New Year's Eve Good Lovin'

Here's a great tune to kick off New Year's Eve for you, the Young Rascals doing their megahit version of The Olympics' original, "Good Lovin'":

You can listen to the Rascals' 45rpm version here; and you can see the Olympics themselves doing the song on the 60's TV series Shindig! in this video:



Allow me to raise a toast to you. Would you like a martini?

Or perhaps a glass of wine?

Tragic Tuesday -- Murder Songs

People who think threats of violence are something new in gangster rap don't know much about the blues, or even about Appalachian ballads like "Knoxville Girl," which I first heard as recorded by the Blue Sky Boys in 1937 but here done by the Wilburn Brothers:



I deplore any influence these songs have in encouraging violent behavior, but I suppose they can serve as warnings of how far out not to get. This one by Sonny Boy Williamson II has a catchy title, "Your Funeral And My Trial":

Gale Jones Carson Burglary Suspect

UPDATED: See bottom of post.

Here's a picture and some video of the latest scumbag to break in Gale Jones Carson's house in Frayser, along with the TV report at the time. If you recognize this bastard, see if CrimeStoppers (528-CASH) won't give you some cash for his name and whereabouts.

UPDATE: I was late with this, but the news is that the cameras gave the cops something to go on, and they picked up and charged a street kinda guy they say was wearing the same clothes and who told them about selling a laptop recently. I'm not getting into convicting people in the press, but to get people interested in taking another, sorely needed bite out of crime, I'll post some public records in the case so far.  Here's the initial charging instrument, known in Tennessee as the Affidavit of Complaint (I redacted Gale's address; the vertical black line comes from scanning or faxing; you can get these in Shelby County at this link):

Here's the public jail information on this arrestee, available at this link:

Now if you were to serve on a jury at a trial of this man, you wouldn't be allowed to see any prior criminal record he had, because this is America, and we don't convict people even on the partial basis of things they did in the past.  As a member of the public wishing to see how well the system is working, you might want to go to the Shelby County General Sessions and Criminal Court records website at this link and plug in someone's name or RNI (records and identification) number and see what contact a person has had with the state criminal justice system in the past (since the Seventies when computerization began, anyway).

UPDATE to Update: Crime fighter John Harvey has done more research on this suspect at his Crime In Memphis, TN blog.

Obama's Not a Muslim, He's a Zionist Jew

UPDATE: Obama's atomic umbrella: U.S. nuclear strike if Iran nukes Israel. OK, this appeared in an Israeli newspaper; but I don't know how many times I have to say: Israel is NOT the 51st state of the union. ANY president of the United States needs to get an advance declaration from the Congress after ample debate before issuing any security guarantees, pursuant to Congress' sole power to declare war. It's these foreign interventions that have repeatedly wrecked the United States economy, not to mention how many lives and persistent environmental poisoning even a regional nuclear war will cause. All you chickenhawks wake up: Putin is re-arming Russia. Why? Because he is tired of us being provocateurs close to his country. All these warmongering chickenhawks need to watch On The Beach (again). I guarantee you, all these modern-day chump-shit interventionist Presidents are making George Washington roll over in his grave.

ORIGINAL POST:

The Associated Press, persecutor of bloggers, reports (and they really hate it when you use their headlines) "Campaigning in Mideast, Obama promises 'commitment' to Israel":

From the solemnity of a Holocaust museum to a dusty village battered by Hamas rockets, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Wednesday professed "an unshakable commitment to the security" of Israel.

"The way you know where somebody's going is where have they been. And I've been with Israel for many, many years now," he said on a day that bore striking similarities to campaigning in the United States.

Obama's major focus was clearly reassuring Israelis -- and, by extension, millions of Jewish voters in the United States -- of his commitment to the survival of the Jewish state.

Go read the rest of the AP feed; they need to pay their bills like the rest of us. But you may also want to read my posts "Crusade, Jihad, and Jerusalem," "There He Goes Again (Iran)," "Non-interventionism," "Declaring War," and "The Nuclear Club."

"Campaigning in Mideast" indeed, as though Israel were the 51st state. It isn't. Until Congress admits Israel as a state in the union, NO American President or federal official or any candidate for same has any business issuing "an unshakable commitment to the security" of Israel.

