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AUGER RHYTHMS: Brian Auger's Musical History
by Brian Auger (& The Oblivion Express)
released: 2003
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It seems that there are some things that the majority of people do not like. For instance, the taste of brussels sprouts and fruitcake; or the smell of brand new carpeting; or the low-hanging grey of overcast skies; the cracking of knuckles; the telling of puns; the comedy of Jackie Mason; and the sound of the organ. But all of these are on my "thumb's up" list. If you side with me... on the sound of the organ, that is... then this is a "must own" 2-disc set!
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This is an excellent 28-song career retrospective of the vastly underrated keyboardist, Brian Auger. The variety of styles employed in his creative, genre-bending recorded output, which encompasses parts of 5 decades, are well represented on AUGER RHYTHMS. If the name Brian Auger doesn't mean anything to you, then sadly, you've missed out on some really exciting music. You can correct that oversight right now. LISTEN HERE. . .
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The first 5 tracks on disc 1 give us Brian's early, straightforward Jazz excursions with his piano as the lead instrument. These 5 pieces are performed by obviously accomplished musicians, and all are highly enjoyable if somewhat derivative. It's technically impressive, and it swings nicely, but it's not particularly original. This is the early phase of a gifted musician who had not yet discovered the unique, artistic "voice" dwelling in his inner being.
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It is with track #6, MOANIN' -- the Bobby Timmons composition, made into a certifiable Jazz classic by the great Art Blakey -- that Brian first plugs in his Hammond B-3 organ, and LOOK OUT! Now the sparks are flying all over the place while the scent of burnt ebony, ivory, and ozone goes wafting through the room. This is the incendiary playing that we've come here for. Not only does MOANIN' cook, but AUGER actually cuts BLAKEY on his own signature tune, and I assure you that ain't some small feat! We get more B-3 flamethrowing on the next couple of tracks.
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Beginning with I'VE GOTTA GO NOW, the set moves into Auger's stuff with vocals by Julie Driscoll. I don't find it offensive but it's not my scene. Maybe it's yours. Think in terms of the era that gave us Cream, early Doors, Go-Go Dancers and LSD.
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Disc 1 closes with a couple of gems: I know this may seem blasphemous to some of you, but I'm not real big on The Beatles. Auger's instrumental take on A DAY IN THE LIFE is a majestic and sweeping epic of fire and crescendo; the arrangement is nothing short of magnificent! The Beatles never sounded so grand or so musical. TROPIC OF CAPRICORN is another winner.
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Disc 2 opens with LISTEN HERE, the pinnacle of the collection; the supreme staging ground for Auger's mystifying fingers. The legendary funk drummer from Cork, Ireland, Yoey O'Dogherty, once famously quipped that, "If the hips ain't movin', the tune ain't groovin'!" Well, babe, LISTEN HERE is seriously groovin'! It employs 4 drummers and 2 bassists -- yeah, you might say it's got some "bottom" to it. It's a raging 9-minute rhythm monster -- a JAM thicker than PEANUT BUTTER! Don't forget to board up the windows, batten down the hatches, anchor the roof with steel cable, and make sure the kids are safe before you crank up this bad boy! And be sure to remove all nearby flammables, because this sucker is on the verge of igniting! It's an outrageous electric guitar, keyboard and drum workout. Honestly, music just DOES NOT get more exciting than this, and I would have gladly paid the full price for this collection even if LISTEN HERE were the only worthwhile cut on it -- it's THAT good!
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Most of the remaining tunes are taken from Auger's 'OBLIVION EXPRESS' days of Jazz/Rock/Funk Fusion. Very 1970s -- but in a good way... if you can overlook some of Alex Ligertwood's strained and emotionally-overwrought vocals on a couple of numbers. The last 3 songs feature Auger with his son and two daughters on contemporary recordings. They're OK.
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The only disappointments are in the enclosed booklet, which contains numerous errors in the commentary and credit listings, making it of limited value. And more importantly: Auger's most in-demand tune (which initiated my interest in Jazz in 1978) was the funky Wes Montgomery compostition, 'BUMPIN' ON SUNSET'. This became Auger's signature tune. Playing it live, the band took it at a quicker pace which enhanced the catchy, soulful groove, making it more pronounced. Thus, my favorite version of 'BUMPIN' ON SUNSET' appears on the now unavailable 'LIVE OBLIVION' album. The version included on AUGER RHYTHMS is neither the live cut, nor the original studio recording, but a previously unreleased take which is too slow and inferior to both of the others.
