Covers: Puttin’ On the Ritz

I was watching Young Frankenstein today and it has a great scene with “Puttin’ On the Ritz“. The song was written by Irving Berlin in 1927. Check out the Russian flash mob version.

There are two sets of lyrics for 'Putting On The Ritz' from two very different cultural periods. Dig them and their story (and a clip of the first time the song was performed on film). #musical #Broadway #nightclub #TCM #FilmTwt https://t.co/0ZcukEGHhZ
— raymond de felitta (@ReelRDEF) February 13, 2024

Brawl at a Golden Corral

There are so many videos of this kind of stuff, I think they could make a TV show of them. It’s a violent country.

Brawl breaks out at a Golden Corral over alleged beef in the buffet line https://t.co/6WVbCInz9F
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 1, 2022

Video shows punches being thrown and chairs flying as a massive brawl broke out inside the Bensalem Golden Corral. A former employee says the fight may have happened after a customer became enraged when the buffet ran out of steak. @MattPetrillo reportshttps://t.co/d0KzKtDKeM
— CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) January 31, 2022

Video shows over 40 people in massive brawl at Golden Corral that allegedly started because restaurant ran out of steak.

Video/More: https://t.co/BUCvoBG5Hf pic.twitter.com/Fgqjb5jjAE
— Complex (@Complex) February 1, 2022

Bad Times at the Golden Corral
— Anya Stanley (@BookishPlinko) February 2, 2022

National Tater Tot Day

February 2nd is National Tater Tot Day.

The Bud Bowl and the Puppy Bowl

There’s more than just the Super Bowl.

The Bud Bowl was an animated ad campaign for Budweiser beer that ran from 1989 to 1997.

Budweiser vs. Bud Light: Who Dominated Those 1990s ‘Bud Bowl’ Matchups?

The Puppy Bowl is still broadcast on the day of the Super Bowl.

Book banning is terrible

It’s far beyond Maus.

Book banning efforts are spreading around American schools at an “unprecedented” pace, shocking educators and free speech advocates. https://t.co/BtWXkreWDH
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 31, 2022

SPECIAL REPORT: Hundreds of books have been pulled from Texas libraries for review, sometimes over the objections of school librarians, several of whom told @NBCNews they face mounting pressure to pre-emptively pull books that might draw complaints. https://t.co/GL1A164QtU
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 1, 2022

A small group of parents should not be allowed to censor controversial books by tossing them out of school libraries, @EJDionne writes: https://t.co/SdqD6lY2Ap
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) January 31, 2022

why do all these articles say that "parents" are implementing book bans or trying to ban CRT? It is not parents…….. it is white parents. Exclusively.
— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) February 1, 2022

Congratulations to the 50 books Texas decided to ban from schools. They will now get added interest, sales & popularity in progressive, non racist & non homophobic states. #BookBanning Texas continues to suck!https://t.co/OCIxnSEPN1
— Fox E. Cellars (@FoxECellars) February 1, 2022

Records requests to nearly 100 school districts in Texas revealed 75 formal requests by parents or community members to ban books from libraries during the first four months of this school year.

For comparison, one challenge was filed during the same time period a year earlier.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 1, 2022

A lot going on in this idiotic complaint from Moms for Liberty* but I think the charge that The Story of Ruby Bridges “further creates oppression for people of color” might be the worst.

(* Offer of Liberty not applicable to all subjects) https://t.co/dx7ZG6FbbC
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 2, 2022

Fart machine on Mythbusters

This old episode was on the Science Channel last night. When I was in college, one of the kids said he lit a fart for his mother. I never tried that.

New Republic article on Spotify and musician royalties

Everyone streams music. Musicians make pennies. Is Spotify to blame?

