[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
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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