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Overall, this is a great collection and I dare say that if you can't find much to enjoy on this, then you need to have the authorities release an All-Points-Bulletin because somebody has absconded with your musical "soul". Hey, you there!... are you LISTENing HERE?
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE
by David Barton
published: 1993
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In 1993, a friend and coworker loaned me his videocassette of David Barton's 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE'. Knowing that I was not what the "orthodox" Christian Church would call a "Christian", he said almost half-apologetically, "I think you might find this interesting... but I don't know. Maybe not." Instead, he should have handed me the tape with immense boldness!
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It is a great understatement to say that I was totally unprepared for the information contained in 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE'. Like most Americans, I had been brainwashed into believing that "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" was some foundational principle in our form of government. I had been conditioned by our social engineers (academia; the judiciary; the media; and the scoundrels that we continually send to Washington D.C. to represent us) to accept the seeds of secular Socialism. And being too "busy" (read: lazy) to read "THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND" for myself (Pssst. It's called, 'THE CONSTITUTION'), I didn't know any better. Shame on me! 'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' convicted me of my ignorance, and viewing it was the first step I took on my way to becoming a bona fide "American patriot".
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I am appalled by how often I find deceivers misrepresenting the truth in their Amazon.com reviews; taking information out of context in order to distort it and deliberately mislead others. Often their own words expose the fact that they are not even familiar with the material they are pretending to review.
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On the Amazon.com product page for 'America's Godly Heritage' we have a self-proclaimed "Christian HISTORIAN" who, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of America's Founding Fathers were members of orthodox Christian churches, seizes upon statements from a few of the less religious Founders to paint an inaccurate picture. And quoting the Treaty of Tripoly out of context hardly reveals the whole story behind it!
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Our "Christian HISTORIAN" neglects to tell us that . . .
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John Adams said, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were... the general principles of Christianity."
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John Jay declared, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty -- as well as the privilege and interest -- of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." But what did John Jay know? He was only the original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and one of the 3 men most responsible for the Constitution!
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Our "Christian HISTORIAN" would have us believe that the "Father Of His Country", George Washington, was not a Christian. This is the same Washington who told his troops at Valley Forge:
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"To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to laud the more distinguished character of Christian." The same Washington whose June 14, 1783, prayer for the U.S.A. included this plea: "Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection... Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." You'll find that on a plaque in St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, and at Pohick Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, where this supposed "non-Christian", Washington, was a vestryman from 1762 to 1784.
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Yeah, our reviewer is a "Christian HISTORIAN" like I'm a six-year-old Hindu girl from Dogbreath Falls, Minnesota!
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As of this date, "Christian HISTORIAN"'s total Amazon.com content consists of only 3 reviews: 2 of them bashing David Barton, and the third one praising some Rock album with "driving distorted guitars with a tinge of punk and attitude". Just what one would expect from a "Christian HISTORIAN", right? The title for his review of 'America's Godly Heritage' is "THIS IS FICTION". I agree with his title, but only if it is referring to the review he posted below it!
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'AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE' holds a wealth of surprising information, and David Barton has so much to tell us that he must deliver it in double-time fashion. This tape probably won't "entertain" you, although it will quite possibly shock you! But this is just the tip of the iceberg. His masterpiece of research is the scholarly tome 'ORIGINAL INTENT: The Courts, The Constitution, & Religion'. David Barton is the owner of many original documents from the Founding era, and he maintains a great website: www.wallbuilders.com
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The "Christian HISTORIAN" says that America was not founded on Judeo-Christian principles, but was intended as a secular nation. This "non-orthodox Christian" says he's wrong! Believe who you will.
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The 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution concluded it with, "Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven."
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Now which "Lord" do you suppose America's Founders had in mind? Fauntleroy?