From 2021:https://t.co/hCwUmfkIOZ
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) January 31, 2022

Spotify has never put artists first. Remember when Taylor Swift had to take a stand to get royalties up for hard working music artists? https://t.co/C31EWjG9eL #DeleteSpotify #ByeByeSpotify
— NewscastNow (@NewscastNow) January 27, 2022

1/ There's an important thread of continuity over time about the exploitation of bands by record labels that deserves a closer look, re the current Spotify debate. https://t.co/jLfPLpjKj8
— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) January 31, 2022

As welcome as the recent protests against Spotify are, @alexrossmusic writes, they do not address the fundamental injustice of the streaming economy.https://t.co/kZAESTnoCT
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) February 2, 2022

Thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Tony Visconti ahead of his Best of Bowie tour https://t.co/6hFuFr5ZBx
— Roisin O'Connor (@Roisin_OConnor) March 2, 2022

NEW from me in the pages of @thenation, where I summarize the century of selling music, recount a few personal anecdotes, and weigh in on the current situation. https://t.co/gRgRWnWyz7
— Ethan Iverson (@ethan_iverson) April 10, 2023

View this post on Instagram

Gerrymandering in Pennsylvania

Looks very likely the PA Supreme Court will overrule this. Mystery is what map they'll replace it with. https://t.co/AeH6fFmyzh
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 7, 2022

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court took control of a high-stakes redistricting lawsuit and will now decide how the state’s congressional districts will be drawn for the next decade.https://t.co/TNYYtwTRry
— The Philadelphia Inquirer (@PhillyInquirer) February 2, 2022

And there it is: PA's Dem-majority Supreme Court to take over congressional redistricting from pro-Trump lower court judge. https://t.co/1DH2GtkJaT
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 2, 2022

Breaking: the PA Supreme Court issues a stay to consider Dems' request to intervene as an ardently pro-Trump judge was set to select a congressional map. https://t.co/G37tkTYHO4
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 31, 2022

Thank God for Dem governors. https://t.co/3A1aeUbvKN
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) January 28, 2022

Again, for those in back (and at the WH), you can’t out-organize gerrymandering. In 2012 in PA, Democrats got 51% of the congressional vote but won just 5 of 18 seats. The map was so gerrymandered that even if Ds won 56% of the vote, they would have won only 6 of 18 seats. https://t.co/IPZHqXT51U
— Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) July 23, 2021

Pennsylvania Republicans have introduced 14 BILLS to make it harder to vote, including ending no-excuse absentee voting, which all but 2 Republicans voted for, throwing out mail ballots for minor errors & gerrymandering the courts so they can’t strike these laws down pic.twitter.com/XmloNjCHRG
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 4, 2021

New: After fighting the election results, state Republicans in Pennsylvania are trying to increase their control of the courts by creating new regional judicial districts rather than statewide elections, raising concerns of a new kind of gerrymandering.https://t.co/XnLTs5H3iK
— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) February 15, 2021

Gerrymandering in New York

I don’t approve of gerrymandering anywhere but aggressive Republican gerrymandering elsewhere means Democrats must fight back.

A reason Dems' new NY lines are likely to be upheld: the same rationale of "too close to the election to change the rules" SCOTUS applied in the Alabama stay could be applied by NY courts, b/c petitioning will already be underway. https://t.co/bXm0kvQk4p
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) February 10, 2022

1200 words from me on the proposed Democratic gerrymander in New York—including whether it can pass and survive a court challenge: https://t.co/o1p5CXkbtB
— Nathaniel Rakich (@baseballot) January 31, 2022

This would single-handedly add 3 Dems and subtract 4 Reps from the House. https://t.co/fyCHB0JwrS
— Nathaniel Rakich (@baseballot) January 30, 2022

New York lawmakers draw redistricting map that boosts Democrats https://t.co/awHPIznStU
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 31, 2022

BREAKING: here is NY Dems' full congressional proposal, courtesy of @zach_solomon1. This is a 22D-4R gerrymander – and a pretty effective one. https://t.co/QleEKPMJy8 pic.twitter.com/yd7Iqx6DPh
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 30, 2022

Unlike Dems' Illinois gerrymander, which was thrown together pretty sloppily at the last minute, I can only find a few isolated places where this NY gerrymander "strands" Dem votes in GOP districts – and even then, we're talking fractions of points.

It's a brutal map for Rs.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 30, 2022

Covers: Key to the Highway

“Key to the Highway” is a blues song that has been recorded many times beginning in 1940. Of the versions I know, my favorite is the Little Walter one.

‘Key To The Highway’: Unlocking Bill Broonzy’s Classic Blues Song