Punk Rocker to Renounce U.S. Citizenship over Roe v Wade

I have to make a confession right off the bat. I'm 70 years old and I had never heard of Billie Joe Armstrong or his punk rock band Green Day until I came upon the story of his recent declaration that he's renouncing his U.S. citizenship during London concert in wake of SCOTUS overruling Roe. Ho Hum.

He's hardly the first Liberal or Progressive to declare that he's leaving the U.S. because of his political disagreement with something going on in the United States. For those who don't know me, I left the U.S. in 2014 to live in Philippines. I did not do this for any political reason, and although I don't have plans to visit the country of my birth any time soon, I have absolutely no intention of renouncing my U.S.citizenship.

I was curious about Armstrong's situation, so I decided to look into his band and his bio. Does he have any idea how to go about renouncing his citizenship? It isn't as easy as just moving to the U.K..

First, I went to Spotify and immediately discovered that I had heard a few of the band's songs. I just didn't know who the performers were at the time. I'm not a big fan of punk rock, but I don't absolutely hate it. As far as music goes, I like Armstrong's singing but I don't see any originality or creativity gushing forth from his music. It's OK, but nothing special in my view.

I wonder, however, how much thought Armstrong has put into his idea to renounce his U.S. citizenship? I have no idea of his financial worth, but I imagine he could move to England without much difficulty. He could probably record whatever albums he plans to record in a studio in the U.K.. I'm sure his record label could work out the details. Touring, on the other hand might become a problem. Could he survive touring exclusively within the U.K.? If he's living in the U.K. he couldn't travel to the U.S. or Europe without his U.S. passport. Is he really renouncing his citizenship if he travels on a U.S. passport? Using your U.S. passport when you fly from London to the U.S. is pretty much an admission that you're still an American.

Of course, the problem of traveling on a U.S. passport is moot if and when he obtains a British passport. Assuming he packs up and moves to the U.K. today, he'll need to reside in the U.K. for five years before he can apply for citizenship. I don't know about immigration laws in the U.K., but here in Philippines, I have to check in with the government every year....and I'm a legal resident. I have to present my valid U.S. passport when I do. If the situation in the U.K. is anywhere near being similar, Armstrong will have to provide his valid passport from time to time. Again, he's back to having to show he's a citizen of the U.S.. It sort of makes his renunciation of his U.S. citizenship a little more complicated.

The Kreutzer Sonata

It's not usual for a writer to mention, within a novel, a book that a particular character is reading or has read. The names of other writers often make their way into novels. I've discovered quite a few writers, coming upon their names in a novel I'm reading. Elizabeth von Arnim, Mikhail Bulgakov and Mayne Reid are three examples.

At one point in 2010: Odyssey Two , Dr. Heywood Floyd attempts, unsuccessfully, to read The Kreutzer Sonata in the original Russian. I was a bit confused by that. I was familiar with Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9, known as The Kreutzer Sonata, but I was unaware of any book by that name - and certainly not a Russian novel.

With a little web search, I learned that Clarke was referring to a novella by Tolstoy named after Beethoven's sonata. According to the wikipedia article on the novella,"The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character, Pozdnyshev, relates the events leading up to his killing of his wife: in his analysis, the root causes for the deed were the 'animal excesses' and 'swinish connection' governing the relation between the sexes".

The work was banned by the Russian censors and in 1890, the United States Post Office Department attempted to prohibited the mailing of newspapers containing serialized installments of the translated novella. Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert."

Of course, with recommendations like that, I had to download a copy from Project Gutenberg.

I'm certainly no expert on Tolstoy - I've read Anna Karenina twice and attempted to read War and Peace more than that. I was not familiar with his somewhat bizarre take on Christianity. With The Kreutzer Sonata and the other four stories in the ebook I downloaded, Tolstoy goes full blast, bombarding the reader with his strange philosophy.

Reading the wikipedia article on Tolstoy's novella, I learned of a book by Arab Israeli author Sayed Kashua, Second Person Singular , which uses Tolstoy's novella as a major plot device. I'd never heard of Kashua prior to this, but now I'm currently reading Second Person Singular and I'm very impressed with his writing. His other books will (somehow) find their way to the queue.

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie

 

It's been ages since I thought about Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, or anybody else associated with Fleetwood Mac. The only reason they've come to mind today is because of a lede on Drudge Report where it was reported that Buckingham had compared Nicks and his other former band members to the Republicans and Donald Trump. That was just the sort of click bait that would get my attention.

