I post this in Bruce Utah Phillips memory, thank Mat for inspiring me to play and to post one of my more favorite hobo song, written and sung by the great Bill Staines. Words were posted in Mudcat.org
Rye Whiskey Joe (Bill Staines)
In an old hobo jungle on the south side of town All my friends settled down for a meal, With two cans of bacon, an old loaf of bread, Anything anybody could steal, And a bottle of Burgundy found its way 'round, For tonight everybody was low, From the passing of Joseph McSweeny, Everyone called him Rye Whiskey Joe.
chorus Oh, Rye Whiskey Joe, there's happiness somewhere for you Oh, Rye Whiskey Joe, somewhere out there in the blue.
He hopped off a freight train eleven months back With a sort of a look in his eye With a smile on his face and an old canvas pack, That was half full of Table Talk pies, And he asked us if he could just stay for a time, To rest before he traveled on, But, he brought us much more than expected, And that's why we're singing this song.
chorus
After eating in the evening we all settled down And listened while he sang his songs With a bottle of whiskey there close by his side That he shared when the time came around, And the light in his eyes was as warm as the fire His hair was black as the coal We listened while he told his lonely old tales And we all called him Rye Whiskey Joe.
chorus
He closed his eyes early one morning And they never would open again We buried his gear along with him Said a prayer, filled the grave in, and then I found a letter in the tall grass nearby From a camp where he'd been long ago Saying, "Thank you Mr. Joseph, for all that you've done" And "Good luck to you Rye Whiskey Joe."
Oh I did listen to Sarah's speech because I was interested. Yes, I had read the real record of the bridge, hiring a person to help get earmarks for her little town, and the discussion about her likely vendetta firing of a brother in law. Politics as usual was portrayed as I am different, I am not politics as usual. Very disappointing. I would expected her to deny or to at least paint the articles as false. She ignored them.... and pandered to the audience.
I do hope if John wins, that he lasts good body, soul and mind for 4 years. I do think John will be better than Bush, but I don't trust the Republicans to look out for the little guy.
Back to Sarah, I read some great blogs, I just had to post them:
Sarah jumped from school to school, 5 colleges in six years for Bachelors in Journalism. (Thanks Aquanetta)
Yes I am your worse nightmare. I am the person you know you should vote for but don’t worry you will never get a chance, so don’t worry, vote for the pandering person of your favorite issue.
My platform is not so egotistical that it doesn’t fit into both platforms a little bit, but neither will have enough common sense so it’ll never happen.
Let me start with credibility:
Ah so much is given to experience.
Foreign: I’ve listened to NPR for about 30 years who give a fair international background; and my wife stays up to the late hours and she listens to BBC. I would make sure NPR reporters get 7% raise next year, they deserve it, even more if we can reduce the deficit. Plus, I have traveled to Winnipeg, and I have many friends outside of America thru MySpace.
Executive: This is where I have more experience than all four candidates in this year’s race. I have fired people, disciplined them fairly, and reduced costs, implemented changes, and most importantly facilitated change in an old fashion company. Let’s see I wasn’t alone, but I feel influential in exponential growth in the company I’ve worked with for over 23 years.
Education: Suma Cum Laude in Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting. I can both sympathize with the fisheries in Lake Michigan and rip apart the seedy executive decisions in Management practices left unchecked.
Past allegiances: Mo Udall, Jimmy Carter, and Ross Perot are the only politicians that I have respect for past and present.
Personal secrets: I was young once, but haven’t touched an illegal drug since I was 17. Ok I’ve been to Strip Joints on business but I have never ever been unfaithful to my wife of over 25 years.
Bold changes: I would go back to the Carter days on Energy. You listened to the biggest pander of them all Ronald Reagan, and gave up on Jimmy to early. 55 MPH but I would change it from a fine to a fee to drive fast and it goes right on your license plate. Cops have better things to do than to ticket us, and the ones who want to waste our precious resources and drive UP the price of gas let them pay for it. All proceeds go into the road system nowhere else.
Make Executive pay be tied to a percent of profit, or the corporation would have to pay more taxes. Clinton got weak kneed, I wouldn’t or I would kill myself. Think I'm strange... they have rules in 401K's and they work to insure fairness.
Taxes: I will raise taxes. I would make sure it’s fair and would hit the one who have the most ability to pay and still buy their yachts and second, third, fourth or seventh homes. Taxes go up on the wealthy, but they can choose where they put their money. John, I define wealthy at $350,000. (I would normally define it lower but not for higher taxes yet.) I hate government without direction. These are successful people; they can help decide where they send their taxes. When we get the deficit back down, I would reduce their taxes again. Com’on we have to pay our Medicare, our Military, and still make a difference that we Americans expect to be great. Forget the fact we can depend on independent donations and the great will of tremendously generous people, we need to make sure we are the greatest country in Literature, Arts, Wildlife, Nature, and Exploring… and not the greatest shoppers for cheap shoes and electronics from China. We can't keep spending and going deep in debt.
