Stimulus Passes At Sunrise--and a Super Bowl Spot for Springsteen?
Plus: Greene's New Deal and music for the weekend from Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Wilco and Little Feat.
Before getting to the usual politics, films and tunes, a little housekeeping: Few so far have taken advantage of the easy Comment aspect of this newsletter which is meant to create dialogue and build community (and often earns a personal response from me). So please join in, as well as maybe use the Share button from time to time. And if you haven’t yet subscribed—it’s still free! Also: you can drop me a line, or use Comments, to let me know what you’d like to see more—or less—of here. Thanks, and now onward…
Politics & Media
Just before sunrise this morning: The Senate backed Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus but VP Harris had to arrive to make it 51-50. (Thank you, Georgians, again, for giving us Warnock and Ossoff.) But going down was the $15 minimum wage. By a voice vote, senators backed an amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst to “prohibit the increase of the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic.” The Senate also approved an amendment to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, with only Sanders, Warren and Carper opposing.
Classic from The Onion: “Republicans Accuse Ocasio-Cortez Of Not Being Anywhere Near the Place They Told Capitol Mob She Would Be.” On a more serious note, a NY Times headline this morning: “No, Ocasio-Cortez Didn't Make Up Her Capitol Riots Experience.”
The Republicans who voted to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA) of her committee posts should be known henceforth as “Oh-Shit Eleven.” Good to see Liz Cheney destroy all the new “integrity” claims about her by voting for Greene (aka “MTG”). Liz has always been a horror, we are reminded. Reps. Upton, Katko and Kinzinger are the only three brave GOPers to vote to impeach Trump and to strip Greene.
Trevor Noah on Greene’s “apology” speech: “I’m glad that she’s come around to the standard Republican belief that school shootings are real—and that nothing should be done to stop them.” Greene, clearly contrite, posted early today: “I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time.”
Election analyst Dave Wasserman: “Lost in this conversation: the reality that there are bound to be more MTGs to come b/c the views she's expressed are not that far outside the mainstream of GOP primary voters' beliefs in a whole lot of deep-red districts.”
The Super Bowl is just two days away and the raging question seems to be: Did Springsteen just shoot a Jeep commercial, which would be quite a break from tradition for him? Reports had him flying in and out of Nebraska earlier this week for one mysterious day. There’s even a rumor that the ad will be tied to release of a new box set for his Nebraska album. Ad Age with a breathless, stop-the-presses probe:
An Associated Press report picked up by the Lincoln Journal Star speculated about a chartered jet landing at the Hastings airport early Sunday, after a three-hour trip from New Jersey. The report also cited social media posts from area residents who were “quick to identify the mystery visitor.” The AP also stated that a local sheriff confirmed that “a film crew shot something on the Republican River bridge south of Red Cloud and had hired a couple of off-duty deputies for security.”
I admit I thought that the letter widely circulated yesterday signed by Trump, in which he resigned his 30-year membership in SAG-AFTRA, was an over-the-top fake, with lines such as, “While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street.” Naturally it turns out that it was not, and even prompted this burn from the union in response: “Thank you.” Trump was facing disciplinary charges from the actors union for his role in the January 6 sedition and spreading lies in general.
Jon Stewart then renounced his own membership in the actors union, declaring: “I will no longer abide your gross abdication of...oh wait...I’m just shitty at acting...never mind.”
Important Mother Jones piece today on the recent NY Times account of how reporter Neil Sheehan lied to my old friend Dan Ellsberg over and over about his handling of the Pentagon Papers. More from me on this tomorrow.
Pillow nut case Mike Lindell says he is releasing today a three-hour movie that will prove the election was stolen. If Trump is not re-installed, Lindell predicts it will mean the end times out of the Book of Revelation—”it's over." Or maybe it’s just to promote use of his pillows for a nice three-hour snooze. Update: As usual, Mike lied—he couldn’t even produce two hours “worth.” But it’s comedy gold.
Voting tech company Dominion has sent letters to Facebook, YouTube, Parler, and Twitter "requesting they preserve posts and related data relevant to Dominion's defamation claims" against Rudy G and others. Meanwhile, AP reports that voting company Smartmatic has filed a $2.7 billion libel suit against Fox News, Fox hosts, Giuliani and Powell. Slime doesn’t pay?
