Cranky Old Man #83

Canada's Prince Andrew High School is looking for a new name that "upholds our values as a safe and inclusive" space.

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Chicago Public Media will acquire the Chicago Sun-Times

This is good news. The Sun-Times used to be a good paper, but has recently been owned by rat bastards.

Chicago Public Media operates WBEZ, a non-profit news and educational radio station that's better than the Sun-Times has been, recently. They're also the home of This American Life, Serial and Wait, and Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

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Just some more kids, killed by more US drone strikes.

Their brothers and nephews will probably become terrorists. That's what I'd do.

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A dam in Syria was on a ‘no-strike’ list. The U.S. bombed it anyway.

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Here's an amusing snapshot of then-Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) swirling the drain in a series of re-election emails which could never raise enough funds — maybe because ordinary people don't write "pay to the order of BORING" checks.

You want to win elections, Dems? Believe in something that people believe in. Democrats who believe in something often win elections.

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Starbucks is AOK with having diseased employees.

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Before my first pimple or pubic hair, I owned a rock'n'roll album — on vinyl, of course — that included a quiet instrumental song I liked. Lost the record in the 1970s or '80s, and always remembered the tune, but I didn't remember the title, or even the band. After some smart guys invented the internet, more than once I spent hours searching for instrumental songs by rock bands, looking for that one song in particular. The searches led to some great music, but never to the song I'd remembered.

It was a mystery unsolved until yesterday, when a pal sent a link to some music by Erik Satie. I about screamed when I recognized the melody at 14:47. The link told me it's the first of 3 Gymnopédies, and with that clue a single search revealed that the band was Blood Sweat & Tears, and their version was Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st and 2nd Movements).

Satie seems like an interesting chap. Britannica says, "From 1898 he lived alone in Arcueil, a Paris suburb, cultivating an eccentric mode of life and permitting no one to enter his apartment." He was never particularly popular or respected in his time, and he basically invented ambient music.

To my pal I said thanks, and most of the above. He told me Satie was his favorite composer, and that he'd also discovered Satie via Blood Sweat & Tears. What goes around comes around…

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Are movies too long?

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All the growth in the music business now comes from old songs — how did we get here, and is there a way back?

Who wants a "way back"? Sure, I'm an old codger, but I know the difference between good music and great music. A lot of the old music is great, and a lot of the new music isn't even good. It's reassuring that people who love music know the difference.

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The silent filibuster was the beginning of the end for the Senate

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A report from occupied territory

by James Baldwin, 1966

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Understanding the vulnerabilities of the electrical grid in Texas.

A long read and it starts slow, but the article is quite informative if you stick with it.

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San Francisco's Castro movie palace becomes a music venue

While the Castro Theater will still screen select films and host festivals, the shift away from repertory programming is sure to be disappointing for film-goers and festival organizers.

I'm too far away to ever buy a ticket again, but I'm skeptical about turning this marvelous space over to strangers — a company that's very much in the concert business, not the movie business. They'll keep some of the bigger film festivals, for a while at least, but the forever retrospective double features are over. Lots, lots more money to be made hosting rock'n'roll and selling cocktails.

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One-word newscast:

• cops • cops • crook • Giuliani • MyPillow • voting • voting • voting • Trump

Dead:

• Meat Loaf

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Mystery links — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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Sing along with Doug:
Paradise by the Dashboard Lights
by Meat Loaf with Ellen Foley and Phil Rizzuto
Tip 'o the hat:
All Hat No Cattle • Linden Arden
BoingBoing • Captain Hampockets
Follow Me Here • John the Basket
LiarTownUSA • Messy Nessy Chick
National Zero • Ran Prieur
Vintage Everyday • Voenix Rising
Extra special thanks:
Becky Jo • Name Withheld • Dave S.
and always, Stephanie
1/21/2022
Cranky Old Man