Friday, July 21, 2006

Good Things from the USA

In order to redress the balance in my own mind, and to help me remember that the world is in perfect balance, here is a short list of good things to come out of the USA.

The Captain
Frank Zappa
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
Joan Rivers
Frazier
The Simpsons
Mark Rashid
Tom Dorrance
My horse's ancestors
Bob Dylan
Ken Kesey
Gerry Garcia
Timothy Leary
John McEnroe
Allen Ginsberg
Jack Kerouac
Grace Slick
Google
Muhamed Ali
Oliver Stone
Clint Eastwood movies
Lee van Cleef
City Slickers
When Harry met Sally
Sleepless in Seattle

And then of course my cyber buddies, Fronty, Carmentza, Annaroma, and Superbabe Hot Pammy.
So there you go - it's not all bad.

59 comments:

  1. Um, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Martin Luther King, Hardy out of Laurel and Hardy, Patti Smith, Seinfeld, Iggy Pop, the Sopranos, Pere Ubu, Mae West, Raymond Chandler, George Gershwin, Bernard Hermann, Bill Hicks, Louis Armstrong, Orson Welles, Quentin Tarantino, Tennessee Williams?

    Throughout the 1980's, I would've hated to think that all Americans assumed that all British people were rabid Thatcherites, so I always try to bear in mind that all Americans don't think/act/look like George W. Bush. I hope.

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  2. Tommy,

    When you say The Captain, is that the one from Captain and Tenille? Ugh, I hope not.

    I am soooo proud to be counted among the "good things" from the USA!!! Thank you!

    hckzs - folks from the boondocks as in "Not all of us from the USA is hckzs."

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  3. Ooh yes, you must add Reeses Peanut butter cups, or the RPB bites. I think I love those more than the cups. Youngest daughter bought some yesterday.

    Thanks for including me on the list, Sir Tommy. (((smoochies)))

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  4. I could keep adding to that list till I dropped asleep at the keyboard round about 3 tomorrow morning, but I'll distill it all down into one that's particularly important to me:

    Martin Guitars.

    Not all industry is bad.

    I'm glad we're having this little chat...

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  5. Here's a little politics, sort of in reply to Betty's comment.

    I was listening to Condoleeza Rice on the radio today. Whilst I fundamentally disagree with what she was saying about a ceasefire in the Lebanon, she did at least have the decency to sound like a proper statesman. Sorry, stateswoman. After listening to Bush and Blair on the same subject, it was rather refreshing...

    Legal Disclaimer: this comment should not be taken as an indication of support, in any way shape or form, for the GOP, the Bush administration, or the Israeli blitzkrieg in Lebanon.

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  6. Oh yes. Lowell George. The Band. Steve Earle. Guy Clark. Woody Guthrie. Pete Seeger. Bruce Springsteen.

    Damn. I can't help myself.

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  7. This is a nice post Tom :-)

    Are you sure we can't bitch about religion a bit more?

    How are the horses anyway?

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  8. Right on Bettster, I must admit Thatcher did make me feel ashamed to be British though, and I still think she was the catalyst for our country to take a very big turn for the worse.
    MJ - I loved Frank.
    Carmy - Captain Beefheart.
    CherryR and Pammy - as long as they are not junk food.
    Mark - If half of the USA is good then you will be here till at least 3 in the morning.
    And Kyah - no more slagging off religion for the minute. This post is about good things that are happening (or have happened). Horse post coming up next.

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  9. Mark: As a Canadian and as one who worships "The Band" I want to let you know that of the 5 Band members, only one, Levon Helm, was an American.

    Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, the late Richard Manuel and the late Rick Danko ... all Canadians.

    Maybe I should do a "Good Things from Canada" posting.

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  10. George W would be a wonderful thing to come out of the US - letting him back would be the mistake.

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  11. MJ - I knew that. D'oh. You are of course exactly correct. And I am an idiot of the first order whose only excuse is he lives somewhere miles away. Thank god you stopped me before I cited KD Lang, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Stan Rogers...

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  12. Beaten on The Band being 80% Canadian. I must get up earlier. Mark, I think we're pre-destined to disagree! I thought Condi sounded way out of her depth (could be abject fear, that) although, to be honest I can't remember a thing she said. Strange.

