January 26, 2021

At the Tuesday Night Cafe...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

103 comments:

Whiskeybum said...

Just a follow-on to the earlier post about song covers… in particular, around the discussion of black musicians and blues music being covered by white artists.

I became seriously interested in blues music back around 12-14 years ago after really realizing the influence it had on my favorite rock artists from the late 60’s through the early 70’s; Cream, Zeppelin, Stones, Doors, etc. I read up more on this influence, and realized how a lot of those rock artists saw a small, relatively unknown address in downtown Chicago as some kind of mecca that many of them visited and paid tribute to, namely, Chess Records at 2120 S. Michigan Avenue. I read up on the story of the Chess brothers – two Polish/Jewish immigrants that took advantage of setting up a recording studio for mainly black artists who didn’t have a lot of outlets for getting their music onto the air waves (‘took advantage’ in two different senses of the phrase, but too much to discuss about that for right now). I read how in this small studio, they pioneered recording techniques (like lowering mics into the basement where speakers were place for reverb effects), how the black artists were not allowed to come in through the front door, but rather had to climb to the second floor via the steep back stairway and wait in the anterior room just outside the studio before they were allowed in to record. This small studio was the inspiration for the movies “Cadillac Records” and “Who Do You Love?”. This studio attracted the respect of the Rolling Stones, who recorded/released a short instrumental there titled ‘2120 S. Michigan Avenue’. Amazing

Since Chicago is just a couple of hours down the road from my place, I decided that I had to visit this ‘mecca’ of Chicago blues music.

I was attending a convention at Chicago’s McCormick Place, which is a short walk from 2021 S. Michigan. The studio had recently undergone restoration by the Blue Heaven Foundation (headed by Willie Dixon’s widow), which bought the building in the 90’s and kept it from being razed. I paid an admission to visit the exhibits in the building and watch a video about its history. My big surprise was that I was the only person there at that time – no one else visiting this historical landmark! After watching the video, I was given a private tour of the building by the docent in charge that day. I saw and photographed the recording room, the back stairs, the anterior practice room. It blew my mind to think things like: in this tiny recording room that I’m standing in all by myself now, artists like Chuck Berry recorded songs like Johnny B. Goode! The Chess artist list is huge, with names like Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, John Le Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Chuck Berry, Koko Taylor, Elmore James, Etta James, and so many more. All those songs recorded right here in this studio, hits like: At Last, Maybelline, I’m a Man, Who Do You Love, Spoonful, Madison Blues, You Need Love (inspiration for Whole Lotta Love), I Can’t Quit You Baby, I Ain’t Superstitious, Back Door Man, You Shook Me, Wang Dang Doodle, Bring it on Home, and so many more.

I have passed Chess Records many times since my visit there, and have never noticed any signs of any vigorous visitor activity. Such a huge amount of modern music history within easy reach of a very large population, but it seems that either few know about it or appreciate it.

rhhardin said...

I remember Imus saying that even people who play bluegrass don't like bluegrass.

Mark said...

Who killed the unarmed Ashli Babbitt?

Reveal his name.

Big Mike said...

A federal judge in Texas has blocked President Biden’s executive order halting deportations of some illegal immigrants.

Turnabout.

narciso said...

Yikes



https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/25/biden-appoints-palestinian-american-to-key-intelligence-role/

narciso said...

Really


https://mobile.twitter.com/DaddyWarpig/status/1353950015455076352

narciso said...



All the news to be covered with a pillow

https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/youtube-strips-rising-media-company-epoch-times-ability-monetize-video-content

Mark said...

Who killed an unarmed woman?

Who cares in this culture where life is cheap, this culture of death, where other things -- almost everything -- is more important than our caring about the value of a single life.

Who killed Ashli Barrett?

Who cares? It's more important to make some obnoxious, banal, dead-conscience snark. A woman is dead. Ha, ha, ha. Let's shake the hand of her killer. Of course, they refuse to tell us who her killer is.

Who killed Ashli Barrett?

Who cares? My dishwasher won't drain. This after it wouldn't fill with water, but now is filling perfectly. Now, THAT is a real annoyance and outrage. Not the taking of someone's life. BFD about that.

Joe Smith said...

"Who killed Ashli Barrett?"

Is Floyd Merriweather paying for her gold-plated casket?

Ken B said...

Narcisco
More restraint of trade.
The solution is not anti trust , that is too slow.
Nationalize big tech monopolies.

wildswan said...

"Blogger Whiskeybum said..
I became seriously interested in blues music"

I went to a great Delta Blues Museum down near Greenville, Mississippi on Highway 61. Small but just perfect. How the sound developed from African instruments and rhythms and all the people who came from the area. And they have a blues street festival in Greenville in September. For whatever reason, there were more people from Wisconsin visiting the Delta Blues Museum than any other state.

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pacwest said...

China continues to test Biden/Harris. South China Sea, Taiwan, Indian border. If one of them had any brains they'd invite Xi out to dinner, let him know they'd just lobbed a few dozen misses at an adversary and ask he'd like any dessert. Genius.

Ken B said...

Maybe I’m too tough on the Trumpkins. After all, I live in a country with a functioning constitution and they do not. Don’t want to punch down.

wildswan said...

In 2016 the Democrats said the election was tilted by Russian collusion. In 2020 the Republicans are saying that the election was was tilted by Chinese software and big city cheating. We know the Dems were wrong about 2016. And just suppose we say the Republicans are wrong about 2020. Then any punishment for wrongly challenging elections would affect the entire country - the Dems from 2016 and the Republicans from 2020. Unity. Why have a civil war for something we've all done? Why not do election reform? Unity.

narciso said...


They lied thats not nearly the same thing


https://mobile.twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1354090178181287936

Gahrie said...

Maybe I’m too tough on the Trumpkins. After all, I live in a country with a functioning constitution and they do not.

We also don't live in a country run by the racist son of Fidel Castro, so we got that going for us.

Ken B said...

Wildswan
Not a single one of the Trumpkins here is serious about election reform. If they were serious they would be willing to work with “RINOs” and Democrats, and they aren’t. They would be willing to do as you say, concentrate on fixing problems rather than screaming “cheater” at everyone they need to persuade.
I laid out a more feasible and detailed approach here than any of the Trumpkins did, and they just howled and beat their breasts.

Ken B said...

I can see the 2021 Halloween costume jokes already
“Bob, you're naked!”
“Yes, I am going as what’s left of the Bill of rights.”

Ken B said...

How long before Trump is evicted from The Office of the Former President?

Hint: 25th.

Narr said...

I think that aficionados or amateurs of great music often overestimate the significance of their favorites to people whose cultural horizons rarely extend farther back than the chart-toppers of their childhoods.

And that's across the board--the legends of the great days of the blues are as remote and quaint to most young B/black people I'd bet, as string quartets are to most young people of any color.

One feature of the extensive museumification of American roots music (and I was deeply involved with historians and museologists working those lodes, for decades) is an observation among some folks (in say, Greenville) about how well some white locals do from the tourism-- 'the folks whose ancestors gave us the blues are now making money explaining the blues.'

Personally, and this is the truth, I got introduced to the blues by none other than Little Laura Dukes herself. She was a nursery attendant at the church where our family went, and where I was just young enough to be in her care for a time. I was a plump little bugger, blond and blue-eyed enough for a Lebensborn commercial, and energetic; she was tiny, had probably worked until 2AM the night before, and a pincher.

Narr
Good times



Ken B said...

Ashli Babbitt's family say they have faith in the investigation. But some of ravers here do not. It’s kinda skeezy the way Mark pretends he cares but the people not making a fuss — such as Babbitt's husband — are lesser people than he is.

Big Mike said...

Ken B., you also live in a country that has closed its border with the US. Probably makes you feel safe.

Ken B said...

Big Mike
Had a chat with Joe about Europe recently?

William said...

There's an article in the current New Yorker that details some of the horrors that went on during Mao's Cultural Revolution. She writes about how Mao and his Cultural Revolution was celebrated by such western celebs as Sartre and the Rolling Stones. Even John Lennon retracted his earlier statement about "not carrying pictures of Chairman Mao". In the last few paragraphs, the writer explains the similarities between Mao and Trump. Holy shit!! Even for a New Yorker writer this is grotesquely wrong headed and stupid....The people who are most critical of Trump are the kind of people who were most fulsome in their praise of Chairman Mao. How can anyone not see this?

Gahrie said...

If they were serious they would be willing to work with “RINOs” and Democrats, and they aren’t.

Just out of morbid curiosity... just what electoral reforms are the Democrats supposed to be willing to enact?

Ken B said...

William
TDS is a real thing. Most Canadians I know have it. It will never go away, not unless Biden nukes Toronto, and maybe not even then.

Ken B said...

Gahrie
Since I have explained that repeatedly and at length I’ll let you scroll back. You aren’t a good faith interlocutor. (Www.dictionary.com)

William said...

There's a theory that 90% of everything is dreck. The way to avoid dreck is to change up your music genres every so often. Big band, ragtime, doo wop, show music. If you go mining, you'll find some nuggets.....The dreckiest music of all time was pop music of the fifties. Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Tommy Sands, Johnny Mathis, Guy Madison: You would think that what with the law of averages they would hit upon some song or some rendition of a standard that had enduring value, but their music is unformly dreck.

Inga said...

Trump loyalists, may they go down in history.

narciso said...

Naybe these people are watching an alt history akin to frank millers give me liberty.

Ken B said...

William
I'm a classical fan. It’s not 90% dreck, but even if it were, with 800 years of music to choose from you can avoid dreck easily enough.
Try Renaissance polyphony. Josquin, Palestrina.

Ken B said...

Inga
It’s not possible for our resident Trumpkins to go down any further.

narciso said...

Yes it was a back to basics but im sure tou can find some jewels

Churchy LaFemme: said...

There's a theory that 90% of everything is dreck.

That's Sturgeon's Law formulated by SF writer Theodore Sturgeon.

Ken B said...

William will hate this. The theme song to the old Thunderbirds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed0jsVgIHu8

Rt41Rebel said...

I've had a moment of clarity. The Dem (and Rep) reaction to Trump, his 2016 election, the intense effort to discredit and remove him by practically every power center that could be brought to bear, the 2020 election, and now this 2nd impeachment, as if they're trying to kill a dead vampire have convinced me that Trump was the first "accidental" or "unplanned" POTUS since at least 1988. Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you.

narciso said...

Give me liberty in millers anarchist had a president rexart (sic) who was his version of nixon ala watchmen.

narciso said...

He had a relapse last year 2019? With his joker comic.

Joe Smith said...

Dear Ken B...you are a foreigner who depends on Daddy U.S. to prop up your economy and defend your nation.

If we didn't intervene, you'd be speaking Russian inside of a week.

Fuck off, eh.

Joe Smith said...

"It will never go away, not unless Biden nukes Toronto, and maybe not even then."

That would be a shame as I hear they have some great strip clubs there...beaver pelts, etc.

Ken B said...

Joe
Beaver lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09YOkVmGg0

Lurker21 said...

Bah! Everything is dreck. But everything is evocative dreck if enough time goes by and you look at it right. Don't dis the music my parents fell in love to.

narciso said...


Early book thread or late


https://www.amazon.com/China-Dawn-Robert-L-Duncan/dp/0385296207

Some similarities with shibumi

Gospace said...

Ken B said...
Wildswan
Not a single one of the Trumpkins here is serious about election reform. If they were serious they would be willing to work with “RINOs” and Democrats, and they aren’t. They would be willing to do as you say, concentrate on fixing problems rather than screaming “cheater” at everyone they need to persuade.
I laid out a more feasible and detailed approach here than any of the Trumpkins did, and they just howled and beat their breasts.


I'm willing to work with them to the same degree THEY worked WITH President Donald John Trump.

IOW, I'm willing to use the FBI and intelligence agencies to investigate them, willing to go to court to block every executive order, etc. and so on and so forth.

Joe Smith said...

"Beaver lesson..."

Very good...

Lurker21 said...

Trump was the first "accidental" or "unplanned" POTUS since at least 1988.

Sure. Either the candidate nominated or elected was the person how came in second the last time, or a former vice president or someone from a presidential family or else some relative outsider who the powerbrokers and the media took up and latched onto as a great hope (Carter, Clinton, Obama). And you might want to take that back beyond 1988. You might think of Reagan as an outsider, but he does fit the pattern: he was the guy who came in second in the last cycle.

But it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. A candidate becomes "planned" because the planners latch on to the candidate once the other candidates fall away. They may not have been chosen in advance. It's hard to imagine that powerbrokers wanted to foist Dukakis or Kerry on the country, but they were the ones who were available and left standing. Dukakis because Hart flamed out, and Kerry probably because he wanted it so badly.

narciso said...



Well yargh flamed out. Hart really didnt have any real momentum except among journalists

https://www.wptv.com/coronavirus/florida-gov-ron-desantis-calls-white-house-disingenuous-for-covid-19-vaccine-claim

narciso said...

The gope has jeb christie and kasich in their top tier perhaps huntsman then they deferred to rubio

narciso said...

I pointed out malloch browns strategy with dominion from five years ago.

Roger This said...

Today's List:

What Canada has given the world:

1. Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, 60 years ago 1/26/1960
2. ???
3. ???

Ok. Big list. But the average was Great!!

Also, you have a pretty good national Anthem.

Where's your famous inventors and writers and poets? What do you produce besides oil which is only the luck of location. Where's all of your Fortune 500 Companies? What's the `Canadian Dream' (move to Miami??)? What's your famous food and where's all your culture??

Canada. 'America's little brother.

But thanks to Canada for giving us Wayne Gretzky (who, I might add, married an American and STAYED HERE!!).

Poor Ken B. and the other Canucks: Living in a frozen wasteland but dreading 'global warming'.

No wonder you are so crabby.




pacwest said...

@Ken
If you want to get election reform? Wouldn't that take a willing partner on the Dem side? That's why you aren't being taken seriously.

Joe Smith said...

"What do you produce besides oil which is only the luck of location."

Yummy, yummy maple syrup and aforementioned (and probably also yummy) fabulous strippers.

And Canadian bacon (it's right in the name).

And that ain't nothin'.

Rt41Rebel said...

"A candidate becomes "planned" because the planners latch on to the candidate once the other candidates fall away. "

It's much more planned than that. What happened to Bernie in the last two elections? DNC fucked him in the first, and Fauxcahontas (DNC) fucked him in the 2nd. Kameltoe will be POTUS in less than a year without winning a single primary electoral vote and dropping out of the race months before Iowa.

William said...

A disproportionate share of America's comedians are Canadian. They're mostly outliers though. Canadians, in general, don't have the keen sense of absurdity and fun that makes the Swiss such rollicking companions.

Joe Smith said...

"They're mostly outliers though. Canadians, in general, don't have the keen sense of absurdity and fun that makes the Swiss such rollicking companions."

SCTV would beg to differ...

narciso said...

Mike myers ryan reynolds (is the other ryan canadian?)

Milwaukie guy said...

I haven't checked out Althouse since I checked out of the news about two months ago. I feel very serene.

After a weekend business trip back to Chicago and talking with my commie daughter, I learned that she still believed in private property. I was surprised.

It got me to thinking that the two biggest differences between "national" socialism and "international" socialism is that Fascism respects private property, though it's "Everything Through the State," and respects the Church, the Communists want to seize all the property and persecute the Church.

I guess my daughter is a Fascist. I would never call a Fascist a Nazi because, unlike the Russians and communism, no other fascist regime has upheld the German model.

Unfortunately, there are no cute names for fascists unlike stuff like pinkos or red diaper babies. My darling girl is somewhere on the spectrum between Woodrow Wilson and Bill Ayers and not a slave to dogma even though she is dogmatic in her special way.

Hello, Althousians. Buckle up and don't be a buttercup.





Ken B said...

More lies from pacwest since I explained how to end run Democrats by appealing to their voters with proven Democrat voter bait.

The truth is the Trumpkins don’t really care they just like bitching.

narciso said...

Progressives and fascists arent the same thing, we see this new camarilla isnt too keen on private property.

Ken B said...

The Swiss can actually be pretty entertaining if you secretly plug the holes in their cheese.

narciso said...

There is some overlap, it does seem likr the hunger games is the designated template

Ken B said...

The turning point came when one company’s terms of service were considered more important than your constitution. That’s really when you lost your constitution. The rest is just a mopping up operation.

Rt41Rebel said...

"There is some overlap, it does seem likr the hunger games is the designated template"

Hunger games + 350 million guns. It's gonna be a hoot.

walter said...

Inga!
What's your favorite Biden EO so far?

walter said...

Ken,
Is it our constitution at fault or those entrusted with enforcing it?

narciso said...

Well if szechuan swalwell has his way.

Drago said...

walter: "Inga!
What's your favorite Biden EO so far?"

Easy!

The federal funding for abortions on demand everywhere!

An estimated 60,000 more little bundles of baby body parts Inga's pals can sell off for fun and profit.

And it nicely sets up post birth abortion, which always gets Inga very excited.

walter said...

And since Ken likes to cosplay American citizen, what's Ken's favorite Biden EO?

BUMBLE BEE said...

We fixed it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sKX2Gk7eFY

walter said...

Let them answer.

gadfly said...

@Milwaukie guy said...
Hello, Althousians. Buckle up and don't be a buttercup.

I think the song lyrics are: "Build me up Buttercup, don't break my heart." So now we know where Biden got his slogan.

But the good news is that Althousians, including Ann, living in Wisconsin and having reached age 65 can now sign up to get shot. It turns out to be easier than traveling to Washington, DC with shots on your mind. No ducking is required in the Badger state.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Ken B said...

It will never go away, not unless Biden nukes Toronto, and maybe not even then.

It might not work, but we'll never know until we try it. What have we got to lose?

The Crack Emcee said...

rhhardin said...

"I remember Imus saying that even people who play bluegrass don't like bluegrass."

I like bluegrass, but then, I like everything.

I thought, if I got good at that, and then doing this and then doing this, and then doing this, and then doing this - and all of it authentically and good - people would say, "Wow, Crack, that's some range - here's some money, make more for us!" and like me. But, that was not to be.

So I blog now.

The Crack Emcee said...

BTW - I just wrote a sea shanty.

Chris N said...

My rant (plenty of pretentiousness included) There are videos of Robert Plant talking about the ‘West African Blue Note’ and how it’s a core element of the Blues. Led Zeppelin fused his interpretation and mimesis of it with English folk, ballad, and various other influences. Blues rock mixed with folk ballad is where I think I’m happiest in popular American music. The I-IV-V pattern is the first I learned on the guitar. It’s like Gospel without going into Church and Jazz without all the complexity and standard songs. It’s for bars and crossroads and it’s for making you have joy in your suffering. So simple it’s easily accessible but a lot deeper than you think.

Music can corrupt you to some extent, so take Guns n Roses, with Axl Rose’s deep Scottish balladeering and Slash’s blues soloing made into angry brilliant hard edged rock. Drug and alcohol LA stuff but there are reasons it’s getting billions of views.

James Brown is back woods but more black preacher, soul, funk but you can hear that dark deep piney blue and green. Ray Charles. Great singer/songwriters. ZZ Top and driving Texas blues rock. Albert King. Southern rock.

Give me Dolly Parton and mountain music and even Paul Simon going to live in Britain and playing with Scarborough Fair, and Great Migration Blues.

This as opposed to Dear God not another Beatles song (Liverpool Dance Hall Pop turned into world songbook stuff (it’s the fans I can’t stand simultaneously overrating and underrating the’ brilliant songwriting while looking for all that meaning) and too clever by half Bob Dylan. That fuckin’ voice and the pretentiousness of so many fans.

If you’re going to expect high things and deep meaning in the lyrics and moral messaging, man, you’ve kind of missed the point. Read deeper and longer for that.

Because you didn’t ask...

Chris N said...

I’ve got three words for you bastards: The Hokey Pokey.

CWJ said...

Ken B,

It's not your rational proposals for election reform that are on the table. It's the Democrats" HR1 that would enshrine most of the methods of the last election. As for your endrun, I suspect the House will pass it in the background while the American people are distracted by Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Will the bill then subsequently die in the Senate? That says maybe, but by no means a sure thing.

CWJ said...

Ken B said...

"It will never go away, not unless Biden nukes Toronto, and maybe not even then."

Ignorance is Bliss replied...

"It might not work, but we'll never know until we try it. What have we got to lose?"

With the prevailing winds, Buffalo.

Largo said...

Ken B said...
//Maybe I’m too tough on the Trumpkins. After all, I live in a country with a functioning constitution and they do not//

If taken seriously, this is either incoherent or false.

Mr. Forward said...

100% of the country thinks correctly that half of the country is delusional.

Largo said...

Ken B said...
//Gahrie
Since I have explained that repeatedly and at length I’ll let you scroll back. You aren’t a good faith interlocutor.//

I scrolled back. All I say approaching an explanation was "More resyraint of trade.. Nationalize big tech companies''

mezzrow said...

For some reason, I have an urge to insert a shoutout to all fans of Wayne Cochran (the blue-eyed King Of Soul) and the CC Riders. Jaco Pastorius spent his salad days playing with the CC Riders. Tenth graders in garage bands covered Goin Back to Miami in Florida back in the sixties.

Ask me how I know. It is possible to enjoy this and bluegrass as well. My epistemology is based on lived experience.

Largo said...

@Roger This

2. Maple Syrup
3. SCTV
4. Insulin

Humperdink said...

Ken B said... "Maybe I’m too tough on the Trumpkins. After all, I live in a country with a functioning constitution and they do not "

Another amusing comment uttered by our friend from the north. Functioning constitution in Canada? What a joke. Ask Mark Steyn about your constitution, where he was hauled before a Vancouver tribunal for writing a book. You would do well to shut up about criticizing your big brother from the south. Canada (and you) remind of a Chihuahua, tiny and always yapping.

Rusty said...

Ken B said...
"Narcisco
More restraint of trade.
The solution is not anti trust , that is too slow.
Nationalize big tech monopolies."
Sure. That will make them more efficient.
As I said before. The only reason you're here is because of the hate speech laws in your home country. Give us a list of the shit you can't say in Canada. C'mon. man. That and the better medical care you get here.

Humperdink said...

Headline, Zero Hedge: "Israelis Say They Will Attack Iran If Biden Returns US To Nuclear Deal"

I see another Nobel Peace Prize on the horizon for a democrat president.

stevew said...


Well, this settles it then:

Gov Cuomo Identifies the Source of Covid Death and Devastation



Humperdink said...

@Ken B. And yes, you do have an awesome national anthem. I enjoyed singing when one of your wayward hockey teams played the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Shame though, your "national" anthem had to written by a US civil war veteran.

Mr. Forward said...

The Crack Emcee said...
BTW - I just wrote a sea shanty.

Now do ice shanty.

Mr. Groovington said...

"What Canada has given the world:

1. Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, 60 years ago 1/26/1960
2. ???
3. ???"

2. The Canadarm on the space shuttle, 1981.

Mr. Groovington said...

3. Tim Hortons
4. World's largest hoard of vaccine orders. 418 million, population 37 million. F*** Africa.

tim maguire said...

It seems Ken B has gotten frustrated with the poor quality of trolling on Althouse and concluded that if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.

Humperdink said...

Yep, this blog is trawling internationally for trolls. Everyone now and then one gets snagged in the net.

tim maguire said...

Mr. Groovington said...
3. Tim Hortons
4. World's largest hoard of vaccine orders. 418 million, population 37 million. F*** Africa.


It took me a while to learn to appreciate Tim Hortons, but once you get used to them, they're quite enjoyable.

The ridiculous number of vaccines ordered is an attempt to cover up that they forgot to negotiate any priority in supplies so, while Canada will eventually have a decade's worth of vaccines, our vaccination numbers are awful. Ontario, with over 13 million people, has been vaccinating about 12,000 a day and, despite that paltry rate, supplies have nearly run out. At current rates, if herd immunity is 70%, we'll reach that figure in about 3 years.

Kai Akker said...

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie

might be the appropriate song here. Bad as it is.

Futures down and in a bad kind of way. Only AAPL and TSLA standing against the bears here. And TSLA is purely paper. MSFT seems to be giving back the entire 7% spike in the shares AH yesterday on the earnings report.

American affluence is going to take a major hit. Along with it, many of the easy attitudes that accompany affluence. My .02.

mockturtle said...

I do like Red Green.

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Humperdink said...

At the end of his career, Tim Horton was a defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tim Hortons the coffee shop, Timmy Hoho's as it is known here, has the best coffee. I suspect the coffee is not grown in Canada.

donald said...

Imus was wrong.

Just caught my first sheepshead. Bitchez.

rehajm said...

Mmmmm...yule log...

Ken B said...

“ Is it our constitution at fault or those entrusted with enforcing it?”

Both. You are entrusted with enforcing it by demanding it of politicians, police, etc.
I am absolutely willing to say some people are more guilty than others, but it’s a widespread collective failure nonetheless.

Unknown said...

I went skiing in Canada once, at Mont Sainte Anne, in Quebec. After-ski, I'm sitting on a couch in front of a roaring fire. I was exhausted after 10 hours conquering the mountain. (The mountain was not conquered, Bruce Hayden probably knows what I mean) Minding my own business, looking at the fire, reveling in the peace that comes from physical exhaustion.

A girl sits down next to me. A Canadian girl. Manon. (What kind of name is that?) She was pretty though.

To this day, I regret what happened next.

I had travelled to Canada with a group that gathered in New York City and got a bus to the Great White North. We disembarked in Quebec and stayed at a motel where we partnered up with others to share rooms. My room-mate was an affable fellow named Scotty.

So...I bring Manon back to the motel, and Scotty's there. So I ask Scotty to give us some privacy. It's 10 degrees outside, but c'mon. So Scotty leaves and goes somewhere, despite there not being anywhere to go.

I swear, this Canadian girl had a tail. I kid you not. I mean, it didn't get in the way or anything, but geez. Anyway, Scotty knocks on the door after an hour and pleads to be let back in, because there's nothing open and nowhere to go, and he's freezing to death.
I quickly assesed his frozenness and decided he could stand another hour.

Anyway, I called a cab to take Manon back to her motel, and let Scotty back in the room.

I regret Scotty's frostbite. Still, I never knew Canadians have tails. (Ken B knows what I'm talking about.)