Radio Free California Episode 2108 - a milestone, saying goodbye to Daft Punk and cheap shots too.

 

A very solid week for new music, including The Black Crowes, Leslie Mendelson, Gojira, Crowded House, Heather Porcaro, Mogwai, Hearty Har, Tash Sultana, Katy Kirby and much much more. Enjoy!

I do new streams every week. Fell free to subscribe!

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As we pass the 500,000 dead mark from Covid-19 in the US I'd like to just point out a couple of things, even though the infection rate is declining (not well enough through). The death rate is still averagine about a 9/11 every day.

One out of every 12 Americans has caught Covid. One out of every 656 has died. By the time this is over more Americans will have been killed by this than in every war we've ever fought - including the Civil War.

This is #45's legacy. So may sick and/or dead. When the son of a bitch eventually dies, hopefully in a 6 by 10 cell,  the country will fly flags at half staff, as required by the U.S. Flag Code. I'm going to burn one.

Cheap Shots:

I have been saying since my TV days that this needs to happen. About goddamned mother-fucking time.

1 for you 19 for me.

A Parental warning on the Muppets. Not that surprising really, given this.

Cue up the video of Doctor Evil and Mimi Me.

Did we send Matt Damon?

For reasons that say a lot about my sense of humor, I now have a Joe Jackson song stuck in my head.

Raphael keeps finding new ways to be an asshole.

CONFIRM!

America Uncancelled just Cancelled somebody.

And because I love you, I must share some Daft Punk:

And of course this inspired medley by Pentatonix:

And finally, this lovely bit of fan art by Jeph Jacques, which can be purchased here.

Radio Free California Episode 2107, and the Loser wasn't Acquitted. Stop saying so.

New music! Featuring Tune-Yards, Danny Elfman, Pentatonix, Greta Van Fleet, Joseph Williams, Jon Batiste, Django Django, Claud, Rat Columns, The Moons, and even my own new song (3rd song on the list) and much more! Enjoy!

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I’m going to keep this short and sweet, because it’s making me crazy and I might just be crazy/wrong about this — it’s been known to happen.

I’d like us all to stop saying that the Loser in the last Presidential election was Acquitted by he Senate. He certainly wasn’t found guilty — the threshold is probably too high for a body that size but that’s an argument for another time. A majority, a solid majority, found him guilty. It just wasn’t enough.

But the real problem is this: the word “Acquittal” implies the concept that double-jeopardy is attached. That because of this he can’t be touched for it again, and quite frankly once he finds a halfway decent attorney for what’s coming next I expect it to be argued. The idea that he can’t be tried twice for what happened. It’s semantics but I think it matters.

Thing is, he most certainly can be tried for this again, in the more traditional courts. He most certainly should be. He got people killed on January 6th thanks to his rhetoric. He tried to kill his Vice President. He had encouraged violence before, and he’s going to do it again. Yes, he’s probably facing fraud and tax evasion in New York, Voter fraud in Georgia, but he should also be tried for instigating a deadly riot in Washington D.C.

Double-Jeopardy is NOT attached. because he wasn’t acquitted.

We had a hung jury. In any other trial a decision by the jury that doesn’t wind up unanimous one way or the other is a non-decision. That’s what we have. Neither team scored a victory, regardless of how much the fix was in. 

Can we please frame it that way? It’s not an acquittal. 

And because I love you, here's my own video for "That Man"

Radio Free California Episode 2106, and why not throw in some Cheap Shots while we're at it.

 

Three weeks in a row of a long list of new music, including several remakes from unexpected sources, Foo Fighters, Royal Blood, a reunited Transatlantic, Haley Williams, Peter Frampton, Tom Jones, Vampire Weekend and so much more! Enjoy!

Next week's RFC will feature yours truly!

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Cheap Shots (Monday is Rum day!):

No Pat, there are countries that have spent much more than this and are nowhere close to being Socialist. We'll be fine. Better even.

So can my kids opt out of White History?

I wouldn't ordinarily link to this piece of shit website but man, can you feel the burn?

So are we calling this a Snoozefest? Snoozegate? Pillowgate?

Say what you will about any of the Cheneys (that they're all horrible little bridge trolls is the one I usually lean on) but no one ever said they didn't have backbones.

I cannot think of any actual example, on a country level, where austerity has worked. Also, notice the tact from Bernie to use the word "Brilliant" instead of the word "Bullshit".

Psaki Psaki Psaki!

Better than "Trump Tok" at least.

Here's the reason we still have a fuckstain as Postmaster General.

And because I love you, there is a video of the Vampire Weekend Song. Enjoy:

And finally, here's how to make a Sailor Jerry & Hot Chocolate, to help you through the winter months:

Ingredients

1.5 oz Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
1.5 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
3 oz hot chocolate
Dash of orange bitters

Instructions

Add equal parts liquor to hot chocolate, top with whipped cream, shaved chocolate, and garnish with a cinnamon stick or candy cane.

The COVID-19 Battle, The Super Bowl, Freedom of religion, and we just don't want you to die.

So far in February 2021 the reported infection rate in the US is down to less than half what it was the day Donald Trump tried to install a dictatorship in the US. That's good. However, the death rate has skyrocketed. In the first five days of February 2021 the US has lost at least 18,000 people to COVID-19.

That's an average of about 3,600 per day. SIX 9/11's in FIVE days.

Now most people in this country don't practice social distancing. Social distancing is hard - staying six feet away from everyone. There are simply going to be times when you're outside that you're going to be closer than 6 feet to someone, like at the Supermarket for example. I get it I do.

But then again, about 40% of the country isn't wearing masks.

Thing is, NONE of that matched the guidelines of the CDC. Those guidelines are, in full:

• Wear a Mask AND
• Stay at least 6 feet away from others.AND
• Do not spend more than 15 minutes with the same person in the same enclosed space for more than 15 minutes in a 24 hour period.

Funny how the news always doesn't ever mention that last one. Maybe because it's hard.

This is important, because we're having a Super Bowl tomorrow. Not because of your parties and gatherings and all that shit - but because the NFL made it possible for the game to happen at all.

You see, the NFL took a look at the guidelines at the beginning of the football season and after an outbreak in one of the teams discovered that the CDC guidelines aren't good enough. What the NFL put in place immediately, which allowed the season to continue, was restriction more intense, and stricter with harsher penalties, than the CDC has done.

In other words, the great game is happening tomorrow because the NFL is more of a hard ass than the CDC. Remember that as we (hopefully) finally see Tom Brady go down in flames.

Note: not a prediction. I just don't like Tom Brady.

Now yesterday the Supremes decided on a 6-3 vote that California can't stop people from going to church. You see, in California Governor Newsom gave the order to prevent super-spreader events. There are churches in California that can seat more people than a football stadium, and he recognized that this is a dangerous mix. Thing is, it's stone illegal to single out the mega-churches, so he hit them all with the order. 

Now please understand, we're fine with your religion. Believe what you believe to your heart's content. But stay alive to do so. That's what the Governor was doing - trying to keep us all alive. God isn't in a building, they're in your heart - if there is such a thing.

The people who run Megachurches aren't preachers. They're money-changers disguising themselves as preachers. The Governor's order cost them MONEY. You'll notice that small congregations didn't bring suit - only the huge ones did. The largest church in California can seat over 25,000. That's one hell of a lot of money coming in with those titheings.

Don't be surprised when the COVID-19 rate skyrockets in California in a couple of weeks. I won't. But I suspect that there will be a delay of a week. the NFL seems to have it's shit together better than God.

No cheap shorts today. Spare your livers for tomorrow. But because I love you, here's my friend the Glass Child:

That Man - Chris Reed and the Anime Raiders (Lyric Video)

The video debuts 15 minutes before February 12, 2021 (PST)

Radio Free California Episode 2105 and why I'm not on Facebook.

New Music! What an amazing week! That's Tammy Wynette on that first track from The KLF! Weezer! Levara! The Glass Child! Kirin J Callinan! Cody Fry! Arch Echo! Feral Ghost! William Parker! The Besnrd Lakes! Home Free featuring Don MacLean! And SO MUCH MORE! 3 HOURS PLUS OF NEW MUSIC. Enjoy!

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I learned some months back that the algorithms that Facebook uses to filter your content are also used by many other media sites, including news sites, who tracks through cookies your history on Facebook and uses that data as their own filtration sources. As a result, the things you see filtered down to you in Facebook advertising and how posts are filtered and suggested is ALSO what you see filtered down to you on most of the other websites you visit.

Facebook controls what you see on about 70% of the entire internet, in terms of how that data gets filtered. That's just unacceptable. I'm perfectly fine with Facebook controlling what you see on their platforms. It's their site, let them run it as they see fit. But a lot of Facebook's money comes from selling the same filtration data for focused advertising to other companies, and they've been soaking it up. And we've been letting it happen.

I don't want Facebook to decide what I can see. I want to determine this myself. It can't be done as long as you have an active Facebook account. I have learned in the months since I dropped Facebook that much of the news I received was being filtered, and that's not acceptable.

This was a difficult step for me to take. I had remained in contact with many of my friends through Facebook alone, and I've lost some of them. That isn't pleasant, especially as I've missed a couple of life-changing events in the lives of my friends as a result. I've been finding about such things second-hand and I can't deny it hurts, even if the responsibility is mine and that my own pain is nothing compared to what some of my friends have been through. I'm a cranky man and it's difficult to be my friend and as such those people who are my friends I place great value on. I have discovered wonderful things thanks to Facebook. And even though I find Facebook to be a creative black hole - in that it makes the creative process harder because of the sheer overflow of garbage - I never was able to fully leave the site.

But this restriction of information from other sites was a step too far for me. For all that I lost I honestly believe I have gained more. The ability to be better informed. That is my very lifeblood.

All that said, this is going to be an active year for me musically, with singles (one already out and others on the way) and a new album finally coming and I have to admit that Facebook is a powerful platform to get in touch with fans and potential fans. So I decided this past weekend that I would restart my Facebook profile, with a different e-mail address and a much lower profile. I would only friend people I know in real life. The rest would focus on a new page for my music and the band.

So I swallowed my pride and I created a new account with one of my G-mail accounts. I created a band page. I posted a couple of my Spotify Streams and the single I released two weeks ago. And within 1/2 an hour I was told that my account violated the Community Standards and was suspended.

Understand, I had posted nothing political. I had only cussed once. Every post I had done was about music - artists I like and Spotify streams I had created. Of course I appealed. 

It would appear that Facebook wants nothing to do with me either.

I am still here, still on twitter, still on tumblr, and will be reviving my Patreon page very soon. But I'm not on Facebook.

But because I love you, have some older The Besnard Lakes.

Radio Free California Episode 2104, plus some notes and a bit of ranting.

 A fantastic week for new music, including Heather Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Weezer, Scary Pockets, Foo Fighters, Jordana, Rhye, Richard Hell, Palberta, Liquid Tension Experiment and much more including from ME! Enjoy!

Some notes about the last track:

I set the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee to music on January 28, 1996. I had heard the poem a lot that awful day, especially from then President Reagan. Well, specifically, I heard the last two lines. I wanted to hear the whole poem, but to acknowledge that terrible day I left out the last line.

In those days I was just a poor musician and college student and didn't have access to facilities that would allow me to record it and over time I just set it aside. I would practice it from time to time as I really like the little riff I wrote, but that was that.

Then came February 1, 2003, another terrible and unexpected day. I had been working on my new album ("The Long Goodbye") in my home studio and suddenly felt the need to drag out the old song and record it. What you hear released as a single this week is that recording.

It's a single take - the first take. Me, my 12-string acoustic guitar and my voice.

I'm going to be releasing several unreleased songs as singles over the next couple of months. This was the first.

Cheap shots (it's a cold day where I live, so select the warm drink of your preference. Mine's Sake):

$1.3 BILLION... DOLLARS!!!

Freedom! Or at least steps in the right direction.

Trans formation.

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Lock him up.

This tweet should be required reading, and the photo attached (seen here) required in every classroom in America.

Still lying, after all these years.

Suddenly Fox "News" is against the very thing they were for mere weeks ago.

Yoko Ono's first number 1 single. Predicted by John Lennon.

Ya know, "Onward Christian Soldiers" isn't supposed to be about the US Military.

Getting that railroad back on track.

I have to admit, this is a pretty solid burn.

Addressing the distribution.

And because I love you and because you should see how a Chapman Stick is played by a master, here is the video for the Liquid Tension Experiment track in this week's RFC:

Radio Free California Episode 2103, plus a couple of notes about statues

 

What a great first real full release week for new music! Gary Numan finally says "hold my beer" and puts out his best work in decades, Danny Elfman debuts a song that he was going to perform at Coachella last year, a posthumous release from David Bowie, new music from stalwarts like Matthew Sweet and Sparks, new hip-hop from Cnow, Lost Boy and more, Band-Maid's long-anticipated new album, Woody and Jeremy, Beach Bunny, Wolves at Midnight, Finneas, covers by Pomplamoose and Stories, and so much more! 2 hours of new music - Enjoy!

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I want to tell you a little story about a real estate developer named Harlan Crow. He's retired and the scion of a real estate development family based in Texas. I used to work for him. He is one of the founders of the conservative group Freedomworks. He is unbelievably rich. He is the only Billionaire I've ever shook hands with. In person, he's affable, friendly, and quick with a joke and makes fun of himself readily. When he retired he sent a video out to all of the employees showing how he was going to spend his retirement bullfighting in Spain. No bulls were hurt, he was thrown by bulls several times and the video was actually very funny.

If not for his politics I think I'd actually like the man. We actually discussed politics a bit the one time we met, and while he disagreed with everything I said he listened, and spoke with respect. He did say he agreed with me about Donald Trump. He had met him once and remarked to us all in the room that Trump is the reason that Real Estate Developers get a bad name.

I should also point out that Harlan Crow is a considerably more successful real estate developer than Trump, and worth probably 100 times as much, as I don't believe that Trump is worth more than about $50 Million. Trump is actually a pretty small fish in the real estate development world. He's just gaudy and loud. Crow, on the other hand, has built an amazing campus in Texas for his people, and treats his employees well. I actually enjoyed working for him.

The reason I bring up Harlan Crow is that like any other very rich person, he has his eccentricities. If I were rich I would have a couple as well. But one of his strange quirks is that he collects statues from fallen empires of the past century. He has built an enormous statuary garden full of statues of Stalin, Lenin, Saddam Hussein, and many others. I don't know why he collects them but I've seen them. It's an amazing, beautiful, haunting and even frightening collection.

And the reason that I bring this up is one of the seven deadly sins - envy. 

This brings me to Trumps executive order yesterday, ordering a National Park to be built with about 300 statues of famous Americans (well, mostly). It's a weird mix of names. Both Christopher Columbus and Sitting Bull are in there - which I'm sure wouldn't amuse Sitting Bull. Woody Guthrie AND William F. Buckley Jr. It's a surrealistic list.

I have to wonder where they plan to put it. Nowhere in the order does it say where it is to be built. It's far too big for Washington D.C. I can tell you that he expects to find himself in there someday.

But why a statue garden? Has Trump ever shown any interest in art whatsoever? In gardens? In bestowing any sort of honor on people he has disparaged publicly and often - such as Fredrick Douglas and Coretta Scott King? Do you think he even KNOWS who Lorenzo de Zavala even was?

Or does he just want to be responsible for a "better" statue garden than Harlan Crow?

I don't know, but I would not say this is impossible. One thing I am certain of is that the first name on the list, Ansel Adams, would have hated the whole idea.

Cheap Shots (Tequila Fannybangers today):

Trying to get out of jury duty.

No Ainsley, this is the definition of a Couch Potato.

The wheels of the bus roll over the...

It's his party and he'll cry if he wants to.

Gotta wonder how this guy sleeps at night.

And because I love you, I have to share with you Randy Rainbow's goodbye to the American Orange Shit-gibbon:

And here is Colbert's goodbye to Melania:

Radio Free California Episode 2102, and a few cheap shots

 

New music! This week featuring a great album of remakes by the late Chris Cornell, some fantastic funk from Cleveland Eaton, Plus more from Scary Pockets, Passenger, Foo Fighters, Trevor Beld Jiminez and much more! Enjoy!

Cheap shots (Hot Buttered Rum today - it's cold outside! Recipe below):

Welcome to Parler said the Spider to the fly. Traded on the Insecurities Commission.

Moving from dat bar to disbar...

Eugene Goodman. Hero.

They don't say it in the article, but Hakuho is perhaps the greatest Sumo Wrestler of all time. A total of 65 wrestlers had to withdraw from the tournament. Get better soon!

Take a Mulligan. Or would Bye Bye Birdie be more appropriate?

This is the twitter account of the guy who says he can't get onto social media anymore. So he's lying.

This is the twitter account of his cow.

I thought he was a terrible Governator, but this is a pretty good speech. And for those of you clutching your pearls at the comparisons to the Nazis, Fuck You. I'll take the words of a man whose father was part of it over people studying from a distance.

My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021

While I'm perfectly fine with the Loser not attending the Inauguration of Joe Biden, it can be argued that this is also bad, for many reasons.

Accessory.

Explain. Oh - a disgruntled employee who discovered that the State Department's website has the same security flaw as Parler.

Dangling Chad.

An internet provider in Northern Idaho, in an effort to fight censorship, has censored a number of social media sites.

And because I love you, this is the song that will lead off NEXT week's Radio Free California:

And because I love you more, here's how to make Hot Buttered Rum:

Radio Free California Episode 2101

 

Lets try this again shall we? New music from Cody Fry, Phil Broikos, Liam Ghallagher, Special with Antuwan Stanley, Perry Farrel with Jim Morrison (yes, THAT Jim Morrison), Gordon Lightfoot and the latest meditation from Robert Fripp and more. A good start to the year. Enjoy!

