Joan Baez supporting Dixie in song
COMPLAINTS
Nothing is “out of order” anymore. Instead a broken machine is “scheduled for service.” I see this at my gym all the time. I believe the idea is that “scheduled for service” indicates: we know there’s a problem with this stair master and we’re on it. Whereas “out of order” suggests nothing of the kind. It’s more like saying, “this is broke so don’t use it.” I have a suspicion that whoever came up with the idea of replacing “out of order” signs with those that say “scheduled for service” got paid a bundle of money. They don't deserve a dime. More euphemistic bullshit.
When I go to Hulu — a popular streaming service — after I click on my account — distinct from those of my wife and daughters — I’m told to wait a moment while they “gather what’s new.” What kind of bullshit is this? Am I really supposed to imagine that, having seen that I want to access my account, that there are now living, breathing people scrambling to “gather” all their new programming so they can present it to me once I’m logged in? Utter nonsense. Especially if I just logged on a few minutes before but accidentally exited. Ninety-nine percent of the time I’m not interested in anything new and just want to watch the same old crap you've had on the service for months if not years. "Gathering what's new." What manner of idiot do they take us for?
Met younger daughter for lunch yesterday. The conversation and the meal were excellent. But what I didn't like was that there was no waiter or waitress. Okay so there was a person who told us there was no waiter or waitress and there was a person who brought our food and beverages but we ordered by entering a QR(?) code. What's up with that? I like a human being to come to my table who I can be friendly and polite with and tell what I'd like. I then enjoy giving a tip commensurate with their service. Is that so old fashioned? And speaking of tipping....Do we really have to tip a person when we order to go? Even for a lousy cup of coffee? I have mixed feelings about being given tip choices. Let me sort it out on my own. I'm a big boy I can figure out how much the tip should be and by the way I'm generally quite generous.
THE PREZ
I see where Trumpy is complaining that the Smithsonian focuses too much on how bad slavery was. Fair point. Why not look at the positive aspects of slavery such as…. I’ll have to get back to you on that. Here’s the full quote from the bumbling-idiot-in-chief: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”
I’m curious about “how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.” Does he want a closer look at the many achievements of downtrodden Americans? Maybe a special wing of the museum focusing on the many successes of the downtrodden. We’re all tired of hearing about how downtrodden the downtrodden are. After all, aren’t many of them uptrodden now? The U.S., he whines, is the "HOTTEST" country in the world (it's crazy the way he goes all caps sometimes with random words). Hottest in what respect? Are we trending? Is our popularity skyrocketing (quite the opposite). Maybe he's referring to global warming. Maybe's he means hot as in the way beautiful women and men are described. Maybe he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about (never does).
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
I don’t get it. I’m talking about Joan Baez singing The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down which I’m listening to as I write these words. The song is the first person narrative of a man (Baez was a woman when she recorded the song and remains one today, far as I know). On top of that the narrator is a southerner at the end of the Civil War who, like his father “took a rebel stand.” That is to stay he supported the formation of the Confederate States of American a country that would have enshrined slavery into its constitution. The song was originally recorded by The Band but Baez made a hit of it in 1971. In doing a little research I note that there has been some criticism of the song and its tacit celebration of the Lost Cause but not until this century. Should have been a helluva lot of blowback from the get go if folks were paying attention..
There was a very popular song in the seventies called A Horse With No Name from a group named America. Here’s a line from the song: “There were plants and birds and rocks and things.” Things? What “things”? That’s pretty weak. Perhaps worse was this line: “The heat was hot, and the ground was dry.” So you say the heat was hot? Such poetry. Course if you’re stoned while listening to it — and evidently they were stoned while writing it — what do you care?
In a lot of songs singers demand that someone not waste their “precious time.” Bob Dylan in Don’t Think Twice it’s All Right sang this: "You could've done better but I don't mind. You just kinda wasted my precious time.” Then there was Brittney Spears in the song Wannabe: "Now don't go wasting my precious time. Get your act together we could be just fine.” Van Morrison even had a song called Precious Time that opens as follows: “Precious time is slipping away. But you're only king for a day. It doesn't matter to which God you pray. Precious time is slipping away.” Tot top it off last year there was a song called Wasting My Precious Time by someone called Cameron Reid which starts like this: “Boy you wasting my precious time. I thought I would be the one.” I suppose since our time on this planet is finite one can look at every second they live as precious. But it still seems an odd thing to say. "My time is precious." Everyone's time is precious, pal. You're no different than anyone else. Get over yourself.
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