Tales from the Vinyl Vault

At left, Andy the Doorbum (center) at the Bohemian Cafe in Greenville today, part of RECORD STORE DAY at Horizon Records.

One CD he has recorded is titled "Art is Shit"--and who could argue?

~*~

It appears that the late Andrew Breitbart did NOT have cocaine in his system when he died. The coroner has declared his cause-of-death was a garden-variety heart attack. I STAND CORRECTED! (See, when I am wrong, I promptly admit it... more or less.) I am still skeptical that hard-partying Breitbart was living the drug-free life, of course, and duly remind my readers that coke exits the body without a trace in only about three days. (Breitbart had already admitted youthful drug abuse). I still believe he was all jacked up in this video. And if not, it might be more alarming than if he WAS. I mean, he appears utterly psychotic.

In any event, such a tantrum (check out how red-faced he is, as the cop attempts to guide him in the opposite direction) could not have been any good for his heart. Anger is not good for us, I try to remind myself.

I've always wondered if the cautions against anger in all the world's holy books, are also health guidelines, like the dietary laws turned out to be. The Type A personality is real (and we can all name one we know), but whether it actually leads to heart disease is debatable. But Type A can go either way, it can lead to fulfilling personal ambitions and providing needed leadership, or it can create a whacked-out spectacle like Breitbart screaming incomprehensibly at protesters.

~*~

At left: The Vinyl Vault at Horizon Records. I am grateful I didn't get rid of all my vinyl--I still have several hundred vinyl LPs that I hope to leave to my descendants.

Unless of course, there is a sudden "Cash for Vinyl!" movement and I am bribed with huge sums on loud, late-night TV commercials ... in which case, all bets are off.

~*~

Just watched a panel from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, titled "Nonfiction: Narrating Disaster" which highlighted three fascinating books that are now on my list--

The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street by Robert Scheer.

The Rainy Season: Haiti - Then and Now by Amy Wilentz

A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher by Joel Achenbach

I am currently devouring Joe McGinniss' NEVER ENOUGH, about the murder of the mega-successful, filthy-rich Kissel brothers. Other books I have read recently include VIRTUE AND REALITY by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (which you can read online too, at the link) and HOMECOMINGS by Risa Bear, the intense and honest biography of a trans woman who transitioned later in life (and who also happens to be my friend). Both books are great spiritual tutorials.

In particular, I can't recommend Risa's book enough. I just loved it.

Living lives true to ourselves, without constant, neurotic worry over what other people are saying and thinking about us, is something that can unexpectedly happen to women as we enter our 50s. Those things we have always wanted to do and say, we finally do and say, without apology. We have always put everyone else first, and now... it is time to put ourselves first. Risa writes from the perspective of one who is in this space, who has decided to be herself at long last.

Her joy at finally being/becoming herself supersedes and eclipses the opinions of others.

I hope at some point, to get to this point myself.

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Tune in tomorrow!

I am very pleased to announce we will be talking with Dr Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program, tomorrow morning on the Daisy Deadhead Show.

We are on bright and early at 9-10am, 1600AM and/or 94.9FM on your radio dial here in upstate South Carolina. (Broadcast note: The AM station can be heard all the way into downtown Greenville, although the FM station flags a bit and tends to break up as you approach the central regions of Greenville County.) You can also listen through livestreaming on the WFIS radio website. Our show is usually available later on Saturday afternoons through Black Talk Radio Network and Talk Shoe, which I highly recommend for optimal sound quality. You can also listen via your phone by calling 724-444-7444. The caller ID is 112747#, and the password is 1#. (NOTE: As a high-tech-challenged grandma who still finds certain apps dazzling, let me confess, I find the fact that you can listen to talk radio on a phone to be pretty incredible!)

Dr Flowers is a doctor, activist and Occupier, an innovative and fascinating combination; I am interested in how she integrates these roles in her professional life. Physicians for a National Health Program is a single-issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. PNHP has more than 18,000 members and chapters across the United States.

I have been particularly obsessed with the universal health care issue ever since our Occupy film series, where we viewed and discussed the comprehensive documentaries Sick Around America and Sick Around the World. Specifically, I hadn't known about the systems in Japan and Switzerland, and how they manage their health care program. Once I realized that this IS doable, and HAS BEEN done (despite Republican propaganda to the contrary) -- I wondered why we are the last industrialized Western nation to get it done?

And why ARE we?

This is what we will be discussing with Dr Margaret, so tune in!

