Radio Free California Episode 2521, and happy Memorial Day.

 

New music this week from Glass Caves, Shed Seven, Footballhead, Sparks, The Antinomy Insurgency, Elbow, Slow Mass, Blurry, The final release from Cola Boyy, Another Sky, Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo', Will Liverman and much more. Enjoy!

There is also new music from Bruce Springsteen, although not from the sudden EP he dropped from the opening night of his tour in Manchester. I've also included "new" music by Don Felder. It's a decent song, but I have to admit it sounds like a poor copy of a better song he's part of from the end of the 1970's. You will probably be able to tell.

The new album from Glass Caves surprised me. This could very well be a breakthrough album for them, and it would be well deserved.

I have to also note that this week a lot of music from last year (2024) and even earlier came across my radar, much of it quite good. I am a bit sad to say that these are songs I missed, and aren't on my playlist now. The lesson to be learned here is that there is LOTS and LOTS of good music out there you may never hear. Go looking for it.

And by the way, having Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo' team up for an album is every bit as awesome as you'd think it is.

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Now normally I'd take today off in honor of family who served, but I do have a couple of things to say and they wouldn't mind...

Rudy the Leaky wants to be appointed Special Prosecutor looking into the "Biden Crime Family" and their "coverup" of his health. He's broke, needs a job and is going to line his pocket with everything he can get his hands on, spend 4 years and produce nothing that means anything. I'd bet a paycheck on it.

The new/old guy gave the commencement speech at West Point, a tradition for Presidents. Biden gave a rousing speech just last year. But the new/old guy talked about the merits of trophy wives, wore a cap to cover a bald spot, and told a group of soldiers - all of whom enlisted while Biden was President - the people didn't join the military while Biden was President.

He also didn't shake the hand of a single graduate. Biden stuck around and shook every hand offered, and did it with a smile.

By the way, for a guy who has spent a lot of time on TV Pete Hegseth really doesn't spend a lot of time with real reporters, does he.

Dear Laura Loomer, hold your breath for 10 minutes, please.

Speaker Johnson, you need to stop bearing false witness. It's going to get you in trouble.

Senator Fetterman, perhaps you should consider a break from public life. You too, Governor Newsom.

There is a new social media site (I'm not linking to it - save yourselves) that allows you to be the hero in your group of friends. That's because all of your "friends" are AI generated. An Unsocial Network, if you will. Nothing good can come from this.

We have a new Yokozuna. He broke a few records to get there.

And because I love you I'm going to give you the video to this... song. I wrote it, but I never wanted to record it. Instead a band I produce took the song and recorded a demo and brought it back to me, which I agreed to produce. It's out there now.

I don't think it's one of my better songs. It's kinda terrible. But I did write it and I'll own that. This is The Antinomy Insurgency, with the lyric video for "Thank You Jesus". It was supposed to be pronounced in Spanish. It's not and they think the statement rings truer that way. 

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Contemptable

So with all of the distractions and directions everything is going all at once a little nugget got slipped into the "Big Beautiful Bill" that the Republicans are trying to get through congress. It would prohibit courts from using any funding whatsoever to enforce Contempt of Court citations against Federal Officials.

While news organizations left and right are "scaling back the rhetoric" or self-censuring their words and deeds, the single greatest threat to our system of checks and balances the country has ever seen is attempting to become law.

We need better swear words, because the current set we're using just aren't cutting it.

I know of no mainstream media outlets that are covering this, but it's real. Even the motherfucking CATO Institute noticed it.

Oh, and the bill is retroactive too. This means that they can leave that poor man stranded in Venezuela because the court won't have a mechanism to enforce the order.

Let me make it simpler for you - this is setting up the Executive branch to have the ability to ignore the Judicial branch. If they don't do what the court says, the courts can still hold them in Contempt, but they can't enforce it.

The tripod that is our form of government, with three equal branches of government making up the legs that support the whole institution, will have one of the legs shortened. The stool will fall.

I'm going to say it right fucking now: If this becomes law, and if this stays on the books, this country will fall. The grand experiment will be a failure. all because this country couldn't coalesce behind a woman of color. Or maybe even just a woman at all.

Can you even picture anymore how ordinary our lives would be if Kamala Harris had become President? How much less stressful this would all be? Yeah, sure, make a big fucking deal out of Biden's supposed health issues of the time. You fucking idiots swung for the center when you should have swung LEFT.

You keep saying that you can't elect someone President without the support of the center, but I'm saying you can't elect the center without the support of the left. The right stopped moving back towards the center over 4 decades ago and it's time you fucking recognized that.

They don't want to live in the same country as the left. They want us gone, one way or another, and until you recognize that there is no peace to be made here you just can't win.

