I interviewed Mike Finnigan from Crooks and Liars about six month ago. Mike is a great piano/Hammond B-3 organ player and we talked about Miles Davis and the 50th anniversary of Kind Of Blue. After that interview, I asked Mike if we could chat about some other aspects of music. He was very agreeable. Unfortunately, when I decided to do a show on the origins of Funk, Mike was busy. He told me he was touring with Joe Cocker!!! He said that he had a friend in Texas, a bass player who would be perfect. Mike was right. Larry Fulcher was/is perfect. Larry has recorded with Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton and the Crusaders, just to name of few. He has won two Grammys playing with Taj Mahal.
We begin the show by talking about the death of Michael Jackson and how very important he was to the music business. Michael was truly loved world-wide. We then begin talking about Funk. Funk is all about the bass and the drums. Everything started with James Brown. I play “Livin’ in America,” “Sex Machine” and “Cold Sweat” as examples of James’ music. Sly and the Family Stone is next up. Sly’s bassist was a man named Larry Graham. Graham, like many of the bassists whom we talk about, came out of gospel music. Wanting more of a percussive sound, he began playing the bass with his thumb since there was no drummer. Larry did form his own group called Graham Central Station. I play a tune called “Hair” that has one of the best bass lines I have ever heard. We then go back to James Brown and talk about Bootsy Collins who started playing with James Brown when he was just a teenager. Bootsy Collins became the sound that was Parliament, the group that is most associated with Funk. (!) Part one ends with the Ohio Players and their tune “Skin Tight.”
This is a great interview. This is part one. I should have part two up in a little while now. The internet has been down in North and South Carolina, according to Charter Cable. So I have been struggling all afternoon.
Update: Part 2 of my interview – Larry Fulcher discusses how governments need to work on how to bring people together and not breaking us apart. We then talk about George Clinton and Parliament, Funkadelic. I play “Theme from the Black Hole” and “Dr. Funkenstein” from Parliament and “One Nation under a Groove” from Funkadelic. We end up coming full circle in this conservation. We started by talking about how gospel music drove Funk in the early days. Now, to find Funk we went back to Gospel music. Kirk Franklin – Stomp and Sounds of Blackness - Testify. I mention how the bass line is being played by the synthesizer and Larry adds Stevie Wonder‘s great hit Livin’ for the City as probably the first tune that was really driven by synthesizer. Larry Fulcher leaves us with some words of wisdom about music and its lasting value. George Duke takes us home with “Reach for it.”
The Iranian people decided to express their outrage with the outcome of the election that declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the race in which many Iranian’s feel was a stolen victory.
Prior to the election and shortly after his presidential victory, President Obama made and attempt to ease relations with the Iranian Government. However, after Obama’s comments regarding the unjust treatment of protestors and President Ahmadinejad expressed anger of Obama’s words, the main question is; what now?
According to the AP, President Ahmadinejad vowed in a speech that the U.S. will regret its criticism of the way the Iranian government is handling post election crackdown. The Iranian President also made the statement of the U.S. removing its mask.
What I would like to know is; why does the U.S. have to remove a mask all of a sudden because of our president speaking up for protesters and supporting the right to freedom of speech? I feel Obama was genuine when making the decision to send a greeting to Iran shortly after winning the presidency. However, the recent treatment of protesters being beaten, shot, and even killed in the street like Neda is ridiculous and deserves to be criticized.
In addition to the repression of demonstrators, the Iranian government has also banned journalist from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay inside. In my opinion banning the media is just unheard of. This is starting to sound like a dictatorship.
Because of Iran’s media ban, the information that is learned comes from witnesses and official statements carried on Iranian media.
On 6/25/09, Bill O’Reilly had a Talking Points commentary which dealt with “celebrating the destruction of others.” Of course, O’Reilly is talking about the news coverage of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s debacle. Celebration? I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any evidence of celebration. Not in the mainstream media. I haven’t seen it on any of the major liberal blogs either. It isn’t that Mark Sanford hasn’t given many critics adequate ammunition. That’s not the problem. The problem is Governor Sanford’s complete inability to come up with a coherent story and stick with it. His story has been evolving ever since we first thought he was missing two weeks ago. We don’t need to celebrate. When a political rival is stabbing himself multiple times, all you need to do is get out of the way.
Bill O’Reilly states, as fact, “the left has been especially vicious of late.” He gives us no information or data to support this wild allegation. This is a Bill O’Reilly trademark.
He then compares the wild left “celebration” to the restrained coverage of the John Edwards affair. Of course, he doesn’t mention that John Edwards had already dropped out of the presidential race. His presidential bid was in the toilet when the story broke. John Edwards was holding no public office. Finally, the fact that John Edwards had a extramarital affair with a woman did not fit with the frame that the conservatives were painting John Edwards as a closet homosexual.Remember Ann Coulter’s disgusting refrain?
