the princess is not the issue

 

        I was typing thoughts on here yesterday, and then later it occurred to me that I hadn't made it clear and concise - I was too wound up....

What I was trying to express was:  

        When a person or a group questions something, it seems wrong, to me, if government representatives respond by complaining about the people doing the questioning, instead of addressing the issue.

~  In 1968, protests against America's involvement in the Vietnam War:  Nixon complains about the protesters.

        No, he should have talked about our involvement in the war and made a case for the government policy he favors.

~  In 1997, Princess Diana highlights the land-mines issue: members of Parliament respond by bitching about the Princess.

        No, they should have talked about why they think land mines are necessary and maybe outline plans for protecting civilians from injury - like, a civilian safety strategy or something.

These people, they don't talk about the subject that's being brought up, they just try to smear the person, or group, that brought it up.

That's not an answer, and it's not a defense of their policy, or position.

This behavior seems dishonest, and immature, and arrogant.

        ...And not productive or helpful.

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Nixon Now; Nixon then; now and then......

 September 27th and 28th of this year, I was thinking about some of the things presidential candidate Richard Nixon said back in the day, and it seemed to me that instead of addressing the issue, he was just complaining about the protesters.

Like - "Stop saying things!  Only I can say things!"

It was kind of similar to the situation when Princess Diana campaigned against land mines in 1997, the last year of her life before the car wreck, and the Tories (conservatives) in the British Parliament said, "She's a loose cannon, and working for the Labour Party!"

They're just hoping listeners will say, "Oh, well, if she's on the side of the Labour Party then she must be evil, and land mines that maim and kill little kids in the countries where they are planted are -- what?  --  very very good and must be protected??!!  Hello?!

'Oh!  Labour Party!  Liberals!  AAaaaauuuugggghhhh!'

They're just trying to get the public to hate somebody.

        Meanwhile, I don't think the so-called "Labour Party" was saying anything at all about the lethal land mines (which they probably should have); only Diana was taking up that issue and highlighting it. 

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You know, saying, "Someone who thinks differently from me is completely illegitimate because I say so" is not a strong argument for your position on the actual issue. ...

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something shiny...for children to pick up...?

 

In the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War, there's a scene where Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson is conversing with Gust Avrokatos, CIA agent, and he says, of his recent trip to the Middle East, "I saw two kids, had their hands blown off, when they tried to pick up somethin' shiny..."

Gust says, "Sometimes the kids think those bombs are toys."

Wilson:  "For children to pick up."

Gust:  "Yeah."

... they're talking about land mines, which Princess Diana, in the last year of her life, campaigned against.

And the "conservative" people in the British Parliament complained about her, said she was "a loose cannon" and working for the "Labour Party."

How they could stand up for land mines vs. Princess Diana trying to get rid of them, is beyond me.

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ghastly

 1992, for the British Royal Family, was kind of book-ended by not one, and not two, but three marriages that were shown to be disintegrating:  

Charles and Diana;

Andrew and Sarah;

and Princess Anne and her husband Mark Phillips.

And none of these people are "supposed to" get divorced.  Ever.  It's the old standard that's meant to be held to.

        A commentator in one of the documentaries on You Tube, Ian Hislop, tells us, "The Windsor Dynasty is to be thought terrifically dull.  The point is, you're not meant to envy their lifestyle, you're  meant to think, 'Oh, Scotland, cold, dogs, horses,  waving.'  And - unfortunately - they started getting interesting."

        When Sarah Ferguson got married to Prince Andrew in the '80s - "Initially, everyone said 'isn't she a marvelous breath of fresh air - oh, this is what the royals need, you know, new blood.'  And then new blood comes along and people go, 'Oh God, she's ghastly!'"

Meghan Markle, 31 years later:  same drill.

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undiluted pleasure

 

The Queen's "Annus horribilis" speech is on You Tube, if you want to hear it.

"1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure...."

        (She's engaging in British understatement.)

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freakin' 1992

 On You Tube there are videos about the royal family.

