Farewell to Joe Ely, and Trump's Sanity

Plus our usual cartoons, Colbert, The Boss & Little Stephen.

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Stephen returned last night, with the usual monologue after a somber opening noting the tragedies over the past few days.

You’ve all read or heard about Trump’s revolting (but not surprising) response to the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife. So we’ll just note this Jack White (of White Stripes fame) reply, from Rolling Stone:

Jack White has stepped in to defend the honor of Rob Reiner after President Donald Trump used the acclaimed actor and director’s death as a jumping off point for an unhinged and deeply insensitive rant.

“Trump you disgusting, vile, egomaniac loser, child,” White wrote on Instagram, reposting a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post. “Neither he nor any one of his followers can defend this gross, horrible insult to a beautiful artist who gave the world so much. To use someone’s tragic death to promote your own vanity and fascist authoritarian agenda is a corrupt and narcissistic sin. Shame on you trump and anyone who defends this.”

I guess we should also contrast Trump’s deranged rant with the words of Rob Reiner when asked how he felt when he learned of the Charlie Kirk killing:

“Horror. Absolute horror. That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are, that’s not acceptable and not a solution to any problems.”

This morning we finally got some labor stats from the government after long delays caused by the shutdown, and news was not good. Here from NY Times on just one: “The unemployment rate rose in November, a warning sign for the health of a labor market that has been strained by federal layoffs and rising costs. Unemployment last month rose to a rate of 4.6 percent up from 4.4 percent in September, the last month in which officials had a full picture of the labor force before the weeks long government shutdown.”

I guess we have to brace ourselves for the deaths of a revered, aging musical star every week now. Yesterday turned out to be very bad day for one of my favorite alt-country/Texas /Americana /rockers, Joe Ely, dead at 78 in Taos. Was thrilled to catch him in tiny club near home a few years back and later with the revived Flatlanders in NYC.

Here’s how Rolling Stone tried to sum him up last night:

To read the bullet points of Ely’s life is to assume it was fiction. He formed the cult band the Flatlanders with fellow Texans Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, but the music they recorded sat mostly unreleased for decades. He went on to join and travel with the Ringling Bros. circus, where he took care of horses and was nearly trampled by a line of elephants. Returning to music, he released his debut solo album and befriended Joe Strummer and the Clash, who later enlisted Ely to open their tour in support of London Calling.

And that was only the Seventies.

It took only three years of Ely releasing records for the Clash to pay tribute to him on 1980’s Sandinista!. “There ain’t no better blend,” sang Joe Strummer, “than Joe Ely and his Texas men.” Ely would go on to sing backup vocals on the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and even record his own version of the song.

All this and a great anecdote about getting picked up by Townes Van Zandt hitching at age 17. Or the other way around. A few of my favorite Ely songs follow, starting with “All Just to Get to You,” which Springsteen, a big fan, did with him live several times.

More rocking with “Me and Billy Kid”:

With Joe Strummer in his cover of “Should I Stay or Should I Go”

More lighthearted “Wishin’ for You”

You can see why Bruce (Springsteen as well as Hancock) loved him, “Love Is the Beating of Hearts”

And on his final album this year, he naturally did a fine “Deportee,” with Ryan Bingham

Speaking of Bruce, I posted one song from his surprise appearance with Little Stevie at the Stone Pony on Sunday night, here is another, Steve’s early classic “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” which I saw him record in studio with the Jukes almost 50 years ago…

From Tunes to Toons

Davies:

Ohman:

Anderson:

Barry Blitt predicting Bari Weiss’s new “60 Minutes” spinoff:

Goris:

Bramhall:

Photo Finish

From my camera to you, today: “The Parthenon, Paris.”