It’s postcard writing and music sharing time.
Music peeps, please share your links in the comments!
If anyone else has postcard photos they want to share, please send me your pics.
Here are some great postcards from BlueGuitarist!
Want to help with postcards but your writing is illegible or you don’t have time?
We have an Indivisible group that’s located in SD-8, that wants to write 500 postcards, but some of the writers can’t afford the stamps. It would be a big help to them if we could supply maybe half the stamps, which would be $120. Send me email if you’re willing to help cover the cost of stamps.
Want to help with postcards but you have been holding off because the cost of postcards and stamps isn’t in your budget right now?
Send me email, and I’ll bet we can hook you up with another BJ peep who has money but no time!
Want to write postcards in Spanish? We have Latino households you can write to, too!
Postcard information here. If you don’t see an answer to your question in that file, chime in and let me know so I can answer and then add the info the file, so everyone has it.
Note: if you click on Balloon Juice in the box, it takes you to the front page. If you click on “Postcards + Instructions for Wisconsin”, it will take you straight to the page with all the info.
Open thread.
Mousebumples
I’m here. My klutzy self took a tumble this morning and my left arm is sore. Hopefully will be better tomorrow, but I’m moving slow tonight. I did drop off my 150 postcards at the post office yesterday, and got a new batch of stamps as well.
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: 150, wow! Sorry about your arm. Are you right-handed?
BlueGuitarist
Here’s Ruthie Foster and Jorma Kaukonen, Long Time Gone (by David Crosby)
https://youtu.be/lwnoFJq9Usg
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: Yup, thankfully. So still able to write, just slowly…
BlueGuitarist
Thanks WaterGirl and Mousebumples!
the beautiful card WG posted from delphinium Saturday gave me the idea to use lines to separate the sections of text.
i wouldn’t have tried writing cards in Spanish if not for WaterGirl making it easy, plus ceci n est pas mon nym asking questions about it, and Brendancalling’s playlist including Jailhouse Rock in Spanish.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: That’s a really nice cover!
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: They say it takes a village.
BlueGuitarist
Playing for change, Ripple
https://youtu.be/MHo1fNnXFVU
prostratedragon
It’s the 84th birthday of both Michael Caine and Quincy Jones:
H.E.Wolf
Thank you to WaterGirl and Mousebumples for keeping the postcard threads active, and for keeping WI in the forefront of our attention this month!
I’m writing offline tonight, so that I can do a Zoom catch-up with one of my next-generation relatives who is also a postcard-er.
In lieu of music, here’s a link to a story from Rep. John Lewis’s memoir Walking With the Wind. It has some similarities to what we’re doing here at Balloon Juice.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eed7c4d7c961932b8a1acbf/t/5ffa2c7987b5d06563bd38b6/1610230906232/A+Story+by+John+Lewis.pdf
SpaceUnit
Hey WaterGirl.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d be willing to pitch in for stamps and supplies, so I’m in. How do we do this? I don’t know your email address. Is it listed here on the site?
smith
Watergirl — I’d like to help fund the stamps, but I guess I’m a little dense — where do I find your email address?
Alison Rose
Amerimacka – Thievery Corporation
Gold – Chet Faker
Miss the Bliss – Hot Chip
I Follow Rivers – Lykke Li
(and because I gotta be me and I’m still listening to 80% DM these days)
The Sun and the Rainfall – Depeche Mode
Mousebumples
WaterGirl’s email is –
WaterGirl AT balloon-juice
Thanks to SpaceUnit & smith for being willing to help out! 🤩
smith
@Mousebumples: Thanks!
BlueGuitarist
The Tedeschi Trucks Band with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Sly Stone Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckCf1urfCbU
SpaceUnit
@Mousebumples:
Thank you.
band gap
@BlueGuitarist: Ooh, I like Ruthie Foster.
