I hear the laughter. Either Republicans in Congress are laughing

• at both Obama and the middle class

or

• with Obama at the middle class

Which is it?

Based on Obama’s professed admiration for Reagan, the people he chose for the Bowles-Simpson catfood commission, and the inclusion of the payroll tax “holiday” in this deal, it’s the latter: Obama is laughing with Republicans at the middle class. Either way it’s galling.

Watch (or read the text of) Keith Olbermann’s special comment on this. He nails it.

Call your representative and senators. Will the Democrats in Congress eventually fold? Probably. But at least you’ll be able to say you tried to do something about it.

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The older of the two is the title track from the 1977 album Show Some Emotion by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. Listen to the organ played by John “Rabbit” Bundrick when the chorus kicks in at 1:01, 1:40, and 2:50.

The organ stays around for most of the chorus, but it’s those first four longish notes that get me. Juicy!

Then we have the British duo Tears for Fears. After their enormously popular 1985 second album Songs from the Big Chair, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal took nearly four years to release their third, The Seeds of Love. The pre-album single was the title track of sorts, “Sowing the Seeds of Love”.

In it there is but a single instance of watery organ. It comes, courtesy of Orzabal or maybe Nicky Holland, at 3:33.

Frothy!

These are visceral reactions, I know. I’m not going to try to put into words what I like about the organ I’ve highlighted here — because I really don’t think I can. But I thought them worth sharing anyway.

While I’m on the subject of “Sowing the Seeds”, I have to comment on this attention-grabbing track as a whole. There is a lot happening in this track; it’s a musical kitchen sink — one could get away with calling it a mess. I love how Stewart Mason puts it in on his review of the track on AllMusic.com:

The combination of old and new, along with Roland Orzabal’s unblinkingly earnest “all you need is love” lyrics, is almost overpoweringly bombastic, but the song goes so thoroughly over the top that it finally becomes almost admirable in its excesses.

Here is album reviewer Stanton Swihart’s take, also on AllMusic.com:

As for the title track, it manages to be insanely intricate as well as catchy. Full of arcane references, lovely turns of phrase, and perfectly matched suite-like parts, it updates the orchestral grandiosity — though not the actual sound — of the Beatles’ psychedelic period.

Beatles-influenced? Certainly. The track draws from “I Am the Walrus,” “Penny Lane,” and I’m sure several other Fab Four tracks.

I alternate between considering “Sowing the Seeds” to be an ambitious success and a ridiculous overreach. Ultimately I give it a thumbs-up. Its message, after all, is a progressive one, so I’m inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt.

An end to need,
And the politics of greed

Indeed.

Plus, the video is effective. Directed by Jim Blashfield, it won two awards at the MTV Music Video Awards — Best Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects
With respect to my positive verdict on “Sowing”, evidently I have — or had — a lot of company. I had no idea before I researched this post that the single went all the way to #2 in the US. Really?! That is astonishing. (This must have happened very soon after I began to ignore, for the most part, new music, a change in behavior I trace back to 1989, the year this single was released.)

As for the post title, (why do I so often feel compelled to explain my titles? because many are obscure references related to the post subject only tangentially, that’s why!), it is a line from Don Rickles’ 1960s stand-up comedy LP Hello Dummy. The organ to which Rickles refers is not a musical instrument.

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For a reason I’ll not go into here I’ve been thinking now and again about Gene Gene the Dancing Machine. Gene Gene (Gene Patton) was one of the regulars on the ’70s TV game show The Gong Show, which was produced and hosted by Chuck “Chuckie Baby” Barris.

I intended to search online for video of Gene Gene, but the thought wasn’t occurring to me while I was using the computer.

A couple nights ago, though, I had just turned off my computer and come upstairs from my basement lair when I had the thought. Son #3 was still online, so I took a chance: “Hey [son #3], how would you like to search for a funny video?” To my surprise, he brought up YouTube and seconds later, we were convulsed in laughter watching Gene Gene, Chuckie Baby, and the celebrity panel of judges — sassy Jaye P. Morgan, Arte Johnson of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In fame, and young David Letterman.

It’s Friday and therefore an especially good time to share this. You may not laugh, but you’ll be hard-pressed to suppress a smile.

Soon after viewing this clip with son #3, I convinced son #2 to take a look. The video kept freezing, so his reaction was understandably muted. Still, though, there is no doubt he liked it because he later told me he posted it on his Tumblr blog.

