CRANKY OLD FART
WITH THE NEWS #336
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
• When Georgia football players are accused of crimes — which is often — this fixer shows up
• As theorized by Einstein, time flowed slower way back when
• Gizmodo and Kotaku staff furious after owner announces move to AI content
• Twitter's decline: Gradual, then sudden
• Yesterday was the hottest day ever as global temperatures rise
• Splooting behavior in animals signals extreme heat made worse by climate change
• New paper links climate change to shrinking brain size in humans
• Study deepens our understanding of how humans affect climate change
• Ohio prison system bans java computer manual, but allows Hitler's Mein Kampf
• Black man sues after being shot in the mouth while handcuffed by deputies
• Cop used "marijuana" subterfuge to trigger mall gunfight
My browser history
without the porn
• The perfect game that also sucked
by Jen Ramos Eisen
• Marie Helmey, the last of the hot lead typesetters
by Bruce Anderson
• The day my friend B N Duncan died
by Ace Backwords
• Is Defector good at sports?
A Hell Gate investigation
• A Nightmare on Elm Street:
Based on a true story, sort of
Mystery links
There's no knowing where you're going
• Click
• Click
• Click
• Click
• Click
♫♬ It don't mean a thing ♫
if it don't have that swing
• Across the Universe — Hikaru Utada
• The Man Who Sold the World — Nirvana
Eventually, everyone
leaves the building
7/4/2023
Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Tip 'o the hat to ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, CaptCreate's Log, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, One Finger Medical, Two Finger Magical, Miss Miriam's Mirror, Nebulously Burnished, RanPrieur.com, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.
Most interesting Stairway cover is Zappa:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35HoabXm41E
Maybe better sound:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVYYuJhdBwU
That was amazing. Better than the original and better than Heart. Wow.
DeleteI'm gonna be the Zappa asshole -
DeleteJust wanna point out that every time I share a Zappa song with you, you enjoy it.
He wasn't just an amazing guitarist, he was a genius musician.
Wait, you think just because I've loved every Zappa number you've recommended, I might like Zappa?
DeleteIt's possible, I suppose.
The lads ought to be able to play SOMETHING . . . .
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVfuacsLDw
jtb
That's why throughout my adult life I've never been able to write ". . . going to California", but ALWAYS "Going to California with an achin' in my heart."
ReplyDeletejtb
Shut up I should, says the Yoda on my shoulder, because I know so little about music. But jeez, I ain't wild about it.
Delete"Going to California" is a song I'd never heard before, or heard of.
Maybe the song would grow on me if I'd heard it over and over on the radio hit parade.
I like the lyrics, and Google tells me it's sort of a love letter to Joni Mitchell, and I like her.
The tune, though, and the singer's kinda squeaky voice. I'm not instantly on board, sorry.
That's Led Zeppelin, a totally electric, loud, raucous group which, like The Who, lost their drummer to drink, playing acoustic instruments (and no drums) singing a song to, as you note, Joni Mitchell. I couldn't find anything by the Lennon Sisters. They sing purdy.
Deleteas always,
John
Actually, that's all from memory. The sound board on my computer blew a gasket a week ago. (I think sound boards have gaskets). In any case, all I can do is lip read, which I'm sort of used to because my own sound board is on the fritz and I can't understand what quiet people are saying. I need to squirt some fritz in my ear.
Deletejtb
You're pretty sure it isn't just a blown speaker? When a long-ago laptop had the same symptoms, there was sound again when I plugged in an aux speaker.
DeleteI've been to only half a dozen or so big time pop music concerts, and one of them was the Lennon Sisters, circa 1975.
DeleteThey were pretty damn good.
My lack of knowledge is amazing — I know Led Zep was a loud band, but were they always loud? "Going to California" was their one and only not-loud song? That sorta changes my reception.
Well, Stairway to Heaven was sort of quiet unless you played it on 11 like I did. Yeah, they were a loud band.
Deletejtb
So you would have been about 17. That's about the time I went to see Sly and the Family Stone. There must be a story about how you ended up at a Lennon Sisters concert. I didn't even know they toured.
DeleteBy the way, though I've posted this vid before here it is again. The youngest brother of the Lennon Sisters, Kip Lennon is singing lead while Skunk Baxter and Nathen East
get it on behind him. He does a good job. I don't recall the Sisters covering any Steely Dan, but I can't say it couldn't happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xN0hmNS_IU
jtb
The most surprising concert I went to was Hendrix. He didn't need to be loud -- he was good. When Garth Brooks was touring, the concession stands all sold earplugs. True story. No need with Hendrix. He got his sound without blowing the roof off. Just for the hell of it, he played the first side of his first album. Maybe just to show that the effects weren't post-production. It was all Hendrix magic. Note for note: he killed it. After he'd made his point, he just kept playing unbelievable stuff for another hour or so.
DeleteJohn
No real story re the Lennon Sisters. I was at Magic Mountain to ride the rides, my feet were tired, and the concert was free with admission to the park, so why not.
DeleteI am... unsure about Kipp Lennon being related to the fabulous Sisters of Lennonhood. Wikipedia says "citation needed" after making that claim, and I think I'm gonna stand with Wikipedia. Seems to be common info all over the internet, but I'd want to see it in Lennon's official bio.
Ten minutes later, because the internet is a marvelous thing, I'll retract the above paragraph. I'm fairly well convinced by this clipping from the SF Chronicle.
Awfully dark for the Lennon Sisters.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is, they put on a pretty good concert at Magic Mountain.
All I know about Garth Brooks is during the first Gulf War, when America was on one of its rah-rah kill-em-all streaks, I worked with two women who were very outspoken in their support for that particular atrocity. I grew exasperated talking with either of them, and both of them went to a Garth Brooks concert together.
DeleteOne of my heroes, Kinky Friedman, calls Garth Brooks the Anti-Hank, referring, of course, to Hank Williams. He was all that and less. I used to dance a little, and line dancing is to dancing what Garth Brooks is to Hank Williams.
DeleteKip Lennon's Wikipedia article references him as the youngest Lennon brother. In general, Wikipedia gets it right.
jtb
Teachers and high-fallutin' journalists say not to trust Wikipedia, but I heard a lot more BS from teachers and read more from journalists than I've found in the ol' Wiki.
ReplyDelete