[Note: This is the latest edition of Tick’s Notes and Tunes. The purpose of this blog is to enlighten and educate the reader about music and other current and important issues. It opens with the transcript of the first half of the radio program (complete with music links)), then there’s a break for the editorial/article concerning “Trump’s Conviction: Campaign Effects” and then it finishes with the second-half of the music portion of the radio broadcast.]
Good evenin’ folks
Stony here
For reasons that will soon be apparent
I’m goin’ to cut the intro discussion short
To kick it in gear right away tonight
With a 21st century tune
….yes…believe it or not
it’s actually a 21st century tune
That nevertheless
Fits right in
To what DJ Ltd is all about
And when you start listenin’
Yinz’ll see why…
So here goes
https://youtu.be/fiJYecS0vU0?si=v1wr4-Pgvih3pTtk
That sorta gives me some hope
For 21st century music.
anyway
that was the
very contemporary indie group
from LA called
Allah Las
with a tune titled
Tell Me (What’s on Your Mind)
And yours truly
Aims to do just that.
In any event
Our spiritual leader
GURU
was out singin’ last night
and As Yinz all know
His fav hangout for many a moon now
Has been a little place called Caddy’s
Who ….long story…
But due to the recent death of it’s owner
Lost it’s liquor license
…at least temporarily
Which is the kiss of death
For any bar…
Well..as the little kid
said in the movie Poltergeit
…it’s baaaaack
Yep….The liquor license
And booze at the bar both
and as GURU says, it’s now all
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And not only that
But they now have
a whole New selection of tunes
To choose from
So.. I guess it’s now
Triple Hallelujah!
But in any event
…last night GURU
Was out
justa singin’ to his hearts content.
And it just so happens that
A few of the tunes bein’ sung
By various artists in attendance
Were some ole TV and movie standards
Yes, the kids..those 20 somethin’s were
In a little shock and awe
But they stuck with it.
anyway
We’re talkin’ here from back in the day
As in the 50s, 60s and 70s
Back when TV shows actually
Put serious bucks into havin’ real live composers
Actually compose
…yes compose
some really really good theme tunes
Which brings me to our next three
Selections..
And since
GURU has put a couple of extra tunes
On tonight’s menu
I’ll keep my commentary short tonight
In any event we’ll kick it off with a very famous
Tune from a movie
and then follow it up
With a tune which is now pretty obscure.
But it’s so gosh darned good
We’ll do the song version with vocals
That TV viewers actually heard for the
Few short weeks the show
Was actually on the air
And then follow it up
With a very obscure but
Absolutely kick-butt
And inspiring orchestral version of it
So, without interruption
please enjoy
Of next three selections.
And no…
.none of these were actually sung last night
But what was sung last night
provided the inspiration for these next selections
https://youtu.be/Q429AOpL_ds?si=LYa-n1S_KERk5JVB
https://youtu.be/9tbZo9EOofI?si=yR2KzVmVqJZFoM5Q
That was Isaac Hayes and the theme to the movie Shaft
Followed by the theme to the
Very short lived TV Show Jessee James.
which was composed by Irving Gertz and Ken Darby
But now
here’s the orchestral version of
that same Jesse James tune
Just note how changing the voicing
Meaning the types of instruments playing
The various sections
Adds tension and inspiration to the whole tune.
I just love this
https://youtu.be/3dO0CwDbjmw?si=t0RYcee8wvfOy4kD
Big time Kudos to Geoff Love and his Orchestra on that.
I don’t know about Yinz but
God, I feel soooo lucky to have grown up in that era!
Man, they just can’t or don’t do it like that anymore
Some actually great man-made music that will
Absolutely
Bring Tears to your eyes.
Oh but what the heck
In pulling up that last tune
Our gal Suzi here at that station
Brought me this next tune.
She said she picked it out
Because …in her words…
the deputy is really cute.
And by the way
She’s always wind our station’s
Football pool too
Why? How?
Well she says that
she picks teams based on
Who has the cutest players.
Hey …I ain’t arguin’
She wins!
Anyway…here’s yet another nugget
…not sure if it’s golden…but
Suzi says it is…
Anyway it’s
From back in the real glory days of TV
https://youtu.be/Vgo8P1TY4Ts?si=xVrC5D4le0xUicPs
That was the theme song from Lawman
By Mack David and Jerry Livingston
Okay okay
Our go-to guy Buck
Over there in the control booth
Is tellin’ me
To please please please
Do somethin’ a little more modern
[chuckle chuckle]
Well…okay…
Let’s see what we have here.
Oh…GURU apparently had
The same thought Buck did
Relatively speakin’ that is
So…Here’s a solo effort
From the guy
Who used to front
A group called
the New York City Dolls
It may not be exactly 21st century
But, we’re talkin’ GURU
And to him
Anything from the 80’s is almost
Post-modern.
So let’s give this a listen…
https://youtu.be/HGE7JBlkefE?si=Cjb3nyU8AP91X3FP
That, of course, was David Johansen
Singin’ Good Mornin’ Judge
Who, in that musical effort
Went by his more famous
nom de guerre
“Buster Poindexter”
[some murmuring]
Folks, I’m sorry
I almost forgo
I’ve just been reminded
We’ve got to switch to an
Editorial segment by
Our station manager
Take it away Rufus…
—————————————————————
Good evening folks:
Before I get to my comments about this past week’s conviction of Mr. Trump in New York of criminal charges pertaining to his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, I believe it is instructive to take a second look at a very important speech Mitch McConnell gave on the floor of the U.S. Senate where he was talking about Trump’s responsibility for the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. A riot that sought to prevent Joe Biden from being sworn in as President.
Clearly, Senator McConnell laid the blame for the attempt to interfere with the transfer of power to Joe Biden at the feet of Donald Trump.
But let’s put that aside for a second. Trump has now also been convicted in the New York hush money case. He’s been found guilty on all 34 felony counts brought against him. The jurors in New York case, have thus spoken unanimously, loudly and clearly.
All one can say at this point is that the Republicans would be doing America a huge favor by dumping Trump. This is true regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or even a MAGA Republican. Why do I say this?
From the Republican perspective, someone with a cleaner record would probably have a better chance of actually winning the general election than Trump. How can this be?
Regardless of whether Biden has done well or poorly in handling the economy, domestic matters or foreign policy he has not done well at all in the polls and given Trump’s legal troubles that fact alone is startling. One suspects that a lot of folks are financially struggling out there and that they are still having trouble paying their bills despite the fact that the rate of inflation has indeed come down. It’s really a simple matter now of getting wages to where people can afford lofty prices.
President Biden is getting older. Whether it is true or not, he is perceived by many in both parties as not being at the top of his game mentally. Age, and its effecs on mental fitness, is a legitimate point of concern with respect to both the Biden and Trump candidacies. Even some Democrats worry about Biden’s age. And both Republicans and Democrats are having a tough time paying their bills. Many also want the border and the immigration problem fixed.
What I’m suggesting is that a Republican with a cleaner record than Trump might well swing a lot of Democratic voters to the Republican side, not only in the Presidential race but also down the ticket which would help Republicans gain control of the House and the Senate.
It seems clear that the country is hungry for some change. Republicans would seem to have the best chance at re-taking the White House if they offered a candidate with a cleaner record than Trump has. That way fence leaning voters wouldn’t have much to worry about than the very heavy baggage that Trump carries. I know that Trump technically already has the nomination locked up, but if Republicans were smart they would stop pounding the table on Trump’s behalf and do something,…anything… to nominate someone else.
What do I mean by cleaner record? Regardless of how anyone wants to cut the cake there are some glaring and frankly overwhelming reasons why no one in their right mind should ever vote for Trump. And these are the same reason why, regardless of what the polls now say, I find it difficult to believe that voters will elect Trump in November.
Let’s look at the record. And, to put it mildly, it is just a tad worse than muddy:
As everyone knows by now, President Trump was convicted a few days ago on all 34 felony counts of business record-election related crimes in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial in New York state court. Remember jury verdicts have to be unanimous. And for a jury to unanimously vote to convict Trump on all 34 counts of anything is simply amazing. Trump supporters and folks seriously considering whether to vote for Trump in 2024 need to understand the gravity of our nation’s entire situation. Some might even argue that we are witnessing something that amounts to the early stages of World War III and that, as such, we need a united America now more than ever. Consequently, voters need to fully comprehend what that jury is saying about Trump and his character.
In short, they are saying that Trump is a liar and that he’s willing to falsify business records, and probably anything else to get elected to the most important political office in the World. Moreover, since Trump has now been held civilly liable by another jury for sexual abuse the two juries, when taken together, have essentially said that Trump is not only a sex offender but that he’s also a liar who’s willing to lie not only on his business records, but also to get himself elected President.
Of course, some will say: “Boys will be boys.” “And polticians lie all the time. So,what’s the big deal?”
