The Left's Assassination of Paula Deen

TV food icon and cooking star Paula Deen has been accused of racist activity by a former employee.  During a deposition about that activity, Deen denied the allegations, but admitted that she had used the "N" word in her past.

Immediately the left wing sharks in the political ocean smelled blood, and their opportunity to bring down a southern, white, religious dinosaur.  Corporate sponsors were identified, and they immediately reacted by summarily dropping Deen.  The Food Network, Sears, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. all felt that their association with Deen was too risky to be maintained.  

And in land of liberal blogs, places like the Huffington Post are continuing to identify those companies that still have a relationship with Deen.  While they don't come straight out and ask for boycott, the implications are ridiculously obvious.

In the meantime, Alec Baldwin went on homophobic rants on Twitter (I won't post them as they're too vulgar, but if you really need to see them you can find them here).  Given Deen's left-ordered crucifixion, one could expect the similar treatment for Baldwin.  We should see stories on "the media" about his sponsorship deals and demands from an angry public to Capital One and others to end their relationship with him.

Instead?  Crickets.

Paula Deen has been attacked and brought down by the left for the simple reason of because they could.  The people running media, popular culture, and, regretfully, our government are the social equivalent of a pack of popular girls in junior high.  Their little clique and their prevailing mindset is something with which to be kowtowed and feared.  

Baldwin?  He's an original member of the mean girls.  Deen?  She's just another victim to be bullied for the pure sport of it. 

Woe be to any others that dare fall into their sights.   

Brandi Carlile Green Bay Concert Review and Setlist

It was a night of fantastic music in Green Bay last night, as Brandi Carlile and band rocked the Meyer Theater.  

But before the headliner rocked it, the warm up knocked it out of the park.  

Akin to what the Lumineers did in opening up for Brandi last year in Door County, The Lone Bellow was in-freaking-credible.  Their harmonies were true, voices strong, musicianship and stage presence evident, and their performance memorable.  I fully expect much bigger things from this band, and in the very short term.

Highlight of the opener's set was a song that is currently unreleased - Watch Over Us.  Fortunately, someone snapped a YouTube video of it on a recent tour stop, which I'll share here:


The song had me bawling like a baby, and actually went out between sets as the band was selling their wares, hugged Brian Elmquist (the singer of the tune), and thanked him for stirring me so.  

Something tells me in a month or two, when this band explodes, I won't ever get another chance to be hugging any of them.

Onto the headliner, where just like the did in Door County last year, Brandi and the Hanseroth twins knocked it out of the park.  Great crowd interaction, great musicianship, and great backing musicians keep the set rolling and ending long before it felt it was due.  

Simply put - it was one hell of a show.  Here's the set list to the best of my recollection (and I know I'm missing a couple):

Hard Way Home
Raise Hell
Dreams
What Can I Say
Keep Your Heart Young
100
A Promise to Keep
The Chain
That Wasn't Me
The Story
In the Morrow
Nothing Compares 2 U
Pride and Joy
Folsom Prison Blues

The highlights of the evening?  The covers, and it was not even close.  The Chain sounded like Fleetwood Mac in their absolute prime, Nothing Compares was truer to the Prince interpretation and was incredible, and the Johnny Cash closer brought the house down to the ground.  Brandi and the twins are extremely talented songwriters, but as show people and as musicians, when they're armed with an incredible song, they can make absolute magic.  That was certainly the case with the covers they chose.  Pure magic.

And that's what we had in spades last night.  From the opener's first song to the headliner's close, it was a magic night of music in Green Bay last night.

What a fantastic concert.

Two Versions of ZZ Top's La Grange

ZZ Top is an underrated, three piece power band.  Led by stud guitarist Billy Gibbons, the band has been cranking it out since their formation in 1969.  The result?  11 gold records, 7 platinum,  and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

For me, their best song is the monster La Grange.  Off of Tres Hombres, their break through, it captures ZZ Top at their best - gut bucket vocals, masterful guitar work, and impeccable beat by drummer Frank Beard.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, somebody somewhere decided to go back and remaster the drum track.  And for me, it just ruins the song.