Pro Life and Pro choice… yes I’m both. Saint and Sinner. I will not pass any litmus test. Vote for me blindly or don’t vote for me.
First steps… reinforce our infrastructure.. we have too many projects that need this country to be strong. Build more bridges, each span saves extra gas.
Next build a strong North America: Love all neighbors so let’s get all religions to meet with Canada, Mexico, and us. We can’t fix the Middle East; let’s get our area to be the role model. We might have to recognize that Mexicans might stay in Mexico if they were a strong partner like Canada.
Religion: I don’t believe the verse we need to support Israel for the next coming of Christ. Where does this stuff come from? I have a deep belief in the new commandment, “To love one another and your enemy as yourself.” Sure I’m probably quoting that wrong, but I believe in Grace. God will see us all in his Grace: Jew, Gentile, Muslim, and even a few Pharisees; if we are good caretakers of the planet and each other.
Guns: Own as many as you want, and implement laws that Law Enforcement wants, not what politicians want. If they can live without registration, I can. If they want tougher laws, I do. I’m not an expert, but I know hunters don’t hunt with Uzi’s yet law-abiding citizens don’t need to be hassled for their hobbies.
Media Relationships: Oh sure they will rip me apart and won’t give me attention. Then after you make a deal out of it, then they'll lather all their praises on me, in the end I’ll be the same shit. I hope I won’t fart during when I have my hand on the Bible to be sworn in… out of excitement of course.
Here's a fantastic song by David Francey for two MySpace friends who are getting married this year.
Their Wedding Day
Written by : David Francey
Per David, I miss a lot of weddings when I'm on tour. I do get to see the pictures though, and wrote this song for my friends Ben and Sarah. Their photo put me in mind of a picture I have of my own parents' wedding day.
(January 6, 2005. Elphin, Ontario)
I could tell when I met them Their hearts were entwined When she gave me her words And I gave her mine On that day in September I was miles away But I was thinking about them On their wedding day
The man that she loves He's the luckiest man From the moment he saw her And reached for her hand And she, she was lucky Herself, you could say Now he's standing beside her On their wedding day
All I saw was a picture Of both of them there She ever so lovely With flowers in her hair He ever so handsome In his waistcoat of grey They were standing together On their wedding day
Love can be precious And love can be kind A light in the darkness We're all hoping to find I hope it shines on them For now and always Like the sun shone upon them On their wedding day
So many of you know I have this little house concert series call Bluff View Concerts and with that comes play who send me links, call me or Lori and tell us where that they are playing. Frankly, I love it... but I'm a kind of person that can easily tell people no, or not know, or maybe later. Since we have only 4-5 shows a year, I probably have more artist wanting to play than I have audience begging for more shows. (don't worry, I have a few of those and it's growing.)
That brings me to David Stoddard he found the myspace site, and was ready to book a date; but quickly the two of us agreed to talk at the Great River Folk Fest By the look of his picture I was thinking, another boring singer songwriter, God knows I am one of those. So I went to the Fest expecting to say no, but wow he blew me away. He had that wit, dry sense of humor, and he wasn't slick like his picture. David is one passionate guy. Smiles, laughs, shrugs his shoulders, and get ticked off quickly at his capo and heaves it off stage. This bring me to why I'm writing this.... I watched this YouTube when I couldn't find the one I really wanted to hear by him. He covered (rewrote) From this moment sung in a fashion that he hears in it... a stalker's perspective. I did love his intro... the last wedding he played for they wanted this song, he read the lyrics and told them this was trash like a stalker song, and they said, "Oh but she's so cute"... yikes... so on came the song. Hilarious, read the lyrics and think stalking... it's incredible, he's right!
(I do swear that I'll always be there. I'd give anything and everything and I will always care. Through weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better, for worse, I will love you with every beat of my heart.)
From this moment life has begun From this moment you are the one Right beside you is where I belong From this moment on
From this moment I have been blessed I live only for your happiness And for your love I'd give my last breath From this moment on
I give my hand to you with all my heart Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start You and I will never be apart My dreams came true because of you
From this moment as long as I live I will love you, I promise you this There is nothing I wouldn't give From this moment on
You're the reason I believe in love And you're the answer to my prayers from up above All we need is just the two of us My dreams came true because of you
From this moment as long as I live I will love you, I promise you this There is nothing I wouldn't give From this moment I will love you as long as I live From this moment on
And enjoy David... add him as a friend and tell him to take that slick picture of him down... he's not slick, he's just good people.