You don't make peace with Hitler. You kick his ass. I know there are only a few veterans left from World War II to give you firsthand accounts but look at all the fucking movies we made! You've watched some of them, haven't you?

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I don't know about you, but I need a break after that. I'll give you a few minutes here, with my latest video and song. Once you have the visual in your head, go ahead and close your eyes and just listen and relax, if you can.

Radio Free California Episode 2520, plus a few thoughts

 

New music this week from Pearl Jam, Lola Young, sombr, Billy Nomates, Sunken, Rain Parade, Chuck D, Sunflower Bean, Ben Lee, Tune-Yards, Janita and much more! Enjoy!

Until 4 days ago, I had never heard of the artist who calls himself sombr. Apparently I'm the 30,225,156th person to get into his music. Okay, I'm late to the party, but I like what I'm hearing. I know, I know, I'm no longer one of the cool kids. He just never turned up in the places I go hunting for music.

Now I've never been a fan of Ye (Kanye West). Supposedly he was a genius arranger and rapper but for my tastes I'd rather have Dre, Chuck D or Ice-T. But holy fucking shit I'm not going to play his new single. I mean holy fucking shit (again) what the hell happened to this guy? Can someone please suggest a brain scan for the guy? He might be seriously ill.

Okay, "might" is pretty weak under the circumstances. The man might need a Sybil level psychiatrist at this point.

I talked a bit last week about what it takes to get on one of my playlists, there are also things that will make me drop your music into the trash imeediately and praising Hitler is one of them. I mean I feel filthy giving it a few seconds of listening.

And dude, overmodulated synths are not back. They're just not.

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Your lottery numbers for this week are 86 47.

By the way, if you call them "The Democrat Party" I already know that you're an enemy. It's a pretty obvious tell.

I don't know enough about what's going on with Biden's health to really comment. I do wish, however, this I haven't seen a pattern for decades of "the announcement" followed by "the death" when it comes to Prostate Cancer. Best of luck to you Sparky. you were perhaps the greatest President of my lifetime.

I swear that the new/old guy is turning this country into his own warped version of the "He-Man Woman Haters" club. And I'm not talking about the song by Extreme either. Little Rascals - the originals from (gasp) almost 100 years ago. It's terrible to use them as a blueprint for a country - their schemes always failed.

Always.

Can anyone tell me why our Secretary of Defense is styling his hair to look more and more like the character Willem Dafoe plays in "Streets of Fire"?

I really can't get myself worked up about Scott Adams in the same way as I am about Joe Biden. Best of luck though, and a speedy recovery.

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And because I love you, have the video for a song I didn't include on this week's list featuring two of the world's great guitarists and one of the best bassist I've ever seen.

Radio Free California Episode 2519, Jill Sobule's final song, RFK Jr is a fucking idiot and more

New music from Sub-Radio (whose album finally dropped!), Tetrarch, Sam Roberts Band, I'm With Her, Cypress Hill, Unwed Sailor, kid moon, Liam Finn, Little Feat, Molly Miller Trio, Elbow, The Amazons, Ainsley Costello and much more. Enjoy!

Sometimes I get queries from artists about how I decide what's going on my playlists and how do they get on them. The simple answer is that I have to find you. You can't buy your way on, and I have no idea why you'd want to. While I do heavily focus on brand new stuff there are other criteria as well. But sometimes, every once and a while, a slight bit of nepotism can creep in. Track 47 on this list is by Cameron Esther and it's her debut single. She's the daughter of a guy I knew in college and have seen a few times since.

But it wouldn't end up on the playlist if I didn't like it. 

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So in an interview yesterday RFK Jr. said during an interview that "Only very sick kids should die of measles." That's the exact quote.

No, you elitist fuck monkey.

No one should die from measles. No one. Ever. We cured the fucking thing. We created a situation where no one caught the disease anymore. No one died, and no one got sick.

Not until people stopped vaccinating their kids.

You didn't get measles. I didn't get measles. Although we grew up on opposite sides of the country, although you grew up wealthy and I did not, I know for certain that the reason for this is that you, me and everyone we both knew got vaccinated. Every state in the nation made vaccinations mandatory to attend school - both public and private.

And measles was gone. GONE. Motherfucking gone.

How about we don't let kids, or anyone else for that matter, get sick in the first place? It's easy, proven to work not just in the US but all around the world, and until you fucking idiots came along it was paid for by the government, as part of the common good.

People don't get religious exemptions from laws and lawsuits because giving anyone such a thing not only creates separate classes in this country, but is against the common good for everyone - that we all can pursue happiness. People shouldn’t' get a religious exemption for vaccines either.

And for the record, it has been proven over and over again that vaccines have NOTHING to do with autism. People who say that are LYING. They have been told a lie, and are spreading it around. 

Kinda like measles.