    Fender Stratocaster.

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  13. Mark: I always use the "but I'm a foreigner" excuse when commenting on Brit blogs so you're welcome to do the same.

    Now that I've publicly corrected you, feel free to criticize my grammar or spelling.

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  14. Winston Churchill's mum. (According to his dad.)(cuiwanr)

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  17. My word Tom, and to think that there are several things British and UK-ish for which I am eternally grateful:

    Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bars
    John Cleese
    bangers and mash (yes, I do happen to like bangers and mash)
    Cornish pasties
    warm dark beer
    R.J. Mitchell
    Graham Greene
    Enid Blyton
    A.J. Milne (even despite Disney's mangling of his tales)
    Ralph Richardson
    Jack Hawkins
    Nicolas Monserrat
    William Golding
    David Lean
    Alec Guiness
    Anthony Hopkins
    The Kinks
    Tolkien
    The Bernard Shaw/Churchill exchanges
    The Churchill/Lady Astor exchanges
    The Yardbirds
    Elvis Costello
    Michael Caine
    Helen Mirren - what a babe!
    Robbie Coltrane even before Harry Potter

    And that's just the ones flickering around on my surface synapses

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  18. Fronty, it is my eventual aim to restrict the content of this blog to contributions only from our surface synapses. Thank you for your timely reminder.

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  19. Enid Blyton?????????????????????

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  20. Richard - no worries. Cordial disagreement makes for a cheerful evening in the pub.

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  21. Thank god no-one has mentioned Donny Osmond.

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  22. Donny Osmond's not American, trust me.

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  23. Mark:

    Two good things about spning my early years in Cornwall - When I was read Winniw the Pooh, it was from reprints of Milne's stories with the illustrations from the originals. And Enid Blyton's Tales of Peter Rabbit and "When I Was Young."

    I wasn't quite as corrupted by the full-tilt Disney "mystique"

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  24. Mr Frontier Ed I fear you may have some cultural cross-referencing going on regarding the old harridan Enid Blyton (Noddy and the 5 Go Mad on Mescalin books) and Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit et al). The warm beer, pasties and AA Milne can stay here where we can cherish them

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  25. Richard, Once again you save me from foggy memory lanes where I stand a good chance of getting hit by a tractor-trailer.

    Amend my list to Enid and Beatrix - Enid apparently didn't scar me too badly.

    Thanks.

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  26. It's all very well to be flippant about Noddy and Enid Blighton. I can tell you from my research that the publication Blighton's first book, Noddy goes to Toyland, in November 1949 is now regarded by many eminent historians as the turning point in what we can now only see as the decline of western civilisation.
    By the time she wrote 'Here comes Noddy again' in which a golliwog nicks Noddy's car, there was no turning back.

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  27. Am I too late to add Miles Davis, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Sly Stone and John Lee Hooker?
    If that sounds racist I could include Britney - but I'd rather not.

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  28. You missed Mississippi John Hurt and Goldie Hawn's ass.
    I think that's about it?

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  29. Yep, so that's the States for ya!
    I'll get another post up shortly. I was thinking of a list of good things that have come out of the Isle of Wight - I could only think of Mathew Le Tissier.

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  30. I love Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter! In fact I have that book 'Noddy goes to Toyland' Think its somewhere in the loft!!

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  31. right. top yanks.

    jim morrison
    arlo guthrie
    bill hicks (or was he canadian?)
    ditto joan rivers
    ben stiller (can't help it)
    will ferrell (see above)
    um...
    elvis?
    deffo elvis.

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  32. I've been away and have missed this excellent list of all good things from Uncle Sam; can I add 'This Is Spinal Tap'? There, I have.

    Tom, Pammy likes footie, you're in there mate.

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  33. Phew. I went away for a couple of days very disturbed by the Enid Blyton thing. So glad to return and find out we were talking about Beatrix Potter all the time.

    Champion Jack Dupree
    Blind Owl Wilson
    Dock Boggs
    The Stanley Brothers
    The Louvin Brothers
    Jerry Douglas
    John Haitt
    T Bone Burnette
    Rodney Crowell
    Roseanne Cash
    Johnny Cash her dad
    Tom Waits
    Sam Bush (no relation)
    Albert King
    Freddie King
    BB King
    Anyone remotely connected with the Allman Brothers

    And so on. I tried to do a list for British musicians and stopped after Richard Thompson and the Beatles.

