John Lennon rehearses Give Peace a Chance at the Montreal Bed-In. Photo by Roy Kerwood. Source: Wikimedia.org.
Merlin Mann put our artist lifestyles in perspective, “Put plainer, my sense is that western culture would be a damn sight poorer today if John Lennon had been forced to carry a goddamn BlackBerry.”
‘Tis true, Merlin. ‘Tis true. I’d hope he’d have been better at ignoring the stuff than I am.
I gotta tell ya. After three missed years, there, including the third –I think- in which the store that housed it closed soon thereafter, I’m so gonna campaign to play at this show. Maybe I’ll just make some kit up, and apply for a booth. We’ll see.
Yes. I’m finally getting around to getting some new videos up. I was tweaking and experimenting with settings in the editing software, trying to get the video ready to YouTube. So, I looked for some advice on such settings. I found this instead. This is where I should have started.
That’s how you make a good music video.
Thanks, guys!
Well, it’s not the best news for American brew lovers. If you liked the idea that the United States still housed the headquarters of one of the largest brewing companies in the world, you may have wept a bit. If you work for Anheuser-Busch, especially in any role that doesn’t directly produce beer, you may be worrying about your job. If you are a marketing company –particularly DDB in Chicago- or a not-for-profit dependent on the goodwill of Anheuser-Busch, especially if you’re in Missouri or Illinois, you may be frantically making phone calls. If you love any or all of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, you may wonder what’s going to happen next. As of this evening, we’re looking at the last minutes of American ownership of a major brewer. InBev, the Belgian brewer that is the second largest worldwide, seems to have succeeded in its attempt to buy Anheuser-Busch. The board has, apparently, accepted InBev’s $70 per share offer.
Fear not, though. Schlafly, that spunky second-largest Saint Louis brewing company, laid down its plan, back in June, to buy InBev. As far as I know, they are still working hard, with only another $50 billion to go to buy the company. Of course, now it will take almost double that to buy the combined Anheuser-Busch Inbev.
I have $25.43, and I’m making the phone call, right now. Help bring Anheuser-Busch back to America!
On 4 July 1776, over 500 years after Ireland began saying it, the colonies now officially known as “that big, eastern chunk of the United States” finally chimed in with a semi-united, single-spaced, handwritten “B-Bye” to their tyrannical ruler in London. Now, 232 years later, despite a long resurgence of anglophilia; including stylish British English yod-insertion and non-rhoticism (-r dropping), that led to such things as Southern, New York, and New England pronunciation; Americans once again celebrate independence.
So, America, go out, watch a fireworks show and an action film, and throw some burgers on the barbecue. Try to be safe, and try to spend fewer of those under-valued U.S. dollars on petroleum, and maybe a few more on Anheuser-Busch products. That way, those dollars will stay out of oil-industry pockets, and A-B will have more money to keep the Belgians –whose board was taken over by Brazilians- from taking over the company that was founded by Germans, whose flagship product is 100% American, but named after a Czech town.
For a good Independence Day movie, why not rent The Patriot, starring those great Americans Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger. You could also rent that American icon Batman, of course, in Batman Begins, featuring American patriot, Christian Bale. He did portray, after all, that lovable would-be cowboy, new york newsboy, in Newsies, as well as American Psycho.
Remember to show respect to the many that wish to be in America. We’ve got immigration issues galore, for sure. Don’t forget, though, that most Americans are born and raised in America because a bunch of their ancestors fell off of boats coming from somewhere else. Not all of them, either, were as hard-working as the many men and women who struggle to come to America today. We’re all lucky someone didn’t stick our forebears back on the ship with a hearty “return to sender”.
Maybe within the next year or two, we’ll come up with a robust, humane provision for all the people who want to live in America, on purpose, not just because they were lucky enough to be born here. We’re here because someone else got that chance, and particularly easily, too.
Cheers!
Tomorrow, 19 June, join me and Dump the Pump. Ride your bike, the bus, the train, or walk to work or the store, tomorrow. You might find that you feel a lot better for doing so, at least in your wallet.
For more information, go to the Dump the Pump website.
Do you ride mass transit, walk, or ride your bike as transportation? Are you going to try Dumping the Pump, tomorrow?
I hope you all stocked up on V-8, or the hair of the dog, or whatever, before yesterday’s Bloomsday.
For those unaware, Bloomsday is a sort of Saint Patrick’s Day for Mensa Members. It’s a day when the 750 million people who say they’ve read James Joyce’s Ulysses cover to cover –including the 642 who actually have- celebrate the Dublin meanderings of the book’s characters, especially Leopold Bloom, on 16 June 1904.
Perhaps I should begin reading the book again myself. I once made it to “Nestor” before being overtaken by pretty much anything else, maybe some celebrating. Anyway, perhaps I should check it out from the library, tonight, and encourage you all to do so, as well. We can read it together, and record a weekly song about each episode. I’m not kidding. I’ll fish out my library card, right now, and head to Carondelet Branch to pick up a giant copy.
So, join me in a summer of Joyce! We’ll read about our favorite fictitious Jewish-Irish Dubliner.
Well, I finally did this thing. I resisted, or, perhaps more accurately, procrastinated, for a long time. Now, though, I’ve Country of Origin stickers. You know them. They’re the cheeky, little oval stickers that black Hummer and Escalade drivers use to make you feel bad that they’ve been to the Outer Banks, or live in the Hamptons, or swam on the Jersey shore, or whatever; and you do not.
Well, fire back, my friends. Put one of these little oval stickers on the back of your Yaris, and you’re good to go.
Instead of the UNCCDEEDIDDLYAYDIO standard, white background, these sport the totally non-compliant Irish tricolor background.
Now, maybe that Dave Matthews will stop emailing me, and gloating that he has one and I don’t. Thanks, DMB.
Peace out,
RAMZ/RMC/RAMC
If you’d like to order one of these bad girls, check out the oval sticker at my cafepress shoppe.
With all the noise on teh internets, this past week, over the fan videos showing the real Miley Cyrus being cloaked by a dancer, then, whisked off-stage via door number 2, as a body double emerges from door number 1, I felt responsible for bringing some clarity and sanity to the situation, or lack thereof.
I have to say that I’m dismayed, annoyed, and, now suffer from great ennui as a result of writers’ pretensions that this is some sort of betrayal of all Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus fans.
I don’t see what the big deal is. A little creative make-believe is part and parcel to this type of show. Sure, on the surface, this is a music show. But that’s not why parents paid $50 to $2000 for tickets that, in the real world, should have cost more like $20-$30. There’s a lot of hype, and a lot of “magic” expected. It IS Disney, is it not?
Besides, many of her fans still go to bed early on Christmas Eve, and listen for the sounds of Santa’s reindeer upon the roof. Telling them that Miley/Hannah employs a double in the last 2 minutes of her Hannah set is like telling them, or their only-somewhat younger siblings, that the Teletubbies and Captain Feathersword are costumed characters.
Forget about Disney, and the make-believe. Shoot! Even I use a double at the end of Johnny Jump Up, to give me enough time to change my shirt and my pick for the next set! This is important to keep continuity during the Jonathan Ramsey/Jonathan Ramsey Show.
For all we know, this started when Ike Turner used a double at the end of every live performance of Rocket 88 (the first Rock and Roll song), so he could change his shirt and get another drink. Maybe.
Anyway, check out this video below, and decide for yourself, if it’s worth the bandwidth on YouTube and Yahoo Video… Read more …
J Todd Music
Get Your CD!
Jonathan @ Sonicbids
Jonathan Ramsey T-Shirts and Stuff by CloverGrrrl
Kansas City Irish Fest