Dylan's Buddy, and Elon's

Plus Trump plan to take over elections, Kid Rocks the Super Bowl, Colbert and Kimmel and our usual cartoons.

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Stephen plus Jimmy vs. Trump vs. Jimmy

And Seth Meyers on one bit from Epstein files: “You know, sometimes I think Elon Musk is a lump with no charisma, but then he writes a line of poetry like ‘What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?’ and I stand corrected.”

In other news, MAGAs, claiming Bad Bunny is not even an American, will be beaming out their alt-halftime show for the Super Bowl starring, of course, Kid Rock, along with a few country singers you’ve never heard of….Meanwhile, despite Peter Attia’s close links to Epstein, Bari Weiss still refusing to cut ties with the just-hired crank doctor and now in battle with her Paramount enablers..

But this will likely be the story of the year as it may effect/upset our every hope and dream, via NY Times:

Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to ‘Nationalize’ Elections

The comments, made on a conservative podcast, follow a string of moves from his administration to try to exert more control over American elections.

Paul Krugman:

Trump is now calling for “nationalizing” the midterms, meaning to put voting and the counting of votes under his administration’s control. He can’t do that, but his demand is a clear sign that he will not accept the public’ s verdict in November.

So it’s just being realistic to say that MAGA will try, somehow, to prevent voters from having their say. Will ICE try to prevent blue districts from voting? If that fails, will they reject the results, in a midterm version of Jan. 6? Call me alarmist, but remember: The alarmists have been right, and the people telling us to calm down have been wrong, every step of the way.

Need an ironic laugh? I’d forgotten the SNL segment where recurring character Nathan Thurm (Martin Short) is grilled by a strong climate change activist…Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Missed my annual Buddy Holly homage by a day, but here, this time with a Dylan focus. Note: contrary to some reports, the music did not die that day.

In early February, 1959, Buddy Holly and the rest of the rock ‘n roll “caravan” played a gig in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with plans to make their way in a cold bus to the next date in frigid Clear Lake, Iowa. The night before, or a few nights earlier (depending on your source), a budding teen musician who hailed from Hibbing, Minnesota, made eye contact with Buddy (he later claimed) at a show in his hometown of Duluth at the National Guard Armory. The former Bobby Zimmerman, pictured above, would recall decades later:

I saw him only but once, and that was a few days before he was gone. I had to travel a hundred miles to get to see him play, and I wasn’t disappointed. He was powerful and electrifying and had a commanding presence. I was only six feet away. He was mesmerizing. I watched his face, his hands, the way he tapped his foot, his big black glasses, the eyes behind the glasses, the way he held his guitar, the way he stood, his neat suit. Everything about him. He looked older than 22. Something about him seemed permanent, and he filled me with conviction.

Then, out of the blue, the most uncanny thing happened. He looked me right straight dead in the eye, and he transmitted something. Something I didn’t know what. And it gave me the chills.

Dylan would even cite the moment in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

If I was to go back to the dawning of it all, I guess I’d have to start with Buddy Holly. From the moment I first heard him, I felt akin. I felt related like he was an older brother. I even thought I resembled him.

Buddy played the music that I loved, the music I grew up on—country western, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues. Three separate strands of music that he intertwined and infused into one genre. One brand. And Buddy wrote songs, songs that had beautiful melodies and imaginative verses. And he sang great, sang in more than a few voices. He was the archetype, everything I wasn’t and wanted to be.

That spring, in his high school yearbook, Dylan (see below) would forecast his future as: “Robert Zimmerman: to join ‘Little Richard.’” A few weeks later he briefly joined a band backing the Buddy-influenced Bobby Vee.

Sadly, after the February 2, 1959, gig in Clear Lake, Buddy, Bopper and Ritchie, fearing another toes-numbing drive, would meet their fate in the small plane facing severe weather. You’ve probably read most of the facts and legends by now, such as Dion and Waylon Jennings allegedly giving up their seats on the doomed plane, so I will spare you more. But a few covers below.

Rarely seen George Harrison/Dylan duet on “Peggy Sue,” 1987.

Ronstadt in prime, “It’s So Easy”

The Beatles, before U.S. breakthrough, on the BBC with “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” with George as lead singer.

The Stones, “Not Fade Away”

Lyle Lovett, “Well All Right”

From Tunes to Toons

Bramhall:

Wuerker:

Matson:

Bennett:

Sheneman:

Brodner:

Photo Finish

From my camera to you: “Peregrine Falcon, Objecting to the Cold, Alpine, NJ”