Rep. Grayson, Fire At Will

In the following clip from The Young Turks, Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson from Florida talks to Cenk Uygur about his fiery rhetoric.



Much more at Ice Station Tango.

Donovan - Season Of The Witch

Dedicated to Kim, Lila, Govinda, Gayatri, Yashoda, Alma, and Sita.

Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel # 2

Lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, 1972

According to Wikipedia, Cohen wrote this song about Janis Joplin. Really, Leonard?

Pink Floyd--The Gunner's Dream

I recently had a discussion with my good friend Artist of the Artist Vs. Scientist podcast, and we stumbled onto the fact that we are both insane fans of Pink Floyd's The Final Cut. The album has a million highlights worthy of discussion, but the one we just couldn't get over is the transition from Roger Waters's soaring vocals seamlessly into a blistering sax solo in "The Gunner's Dream". There's one sustained note that literally transforms from vocals to sax. Utterly mind-blowing.

Tim Tebow And Herschel Walker

Certainly Tim Tebow is worthy of GOAT status--greatest of all time. There are several reasons for this, which I won't go into here. But even a "non-sports person" like me (I only do college football) can easily see that Tebow is a legend. Even Georgia coach Mark Richt says it, and he will be dueling Florida coach Urban Meyer tomorrow in Jacksonville (the RVs started assembling in the parking lot two days ago). At the very least, to attain the same status as Herschel Walker is to be a football player among the gods, but among football players, a god.

“They’re both legends,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “There’s no question that Tim Tebow made his mark on Florida football, SEC football and the entire nation. He’s going to be one of those guys remembered for as long as people care about college football. Herschel is the same way.”

Find out why.

Rilo Kiley - Paint's Peeling

Station Agent--even though it is not recorded well, it still captures the experience of a very fine performance.

Rilo Kiley--Silver Lining

This has slowly become my favorite song from Under the Blacklight. Well, other than "Dream World".

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man

This guy kills me.

Rilo Kiley--Science Vs. Romance

"But we're not robots inside a grid..."

Serena Ryder - Little Bit Of Red

Serena Ryder is no small talent. Check out her authenticity. And here is a studio version.

Beatles LP Countdown - Hello Goodbye

I'll always remember how Harrison punctuates this song with a single note. Listen and you will hear it. The Beatles were really bad lip synchers, weren't they? They just couldn't be bothered. I can't blame them.

Rilo Kiley - My Slumbering Heart

Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley

First she's playing baseball as a kid, then she's a teenager with a boy getting grass stains on her new jeans, and then she's an adult on a boat with a guy who brings her much joy. I wonder if this song is autobiographical...

Serena Ryder - Weak In The Knees

You called that one correctly, Station Agent. Damn!

Serena Ryder--The Funeral

Red Alert, Hector. Serena Ryder is the bomb. Let it be known throughout the land.

This is her cover of Band of Horses "The Funeral." Go to the blog I am Fuel You Are Friends and check out the MP3, as always, while supplies last.

Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Short and sweet--one of Dylan's best.

PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke - This Mess We're In

This clip includes some great footage of early film. The song is one of my all time favorites. What a great combination.

Laura Marling - Tap At My Window

Laura Marling played "Tap At My Window" at Bristol Trinity Arts Centre back in July.

North Florida Law Enforcement Just As Dumb As North Florida Voters

Police in North Florida feel they deserve a ton of credit for recently apprehending some very bad people--people who sell drugs. Now these people also have non-drug related priors, and that is really the best thing we can say about this bust.

Let's take a look at what the police are so proud of. After spending six months (and who knows how much money...they don't even say), the cops were able to bust thirteen bad people for selling meth and marijuana, and in the process retrieving a grand total of $5,000. You do the math and divide $5,000 by thirteen, and tell me if it is worth it to spend six months (and again, who knows how much money) to get these guys.

Can't the powers that be see that this is not a good expenditure of tax payers' resources? Ironically, some of the powers that be are the taxpayers who are also voters. But many of them do not think of the ramifications of the stupid war on drugs. To them it is OK to spend six months and more than $5,000 to apprehend thirteen small time drug sellers, people who are probably just struggling to pay their mortgage.

Until the voters wake up and vote for anti-stupid-drug-war candidates, this is what we get.

Stupidity.

Weezer--Say It Ain't So

Reading the comments on this performance, it's pretty funny how obsessed some fans remain after all these years over the internal tensions that tore this band apart. They still make fine music, but nothing like what they were capable of in their earliest incarnation.

Paramore--Use Somebody

Paramore performed this Kings Of Leon Cover at the Live Lounge last month. TJ at Viva La Mainstream reviewed their recent Philadelphia show here.

Bob Dylan, Love Minus Zero/No Limit

I was only nine years old when Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival, 1965. I didn't even know who Dylan was. Fools and knaves still do not know who he is. In fact, he was stopped and questioned by police, just recently, when he took a walk in a residential neighborhood without his identification. The cop had never heard of Bob Dylan.

I don't blame the cop--he was a pup, after all. But this does not excuse the idiotic radio managers of the 1960's, who played plenty of covers of Dylan's music, but not Dylan himself--with the exception of "Like A Rolling Stone."