Well, the short answer is that is an incredibly big deal. It’s a big deal because of the horrendous precedent it would set for the standard of conduct to which we would hold future Presidents and other political leaders. Why should our future political leaders worry about obeying the law? In short, if we elect people to public office, particularly the Presidency, who have felonious criminal records, public officials will have almost no incentive to respect the rule of law when they carry out their duties in the future simply because the public will have: (i) failed to punish politicians performing criminal acts in the past; and (ii) re-elected them anyway. Under such circumstances our government would become one where policy government actions and decisions were based on bribes and payola. There would be no need to pay attention to citizen rights. The government itself would be much more likely to end up operating like the Mafia. And, even worse, there would be less incentive for elections to be conducted properly. This, of course, would increase the likelihood that we would end up with some kind of authoritarian dictatorship.
Moreover, what kind of precedent would electing a felon have on the general attitude of the citizenry about the need to respect the rule of law? One need only consider a child visiting the White House on some future date with his parents. The family looks up on the wall of the Oval Office and sees three pictures. One is of George Washington on one side, and on the other is a picture of honest Abe Lincoln. The child sees the pictures and asks his parents who these men are. The parents then recount the oft-told fable of Washington cutting down the cherry tree and admitting to his angry father that he did it because of his deeply-held belief in upholding his duty of honesty even though he risked punishment by doing so. “See son, you’ve got to be honest to be successful. If you’re honest you might even be President some day.” And then looking at the picture on the other side the parents will tell the inquiring child about “honest Abe” Lincoln who was known far and wide to be an extremely honest lawyer before being elected President and that he later saved the union and freed the slaves.
But then, the child asks: “Who’s the blonde haired man in the middle, the one with the weird sun tan? He must have been really honest too.”
What do the parents say? In short, what kind of example does electing Trump set for the youth of America?
And beyond the foregoing: How can anyone rationally justify overlooking and/or ignoring the multitude of other disturbing facts that surround Trump, his candidacy and his character. Admittedly, I could be wrong about some things, so feel free to check me, but my recollection of recent history is pretty much as follows:
- There are a startlingly high number of former Trump administration officials who’ve expressed alarm or distrust in Trump, his character and/or his ability to govern properly. Mind you these are Republicans. In this regard, feel free to consider the very negative and highly critical statements the following former high ranking Trump cabinet and high administration officials have made about Trump:
Former Chief of Staff John Kelly said that Trump had no idea what America stands for;
Former Defense Secretary Jim Matthis called Trump a threat to the Constitution;
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump could not be trusted with national security secrets;
Former Attorney General Bill Barr questioned Trump’s leadership ability;
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Trump was unfit for office; and
According to a March 18, 2024 article of the Independent, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, has gone so far as to strongly imply that Trump wants to be a dictator.
All of the foregoing is an unheard of level of criticism by highly respected people who at one time worked for Trump. There has really been nothing like all this criticism of a former American President from his former cabinet in all of American history.
- Consider also what’s happened to Trump’s lawyers. Very importantly, many have been either disbarred or found guilty of various crimes most of which pertain to wrongful attempts, while acting on Trump’s behalf, to overturn the 2020 election. UVA Today on November 1, 2023 reported for example: Jenna Ellis (law license suspended for 3 years because of false statements in connection with attempts to overturn the 2020 election ); Sidney Powell (guilty plea to racketeering regarding January 6th events) , Kenneth Chesebro (guilty plea to racketeering regarding January 6th events). John Eastman has also been indicted on similar charges and has had his law license suspended for similar reasons. And MSNBC is reporting that Rudy Giuliani has been indicted and that his law license may be revoked because of his alleged improper activities challenging the 2020 election. Moreover, Mr. Guiliani is now apparently broke because he has had a $148 million dollar judgment entered against him for defaming two Georgia 2020 election workers and he’s filed bankruptcy.
In short, given the experiences of Trump’s lawyers it is difficult to understand why Trump’s supporters ever believe, regardless of what Trump says or what his positions are, that they will live happily ever after under a Trump administration. The evidence is directly to the contrary. Trump’s history is that Trump only looks out for Trump, and eventually everyone who supports him suffers some kind of misfortune. Rudy Guiliani has even alleged that Trump has not paid the legal fees that he owes Giuliani.
- If number 3 doesn’t convince you of the wrongheadedness of supporting Trump, there are also other close confidantes of Trump who’ve run into serious criminal trouble. And in a large sense their situations are even more alarming than those of Trump’s former lawyers because they have national security implications and/or are illustrative of the extensive ties that Trump has with right wing extremists.
