Ramblin' with Roger

Anyway, when you’re behind in reading the newspaper, people say to you, “Oh, I read that thing you wrote in the paper,” and I say, “Say what?” The local paper has this Times Union Reader Network, and seven of us had our answers printed: “The most important race is the 20th Congressional District between U.S. Rep. John Sweeney …and Democratic challenger Kirsten Gillibrand – alas, not in my district – because it’s a competitive race, a lot more so than I would have imagined, which may influence whether the Democrats will capture the House.”
This is a particular nasty race, in which the incumbent is, among other things, indicated in ads that his opponent is getting 88.4% of her campaign moneys from outside the district. Assuming that this is true, what percentage of HIS campaign money is coming from beyond the district? Truly, it’s easy to imagine that most of the money to BOTH campaigns are coming from outside. Look at the map, and you’ll see Albany, Schenectady and Troy just west of that indentation. With no competitive race in their/my district, those people who are seeing these ads are likely contributors to one or another candidate in the neighboring CD, not to mention the national Congressional campaigns from both parties. I won’t even get into the 911 call that Sweeney’s wife apparently made last December that the Sweeney camp is claiming the Gillibrand camp leaked to the press. Oh, here’s another take on this race (Nov. 2).

I also wrote in the paper: “The most important issue is whether the Republicans can hold onto the state Senate. Based on his recent pouting, I sense the majority leader fears that this will not be so.”

Then there’s a school board election tomorrow here in Albany as well as the more visible races. In New York State, most school boards are elected in May, along with the vot on the budget. But in Albany, while the school budget, the library budget, and the library board are voted on in May, the school board race can get buried in the larger races of November.

So who to vote for? It happens that my wife heard one candidate, Mark Barth, speak, and she was very impressed. Then I find myself easily influenced by people who are involved, such as my friend Leah, who sent out a gushing endorsement for Mark Barth. Then my friend Leif noted that all the right yards (i.e., the lawns of the progressive folks in town) have Mark Barth signs. So, sometimes, I cede finding out all I can and end up up voting for people who people I trust recommend. Here’s one good example of that. Still don’t know who ELSE I’m going to vote for (3 candidates for 2 positions).

Also, Pete Seeger called to urge me to vote for the Working Families Party. O.K., his recorded voice. I will, but it’s not because of Pete. Eliot Spitzer is cross-endorsed on the WFP, a peculiarly NYS thing, cross-endorsements. The number of votes each party gets determines the ballot position for the next four years. More importantly, it determines whether a political party is actually a recognized party or not. This is why the Green Party ran Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis for governor in 1998, not because he would win, but because he would likely assure that the party would automatically be on the ballot from 1999 to 2002; he did. (The 2002 gubernatorial candidate didn’t get 50,000 votes, but I think the Greens took some sort of legal action to stay viable.)

Tony Bennett also “called” me, to get me to vote for Hillary Clinton. Sorry, Tony, I have a number of your albums, I saw you at Tanglewood a few years ago with Diana Krall, but I think I’ll be voting for a minor party candidate this year. Thanks anyway, Tony.

So, right now, I’m voting for 6 or 7 WFPs, 2 Greens, and 1 Democrat. Still don’t know who I’m voting for in the comptroller’s race, the incumbent Democrat Hevesi, who may be forced to resign for his improprieties, or Callaghan, the Republican, who all my friends in the know think would be TERRIBLE. The rationale for voting for Hevesi is that he (they fervently hope) would resign after being re-elected, or failing that, removed. In any case, the Democrats would be able to replace him. The technical word for this is YUCKY.
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Your Vote Score: 26% Republican, 74% Democrat

While you don’t always agree with the Democrat party, it’s a pretty good match for you. Do be sure to research each candidate. A liberal Republican or independent candidate might fit you better at times.

I’ve felt really sorry for Artie for a while now. He has a beautiful voice, sometimes achingly so. Yet, I think he’s perceived like, say, Andrew Ridgely of WHAM!, lost in the light of his more creative partner.

Certainly, I don’t have nearly the number of solo Garfunkel albums as I have of Paul Simon albums, though I do own Breakaway, and The Animals’ Christmas (with Amy Grant).

