Thursday, December 01, 2005

Various and Sundry

John Hall, a songwriter famous for writing the hits "Still the One" and "Dance With Me" for the band Orleans, was upset when Bush-Cheney used "Still the One" on the campaign trail. Now Hall is running for Congress in New York's 19th district. Why not? Sonny Bono was a songwriter-turned-congressman. (Of course, I'd take "Needles and Pins" and "I Got You Babe" over "Still the One" any day.)

In other songwriter news, The Right Brothers, a pro-establishment country-rock duo comprised of two seasoned Nashville songwriters, have been in the news lately for their new single, "Bush Was Right." The song's lyrics are simplified GOP talking points arranged in the style of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." A website called Right March.com is leading an effort to get the video for "Bush Was Right" played on MTV's Total Request Live. As Keith Olberman points out, the video's inability to get on TRL will likely have little to do with politics.

For reasons unrelated to the site's content, today I was directed to The Timothy Plan's website. The Timothy Plan seeks to offer investors a "biblical choice" by helping them avoid investing in companies "that are involved in practices contrary to Judeo-Christian principles." Contrary practices include "abortion, pörnography, anti-family entertainment, non-married lifestyles, alcohol, tobacco and gambling," but do not include low wages, poor working conditions, insufficient health benefits, or poor environmental stewardship. But alas, I've already discussed such matters at length here.

Right now The White Stripes are performing on The Daily Show, the show's first musical guests. I'm not sure how I feel about music on The Daily Show (nor how I feel about the White Stripes), but I have to admit that I like what I've heard from Get Behind Me Satan, the band's newest album. As it were, the Stripes are the latest band to use piano as a primary instrument. Pianos and other keyboards are annoyingly popular in rock music right now. For the record, I was writing and playing piano-based rock songs with Pink Mongoose as early as 1997.

Vanderbilt's men's basketball team improved to 5-0 last night with a last-second 76-75 victory over Oregon. If anyone has video, let me know.

I'm done for the night.

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