(When I say "the royal family" I always mean the British Royal Family - I rarely think about any other royal families - no offense to any of them....)

There are so many videos about them, you almost wouldn't believe it.

They fall into two categories:

1.  documentaries - where there's a narrator, they tell a story, show a lot of pictures and film clips, and have different people commenting and contributing.

and, 2.  podcasts - where it's people in a room (or on Zoom) having conversations about some person or situation in the British RF.

        Some of these, particularly the podcasts may be a little "gossipy" and then I sort of tell myself, 'Should I be listening to this?'

        But some of the podcasts, and most of the documentaries, tell us some information that we can use to inform our knowledge about our own government and society and way of life.

With those English accents, they pronounce the word controversy as

"cahn - TROV - er - see"

whereas in America we pronounce it

CON - truh - ver - see.

And while we pronounce the word privacy as

PRI - vah - see,

with the first syllable rhyming with "sigh,"

in England they say

"PRIV - ah - see", with the first syllable rhyming with "give."

There's one video titled Annus Horribilis:  How 1992 Changed The Monarchy Forever | The Queen's Worst Year.

        The channel / uploader is "Real Royalty."

So many things happened in the year 1992 that gave the royal family bad publicity, toward the end, when Windsor Castle had even caught on fire, the Queen gave a speech in which she said 1992 had been an "Annus horribilis" - Latin for "horrible year."

        I remember speaking on the phone with my parents; my main concern in all that royal drama was the book about Princess Diana that came out (written by Andrew Morton), saying Prince Charles had maintained a romance with Camilla Parker-Bowles throughout his marriage with Diana.  

        My dad expressed sympathy for Diana, and then mentioned how the Queen called it the "annus horribilis" - he was mildly impressed by that - he always liked languages....

Most people don't use much Latin anymore.

Some of the lobbyists I worked with in the 1990s would wear a button on the last day of the legislative session, expressing some humorous thought in Latin... I think some of 'em went to Catholic school back in the day, and that might have been where they picked up some Latin.

the Windsor Castle fire    1992

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"hope is back on the map"

 On You Tube, there's a video with the title:

"Trump, Turn the Volume Up!" - Zohran Mamdani's Fiery Victory Speech Rocks NYC

        It's an interesting speech.  

                (It was made two weeks ago, when he won the election as New York City Mayor.)

I only heard of this guy because I recently listened to an interview with the filmmaker Woody Allen, on a channel called "The Free Press."  The interviewer was a young lady, asking Woody who he planned to vote for in the mayor race in New York City.  She suggested the name "Mamdani," and I thought "Who??"

        Woody Allen answered her, Well, no, he was sure Mamdani's heart was in the right place and he wanted good things for the people, but he, himself, was going to vote for Andrew Cuomo (the "establishment" choice) because he thinks Mr. Cuomo "can do the best job" for New Yorkers.

(It's, as Phoebe Buffay says in a Friends episode - "the age thing.")

The young lady doing the interview had an enthusiasm for Mamdani - you could tell by how she suggested his name; but Woody Allen, though young at heart, is almost 90 years old, and he was going with the already-been-governor establishment guy, son of Mario Cuomo:  Andrew Cuomo (though - it appears - he's apparently a tad problematic)....

        A Comment under the video says, of Mamdani,

"He stood tall against money, lies, and power and won.  

Hope's back on the map."

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a Mamdani state of mind

Some folks like to get away

Take a holiday from the neighborhood

Hop a flight to Miami Beach

Or to Hollywood

But I'm taking a Greyhound

On the Hudson River Line

I'm in a New York state of mind

--  Billy Joel

Recent election of a new mayor for New York City:  voters selected Zohran Mamdani.  He begins the job in January.

He has promised to address the issue of New York City being unaffordable to live in.

The young voters like him.

        His opponent was Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York state.  (When I think of Andrew Cuomo or his brother Chris Cuomo who has been a news-reader on TV, my thoughts always lead to their dad, Mario Cuomo, who was the governor of New York for three terms, 1983 - 1994.)