Rilo Kiley is treated the same way today. The only song of theirs that gets any radio time is "Portions For Foxes." Why has radio always been so stupid? And it's getting worse. It's been irrelevant in many ways for quite some time now.

That's why there is KTWS cyber radio. That's www.thewalruspeaks.blogspot.com on your cyber radio dial.

Rilo Kiley - The Absence of God

Station Agent, have you seen this? It's outrageous, if you're a Jenny Lewis fanatic, like we are.

Tori Amos--Black Dove

This is the 6,000th post here at The Walrus Speaks. Congrats to my partner Hector. Here's to fifty thousand more.

This is the song in my head right now:

American Artist Soupy Sales - RIP

If you are not old as the hills, you won't remember Soupy Sales, who died today. But Soupy Sales is an important figure in the history of American comedy, which is, of course, an evolution. He caused quite a stir in his earlier years when he asked kids to go into their mothers' purses, and send him the green paper with the pictures of the Presidents. Later on, Saturday Night Live asked children to send him their mothers' marijuana supply. This was a few decades before Weeds.

Milton Supman was 83.

New Pornographers--Adventures in Solitude

Not to be confused with the old pornographers.

Rilo Kiley - Sword

Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley

Garfunkle and Oates--Self Esteem

Warning--the lyrics to this song are dirtier than the usual family fare we post here. I like it too much not to post it though.

Joni Mitchell - Little Green

Holly Brook - Wanted

Brook recorded one great album and I have been looking for more from her, but alas...nothing. Anyway, her work so far is very solid.

Basia Bulat--In The Night

From the album, Oh My Darling.

Rolling Stones - 2000 Man

"I am having an affair with a random computer..." Did Mick Jagger, in 1967, say something prescient about 21st century man?

Beatles LP Countdown - I Am The Walrus

Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye...

White House Says Fox Not Really News

The White House is just saying what everyone knows. Fair and balanced? When the only point of view is an extreme conservative point of view?

Read the article.

Obama Stops The Drug War Madness--Feds To Ignore Marijuana In Compliance With State Laws

States that have legalized medical marijuana

The Bush Administration thumbed its nose at the rights of states to make their own marijuana laws, and prosecuted people growing and selling marijuana in states that made it legal for medical purposes. Now the Obama Administration recognizes states' rights, and has directed the FBI, the DEA (that should be disbanded, and eventually will be), and other agencies to not go after marijuana when other laws are not being violated. This is a major step forward.

If John McCain had won the election, this would not be happening. McCain appealed to the drug war hysteria residing in the hearts of the red state consciousness. Notice that not a single southern state has joined the club.

Read the article.

Eddie Izzard's Death Star Cantina Bit Legoized

I'm about two years and eight and a quarter million views late on this one, but it's funny. Izzard talks about this and everything else in a two-plus hour interview with Kevin Pollak.

Today Is Govardhana Puja

Although only a boy, Krishna held up Govardhana Hill to protect his friends in Vrindavana from the torrential rain sent by the Vedic god Indra.

Leslie Feist & Kevin Drew--Medley

Leslie Feist and Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene slap together a few of their songs at this recent live performance.

Today Is Kali Puja

What are the lessons we need to learn from Goddess Kali? That is the question.

Gaurangi - Radhe Shyama

Isn't this what love is?

Obama Addresses Hindus, Sikhs, And Jains--Happy Diwali

Dipavali, also Diwali, is an Indic holiday that celebrates the victory of light over darkness. It is celebrated differently among various groups, and interpreted differently, but the festive occasion is enjoyed by almost a billion people.

Lisa Loeb--Stay

Lisa Loeb, the woman who took Tina Fey's look to national stardom in the early 90's, tells the story of how her hit song took her around the world.

Thao With The Get Down Stay Down--When We Swam

The new video from Thao Nguyen's new album.

Elliott Smith--The Biggest Lie

This video shows fans' memorials to Elliott Smith the day after his death in 2003.

R Kelly I Believe I Can Fly

If I can see it, then I can do it.

John Lennon License Plate

Believe your eyes, good people. The man who said "the way things are going, they're going to crucify me" has been honored in the State of Florida. The image in the center of the real, legally recognized license plate (they call them tags in Florida) is a Lennon self-portrait.

Yeah!

SoFloRadio is the Future of Honest, Fun Talk Radio

When the Neil Rogers Show blew up earlier this year, South Florida became like much of the rest of the country--a radio wasteland of nothing but sports and right wing talk. The last vestige of talk radio that did not carry a corporate message was gone. The last show that could carry an audience large enough to represent the community--including members of the community that, like me, left the area long ago, but still have roots there--died. Local radio really died in South Florida when WIOD's line up that featured Rogers, Phil Hendrie, Rick & Suds and Randi Rhodes among others was broken up in the 90s.

Listeners in other major markets can tell the same tale. The ashes of KLSX in Los Angeles resulted in the rise of several very popular podcasts including Adam Carolla's podcast which has dizzying numbers. These shows have been quite fruitful, they often reference and cross over with one another. The communal feel is alive and well. In fact this group has been referred to as a podcluster.