Here’s another Gene Gene clip from later in the The Gong Show’s run. By this time the practice of the crew while Gene Gene was dancing was to throw props onto the stage — including, in this instance, a live body. The band’s rendition of Count Basie’s “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” is more frenetic here and the audience is shown.

I prefer the first clip because it includes the panel and there are more close-ups of Gene Gene’s infectious smile. The second clip has a little too much Chuckie Baby for my taste.

There are more Gene Gene clips online. The others are longer because they feature other acts as well as Gene Gene.

Barris was also the producer of The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. Sadly — and ironically — Patton lost both legs in 2001 due to complications of diabetes.

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I grew up in the ’60s and early ’70s in Delaware one house away from a cul de sac — we kids called it The Circle. One of the dads on the block was the older brother of Syracuse coach and former star player Jim Boeheim. Boeheim (pronounced BAY-hime) has been involved with the Orangemen basketball program for, well, forever. Actually since 1963. He has been the head coach since 1976 and coached Syracuse to the NCAA title in 2003.

I don’t recall if Jim Boeheim ever graced The Circle with his presence. Maybe a couple of my dedicated readers will have some recollection on that score.

Pity I ripped this picture removing it from the photo album, but the boy is coach Boeheim’s nephew — one of the three Boeheim kids I played with in The Circle. In fact, this picture was taken in The Circle. Chez Boeheim is in the background. Notice his not-so-athletic pose. This picture was taken after he broke his leg in a skateboarding accident. The poor guy had a difficult recovery and seemed to lose his inclination toward the sporting life.Here I am circa 1967 with two of coach Boeheim’s nieces. We are posing with my family’s new puppy, Terry, who is chewing on a toy steak. This shot in our minds — well all but Terry’s I suppose— was the “album cover” for our band named, with great originality, Terry and the Pirates. Never mind that we didn’t have any songs or instruments, what was important was that we had an album cover. I hope Terry wasn’t our lead singer …

Jim Boeheim’s brother moved his family from Delaware to the west coast in 1970 or 1971. In the summer of 1972 I visited with them for a few hours when I was passing through their area. We’ve not been in touch since. I vaguely remember writing them a letter soon thereafter which went unanswered.

Switchboard.com shows a white pages listing for the brother at the same address as back in 1972. Coach Boeheim is 65. I believe his brother to be in his seventies.

So let’s consider this post a QC shout-out to my friends the Boeheims formerly of The Circle. I have googled the Boeheim kids now and again. Maybe someday we will reconnect on Facebook or whatever the hot social media site happens to be.

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The Supreme Court decision in the case of in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission yesterday, by a vote of 5-4, absolutely sickens me.

The New York Times editorial this morning is a pretty good summary. In case you don’t have a minute or two now to read the whole thing now, here are the key grafs:

With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century. Disingenuously waving the flag of the First Amendment, the court’s conservative majority has paved the way for corporations to use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.
Congress must act immediately to limit the damage of this radical decision, which strikes at the heart of democracy.

As a result of Thursday’s ruling, corporations have been unleashed from the longstanding ban against their spending directly on political campaigns and will be free to spend as much money as they want to elect and defeat candidates. If a member of Congress tries to stand up to a wealthy special interest, its lobbyists can credibly threaten: We’ll spend whatever it takes to defeat you.

…

Congress and members of the public who care about fair elections and clean government need to mobilize right away, a cause President Obama has said he would join. Congress should repair the presidential public finance system and create another one for Congressional elections to help ordinary Americans contribute to campaigns. It should also enact a law requiring publicly traded corporations to get the approval of their shareholders before spending on political campaigns.

These would be important steps, but they would not be enough. The real solution lies in getting the court’s ruling overturned. The four dissenters made an eloquent case for why the decision was wrong on the law and dangerous. With one more vote, they could rescue democracy.

Hey, Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy, we’ve already got a corporate oligarchy here in the U.S., in case you hadn’t noticed. That you approve is no surprise. That you would make this long leap toward institutionalizing it is heinous.

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12 days later, Mrs. QC is still laughing about this … my Larry David moment at Famous Dave’s restaurant.

I had just ordered a combination platter featuring brisket and BBQ chicken. Our waiter asks me if I wanted white meat or dark meat chicken. I have a slight preference for white meat. But the waiter is black and, inexplicably, I find myself thinking, “Will I offend him if I order white meat?”

If you know me personally, you probably know how this turned out: “Uhhhh. I think I’ll go with the dark.“

Not a proud moment.

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As I hopped in the shower, carefully keeping my hair out of the path of the spraying water, I recalled the inspiration for these terms: It was a ’70s TV commercial for The Dry Look men’s hair spray. I made a mental note to look for the commercial online. I found it — of course. The Wethead is Dead!

Although I haven’t seen The Dry Look in years — or heard anyone mention it for that matter — Gillette still makes it! Who would have thought! You can get it in both classic aerosol and environmentally friendly pump forms. The aerosol is available in Regular Hold and Extra Hold strengths; the pump is available in Extra Hold and Maximum Hold strengths.

Gotta like the usage directions for The Dry Look, which are helpfully posted on the Amazon.com catalog pages for the product (to which I’ve linked above):

Comb hair into place. Hold container 6″ to 8″ from hair and spray. Works best on clean, dry hair.

Works best on clean, dry hair, eh? You don’t say …

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It pains me to say that as he has been such a great player for the Eagles over the last several years. This video shows one of his best (h/t Phinally Philly).

He’s a smart player too. I’d forgotten about how he passed up a touchdown with two minutes left in a 2007 game to ensure the Dallas Cowboys, down 10-6 without any timeouts remaining, would not get the ball back.

But Westbrook has lost his burst.

This was apparent to me the last few games of the 2008 season. Remember the expression “three yards and a cloud of dust”? With Westbrook anymore it’s a yard-and-a-half and a mob of tacklers.

While Westbrook was injured, the two-headed monster of rookie running back LeSean McCoy, Westbrook’s apparent successor, and fullback Leonard Weaver had established itself as a versatile, hard-to-defend force. Now that Westbrook’s back, Eagles coach Andy Reid is giving a lot — in fact, most — of the monster’s work to Westbrook; in the Dallas game, Westbrook had nine touches to only four for the monster. Reid has disrupted the chemistry of the Eagles offense and as a result its productivity has fallen off precipitously — at the worst possible time.

Yet Reid, when asked about Westbrook’s role in the wake of the Eagles’ pathetic 24-0 loss to Dallas Sunday, said the more Westbrook is used the better he’ll play.

Wrong answer, Andy. I cringed when I heard that.

Reid’s loyalty to Westbrook is misguided. Running backs in the NFL have pretty short careers? They play at their peak for three or four seasons. Then it’s downhill fast. Westbrook is a textbook case.

Hasn’t Reid been around the NFL long enough to realize what has happened to Westbrook? Evidently not. And that’s too bad for us Eagles fans because the Birds will need the most effective game plan Reid and his staff can muster to even have a chance to beat Dallas in this Saturday’s NFC wild card round playoff game.

Think it’s harsh of me to characterize the Eagles prospects in those terms? Well, gee, Westbrook himself concurs.

There’s some things we’ve got to correct … in order for us to have a chance. [emphasis mine]

The apparent lack of confidence on Westbrook’s part tells me something.

In fairness to Westbrook, Weaver sings much the same tune. From the same article:

We’ve got to come out and be prepared. Be focused, determined. That’s the only way you can compete with a team like that. [emphasis mine]

Sigh.

Ever the optimist pessimist, here’s how I see this Saturday’s game playing out.

1st quarter

• Kicker David Akers puts the Eagles up 3-0.

2nd quarter

• Dallas takes the lead — for good — 7-3 early in the quarter.

3rd quarter

• Eagles close to within a point, 7-6.
• Dallas extends their lead to 14-6.

4th quarter

• Eagles finally get into the end zone with six or seven minutes to go. They go for two, but Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb misfires and Dallas remains in front, 14-12.
• Dallas answers quickly, extending their lead to 21-12.
• In the last minute, Dallas intercepts McNabb and takes it back all the way, Final: 28-12, Dallas.

Prove me wrong, Brian Westbrook. That goes for the rest of you Birds.

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Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr

This one falls in the realm of what my sons refer to as “Dad’s stupid stuff”. In the ’60s (mostly) there was this NBA player — an all-star — named Adrian Smith. His nickname is Odie.

So in the playground in my mind every athlete named Adrian becomes Odie.

I alternate between finding this irritating — and amusing.

The most prominent case currently is Adrian Peterson. I should say two cases because, as unlikely as it may seem, there are two Adrian — uh, Odie — Petersons in the NFL:

• Odie Peterson #1 is a star running back on the Minnesota Vikings
• The other Odie Peterson plays for the Chicago Bears and is also a running back.

While I was recently reading the excellent book Looking Back 75 Years of Eagles History: Special Edition by Eli Kowalski, which I received as a birthday gift from Mrs. QC, I was reminded that my favorite NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, once had a quarterback — back in the ’50s before I was born — named Adrian Burk. He shares the league record for most touchdown passes in a regular season game, 7, with four other quarterbacks. I’ve rewritten his tombstone, so to speak, to read “Odie Burk.”

Then this morning I thought of the NBA Hall of Fame player from (mostly) the ’80s, Adrian Dantley. My first thought was this Adrian was an exception — No’die, if you will. But the more I thought about it … yes, I have thought of him as Odie Dantley — and will (sigh) continue to do so.

May you not be plagued by this sort of thing.

(Hearty thanks, by the way, to Minnesota’s Odie Peterson for fumbling in overtime last night and enabling Odie Peterson #2 and his Bears to beat the Vikings, 36-30, giving my Eagles the opportunity this Sunday to earn the #2 seed in the upcoming NFC playoffs.)

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Roller derby? Hell yeah!

To paraphrase a hackneyed phrase that appears in some form in almost every mainstream media article on modern roller derby, it’s not the roller derby of my youth. That is to say, the sport of “classic roller derby” I watched in the early ’70s on UHF TV was a scripted spectacle in which an impressive degree of athleticism was secondary to fighting and pro wrestling-style hero-and-villain posing.

Modern derby is played as legitimate sport. Unsurprisingly to me, it works. When the modern derby movement started in 2001 in Austin, TX, the founders initially planned to play it as spectacle. They quickly found it was more fun — not to mention safer — to play for real.

The movement spawned several hundred leagues and has gone international — all amateur. Most of the leagues have all-women players — with men participating as coaches, referees, announcers, and statisticians. But that’s not the only reason my post title includes “no balls”:  in fact, derby is one of the few team sports where there is no ball.

Most leagues use the flat track because it’s much more economical in terms of setup and storage than the banked track used in classic derby.  Plus, it’s easier to find opponents. The men’s version of the sport is just starting to grow, by the way.

That brings me back to the tournament. The participating teams contain the best players from their respective leagues— travel teams.

Having read the team profiles on Derby News Network (DNN) and watched DNN’s Pants-off preview show, I’m offering up predictions for how this thing will play out …

Today

First round

The temptation is to pick the higher-seeded teams, but I’ll go with one upset — Denver over KC.

MADISON, WI 141, Boston 106
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 127, Houston 77
DENVER 131, Kansas City 121
GOTHAM 118, Detroit 52

Saturday

Quarter-finals

The marquis game, assuming Gotham beats Detroit Friday, will be Gotham from NYC against the Oly Rollers (heh) from Olympia, WA. Gotham had its 18-game win streak stopped by Philly in the finals of the eastern regional tournament in Raleigh. Oly, which breezed through the western regional in Denver, features a number of former world class hockey and speed skaters. Score one for the old guard — but just barely. The other three top seeds will have easier paths to the final four.

TEXAS 156, Madison 98
PHILLY 109, Rocky Mountain 86
WINDY CITY 97, Denver 60
GOTHAM 127, Oly 119

Final four

I’ll go with a pair of what most derby fans would consider upsets.

I see Gotham, last year’s national champion, falling prey to endurance issues  and perhaps a key injury. Game time for this one will be only a few hours after the end of the Gotham-Oly game. Furthermore, Gotham is the only one of my predicted final four to have played the previous night. I’m calling it Windy City in a squeaker.

The host Philly Roller Girls Liberty Belles team goes into the tournament rated #1 in the country by DNN; their 2009 record includes one-point escapes over the teams I see meeting in the other semi-final game. I hope I’m wrong because I’ll be rooting for Philly, but against Texas I see them coming up a point short — the third time the harm, so to speak.

TEXAS 95, Philly 94
WINDY CITY 82, Gotham 80

Sunday

Third-place game

I’ll give the host team a measure of revenge for the Phillies’ recent World Series loss to the Yankees. Playing a fourth game in 41 hours will make it tough for Gotham. I reiterate that injuries may play a role in Gotham’s downfall. It’s a rough sport — some skaters will get hurt this weekend. The swami in me says Gotham will get the most attention from the EMTs.

PHILLY 89, Gotham 71

Championship game

This one should be a little anti-climactic. I see Texas hitting their stride, buoyed by their semi-final win over Philly.

TEXAS 114, Windy City 85

DNN will be carrying all of the action live on streaming video via Justin.tv starting today at 3:30 EST. Hey, that’s less than two hours from now!

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