~*~

Please contact me or my consigliere, Gregg Jocoy (daisyshow@yahoo.com and/or greggjocoy@yahoo.com), if you have progressive opinions, events, concerns, etc that you would like us to cover. If you are a wit, or if you are as eloquent as last week's guests (Chris Harris, Traci Fant and Amelia Pena), then you belong on radio, and we'd love to hear from you.

In addition, some of the people we have been privileged to interview on the air so far:

Ross Levin, Green Party member, college student and Occupier, who called us directly from Occupy Wall Street and commented on what he saw there.
Lisa Simeone of World of Opera.
Joni LeCompte, writer, mother, local Occupier extraordinaire.
Uma Seaman, spiritual blogger, yogini, massage therapist, Occupier.
Jeff Sharlet, author of C-Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy and Sweet Heaven When I Die.
Sheila Jackson, local powerhouse activist, fundraiser and MoveOn member, also commented on her experiences as an Occupier in Zuccotti Park in New York. (I think Sheila has been on 3 or 4 times, and currently holds the record!)
Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President.

And yes, we almost added Noam Chomsky to this illustrious list, but we weren't quite ready for prime time!

I am probably missing some people, and for that I apologize. But if you would like to be added, as I said, contact one of us. We are currently into our 8th month of the show, and I haven't collapsed from stagefright (radiofright?) yet.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

~*~


EDIT 4/21/12: Scotty's internet connection was lost and we only got about 25% of the show for the podcast, I think it was the last 25%. This is NOT our fault, for once, you can blame Time Warner Cable! But it was a great interview and I regret we couldn't save it all. We are going to start recording the show on CDs, old-school style, in case this happens again. Argh!

Aside: I went on something of a rant (what? me?) for the first 20 minutes of the show, so maybe it was ME who shorted out the cable connection. Perhaps this was divine intervention--saving me from the further ire of the "Democrats" --although I am disappointed so many people will miss Gregg's NPR-voice, which is just a marvel. He sounds just like one of them! We have decided to make Gregg's boilerplate NPR-liberal a permanent feature of the show, just like my Arianna Huffington impersonation (which was really my old impersonation of Eva Gabor on GREEN ACRES, updated with politics), which has proven to be unexpectedly popular.

At the least, yall can listen to Jello Biafra's LOVE ME, I'M A LIBERAL, which is how we closed the show.

Thanks to everyone for bearing with us anyway!--DD

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Levon Helm 1940-2012

I heard from my friend Blue Heron that Levon Helm had passed, which just broke my heart.

I adored his raspy Arkansas voice. I also loved him in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff, which he narrated wonderfully in his trademark twang.

We will miss him so much.

Levon Helm, Drummer in the Band, Dies at 71
By JON PARELES
New York Times

Levon Helm, who helped forge a deep-rooted American music as the drummer and singer for the Band, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 71 and lived in Woodstock, N.Y.

His death, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, was from complications of cancer, a spokeswoman for Vanguard Records said. He had recorded several albums for the label.

In Mr. Helm’s drumming, muscle, swing, economy and finesse were inseparably merged. His voice held the bluesy, weathered and resilient essence of his Arkansas upbringing in the Mississippi Delta.

Mr. Helm was the American linchpin of the otherwise Canadian group that became Bob Dylan’s backup band and then the Band. Its own songs, largely written by the Band’s guitarist, Jaime Robbie Robertson, and pianist, Richard Manuel, spring from roadhouse, church, backwoods, river and farm; they are rock-ribbed with history and tradition yet hauntingly surreal.

After the Band broke up in 1976, Mr. Helm continued to perform at every opportunity, working with a partly reunited Band and leading his own groups. He also acted in films, notably “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980). In the 2000s he became a roots-music patriarch, turning his barn in Woodstock — which had been a recording studio since 1975 — into the home of down-home, eclectic concerts called Midnight Rambles, which led to tours and Grammy-winning albums.

Mr. Helm gave his drums a muffled, bottom-heavy sound that placed them in the foundation of the arrangements, and his tom-toms were tuned so that their pitch would bend downward as the tone faded. But his playing didn’t call attention to himself. Three bass-drum thumps at the beginning of one of the Band’s anthems, “The Weight,“ were all that he needed to establish the song’s gravity. His playing served the song. In “The Shape I’m In," he juxtaposed Memphis soul, New Orleans rumba and military tattoo. But though it was tersely responsive to the music, the drumming also had an improvisational feel.

In the Band, lead vocals changed from song to song and sometimes within songs, and harmonies were elaborately communal. But particularly when lyrics turned to myths and tall tales of the American South — like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Ophelia” and “Rag Mama Rag” — the lead went to Mr. Helm, with his Arkansas twang and a voice that could sound desperate, ornery and amused at the same time.