The grandson of President John Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

        And - back to Andrew Cuomo - from 1990 to 2005 he was married to Kerry Kennedy, who is a sister of Robert Kennedy Jr., who is currently Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(Four days ago, a post on social media showed Robert Kennedy Jr. and his current wife with Dwight Yoakam and it said they're having a "night of hillbilly music."

Three days ago, a post on a different platform shows the same photograph and it says they're having "a night of country music.")

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Zohran Mamdani

Mario Cuomo (1932 - 2015)

Jack Schlossberg

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I saw her from the corner, when she turned and doubled back...

 On You Tube, video titled

Chuck Berry & Keith Richards - Nadine

uploader / channel:  BestMasterGuitar

        Go to it, and Play!

In the very first millisecond of the video, the guy with the saxophone is Bobby Keys. 

Then - the camera pans to the right, and there's Keith, standing, playing his guitar.  Then close-up on Chuck Berry's face as he's singing the song "Nadine" and playing his guitar.

        (Some of the criticisms of rock-and-roll music that I used to hear from the older generations was, "We can't understand the words!"  But with Chuck Berry, that isn't an issue - his diction is precise.)

At 1:20 is the famous "duck-walk."

        Something I heard TIna Turner say in an interview was, that she really liked to try and "act" a song, as well as sing it.  -  At 2:02 in the "Nadine" video, we see Chuck Berry acting the song, a bit.  ("Whoa!  Nadine! - Is that you?")

Chuck Berry; Keith Richards

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everybody knows who John Lennon is

 

Like with that middle eastern taxi driver in L.A. - wondering if someone knows the same things you know - once when I was substitute teaching in the high school, I had a little presentation all prepared for the English class.

Talking about songs as poetry.

I brought in the DVD of the Chuck Berry documentary Hail, Hail, Rock And Roll and I had it organized so I could play for the students three short segments in the film:

one where Bruce Springsteen spoke

one in which John Lennon spoke 

and then a song performed by Chuck Berry and the band Keith Richards put together for the movie.

We put the lyrics of the song on the white-board (is that what it's called? - I don't know...)

        And before I played the three segments, I asked the class - you know Bruce Springsteen and his music, right?

Yes.

Then I asked if they all knew who John Lennon was.

One kid spoke (without raising his hand to be recognized, I will add), saying, with that air of weary contempt that young people sometimes use toward adults, "Everybody knows who John Lennon is!"

I said, "OK, good - I'm in a different age group from you guys, so I don't know what you know, that's the only reason I asked...."

        Then we watched the three segments of the movie.

        The class was absolutely silent the whole time.

        After the song was over and I turned off the TV, one boy in the front row said to me, "I really like that kind of music."

As I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat

I thought I saw my future bride walkin' up the street

I shouted to the driver, "Hey conductor, you must -

Slow down I think I see her, please let me off this bus"

Nadine! - honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey, is that you?

Seem like every time I see you darling, you got something else to do

I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back

And started walkin' toward a coffee colored Cadillac

I was pushin' through the crowd tryna get to where she's at

I was campaignin', shoutin' like a southern diplomat

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey where are you?

Seem like every time I catch up with you, you're up to something new

Downtown searching for her, looking all around

Saw her getting in a yellow cab heading uptown

I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody's tab

Flipped a 20 dollar bill, told him, "Catch that yellow cab"

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey, is that you?

Seems like every time I catch up with you, you're up to something new

She moves around like a wayward summer breeze

Go, driver, go, go, catch her for me, please

Moving through the traffic like a mounted cavalier

Leaning out the taxi window tryna make her hear

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine...

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you go see Rolling Stones?

In the late 1990s, maybe '98, I went to Los Angeles, California to shop around a screenplay I had written, and to see the Rolling Stones in concert.

        Got a taxi to the stadium where they were performing.  The driver was from some country in the Middle East - on his head was a turban (if that's the right word).  He drove well in that mangly traffic they have out there, was quiet and polite.

As we got close to the event location, he asked, "You go see Rolling Stones?"

His accent:  he pronounced rolling as "Rawling," rhyming with calling.

