A Starr Turn

There was a wonderful article this week in the Washington Post about Ringo Starr still touring at age 86. Not because he has to, of course, but because he absolutely loves it. The article is a pure joy, and you can read it here. It's fairly long, but I was surprised by that because it reads so fast, because it's such fun.

For as terrific as the article is, there was one passage near the end which stoof out for me.

"He has recorded and released more than 260 songs across nearly two dozen studio albums since 1970, but not one of them had been a duet with Paul McCartney, his surviving bandmate. But about two years after Starr had an impromptu jam session on drums in 2024 with producer Andrew Watt, McCartney heard the recording and believed it had to be a song. Starr started to record the choruses for 'Home to Us,' because, well, that’s what he had always done in the past. Not this time.

"When the single was released last May on McCartney’s album 'The Boys of Dungeon Lane,' it marked the first time the two living Beatles performed the full vocals on a song as a duo.

“[McCartney] said, ‘Oh, man, you’re sounding great. Why don’t you sing it all? We’ll do it as a double.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, okay, that’ll be a change!’” Starr says, guffawing. “With Paul and I, it’s never been like that before. It’s always been that he comes over and plays bass for me, like he has several times over the last 50 years.

“We still talk to each other, still say, ‘Love you, man,’ and we’re pals when we’re in the same country.” After reading that, I clicked on the link to hear the song. I had no idea it existed (I like the Beatles, and appreciate their invidivual work, though I was never remotely a Beatlemaniac, so I don't keep up with such things), but that isn't terribly surprising. After all, although the article says the song was released in May, it was specifically May 29, so it was virtually June, just four months ago. I listened. It's lighthearted, but very touching underneath...and extremely enjoyable. And all the more touching in hearing the two singers alternating lines through the song -- and then joining voices at particiually lrical moments. Here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLRV8hRRUHo

Passing Gas

The other day, I noted how Trump has gotten so manic that the headlines of his news stories are crazy enough that you almost don't need any further explanation. Well, he did it yet again. Of course.

This time, the headline on Monday was "Trump administration lowers fuel economy standard from 50 MPG to 35 MPG amid gas price crisis."

I'm tempted to stop right there, but there are too many reasons why merely this headline on Trump is lunatic enough on its own that I don't want any to fall through the cracks.

First and foremost, in the midst of a crisis where the price of gas has skyrocketed, and people are struggling to pay the cost of filling of their tanks, for some families twice a week, it would seem that the very last thing a leader (especially one with a 32% approval) would want to do is tell the public you think that using 30% more gas is the way to go. Moreover, this doesn't increase the availability of gas -- which Trump has desperately trying to do, ever since U.S. oil reserves have dwindled -- it signals that he wants there to be less gas, since that's what happens when gas guzzling cars guzzle burn it up faster. This is the exact opposite message you want to send people about to vote in the Mid-Term, angry at how much they have for gas because you started an unnecessary was that cut off supplies.

I'm also tempted to stop there, except there's more.

Because secondly, experts say this will hurt national security. After all, when you lower standards which will result in people using 30% more gas, and our reserves are already low, it makes the country more reliant on outside oil. Which means giving more power to countries overflowing with oil. Like, oh, Russia and Iran.

And while I'm tempted to stop there, as well, I have to push on, even if it means stating the obvious -- which, after all, is the point of headlines so terrible they tell the whole story. And the obvious is that when you cut environmental protections by 30%, you're going to cause major problems to the environment. Now, yes, I know that Trump doesn't believe in Climate Change. But science is not a belief system. So, if already we're facing colder winters, brutally hotter summers, strong hurricanes, bigger wildfires and more, imagine increasing that by 30%.

There's one good thing about this Trump order -- good, because it's further evidence of the utter stupidity of the new, drastically-lower standard. It's not scheduled to be met until 2031, five years from now. After Trump is long out of office, and the next president will eliminate it. So, why on earth order this -- at any time, but right before an election??

But that's the very point of this Trump headline being so crazy all on its own. Without even having to get any further past it into the details of why it's so bad. When you see just the headline by itself, nothing more needed, it clearly would be horrible for the environment , it clearly would be a serious danger to national security, and most clearly and most blatantly of all, in just a few words, it tells people ready to vote that, in the middle of a horrendous gas crisis, that the head of the MAGOP -- who literally created the crisis -- wants you to get ready to use more gas!

The man is his own worst enemy. And his party rallies around to enable it all. And there will only be more of it. Because Trump has dementia, which is degenerative. And the people around him are only there to , "Y'know, this is a really, really, really great idea. Pass it on!" No matter how disastrous it is.

Edgar Bergen Times 3

As I’ve mentioned, I’m a big fan of Edgar Bergen, and this is a wonderfully fun video and nice primer for those who don’t know his work since he performs with all three of his characters – Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd (who might be my favorite) and the rarely seen (especially in YouTube clips) Effie Klinker. 

What I always love about Bergen and was impressed by is not just the humor of the writing and performance, but above all, I think, how he creates such involving and distinctive characters.  And the latter is likely why he had such huge success on radio, a medium that one would otherwise think was not just contrary to a ventriloquist, but ludicrous.This comes from 1978, the year he passed away, so it’s wonderful to have captured the performance.  It’s a TV special, The Vent Event, hosted by Steve Allen that presented ventriloquists Bergen, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, and The Muppets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wizwZV7EyLA