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I think it's worth pointing out that American Nazi Stephen Miller is counting on you not knowing that the Executive Branch doesn't have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. I don't think that gets taught universally anymore.

If Obama, Biden, or Clinton had accepted a gift as extravagant as an airplane there would be congressional hearing from here until doomsday, as there should be. This is a crime. a real, demonstratable crime. Who gave congress the hand job so that they'd shut up about it?

Also, if you don't think that airplane is full of listening devices then you're a fucking idiot.

By the way RFK Jr., why don't we start substituting the word "Kennedy" for the word "autism" every time you talk down to them? 

Can people stop going on any show hosted by Bill Maher? Please, it's embarrassing.

Remember when "Box Wine" Pirro conspired to place listening devices on her husband's yacht in an effort to catch him having an affair? Good times, good times.

Having an agreed framework for creating a trade deal and calling it a trade deal is the same as producing an empty sheet tray and saying you have cookies.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is sending signals that FDA will likely not authorize a COVID-19 booster vaccine this year for children, and perhaps not for the general population as a whole, saying he “cannot, in good faith” recommend booster vaccination for children. How about in bad faith? I'll take them in bad faith. I'll take a COVID booster regardless of your faith.

And I know people who have COVID NOW.

I've pretty much stayed out of the whole New Pope/American Pope/Leo XIV business because I'm not Catholic. He's not my spiritual leader, although even I cannot deny the papacy's influence. Setting aside jokes about the potential of deep dish Eucharist I will take note that taking the Leo name is a promising sign (you have access to wikipedia - look up the previous Leo) and I will also note that you can't bamboozle him with numbers. I'm pretty good with numbers but I don't have a degree in Mathematics from Villanova University. Second Pope in a row who came from academia.

People people people, stop looking so deep into the reasons why the new/old guy fired the Librarian of Congress. Dr. Hayden is a Black Woman. That's as deep as it goes.

And by the way, the Library of Congress oversees the Copyright Office, and the director of that office was fired as well. The DOGE fucks and the Capitol Police had a standoff there today. Just what is Musk trying to steal?

Notice that MTG dropped out of the Georgia Senate race louder than she entered it?

Even the Secretary of Transportation won't let family fly out of Newark. He blames Biden. He seems incapable of not gaslighting.

Hey! the new Pope has MAGA relatives too!

The new EPA chief says that he wants the agency scaled back to staffing levels it had under Reagan. A quick glance at the Google shows that the number of employees under Reagan was about the same is it was under Carter. And about the same as every administration since, including the current one. Once again trying to evoke St. Ronnie with nothing to back it up.

None of these assholes know what it was like under the Reagan Error, but they're willing to make it worse.

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And because I love you, here is the late Jill Sobule's final song:

Radio Free California Episode 2518, some thoughts on things

 

New music this week from Lights, Pink Skies, Mary and the Sharks, Suzanne Vega, Real Estate, Sparks, Say Sue Me, Mammoth, Home Free, Grouplove, Lucius, a new mix of an old REM song for a grand purpose, Hikaru Utada and much more. Enjoy!

A lot of music this week defies stereotypes of what you might expect from an artist. Suzanne Vega laying down a groove? Utada Hikaru returns to singing but in English and Japanese? New (sort of) music from R.E.M.? The Doobie Brothers heading towards Country? There's a lot of this going on.

It's also worth pointing out that the new album by Lights is bloody fantastic. I added 4 songs from that album to the rotation. Artist J Appiah really surprised me with his new single. I haven't thought much of him before but I need to seriously reassess that. The new album from Ben Williams is also a solid knockout even if much of it isn't the sort of thing you would catch on radio.

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I think it's about goddamned time to fully boycott Isreal. Especially if they do this.

The new/old guy keeps losing in court, but he hasn't complied with a single ruling regarding deportations yet. Please, start throwing these assholes in prison for Contempt. 

Oh, and happy Cinco de Mayo. If you support these deportations you aren't entitled to that beer in your hand. Put it away before I take it from you.

It looks like Government supported COVID shots are going bye-bye. I hope you still have a few masks left. I'm stocking up. I'd bet real money that Flu shots are next.

Followed by a huge spike in COVID cases in the fall, which they will call "seasonal".

Did you know that the new/old guy wanted to be a filmmaker when he was younger? I met him once, when I was in Television, and even I didn't know that.

As if $1,000 was a lot of money. Add 3 zeroes to it and I'd consider it.

In case you didn't notice it, the woman who won the Pulitzer for cartoon of the year was forced out of her newspaper job earlier this year because the newspaper she worked for wouldn't let her make fun of the head of Amazon. The Washington Post, her former employer, tried to take credit for her win. I also note that in giving her the award, the Pulitzer committee made sure to point out that she won in part because of her departure from the WaPo.

And because I love you, let's take a quick trip down memory lane with Level 42