Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

People are weird.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

He really is that stupid.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Republicans in disarray!

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Song remains the same

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Well, when you’ve got a “rioting in Ferguson” thing going on and the only rioters are the cops, well, it does tend to get you down.

  5. 5.

    Steeplejack

    @Tim F.:

    My condolences. It could be worse. But I will refrain from posting an illustrative song for fear of becoming infected.

    I am having a similar mini-crisis because I have been inexplicably binge-watching the various Law and Order franchises, which appear to be in reruns on several channels 24/7.

  7. 7.

    Ella in New Mexico

    It was this song brought me and my husband together at a Homecoming Dance in 1978. Never fails to remind me of the best of days. Life was so much different then. :-)

  9. 9.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    MY MORALE IS IMPROVED! please please please make it stop. I worked in guitar shops for several years. Haven’t I suffered enough?

  10. 10.

    Belafon

    @bliekker: Imagine living with that your entire life. Now imagine, because of that, why you might decide the death of an 18 year old in your town might make you want to protest.

  11. 11.

    Poopyman

    Here, this should help. From the NoiseMax headlines up yonder:

    Officer Who Shot Brown Has Broken Eye Socket

  12. 12.

    piratedan

    I still think that their album In through the Out door is woefully underrated… but then again, ymmv

  14. 14.

    piratedan

    @Poopyman: already debunked over at LGF, essentially they pulled an x-ray image from a medical journal and posted it as the injuries suffered by the officer when “attacked” by Brown. From the paragon of journalistic integrity, Jim Hoft, who rivals only our good friends over at Bitebart for taking snippets out of context and making shit up.

  15. 15.

    Emma

    I can’t quite understand the Zep hate. It was music for a different time and place. And I still play some of their stuff when I’m feeling miserable. Reminds me of that time, where all was possibility.

  17. 17.

    Poopyman

    @Emma: I watched it the whole way through. Not for the first time.

    And TimF., you could always post baby and/or Max pics instead, you know.

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Poopyman: Well, you know, I’ve thought about that headline.

    And my question is, when exactly did his eye socket get broken, if it indeed is broken, because I wouldn’t put it past the “conservative” slime of Noisemax to lie about such a thing.

    Noisemax is implying with headline that Michael Brown attacked him. Is there any evidence to support this, besides shit pulled directly from Chris Ruddy’s ass?

  22. 22.

    JPL

    @Poopyman: Next time he should tell the fellow officer not to hit him so hard.
    Do we know whether he called for back-up before he killed Brown?

    edit.. just saw piratedan..

  27. 27.

    burnspbesq

    @Bob In Portland:

    Just out of idle curiosity, why shouldn’t we be helping a legitimate government that is the subject of unprovoked attack by one of its neighbors?

  28. 28.

    different-church-lady

    @piratedan:

    I still think that their album In through the Out door is woefully underrated

    Adventuresome, but incoherent, and a bit flabby.

    Page’s guitar break during the middle of “Carouselambra” sounds like nothing else on earth, but by the third time it happens without changing you’re wondering why they’re going on for so long. Fool in the Rain is perfect. Listening to Plant struggle with his voice on “In the Evening” is just depressing. And why do limeys insist on doing cowboy songs?

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @piratedan: So Officer Wilson and his superiors decided to keep all the exculpatory information secret for couple of weeks? That’s both understandable and highly credible.

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @burnspbesq: Well, any government not approved by the Kremlin cannot possibly be legitimate, so there’s that.

    Sort of like the same way any Democrat elected to the Presidency can’t be legitimate, because the majority was created by busing in hundreds of thousands of “illegals” to vote for the Democrat.

  31. 31.

    Glocksman

    Led Zep rules.

    That said, since it’s an open thread let me bitch about some changes at work.
    My department just got a new supervisor who really doesn’t understand what her department is supposed to do.
    When I explain just why routing collapsible hampers to the sorter is a *bad* idea, I get a ‘I don’t understand’ look.

    That said, I care enough to risk her wrath by fixing the errors and making sure that the followup shift knows what’s going on so they can continue to send merchandise to the correct area.

    My previous supe knew enough to realize that there was a lot he didn’t know and would back us old timers when we rerouted merchandise.
    The new one doesn’t realize that she needs to either stand up for her people or we’ll simply stand aside and let the shrink losses from misrouting add up and her to take the blame from her bosses.

  36. 36.

    Mike J

    @burnspbesq:

    why shouldn’t we be helping a legitimate government that is the subject of unprovoked attack by one of its neighbors?

    To the feeble minded, just saying “CIA” is like jumping out from behind a curtain and yelling “boo!”