One of most troubling of these, is his former 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Manafort’s connections with Pro-Russian interests including those having a direct bearing on Russian involvement in Ukrainian politics are too extensive to list here, however, they are quite serious and very unsettling. Suffice it to say here that: (i) Manafort was convicted of tax evasion, bank fraud, unregistered lobbying and witness tampering crimes in connection with his Ukrainian-related activities; and (ii) a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee went so far as to find that Manafort’s involvement with at least one suspected member of Russian intelligence was a “grave” security threat. I’ll leave for another day an article or editorial about Trump’s intriguing, if not deeply disturbing and alarming, relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russians. But it’s interesting to note that Putin’s propaganda office has expressed deep regret and disappointment that Trump was convicted in the New York case last week.
And then there are several other high former Trump administration officials who’ve run afoul of the law and been convicted of crimes. A major one is Steve Bannon, a former investment banker who co-founded Breitbart News which he himself describes as a platform for the Alt-Right, which, according to Wikipedia, has its roots in White Nationalism, which in turn is based on notions akin to those of White supremacy. Bannon’s legal troubles are extensive. According to Wikipedia:
Bannon was held in contempt of Congress in October 2021 after he refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the 2021 United States Capitol attack. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on two criminal charges of contempt of Congress. In July 2022, he was convicted on both counts in a jury trial. He was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine.[46][2][47][48] His sentence was put on hold pending an appeal[49] which he lost in May 2024. [emphasis added.]
Then there’s Peter Navarro. In December of 2020, his office in the White House began spreading false reports of widespread voter fraud in the prior month’s Presidetial voting. ( Courts in 60 different cases around the country have repeatedly held that the election was properly conducted.) He also got into legal trouble and has actually served jail time for failing to provide Congress with documents that Congress twice subpoenaed as part of a House of Representative investigation of the events of January 6th.
Once again it’s very important to note that both Bannon’s and Navarro’s crimes are, once again, related to attempts to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.
Other Trump officials have also gotten into serious legal trouble and the only way some of them got out of it was through a Trump Presidential pardon. Everyone might also want to consider the cases of former Trump officials like: Michael Flynn a former high ranking U.S. General, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, Mark Meadows and George Papadopoulos.
- Reflect on the Manafort situation noted above and then consider the fact that Trump’s also charged with illegally withholding and mishandling this nation’s top secret classified documents (and possibly allowing them to get into the wrong hands) after being repeatedly requested, and then ultimately ordered, by proper governmental authorities to return them. For a lot of officials, withholding secret documents because of forgetfulness or innocent oversight can be forgiven. It is not so forgivable, however, when someone has repeatedly been asked, and then ordered, to return highly sensitive national security related documents and they still refuse to do so—and apparently for no real reason. After all, for what legitimate purpose could Trump have kept those documents? In answering this question one has to also remember that Trump during this time also had several very serious criminal matters going on against him. And worse, much much worse, one also needs to remember, from an FBI, CIA or national security perspective, Trump has always seemed to have an unusual soft spot for Vladimir Putin and also had extensive dealings with quesitonalbe folks like Paul Manafort. (All of which is where Trump’s prior trips and business dealings with Russia come into question.)
- And lastly, but perhaps, most importantly, is the fact that Trump’s been charged with essentially inciting an insurrection on January 6, 2021 to prevent the swearing in of Joe Biden who has repeatedly been held by 60 different courts (with both Democratic and Republican judges) to have been legitimately elected President. Moreover, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell himself has publicly stated on the floor of the U.S. Senate that Trump was responsible for inciting the insurrectionist acts of January 6th, 2021. Yes, the esteemed Republican Senate Minority Leader himself, stated publicly while Congress was in session, on the Senate floor that Trump was responsible for the January 6th riot that clearly sought to overturn the legitimate election of a U.S. President—his own successor. If that’s not an unlawful attempt to overturn democracy and an insurrection I don’t know what is.
And McConnell is not the only important Republican to make these charges against Trump Consider former Republican Representative Liz Cheney (whose dad was a Republican Vice President for 8 years (and who otherwise held numerous cabinet and other official positions under various Republican Presidents) and former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger.
To have such deeply respected Republicans with sterling Republican credentials directly hold Trump responsible for an attempt to wrongfully overturn the legitimate election of Joe Biden is simply astounding and clearly proves that everyone needs to be highly skeptical of Trump’s commitment to the Constitution, the rule of law and to democracy in general.
