Music

May 17 is Mr Stevie Wonder's birthday and to celebrate, with Mrs Tomeeka by his side, he became officially citizen of the Republic of Ghana, something the artist has spoke of doing since 1972!

The 25-time Grammy Award-winning artist was[…]conferred the certification of registration as a citizen of Ghana and a Ghanaian passport during a ceremony Monday at the Jubilee House, the presidential palace in the capital city, Accra.

"I, first of all, give all praise to God," Wonder said in footage posted online. "Since a little boy, I always believed in my heart that there was nothing impossible ... And for years, since about 1972, I've talked about coming to Ghana."

It was immediately unclear if Wonder would maintain dual-citizenship.

Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said the west African nation extends "our warmest embrace to a beloved son of Africa," adding that Wonder's citizenship reaffirmed "our belief in the enduring spirit of Pan-Africanism and the global African family, and the boundless potential of our continent and all its descendants," he said Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.

Strangely enough, at the time of this writing, the Freep didn't cover the news regarding Wonder's birthday nor Ghanian citizenship. According to the Freep archives, Wonder's been talking about the move since at least their March 15, 1974 article…

From the Freep's article from February 2, 2022…

[…]the music great told [Oprah] Winfrey about his intention to move to Ghana. Asked why, he alluded to the state of race and politics in America: "I don't want to see my children's children's children have to say: 'Oh, please like me, please respect me, please know that I'm important, please value me.' What kind of s--- is that?"

He added to the Free Press that the Ghanaian president "has allowed me to have some land."

Allow us to wish Mr Wonder a most happy 74^th^ birthday in the official language of the Republic of Ghana…

Happy Birthday, Stevie!

(Ha! The official language is English!)

MUSIC! 🎉 🎺 🎉 🎺

• From My Cherie Amour - Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday
• From Songs In The Key of Life - Sir Duke
• From Innervisions - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
• From Talking Book - You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Alt link sausage for your convenience via archive.is:

• The News: Stevie Wonder marks 74th birthday by becoming a Ghanaian citizen
• The Freep: Stevie Wonder moving to Ghana? Not so fast ...

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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Caught get don't but…walls climb, blue turn, glass scratch, sick stay!
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From the film, Hedwig And The Angry Inch (J.C. Mitchell, 2001).

No-Escaping-Your-Roots BONUS:

• David Bowie - Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London 1973)

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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Dead-Men-Tell-No-Tales BONUS:

• Jimi Hendrix - Angel

Remember…Parma spelled backwards is AMRAP!
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The world will not let me rest today, dear music lovers…

Don't Blinken or you'll miss it! There's got to be more of this "impromptu" concert of US Sec of State who played it left hand!

Oh…there is. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. I have to say that before I found this second clip, the title of this post was my usual snark. I had no idea that Little Antony and The Imperialists would actually play Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World"!

Want more, you gluttons for punishment? From, of all places, CSPAN!!!

Even though the Russia-Ukraine conflict isn't the bloodbath like the Gaza Strip is and its citizens can enjoy a modicum of…normalcy?, it's still a war…with casualities and injuries. SoS Blinken is demonstrably no great singer but that's not the "tone deaf" part of his stage appearance that concerns me. Then again, the guy's had a pretty busy year so far and he's got a right to take off his suit and have a beer and a shot with the locals every now and then, no? Thoughts?

From the AP article…

YouTube has blocked access to videos of a protest song in Hong Kong, days after court approved an injunction banning the song in the city. […] “Glory to Hong Kong” was an anthem of anti-government protests in 2019. YouTube said that it would comply with a removal order and block access to over 32 YouTube videos of the song that were deemed to be “prohibited publications” under the injunction.

What? You mean like this one?…

• 願榮光歸香港-250人大合唱 ("May the glory return to Hong Kong - chorus of 250 people")

For our readers that don't (yet) read nor speak Chinese…

• "Glory to Hong Kong" - Anthem of The Hong Kong Protests [ENGLISH LYRICS]

And finally for today, from France 24 English edition from May 8, 2024…

• Hong Kong bans protest song 'Glory to Hong Kong' after ruling overturned

What We Want Now!
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What We Want Now!

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Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
[email protected] ☆ [email protected] ☆ [email protected]

Everything I say is a lie…
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California-Raisin BONUS:

• Levi advert, "Shaggy Boombastic"

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
[email protected] ☆ [email protected] ☆ [email protected]

Child-Prodigy-Ballerina-As-Proxy BONUS:

• From 2016's This Is Acting - House On Fire

Remember…Parma spelled backwards is AMRAP!
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And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

-- Revelation 6:8

WTF?! 61 years old.