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES
by Robert Louis Stevenson
published: 1885
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When she was a little girl in Cincinnati, my Mother had a beloved copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES'. Many decades later, she shared her love of this poetry with me and my siblings by reading it to us often when we were little. The poem that I most vividly recall her reciting is TIME TO RISE:
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A BIRDIE WITH A YELLOW BILL
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HOPPED UPON MY WINDOW-SILL,
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COCKED HIS SHINING EYE AND SAID:
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"AIN'T YOU 'SHAMED, YOU SLEEPY-HEAD?"
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Most of 'A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES' is a delight sure to please very young children and adults who have an appreciation for wordplay and rhyme.
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Stevenson was a master wordsmith whose integration of imagination and verbal rhythms produced verse that sticks in the mind like styrofoam packing-peanuts stick to a wool shirt. But whereas the packing-peanuts are insanely aggravating, the verse is simply charming. Stevenson was not a Dr. Seuss, but neither was he a quack.
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I have an out-of-print copy of 'A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES', illustrated with nineteenth century woodblock engravings. The illustrations by Tasha Tudor in this volume are very nice, but truth be told, the illustrations in ANY volume are next to superfluous since Stevenson is so adept at painting word-pictures in the mind of the reader.
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'A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES' will transport you back to a time when a bedsheet and a few dining room chairs was all the boat you needed to have rollicking adventures on the high seas! This poetry touches on all of the things so enthralling to little boys and girls:
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Pirates and sailing ships, the seaside, distant stars, toy soldiers, galloping horses, howling dogs, imaginary playmates, the moon, explorers, Indians, swings, fairies and Gameboys are all childhood fascinations that find their way into Stevenson's verse. Well, OK, I lied about the "Gameboys" (just to see if you were paying attention), but that brings up another point. This poetry was composed in 1885, which means that the occasional archaic word or mossy British phrase rears its mysterious head from time to time. I like that; it adds a touch of antique elegance to the garden. But if you're going to be reading this aloud to a kiddie, be prepared to explain lamplighters, grenadiers, balusters, gabies and bogies.
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Back in 2002, my Mom suffered a small stroke, and consequently it was decided that she should move into the house that my Brother and I shared. At nearly 74 years old, she tends to tire easily. Some days she remains in bed and lets a good part of the morning slip away. When that happens, I'll knock softly at her bedroom door and enquire, "AIN'T YOU 'SHAMED, YOU SLEEPY-HEAD?" That always gets her up to start the day. Aren't the Tides Of Life a wonder?
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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BLACK IVORY SOUL
by Angélique Kidjo
released: 2002
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BLACK IVORY SOUL by Angelique Kidjo was a 2004 birthday gift to me from one of my few true friends, Melanie. [Thanks, MelNel!] She was turned onto it by the receptionist at her dentist’s office. Melanie immediately determined to get me a copy too, knowing that I’m the hippest, most soulful White dude this side of RESTAURANT 28 -- an excellent soul food joint in Glendale, Arizona. And did I like the music immediately? Did Louis Armstrong like red beans and rice? Does a bear like honey? Does Albert Pujols like a hanging curve ball? Does Terrill Owens like Donovan McNabb? (Oh, I guess I got carried away.)
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What I don’t like is this bovine excrement that passes for music amongst our brain-dead youth today. (I call all of their bands ‘THE NAKED EMPERORS.’) If it’s not Bimbo Pop pap, it’s Rap crap, or what’s called “Alternative” (meaning: alternative to “music”.) I don’t buy music anymore; having an I.Q. over 50, I don’t watch MTV; I don’t go to dance clubs; and the only contemporary music [sic] I’m exposed to is through commercials and the half-wit sitting next to me at the red light. So although my familiarity with it has been limited, I’d say that Angelique Kidjo’s BLACK IVORY SOUL is the best music yet to emerge from the 21st Century.
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From the liner notes: “Kidjo has crossed musical boundaries by blending the tribal and pop rhythms of her native West African heritage with a variety of styles, including Funk, Salsa, and Jazz. On BLACK IVORY SOUL, Kidjo explores the musical and cultural kinship between Africa and Brazil, specifically her homeland and the province of Bahia.”