  37. 37.

    JPL

    I saw the first Ben Carson for President sticker today. What’s his platform? I know he feels that he deserved the welfare he received but those poor now a days don’t. Maybe someone should have an ad and ask Ben to choose the deserving ones.

  40. 40.

    petesh

    @ranchandsyrup: Relatively speaking, you lucky person. I’ve had Macca’s Uncle Albert/Admiral Whoosit. I even tried playing Ram to get rid of it, and it didn’t work. Maybe a loud Bob Dylan bootleg will do the trick.

  41. 41.

    kindness

    All hail the mighty Zep. One thing Jack Black/School of Rock got right (in addition to being fun) is that Jimmy Page (and the rest of the boys) are Gods of Rock.

    I saw them twice during their 75 tour. I was thrilled but they were obviously as loaded as I was so I was a tad put off. Doesn’t matter. I still bought all their stuff. How The West Was Won was a much better live show than what I saw. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Clapton….they are all Gods.

  42. 42.

    Origuy

    I posted this yesterday in Betty’s thread about Mo’ne Davis, but the thread was moribund, so nobody saw it:

    I discovered the astounding story of Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old southpaw who pitched against the New York Yankees on April 2, 1931. The first batter she faced was Ruth, followed by Lou Gehrig, the deadliest hitting duo in baseball history. Mitchell struck them both out. There was a box score to prove it and news stories proclaiming her “organized baseball’s first girl pitcher.”

    Jackie Mitchell, The Woman Who Struck Out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

  44. 44.

    askew

    @MattF:

    Ugh, that song. My nephew had me play it 5 times in a row while he scream/sang along with it. Kids love that song.

  45. 45.

    Glocksman

    @kindness:
    Sure they are.

    Especially Clapton if the stories about him being stoned on heroin while composing Layla are true.

    The boxed set of Clapton CD’s is the one purchase I’d repeat in a heartbeat if I had to.

  48. 48.

    skerry

    Found out today that since I am under 65 (disabled and Medicare A/B eligible), there is no federal requirement for insurance companies to issue a MediGap policy. The state of MD requires each company to have at least one policy for people like me, but does not require that the cost is the same as for people over 65. I cannot afford the policies that I have found, so I guess I will self-insure for the MediGap and hope for the best until I hit 65.

    Looks like I can get a Part D for medication. yippee

  49. 49.

    Glocksman

    @Glocksman:

    That said, it’s clear that I subscribe to the philosophy that it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
    While I don’t love my employer, I do think that they deserve my best effort on the job even if that goes against my appointed superior at the time.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @skerry:

    D’oh! Sounds like you managed to find a loophole in PPACA — that sucks. I would advise writing a (reasonably polite, if possible) letter to both of your US senators and cc your US rep, the commissioner of your state department of insurance, and the HHS secretary to let them know there’s a loophole that needs to be closed when the law is updated. It probably won’t help you now, but it may help others in the future to let your representatives know now that this is a problem.

    ETA: Since it sounds like there may be a state law that could be amended, you may want to write a separate letter to your state senators/representatives as well asking them to close the loophole on the state side and require insurance companies to sell Medigap to everyone at the same price.

  58. 58.

    Glocksman

    @SatanicPanic:

    True dat.
    As a Hoosier hick myself, I have an easily triggered ‘mock’ filter.
    The Stones didn’t set it off.

    Though given their current music, I personally believe they should have retired back in 1988 or so.

  64. 64.

    gorillagogo

    I’ve had the Beastie Boys classic Shadrach stuck in my head for a few days and it’s been awesome.

  65. 65.

    SatanicPanic

    @Glocksman: I actually remember hearing A Bigger Bang for the first time, without knowing who it was, and going- who is this? This band is rad . But I’ve never seen them live and I’d kind of rather not.

  69. 69.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    I was stuck on Joan Osborne’s Transatlantic Sessions recording of St. Teresa for a few days last week.

  70. 70.

    Glocksman

    There’s a bias against country music here, but Charlie Daniels before he degenerated into a Right Wing Asshole is worth hearing.

    Living hard was easy when I was young and bullet proof
    Had no ties to bind me just a pickup and a roof
    I emptied every bottle when I poured I never missed
    Had bloodshot eyes at twenty five or was it twenty six

    Didn’t seem to matter what price I had to pay
    Cause anything worth havin’ I’d just lose anyway
    Friends worried about me and they asked if I was sick
    Thought I would die at twenty five or was it twenty six

    Those two years blend together like whiskey over ice
    Melting into mem’ries like somebody else’s life
    I’m glad to say I’ve come around but if I could have one wish
    I’d like another try at twenty five or was it twenty six

    I met a girl from Georgia smart and pretty college grad
    Thoought my luck was changin’ up to then it’d all been bad
    I guess I fell in love all it took was just one kiss
    But she said goodbye at twnty five or was it twenty six

    Those two years blend together like whiskey over ice…

    Yeah I’ve been down the road prob’ly been as far as hell
    Deception or redemption I guess only time will tell
    I have faith in the knowledge that God gave us a gift
    I couldn’t hide at twenty five or was it twenty six

    Those two years blend together like whiskey over ice…
    I’d like another try at twenty five or was it twenty six

    As an alcoholic, the song has some appeal. ::)

  71. 71.

    pamelabrown53

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    All I can say is that y’all get better ear worms than I do. Last night I had a difficult time deciding whether or not to watch “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” on TCM because I was afraid that I’d get a “Raindrops Falling on My Head” ear worm. That’s exactly the kind of ear worm I get…or Barry Manilow.

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Glocksman: I learned that maxim in, of all places, the US Army. My brigade commander taught it to me, when I was stationed in Germany, and pulling brigade staff duty. He also mentioned that bad news does not improve with age.

  75. 75.

    hilts

    Stairway to Heaven is a masterpiece that sounds as great today as it did when I heard it at the time of LZ IV’s release.

  77. 77.

    Glocksman

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    You had a wise commander.
    All too many people civilian and military listen to bullshit and don’t actually use what they know.

    I’ve had several good supervisors and a shit ton more of bad ones.
    Over the years I’ve learned to ignore the bad ones while working with the good ones.

  80. 80.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Glocksman:

    Though given their current music, I personally believe they should have retired back in 1988 or so.

    I used to say that they should have packed it in when Brian Jones died, but I have relented a bit on that.

  81. 81.

    skerry

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, it sucks.

    I just sent off a bunch of emails to my representatives. For what it is worth. Not feeling a lot of faith in anyone right now.

    ETA: Just heard via Elon twitter feed that St. Mark’s church in Ferguson has been raided by the police. He is trying to get there to find out first hand what is going on. Seriously?? Raiding a community church? Is this Gaza?

  82. 82.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jebediah, RBG: Some of their late 70’s stuff was really quite good. I don’t think the Beatles would have fared as well if Lennon or McCartney suddenly was gone as Brian Jones was.

  86. 86.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @different-church-lady: Nope. I liked LZ through III, and thought the untitled album was good when I first heard it. It hasn’t aged well, and now I think that the music on the untitled album is pompous, bombastic, forced, and overproduced – not quite Phil Spector bad, but not one of Andy Johns best efforts, either.

    And 2112 is shit.

  87. 87.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    You’re right, which is mostly why I stopped saying it. They did make some great music post-Jones, which I have started enjoying more as I age… but I still can’t enjoy Clapton. I can hear that he is very good at guitarring, but something in the way he does it (or maybe the combo of his playing and singing) makes my skin crawl. I don’t know enough about music to figure out what I am reacting to.

  89. 89.

    Face

    their album In through the Out door is woefully underrated

    The very name of the album appears to support gay rights.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SatanicPanic: Brian never should have hooked up with Mick and Keith. They dragged him down
    (read one book on the Stones about thirty plus years ago, vaguely remember that he was the leader when they all got together, could be wrong, just wanted to enter the contest)

    In other news, I never would have bet on this:

    In what may be the first, and certainly the most ambitious, such effort of the year, Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas is going up with a new and emotional ad that is focused solely on presenting his vote for health reform as a positive:
    The ad is backed by a significant, six-figure statewide buy, I’m told. The spot tells the story of Pryor’s own battle with cancer, and features the Senator sitting alongside his father, David Pryor:
    DAVID: When Mark was diagnosed with cancer, we thought we might lose him.
    MARK: My family and my faith helped me through the rough times.
    DAVID: But you know what? Mark’s insurance company didn’t want to pay for the treatment that ultimately saved his life.
    MARK: No one should be fighting an insurance company while you’re fighting for your life. That’s why I helped pass a law that prevents insurance companies from canceling your policy if you get sick, or deny coverage for preexisting conditions.

    Looks like a good ad to me– anyone in or know Arkansas? Is old man Pryor as popular as I’m led to believe? I wonder if him being in the ad isn’t more of a boost for Junior than anything else. Also, too, FAITH + Obamacare (which of course is not mentioned even as PPACA)

  94. 94.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @SatanicPanic:

    You are officially the #1 hipster on the thread so far, can anyone top this?

