April 9, 2011 archive

Random Japan

Photobucket

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

The Red Cross Society of North Korea sent $100,000 (¥8.1 million) in aid to the Japanese Red Cross Society for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Fearless leader Kim Jong Il also kicked in another $500,000 to help pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan affected by the quake/tsunami.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic organized a charity soccer match and dinner involving several ATP stars that raised $100,000 for the relief effort.

Yomiuri Giants baseball star Alex Ramirez, meanwhile, donated $1 million, as well as sending trucks stocked with medicine to the worst-hit areas.

One of the biggest sources of aid has come from what some might consider an unlikely source-the yakuza.

Original v. Cover — #73 in a Series

Tornado Over Kansas, 1929

This week’s selection was performed by an East Coast blue-eyed soul group that enjoyed its initial wave of popularity from 1965-1972, which peaked from 1966-1969. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 6, 1997, which was also the first time that the original band members had appeared together in years, during which time they performed their three #1 hits and their #4 hit. They were later inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2010.

In April, 2010, all four members of the original band reunited for the Kristen Ann Carr benefit, held at New York’s Tribeca Grill.  Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt joined the band for their closing number.

Lie To Me

Barack Obama recently issued an executive order imposing a wave of sanctions against Libya, not only freezing Libyan assets, but barring Americans from having business dealings with Libyan banks.

So raise your hand if you knew that the United States has been extending billions of dollars in aid to Qaddafi and to the Central Bank of Libya, through a Libyan-owned subsidiary bank operating out of Bahrain. And raise your hand if you knew that, just a week or so after Obama’s executive order, the U.S. Treasury Department quietly issued an order exempting this and other Libyan-owned banks to continue operating without sanction.

More: Why is the Fed Bailing Out Qaddafi?, Matt Taibbi, April 01, 2011

Popular Culture (Music) 20110408: The Who. Happy Jack

Happy Jack was the second album released by The Who and their second studio album. It was released in the UK with the title A Quick One.  That was a little suggestive for Decca Records, the US label and the single Happy Jack has charted in the US, so that title was used.  The song lineup is a little different betwixt the two records as well, Happy Jack not being on the UK version.

Released in the UK 19661209, it was delayed in the US for almost six months, finally being released in 196705 (I am not sure of the exact day).  This record was truly transformative, and is one of my personal favorites.  It was this album where Townshend really showed that the was a writing force with which to be reckoned, and he took some risks that he would not have taken previously for a large reason:  the brilliant Kit Lambert had replaced the hack Shel Talmy as the producer of the band.

from firefly-dreaming 08.4.11

This is an Open Thread

Essays Featured Friday the 8th of April:

Late Night Karaoke features Angie, mishima DJs

Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!

                Six Days a Week!!!    at Six in the Morning!!!!

Labor Murals are on slksfca‘s mind in Friday Open Thoughts

Wendys Wink is Perambulating the Neighborhood, republished by RiaD

from Timbuk3: The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time!

Tonight #86  

join the conversation! come firefly-dreaming with me….

The Week in Editorial Cartoons – The New Wisconsin Workers Anthem

Crossposted at Daily Kos and The Stars Hollow Gazette

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE VIDEO

:: ::

Rockthedub.com was scheduled to film a video for this new anthem yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin

While we don’t keep it political on RTD all the time, we’re not just all music all the time.  We come from the era of Public Enemy, where the music was a tool that helped the outside world understand what was going on.  Also helped those within the scene get a better understanding of the ills that life tried throwing at us.  On this leak from the forthcoming rockthedub fifth anniversary compilation, FiF, AWK and Y-Love don’t hold back in trying to educate those who might sleep on the ills of the GOP.

Note: Y-Love & AWKWORD will be IN MADISON, WI on Thursday, April 7, on the streets, filming a video for this song!… If you want to get involved, email TheWisconsinSong[at]gmail.com

Worse and then Better(?) Again

So where are we?  Well, a few weeks ago, things were sort of looking up, but last week they seem to get into the well-known hand basket.

For instance, the Maryland House passed a bill disallowing many, but not all, forms of discrimination against people based on gender identity or expression.  It wasn’t unanimously applauded by the trans community since there were no protections in public accommodations, but there it was.

But only a week or so earlier, the Maryland House had tabled the marriage equality bill that had already passed the Senate, to someone in the Senate decided that the House need to be taught a lesson, so sent the gender identity/expression protection bill to the Senate Rules committee, expecting it to languish and die there.  After all, who do those House members think they are?  We’ll show them!  We’ll kick this transpeople right where it hurts.

Wasn’t that just very cool?

Load more