And stones he pronounced as if the "o" was two "oo"s rhyming with the double-o's in cook, or book...

"You go see Rawling stuhns?"

I answered yes, and probably added something like, I listen to their music, this will be first time to see them in concert....

        I really liked that he knew who the Rolling Stones were, and maybe liked their music, as I do.  It gave me a good feeling.

You know - when someone is from the Middle East, you don't know what they know.

Do they know the same things that I know?

They might not even know who the Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan are, but then they could know a lot of music that is not familiar to me...

        Those little micro-connections, in life....

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crossfire hurricane

 When I was in college, some guy told me in a sort of definitive statement, "The Rolling Stones are the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world."

I had not thought of it like that, but it sounded right to me.

Not that there aren't many other fantastic bands, and I love them too.  But the Stones have their own space - their own cloud.

("Hey, hey!

You, you!

Get off-a my cloud!")

So many wonderful songs and performances.  Similar to Bob Dylan - it's a wealth of material to listen to, and more to discover.  It feels luxurious, and wondrous.

        On Amazon Prime, there's a documentary from the Stones' 50th anniversary (in 2012).  It's called The Rolling Stones - Crossfire Hurricane.

That phrase is from their song "Jumpin' Jack Flash," which begins (after the instrumental intro) - "I was born - in a crossfire hurricane..."

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the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world

 Recently I came across the Rolling Stones on Tik Tok, sandwiched in between cat videos.

Several, with Mick singing "Country Honk" - it's a variation on their song "Honky Tonk Women."

(One Comment said, "The Rolling Stones are more country than today's country music.")

        I first heard Rolling Stones music when I went to college in Boston.  In my freshman year, living in the dorm called Warren Towers, on Commonwealth Avenue, I listened to WBCN and heard a song:

...no one knows,

she comes and goes,

good-bye, Ruby Tuesday,

who could hang a name on you

when you change with every new day,

still, I'm gonna miss you...

        I told the guy I was dating that I heard this song I liked by The Beatles, called "Ruby Tuesday" - he corrected this immediately, (and with a sort of startled expression, as if I was a stranger who had just stepped out of a space capsule from another planet), saying, "That isn't the Beatles, it's the Rolling Stones."

        (All those English accents...)

-30-

"you're lookin' at country"

 I like that part in Coal Miner's Daughter where Loretta tells her husband Doolittle, "I didn't know you knew so much about the music business."

He answers her, "I just pick it up as I go along, listenin' to people talk."

        Whomever he was hanging out with, or seeing at his job - some of them must have been discussing and dreaming about making hit records.

        In a book about soul music, it said in the middle of the last century - post World War II and on into the '60s and '70s, all over the American South there were people soundproofing rooms with egg cartons and buying what equipment they could find and afford, to make records.

        They talk about this phenomenon in the Muscle Shoals documentary, as well.

In Coal Miner's Daughter, when Doolittle and Loretta visit the first radio station to encourage the D.J. to play her song on-air, the announcer kind of snaps at them impatiently, "Do you know how many do-it-yourself records I get in here every week?!  If I played 'em all, I wouldn't have time to play anything else!"

Mr. Lynn, with no music-business background, and no fancy "connections," launches his wife's singing career:  pretty impressive.

        Recently listening to the movie, I noticed how a radio personality tells them their record is on the charts and it's "Number fourteen, nationwide!"

        And then within the next couple of scenes, Doolittle encourages Loretta to realize she probably can get on the stage at the Grand Old Opry because, "We're Number fourteen - nationwide!"

He learns on the fly - he was a smart and creative person.

(It occurred to me he could have gone to college on the G.I. Bill, having served in the Army during World War II - as he says in the movie, "I went a-shore at D-Day plus four, and stayed in combat 'til the damn thing was over.")

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number 14 nationwide

 In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, the true story of Loretta Lynn's early life and career, there's a sequence where Loretta and her husband Doolittle drive around the Southern states visiting radio stations and asking them to play her first record, on the Zero label, "Honky-Tonk Girl."

