Friends and fans, asking for a bit of help here. While I appreciate the continuing strong interest from all of you (free) subscribers, it’s harder and harder to reach new readers, thanks to politically-inspired suppression of feeds at Twitter and Facebook—the new reality for many. But you might help attract more readers here if you’d take the trouble to “share” below, or post a link on your other outlets, or recommend to a friend in email. Thanks again for your support!
Anyone shocked by Trump’s bunker bombing Iran must not have been paying attention (to this substack, for one thing). I hope I am correct now in predicting that Iran will not do a whole lot in reply. While we await, here’s a classic Trump tweet from a dozen years ago:
Last night, the esteemed journalist advised TV watchers:
Senator Chris Murphy of CT weighed in with a couple of posts:
I was briefed on the intelligence last week. Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. Iran was not close to building a deliverable nuclear weapon. The negotiations Israel scuttled with their strikes held the potential for success.
And:
As our nation girds for possible Iranian terrorist attacks, this is the person Trump put in charge of terrorism prevention. 22 years old. Recent work experience: landscaping/grocery clerk. Never worked a day in counter-terrorism. But he’s a BIG Trump fan. So he got the job.
On this date in 1971, Joni Mitchell released her influential to this very date “Blue” album. It was not known for years that she had intended to include at long last a version of her “Urge for Going,” which had been recorded years earlier by Tom Rush and others but never appeared on one of her records. Ended up getting cut anyway as she had so many great current tunes. So here it is when finally released just a few years back:
As I have noted previously, there’s a new box set for Nick Drake’s stunning “Five Leaves Left” from 1969, with various takes never heard before. Here is the first acoustic take, with no backing, of one of his best, much revered by other musicians, “River Man.”
Need to take a break from all that for a little fun? This is 50th anniversary of my favorite (if obscure) UK rocking mid-’70s song, from Dr. Feelgood, “She Does It Right.” Actually had the honor of seeing them do this live in the UK that year. That’s the legendary Wilko Johnson on guitar. This was during the pre-punk craze in England known as “pub rock” that also spawned the likes of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello and The Clash—the quality (in much of the songwriting and, you know, instrument playing) always made me shrug when hearing the Ramones and some other punkers.
Urge For Going was initially released by Joni as the B Side to You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio.
With all the news flying by, just got the urge to feelgood.