    If I had been serious, would I be more or less hipster? I’m not really clear on how that works…

  95. 95.

    shelley

    No, no, not ‘Stairway to Heaven!’ Remember that particular summer when it was blaring from everybody’s portable radio, about every 25 minutes. Only worse would be when someone would yell out, ‘Yay, it’s the long version!’

  98. 98.

    Eric U.

    @Jebediah, RBG: Clapton has been making easy listing music for decades. And his guitar has always been over-produced. Sorta like a mashup of Kenny Rogers and Jeff Beck

  101. 101.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Eric U.:
    Well maybe it is the production more than the playing, then. I have almost always preferred more stripped-down styles of production. Somebody once told me he plays a little bit after the beat, and that that is where the nickname “Slowhand” came from, so I thought that might be what I wasn’t liking. The problem with that theory is I generally have no idea where the hell the beat is.

  103. 103.

    Calouste

    @SatanicPanic:

    Under Cover of the Night is the only truly great song the Stones have ever done. Of course they were working with Sly & Robbie at that point, which explains things.

    (How many hipster points do I get?)

  106. 106.

    Cacti

    I was just reading the Raw Story article on the 2,000th anniversary of the death of Augustus.

    His Mausoleum is now used as a flophouse and urinating/defecating spot for Rome’s homeless population.

    How ironic.

  110. 110.

    max

    @SatanicPanic: You are officially the #1 hipster on the thread so far, can anyone top this?

    REM probably should have quit after Dead Letter Office.

    max
    [‘What do I win?’]

  111. 111.

    burnspbesq

    Lest we forget, this is the guy who temporarily turned the Stones into a country band (and yes, that’s Emmylou Harris singing with him).

    youtube.com/watch?v=vK5791FtJ2g

    There is video out there of Keith Richards butchering one of Gram’s signature songs, “Hickory Wind,” but I. Just. Can’t.

  112. 112.

    gene108

    @Bob In Portland:

    So, Mike, you agree that there’s a CIA presence in Ukraine aiding their war effort? Very good!

    I have it on good information the U.S. is planning on more than a mere CIA presence in Ukraine. Somebody in the government figured out that Russia’s main tactical advantage against other invading European powers is (1) larger population and (2) large territorial size.

    The U.S. has more than 2x the population of Russia.

    Once we finish annexing Canada we will have about the same land mass as Russia.

    Then we will roll into Russia from Ukraine and Alaska, overwhelming Putin and liberating Russia from oppression.

  113. 113.

    John O

    @kindness:

    Right on. My first concert ever, ’77 Chicago Stadium, the old one. By all accounts not one of their best shows, but I, straight as an arrow and proud, loved the hell out of it.

  114. 114.

    John Revolta

    Max hipster points evar:

    I was living in NYC back in the ’80s (before it was cool!) and I was saying to a friend, “I dunno, I just don’t get this band U2, I mean I just don’t see what’s the big deal”. He replied “Don’t ask me- I’m still trying to figure out what was the big deal about the Beatles”.

  115. 115.

    Mike E

    I worked my local theater when “Hello Dolly” came through and, let me tell you, that was some serious next level earworm action there….it took “Evita” to finally liberate me from purgatory, and many months later at that. Whew.

  116. 116.

    Cacti

    @gene108:

    Once we finish annexing Canada we will have about the same land mass as Russia. Then we will roll into Russia from Ukraine and Alaska, overwhelming Putin and liberating Russia from oppression.

    I figure it will be China that eventually grabs some Russian territory, but first, they’re waiting for Vlad to put in all of the infrastructure for piping natural gas.

    And really, short of a nuclear exchange, what could Russia do about it? China has twice as big an army, 4x the GDP, and 8x the population of the Russian Federation.

  119. 119.

    SatanicPanic

    @John Revolta: That’s impressively blasé. The only thing I would add to your story is that you need an unknown band that was WAY BETTER than both those bands, but sadly never released any albums and the rest of us only know them for the great bands they influenced.

  120. 120.

    Trollhattan

    @kindness:
    “How the West Was Won” is a freakishly good live set. I’ll forgive them the drum solo.

    “Raising Sand” forced me to reevaluate Plant’s mastery of his “instrument.” I was able to rehear the earlier stuff in a different light, and it turns out he didn’t really sing at ’11’ the whole time.

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    @John O:

    My first concert ever — and around the same time at the same stadium — was Shawn Cassidy. But it’s different for girls, and I never claimed to be a hipster. ;-)

    (Technically, I may have been at an Earth, Wind & Fire concert at Ravinia before that, but I was mostly there to wander around on the lawn looking for interesting bugs and four-leaf clovers, not for the music.)

