Cartoons Friday, Music and Film

Trump backs down and down and down, plus Rhiannon Giddens and Barbara Dane

Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl.” Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. At Blue Sky and Twitter: as @gregmitch. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.

You might want to check out the livestream tomorrow for the (she’s everywhere) Rhiannon Giddens reunion with old group the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Here she does one of their early great ones, “Ruby,” at Bonnaroo.

From Heather Cox Richardson this morning:

Journalist Chris Hayes wrote: “It’s incredible that now the *best case* scenario is basically Trump engaging in a humiliating climb-down, but having already inflicted permanent damage and uncertainty that [can] never be undone.”

The rate at which America’s government, health, defense, and economy is degrading shows that reality will not conform to the myth of the American cowboy. The cover of The Economist today shows a battered and heavily bandaged eagle under the caption: “Only 1,361 Days To Go.”

The American people seem to be realizing that the rhetoric of cowboy individualism is a very different thing than its reality. Trump’s poll numbers are dropping sharply.

Believe it or not, this is The New York Times today on the lyin’ king, George Santos, who is about to be sentenced and sent up the river:

Have read about this film for awhile—and, of course, “The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane” bridges music and politics so it is right up my alley—but it is getting its official premiere on May 3 in NYC. I don’t often print the producers’ own summary but this is pretty good, and trailer below.

Barbara Dane: folk, blues, and jazz singer, international social justice activist and recording star, wife, mother of three, feminist, record producer, unwavering maverick, and general troublemaker on the road at 90. “The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane” is an explosion of music and passion and a celebration of one woman’s groundbreaking artistry and moral leadership. Standing strong with her singular confidence, Dane combined the people-powered connectivity of folk, the defiance of blues, and the elemental cool of jazz while documenting major historic events with boldness and subversion that cut through commercial artifice and earned her a 5-inch-thick FBI file.

Featuring Bonnie Raitt, Louis Armstrong, Chambers Brothers, and Jane Fonda.

No Peace, Love nor Understanding

Barry Blitt: