British comic Stevie Riks cracks me up. He’s funny as hell and smart as a pistol when it comes to paying homage and satirizing his rock and roll heroes. Check out his website. You’ll find some real comic gems there.
In this video, Riks creates an imagined collaboration between David Bowie and Elvis Presley on “Golden Years.”
Riks does spot-on impressions and his Bowie is almost perfect. “Golden Years” would have been a great choice for Elvis to cover, no shit.
The Bounce is still very much alive and Mr. Ghetto and Young Sizzle ain’t gonna let you forget it. “Youtube Girl” is my favorite summer song of the year so far. I love me some Bounce and just about anything from New Orleans, from the food to the music to the booty, makes me extremely randy.
The girls are Bouncin’ everywhere, even at the Walmart! The Bounce will not be denied. And it’s about time all those bouncin’ bootys on Youtube got a little respect and recognition.
Nutthin’ says summer like a steaming pile of gravity-defying gluteus maximus.
One of the many things I love about John Lennon is that despite having more money than God and being one of the most influential human beings of the 20th century he seemed to have a very clear perspective on what was going on in the tumultuous reality he inhabited and a surprising sense of humility. There’s something very Zen about Lennon. Yes, he was capable of being an asshole at times, who isn’t, but mostly he comes off as a sweet sweet man.
In this interview conducted in 1973 prior to the release of Mind Games, John discusses his days with The Beatles and a possible reunion.
“The Republicans have been absolutely determined to make certain that the rich and large corporations not contribute one penny for deficit reduction, and that all of the sacrifice comes from the middle class and working families in terms of cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, LIHEAP, community health centers, education, Head Start, nutrition, MILC, affordable housing and many other vitally important programs.
“I cannot support legislation like the Reid proposal which balances the budget on the backs of struggling Americans while not requiring one penny of sacrifice from the wealthiest people in our country. That is not only grotesquely immoral, it is bad economic policy.”
Say it loud, Bernie!You’re the only one speaking any sense!
A) Hilarious? B) Tragic? C) Who gives a flying fuck anymore? D) All of the above.
The saddest thing about the whole debt ceiling spectacle is that the Democrats hold the Senate and the White House during the worst economic downtown since the Depression and we’re actually hearing talk about the death of Keynesian economics? Unfuckingbelievable, but there you go.
Bruce Bartlett writing at The Fiscal Times wonders if Barack Obama is “the Democrats’ Richard Nixon?” He makes some good points
By 1995, Clinton was working with Republicans to dismantle welfare. In 1997, he supported a cut in the capital gains tax. As the benefits of his 1993 deficit reduction package took effect, budget deficits disappeared and we had the first significant surpluses in memory. Yet Clinton steadfastly refused to spend any of the flood of revenues coming into the Treasury, hording them like a latter day Midas. In the end, his administration was even more conservative than Eisenhower’s on fiscal policy.
And just as pent-up liberal aspirations exploded in the 1960s with spending for every pet project green lighted, so too the fiscal conservatism of the Clinton years led to an explosion of tax cuts under George W. Bush, who supported every one that came down the pike. The result was the same as it was with Johnson: massive federal deficits and a tanking economy.
Thus Obama took office under roughly the same political and economic circumstances that Nixon did in 1968 except in a mirror opposite way. Instead of being forced to manage a slew of new liberal spending programs, as Nixon did, Obama had to cope with a revenue structure that had been decimated by Republicans.
Liberals hoped that Obama would overturn conservative policies and launch a new era of government activism. Although Republicans routinely accuse him of being a socialist, an honest examination of his presidency must conclude that he has in fact been moderately conservative to exactly the same degree that Nixon was moderately liberal.
Here are a few examples of Obama’s effective conservatism:
His stimulus bill was half the size that his advisers thought necessary;
He continued Bush’s war and national security policies without change and even retained Bush’s defense secretary;
He put forward a health plan almost identical to those that had been supported by Republicans such as Mitt Romney in the recent past, pointedly rejecting the single-payer option favored by liberals;
He caved to conservative demands that the Bush tax cuts be extended without getting any quid pro quo whatsoever;
And in the past few weeks he has supported deficit reductions that go far beyond those offered by Republicans.
Further evidence can be found in the writings of outspoken liberals such as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has condemned Obama’s conservatism ever since he took office.
I’m with Krugman myself. I simply can’t believe Obama is negotiating with these assholes (see below) and losing! It’s incredible to watch.
What would Obama do in a fist fight, you know? He should have told the House GOP to do their worst but that he’d veto anything too aggressive and make sure the bills were paid under the 14th Amendment. He should have started there!
Then what would have happened?
It would have been a different story altogether. He should have listened to Bill Clinton.
Instead we’re getting a deal that the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, called “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich.”
With fuckin’ Democrats like Obama, who needs Republicans, anyway?
Alice Cooper guested on the classic BBC Radio show Desert Islands Discs in 2010, where he discussed the highs and lows of his long and successful career, and chose some of the records which best captured those moments from his past. Dear olde Auntie described Alice Cooper thus:
As a teenager he says it was British music that he tuned in to - listening to The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who. He realised that while rock music had many heroes, there were few villains - that was the territory he marked out for himself. He developed his trademark look - blackened eyes, straggly hair and glamorous clothes - and set about designing live shows that were gleefully gory and macabre.
While critics have described him as ‘the world’s most beloved heavy metal entertainer’, it took him a while to untangle himself from his creation. “For a long time I honestly didn’t know where I began and Alice ended. My friends at the time were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and I was trying to keep up with them. And I realised when they all died that you didn’t have to be your character off stage.”
Alice’s selection:
The Yardbirds - “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”
The Beach Boys - “I Get Around”
The Who - “I’m A Boy”
Laura Nyro - “Timer”
King Crimson - “21st Century Schizoid Man”
Jane’s Addiction - “Been Caught Stealing”
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - “Work Song”
Bob Dylan - “Ballad of a Thin Man”
Anita Lindblom turns “The Girl From Ipanema” into a Beatles tribute called “Beatle Bossa Nova” released as a single in1964.
Lindblom is a former Swedish pop star with a bit of a bad girl image who’s had a rather turbulent life filled with scandal, bad marriages, legal hassles over unpaid taxes and several nervous breakdowns. She retired from show business and currently lives as a recluse in France. But, for a few brief moments in this video, Lindblom’s only problem seems to be which Beatle to adore.