I've left the Obama Blog Button post up for the people who have drunk his Kool-Aid, because of the way he was talking about the issues and because of the work I put in it; but don't wonder why I'm carrying Bob Barr's blog button in my own sidebar.

Barack Obama, you're just another self-aggrandizing politician. And why haven't you endorsed Steve Cohen, after he stood up for you when you didn't have the nomination dicked? You endorsed some white dude against a black woman in Georgia in the Democratic Primary, so what's the problem??!!

Foxy Jacky Link Dump

I noticed that when the Memphis media covered the story of a woman being photographed and videoed nakey for her website(s), no one would post a link; so I decided to fill that void. Sorry it took so long, but some projects seem to wait for a "Favorites" housecleaning.

The People Of Bartlett Grove Vs. Foxy Jacky
Q&A: Foxy Jacky: Bartlett Park adult "Star"
FOXY JACKY - I'm lonely :(
Foxy Jacky Videos
Foxy Jacky — Foxy Jacky Videos, Pictures, Hardcore and More!
Foxy Jacky Pictures and Movies at Freeones (WM: Oh my!)

UPDATE: 'Foxy Jacky' at it again with new series of photos.

What Wintermute Got for Christmas

I got some good loot, just what I wanted. Thank you, Mom and Sis!

Mario Batali 6 Qt. Italian Essentials Pot (aka Dutch oven). Man, this thing is big, and heavy duty too! Porcelain-coated cast iron. Forget your Le Creuset, this sucker won best value at America's Test Kitchen; and it's heavier! This is the chianti color; it's gorgeous!

If you've ever had to transfer a large quantity of soup from a stockpot into a blender and then have the hot steaming batch blow up when you turned the blender on, you will appreciate an immersion blender. I now own the Cuisinart CSB-77 with attachments!

The Truest Christians Don't Need Myths

Here's the backstory on the image below.

A nude model resembling the Virgin Mary on the cover of the Mexican edition of Playboy magazine, published only days before a major Mexican festival dedicated to the mother of Jesus, prompted the company's U.S. headquarters on Friday to apologize.

Well, for starters, the model isn't nude, nor is she called the "Virgin" Mary: her real name is Mary (Maria). Were the Mexican editors pulling a mild Hustler parody, given the stained glass and the timing and the cowl? Well, yeah, sure. Christie Hefner must not review every international edition before it goes to press, and I read Playboy is hurting like a lot of businesses these days; but if people didn't believe in nonsense like human virgin birth, they wouldn't get offended. Remember, Muslims get offended if you publish images of Mohammed. Screw them too for that. Also remember, it's what Jesus himself said in his sermons, parables, and interactions that matters, not the circumstances of his birth. And I never read a word of his that states his mother was a virgin when she was pregnant with him. Here's the cover. Happy Christmas Day....

Senator Jim Kyle on the New TN Legislature

Here's an example of why I like Jim Kyle and have for decades: he's smart, wise, and articulate with no excess verbiage. Like me.

Sinful Sunday -- The Rolling Stones

Returning to The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, here's "Sympathy For The Devil."  Do NOT listen to this in traffic.

Psychedelic Saturday -- Jethro Tull

This is the song that got me paying attention to Jethro Tull.  It's got a blues slide guitar sound but a much freer structure than standard blues -- not surprising coming out of England in the late 60's from a band with a flute player as leader.  "Song For Jeffrey":



Yes, that was a very young Mick Jagger introducing the band, on an amazing show the Stones put together in 1968 for English television but never released until 1996, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.  I'll be featuring the Stones themselves shortly...very shortly...like tomorrow shortly.

FGF -- Got My Mojo Working

Muddy Waters "stole" this song from Ann Cole (her recording) in the same sense that Aretha Franklin stole "Respect" from Otis Redding. Absolutely classic, "Got My Mojo Working (But It Just Won't Work on You)":

So what is a mojo? It is, in short, the staple amulet of African-American hoodoo practice, a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. The word is thought by some to be a corruption of the English word "magic" but it more likely is related to the West African word "mojuba," meaning a prayer of praise and homage. It is a "prayer in a bag" -- a spell you can carry.