Did anyone really think Trump would agree to testify at his impeachment trial? Though he loves to brag about “my beautiful ratings, highest ever”—so I guess there’s still a chance. Would set new records.
Music
Fifty years ago this month, I was in the middle of a transition that would take me from my first NYC editing job (Zygote) to freelance record reviewer (Creem, Fusion, Changes) to helping re-launch Crawdaddy, all within the space of three months. Early in this period I received a new, little-touted, debut album from Warner/Reprise by a group called Little Feat. All that anyone knew about them was that they featured a couple of guys who were once in Zappa’s Mothers of Invention (not necessarily a recommendation for me). But I loved the album. It was more country-rock and bluesy than I expected, even Band-ish in places, with a surprising ballad (“Willin’) to boot, so I wrote a rave for one of those publications. And since I needed the dough (maybe $15 a pop), I revised that and submitted to a couple more. All were published.
Quite a few months later I received a letter from the group’s drummer, Richie Hayward, thanking me profusely for allegedly helping to save their career, or at least their stint at Warner/Reprise: The label was thinking about dropping them but those three raves, which the execs did not connect to a single writer (i.e. yours truly), were crucial in gaining approval for a second album. The group remained a critical favorite for years and even sold a good number of records. “Willin’” was covered by Linda Ronstadt and many others. Here’s the great Lowell Georgeand the guys, below. BTW, the “Fat Man” was rumored to be then-corpulent Brian Wilson.
We are told that Nigel Tufnel, guitarist for legendary group Spinal Tap, is turning 73 today. Best wishes, Nigel, and “turn it up”! Also, speaking of heavy metal, it’s also the birthday for my old Crawdaddy columnist William S. Burroughs who once famously interviewed Jimmy Page for us (more on that soon here).
Now we learn via Robbie Robertson that somehow old buddy named Bob Dylan gained ownership of Robbie’s classic song “The Weight” and it was included in Bob’s recent massive sale of his catalog. Meanwhile, another one of those “50th anniversary” packages is coming for The Band’s Stage Fright. Here’s something truly unique: The great Mavis Staples rehearsing “The Weight” with Wilco—and Nick Lowe.
Film
Was happy to see, among the expected and questionable Golden Globe picks, that one of our favorite series of the year, Unorthodox, got a Best Drama nod, as did the stunning actress, Shira Haas. It’s not too late to catch up to it. Trailer here:
Interview with the real Basil Brown from The Dig at the scene of the excavation….And if this is your thing: a new Ken Burns-Lynn Novick three-part series on Ernest Hemingway will debut on PBS stations on April 5.
Song Pick of the Day
Last year’s loss of John Prine still hurts, but at least it brought more attention to his song catalogue, with this undeniable classic probably leading the way. Bonnie Raitt, not yet a star, recorded the first key cover almost 50 years ago, and here she is delivering it in fine fashion back in the day.
Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and now has written and directed his first feature, Atomic Cover-up, which will have its American premiere at a festival this spring.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the newsletter, Greg. We have similar musical tastes, but you've also introduced me to some folks that I haven't previously paid enough attention to, so thanks!
I will eat my hat if Springsteen has filmed a commercial. For reference, it's a black-and-gold ombre beanie that I knitted myself.
Minor correction from one of her exasperated constituents: The Joni Ernst amendment was just grandstanding. She tried to prohibit raising the minimum wage to $15/hour during a pandemic, but because the increase goes into effect over five years, by the time it gets to $15 there (please god) won't be a pandemic. As Bernie Sanders pointed out during the debate, after which she tried to revoke the amendment. Iowa needs new congressional representation, stat.
As someone who didn't get out to a lot of movies even in the Before Times, but who subscribes to several streaming services, I appreciate the movie reccs a lot!
Really enjoy your writing. Loved seeing Mavis, Wilco and Nick Lowe together. Looking forward to reading your books, particularly the Nixon/Douglas one. I was born in Whittier and remember my mom talking about it.