The drum track is most noticeable at about the :35 mark, which is the brief drum solo that kicks off the song:

  

Now compare that to the remastered version below:



To my ear, the difference is night and day.  And it ticks me off so much that when I'm listening to an oldies station and they play the song, if it's the remastered version I change the channel.  

So why change (some would argue, ruin) such an awesome song?  Perhaps it was the band's popularity in the late 80's with a more updated sound that they felt it necessary to go back into their catalog to update things and sell more records.  Personally, I'm not sure.  

But what I am sure of is that the first version - raw, clear, driving, and tight - is hands down the better version.  

But maybe I'm just old school.

Ready for Hillary? The Creepy Face of the 2016 DFL

The Ready for Hillary PAC opened a new store to help raise funds and spread the word about the most revered candidate since Barack Obama.  

Expect to see this on buttons, T-shirts, and bumper stickers in your neighborhood soon, and for the next three years:

Note that any likeness to any kind of Orwellian icon is purely coincidental.  

Anytime Fitness Green Bay's Disgusting New Policy

Since moving here three years ago, I've been a member at Anytime Fitness off of Military Avenue.  And during that time I've seen a consistent progression of cheapness that manifest itself in their offering.

It started with things like tanning bed goggles being taken away, went to things not being kept up over the weekend, and has now spread to lots of signs around the place telling their members that you can't bring in guests, and if you do you're on camera and will be charged for it.

But the latest step takes things to a whole new level.  I'll let the new sign explain it:

One towel with a spray bottle, under the auspices of "going green."  So after my workout at 5:15 AM, I reached for the rag and bottle to wipe down my machine.  The only problem?  The towel was completed soaked, and given the light crowd in the morning, it had to be that way for who knows how long.

The only "going green" this place is doing is trying to save green by not buying any wipes anymore.  Hell, a simple roll of paper towel would be appreciated.  But four gross towels spread across the gym that are already soaking wet with who knows what?  Disgusting.

So when I got off my second machine and looked around for something with which I could clean it, I found this:

Really, Anytime Fitness?  This is how you want to run your business?

When I left, I passed a regular who was coming into the gym with her own "wipe down" towel.  I do my share of travelling, and have worked out in well over 100 places, (some pretty seedy) and I've never been in one that was so gross that its patrons had to bring their own cleaning supplies.

Nice policy.

British Commentator Does Baseball Play-By-Play

Smack me!  Wowzers in me trousers!

The Best Website to Find Ammo

I stumbled across a great solution for one looking to find ammunition in the middle of the prolonged ammunition shortage.  GunBot.net has made finding an ammunition supply a breeze.  

The site frequently checks dozens of retailers to determine who is in stock on what, and at what price.  It then aggregates the data in a simple to use format, so that one can quickly get to the caliber they need, sort by price or retailer, and click through to order.  It even does the math of calculating cost per round, and highlighting the low priced retailers.

Quick, accurate, and saves time and cost.  Simply stated, ammunition shortage or not, GunBot.net is the easiest way to shop for ammo.  What a great service.

Book is Finally Available

4 years ago I toyed with creating a serial on this blog of stories about my first dog, Blitz.  You can see my first post on the subject here.  

Over the next four years, I wrote over 50 different installments, cobbled them together to the best of my ability, enlisted some of the best editing help possible, waded through the self-publishing maze that is Lulu.com, spent way more money that I wanted or expected to, but have finally, FINALLY come to an end.  The book is finally complete.

By and large, I'm happy.  At 138 pages, I wish it were bigger, but I had no desire to water down the story by adding filler material.  Words written specifically for page count are annoying, and I didn't want to put the reader through that.  Likewise, at nearly $24, it is an expensive read.  I was really hoping to generate enough revenue to send off a decent check for dementia research, but after Lulu's cut, there's not much left.

Thus, it's not perfect.  But I'm proud of how it turned out, I learned (and still continue to learn) a ton about self publishing, and I'm happy to have brought this long process to a conclusion.

If interested in learning more, or if you'd like to buy the book, feel free to click on the icon below.  And thank you, YDP readers, for your support across all of these years.