Mojos made for an individual are usually carried on the person, always out of sight. They are very rarely worn on a string around the neck, fairly commonly pinned inside a woman's brassiere, and much more commonly pinned to the clothes below the waist or carried in a pants pocket.

And what is contained in the mojo hand? Well, that varies a lot, based on what the wearer hopes to accomplish by carrying the amulet and what the maker finds effective or customary to use in preparing it. A mojo carried for love-drawing will contain different ingredients than one for gambling luck or magical protection. Generally there are at least three items in a simple hand, and many root doctors try to ensure that the total number of ingredients comes to an odd number -- 3, 5, 7, 9, or 13 -- although sometimes mixed herbs are counted as one item.

Click here for examples of mojo hand combinations.

-- Catherine Yronwode, Hoodoo in Theory and Practice

There's lots more about mojo hands and root bags in Catherine's great online book. I'm going to be sorely tempted to "borrow" some of her incredible graphics. Good grief, I just trimmed the last link, which then took me to her Lucky Mojo site. What a treasure trove! Hey, you need a free magic spell to fix somebody up? Oh man, here's what I need right here:

Attract a new lover (Come to Me Mojo Hand). Each Lucky Mojo Bag comes complete with a vial of Come To Me dressing oil.

HUGE fist tap to the blues band Mojo Road!

Thematic Thursday -- One-Man Bands

I encountered this first guy's name when prowling through stacks of new 78's with Tom Phillips at his record store on Chelsea one summer in the late 60's.  Tom's brother Sam Phillips had cut Doctor (Isaiah) Ross on "The Boogie Disease" b/w Jukebox Boogie, Sun #212.  I bought a bunch of those records from Tom and ended up giving them to Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band.  Here's Doctor Ross doing pretty much the same song as "Feel So Good," the title Magic Sam covered it under later on:



I don't know what I should say about this next one-man band except that my girlfriend at the time volunteered me to play one-string slide Lowe-Bow bass with him one night, and it was a lot of fun. Ladies and gentlemen, Richard Johnston (muchos related videos):



Richard, I'm told you're back in the county. Drop by again, and I'll grill us a ribeye.

Woeful Wednesday -- Otis Clay

Otis Clay is one of the successful Hi Records artists still alive and kickin', who recently helped to raise money for O.V. Wright's tombstone, backed up by the outfit that cut his records, Hi Rhythm.

Here's a vintage performance of his best-known song, "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You," which you might have heard first by another guy:



My front page is starting to load slowly with all the graphics and videos I've piled on it lately, so go shopping for Otis' related videos yourself, maybe even one by that other guy, Bob Seger.

Blue Monday -- Little Jimmy King

Little Jimmy King was born one of a pair of identical twins: Manuel and Daniel.  Little Jimmy King left us too early.  His twin is still alive and well and is a fine singer.  Here's Little Jimmy with three friends of mine, the Memphis Soul Survivors: Archie Turner (aka Hubbie Mitchell, after his step-dad Willie), Melvin Lee, and Cedric ("Cowboy") McGory.  These guys are such good musicians and have been sidemen for so many stars that I don't have time to list them all.  You can hear them with two singers, a guitar player, and a horn player (all fine musicians) at Wild Bill's in Memphis Friday and Saturday nights.  Thanks to bobblues1, a professional musician in England, for posting this and so many other fine blues videos.

Saxy Sunday -- Pharaoh Sanders

I was taking a constitutional from my place in Vollentine-Evergreen toward Overton Park and decided to walk by Fresh Slices, a small neighborhood bar & grill in a small strip commercial center. Back then, they had live jazz regularly, and I heard some coming out of the bar; so I stepped inside. There was my old bud Ed Finney playing his Gibson L-5 with bass and drums. I sat on a barstool, and when the number ended, I said, "That sounded like 'Creator Has A Master Plan'." The bass player said, "That's what it was." Duh, LOL. Some months ago, one of my regular readers requested that same number, and I had no idea she was that hip. So here it is, what has become one of the great modern jazz classics.

