A son of Jewish Russian immigrants playing around with African American music, composing for an audience of white Americans. Does it get any more American than that?
If there is any song that represents the best in America, it would be Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, at least today. If nothing else for the clarinet glissando at the beginning. Which was a bit of joking around by the band that Gershwin had the good sense to keep in. In fact the piece as we know it is a collaboration between Gershwin, the composer, Ferde Grofe’ who scored the piece for the band and later larger orchestras and members of the band as with the clarinet intro. Also his brother Ira who changed the name.
For more here is the wiki article about Rhapsody in Blue
As we get ready this week to celebrate everything that is good about our nation what better way to start than with George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Enjoy, Jack
Jack, here’s hoping the best of America could soon be the end of Trumpism:
POLITICO (@politico) tweeted at 11:00 PM on Sat, Jun 27, 2020:
President Trump has privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple people close to him told POLITICO, amid a mountain of bad polling and warnings from some of his staunchest allies that he’s on course to be a one-term president https://t.co/Vnc7EdsRM2
He quits, starts a streaming service charging deplorables $6.99 a month and makes more money than he ever has. Might have to move to Russia to avoid prosecution.
craig, he could even escape the possible prosecutions if by stepping down forthwith he’s assured a pardon by temporary prez pence from any federal crimes now or in future and a plea deal with NY AG for multiple state tax crimes. they might even let him keep the golf courses.
the hill:
That soaring clarinet makes the rhapsody one of the most immediately identifiable compositions in music. While that clarinet reached for the stars of sophistication, one of its collaborators brought things back down to earth.
Shorten your skirts, grab your favorite cocktail, Ferde Grofe is taking you dancing at the Greenwich Village Follies. This upbeat number is probably why he needed to get out of New York for the uncrowded west and the depths of the Grand Canyon.
Staff changes, lies and general stupidity aside, this banner from WaPo sums up SFB’s in your face challenge.
Still, if my trip to the great sea of the unwashed yesterday is an indication, SFB has plenty of true believers who will vote for him in all likelihood. Even in East Bumfuck only close to half of the people at Walmart were wearing masks. And of course I was standing in line to get in behind a little family of six, the dad being a big dumb bastard, red hair with 3 inch white walls around each ear in a kind of mullet/Mohawk hybrid, complaining that if he’s gonna do this he might as well live in Russia. The kids didn’t fall far from the tree.
pogo, bet it took mega will power on your part not to slam MAGAt mullethead with a “well, it SFB is re-elected you WILL be”
And herein LIES the fundamental problem.
The article notes that TrumpCo is creating cognitive dissonance over the coronavirus with its cheery message in the context of the rising infection numbers. Unfortunately there are plenty of the big dumb redheaded bastard families out there who don’t see the dissonance.
Patd, it certainly does take such will power. But this 68 year old doesn’t have any need to have a verbal jibe met with a physical reaction from an idiot. Besides he would’ve had to ask his wife what the hell that’s supposed to mean.
If you look at the genre of Rhapsody in Blue you find it is jazz. I love listening to it when I need a bit of a reset to my day.
The only thing I am finding heartening is that SFB is looking to be a loser, America is even a larger loser right now because of the failures of the imbecile and idiot (thank you Steve Schmidt).
Something sort of expected, but no where to the same degree, is Biden causing the senior vote to consider moving Democratic to vote against SFB. We are seeing fewer of the articles about the Dems losing to more of SFB could lose, and now to Biden could win. Landslide predictions, greatest win ever, etc. Although there are stories of entire families being wiped out by COVID-19 and the only survivor (one cell brain) stating he will never wear a mask because it hurts his tiny hands. There are many stories about seniors wearing masks and reducing their risk of infection. Can Biden win? Yes, it comes down to his age and middle of the road appeal shifting many of the red states a bit blue.
Steve BananaNazi knows tRUMP will lose, too, which is why he has taken his fascist agenda to Italy.
Our public school system needs an overhaul. The number of science-deniers and science-illiterates is shameful. Who thought that wearing a damned mask would be a flashpoint?
The red neck, woman (who is probably 15 years younger than she looks) who get can’t do it, but who can’t explain why she can’t, that’s just sad.
The soccer mom on the news screaming that she has a breathing problem and her doc won’t let her wear a mask… I might buy it if it weren’t for her lung capacity to scream at folks. Those folks might be better off staying away from her than engaging her and letting scream/spew her droplets all over them.
If you think it’s hard wearing a mask, you are a spoiled, thoughtless a-hole. If you think it’s hard wearing a mask, not congregating with friends, wait until you are on a ventilator, dying, alone.
the hill on above:
Why is Trump busy retweeting white power videos this morning, because you could be thinking about something worse than racism.
Trump is claiming to have never been briefed about Russia paying a bounty for dead American soldiers.
Here is what Susan Rice , Obama’s national security advisor had to say on twitter.
“I don’t believe this for a minute, but if it were true, it means that Trump is not even pretending to serve as commander in chief. And no one around him has the guts to ask him to. More evidence of their deadly incompetence. ”
Jack
How to over come the anti macho effect of wearing a mask. Tell the young punk asshole walking on your heals as you wait in line. “the six foot mark is back there” He thought about saying something for about 3 seconds then looked up at me, you could see in his eyes he wanted to. But I’m an Eastsider we have this macho get in you face crap down pat.
Silly country boy.
Jack
You may think your friends who support Trump aren’t racists. But they are
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/trump-tweet-supporters-man-chants-white-power/index.html
Another “fine folks” moment from tRUMP. What concerns me about this is that he says Joe is “shot.” While that could be taken as finished/washed up/down the drain, his supporters may take it upon themselves and their sick souls to physically attack Joe…and Orange Julius knows it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/28/trump-denies-knowledge-of-russian-bounties-us-troops
Why wouldn’t any POTUS not be briefed on Poo-tin putting a bounty on our troops? Plausible deniability. Who else in the criminal, tRUMP administration is working for the Rushunz? They sure as hell aren’t working for Americans. Treason!
He doesn’t remember because he is a senile old git
If you can run your errands before the deplorables wake-up (they rouse at around 10AM and are out mouth-breathing by 11AM), life is so much better.
Make lists.
The amazing amount of truly original music that Gershwin composed in a lifetime is truly remarkable. With all of the songs, the longer pieces sometimes get overlooked. The American Ballet is one of those works. You have to be patient to get to all the parts and changes of artists as it is seven videos long to squeeze in all the artists.
https://youtu.be/8Z5LcIkWRmghttps://youtu.be/8Z5LcIkWRmg
We are going to try Whole Foods pick up service
Pickup is great, delivery is great (you’ll buy less impulse junk food, too)… if you get groceries delivered you’re helping out people like some of my friends who really needed work and are now making decent(ish) money delivering.
…heard through the grapevine one of my Republican friends gave another friend a very hard time about wearing masks and other safety protocol. The Republican picked on that person because they don’t have the temerity to try it with me. Either way, that’s one less Republican pal, for both of us.
Bye, Republican former-pal! Have a good day, current allies in the fight for justice and against Covid-19!💪❤️🇺🇸
How are delivery peoples’ and selectors compensation handled?
Jack, another bonafide all-American selection. Well done, Sir.
From yesterday, did you notice the last three digits on Sturg’s phony dollar bill? 880. Took me right back to the ’50s and the movie Mister 880.
Bink
Had someone pull the “well if you are scared” crap on local twitter. I just laughed at him(it is always a him) Told him “Only a fool isn’t scared of this and of course being a fool, he will engage in foolish behavior. A certain percent of the fools will catch covid-19 and they will then expect Doctors to risk their lives to save them from their folly ”
To me it is a bit like the hiker who goes out in the wilderness when a blizzard is forecast.
Such people should be left to their own folly but we won’t do it.
Jack
A lot of stuff was being discontinued at the store yesterday. It’s a nice store (they closed their smaller store in my area 2 years ago), so it can’t be that they’re shutting down. They are still out of many essentials or have off brands. (In the TP aisle, they have paper grocery bags fillies with individually wrapped rolls. Weird.)