Indeed it could.

~*~

And here is one of those amazing songs that you tend to hear at apocalyptic moments. Not for nothing has it become an ongoing cinema-staple, usually played as the protagonists are figuring out something important.

I remember a fight with my mother as a teenager, and going out on the stoop to pout. Hearing the song at that moment (coming from somewhere across the street) was a spiritual lesson I needed, one of my first tutorials in The First Noble Truth.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And Levon was my teacher, in those few moments.

The Weight - The Band



Requiescat in pace.

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Dirt

Some angry local "Democrat" wrote a nasty, 1445-word (!) hit-piece on me, and has now even outed me with my legal name.

Otherwise, I would link it here and we could brawl further.

But using my name is an unbridled personal attack and here in upstate South Carolina, could even expose me to actual physical danger. I use a pseudonym here and on the air, for good reasons.

About this sordid affair, I will say no more (((sigh))), but its been going on for days now. (This guy obviously has the serious hots for Ann Romney! My radio-show comments about her have made him bloody frantic.) Also, this is my golden opportunity to link the blog Genderratic, where Gingko often discusses the phenomena he calls "damseling"--when men come to women's rescue for ostensibly pseudofeminist reasons; you know, like this "Democrat" defending poor, beleaguered Ann Romney, who needs serious protection from little nobodies like your humble narrator. (Or something like that.)

And it made me think of this song. It just POPPED into my head. :)

I am pretty sure Lou wrote it about Iggy Pop, since Iggy also wrote a song by the same name.

I guess they weren't getting along so well, at that point.

Dirt - Lou Reed



This is my last word on this subject, since I am now banned from this guy's blog (so people can go on to discuss me without me interfering or correcting the copious inaccuracies). Considering what happened to left wing radio host Alan Berg, I am thinking I need to start carrying a weapon myself. After all, South Carolina has lots more white supremacists than Colorado ever did. And this man has deliberately turned me into a target by naming me.

What kind of gun? I'd prefer an M-16, but I don't think it will fit into my purse.

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Dick Clark 1929-2012

In this post only nine days ago, I briefly mentioned the Rolling Stones concert in San Francisco. One thing I remember from that show is a couple dancing together (very well), and when they finished, someone shouted out, "Let's hear it for couple number 14 from Milwaukee!" and everyone standing around applauded, whistled and laughed appreciatively.

I realized that a lot of Americans would not get that joke now. And it made me sad.

His name was Dick Clark, and we grew up with him. Now he is gone, along with his black counterpart, Don Cornelius. And with them passes a whole way of life, memorialized in musicals like Grease: young people dancing on live TV to the popular songs of the day.

Upon hearing of Clark's passing, my first thought was the 'tribute song' by Barry Manilow (a remake of Les Elgart's big-band original, with updated lyrics mentioning the show and Clark by name)-- which Clark liked so much he closed out American Bandstand with it from 1977 until the show's demise.

The song sums it up.

Bandstand Boogie - Barry Manilow



(He actually starts DANCING in the middle, and then continues singing. I very much doubt he smoked!)

We're goin hoppin
we're goin happin
Where things are poppin
The Philadelphia way
Were gonna drop in
On all the music they play
On the Bandstand

Bandstand, bandstand, bandstand

Hey! I'm makin my mark
Gee, this joint is jumpin
They made such a fuss
just to see us arrive
Hey, it's Mister Dick Clark
What a place you've got here!
Swell spot, the music's hot here
Best in the east,
Give it at least
A seventy five!

And as you know, lots of the songs were worth the whole hundred percent. :)

This list gives you a partial idea of the impact of American Bandstand on mass media and pop culture.

Goodbye Dick, and thanks for the jams.

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Weekend update

At left: a fabulous vintage Chevy Bel Air, which I saw parked nearby yesterday. Any estimates on the year? I am thinking maybe 1957 or 58, which makes it as old as I am. It was bee-yoo-ti-full!

As I was taking the photos, people passed by and nodded approvingly, one announcing that it was right purty. It sure is. ((swoons)) A small consolation prize for no pink Packard, though! (I am still kicking myself for not being able to get that photo.)

~*~

Yesterday, I attended the WXMP Community Radio Meet and Greet at the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination. (photos here) I would love for Community Radio to become a reality in the upstate. We watched a video about the Prometheus Radio Project, which was exciting and got my hopes all stoked up. In addition, we learned about the Media Access Project and the series of cases known as Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC -- which challenged radio-monopolies, making community radio a real possibility.

Efia Nwangaza, director of the Center, has the transmitter already and basically just needs to get it moved... but the costs can be staggering.