    Damien Rice and Rory Gallagher are of course Irish.

    And I'm just killing time waiting for 44 emails to download.

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  34. Vicus has a very good point about Goldie Hawn's ass. Though I suspect it may be (partly) artificial by now. Not many other famous people who I first watched on TV in 1966 have remained quite that pert.

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  35. 'pert!', what a horrible word. How come you guys know so much about Goldie's arse anyway. I guess I'm just out of touch.

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  36. Tom, my pony has a joint infection and I don't know if she's going to be ok :(

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  37. Ziggi, can you email me and tell me a bit more about it. How long has it been going on.

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  38. GUY CLARK.

    I said that already, but I saw him perform last night and thought you should all know there are some great Americans out there. Curiously, some of the greatest seem to come from Texas.

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  39. Mark: I'm with you on Guy Clark but I'd also add Billy Joe Shaver and the late Townes Van Zandt.

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  40. MJ - also...

    TOWNES VAN ZANDT

    Thanks for the reminder.

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  41. I am amazed that no-one has mentioned Albert Bernstein, Cecile Watson, Jimi Bennett, Janet Goldsmith or Frank Mahoney.

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  42. That's alright, Tom. We knew you'd get round to them yourself eventually.

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  43. Mark. I wasn't on TV in 1966, but I am remarkably pert. Oh. You meant Goldie, didn't you?

    Gertrude Ecklestein.
    Norman Bishop.
    Zeke Alabaster.

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  44. Oh, well. If you want to get esoteric about it:

    Gurf Morlix
    Augie Meyers
    Mike Bub
    Stephen Fromholtz
    Mornington Crescent

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  45. I'm beginning to enjoy the turn that this thread is taking.
    One or two more of my favourite americans - both of whom used to play quite frequently in the deep south in the late 40s.
    Luther Eric Blistoe
    Dominoes Arquette

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  46. On the subject of Texans, I'll offer Billy Gibbons and Reverend Horton Heat. Am I right in thinking that Goldie Hawn started on Rowan and Martin's?

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  47. Mornington Crescent? You can't win with that unless you go via Euston surely!?

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  48. Ziggi - he can if we are playing the Northrop Gambit. Surely, you knew that.

    xtegfki - the most off course thread on the internet.

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  49. Since there was a brief blip on good Texans, let me offer three more:

    Lyle Lovett (When he and Julia Roberts broke up, I felt sorry for HIM)

    Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys - need I say more?

    Patrice Pike - great, smoky Texas rhytmn 'n blues

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  50. Did I mention that I thought the Kinks were a truly bitchin' export?


    I'm
    not
    content
    to be with you
    in the daytime . . . .

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  51. Oh. Texans...

    Townes van Zandt (I may have already said that)
    Eric Taylor
    Vince Bell
    Walter Hyatt
    Willis Alan Ramsay
    David Rodriguez
    Joe Ely
    Butch Hancock
    Boomer Castleman
    Robert Earl Keen Jr
    Nanci Griffith
    Willie Nelson

    The last entry above is my interpretation of the Northrop Gambit. I await your response with interest, Vicus.

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  52. Mark, there's a lot you like about America isn't there. It's been good for me because I can't half get into my 'I hate Yanks' mode pretty quickly.

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  53. I dunno. I offer you all a chance to play Mornington Crescent with a twist, and all you do is ignore me...

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  54. Mark, I don't understand the rules without a twist, so with a twist, I don't have a hope.
    My next move would be Fender Stratocaster - is that a legal move?

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  55. Since most of the music and lit I wanted to mention is already listed I thought I would sneak in and add
    Taj Mahal(the blues musician)
    Ben Harper
    Michael Franti

    oh, and Bill Hicks is indeed American(Texan I believe)

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  56. I dunno, Tom - I'll consult the Handbook.

    Hmmm, a Stratocaster is generally considered an unorthodox move, but allowable under the Marvin ruling of 1962.

    You might have done better to play safe with a Telecaster, though. Then I wouldn't have been able to go...

    Danelectro Longhorn.

    See what I mean?

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