It was in the linked to article from RollingStone that I learned that Buckingham had released an album with Christine McVie in 2017. Of course, I opened Spotify to search for the recording.

The album contains 10 songs, but from listening to it one would think you were listening to 10 slightly different versions of the same song. Fleetwood Mac's music could be repetitive but this album takes repetition to stellar levels. It isn't that the songs are , horrible it's just that there is nothing new with this music. Boring is worse than horrible.

The Country Side of Harmonica Sam

 

Facebook often gets a negative rap but, occasionally I'll be pleasantly surprised by something that makes it's way onto my newsfeed. Such was the case this morning when I discovered a video of a group called The Country Side of Harmonica Sam. The song is called "If That’s the Way It’s Gotta Be" and I found myself sharing the video on my FB page and listening to the song two or three times.

The band has the look and feel of a country/western band from the late 1950s - early 1960s.

Looking further, I found the group has three albums on Spotify - Open Letter to the Blues - A Drink After Midnight - and  Broken Bottle, Broken Heart .

If one is a fan of traditional country/western music, you can't do much better than this group. The lead singer - Harmonica Sam - has the sound down pat. He's an excellant country singer. The band consists of top notch musicians with the pedal steel player being one of the best I've heard.

Going to the band's website - thecountrysideofharmonicasam.com, I learned a bit more. Seeing photos of the group, I suspected they were probably from Scandinavia. Those guys are the whitest people I've ever seen. Their names had a Scandinavian feel as well - Johan Bandling Melin..Lead Guitar & Backup Vocals - Peter Andersson..Steel Guitar - Ulrik Jansson..Upright Bass - Patrik Malmros..Drums.

Sure enough, the band comes from Sweden - from in and around the city of Malmö.

Listening to their music and watching their Youtube videos, you get the feeling of going back thru time to the days of Faron Young, Hank Williams and Hank Thompson.

I've listened to two of their albums so far, and I don't recognize any familiar songs - I have no idea which are covers and which, if any, are originals. The songs may not be #1 country standards, but the singing and musicianship are absolutely amazing. I recommend giving the group a listen.

Wonderwall

 

In 1968, George Harrison released his debut solo album, Wonderwall Music  - the soundtrack to the film, Wonderwall.

This particular album was both the first solo musical project by any of the Beatles, and the first LP released by Apple Records.

Being a 16 year old George Harrison fan, I purchased a copy of the album. I dare say that I know of no one else among my friends or acquaintances who did likewise, and even though I was the ultimate Harrison fan, I found the LP a bit bizarre. That's saying quite a lot coming from someone who was also a big fan of the Mothers of Invention.

There were parts of the album that the then 16 year old could appreciate. I truly wanted to see the film.....thinking it may help me further appreciate the work. Unfortunately, I was living in a small town in Georgia - north of Atlanta and just south of Chattanooga TN - so obviously I was never going to have an opportunity to see the film.

I was thinking of the film and soundtrack yesterday and decided to see if the film was available online. I found the film at the ok.ru website and watched it for the first time last night.

Needless to say, the film simply drips of 60's psychedelia.

I'm going to have to give the film a very positive rating. The music - while bizarre and disconnected as an LP - suits the film perfectly. The film and the soundtrack belong together as a complete unit. One part cannot be fully appreciated without the other. Anyone interested in the culture of the late 1960's should give the film the once over.

Butchering The Beatles

I opened Spotify this morning with the idea of listening to some old Zappa music. I put on one of my favorites, One Size Fits All. I'm particularly fond of the song, Sofa, and while reading a wikipedia article this morning as I listened, I learned that Steve Vai had covered the song on a Zappa tribute album, Zappa's Universe. Although I was able to locate Vai's cover on Youtube, I was unable to locate the entire album on Spotify.

Looking thru Vai's albums on Spotify, I also scanned the "also appears on" section where I learned that Vai had appeared on a Beatles tribute album in 2006, Butchering the Beatles.

As I mentioned in my review of Al Di Meola's 2020 release of Beatles' material, I do not live in the center of the musical universe, and often an album is quite old when I discover it. That's certainly the case with Butchering the Beatles which I was able to listen to this morning on Spotify for the first time.

On the cover of the album, it says that it is a "headbashing tribute to the Beatles". I would have said "headbanging" rather than "headbashing" but what do I know? I'm an old fart, after all.

There are several musicians on this album - I'm sorry to say that most are unfamiliar to me. That doesn't get in the way of my appreciating the music, however.

If you're the sort that appreciates, loud, aggressive, head banging music - which I do on occasion - you're apt to love this album. I do.