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Now, if that sounds like a real potpourri of influences, I can assure you that it does not come off as being some patchwork quilt of disparate styles. BLACK IVORY SOUL is a very unified and unique musical statement. The whole piece is tied together by intriguing , exotic rhythms and (though few of the lyrics are sung in English) the album is loaded with catchy melodies and hooks galore. It’s as memorable as any Pop album ever created by an English-singing music stylist.
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The musicianship -- especially the drumming and percussion -- is first-rate throughout, and Kidjo displays remarkable vocal control and an expressive instrument that conveys many emotional shadings regardless of language. Man, this is stellar stuff! You could dance to it, sing to it, contemplate to it. The only thing you won’t be able to do is sleep to it -- it’s entirely too energetic for that.
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There’s not a single track that I don’t really like on BLACK IVORY SOUL, but if I had to pick a favorite, I’d probably side with OMINIRA. Thanks to the English translations provided in the accompanying booklet, I know that Angelique Kidjo is singing: “Everybody wants freedom / Everybody wants to find one’s soulmate / Take my hand / I can promise you / Life will bring us freedom.” From Kidjo’s lips to God’s Ears!
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The only negative comment I have to make is directed at Dave Matthews who duets with Kidjo on IWOYA. While I like the song and also Dave’s voice, it kind of irks me to hear him singing, “You don’t have to be old to be wise / Don’t you hear the baby crying?” I just happen to know that Dave Matthews associates with Planned Parenthood, and a few years ago his band did a benefit concert on behalf of that organization which is the nation’s largest promoter of abortion. I’ve got a question for you Dave: How ‘bout you? Don’t you hear the “unborn” baby crying?
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Other than this “insensitive” singer/songwriter’s hypocritical participation, I really dig Angelique Kidjo’s BLACK IVORY SOUL. It makes my own Irish / German / Scottish / American Indian soul sing. (I may be a mutt but I ain’t no dog!) If you’re the soulful sort and can appreciate great music regardless of its origin or the language of its lyrics, then you’re gonna love BLACK IVORY SOUL, and I wouldn’t Kidjo ‘bout that. (Ha! Sorry. I guess I got carried away... again.)
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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FREAKONOMICS
by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
released: 2005
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It was Mark Twain who popularized the aphorism of Benjamin Disraeli that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. I kept hearing all these marvelous things about FREAKONOMICS, a book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, so when I ran across it at 25% off, I did a stupid freakin’ thing and bought it. I thought: What the freak, I’ve got a pretty inquisitive mind and I’m open to seeing things differently, to discovering new viewpoints.
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The doubt started early when I got the book home and I first noticed the glowing comments on the dust jacket from the likes of Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. When all of the Liberal news agencies are lining up to tell me how wondrous a certain publication is, I’m immediately going to be freakin’ suspicious.
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Author Malcolm Gladwell tells us on the cover, “Prepare to be dazzled”. Well, evidently Ol’ Malcolm is dazzled a whole lot easier than I am. (I won’t even mention the smug mug of Stephen Dubner that taunted me from the book’s dust jacket because I don’t want you to get the idea that I judge a book by its cover. Or in this case, a writer by his physiognomy. So I won’t mention that.)
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If you’re the kind of person who is amazed to learn that 70% of auto accidents occur within 10 miles of a driver’s home, then you just MIGHT be dazzled by FREAKONOMICS. If I tell you that the company that issues its 5-day-a-week employees only 3 uniform shirts, thinking that it is cutting costs, is probably increasing its overhead, and this fact astounds you -- if you must ask “But how?” -- then, yes, buy FREAKONOMICS and be dazzled!
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Mostly what FREAKONOMICS offers (when its conclusions can be trusted) is just what we used to call “common sense.” But since America has been reduced to a bunch of corpulent, brain-dead zombies staring vacuously at that glowing box of SURVIVORS, and AMERICAN IDOLS, and LOST knuckleheads, good old-fashioned common sense now appears to dazzle the dead (when you can sever them from that glowing box and put a real book in their hands, that is).
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I dove into FREAKONOMICS hoping to find my purchase worthwhile. I got no further than page 13 when my fears were realized: everything would require second-guessing and verifying. On that page, Smug Mug tells us (based on a single report by the Institute Of Medicine) that “drinking eight glasses of water a day has never actually been shown to do a thing for your health.” Fortunately, I read YOUR BODY’S MANY CRIES FOR WATER by Doctor F. Batmanghelidj over a decade ago, so I already knew what a bunch of bunk that was.