Right now, my show is on WFIS, which is commercial radio. Community radio is much more free-form, and as long as you keep the FCC rules (no cussing!), you can say any kind of crazed radical stuff you want. Then again, the wattage is not usually too high, so the listening-area isn't as large as commercial radio.

I'd love to try both, but that is likely over-extending myself.

Speaking of over-extending, just came from the dentist (ugh) and will not be making it to the meeting with Rep. Bakari Sellars; I am hoping mainstream media will cover the event halfway decently. (But if they don't, I certainly won't be surprised.) Recently, there has been a huge discussion about the various versions of Stand Your Ground laws across the USA, and I am very pleased my show was part of that. Folks are busy evaluating and re-evaluating South Carolina's Protection of Persons and Property Act (which has a "Stand Your Ground" provision included), and lots of ideas and alternatives are currently being proposed and exchanged.

I have heard from several people that our Saturday show was the best yet! You be the judge.

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More on "Stand Your Ground" laws

... which we covered in depth today on my radio show this morning. As you know, this is the law being used to defend George Zimmerman, arrested this week in connection with the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida.

Our guests, Traci Fant (organizer of the local rally seeking justice for Trayvon), Chris Harris and Amelia Pena, discussed South Carolina's "Stand your ground" law, which is a provision in the "Protection of Persons and Property Act." This was defined by the SC Legislature in SECTION 16-11-440(C) and is considered an extension or clarification of the "Castle doctrine"--a concept discussed at length by my radio-show participants.

In my opinion, the Castle doctrine should be sufficient, so I am not sure why an additional law was necessary. The National Rifle Association (and how did you guess) was one of the main agitators for the PPPA, which makes me wonder if increasing gun-sales was one incentive for the law. Concealed-carry laws are currently classified as "shall-issue"--one of those weird in-between categories nobody can quite figure out. Basically, if you ask for a permit and you are not a convicted felon, they will give you one for $50.

Since this IS South Carolina, I would wager all of the people in my radio-discussion had guns of their/our own (two out of three referred to their weaponry). We ain't skeered of guns in these parts. But of course, WE are not the people we are worried about.

The Stand Your Ground law has already been abused and/or (as in the case of Zimmerman) used to cover up some shifty and suspicious behavior.

Some examples--

Jason Dickey Manslaughter Conviction overturned:

Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote that Jason Dickey acted in self-defense in the shooting of 24-year-old Joshua Boot of West Columbia.

Dickey was a security guard at an apartment building and has served five years of a 16-year sentence.

Toal wrote that Dickey was confronted by two younger, intoxicated large men advancing toward him at the Cornell Arms apartment complex in downtown Columbia.

Associate Justice Don Beatty dissented in the 4-1 ruling, saying Dickey could have avoided the confrontation and was not inside the apartment building at the time of the shooting.

Dickey said Joshua Boot didn't live in the building, refused an order to leave, and came after him with a bottle.

Columbia defense attorney Jack Swerling represented Dickey in his 2006 trial and says the state Supreme Court's recent move makes this an "important case," but does not set a legal precedent for the thousands of South Carolinians with concealed weapons permits to open fire if they feel threatened.

It doesn't? Of course it does.

Does a "bottle" equal a gun? I'd say one fellow was, um, outgunned, wouldn't you?

And what of a seemingly-simple situation that suddenly becomes very deadly, very quickly?:

Gregory Kirk Duncan didn't take too kindly to the way Christopher Spicer, a guest in his Greenville County home, was talking about a picture of his daughter in a cheerleading outfit. Duncan asked Spicer to leave, and he did — but not for long.

Within minutes after exiting the house, Spicer tried to come back in through the screen porch door. Duncan stepped out onto the porch with a gun in hand and told him to leave, but Spicer kept trying to force his way past. So Duncan put a bullet through Spicer's head.

Duncan was initially jailed for the shooting, but a Greenville County circuit court judge appealed his arrest, citing South Carolina's Protection of Persons and Property Act, a series of laws enacted in 2006 that guaranteed a person the right to defend him or herself against "great bodily injury" in his or her own home, vehicle, or business. The case made its way to the state Supreme Court, and in May 2011, based on testimonies that confirmed the preceding story, Duncan was exonerated. The court ruled that Spicer's forceful attempt at entering the home constituted an adequate threat to warrant self-defense under the law.

Known as the "Bluffton Christmas Tow Truck slaying"--Preston Oates is now using the aforementioned "Castle Doctrine" as his defense in the shooting of Carlos Olivera. (This is after his escape-plan didn't work out.)