Again, Bill O’Reilly then gives this sweeping statement — Fox news did not celebrate nor dwell on the Edwards affair. Really? Where is the data to support this? How do you define “dwell” then? A simple search of the Fox news website, using Google, reveals 1940 references to “John Edwards and Affair.” So what do you think… maybe a thousand of them are real and pertinent?
Bill O’Reilly, who regularly likes to attack even the New York Times or the Washington Post, on this particular occasion chooses the Post. (The Washington Post has plenty of problems of its own. It was revealed that the Post was selling access to its Op-Ed columnists and reporters. That can’t be good for unbiased journalism.) Bill O’Reilly chose to single out Eugene Robinson, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist. Instead of playing Eugene’s video clip in which he and Keith Olbermann were talking about Eugene’s unique qualifications to talk about this particular situation (the facts that Mr. Robinson had lived in Argentina while he covered South America and that he grew up in South Carolina). Eugene Robinson was clearly joking when he said that he was “grateful to the governor for doing this.” This was a quote that was clearly taken out of context and Bill O’Reilly doesn’t seem care. (See the video below and decide for yourself)
Bill O’Reilly then singles out several other people to prove his case that the far left was celebrating. By the way, where is the far left?Does the far left consist of people who believe that the government should not decide who can and cannot marry whom (outside of medical restrictions)? Does the far left consist of people who believe the government shouldn’t torture and should not have invaded Iraq? If this is the far left then more than 50% of this country is far left. Anyway, O’Reilly eventually winds his way around to attacking Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who is a filmmaker and outspoken critic of many of the conservative policies that we’ve seen over the last 8-20 years. Somehow, Pelosi’s mention of the hypocrisy that many of these “family values” Republicans have shown to the American people is un-American in Bill O’Reilly’s book. Somehow, criticism, without name calling (pinhead, moron, baby killer, etc.) has become un-American and vicious.
Bill O’Reilly concludes his incoherent rambling by comparing those who reported Mark Sanford’s adultery and subsequent lies to Muslims who believe in stoning criminals. He says, “apparently some in the USA believe in stoning as well, only with words.” Maybe I need to go back to college but that doesn’t seem to make any sense. When you stone somebody you kill them. Valid criticism is somehow equated to stoning or a death sentence? I don’t understand. Then again, after listening to several of Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points Commentary I’m usually more confused at the end than I was at the beginning.
As warned, North Korea has fired more missiles off the coast. According to the Associated Press, North Korea fired two short ranged missiles last Thursday. It is not definitely known at this time what type of missiles were fired but it was reported that the missiles were ground – to – ship missiles.
North Korea initially ordered a no sail zone off the east coast due to military drills through July 10th however we now see that those military drills must have consisted of firing missiles.
I’m starting to feel a little troubled by the growing tensions as well as North Korea’s vow to strengthen their nuclear arsenal. Just under two weeks ago North Korea was accusing the U.S. of attempting to start a second Korean War (as discussed in one of my recent posts ) however, it seems to be the other way around.
In my opinion, we as a country can not handle anything else right now, especially a nuclear war with North Korea. We are already in a war that has lasted well over 5 years, we are in a recession STILL, and we need to get our country’s healthcare under control, and this is just to name a few things that still needs resolving.
I hope and pray this country does not end up in another ongoing conflict, we need a break.
It is my opinion that we need to step back as progressives and reevaluate Gov. Mark Sanford. Sure, his wife is kicking him out of the house. She’s also issued one of the most stinging rebukes of a public figure that any of us have ever heard from a wife. Yes, the governor also left his state without a chief executive for four or five days but what’s the big deal? If government is not supposed to work, then isn’t Mark Sanford perfect?
Watch this perfect parody of a video:
Update: On a more serious note, there has been a call for Governor Mark Sanford to resign on from the Greenville, South Carolina editorial page:
Gov. Mark Sanford should resign immediately and allow South Carolina to begin picking up the pieces. The two-term governor has destroyed any shred of credibility with his lies unnecessarily added on top of other lies. His ability to govern this state has been compromised so severely that he cannot fulfill the duties required of this state’s governor until a successor takes the oath of office in January 2011.
In a tearful, rambling press conference last Wednesday, one in which the governor described himself as a “bottom-line type” of guy, he painted a version of his extramarital affair with an Argentine woman that we now know simply wasn’t the whole truth. And that the governor wasn’t truthful then — and in a circumstance that did not demand the steamy particulars of the affair — undermines the last thing Mark Sanford had working in his favor: his character. (more… )
Over four years ago Sen. John Edwards, during a debate with Darth Vader VP Dick Cheney, talked about the two Americas. When Sen. Edwards ran for president in 2008, he also talked about the two Americas. He was talking about the very rich and everybody else. When you look at this debate they were having over healthcare, the debate has been characterized as a moral issue for covering those who don’t have healthcare. We’re talking about the poor or the working poor. I think it’s a lot more than that.