True, Trump has not been convicted of these later things, but the mere fact that these charges have been brought should be huge worries for any reasonable person who is legitimately concerned about the continuation of democracy in our country. Presidents and candidates for the Presidency should, simply put, be above any kind of suspicion about these matters—especially in this day and age when, if one dares to look, Russia and the United States are already virtually at war with each other over the events in Ukraine.
And this is not an idle concern. One of the people closest to the election of Trump in 2016 was convicted felon Paul Manafort, and his connections with the Russians have been well documented by Congressional committees. Moreover, it’s an accepted fact that the Russians have made a massive effort to infiltrate various right-wing organizations including the news media with behind the scenes and surreptitious efforts to disrupt U.S. elections and in particular to favor Trump in his political endeavors.
Before moving on, it should be noted that Trump also has a significant history of repeatedly ignoring court orders. He’s thus regularly shown total contempt for judges and this nation’s judicial system. Here again, what kind of example does that set for members of the general public who are otherwise required to obey the law? As we have repeatedly stated democracy cannot survive unless the courts are respected. Otherwise, there is no rule of law or way to peacefully resolve disputes. Trump’s contempt for the courts is extremely worrisome and is evidence of someone who fundamentally believes that he is above the law. And most importantly, it is yet another example of the total lack of commitment that Trump has to democracy.
I fully realize and appreciate that one Trump has not been convicted of all of these other things and that one is innocent until proven guilty. But when talking about the most important political office in the world, we all should expect that candidates do a better job of at least avoiding the appearance of impropriety than Trump has done. However, even beyond this, it is submitted that when electing a President the country simply cannot afford to ever elect someone who has set of so many warning bells and who has so many absolutely huge questions surrounding him—questions that go directly to vital national security concerns of the nation and to the continued existence of democracy—as Donald Trump has It would be like allowing one’s teenage daughter to go on a date with a pistol packing guy who reeks of body odor, marijuana and alcohol and who drives a mufferless jacked up hot rod. One just knows that it’s not going to end well. There are simply too many warning signs.
That’s it for now
Thanks for listening folks
This is Rufus Coldwell
—————————————————————-
Okay… wow
Thanks Rufus
That’s a lot to consider
But anyway
We’re back
like I said
GURU has loaded our plate
Extra high tonight with tune selections
And time’s a runnin’ short
So let’s move on
According to GURU’s note here
Our next 3 tunes
…which will close out our show tonight….
Are tunes he did
Last night at Caddy’s
So let’s see what the old boy was up to
https://youtu.be/loT_pYzi3Vw?si=vvNvIe6KrH2k_2Sq
https://youtu.be/zBn5aIfZElE?si=72_QUenErtc4rvH-
https://youtu.be/ytE2JMyBAe0?si=MLgv8fcBunFySgno
Now Red Dog
If you’re watchin’ out there
I know your gonna be practicin’ those
I Fought the Law dance steps
Bein’ the dancin’ maniac that
We all know you are
And all
But..
Just remember your GF might not appreciate it
And wanna get some sleep.
So please please please
keep it all to a mild roar.
And for the rest of Yinz
Those last tunes
Were, of course
Mama Tried by Merle Haggard
Chain Gang by Sam Cooke
And I Fought the Law by Bobby Fuller.
Okay…
that’s gonna do it for tonight folks
So…
for GURU, Suzi, Buck
And me,
I’m Stony Riva
Yinz are the best
Thanks for listen’
Thanks for watchin’
Until next time
Goodnight
And don’t let them thar
bed bugs
bite.
————————————————-
June 2, 2024
David Dixon Lentz
NOTES:
All links to all videos are to offsite URLs. Some factual background was provided by
articles on the various artists, the linked tunes and other topics discussed herein by the associated articles in Wikipedia and/or by Chat GPT.
However, no part of this blog article was actually written by artificially intelligent software.
Please note that the names and descriptions of all characters are fictional and any similarity with any actual person is unintended and coincidental.
© Copyright 2024*; David Dixon Lentz; All Rights Reserved
*Copyright claim herein applies only to the content contained in this article/blog post that originated with the David Dixon Lentz and not to any quoted or referenced material originating from another source and the like. It does not apply to any music, lyrics, videos or other content contained in or on any linked site, including any of the words, lyrics and/or the performance of any music or videos contained on the sites linked.
All questions, comments and/or objections to anything contained herein should be directed to the ownership of www.reasonandbalance.com on the “contact” or “contact us” page.
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