Time to Rock and to Vote · Reason and Balance

[Editor’s Note: This is the latest edition of Tick’s Notes and Tunes. It is a transcript of a fictional radio broadcast with direct links to the tunes being played. The transcript is in 3 parts.

(1.)The first is the first half of a transcript of the radio broadcast with tune links; (2.) The Editorial: Voting in the 2024 Election and the risk of Oligarchy; and (3.) The second half of the radio broadcast with tune links.

The purpose of this blog is to discuss, enlighten and educate the reader about relevant political, economic and business matters and to help maintain both a record and an appreciation for good old man-made music before AI makes man and real music a mere afterthought. ]

Hey folks Stony here

With the rest of the gang

We’re gonna start of

With a group that we’ve grown quite fond of

Because we’ve had them on a few times now.

This is gonna be a different spot for them however

Tonight they lead off for us

Because we think they fit the bill

This is Simply because

This tune

has got kinduva horn and

Northern Soul sound goin’ on.

Which clearly

Under Red Dog rules

Qualifies them as tonight’ lead off band

See if yinz agree

Here are the

The Hawkmen with Stomp

https://youtu.be/ljXdw2cCmrE?si=PyqbM43vNmsjRuiT

Now wasn’t that just dandy?

But we need to make absolutely sure

That we don’t step on no Red Dog toes

So next we turn to a name

That sits right up there on the Mt Rushmore

Of Motown names

Yes this man was/is an integral name

…that for Motown

Is pretty much the same

As Lennon/McCartney for rock n roll.

Everyone familiar at all with Motown

Knows the song writing trio

Of Dozier-Holland-Dozier

They

Wrote hits for

The Supremes

The Four Tops

Martha and the Vandellas

And the Isley Brothers.

This next selection is by Eddie

Eddie Holland

(brother of Brian Holland

The third amigo being Lamont Dozier)

here

Singing….

Candy to Me

https://youtu.be/12nrIr51Uqc?si=IfepirZHqxAadfKg

Okay, apparently, according to a post

On misterguitar.com ( a Chet Atkins site)

This next group was formed in the 1960’s

In, interestingly enough, Quebec Canada

They

Did primarily instrumental work much like

The Ventures here in the U.S.

And the Shadows over in England.

Let’s see if we agree

Here are

Les Jaguars with Marchand de Melons

https://youtu.be/lnW34iTcM50?si=jAcvzTWsvT0WdZuY

Hey everyone

It’s you know who

Well…on second thought

maybe Y’all don’t

It’s me Suzi

Stony excused himself

To do whatever it is he needs to do

Probably thinkin’ that Rufus would

Pick up with his Editorial segment

But…as luck would have it …no

Neither he nor we are so lucky

In short…

folks it’s lookin like

Buck is tellin’ me that Rufus Coldwater

Is runnin’ a bit late for his Editorial

So I’ve been thrown into the fire to fill in here

But…as luck would have it

I do happen to have

A great little 60s garage tune

That I found just about an houra go

So let’s give this a spin

Here are

The Redwoods with Tell Me

https://youtu.be/lY4TnT0QzLM?si=dflE8-Lqn6ADCql-

——————————————————————————

Hey folks this is Rufus

As in Coldwater

First, thanks Suzi for always bein’ at the ready

And by the way great job

Great tune as well.

Well, my editorial tonight is going to have to be

Cut into about one half of its original intended length

Let me just say: Jeff Bezos stopped the editorial staff

Of the Washington Post from issuing

An endorsement in the race of the White House.

That’s one super-rich oligarch putting his heavy foot on the election process.

Now everybody knows that the Washington Post would have

Endorsed Ms. Harris. They are known as a more liberal/progressive newspaper.

After all, they played a huge part in getting rid of Nixon back in the 70s

And their political/editorial stance has changed much if at all over the last 50 years.

Actually, we all should be somewhat conflicted about Bezos’s decision

not to allow any endorsement.

I strongly agree that newspapers need to be neutral.

I actually would have applauded Bezos’ decision if it had been made

last year or well in advance of the election. But doing it so unexpectedly

so close to this particular election doesn’t look right.

The huge concern here is that many on Wall Street think

Trump is going to win. Does that include Bezos? Does he know something we don’t?

That, and/or there is some concern that

pressure was placed on Bezos from Trump supporters to stop the Harris endorsement.

If Bezos did this for reasons other than an honest sincere desire

to inject more of a sense of objective neutrality in the Post’s news reporting

than there is cause for concern. But to many, it appears that this may not the case

and that Bezos was/is somehow hedging his political bets for business reasons

perhaps related to his other business holdings and/or that he is somehow trying

to effect the election itself.

Frankly, I don’t know the answer and I don’t really know what Bezos’ motivations were.

But I will say that this is yet another example

of the increasing sense of alarm that we feel about oligarch’s with disproportionate

wealth and power trying to influence and/or control American politics via their influence and/or control over the airwaves and/or other means of communication.