  124. 124.

    Trollhattan

    @SatanicPanic: Bzzzt, sorry. Anybody who contributed to Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile is to be placed on a tasteful pedestal and dusted at least three times per week. Ron Wood–meh.

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @Origuy:

    I love that it never occurs to Bob that his omni-present question of Why isn’t this being reported in the mainstream media? is usually best answered by Because the story is fake. It never once occurs to him that maybe — just maybe — the Russian media is feeding him propaganda.

  126. 126.

    wasabi gasp

    I’ve been resistant to earworms for a very long time now. Even intentional luck pushing with late night listens to my old nemesis didn’t kick it back to life. Totally immune! That was until about a month ago, when I woke to these ladies really going at it. And I don’t even know what the heck they’re talking about.

    Nada – Gece Düştü

  127. 127.

    Trollhattan

    @Mnemosyne:
    Moar likely Hodor! is Russian media, in the same fashion UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH is a (very clumsy and ineffective) Republican operative.

  128. 128.

    SarahT

    @Trollhattan:Thanks ! A few other Dad hits: “I don’t mind that rock cantata by Tommy and the Who…”; “The Cramps ? They should be called “The Splitting Headaches !”. God, was he ever a DAD.

  129. 129.

    John Revolta

    @SatanicPanic: Well, this particular guy would’ve probably pointed you to Robert Johnson, or (even more likely) one of the guys that HE (RJ) stole his stuff from.

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “I think SNL is egotistical if they believe that it was truly an effect on maybe the public debate about who should lead the country in the next four years,” Palin told the book’s authors, adding that she appeared on the show to counter the implications of Fey’s impression.
    “I know that they portrayed me as an idiot, and I hated that,” she said.

    Don’t ever change, Halfwit Halfgov

  133. 133.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mnemosyne: Finally went and read that “source”, and it is as ignorant of Ukraine as our friend Bob. They state as fact that the dead man took the pseudonym “Franko” after Francisco Franco (?!), ignoring completely the fact that Ivan Franko was perhaps Ukraine’s second-most-famous poet, writer and journalist, with museums and universities named after him in numerous cities. They also state as fact that he was a CIA agent, giving, of course, no proof. Since volunteers in the Ukrainian self-defense battalions are required to be Ukrainian citizens, and since Ukraine doesn’t allow dual citizenship, I’m left wondering whether it’s common practice for US CIA employees to renounce their US citizenship (as the dead man did, some years ago.)

    But attempting to apply basic logic to our friend’s postings is a fools’ errand.

  134. 134.

    Trollhattan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Considering she has kinda sorta a media degree and actually worked as an on-air teevee person, for a paycheck, she deep down knows how very wrong that is. That she’s completely abandoned her book-learnin’ and actual, if limited working past remains a thing of wonder.

    Also, too, Tina Fey: national treasure. What she was able to do to public perception by simply repeating moose lady’s verbiage cannot be overstated.

  136. 136.

    Captain C

    @max: “The Beatles were nothing after Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best left; they should have quit right then.”

  140. 140.

    Kathleen

    @Steeplejack: I’m binge watching Castle reruns on TNT. Can’t get enough. Perhaps it’s the comfort of the format/plot predictability – justice is always served and the killer is always caught against incredible odds. Plus the acting and script are stellar.

  143. 143.

    different-church-lady

    @Captain C: They had sold out long before that. The Quarrymen before McCartney was the only thing Lennon did that had any integrity.

  146. 146.

    Bill Arnold

    @Cacti:

    but first, they’re waiting for Vlad to put in all of the infrastructure for piping natural gas.

    Yeah, it’s always about the pipelines. Always.
    :-)

  147. 147.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @SatanicPanic:

    you need an unknown band that was WAY BETTER than both those bands, but sadly never released any albums and the rest of us only know them for the great bands they influenced.

    Or a band so awesomely obscure that they never actually played together or even met.

  148. 148.

    john fremont

    @Kathleen: Me too. I enjoyed Robert Plant’s 1993 album, the Fate of Nations. It featured a version of Tim Hardin’s If I Were a Carpenter and a collaboration with Richard Thompson Come Into My Life. I played that album for weeks. Also, Jimmy Page played a beautiful power ballad with Paul Rodgers in the Firm called Midnight Moonlight that I always found moving. Happy 66 Birthday Robert Plant.

  151. 151.

    john fremont

    @Death Panel Truck: Something Willie Dixon did as well.Dixon took the melody from Sister RosettaTHarper’s This Train and used it for Little Walter’s hit RnB hit My Babe without ever crediting Tharpe for just one example.

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