Subterranean Sick of Home Blues

Covid rules continue to shrink, but is that a good idea? Plus music today: Lucinda Williams, Dylan going electric, Johnny Cash & Eric Clapton join Carl Perkins--and Bob Roberts returns!

Welcome to the working week even if that work is at home….Myself, I have to look out all day at a three-mile bridge named “Cuomo.” So please consider subscribing—it’s still free.

News & Politics

Headline of the Day, from Rolling Stone: “Bigfoot Legends, Pot Farming and Murder Collide in New ‘Sasquatch’ Trailer.” (The Duplass brothers-produced docuseries premieres April 20th on Hulu.) Runner-up from Mediate: “Author Naomi Wolf Gets Duped Into Tweeting Out Fake Anti-Vaxxer Quote From Porn Star.”

Trevor Noah on a Burr in democracy’s saddle: “Did you know that the filibuster isn't in the Constitution? Turns out it's just a rule made up by that guy who shot Lin Manuel Miranda.”

Horrid Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) announced last night he would not seek re-election next year after admitting that he indeed “groped” a lobbyist, Nicolette Davis, as she had charged (and he denied) in the Wash Post on Friday.

Politico’s newsletter this morning:

House Democrats are about to try to reverse the outcome of a House election in Iowa to pad their slim majority by an extra seat. Democrats say their candidate, Rita Hart, who lost to GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by six votes, has every right to ask the House to resolve one of the closest House races in American history. Congress, they point out, has dealt with 110 such contested election cases over the past 90 years. Only three, however, resulted in the declared winner being ousted and replaced, according to the House Administration Committee. But a source close to the process confirmed to Playbook that the effort to oust Miller in favor of Hart has been blessed by the top echelons of House Democratic leadership.

And the DCCC has brought in top Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, this person said. Hart’s argument centers on 22 ballots her campaign says were not counted but should have been — and which would have led to her victory had they been included in the final vote tally.

Another hot scoop from Politico: “SPOTTED: Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), both masked, keeping an eye on their pooches at a dog park in D.C.” With photo evidence. Where are the pooches?

Fifteen years ago yesterday Jack Dorsey posted the first-ever tweet, "just setting up my twttr."

CNN: “Trump is returning to social media in a few months with his own platform, spokesman says.”

Latest satire from Andy Borowitz: “Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday that he misses the days when he testified before Congress via Zoom and could mute Senator Rand Paul.

“Back in the days when I was on Zoom and he would go off on some tangent that was the exact opposite of scientific fact, I would just mute him and nod my head like I was listening,” Fauci said. “I’d use that time to think about what I would have for dinner that night, or maybe what to watch on Netflix.”

After Paul claimed on Thursday that the idea of vaccinated people wearing masks was just “theatre,” Fauci said, “I instinctively reached for the mute button and then I realized I wasn’t on Zoom. That was a disappointing moment for me, I can tell you.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock on the recent mass murder in Atlanta: “We need reasonable gun reform in our country. This shooter was able to kill all of these folks the same day he purchased a firearm. But right now, what is our legislature doing? They’re busy under the gold dome here in Georgia trying to prevent people from being able to vote the same day they register. I think that suggests a distortion in values.”

Barry Blitt at The New Yorker site views Prince Charles:

$325,000 settlement for teacher over Trump references removed from yearbook:

For years, Susan Parsons said she was told by administrators to remove “controversial” content from the high school yearbook in Wall Township, N.J.Ms. Parsons, a teacher and the yearbook adviser, said in court papers that she had to erase from a photo a feminist bumper sticker on a student’s laptop, Photoshop “fake” clothing onto shirtless students on a school trip to Bermuda and take out questionable hand gestures.

But it wasn’t until 2017 that one particular edit thrust Ms. Parsons and the district into a national firestorm over free expression and political opinion.Ms. Parsons was suspended after removing a reference to Donald J. Trump on a student’s shirt, an action that led to widespread news media attention and death threats, according to a lawsuit she filed against the school district. Ms. Parsons said she had been told by the principal’s secretary to remove Mr. Trump’s name and his slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Ms. Parsons was then publicly scapegoated and muzzled by the district, the suit said.

On Tuesday, the district’s board agreed to a $325,000 settlement to resolve her claims.

Had to love my personal connection to John Oliver’s repeated references last night to a goofy new “mascot” for recycling efforts—a man in a rubber animal mask known as “Totes McGoats”—back in my hometown of Niagara Falls. His main segment, below, was on the human and environmental disaster that is (to quote The Graduate) “plastics.”

Music

On this date in….

1956: Driving to New York for TV appearances, the car carrying Carl “Blue Suede Shoes” Perkins was involved in an accident putting Perkins in hospital for several months. His brother Jay was killed in the accident. Here’s Carl, Clapton and Johnny Cash going wild with Perkins’ “Matchbox,” earlier (you may recall) covered by The Beatles, among others.

1965: Dylan released his first electric album, Bringing it All Back Home, preceded by that first revolutionary track, “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” No, fans, “Like a Rolling Stone” did not kick things off, but it did hit like a bomb a few months later. Of course, we are all familiar with the “Subterranean” video that has been called the first modern version of that form, with Dylan and his flash cards on a street and Allen Ginsberg hanging out with piles of garbage on the left. But not seen for decades was this filming, below, for an alt-version, quite different. Here we start in London with what the song would have sounded like if Bob had not asked his guitarist to plug in…then we get the electric jolt and Ginsberg is there again, but in a park. Then we see some of the familiar video from the street, and then back to the park…. .

While we’re here, let’s return to the fine parody in Tim Robbins’ wild and wonderful Bob Roberts.

Film

Would love to see this: Chris Columbus, director of Mrs. Doubtfire, now says there should be an “R-rated” version because of Robin Williams’ ad-libs. But don’t get too excited, he says no plans for a release.

Aretha’s family has blasted Nat Geo for not consulting with them more for new series that started last night. “In a statement, NatGeo acknowledged a disconnect with the Franklin family but stood by how they conducted research for the Genius series, which has focused past seasons on Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.” Certainly the series appears to be ultra-hard on her preacher dad and husband Ted. BTW, high point of last night’s first episode was Aretha recording “I Never Loved a Man” with the Wrecking Crew at Muscle Shoals, with Jerry Wexler in the booth. If you’re wondering why there were references to “Respect” but no song—producers did not secure the very expensive rights.

A new doc on dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp, Twyla Moves, coming this Friday on American Masters at PBS.

Going nuclear: Here’s a wrap-up of responses so far to the world premiere of my film, Atomic Cover-up, at the Cinequest festival (it runs March 20-30). You can watch online for just $3.99. Go here to read more, watch trailer, buy tix. On Saturday, I posted here at Substack how I came to discover this story….38 years ago.

Song Pick of the Day

Lucinda Williams with a highlight from her classic Car Wheels album. Enough said. “Can’t Let Go” after all these years.

Greg Mitchell’s film, Atomic Cover-up, will have its American premiere at the Cinequest Film festival March 20-30. Go here to read more, watch trailer, buy tix. He 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.