I’ve had relationships like Paul seem to have with Art, on (as Tom and Jerry), and off (Paul goes to London), and on (“Sound of Silence” breaks), and off (Art makes movies such as Catch-22, which I saw twice in one day – had to do with affairs of the heart) while Paul goes solo, then on (“My Little Town”), then off, then on (Central Park reunion in 1981), then off (the clash over “Hearts and Bones”), with occasional reunions since then.

Anyway, Art turns 65 today, less than a month after Paul. His current music seems to be gaining some acclaim, if not great sales. I wish him well.

Five will be chosen. Who do you pick?

The only one that’s a serious lock for me is R.E.M., a group that had both musical significance and commercial success.

As for the others: Chic had commercial success, and were quite influential musically. On the other hand, perhaps Nile Rogers should be in the Hall as a producer.

The Dave Clark Five rivaled The Beatles for a time. I think they’ve suffered because their catalogue can be hard to find.

Grandmaster Flash is clearly important with songs such as “The Message” and the first rap song I ever bought, “White Lines”. I straddle the fence. Chubby Checker had a song go to #1 in two-non-consecutive years, but isn’t, and shouldn’t be in the HoF.

The Ronettes had relatively few real hits, and were overpowered by their producer, unfortunately.

Although I own Horses, the debut album by Patti Smith, my sense is that she’s more important to the overall rock scene as a music critic and songwriter than specifically as an artist. But that could be my limitation.

Many claim The Stooges as inspiration. Certainly hooking up with Bowie helped their visibility somewhat.

Joe Tex wasn’t a big hitmaker on the pop charts often, but he has at least 10 top 10 soul hits, had a career that spanned 15 years and was well regarded. Moreover, his style presaged rap.

I own only one Van Halen album, and the group really isn’t my cuppa, but I gotta give props to a band who thrived with two different lead singers (with the third, not so much).

So:
1. Who would you vote to put in the Hall? I’d pick the Dave Clark Five, R.E.M., Joe Tex, Van Halen and…one of the others, not the Ronettes. I’ll flip a coin. O.K., Chic.
2. Who do you think will make the Hall? R.E.M., for sure. Stooges or Smith, or possibly both. Dave Clark Five and Joe Tex. Van Halen makes it only if the Stooges or Smith do not.

And on an entirely different topic:
3. How is it that a television show featuring an attractive African-American male and a woman in peril tied around deja vu, called Daybreak, with Taye Diggs is starting on ABC on November 15, while the movie Deja Vu with Denzel Washington is opening in theaters less than two weeks later? Or two movies about Truman Capote writing “In Cold Blood” are made at the same time, though released months apart?

BONUS QUESTION FOR FANS OF “LOST”:

How do you feel about Daybreak filling in for Lost? No “Lost” repeats; indeed, no “Lost” for several weeks.

Part 2: Something that has happened to me, or a variation of the same, quite often before.
Last week, I got off the bus at Madison and West Lawrence, as did this older white man at about 6pm, which was dusk. He went one block north, I went one block north. He started walking west, I did the same. He was walking fast enough that I couldn’t just pass him – not with my knee – but not so fast that I couldn’t easily just let him get ahead. He kept looking over his left shoulder every 20 or 30 feet at me. I peeled off to the right to go to the library, and he practically had to do a 360 to find me. This did not seem to relieve him overly much, since I was just returning some items in the night slot, but I turned right to head home, and he appeared relieved. Call me paranoid, but this IS something this apparently intimidating black male has experienced before.
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I was having lunch yesterday with someone who asked me what I thought of the President. I said something like, “He’s dreadful.” She said, “But he’s a Christian!” If you get into that kind of conversation, get the Sojourners Voting Guide. She’s getting a copy today.
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Fred Hembeck gives me props – mostly – as he answers my questions about one Tom Clay, the Binghamton-born DJ who created that bizarre WWTNNIL/AM&J cut I described recently. There’s a bit of Rashomon in the piece, some crime, a little punishment. The story has it all, including a couple goofs which may get corrected.
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Tosy did a post about the shortest and longest tracks in his music collection. I thought it was sort of funny/silly question, until I realized that my answers (Simpsons and Dylan, at least) were EXACTLY THE SAME. Then it just hurt my head.
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Eddie describes music he sent me and analyzes music I sent him.
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Check out the webpage in the first comment to this post of mine. Talk about warm and fuzzy.
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Our long national nightmare is nearly over. Senator John Kerry has apologized for his joke/misstatement/expression of his true feelings suggesting that our armed forces were stupid for being in Iraq. Now if the Administration would only apologize for sending them there in the first place, we’d be all set.
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Here’s an excellent animation on YouTube, explaining Instant Runoff (IRV) basics in a clear and friendly style. I’m really fond of IRV.

Also on YouTube, Michael J Fox on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, interesting because he explains how sometimes he’s “herky-jerky” and sometimes he hits a plateau.

I have this complicated feeling about k.d. lang. On one hand, she has a truly wonderful voice in two distinct genres, country and the songs of the chaunteuse. On the other hand, I identify her music with my ex. A LOT.

I already had 1987’s Angel With a Lariat on vinyl and 1988’s Shadowland and 1989’s Absolute Torch and Twang on CD when I was telling her about the new songs on the radio. At first, she didn’t know who I was talking about, even though “Constant Craving” was constantly on the radio. But when I bought 1992’s Ingenue, and she did finally identify her sound, she went k.d. crazy, playing her music heavily, and buying magazines, purchasing – or maybe I purchased for her, since I am an enabler – 1984’s A Truly Western Experience, a fairly obscure album that doesn’t even show up on some discographies, as well as the 1993 soundtrack to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Western ends with a song called “Hooked on Junk”, a strange song which seemed at the time to come out of nowhere, compared to the more traditional country tunes on the album. Think of “You Know My Name” by the Beatles, or some other song on an album you’ve heard and said, “How’d THAT get on?”

“I was really into punk and performance art and singers like Jonathan Richman and the Roches, which is very different from where I ended up going…on my 21st birthday, two different people gave me Patsy Cline albums as a gift…Patsy was also getting hip in the gay circles at the time.”

So, when we split in 1994, I got Angel, Shadowland, Torch and Ingenue, as well as the Roy Orbison album that features k.d.’s duet of “Crying” the superior version of the song, I think; Red, Hot and Blue (the beautiful but mournful “So In Love”), the Dick Tracy soundtrack (the fun “Ridin’ the Rails” with Take 6); and Tame Yourself (the hard-to-categorize “Damned Old Dog”). Z got Western, Cowgirls, and some Coneheads movie soundtrack, plus all the print stuff.

I’ve continued to buy k.d.’s music:
1995 All You Can Eat
1997 Drag
2000 Invincible Summer
2001 Live by Request
2004 Hymns of the 49th Parallel
Plus she has a duet on the Tony Bennett MTV album, another on the new Bennett Duets album, and a whole album of their duets together, 2003’s Wonderful World.
But now she has a retrospective album of her country period, Reintarnation, featuring songs from those 1984-1993 albums, excluding Ingenue, and it puts me right back in that period.

lang, a painter, showed up in a hand-painted shirt she made with the word ‘Patsy’ splashed across it in rough punk lettering as an homage to her new hero. It wasn’t until she got home after the audition and looked in the mirror that lang realized she’d misspelled and gotten the gig despite wearing a shirt that said ‘Pasty’.

The album cover, BTW, is evocative of a famous Elvis cover: go to this website, which you might have read about in Fred Hembeck’s post of April 2, 2005, and go to 978 – as of this writing – items are added constantly- for Elvis, and 980 for k.d., (oh, and 992 for The Clash).

In any case, I think I’ll wait to buy her NEXT album. Now YOU might consider getting this if you don’t have a lot of her country albums. It’s fun music that confounded the country music establishment of the time. No, it doesn’t include “Hooked on Junk”.

As lang put it, they couldn’t figure out if this shorthaired gal from Canada was making fun of them or trying to add some sizzle…

And the album has great liner notes, some of which I’ve copped.