Dennis will grace my top friends as the second male fiddler, and all my readers know I have a hotel of lady fiddlers for him & Garnett to jam with in the top 40. ;-) First he needs to add me, til then myspace.com/dennisstroughmatt
Oh yeah... the lyric... some day I'll get a mix posted but without the fiddler it's a waste of time.
::::
Just hop the state line, take that rusty old bridge
Oh the girls look fine, let’s party on the ridge
Let your little light shine, past the midnight hour
We got pop, beer and wine, to wet your desire
Just dance all night to Creole bell
When we get to your part, just yell, yell, yell.
We got fiddles to the left, guitars on the right
Bass player is all set, and banjos out of site
Let your little light shine, past the midnight hour
I see the rich deep hues of tonal blends. Not just black and white, more grayscale. I work to select words that don’t offend. ‘Cause friends like alliances are fragile.
So when I see my supporters line up I see parasitic lawyers and agendas. The homeless with their empty cup. Gays, gray hairs, and young all blended.
I’m no different than others who love I embrace my wife, my child, and my friends. I live in the country all dream of. So it’s hard to live and to pretend.
We need to stop pandering to ourselves. To do the right thing, you’re unelectable. Pick the words from the book on the shelf. Smile, shake hands with the agreeable.
Life will go on if I’m not the victor It has and it will; a great guarantee. The hues of freedoms in tone richer Because this land is made for you and me.
Currently
listening
:
A Thousand Roads
By
David Stoddard
Release date: 2001-07-17
'THE LAST WORDAnna Quindlen The Techie in Chief The terrorists have laptops in their hideouts. Can America afford to have a leader who is just learning how to use one'
Honest Abe was a techie. Yep, it's true. President Lincoln pushed hard for the spread of telegraph lines across the country and used the new medium to make communications with his generals during the Civil War swift and specific. Sometimes he even slept on the couch in the telegraph office when he was monitoring battlefield conditions. In his book 'Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails,' author Tom Wheeler brings the language of Silicon Valley to Gettysburg. 'Lincoln's early-adopter instincts,' he writes, 'coupled with his being unburdened by the old dogmas, allowed him to outperform his generals in the ability to see change and harness it to his purpose.'
Paging John McCain. Or at least calling him. Because he doesn't text-message. Or have a BlackBerry. Or use e-mail. Anyhow, he might want to pay more attention to Lincoln's successful future-think.
When the Republican candidate described himself earlier this year as a computer illiterate who had never gone online, it just made him look odd. And old. Of course, that's not fair. Both my father and my mother-in-law are somewhat older than McCain (although indubitably young at heart), and both of them have been using e-mail for years. While only one in three Americans over the age of 65 goes online, surveys of McCain's peer group—older, white, well educated—find the number rises to three out of four. .......'
I also read this week that John might be as dumb as George... I take some of this with a grain of salt, but come on... he doesn't go on-line? Some of my friends heard me go off on a tangent recently, I'm growing weary of America being lead by a dummy... I was atleast hoping the if McCain did get in, it would be an improvement over G.W.... now I'm wondering even more.
Anyone seriously thinking about voting for him should really start wondering how much he is out of touch. 4, 5, or 7 houses John?
So... I came back after more comments than I normally get and found the other article... now you can read another's opinion. Truly I don't care for negative information, and I really don't want to get into this debate. My thought is that you vote more for the friend and principals of the parties rather than the candidate...and I really feel stronger that the Democratic party really does stick out for the lowly more than the Republicans. Don't give me that higher taxes rap, I tithe for a reason, we need to pay our fair share when we are blessed, and get help when we're not.
So here's my other pet peeve... I'm not a genius but I graduated Suma Cum Laude; and I love to talk to intelligent people. Can't we have another one in the White House?
Is McCain Another George W. Bush? Tuesday 19 August 2008 by: Jack Cafferty, CNN New York - Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation. His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans. Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California. I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why. It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand. Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not? Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions=2 0of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day. He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it. He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich. One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none. Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.? =C 2 John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet. He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly. I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul. George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been. I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him. Editor's Note: Jack Cafferty is the author of the best-seller "It's Getting Ugly Out There: The Frauds, Bunglers, Liars, and Losers Who Are Hurting America." He provides commentary on CNN's "The Situation Room" daily from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. You can also visit Jack's Cafferty File blog.
Finally... a parting thought from John McCutcheon's concert... He was interviewed about doing a CD about politics, and was asked for his definition... "Well Poli comes for Greek word of many, and ticks are blood sucking parasites..." How painfully true... we're all hoping for a fresh new look on this... change as the ad goes.