Similarly, consider Elon Musk. He bought Twitter. It’s now X. Elon Musk, in just the last 10 days or so has blatantly attempted to pay Pennsylvania voters a considerable amount of money for signing one of his suspicious petitions, when it really looks like the attempt of an oligarch to payoff voters in order to get their support and/or to get them to support his (Musk’s) favored candidate, Donald Trump. And the truly scary thing about this is for a guy who just received a $50 billion dollar bonus (yes it was just one of his bonuses) from Tesla.

He can easily afford to payoff voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, if not for Trump this time, then for himself in 2028. Musk really looked like he enjoyed stage time with Trump at a recent Pennsylvania get-out-the-Trump-vote rally.

Yes, just watch. It sure does look like Musk loves the political limelight. It also sure looks like he wants to be President. Imagine that! The world’s richest man being President of the world’s biggest superpower? The thought simply terrifies me.

Musk already controls or is a major player in the skies, space, the future of automaking, the airwaves and who knows what else. He and his many strategically significant business interests are literally all around and above us. It is estimated that in the next year or so he will be the world’s first trillionaire. His wealth is so vast that if he ever did violate the law, he could just appeal, appeal, appeal, wear out the Justice Department, endlessly delay final judgment and thus never face the consequences of his or her illegality and in essence be above the law. Sound familiar?

This is yet another reason why our pal GURU has been sayin’, for years and years now, that the risk of a plutocratic takeover of government is the biggest threat facing this democracy. In fact, with someone like Musk, who needs other plutocrats? He might just be big enough to become the one and only oligarch, our one and only Fuhrer. Wake up America ! This kind of threat is, to borrow Justice Holme’s famous phrase, a “clear and present danger”. It’s here and its very “now”.

I’m out of time.

This is Rufus Coldwater

Stony.back to you

—————————————————————————————————–

Okay thanks Rufus

And thank you too Suzi

Great job…as always.

Actually, Suzi has been a busy little beaver

Because she has actually selected

All of tonight’s remaining tunes.

First up to start the second half is

Hugh Cornwell,

Who you may know was with the

The British punk group the Stranglers back in the 80s

When they had a big hit with our next tune

In fact, we’ve played the Strangler version

Of that tune for Yinz before

And then a little over a year ago

We did a jazz ensemble version of this tune

The fake video for that rendition was

Of Dave Brubeck and his boys.

Here we change it up yet again

With the Mariachis

A Mexican string band.

Suzi heard this and said she liked it quite a bit.

I don’t know but she’s tellin’ me now

That she finally figured out the grove to this tune

Listenin’ to this particular version

And for that reason alone she says

She’s forever grateful to this version because

She says she could never figure it out before.

Hint for all Yinz musicians out there

The intro and bridge are

123 123 123 1234

etc

But all the verses are

just straight 123 123 123 123 123

So let’s give the Mariachis

And our man Hugh Cornwell a listen

Once again with…

Golden Brown

https://youtu.be/zy8Y3R4dXyc?si=-FtYWELhkLYZUPKt

That is such a compelling tune I love it.

Next up is one of GURU’s all-time favorite bands

In fact, when GURU’s on tour he’s been known to

Do a few of their tunes.

They of course are best known for

The House of the Risin’ Sun

But they had other hits as well

Three others that immediately come to mind

We Got to Get Out of this Place

It’s My Life

And Don’t Let Me be Misunderstood.

Great stuff

Here’s a Trivia treat.

Their bass player Chas Chandler

Went on to manage both Jimi Hendrix

And Slade.

Anyway, here again are the

The Animals with Just a Little Bit

https://youtu.be/3CVzvtHGzPk?si=hl5uyTgjAEQvTPTe

Well, El Bucko is a given me the wrap it up sign

And that also means that time has run out for me

To do any more research

on our cleanup hittin group tonight

and it’s been quite frustrating

because I can’t find anything on them.

I’m a little at a loss here

Suzi tells me that her favorite uncle

Who passed away a couple of months ago

Would play our last tune

When she used to visit him

When she was just a little kitten

Meow…purrrr

Ouch

Folks, let me tellya, Kittens have claws.

Anyways

I really can’t find out anything about this group

But Suzi tells me she can’t wait for me to play it

So, bein’ Suzi recommends it

How can it miss?

Here to take us home tonight is /are the

M.H. Royals with Now She’s Crying

https://youtu.be/GAP2I2q80n4?si=fpzWSUXffOkj039c

….

Not bad! Not bad at all!

Once again Suzi hits her mark.

Good job Suzi

And thanks for bein’the very best all around

Executive Assistant Producer of Everything

In the World.

Well folks, that’s going to about do it for tonight

As always

We wanna thank everyone

For listenin’

And watchin’

And so

Until next time.

From Suzi, Buck, GURU

And yours truly

Stony Riva

Good night

And don’t let those nasty bed bugs bite!

—————————————————————————–

END NOTES:

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