(Try to) Get the House in Order

Today's big news is that Biden has dropped out of the race for POTUS. This is something that should have happened a long time ago. Hell, he shouldn't have even run for a second term, but he did and we are where we are, so my advice to the Democrats is to pick up the pieces and try to do the best they can to move forward and avoid another four years of Donny T. (Ugh.) 

Democrats are their own worst enemy sometimes. They often manage to shoot themselves in the foot. When Biden shit the bed at the debate a few weeks ago, I found myself wondering if he'd been set up by people inside of his inner circle who knew he was sliding downhill and wanted to expose his decline to the American public (and to the world at large). As the weeks passed, I found myself believing that scenario more and more. (The calls are coming from INSIDE of the house, Joe!) Look, I would have voted for Biden if they'd wheeled him out on a stretcher in a straight jacket and face mask, a la Hannibal Lecter and I'll vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is who'll replace him. That's how strongly I feel about NOT suffering through another four years of Donny T. (Ugh again.) (RFK, Jr. is a non-entity in my mind, so no use even going down that road.)

The Dems have their work cut out for them and I have low expectations that they'll truly be able to get their house in order and nominate someone who can win. It's possible, but the road to victory is difficult and time is not on their side. In the event that Donny does become POTUS once again (ugh x 3), I'm not going to curl up into a ball and cry. I. I'm going to keep on keeping on. I won't allow allow some nut job to make me into a nut job too. I was born during the Nixon administration. My parents didn't let some loser in the White House stop them from living their lives and carrying on and neither will I.  

Karma Police

Regarding last weekend's event with Donny T, get the Karma Police on the case. (Apologies to Radiohead.) When you incite violence against others on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, are you really surprised when violence comes knocking on your door looking for you? A smart person would learn a lesson from this and make some changes in his/her life, but I highly doubt Donny will because he's not the kind of person to learn anything from anyone anymore. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

I went to see the musical version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil at Chicago's Goodman Theatre last weekend. It was...interesting. Having read the book, seen the movie, and visited Savannah, GA and took the "Midnight" tour many, many years ago, I was interested in seeing a staged version. Some of it was good, but some of it wasn't. I have to say, Midnight turned into The Lady Chablis Variety Show and that wasn't a good thing. Yes, Chablis is a huge character in the book and movie, but she's not the main focus of either. Midnight is about Jim Williams and the murder of Danny Hansford. That's the main story here, yet the musical overshadowed the actual murder to showcase Chablis, the drag queen. I wouldn't have minded that much if the actor playing Chablis on stage had a better singing voice. Sadly, that wasn't the case. (I'm using the term "actor" here for all actors in the play whether male, female, trans,  non-binary, etc.) The actor's voice wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that great and to keep giving musical numbers to someone who isn't exactly what I'd call a "Broadway singer" was just a mistake. The actor who played Jim Williams didn't have a great voice either, but he didn't have as many musical numbers as Chablis. There were some really great performances in the play by the actor who led the Savannah preservation group and the actor who played the young black debutant. Those two ladies had wonderful voices. Too bad there were no Johnny Mercer songs. How do you do a musical about a murder at the Mercer House and there's no Mercer music in it? Come on!

Seeing the play made me want to re-read the book. I used to have a copy, but I must have gotten rid of it. I purged a lot of books when I left New York 10.5 years ago. I've been listening to the movie soundtrack also. It's got some great Johnny Mercer songs including a really beautiful version of "This Time the Dream's on Me" by Alison Krauss. Krauss has such a lovely voice. I could listen to her sing the phone book. I highly recommend checking out her song that, unfortunately, only seems to be available on the soundtrack. I'd like to see the movie again, but I don't think it's available on any of the streamers. I might have to get the DVD from my local library. I'm willing to suffer through Kevin Spacey to see it also. (He's not a bad actor, just a terrible person!)

Sleeping in the Bed You Made

I only had to watch the first 10 or so minutes of the presidential debate last night before realizing that Joe Biden would shit the bed last night...and he did. Aside from his meandering answers to the moderators' questions (when he did actually try to answer without losing his train of thought), I was amazed at how clueless he looked throughout the debate. At one point, there was a split screen of Biden and Trump while Trump was gesticulating and spewing his usual lies and exaggerations and Biden was standing there with his mouth agape. He looked like a nursing home patient waiting for the health care worker to bring him a juice box. Seriously. What a disaster for the Democrats that this is our candidate. What a disaster for our country that Biden and Trump are the best we can do for this next presidency. Neither of these old guys deserve our votes. Why can't we get decent candidates for POTUS? Because all of the decent candidates are smart enough to NOT get caught up in the shit show that is our American political system.

