Y: RFK Assassination Record

Odd little piece of Robert F. Kennedy assassination memorabilia that was assembled and produced by Doug Moody of Mystic Studios – who many may recall as the producer of those wonderful and sometimes wretched Mystic punk rock compilations of the mid-80s.

It’s a collection of audio from around the time of RFK’s assassination. It includes interviews with eyewitnesses, from people who came to believe immediately following that tragic event that perhaps there was a conspiracy to take his life, some recollections from people that knew Sirhan Sirhan and also some audio verite from the actual assassination. Each portion of the LP either begins or ends with a key speech by Robert Kennedy – including his chillingly ironic violence in America speech.

Apparently, Doug or perhaps RFK conspiracy theorist filmmaker Theodor Carach tried to sell it to Zappa’s Straight label but it ended up not coming out. I found this quote somewhere but lost my notes from whence it came (probably from one of the more esoteric corners of communities of people who collect Zappa interviews):

“A man came to us with some tapes. He had been making a documentary album about the assassination of Robert Kennedy and he had interviewed all these people and he had put together this really fantastic album. That was when we had the Bizarre label and the deal with Warner Brothers on the bizarre label was we could bring projects to them and they had the right to refuse them and they heard that and that’s why it never came out. They were afraid of it.”

I don’t think the film from where this audio comes from ever came to fruition, so perhaps because of or in spite of that, Moody assembled it into an LP and it eventually came out on Solar Records, but I am unsure of the year. It has a more-or-less functional entry on Discogs. Given that the Warner/Bizarre/Straight deal only lasted from 1969 to 1973, I am guessing it came out somewhere within that (missed) window of opportunity – give or take a year or two. Someone on Collector Frenzy talks about having a copy signed by Ted Carach and dated ’74, so we know it was no later than that. Back and to the left. Back and to the left.

The cover is an interesting illustration made on a typewriter simply using the letter ‘y’. Clever, eh?

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Robert Armbruster & Marvin Miller

The Living Constitution Of The United States
Kayden Records/Union Oil Company

“A timely, inspiring record – with a stirring, patriotic musical score” ~ Cover notes

Another historical/histrionic patriotic record, this time in 1961.
This one’s fun because it has veteran voice actor Marvin Miller – voice of Robby the Robot and others – doing the narration, as well as other familiar-sounding, if not famous voices (William Conrad, later of 70’s TV show Cannon is one).

It breaks down the articles of the Constitution and has people acting out famous quotes or passages relevant to the topic, with lush orchestration.

I think this may have been a give-away at Union service stations, as it says Union Oil Company at the bottom of the front cover. What’s an oil company doing on a patriotic piece of propaganda, anyway?

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Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen

Gallant Men: Stories Of The American Adventure Told By Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen
Capitol Records

Goofy, fun patrio-psychotic found LP from 1966 by the late Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen.

The first track is the weirdest and the rest is simply a flag-waving look back at U.S. history, that’s only amusing in its earnestness and for those of use born after Vietnam, etc. and for Everett’s deep voice and denture-rattling presentation.
It’s certainly not Schoolhouse Rock.

Tracklisting:

1. Prologue
2. Gallant Men
3. The Story Of The Mayflower And The Mayflower Compact
4. The Story Of The Battle For Independence 
5. The Story Of The Flag
6. The Star-Spangled Banner
7. The Story Of Gettysburg
8. The Gettysburg Address
9. The Story Of The Statue Of Liberty
10. Epilogue
11. Pledge Of Allegiance To The Flag

Some factoids about Everett:

• He was an ally (up to a point) of Joe McCarthy
• He tried to get school prayer put back in schools
• He was a key backer of the ’64 Civil Rights bill
• He had a cameo in the forgotten cult sci-fi flick The Monitors
• This LP made it to #29 on the Billboard charts and won a Grammy

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Arlo Guthrie: I’m Changing My Name to Chrysler

I heard this amazing Tom Paxton penned song by Arlo Guthrie this morning on KBOO’s Folk Espresso – in a car-industry themed set and my jaw dropped open. It sounds like it was penned this week, save for a few dating references (Iacoca, etc…)

Sayhear.org

Interesting audio site that allows users to call in for their candidate and then ports them all into a sound board.

It’s kind of telling, in some ways who’s on the web and who’s not, in my opinion.
Most of them are all for Obama and what few are for McCain seem to be largely smart-ass piss-takes.

Politico DJs, let the audio mixing begin!

Freedom of the Press in New, Safe America©

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman arrested at the RNC, along with producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar:

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar’s violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, “I’m Press! Press!,” resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a “peace officer.”

Read whole story.

Fucking scary!

They’re all out, now, but no wonder no one wants to be real journalist anymore!

If anybody has any illusions of America not becoming a totalitarian country, wake the fuck up!

Them Librul’s Gonna Spend Up Our Tax Dollars In Darwinland!

Snide, amusing article on my Congressman Brian Baird’s planned trip to the Galapagos Islands regarding climate change from our GOP mouthpiece, The Columbian:

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird will lead a congressional tour of the Galapagos Islands beginning Friday. The 16-member group will travel via U.S. military jet to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, and tour the islands by charter boat, returning to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Accompanying Baird, D-Vancouver, will be his wife, Rachel Nugent; six other members of Congress, including Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., who served with Baird on the House Science and Technology Committee; three other congressional spouses; and five staff members. Hooley is leaving Congress at the end of this year.

The Washington Post spoofed the trip as a junket Wednesday, noting tongue-in-cheek that its purported purpose “is to meet officials and scientists and search for elusive facts on global warming and marine science and such.”
(…)
He defended the trip as a way for committee members to see first-hand a place on the planet that holds answers to such global riddles as the effects of climate change and ocean acidification, a place where ocean currents converge and tectonic plates collide. What happens there is relevant to his own constituents, he said.

Baird can’t get any love lately, it seems.
Either it’s his reputation on the right as being one of the most liberal members of Congress on the West Coast or his support for the surge via his trips with Chris “I didn’t read the report” Shays.
It doesn’t help if you quote John McCain:

Reading published scientific papers isn’t the same as seeing the places where the research occurred, Baird said. “I don’t think there’s a substitute for seeing these things with one’s own eyes. It can make a real difference. I’m told it was a trip to Antarctica that made John McCain a believer in climate change.”

Masterful agitprop by the Columbian, though:

Baird, whose Web site includes a National Debt Clock, could not say how much the trip will cost American taxpayers. A search of travel Web sites turned up weeklong commercial tours of the Galapagos ranging in price from $2,300 to $3,000 per person, excluding airfare to Quito.
(…)

Baird’s congressional travel has attracted attention before. In 2006, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity released travel information for congressional frequent fliers. Baird’s $17,000 weeklong trip to Japan with his wife was the third-most-expensive privately funded trip taken by any member of the Washington congressional delegation between January 2000 and June 2005. The trip, which violated no House rules, was paid for by the nonprofit Japan Center for International Exchange.

Read whole article.