Anyway, Bonne Maman fruit preserves and almost all brands of tea were discounted and had green, discontinued stickers on them. They don’t expire until 2021 or 2022. I stocked up, but left plenty for others.
I saw a lot of other stuff being discontinued which I didn’t buy, but it makes me wonder.
flatus, a friend of mine in FL says she’s had great delivery service from Publix during this whole shutdown. she’s limited in being able to leave the house for any length of time due to her husband’s health condition. the ability to order thru computer and smartphone has been a real help. she says the added expense is worth it.
p.s. though she’s tried tipping the delivery persons, they all have turned it down so they must be being paid enough to afford and forego the offer.
Some anti-mask, push to re-opener got COVID. In the article (which I can’t find at the moment), he said it was bad and he went to the ER because he thought he was having a stroke. But, he said, it hasn’t killed him. It didn’t sound like he was a bit sorry for his attitude and behavior. Apparently, death from COVID is what it will take to get them to believe it’s serious, at which point, it’s too late.
A relative said they didn’t even know anyone with COVID. I told them that I knew two who had died. Their response. How old were they? (They were in their 6Os, but that’s not the point.) We are fighting both COVID and the cancer that is Fox Noise. Somehow, they all still have cable.
If Trump shot someone on 5th Avenue, it would just be a crime. What he has ordered in real time is multiple murders and protected by legislation as a felony if done by the normal citizen. For the sake of his psychotic egotism, he is slaughtering century old lives.
It can take 10 years for a saguaro cactus to reach 1 inch in height. By 70 years of age, a saguaro cactus can reach 6 and a half feet tall, and will finally start to produce their first flowers. By 95-100 years in age, a saguaro cactus can reach a height of 15-16 feet. The saguaro is one of many plants in AZ protected by the Native Plant Protection Act, and within national park lands, the removal of any plant is illegal. Also, all land in the state is owned by somebody whether it is federal, state, tribal, or private.
An arm on this giant had just started to fruit before it was bulldozed over. Saguaros are deeply sacred to the Tohono O’odham, who have fought the wall strenuously from day one. You can follow Laiden Jordahl @LaidenJordan on Twitter to say involved in this fight.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1276970165217849344
That is heartbreaking
i asked for you, Flatus:
Instacart, for one, marks up the bill and pays the delivery-workers a fee based on order size and the individual workers can choose what orders they want to fill.
PatD, thank you for the good news on Publix–they are my go-to store here in Columbia. What prompted my query was a longish recovery that I’ve been experiencing from a fall landing on my right knee. Although x-rays didn’t show major damage, should some sort of intervention be required, then…
Jamie,Your report of the damage to the cacti is so typical of how the Feds treat the Nations. I wish they had a route to take their grievances to the UN.
Bink, thank you for checking–I’ll file that info for use should Publix disappoint (we’ve been shopping at that store since Dec of ’97–they opened within days of our arrival from St Pete).
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/john-bolton-trump-russian-intelligence-taliban-bounty/index.html
And so, the SFB story (lie) shifts. He was briefed in March. When did he take a call from Poo-tin? Now, he’s claiming the news story is “phony.” Dude, you are the only phony in this story. Nobody but racists will miss you when you’re gone. Nobody is going to build a monument to you, and if they do, it will be removed because it’s a symbol of hate. Loser, loser, orange loser.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/george-washington-law-william-barr/?iid=ob_mobile_article_footer_expansion
AG Droopy Dog Barr has “undermined the rule of law.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/politics/republican-reaction-trump-racist-rhetoric/?hpt=ob_blogfooterold
“He’s good with the base.” -Thune
He’s good with racists. And that would be OK with Thune, it seems, if only it didn’t turn off the moderates.
The first time I saw the saguaros, I was only six. They were magic to me then. They are still magic to me seventy years later. Their deaths is as much a cause for mourning as any mass murder.
Trump would charge his base $17.76 a month. It’s more patriotic.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/28/mike-pence-visits-dallas-texas-grapples-coronavirus-spike/
It wasn’t just Pence at First Baptist Dallas today, it was Cornyn and sleepy, Ben Carson. Politicians campaigning at a church whose tax exemption needs to be chopped! Ben Carson said the we have to dominate the virus and not let it dominate us. He was a medical doctor? Jesus H!
Pence hadn’t planned to meet with Gov. Abbott, but had a last-minute meeting which accomplished nothing but made the trip look like official business and not just campaigning for tRUMP. So, we paid for that trip, not the campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/mike-pence-dallas-choir-no-masks-church-event/index.html
It was a political rally at a church…and the choir performed without masks, of course.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/us/eau-de-space-fragrance-scn-trnd/index.html
Space: It smells like “…gunpowder, seared steak, raspberries and rum.” I don’t know about the raspberries, but the other three are probably remnants of the propellant.
Today our Dumb-Ass-In-Chief claims he didn’t see “white power” shouts in a video he promoted, and didn’t know about Putin killing our troops. Just another day in the history of our racist traitor president.
He also said he never misses a thing. He knew. He lied. We knew he lied. His base knew he lied. The truth is, he’s a liar and everyone knows it and he knows they know it, but’s it’s how he operates.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/06/28/texas-hospital-says-100-of-icu-beds-full–then-removes-its-report/amp/
Either the number of available ICU beds was removed so as not to incite panic, for political reasons, or, because they are making more ICU space absolve somehow. At any rate, it’s time to shut it down! I am coming to the realization that I will probably get it (if that’s not what I had the first week of April) and that I will most likely lose my job, again, based on what I overheard Friday and the general vibe at the office.
James Carville and Al Sharpton
way past their sell by date
Well, I spent the afternoon wrestling with it my 54 inch mower deck, shifting all the bits and pieces from the old one to the new one, and only have to replace one major part. A bolt broke off in one of the mandrels, and we couldn’t get it out, and broke off a drill bit in it so ain’t no winning with that one. What a pain in the ass. At least once I get that mandrel replaced the thing will be ready to whiz along for another few years.
We are freaking out a bit because of the rate of growth and also the numbers of asymptomatic spreaders
Stacy Abrams just spoke at The Aspen Ideas Festival. I would love to hear her debate Mike Pence.
crackers – Stay home. Everyone is suspect. That’s what folks don’t get. Like the 3 girls at the coffee kiosk in the grocery store without masks on Saturday. They were refused service, but they still came into the grocery store; one begged for coffee if she put her tee shirt over her face. They shouldn’t have been in the store at all and should have just left when asked; shame on their probably-Repug parents for poor parenting, too.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/us/starbucks-barista-mask-amber-lynn-gilles-trnd/index.html
Well, I don’t think the barista who refused service to those girls on Saturday got anything extra out of it but, this guy did. The woman sounds like a piece of work. The next time she was refused service she would wait for the cops???and bring a medical exemption. Call the cops??? Why, because he is Hispanic? Is there a coffee cops division? Anyway, I’m glad it turned out well for him, and, I hope the nutcase has learned her lesson and others will ‘get it’ now, as well.
Flatus – With regard to your 3:11, someone at The Aspen Ideas Festival mentioned the need to review and repair all of the broken treaties the US government has broken. Darn, I just missed Dr. Fauci. This thing runs now through July 2nd with many interesting subjects and speakers. It’s free to sign up and listen.
fox news, yep, you read it right https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-polls-republican-gop-operatives-possible-drop-out
Pence has lied for SFB all during this pandemic. He couldn’t step in, so what would GOoPerz do? Willard is the only one who has done anything to show he has any moral center, and yet, his record wouldn’t win over any Dems (although we thank him for his impeachment vote). How are they ever going to rebrand themselves?
Looks like it will be a shitty week for nervous animals. Fireworks by locals began last night – mind you we had RAIN STORMS last night – flood warnings in fact. Warm & dry so fireworks are getting worse tonight. Our 15 year old (minus one week) dog isn’t happy.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/russian-bounties-taliban-us-troops/index.html
Cadet Bone Spurs, incompetent or a Russian asset because Poo-tin has something on him.
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