The Democrats are freaking out today and rightly so, but this is the bed they made for themselves. In my opinion, this goes all the way back to Hillary Clinton. If Biden had run against Trump back in 2020 instead of stepping aside so Hillary could run (because it was "her time" you know/s), I'm pretty confident he could have been victorious and stayed in office for two terms. Even if Biden had done as initially promised and agreed to serve just one term and the Dems had got on the stick over the past four years and got someone ready and waiting in the wings to step up as the next POTUS candidate, we'd be in a better position against Donny T. But none of that happened and now we are where we are. 

RIP, Angela Bofill

Great people in the music industry just keep passing away. A few weeks ago, it was David Sanborn and now it's Angela Bofill. I grew up listening to Angela Bofill's music in Detroit mainly on the defunct station WJZZ. She was so talented and never really got the audience or the kudos she deserved. It annoys me when "singers" who can't sing or have a limited vocal range often get pushed to mega-star status while truly talented singers like Angela Bofill, Phyllis Hyman, and Chante Moore are given the short shrift. I understand the music industry (especially these days) is more than just a great voice. You have to have a marketable persona to get fans and fame, but it still angers me that true talent is so often overlooked.

RIP, Angela Bofill.

Don't Touch!

I mentioned a few posts back that my tour group in Madeira, Portugal last month was filled with Brits and I said there'd be more to come on them. Well, that time has come! The British folks on my tour were largely nice, older people who did a lot of travelling to far-flung places. They were seasoned travelers, but some of the stuff they did was a little odd to me as an American. First, they would use me (the lone American) as a sounding board to criticize their fellow countrymen/women. I guess they figured since I didn't have a dog in that fight, I was the person to confide in. One guy complained  to me about another guy having a beer at 11 in the morning when we stopped at a location. One woman complained to me about another woman who she thought talked too much. (Honestly, I thought they ALL talked too much and I said this to the Portuguese tour guide during a moment when just the two of us were in an elevator together. He said something like, "They have a lot to say." And I responded with, "Do they? Really?" He laughed. 

There was one British woman who was traveling with a friend she hadn't seen in a long time and she would shove you out of the way to get to this other woman if they became separated. It was so bizarre. I started making sure I was far away from both of them to avoid being anywhere near the shover because I didn't want to have to let the Detroit out and go off on her ass. 

But my complaints about the group were few and far between. They really were lovely people and I had a great time in Portugal with them. Yes, a little of them went a long way, but they were funny and I learned some British expressions like a mozzie bite is a mosquito bite and a cozzie is a swimming costume (aka a bathing suit). They were very interested to know what I thought about Trump and Biden (and tell me how they loved Obama when he was in office--yeah, didn't we all). The last thing I wanted to do on vacation was talk about American politics, but I answered their questions as best I could without being annoying. 

One subject that came up while talking with one of the British ladies was about Americans touching people when we talk to them. The British woman I was talking with mentioned Trump touching the Queen when he wasn't supposed to during his visit when he was POTUS. Yeah, Americans like to touch folks when we talk to them (not all, of course). I did it when I was talking to our tour guide once, like a pat on the back. It's a cultural thing. Plus, I think it's ridiculous not to touch someone because they're royalty and untouchable. Give me a break. (Again, I'm an American, so I don't get the whole Royal Family thing. I think the monarchy is outdated and largely irrelevant, but I digress.) There was minor controversy this week with Emmanuel Marcon's wife trying to take Queen Consort Camilla's hand last week during a ceremony in France and how Camilla refused the gesture. Maybe Camilla felt she didn't want to be touched because she's married to the King of England and that's a no-no. Can't blame the Americans for that one since Marcon's wife is French, but I guess the same standards apply. Look, don't touch, folks. Insert eye roll here. 

The picture below is from the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens I visited during my trip. A lovely place and well worth the scary cable car ride to visit.

RIP David Sanborn

I found out jazz saxaphonist David Sanborn died while I was in Portugal via Datalounge, of all things. I was shocked to find out he'd been suffering with prostate cancer for a number of years because I had no idea. One of the last concerts I saw in New York before I moved to the Chicago area was one featuring David Sanborn and Bob James and it was great. I'd seen Dave in concert before, but not with Bob. They had a new CD out and performed songs from that and from their older Double Vision CD. 

Back in the 1990s, when I was a secretary, I met David Sanborn at a suburban Detroit record store. He was in town to promote his CD Pearls that had recently been released and I took a long lunch break, drove to the store, and met him. There's a picture of us together somewhere in my mounds of junk. I was (and still am) a huge David Sanborn fan. He was the kind of older man I really liked when I was in my 20s. Not that I could see myself hooking up with a guy who was almost my father's age, but I would have made an exception for Dave! There was something very appealing about him. Aside from being incredibly talented, he also seemed like a nice guy. I rambled when I met him and told him a story about some guy who kept yelling out "Jo Ann's Song" at a Sanborn concert I'd been to like Dave was taking special requests. He laughed and probably thought I was a psycho, but he still posed for a picture with me. 

RIP, Dave.