The musicianship on this album is incredible. Instrumentally, each cut is, in my humble opinion, superior to the original Beatles' version. Unfortunately, not every vocal lives up to the music.

To Beatles purists, you may not particularly care for this album, but I loved it. The music is exactly what you'd expect from looking at the cover of the album. 

 

 

Alice's Restaurant Today

 

In one of yesterday's posts, I mentioned that one of my "Daily Mixes" on Spotify was called "Classic Acoustic", which contains a variety of music from the late 60's/early 70's that, presumably would appeal to old farts like myself. As I mentioned, after hearing song # 3 (1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson) I left the Daily Mix and went off to learn more about Thompson and his music.

This morning, I went back to the mix to listen to #4 - Alice's Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie.

Alice's Restaurant Massacree was released in 1967. Things have certainly changed since then. Listening to the song as recorded then, I heard a number of ideas expressed which may have been considered "hip" or "progressive" at the time, but which would be frowned upon by the woke folk of today.

 

Afterward, I listened to Guthrie's 50th anniversary rendition to see what, if anything had been updated to pacify the woke.

Of course, there wasn't much one could change about the first part of the song where Guthrie tells of his throwing away "a half a ton" of garbage in a rural area. He couldn't leave out that section because part two would not be understandable without the first part. His description of the garbage incident was still mocking and sarcastic. This time around, however there was no knowing and agreeing laughter from the audience. The woke crowd seriously frowns upon disregard for the environment. Hell, now throwing the garbage away in the city dump is something the Left is against......his throwing away trash the way he did is even worse in today's world. I'm a little surprised that Guthrie hasn't been cancelled for the garbage incident.

When he gets to the second part of the song, which deals with the draft board, his trying to explain to people today what the draft board was seemed a little awkward. I wouldn't expect him to receive much push back from the Left on his anti-war/anti-authority views in the second portion, but I was curious to see what he would do with the reference to "faggots" that comes near the end of the song.

He sidestepped that hurdle. The word was not used in the newer version of the song; instead a mention of how some bigoted folks in Texas might object to a couple singing the Alice's Restaurant jingle, while they applied for a marriage license was substituted.

For many years, an FM radio station in Atlanta would broadcast the song on Thanksgiving Day. I don't know if that's still being done. I'm waiting to see if Guthrie will be eaten by the Left any time soon.

Richard Thompson (Musician)

Sitting at the PC, surfing Spotify. Spotify has recommendations...called Daily Mixes. One in particular, for me was a mixed called "Classic Acoustic"; not Classical music as one might think, but acoustic from my old fart era of the late 60's.

The first two songs were obvious for this genre - "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles and "America" by Simon and Garfunkel. The third song on the list was unknown to me. "1952 Vincent Black Lightening" by Richard Thompson. Not only was the song unknown to me, but so was the artist.

Looking at the Wikipedia page for Richard Thompson I was a little surprised that I knew nothing of him. He's definitely from my era. He's just three years older than I and reasonably well known - probably more in England than the U.S..

Rather than stay on the acoustic mix on Spotify, I went to the Spotify overview for Thompson. There, I found a mix of ten of his songs. It's quite entertaining. There are Folk and Rock elements to his music, although much of it sounds like it's crying out for bagpipe.

His vocals put me in mind of Gordon Lightfoot, but more authentic. Maybe a love-child of Lightfoot and David Byrne, if such a thing were possible.

One of his Spotify top ten songs is his cover of "Oops! I did it again." That was the biggest surprise of the day, and that's putting it mildly.

I'll be exploring Thompson's catalogue.

Al Di Meola: Across the Universe

I do not live in the center of the musical universe; even with the Internet, I do not discover some music until quite some time after it has been released. I have only now learned of Al Di Meola's 2020 release of Beatles' material with his Across the Universe CD.

Yesterday, I opened Spotify with the idea of listening Al Di Meola's music. The idea to listen to his music came to me in a rather round about way. Facebook had introduced me to the music of 40 Fingers - Guitar Quartet. Listening to that group's music on Spotify put me in mind of Di Meola. I've enjoyed his music thru the years, but it has been quite a long time since I listened to any of his material.

While listening to Elegant Gypsy, I perused his catalogue on Spotify. Being a fan of the Beatles and Di Meola, I was excited when I discovered Across the Universe . The list of songs on the recording is impressive. Oddly enough, however, my favorite track is a tune recorded by the Fab Four, but one which they did not write - Till There Was You -. Did Di Meola run out of Lennon/McCartney songs?