The oldest person on this week's stream has a video:

And just because it's a new year doesn't mean we're not going to keep on giving out CHEAP SHOTS:

Lizard people?

Dick "I shot a motherfucking friend in the face" Cheny and Paul "Eddie Munster with an Ayn Rand Fetish" Ryan are trying to save the Republic? Damn.

The Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for an election to steal...

Ferry 'cross the Mersey.

The King is dead.

Scotland goes into lockdown, but not for the reason you think.

We're going to need a new medal to give to people who deserve it.

Seems half-assed.

Admitting they can't win without the game being rigged.

I'm personally hoping for more Pedro Pascal doing Shakespeare, but I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant.

Hey hey! Ho ho! Paygo it has got to go!

And because I love you, Have some Antuwan Stanley and Cory Wong:

Dancing on the grave of 2020. The year in review.

January. Remember January, all of 120,000 months ago? This has been such a long fucking year that I had actually forgotten that Neil Peart of Rush died THIS YEAR. Then Kobe Bryant and his daughter 2 weeks later. Oh, and somebody got impeached.I got my identity stolen. My neurologist told be that New Zealand was hurting for doctors and he had been asked if he wanted to move there. I wonder what he thinks now, given the year we've had.

In February the first caucus in the nation, Iowa, was screwed up because some asshole posted the phone number where results were to be phoned in to on 4-chan. I made my first post about COVID-19 in this month, and I predicted a disaster. I wish I had been wrong.

By the first of March the response by the current administration to COVID-19 had already resulted in 6 times the number of deaths we had from Ebola. I discovered the first "Covid Hoaxers", who attended CPAC. The first super spreader event in the US was a bio-tech conference. The biggest dip in the Stock Market in history happened in March. By Saint Patrick's day, better known as my Grandmother's Birthday in my house, I was already sick of the phrase "new normal". Rand Paul got Covid. We ran out of masks.

In April I posted my first list of notable people we had lost to COVID. It was heartbreaking. By this point I was also working on a secret project as a fund-raiser for Nurses working the front lines.

In May I attempted to reason with the people heading our country into disaster. We were still at less than 100K dead but the numbers were horrific. It was the last time I did so.

In June I began to realize that there is an unreported story going on with COVID-19 in that the number of people facing long-term affects of the disease is actually the MAJORITY of cases in the US, and no one is saying a damned thing about it.

I celebrated the birthday of our country by writing a lengthy essay about how the current administration was turning the country of my birth into a Prison Camp. I also wrote my definitive guide to how to watch Star Wars, which now that Season 2 of The Mandalorian has finished I will need to re-do slightly. George Floyd died in May with a man's knee on his neck, but it s was July that the police decided to attempt to clear out cities of protesters, resulting in dozens injured and secret police roaming the streets.

Finally at the beginning of August my secret project came out, an album of new music recorded by artists in quarantine to raise funds for Nurses charities. The dickhead in the Oval office signed a series of executive orders that resulted in the removal of tax relief in 2021, evictions, an increase in Student Debt, a racist screed against China, and soon to follow, BREAD LINES. And the Senate never acted on it. I wrote my infamous "shut the fuck up" rant.

In September I finally left Facebook for good. I still do not regret the decision. California caught fire, prompting the actual sky in my city to turn ORANGE for 4 days (the photo below was taken at NOON on day 2). The US fell out of the top 25 industrialized countries. We're 28! We lost the Notorious RBG, prompting the Republican Senate to actually get off their asses and do something - subvert the judicial system by appointing a self-professed "hand-maiden" to the court.

In October my recurring cough decided to exert itself and I wound up in hospital, which was a humbling and occasionally frightening experience. I had to wait for someone to die to get a hospital bed. I voted.

November brought us the actual election, and it took time but the right guy one this time. Danny Elfman made a musical comeback and my own song for this year got nominated for an award. I went on a twitter rant that was culminated by me using the word "cunt" against a member of the current administration (a male, by the way) which got me suspended from twitter for a day. I won that award.

And December? I wrote a lengthy essay about how just having vaccines isn't enough, Wrote about how one of my songs wound up on the Dr. Demento show, and did a write-up of the best in music in 2020, this is the post right before this one.

I have been advised by a couple of people to not post a "year in review" because yeah, 2020 sucked for everyone and at first 2021 is probably going to be even worse. But I do these every year and I find it to be cathartic - the chance to dance on the grave of 2020.

I hope that your 2021 is so much better than 2020 was. Unless you were part of the problem. If so, fuck you.