I was trying to find the actors who portray the DJs they meet - one I didn't think I would find because I don't believe he's credited in the film, but IMDB saved the day - he's an actor named Royce Clark, pictured at the bottom of this post.

        There's a scene where he's interviewing Loretta (played by Sissy Spacek) on-air:  he's smoking a cigarette - no "Mind if I smoke?" in those days... Loretta makes a mistake and says the word "horny" on the air - everybody is like, "What??!!"

        She doesn't know what it means - she says, apologetically, "I didn't know it was dirty!"

A station manager stomps in and berates her and adds, "I ain't never playin' another record of yours on this station!"

        As Loretta and Doolittle are on their way out, the DJ played by Royce Clark catches up with them and tells them, "Don't worry about him.  If you're on the charts, you're gonna get played."

They don't know what the "charts" are; he tells them, and explains, "You're Number 14, nationwide!"

When the couple arrive in Nashville and park by the Grand Old Opry, Loretta worries that they won't let her in, to perform, because she hasn't 'paid her dues' yet.  Doolittle says, "How they gonna keep us out?"  Then the camera is up above them looking down, and Doolittle (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is looking up as he says in a wondrous tone, "We're Number fourteen - nationwide!"

Royce Clark

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my soul flies

 

Viewer comments under the "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin" video on You Tube:

~~  I'm not generally a fan of country music, but once in a while..... Man, I love this.

       Strangely, I was in a Chipotle restaurant this evening, and as I stood in line this song came up.  I was transfixed.  I almost let out a YEE HAW!  

I listened hard to the lyrics and committed the line, "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin" to my memory, and now....here I am.  

        Hell yeah.

~~  My dad was a musician and singer.  He used to sing this song when I was a kid.  He was a huge Ernest Tubb fan.

~~  Hi, I'm from Denmark.  We listened to Ernest on the radio in the 60s.  He was a character.  A haunting steel guitar and a familiar, drawling voice that made you feel good.  

~~  Ernest was ROCKIN' a lot harder than most, in 1961 or whenever this was.

~~  Love it!  Great lyrics.  Heard it on "Dark Winds" and had to find it.

~~  Texas two-step music at its finest, the guitar work is off the freaking hook!!!

~~  Dig it!

~~  Fantastic musicians.

~~  Watching the joy and the enthusiasm they played with made it more enjoyable.

~~  Now that's some rocking country music.  Rock on !

~~  This video never gets old this performance is amazing.

~~  One of a kind voice and great musicians / group.  Love the acoustic bass . . . perfect mix of them all together.

~~  My goodness, this is full of life, My soul flies when this song is playing.

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I've been so sad and so blue

 In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, the Ernest Tubb country song "Walkin' The Floor Over You" is heard twice - in an early scene, Loretta and one of her brothers listen to the song on the radio, in the mountain cabin which is the family home.

        Later on, when Loretta and her husband Doolittle Lynn arrive in Nashville and go to the Grand Old Opry, Ernest Tubb is there singing the song.

        (His style is so relaxed, the music seems to flow from him effortlessly.)

        The song provides "bookends" to an arc within the story - as a thirteen-year-old girl, Loretta listens to the song on the radio; years later, as she works toward a singing career for herself, she is right there with Ernest Tubb in person, as he performs the song.

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        Contemplating Ernest Tubb made me curious about his music - You Tube showed me a song of his titled "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin."

(??!!?)

(LOL - I swear, country music has more clever, double-edged lyrics and outrageous song titles than any other genre.)

        "driving nails in my coffin" - your own coffin?

        Who is hammering - no, driving - these nails?

        What are the circumstances?

        I mean, when they're hammering these nails, are you in the coffin, at the time??

                lol, cannot get past that song title...

                        What a concept....

On You Tube, video titled:

Ernest Tubb - Drivin' Nails in my Coffin

uploader / channel:  Tom Margetis

        It's a live performance, from the early-ish days of television.  Listeners rampage gleefully through the Comments, cheering what a terrific band Ernest has.

Enjoy.

the "Grand Ole Opry"

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