I think John Edwards was partially right. I think that America is really divided into three distinct groups: the poor, the rich and those of us who are in between. I like to talk about those of us who have “adequate health insurance.” For 90% of the medical ailments that may come up during our lifetime, these folks who have “adequate” health insurance will be fine. Their health insurance will suit them just fine. If you have a ruptured appendix, an uncomplicated heart attack or a gallbladder attack, your insurance will cover you and you’ll be back on the job in no time. On the other hand, if you’re in a major car crash and have a head injury or you have a significant pelvic fracture requiring prolonged rehabilitation, your insurance may only cover part of your overwhelming expenses.
An article in the New York Times, published yesterday, is unfortunately the typical variety of sensational case report which dominates the healthcare discussion. This article, which is probably accurate, describes the personal pain and suffering that medical bankruptcy has bestowed upon several people. The article never pulls back and shows us the whole picture. What do all the medical bankruptcies in the United States do to our economy? What happens when thousands of Americans have to sell their homes because of a medical bankruptcy? According to recent study, medical bankruptcies affect about two million Americans every year. (I’m not sure how you define “affect” in this context.) Average out-of-pocket expense is over $11,000 before bankruptcy. Remember, these are Americans who have insurance.
This is what the healthcare debate is about. It’s about fighting for you and me. It’s about fighting for all Americans. We need universal healthcare. We need a public system that will cover all Americans. No more medical bankruptcies. We need a system that is not going to bleed us dry. We need a system that will improve our healthcare and help us live happier, healthier, longer lives.
“Underinsurance is the great hidden risk of the American health care system,” said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor who has analyzed medical bankruptcies. “People do not realize they are one diagnosis away from financial collapse.”
Here’s how we get there. Medicare and Medicaid will be rolled into this universal healthcare. The federal government will be allowed to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and medical product companies, both of which will drive down costs. Primary care physicians will be paid to take care of a population of patients. They will be given added incentives if their population of patients who are in fact healthier at ,the end of every year (better sugar control in their diabetic patients, better blood pressure control in the hypertensive patients and better weight control in their overweight patients — these are just a few examples). Patients who adhere to their doctors regiments and lose weight, stay on a strict diet and monitor their sugars will necessarily be given tax rebates. All of this will be driven by proven medical data. The medical studies will be paid for by the $700 billion that we will save by excluding insurance. Patients can still choose their own doctors and go to their own hospitals.
Finally, there are some who have bemoaned the fact that insurance companies have been made the villains. Insurance companies, for the most part, deserve their reputations. Even with complete universal healthcare coverage, insurance companies will still have a viable product to sell to the wealthy. They will sell supplemental insurance. Universal healthcare will be driven by the best medical data that is available. For those Americans who want treatment outside of these constraints, supplemental insurance may be able cover some of these costs.
For me, the bottom line is doing the right thing for America. The right thing is universal healthcare.
Update: An interesting article on healthcare reform was sent to me by a good friend. I’ve been arguing that healthcare reform, universal health care, makes sense for a number of reasons. I’ve tried to stay away from finger-pointing and name-calling. It is clear that over the years the insurance and pharmaceutical industries have made huge profits. These these profits are not huge compared to Halliburton or Exxon-Mobil, but they are large compared to historical standards. Robyn Blumner, writing for the Columbus Dispatch, argues that the government is the only thing that can keep these large insurance companies honest. She is probably correct. We need more than simple regulation since, as we saw seen during the Bush administration, even the best written regulations can be ignored by an industry-friendly government.
Update II:DemFromCT has a great update on the Daily Kos of a new poll that was released from Quinnipiac. It is clear that most Americans want a public option. In spite of what Joe Scarborough said the other day that all ABC/Washington Post polls were skewed, in every single poll that I have seen recently supports a favorable public option. Are they all skewed? Interestingly, in the Quinnipiac poll, 72% of Americans didn’t want to pay any more than $500 per year for this public option. To me, this clears up the debate significantly. This means universal healthcare. This is the only option in which Americans don’t put out any more out-of-pocket expense. Any public-private option will cost billions if not trillions of dollars. So where’s the problem?
Here’s Senator Hagan’s contact information:
WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE
521 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6342
Fax: 202-228-2563
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
The Errington Thompson Show 7-4-09 interview with Larry Fulcher part 1 [ 13:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