But it's not a radio station.

In a post hyping his upcoming piece about the endeavor that intends to replace doomed terrestrial radio in South Florida and beyond--So Flo Radio.Com--William Skordelis writes:

Local radio is back in South Florida with Sofloradio.com. Led by Jorge Rodriguez, it is the creation of a group of “recessionist” entrepreneurs who watched themselves get squeezed out of their talk radio jobs by corporate media’s decision to save money, by broadcasting the same “national” radio shows in all markets, and in the process they tried to and almost killed grassroots, local talk radio in South Florida.

The communications conglomerates which control all of the major audio and video media providers have taken this more national approach to radio programming because of the enormous cost savings of having to pay one voice compared to paying local talent big bucks in hundreds of markets. The largest holdout for local talent is sports talk, which is relatively safe, especially in markets with one or more local major sports franchises.

Enter Sofloradio.com. Using the low cost bandwidth of the internet, Rodriguez and his group of local radio professionals have banded together to create a true grassroots, authentic radio media outlet to provide a voice for Joe Working Guy. It could be Jane Working Gal, or even Chuck Creative Guy, it doesn’t matter, SoFloRadio.com by nature just somehow identifies with the world’s “Doers.”

(more)

Jorge Rodriguez spoke to Skordelis on his daily show which airs live noon-3pm daily. You can download that episode here. In a sprawling two hour interview that begins one hour into the show, Rodriguez outlines in detail his vision for the future of the station and the incredible story so far.

M. Ward--Rag, Duet for Guitars #3

Ward does his Jeff Fahey routine backstage for Pitchfork.

Martin Spitznagel & Bryan Wright--Cantina Band

Nice to see pianists having fun. This is a nice arrangement of the fun song from the bar in the first Star Wars movie.

Melanie Vs. Laura Ingraham

Hate radio jock Laura Ingraham went ballistic yesterday over Meatless Monday, an international effort to get people to reduce their meat consumption by 15%, for reasons of health and sustainability. They leave out--as far as I have seen--the noble goal of reducing suffering for animals, but as Obama says, why make the perfect the enemy of the good? Meatless Monday is a great cause, and it is endorsed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

But Ingraham claims that Meatless Monday is a ploy by the left to garner more power, and nothing more. She says the left wants to deprive parents of their right to feed their kids whatever they want, and if her kid's school ever tries to institute Meatless Monday, she is going to march right in there with a huge, juicy steak, sizzling hot! She will show those damn liberals who is the food boss in her family!

At one point I thought perhaps Ingraham's fulminations about Meatless Monday were simply theatrics, but then I realized that conservatives (as a group, for there are notable exceptions) have always ridiculed vegetarianism. Indeed, most vegetarianism is to be found on the left.

And what about me? I must be a flaming leftist, because I avoid meat on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. No wonder I voted and blogged for Obama!

Anyone have any ideas about this?

Fact Check This

Jon Stewart calls for CNN to spend more time fact checking claims made by politicians, rather than claims made by comedians doing sketches.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

John Lennon - Imagine

Notice he says, "and no religion too", he doesn't say "and no spirituality too."

Right?

Now let's consider a very basic question. What would be better--spirituality without religion, or religion without spirituality? I think we all know the answer!

Portishead--Strangers

You never know with Portishead, but it doesn't lok like the band will take eleven years to finish their fourth record like they did for their third record. According to the band, they're already working on the new album and they'll likely have a non-label approach to sales and distribution in place when it's done.

This is "Strangers" from the band's 1997 show at Roseland.

John Lennon - Crippled Inside

Beatles LP Countdown - Your Mother Should Know

Devendra Banhart--Sight to Behold

The blog Aquarium Drunkard has an MP3 od “Baby“, the first single from Devendra Banhart’s upcoming major label debut, What We Will Be.

Here's Banhart on Jools Holland's show in 2006:

Gators 13, Tigers 3

Who really is Tim Tebow? He and the Florida Gators, separately and together, are the Beatles of college football. Some might see Tebow, especially, as a sort of avatara. He breaks all sort of records while invoking Jesus. Extremely clean cut. What an image!

What an example.

Ditty Bops - There's A Girl

Alice in Chains--Check My Brain

After the death of Layne Staley, no band can truly be Alice in Chains. Having said that, this new version of AiC is by no means an embarrassment to their legacy the way some other cobbled together latter day incarnations of some bands are.

Doors - Light My Fire

1967.

Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida

Alan Grayson Makes it Look Easy

I just watched this exciting speech by Alan Grayson, who has become the avenging angel of health care reform.



By the way, this guy's background is very impressive. I look forward to seeing him straightening out Florida and America for many years to come.

Rolling Stones - In Another Land

"In Another Land" was written by the Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman. It reminds me a bit of the Moody Blues.

Today Is John Lennon's Birthday

The gateway to Strawberry Fields, Liverpool

If you think Lennon didn't believe in magic, etc., you don't know Jack about the life of John Lennon. But why did he claim he didn't believe such things? That is the real question.