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In chapter 4, Smug Mug “proves” that legalizing abortion in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade decision was responsible for a national drop in the crime rate. This represents the centerpiece of his book, both literally and ideologically. The first thing the reader must accept is that there really has been a significant drop in crime since the early 1990s.
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On page 92, the author acknowledges that the police in Atlanta were discovered to be under-reporting crime in the early ‘90s in hopes of landing the 1996 Olympics. Well, would police forces nationally have an incentive to under-report crime generally if it has actually dramatically increased since the ‘90s as predicted? True, being honest might be means to an increased budget, but it sure would make your department appear inept and unable to maintain control. And surely the Chamber Of Commerce and the big business interests would frown on that public perception. Let me ask, do YOU actually feel you’re less likely to be the victim of a crime now than you did in the early 1990s? That’s funny, me neither. There’s so much crime now that some of what was once reported to the police agencies goes unreported, and recently, an ex-police officer friend told me that cops can no longer engage in some of the micro-policing they were able to do in the ‘80s and ‘90s because crime is so out-of-control now.
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In dismissing other possible factors responsible for the huge drop in crime (if this claim is a verity), Dubner states that increased police personnel accounts for only 10% of the drop. Having a bit more insight into the nature of police work than does the average civilian, it’s funny that I find myself even contending with the stats Smug Mug uses that actually WORK AGAINST his theory: I believe the wide-scale hiring of police officers since the early ‘90s could have impacted the crime rate only minimally -- less than the 10% -- while actually increasing the municipal coffers via traffic citations significantly. And Dubner concludes that right-to-carry firearm laws “simply don’t bring down crime”. (Be sure to read the utterly fascinating book GUNFIGHTERS, HIGHWAYMEN & VIGILANTES by Roger D. McGrath, for a decidedly different and scholarly viewpoint!)
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In dismissing all explanations for the unexpected drop in crime except legalized abortion, I didn’t notice any mention of the tremendous increase in homeschooling and the proliferation of private schools since the early ‘90s, and I wonder if that might have some statistical bearing. Ya think? Yes, I think Smug Mug is selective. He calls some abortions a “crude and drastic sort of insurance policy”. Not “immoral.” Not “sinful.” But then I didn’t expect Smug Mug to call a sin a sin.
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And even if Levitt and Dubner’s hypothesis is correct, that abortions have lowered crime, the fact remains that not every aborted child would have eventually murdered an innocent person, but every aborted child was an innocent person murdered. So why are we even discussing this? I’ll tell you why... Because the Pro-Choice folks can feel a slightly shifting consensus, and now they’re pulling out all the stops, trying to “statistically” convince the masses that they’re safer with all those unborn potential criminals missing. I find this repulsive! (And there are studies indicating that those missing people have, and will continue to have, a massively negative economic impact on society.)
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I won’t even go into chapter 5, 'What Makes A Perfect Parent?' Suffice to say that as usual (surprise! surprise!) all the statistics Dubner employs nearly always seem to confirm the rightness of the Liberal dogma on each issue. Funny how those crunched numbers always crunch conservative beliefs. Just know that if you’re a working mother, you haven’t cheated your child in the least, but if you’re a dad who thinks that an occasional spanking is in order, you are “unenlightened”. If your kid is watching lots of TV, it isn’t turning the “child’s brain to mush”. (No word on whether or not it’s turning his/her morals to mush though.) And the studies (that we are called to pay attention to) show “that a child’s character wasn’t much affected whether or not he was sent to day care, whether he had one parent or two, whether his mother worked or didn’t, whether he had two mommies or two daddies or one of each.” (I’ve often wondered what might have happened to me if my Mom, who was home most of the time, hadn’t been there to hammer the dangers of drugs into my head day after day, year after year, while I was growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s.)
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I’ve given FREAKONOMICS two stars because I did find the section on the naming of children very interesting, as well as the story of Stetson Kennedy’s fight against the “three Ks”. But if you’re smarter than I am, you’ll borrow this book from your library rather than paying money for it. Economically speaking, that’s just "common cents".
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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