Sadly, upon listening to the CD, I was disappointed. Maybe I expected too much. Top notch Beatle songs played by a top notch musician - what could go wrong? I knew that Di Meola would not follow the straight and narrow musical path. I knew that there would be some alternative interpretations. I'm ok with that; after all, my favorite cover of a Beatles' tune is Frank Zappa doing I Am the Walrus.

I've saved this CD into my Spotify library - I'll listen to it again. I don't hate the recordings. There are some very fine moments, but I don't find that the recordings reached my expectations. Perhaps I was expecting too much.

Bury this CD....Please.

Being an old fart, I often find myself reminiscing; thinking of my younger days and friends I haven't seen in a very, very long time. Sadly, many of these friends have died.

One friend, long gone, returned to my memory this morning and the memory of him led me to think of Cat Stevens. Rick and I were big fans of Cat Stevens during the 1970s.

One of our favorite LPs from that ancient period was Tea for the Tillerman. Naturally, with this LP on my mind, I opened Spotify to give it a listen and I looked for Cat Stevens on Wikipedia as well.

I knew all about the singer's conversion to Islam, his changing his name to Yusuf Islam and his abandoning music for several years.

I was less familiar with his private life. I was completely ignorant of his wife and children. I was not at all surprised, however, to learn that his son, Muhammad Islam had decided to follow in his father's footsteps and take up songwriting.

The children of famous musicians rarely, if ever, reach the quality of their parent. Julian Lennon, James McCartney, Dweezil Zappa, and Jakob Dylan are prime examples of children who can't live up to the father's legacy. I was willing to give Cat Steven's son the benefit of the doubt and give him a listen.

Going under the stage name,Yoriyos, I was able to locate him on Spotify. He has only one CD, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. This CD was released in 2007, and it being the only one on Spotify was not an encouraging sign. The title of the CD didn't help.

Listening to this music, I can understand why he hasn't released another in the 14 years since this one debuted. Yoriyos' voice is pleasant enough, but the songs are third rate - and I'm being generous. His guitar playing is simply strumming and it doesn't appear that he knows more than two or three chords. The other musicians on the CD are fine, considering what they have to work with.

His lyrics are trite.

If he weren't the son of a famous, millionaire song writer, he would never have been able to release even this one CD. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a remarkably horrible CD.

Lennon vs Zappa

 

During the first few days of December, we remember two musical icons who died this month; John Lennon, who was murdered on December 8, 1980 and Frank Zappa, who died of prostate cancer on December 4, 1993.

Lennon and Zappa were both born in 1940 and came of musical age in the 1960's. The two grew up listening to Rhythm and Blues, although they went off in different directions.

In the '60's, when the Beatles were playing , I preferred their music over the music being created by Zappa and his Mothers of Invention. Over the years, I have completely changed my views on Lennon and Zappa.

Lennon was obviously more well known and certainly more commercially successful. Unfortunately, I don't think Lennon was able to cope with fame and fortune, and as he became more involved with drugs, his music suffered.

Zappa, on the other hand, was anti-drug - with the tragic exception of nicotine. Zappa's music continued to grow and evolve through out his life, and today, twenty seven years after his death, his music is continuing to be released from his archives.

For several years after the break up of the Beatles, Lennon isolated himself and basically retired from the music scene, until just before his death. One obvious difference I see between the two artists was the way they each approached performing. Zappa was able to orchestrate and lead his group of musicians in a performance of Lennon's "I Am the Walrus".....something Lennon would not have been able to do. The orchestration of the Beatles' version was done by producer George Martin. Lennon would not have been able to to perform the song in concert.

Bob Dylan Has Left The Planet

There was a time, many, many years ago, when I believed Bob Dylan to be a poetic genius. When I was in High School, his album Blonde On Blonde was the latest thing and his earlier Rock LPs, Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home were still relatively new and exciting.

Anyone who has read my post from last week (written on another blog)  - Music Most Lame, knows that Dylan is no longer my Fave.

This change in my opinion of Bob Dylan isn't recent. I had been less than impressed when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and when he predicted President Obama would win re-election by a landslide in 2012, I referred to Dylan as a Senile Old Coot.

However, with the release of his latest song, I Contain Multitudes  I have completely given up all hope for him. In one verse, Dylan says he is "just like Anne Frank".

Seriously?! Anne Frank?!

In what possible world can Bob Dylan be compared to Anne Frank?

I believe Dylan has finally lost his freakin' mind - and I'm talkin' Joe Biden-like senility.