Let's start with a regrettably short video of the master and co-composer himself, Pharoah Sanders, blowing a few notes of this great tune:


Oh man, that wonderful ostinato riff and the vibe Pharoah got from playing with John Coltrane and taking it to his own awesome place! Click on some of the related videos for more or just hit this search link.

Now let's dig a version by co-composer Leon Thomas that focuses on his lyrics and vocal:

Now, click in this sentence for audio of the full 32-minute version or the entire Karma album.

I'm also fond of the Tauhid album, which introduced me to the awesome guitar player Sonny Sharrock. But that's another post....

RIP Bettie Page

A daring young woman from Tennessee

became an icon.Here's the long, interesting, and official obituary on her own site.

Feel Good Friday -- "Hotty Toddy"

OK, guys, you're about to see a very hot young woman in the sexiest blue jeans shorts possible. God, how I hope her outfit catches on! Here's "Hotty Toddy":



This is by a Memphis-area country group, the Dirt Brothers. They won a Great American Country TV contest with that video. I saw them on a local TV morning show, on which one of the hosts asked the question I was left with after watching the above video: "Is she a Collierville girl?" Answer was "She is a hometown girl." YES! But that outfit makes any girl ultra sexy who can "pull it off," so to speak, as proven by their followup video, "Barnyard Pimp":



I hope I see that fashion catching on in Summer 2009! Here's the local TV segment:



You likin' this so far? Hit their MySpace site for more tunes.

Thematic Thursday -- Lush Life

First, I'd like to thank Chris Davis of the Memphis Flyer for having the musical taste and intelligence to be able to inspire me and jog my memory.  He posted a Johnny Hartman song on Facebook that made me look up my favorite jazz vocal of all time: Hartman and John Coltrane's version of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life":



I also found a real video of Hartman singing the song almost twenty years later with other accompaniment, but embedding was disabled, so you'll have to click the pic below to see it:

I'm also throwing in a real video instrumental version played by Memphis' finest jazz piano player, Phineas Newborn, Jr.  I used to see Junior at parties around town, even drove him to a few, and liked to try to stump him with requests like "I Get A Kick Out Of You."  No dice, he'd launch immediately into the most amazing rendition of the number you ever heard.  We miss you real bad, Phineas.



The lyrics to "Lush Life" are particulary wonderful. You may want to read them:

I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces that used to be there
You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day, twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong

Life is lonely again and only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore

A week in Paris could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it

I'll forget you, I will while yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive

So I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be
While I rot with the rest of those
Whose lives are lonely too

Burlesque in Memphis Saturday Night

I want to throw up a post about a very attractive show at the Hi-Tone this Saturday night, December 6th. Let's get started with the poster (click on it to read better):

This event features some of the most interesting and attractive women in the city.

Grace Askew is on the music part of the bill. She is a daughter of my high school best bud Mark. She has amazingly full, curly, shiny black hair and great bone structure and attitude. And she is hitting her sonic stride with the help of some of Memphis' studio best.  Check out the tunes, other pics, and the video on her MySpace site.

Next on the bill are the River City Tanlines, one of several vehicles for the talent of a local cutie who should have made it big by now: Alicja Trout.  I first really noticed Alicja when it was publicized that she had somehow heard Arthur Lee had come back to his birthplace Memphis (for medical treatment for a likely terminal condition and to be with his relatives).  Alicja hooked up with Arthur musically and surely must have made him feel good about his life even as his disease was taking his life away.  See my internationally popular post on Arthur at the time for more, including a video of Arthur Lee and the new "Love" doing his great "Alone Again Or," which the tasteful Alicja revived with her MouseRocket band.  Alicja can craft a pop hook, as the tunes on the River City Tanlines' MySpace site prove (e.g., "Modern Friction"); too bad the MouseRockets took their excellent rendition of "Alone Again Or" off their MySpace site, leaving me to scramble for this paltry 30-second clip.

I'm still able to splatter three pics of Alicja I liked across my own screen and yours :P (click for larger):



I want to finish with a shout out to another sexy lady who works so hard making her Memphis roller derby homies a success (including writing a blog) that she doesn't get featured enough as she should: Dirty Constance.  (Click these for larger, too, especially the calendar pinup.)  What an amazing bunch of women!