Cover of The Moth I heard on Mr Robot,
Les Deux Love Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG6x4MHdTWM
BlueGuitarist
In 2019, the D candidate for WI Supreme Court got 600 thousand voted, and lost by 6 thousand votes. In the presidential election each party got over 1.6 million votes. So each party turned out about 3/8 of their voters.
Conclusion: GOTV postcards!
WaterGirl
@SpaceUnit: I see that you found my address! I have already replied to your message.
WaterGirl
@smith: Thank you!
It’s watergirl at balloon-juice.com – of course, you use the @ symbol and no spaces.
edit: I see that Mousebumples answered first. Go Mousebumples.
BlueGuitarist
@band gap:
yay. More Ruthie, up above my head
https://youtu.be/M3jmT9Q0WrM
Mousebumples
@smith & @SpaceUnit: You’re very welcome!
@BlueGuitarist: Awesome looking postcards! So glad to have you helping out. 😊
@H.E.Wolf: Glad to have your help in my home state, too. Enjoy your night, and hope to see you in this thread, maybe this weekend?
Mousebumples
@BlueGuitarist: Yup. Wisconsin Elections tend to be close. And I’d love to run up the score, if we can!
UncleEbeneezer
Thought I knew all the great Nick Drake songs already, but recently discovered At The Chime of A City Clock. Drake was one hell of a songwriter and just about the only old-school folk singer I can listen to because he also gets jazzy and groovy.
band gap
Stephen Bennett (friend and mentor) playing Eye of God on one of his harp guitars. He wrote the tune, name comes from one of the Hubble images of a nebula.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHPgBd-T0pU
SpaceUnit
A bit of funky jazz. Incognito:
Gypsy
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: So the DEM last time lost by 1% of the vote?
Dan B
@prostratedragon: There’s a big performance hall next to where my partner went to High School donated by Quincy Jones. It’s a beautiful facility. We drive past when we visit our friends on Capitol Hill. Jones also attended school there and was part of a very busy jazz, R&B, and early Rock and Roll scene with Charlie Parker and Ray Charles, plus many others remarkably for a very white city at a far corner of the country.
BlueGuitarist
@band gap:
beautiful song, beautiful instrument!
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: I like this one, too. I like her sound.
prostratedragon
@band gap: Don’t remember where, but I’ve seen him before — you can’t forget that harp guitar. Like this piece, and how it let’s him display the instrument and his playing.
Sure Lurkalot
WG, I was all set to participate but as the worm often turns, things went wacky. Would it be too late to do say 20 ? I could get them in the mail by Saturday.
prostratedragon
@Dan B: Seattle?
He has had a remarkable career.
UncleEbeneezer
One other Alt-folk, Irish band that I really loved about a decade ago was The Villagers. Check out their song Home. Love his voice and lyrics. They opened for Neil Young for a bit but never really got big. Their first album was incredible, but after that they kinda floundered, imo.
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: Not last time, but, yes, I’m 2019 when the Dem lost it was by about 1 vote per precinct.
I’ll go double check the last few elections. But I know postcards may have helped to flip a seat in 2020. (Bernie staying in the primary until after the Wisconsin primary may have helped GOTV too.)
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: That would be fine!
I haven’t already sent you addresses, correct?
Mousebumples
@Sure Lurkalot: That’s plenty of time! We probably have through next weekend, even. Thanks for joining in!
We’ll have another postcarding thread on Saturday (745pm eastern/blog time) and next Tuesday, too.
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
There’s a little chatter at the beginning
but then, I Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom, in, as Ruthie says, “the people’s key of C”
https://youtu.be/GtRb8PSkdeQ
UncleEbeneezer
Another Villagers tune I love is their epic, narrative ballad Cecilia & Her Selfhood. Check out the incredible animation too!
Mousebumples
Wikipedia
2018 – Open seat flip, Rebecca Dallet (liberal) won
2019 – Open seat flip, Brian Hagedorn (conservative) won (though he’s less radical than other conservatives on the court)
2020 – Jill Karofsky (liberal) beat the incumbent… Dan Kelly, who had been appointed by Scott Walker… And who is running again this year.