WTF?! And with Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson, same day same way…woof…The American Heart Association says, "knock it off already! There may be someone on this mortal coil that will miss your pitiful ass."

Rock 'N Rollers, take heed…these things come in threes, they say!

• Cheap Trick - The Albini Sessions
  • The 1997 unreleased Cheap Trick album, produced by Steve Albini.

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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Live from the Atlantic Studios, New York, NY - December 1977

Remember…Parma spelled backwards is AMRAP!
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cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/11999727

Well, now they're a complete set 😢 . RIP Machine Gun.

The News: Dennis Thompson, last remaining member of MC5, dies at age 75 via archive.is

• Induction into the RRHoF, my ass

The Freep: Dennis Thompson, MC5 drummer and ‘last man standing,’ dies at 75 via archive.is

Paying my respects: howzabout a little music for the sad occasion?…

• The New Order - 1975

• New Race - Looking At You

• Rave-Up of The Dead! 🧟‍♂️: DTK/MC5 + Lemmy - Back In The U.S.A.

  • Wishing studio-musician-in-denial and eternal "best New Rock Guitarist" Gilby Clarke a long life and not to join fellow bandmates on a different stage for a loooong time.

• Drummers…ya just gotta hate 'em! 🤣 Old Man Thompson boring the bejeezus out of some Michigan kids with his "war stories". I was just…like…that… and I'm sure most of you were too.

---

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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rm -rf *.*
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Everything I say is a lie.
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The Genius. Brother Ray could sing the Wikipedia main page and it'd be beautiful.

I'd bet Vlad's got Georgia on his mind, too.

Remember…Parma spelled backwards is AMRAP!
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Au revoir, Jazz Fest…see y'all next year.

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
[email protected] ☆ [email protected] ☆ [email protected]

Scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls, stay sick…but don't get caught!
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…just in case y'all forgot.

Stay sick, turn blue, climb walls, scratch glass,…but don't get caught!
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🎸 Twang! 🔊 🎶

Icons for an icon.

RIP, Mr Eddy, one of the greatest guitarists ever. He, and producer Lee Hazlewood and a giant reverb tank defined that sound. For most of his hitmaking career, he played what seemed the most basic riffs and melodies which only belied his true talent on the big ol' hollowbody Gretsch or Guild he was playing at the time. Always unassuming, always armed with his killer smile. Less is more. Sincerest condolences to Señora Deed and the surviving family.

• Yep!
• Because They're Young
• Eddy and that killer smile - Shazam!
• on American Bandstand, 1964 - Guitar Child
• on Musikladen - Cannonball Rag
• with The Art of Noise - Peter Gunn
• from the Blue Velvet OST Honky Tonk
• from 1996 - Ghost Riders In The Sky
• with John Fogerty - Three-30 Blues
• Dynasonics rule! The Gretsch Duane Eddy Signature 6120 Model
• live from the 2011 Glastonbury Festival - Peter Gunn

Stay sick, scratch glass, turn blue, climb walls…but don't get caught!
[email protected] ☆ [email protected] ☆ [email protected]

I-Liked-Them-Before-YOU-Did BONUS:

• Interpol - PDA (Precipitate EP Version)

Scratch glass, turn blue, stay sick, climb walls…but don't get caught!
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The legendary Gang of Four. RIP Andy Gill.

There was terrible violence. [There were] pitched battles between students and British Movement members on the university campus. We could see the struggle between the Socialist Workers' Party and the BM capturing the straying youth. We were sympathetic to the SWP. We had done some benefits, but we didn't make our own approach in those broad political terms. It was more to do with living in a late capitalist society; we were also very concerned about the spectre of Thatcherism and what it was going to do to the people in this country.

-- Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, England's Dreaming, Jon Savage, 1991

[…]bunch of miserable northerners walking round indoors with their overcoats and Doc Marten's on. Take your bloody coats off! No, manically depressive sixth form common-room music.

-- journalist Robert Elms, Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution, Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan, 2001

Out-Clashed-The-Clash BONUS:

• From Entertainment, 1979 - 5:45
• From Entertainment, 1979 - Natural's Not In It
• From Solid Gold, 1981 - He'd Send In The Army
• From the criminally-overlooked gem Shrinkwrapped, 1995 - Tattoo, video here
• From Second Life, 2008 - Second Life
• From Content, 2011 - She Said 'You Made a Thing of Me'
• From Content, 2011 - Who Am I
• From Complicit EP, 2018 - Ivanka (Things You Can't Have)

Watch new blood on the 80" screen
The corpse is a known personality
Guerilla war struggle is normal entertainment