Who gave the order to arrest the CNN crew? Was it the judgment of a trooper on the scene, or was someone higher up the reporting path called to make a decision? If I were still a reporter these are the questions I would ask.
Let the Good Times Spin
Let’s brighten our day with this snappy Sunshine Pop tune. It’s a Jack Nitzsche production, and I can’t find anything about Leon Russell playing piano, but that’s a reasonably safe assumption.
Listen for the shameless borrowing of Brian Wilson’s “bow bow bow” backing from “Help Me Rhonda.”
Needle Tracks
A very nerdy thing I’ve enjoyed doing is listening to the many different combinations of inexpensive phono preamps and cartridges presented on YouTube. Here is how the setup in my home office sounds. Listen quick, in case YouTube decides to yank it, despite many other unofficial copies of the song already being there.
The cartridge is a Grado Black ($75), the preamp a Behringer PP400 ($25), and the turntable is a Technics SL-BD20D. The Technics was the last of the P-Mount (T4P) models, and it was purchased new for $99 from J&R Music World, an outstanding retailer and mail-order service that is gone, but not forgotten.
Can’t Spell Sinatra Without Sin
These official record label playlists of complete albums are da bomb. Is that still an expression? Here’s one from the daddy-o era. Sinatra at his Capitol best, and upbeat it ain’t.
“Scuse me, while I disappear…”
Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet, I’m Pwaying Wecords
I first mentioned Deep Purple’s superb 1968 recording of “Hush” almost — hoo, boy — eight years ago. “Hush” is one of my Top 10 all-time favorite songs, of which I probably have 100. It’s sort of a rotating Top 10.
I’m sure glad that Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood came out last year, before we got clobbered by the Chinese diet, which is nothing like the Japanese Diet. Here’s “Hush” as it’s heard in the movie soundtrack.
Dare I say that it’s WRONG, because it is. This is how the track is supposed to start, as played on a Technics SL-1500 MK2 turntable with a Stanton 680 cartridge. An excellent setup from the late 70’s.
The stereo mix has a fainter wolf howl intro. It’s the second track on Shades of Deep Purple, a super strong debut album that’s worth hearing all the way through, as this playlist will do.
Is There A Safety Net?
Trump’s solution to the economy being frozen is to simply let everything open up again, and risk a second wave of virus victims that’s even worse than the first. This is when we need truly great leadership and instead he golfs and Tweets. The modern equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns.