"Step inside the cabin and marvel at the creature comforts: a semicircular, plush-leather couch with a matching ottoman, glass cabinets trimmed with dark wood, a marble dining-room table with thick white candles... Below deck, the master bedroom is cozy but well-appointed.... There's a guest room.... Up on the party deck, amid the wrought-iron chairs and tables with umbrellas, you might see Trump-allied Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), just months removed from objecting to President Biden’s election, talking college football with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 'Pete’s from Notre Dame,' said Tuberville.... On one evening cruise, some years back, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was so moved by the picturesque Washington skyline that she began singing 'God Bless America.'.... Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), an Almost Heaven regular, has regaled fellow passengers with 'American Pie.'... 'All I’m saying is I don’t think our Founding Fathers anticipated the survival of this democratic experiment to rest in the hands of a man who lives in a house boat,' Jenna Valle-Riestra, a press secretary for the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a now-deleted tweet... [The boat is] a place where deals can be floated and bills can get watered down. Where trust can live, if fleetingly, among people whose constituents don’t trust each other at all.... For some that sounds like Almost Heaven. For other’s that’s just a nice way to describe living in limbo."
From "Washington’s hottest club is Joe Manchin’s houseboat" (WaPo).
The name of the boat is the first 2 words of John Denver's beloved song about Joe Manchin's state.
Does Manchin actually live on the boat? Yes, it is his residence when he is in Washington, The Washingtonian reported back in February: "Manchin lives on a boat because he doesn’t like living here." Republicans attacked him for owning an expensive boat, but it was cheap compared to the price of land-based housing in Washington.
And John Denver didn't write that song, and the song wasn't really written about West Virginia! It's about Gaithersburg, Maryland or maybe Massachusetts:
In late 1970, local singer and songwriters Bill Danoff and his girlfriend at the time, Taffy Nivert — who performed as Fat City — were driving to a family reunion. As they drove through winding roads, the couple batted about lyrics, to pass the time — they envisioned a song Johnny Cash might record.
“The road they were actually on was Clopper Road, in Gaithersburg, a little two-lane blacktop,” at the time, but now an exit off Interstate 270.... “When they got to the ‘Almost heaven …’ at first it was going to be Massachusetts, because that’s where Bill was from. But they didn’t like the vibe, so they used West Virginia. They had never been to West Virginia,” said Jaffe.
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West Virginia is gorgeous...outside of a national park you'll never see so many trees. The people were very friendly and not assholes. Cost of living is very reasonable.
If my wife wasn't adverse to living in the middle of nowhere, I'd be happy to build a house on a hundred acres there in the middle of the forest (near a golf course) and just relax...
If you want a sense of the place, watch 'Barnwood Builders' on one of the cable house-building channels. The guys in the show are based in White Sulphur Springs, whose claim to fame is the Greenbriar Hotel and resort, under which was built a huge bunker to contain the US government in case the Ruskies ever pushed the button in the '50s.
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/greenbrier-bunker
I've never been able to figure out why they keep re-electing Manchin, given the pretty darned conservative nature of almost everyone I spoke to there...
WaPo sucking up to the Most Powerful Man in America.
His daughter Heather sold Mylan Labs and sent about 1,000 jobs out of WVA to a foreign country.
The elite are all in it for themselves. They sell us out on a regular basis.
It's a pirate ship.
I grew up listening to and loving John Denver. I should introduce them to a little John Denver. Since they do tolerate my oldies music when we travel together. (Thank goodness for streaming services.) I do love that song. Sets a great mood. I think "almost heaven, Massachusetts..." would not evoke as much serene connection to nature.
As for the article, the author's purpose is to evoke contempt for someone. All part of the same game Politicians make deals water is wet. Editorialists want to have influence too.
Regarding the song 'Country Roads', I would say that the song is written about West Virginia - just read the words (besides mentioning West Virginia by name, there is 'Blue Ridge Mountains' and 'Shenandoah River'). That's what the song is about. The anecdote sited talks about what inspired the song, which seems to be more of a nice drive on a sunny day that any particular location. No disrespect for those from Gaithersburg, but Clopper Road looks like one of a million locations in the US - nothing particularly inspiring about that location itself (unless you have nerd tendencies like I do, then perhaps driving by NIST at the east end of Clopper Road sent a chill up their spines!)
"I think "almost heaven, Massachusetts..." would not evoke as much serene connection to nature."
But look at the story behind the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts." They'd never been there but felt inspired by the word itself, which seems to have meant something like "almost heaven" to them.
I read the excerpt as a veiled warning. "Nice place, Joe. We know where you live."
Manchin living on a boat reminds me of the late congressman from Ohio, James Traficant Jr.
"The Democrat’s expulsion from Congress in 2002 came three months after a federal jury in Cleveland convicted him. Prosecutors said he used his office to extract bribes from businesspeople and coerced staffers to work on his farm and his house boat on the Potomac River in Washington. He also was charged with witness tampering, destroying evidence and filing false tax returns. He spent seven years in prison.
Traficant’s notoriety was rivaled only by his eccentricity."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-traficant-died_n_5893372
Note to Ann ... I see that blogger automatically assigns my "blogger" name, typingtalker, to this comment. I've been posting here as JamesL. Either way is fine although typingtalker is likely easier for both of us.
JamesL
James Erlandson
But look at the story behind the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts."They'd never been there but felt inspired by the word itself, which seems to have meant something like "almost heaven" to them.
I'm constantly checking Google for answers to anything that I'm wondering about. A few years back, out of the blue, I wanted to know why the heck the Bee Gees, an Australian/English group, were singing so longingly about going back to Massachusetts. Wikipedia provided me with a satisfactory answer:
"The song was intended as an antithesis to flower power anthems of the time such as "Let's Go to San Francisco" and "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" in that the protagonist had been to San Francisco to join the hippies but was now homesick. The idea of the lights having gone out in Massachusetts was to suggest that everyone had gone to San Francisco."
But look at the story behind the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts." They'd never been there but felt inspired by the word itself, which seems to have meant something like "almost heaven" to them.
I recently rediscovered the Bee Gees in my quest to fill out play lists. I was a young teen during the Disco Era and that how I was introduced to them. I think their Disco success stained their reputation a bit because these brothers were outstanding talents with huge success over decades, but some people don't see past the Disco phase. Massachusetts is not a word that scans well for verse, they made it work.
Still cannot forget Manchin jumping to his feet to applaud something Trump, I think it was, said in a State of the Union... only to get the stink eye from Schumer and immediately sitting down. The guy showed cowardice then.
On the other hand, he and Sinema are the only ones standing between America and total leftist destruction and they refuse to kill the filibuster, thus allowing the Republicans in the Senate to stop total Democrat control.
It's pretty sad that Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema are the last remaining bulwarks that we have to depend on. So I hope McConnel is there on that boat frequently, buttering Manchin up.
And I hope Manchin has some good security and food tasters. Perhaps the boat helps keep him safe from Antifa, who cannot swim, most likely?
'All I’m saying is I don’t think our Founding Fathers anticipated the survival of this democratic experiment to rest in the hands of a man who lives in a house boat,' Jenna Valle-Riestra, a press secretary for the Senate Judiciary Committee...
I've come to view any claim of "saving democracy" as just cover for more authoritarian bullsheet.
And I hope Manchin has some good security and food tasters. Perhaps the boat helps keep him safe from Antifa, who cannot swim, most likely?
---------
The Governor of West Virginia is a republican. If Manchin goes early, his replacement would hand control of the Senate to McConnell.
Almost Heaven is place where nothing ever happens almost.
Jenna Valle-Riestra should be pun-ished for her statements about the boat.
No fan of the Red Sox "Massholes" who currently inhabit the area, but Massachusetts nature has inspired a fair amount of lyric poets, like James Taylor:
"Now the first of December was covered with snow
Yes, and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston
Now the Berkshires, they seemed dream-like on account of that frosting
With ten miles behind me, and ten thousand more to go, you know"
No to mention Walden Pond....
John Denver has writer credit on Take Me Home, Country Roads: When Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (later of Starland Vocal Band fame) introduced the unfinished song to Denver, it consisted of just a single verse and chorus. The three worked on the song together, completing the lyrics and arrangement.
When I was a kid, I thought "Rocky Mountain High" was about a high school ... in Colorado. Ha.
One wonders whether Manchin has a crew armed with cutlasses prepared to repel boarders.
The headline on this article ("Washington's hottest club is...") seems to be a reference to Stefon, the outrageous nightlife-reporter character played by Bill Hader on "Saturday Night Live." It was always a funny bit, because writer John Mulaney wouldn't show Hader the material before he had to read it live on-air, and it always made him crack up. (Which isn't necessarily a good thing on "SNL," but in this case it worked.)
Of course, Hader went on to create and star in the excellent HBO show "Barry." Mulaney became one of the world's most successful comedians, went to rehab, divorced his wife, and started dating super-hot actress Olivia Munn. Stars, they're just like us.
But look at the story behind the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts." They'd never been there but felt inspired by the word itself, which seems to have meant something like "almost heaven" to them.
...that's kind of the same reason there's a Toyota Tacoma. If you've ever been to Tacoma you know what I mean...
I grew up in Virginia. The joke there was that Denver's song was about west (small 'w') Virginia. The Blue Ridge and Shenandoah are in the western part of the state.
Best location song for irony: "Gary Indiana."
All of our Congresscritters should be required to live on houseboats.
Here you go, the song that might have been:
Almost heaven, Massachusetts
Berkshire Mountains, Housatonic River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
Massachusetts, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gather 'round her
Sapper’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Maple taste of syrup, teardrop in my eye
…
"But with Republicans going all-in on an ex-president who tried to overturn an election on false pretenses, and many Democrats increasingly fed-up with comprise-minded moderates, American politics is no boat party."
I like the card playing terminology "going all-in" even if it's misused. It makes me wonder if Joe hosts all night poker games while out at sea. Maybe Ted Cruz went all-in early in the evening so he drinks all the alcohol before midnight. A stoned Tim Kaine, who also went all-in and lost, whips out his harmonica and the pair start singing Spanish folk songs. Murkowski and Schumer, who both bluffed and lost, join in but they don't speak Spanish so they dance the Macarena to every song. Good times.
If that's the way it goes, American politics IS a boat party. But I'm still not sure what "comprise-minded moderates" means.
A floating vape filled sausage factory
when i was a little kid in th 70s, I kept getting bob denver and john denver mixed up. Gilligan sure can sing, I thought. When my brother pointed out the difference in voices, I said "what about Gomer pyle and Jim nabors?"
John Denver real name = Henry J. Deutschendorf jr.
[But look at the story behind the Bee Gees song "Massachusetts." They'd never been there but felt inspired by the word itself, which seems to have meant something like "almost heaven" to them.]
Somebody ought to compose a treacly folk-rock parody ballad about Woolloomooloo. In Wool-loo-moo-loo...
Now by the sound of that word, you might be led to visualize a lonely yet picturesque outback sheep station, but no, Woolloomooloo is quite remote from John Denver's country road. It's as toney and high-dollar (that's Australian dollars, chum) as Beacon Hill, but with funnel-web spiders. Maybe I'll do it. Better yet, to really stick it the Brothers Gibb (they can never do enough penance for their disco mind-rot) I'll wax lyrical about Mt. Buggery, Victoria. (Is Samwell still alive?)
In the FIRST high school robotics competitions, some of the best teams come from West Virginia. At the meets, they have their tradition at the end of the day of gathering and serenading the other states' teams with that song. They are quite proud to be "country bumpkins" beating the pants off more "sophisticated" high schools with their robots.
Jefferson County WV, way over at the end of the eastern panhandle, is the only place in the Almost Heaven state where one can find Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River. The Supreme Court in Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 39 (1871), rejected by a 6-3 vote Virginia’s attempt to hold on to Jefferson County. Two votes the other way would have changed music history.
Slovaks have a ball season, just before Lent. After midnight, there is usually a DJ - and Country Roads is hugely popular.
I didn't like it much before, but lots of fun dancing to it makes it a lot more fun.
My Dad named our farm Country Road Farm.
Because that’s where home was.
Every time I hear John Denver sing it- I could weep.
Nostalgia is a powerful 6th sense.
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