The shooting has greatly heightened existing ethnic-tensions in Bluffton for well over a year now:

Nelson [Olivera] has replayed the scene hundreds of times in his head. Still, he can’t comprehend how a trivial parking dispute could have ended so badly, leaving his younger brother dead and four kids without their father.

“It’s so sad. It was the holiday, and we were all laughing, smiling and hugging,” he said, shaking his head. “Then, in five minutes, our whole lives changed forever.”

Tow truck driver Preston Oates fatally shot 34-year-old Carlos Olivera on Dec. 24 after the two men argued over a parking boot Oates placed on Olivera’s minivan.

But just how that transpired, who was at fault and what penalty Oates should pay has been the subject of a bitter debate that has stirred ethnic tensions in this sprawling suburban community in Beaufort County.

Oates, who said the shooting was in self-defense, is charged with manslaughter and a weapons violation in Olivera’s killing. But some in the community, including Olivera’s family, want the charge upgraded to murder.

They say Oates shot Olivera execution-style while the victim had his back turned. Olivera was carrying a gun that night as well, but he never fired his weapon, authorities have said.

Another well-known incident locally, involved the shooting of a homeless squatter in Spartanburg. They shot him before even calling law enforcement.

And then they charged him with trespassing:

No charges will be filed against a homeowner who shot a homeless man at a vacant Converse Heights house earlier this week.

Citing a section of state law called the Castle doctrine, the Spartanburg Public Safety Department announced in a written statement Friday night that no charges would be filed against Maria Thompson or her husband, Ray Earl “Chuck” Thompson Jr., both of Chesnee.

A warrant, however, has been signed against the homeless man, 31-year-old Gregory Wells, charging him with unlawful entry, which is a felony, according to the statement.

On Tuesday afternoon, officers responded to 183 Connecticut Ave., which is a vacant home that is listed for sale. According to an incident report, Ray Thompson and Maria Thompson were notified by a real estate agent that a man was in their home when the agent came to show it.

The couple went to the home, and as Maria Thompson was looking for a house key, her husband pulled on the door, which opened, the report states. The couple later told police that Wells met Ray Thompson at the door. Ray Thompson asked Wells what he was doing in the house, according to the report, and the homeowner pulled out his .45-caliber handgun as Wells approached. Ray Thompson told police that he warned Wells to back up or be shot, the report states.

And finally, last weekend, another incident in Spartanburg, as two men were shot during an apparent robbery:

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office says it happened shortly after midnight Saturday at the 300 Building of Lee’s Crossing Apartments on Powell Mill Road.

When deputies arrived they found two people lying on the ground outside the apartment window behind several air conditioning units.

Deputies say the resident of the apartment building shot the two suspects. One suspect died on the scene, the other was taken to the hospital where he died.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger says Michael Deangelo Gentry-Hill Jr. and Darren Tyree “Ty” Hill both from Spartanburg died from gun shots wounds.

The Sheriff’s Office says there is not a threat to the community. Investigators have spoken with the resident of the apartment and no charges has been filed at this time.

The hitch in this last case is that Douglas Williams, the 29-year-old who shot the two intruders, was not supposed to be carrying a weapon, as a convicted felon. Nonetheless, he seemed to believe the Stand Your Ground law applied to him too.

AND THIS IS HOW IT WORKS IN REAL LIFE, PEOPLE. Everyone thinks they have the right to shoot anyone who "advances" on them, or just squats in a house. We have regressed to the Wild West, where everyone can pull their glossy six-shooters on everyone else, while simultaneously claiming to be the wronged party.

SC State Representative Bakari Sellers has proposed a bill to repeal the “Stand Your Ground” provision of South Carolina’s "Protection of Persons and Property Act"--which targets the phrasing in the bill regarding "retreating"--something I am not sure I totally understand. My guests believed it is unlikely that the total PPPA could be repealed here, and I agree. But could we modify or reform part of the bill? This remains to be seen.

STAND YOUR GROUND will be the subject of a local Q-and-A here in Greenville at the Reedy River Missionary Baptist Church, Monday night, 6pm. People like me, who don't quite understand all of the particulars, will be able to ask Rep. Sellers questions in person. What is the difference between repeal of the entire PPPA and modifying the "Stand Your Ground" section? How is this any different from the existing "Castle doctrine"? This is your chance to learn! Be there or be square. Hope everyone with questions will suit up and show up, and ask those questions.

DEAD AIR is planning to be there, so if you have any questions that are specifically about the SYG law, go ahead and ask them here, and I'll see what I can do. Let your voices be heard!

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