed truck to do "Keep It Clean (Hot Buns)."




"God Bless America! It takes all kinds; I don't care if you're black or white or purple or green, whether you're Pennsylvanian or Transylvanian, Lady gaga or Lady Antebellum. Men loving women and women loving men and men loving men and women loving women -- you all know we like to watch that. But what I'd like to say is, God Bless America, y'all!"

Related articles

• Foo Fighters Protest Hate Church With Gay Sex Song (huffingtonpost.com)

The Nashville Flood

Here in the Chattanooga area, we were supposed to be slammed by a late weekend/early work week storm.  We managed to avoid most of it.  Nashville was not so lucky.

For Your Consideration

I filed the link to this NY Times story away in my bookmarks and forgot about it until just recently -- about twenty minutes ago. The article talks about Danny MacAskill and how he "can divide his life in two: before his YouTube video and after." I can understand that. I've been able to ride a bicycle for most of my life and can still ride one now when the need arises. I've seen a lot of people ride bikes, but I've never seen anything like this, the video the Times was talking about...

JibJab Wraps Up 2008

Santa Claus Bailout Hearings

This video is the extremely rare C-SPAN and National Lampoon collaboration...



BTW, the actor playing Santa is Larry Hankin. If he looks familiar it's because you've seen him in dozens of movies and television shows going all the way back to the mid-60s. In the Seinfeld episode "The Pilot" he was Tom Pepper, the actor chosen to play the part of Kramer. He also appeared in a Married...with Children episode; he was Mary ("That's pronounced Mer-ay"), the man who went crazy after designing the Bundy's couch.

Inspiring Words

Now get out there and win one for the Gipper...

Better Late Than Never Monday Music, Take Two: True Faith

For the second week in a row I was away from my computer and unable to post a Monday music thingy. To make it up to you here's one of the most bizarre videos ever made...and a pretty good song, "True Faith" by New Order...

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

When I was a very small boy,
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
Our valued destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

The Onion Strikes Again

The Onion always has some funny content, but every now and then they outdo themselves. For example, there's this "news" story from Onion News Network...


Wildly Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

Oops!

At least they were able to get this overturned vehicle back on all four wheels...


http://view.break.com/444776 - Watch more free videos

Modern Monday Music: "Beg" by Evans Blue

Some music from this century to get you through a Monday. Evans Blue is a modern rock quintet from Toronto. "Beg" is from their debut album, "The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume" (2006). An obnoxious deejay introduces the band in this video, which is supposedly a live performance but has the studio performance of the song as audio. The song begins at the :55 mark.

There's a lit cigarette...
In the hand of my new angel
She's blowing smoke like halos
And now everybody wants her
But I shouldn't even bother
'Cause you made me so complete, dear
But you left me so alone here
Hang a noose for my new sinner
Somewhere everyone can see it

Won't you beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
Go run for cover (for how long)
You better start to love her
So much you're moving on and on

Now there's a whole wide world...
That wants to know...
Have cheap hotels lost their turn-on?
She's bathing in the neon
And she's polluting all the airways
While I'm passed out in the hallway
And you left me so in love here
You left with so much hate, dear
Was I creating only chaos?
This world lives just fine without us

Won't you, beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
Go run for cover (for how long)
You better start to love her
So much you're moving on and on

Will it change your life,
If I change my mind?
When she's lit the whole wide world
I want to know...
If you will...

Beg me
And then tell me can I love you
Like anybody else would
I know you're risking failure (risking failure)
But I'd hope you set your levels (for how long)
So you can run for cover
You better start to love her
Now are we this pathetic?
You made me finally see it

(Will it change your life
When I change my mind?
Will it change your mind
When I change my life?)

Go run for cover
You better fucking love her
So much you're moving on
I'm so pathetic,
You made me finally see it
Got what you want?
I'm gone

For how long?
For how long?(For how long)
For how long (For how long)
Will it change your life?

Mirthful Monday Music: "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" by Split Enz

Here, apropos of nothing, is a jaunty sea chantey from Split Enz, an eclectic band from New Zealand. The band featured the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil, who went on to form the band Crowded House. Interestingly, the band had trouble getting the song played in England. For some strange reason, they thought it was a veiled criticism of the Falkland War, even though it was written and recorded months before the conflict actually started. Prescient, no?

When I was a young boy,
I wanted to sail 'round the world
That's the life for me,
Living on the sea
Spirit of a sailor
Circumnavigates the globe
The lust of a pioneer
Will acknowledge no frontier

I remember you by
Thunderclap in the sky
Lightning flash, tempers flare,
'round the horn if you dare
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Lucky just to keep afloat

Aotearoa,
Rugged individual
Glisten like a pearl
At the bottom of the world
The tyrany of distance
Didn't stop the cavalier
So why should it stop me?
I'll conquer and stay free

Ah, come on all you lads,
Let's forget and forgive
There's a world to explore
Tales to tell back on shore
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Six months in a leaky boat

Shipwrecked love can be cruel
Don't be fooled by her kind
There's a wind in my sails,
Will protect and prevail
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Nothing to a leaky boat

Melodic Monday Music -- Nickel Creek

A lot of bloggers do a Friday music thingy. I'm doing mine on Mondays -- a boost to get you through the working week (or at least a dreary Monday.)

Two men and a woman walk into a music store. No, that's not the beginning of a joke. It's the beginning of this cool video for "Smoothie Song" from Nickel Creek. Robert Trujillo of Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies fame joins in on the stand-up bass...



No lyrics this time. The song doesn't have any. Instead, a bonus video. This is from a documentary called "Bluegrass Journey." "Old Cold Coffee on the Dashboard" starts around the 1:40 (or the -5:10) mark.



Okay, now Chris Thile is just showing off. The incredibly sexy Sara Watkins and her brother Shawn are giving it hell too.

If this doesn't get you through a crappy Monday, nothing will.

Red State Update: Super Tuesday

Jackie Broyles and Dunlap offer their keen political observations about Super Tuesday...

Manic Monday Music: "Love Like Winter" by AFI

I'd always prided myself on staying current with music, but I'd lost touch. Too many rap artists, boy bands, and pop princesses had turned me off. My music collection was stagnant and too mellow. I needed an infusion of...something. About a year or so ago, I started listening to some of the newer artists that my son was into. I fell in love with AFI.

Hit the play button and crank it up!

Warn your warmth to turn away (away, turn away)
Here it’s December everyday
Press your lips to the sculptures
And surely you’ll stay (love like winter)
For of sugar and ice, I am made, I am made

It’s in the blood, it’s in the blood
I met my love before I was born
He wanted love. I taste of blood
He bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

She exhales vanilla lace,
I barely dreamt her yesterday (yesterday)
Read the lines in the mirror through the lipstick trace:
"Por Siempre."
She said, “It seems you’re somewhere, far away"
To his face.

It’s in the blood, it’s in the flood
I met my love, before I was born
She wanted love, I taste of blood
She bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

Love like winter Oh OO-Oh
Love like winter, winter, three, four

It’s in the blood, it’s in the blood
I met my love, before I was born
He wanted love, I taste of blood
He bit my lip, and drank my war
From years before, from years before

An Enigmatic Traveler

What a strange story from Onion News Network -- a mysterious traveler entrances a small town with a grand Utopian vision of the future if they'll just make him their leader.


Mysterious Traveler Entrances Town With Utopian Vision Of The Future

Update: It seems as if the journey of the enigmatic traveler has come to an end.

Political Analysis From Red State Update

The boys from Red State Update, Jackie Broyles and Dunlap, offer their keen insights of the latest political contests in Nevada and South Carolina...

Gloria / U23D

When I was in high school disco was king, but I was listening to hard rock -- KISS, Rush, Heart, Lyrnyd Skynyrd, etc., etc., etc. I was beginning to get a little bored with it all; I needed a new sound. Somewhere along the line I got involved with the college radio station and found a new sound to listen to. U2 became one of my favorites.

Gloria...2, 3, 4
I try to sing this song, I
I try to stand up
But I can't find my feet
I try, I try to speak up
But only in you I'm complete
Gloria...in te domine
Gloria...exultate
Gloria...Gloria
Oh Lord, loosen my lips

I try to sing this song, I
I try to get in
But I can't find the door
The door is open
You're standing there
You let me in

Gloria...in te domine
Gloria...exultate
Oh Lord, if I had anything
Anything at all
I'd give it to you
I'd give it to you

The other day I went to the National Geographic website and found this entirely by accident...

New Bush Coins

Ode to Billie Joe

I can't honestly say it is one of my favorite songs, but "Ode to Billie Joe" is a haunting, Southern Gothic-type song that gets stuck in my brain for days when I hear it. The song, written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, was released in 1967 and shot straight to number one on the charts. I was six at the time.

"Ode to Billie Joe" is a story-song. Our young, female narrator tells the story of how she heard the news of Billie Joe McAllister's suicide. There's a great deal of mystery about the song: What was the relationship of Billie Joe and the narrator? What did they throw off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Why did Billie Joe commit suicide? Bobby Gentry has stated that she didn't have motives for what happened in the song, that the whole point was not the suicide but the matter-of-factness of the family discussion, "a study in unconscious cruelty."

The song was made into a movie (never a good idea) in 1976, called Ode to Billy Joe (different spelling.) It was directed by Max Baer Jr. (Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies) and starred Robby Benson as Billy Joe and Glynnis O'Conner (as our narrator, now named Bobbie Lee Hartley.)

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.
I was out chopping cotton and my brother was baling hay.
And at dinner time we stopped, and walked back to the house to eat.
And mama hollered at the back door, "Y'all remember to wipe your feet."
And then she said, "I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge.
Today, Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

Papa said to mama as he passed around the black-eyed peas,
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense. Pass the biscuits, please.
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow."
Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow.
"Seems like nothing ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge,
And now Billy Joe McAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show.
And wasn't I talking to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie. You know it don't seem right.
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge,
And now you tell me Billy Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite.
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today,
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday. Oh, by the way,
He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe.
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo.
There was a virus going 'round, papa caught it and he died last spring,
And now mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything.
And me, I spend a lot of time picking flowers up on Choctaw Ridge,
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Chaos

If you thought the drivers in your hometown were crazy, this will boggle your mind. It's video from an Indian traffic cam...