Trivia Man
Tonight I did my training to be a poll observer, I am looking forward to it. They kept stressing that mostly, nothing happens. And that is good! We don’t want wild excitement – just orderly voting that moves quickly.
Thanks everybody for helping drive that turnout.
UncleEbeneezer
When it comes to rock/pop covers, nobody does them better than The Bad Plus. Here is their haunting version of Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
that was 2019 half a percentage point.
in 2020 the Dem won by 10 points, against Dan Kelly the R this time. Turn out was higher because presidential election year, so I thought the last odd number year would be the appropriate comparison. And it was so close.
Dan B
@prostratedragon: Yes, Seattle. His family moved from Bremerton, naval base on the west side of Puget Sound. He was at Garfield High School which was 50% black. Jimi Hendrix went there. Garfield has a jazz group that frequently wins national competitions. Much music there.
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: I have been a poll observer when a Republican was in office, in charge of elections. The bullshit made my blood boil. But other than that, it was a great experience.
Good for you for doing it.
BlueGuitarist
@Trivia Man:
thanks for doing the work that keep elections running!
did you learn any interesting trivia at your training?
NotMax
Late to the thread but never too late for some tunes.
La belle Venus.
Barcelona.
Tango Azul.
Jazz Pizzicato.
BlueGuitarist
@Alison Rose: thanks Alison. Yay for you being you!
Alison Rose
@BlueGuitarist: *curtsey
Trivia Man
@BlueGuitarist: College ID is a tricky document. It must have an effective date, expiration date, and there must be less than 2 years between them.
Also learned that while any eligible voter can challenge another (think they are not old enough, not a citizen, otherwise not eligible…) the challenged voter simply affirms they meet that qualification and they are allowed to vote.
prostratedragon
God, when did I lat hear “Blue Tango?” Apt to fall over trying to reach back to it.
“Soul Bossa Nova,” Quincy Jones.
WaterGirl
Looks like the thread might be winding down.
Big thanks to everyone who offered funds for postcard stamps for the Indivisible group. Not surprising for Balloon Juice – we have offers for more than the amount that is needed!
As soon as we have figured out the details for how to get the funds to them, I will be in touch with each of the 7 people who volunteered.
Mousebumples
Thanks to everyone who’s in this thread tonight! I’m turning in early to rest up my arm, and hope to be back to writing at closer to full speed tomorrow.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Dropped my 50 español cards in the mail tonight. First time postcard writer here.
@Mousebumples: I saw that you did 150. I am amazed and awestruck.
WaterGirl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Good job on your 50 postcards in Spanish!
BlueGuitarist
@Trivia Man:
I remember reading that Wisconsin republicans came up with the idea of driving down the student vote and imposing extra costs on 4year colleges by adding a 2 year expiration date requirement for IDs. Maybe other state do that too, although some like Texas decided not to count student ID as valid for voting.
prostratedragon
Quincy Jones on things you can’t explain
BlueGuitarist
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: awesome.
repeating here in case you missed it up thread but significant credit to you for getting me to write Spanish language cards – thanks.
BlueGuitarist
@Mousebumples: thanks to you too!!
Timill
If life seems jolly rotten…
kalakal
A couple of numbers from Horslips , the “founding fathers of Celtic Rock” both are from The Tain (1973) an electrified collection of Irish traditional tunes retelling the epic Cattle raid of Cooley*
Dearg Doom
Faster then the Hound
*sorry for the lecture but I’ve no idea if Horslips ever made it in the US
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@BlueGuitarist: Do you know any Spanish? Technically you could just copy the message out without knowing it, but I think I would have been a little nervous about making more mistakes if I wasn’t familiar with it enough to know the right endings of words. I was just struggling with stuff like the salutations, as I haven’t done anything formal with business in Spanish.
NotMax
@kalakal
Certainly played from time to time back then on the college radio station.
mvr
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Dropped ten this morning. We’re working on the remaining 40.
Thanks!