Author: Gatemouth

An Offer You Can’t Refuse (Gubernatorial Endorsement; Part One)

|

Since its inception in 2006, this department has never been noted for its love for the Cuomo family, starting with the paterfamilias:

“Mario's WORDS were certainly more progressive than Spitzer's; Mario's DEEDS (to the extent he ever did anything but blame his complete lack of accomplishments on a Republican Senate he refused to expend any of his political capital, monetary or otherwise, on trying to alter for the better) may not so qualify.”

Postman Jimmy’s Mailbag (With Verifiable Links To McMillan’s Most Hateful Stuff and His Home Shopping Network)

|

From MSNBC’s TECHNOBLOG: New York political blog Room Eight, through a poster named Gatemouth (the self-described "blog world's expert on Jimmy McMillan's raving lunatic obsession with THE JEWS") has also put some things out there that should dampen enthusiasm for the karate kicking, black-glove wearing, Dali-moustached candidate.

Gatemouth CLAIMS [emphasis added] he lifted this from McMillan's 2009 mayoral campaign website and posted to Room Eight under a page called "The Jimmy McMillan Show"

Jimmy McMillan for Landlord [REVISED]

|

Most annoyingly, the day has been filled with Jimmy McMillan puff pieces.

OMFG, JIMMY'S being interviewed on MSNBC by Larence O'Donnell!

The upside of being the blog world's expert on Jimmy McMillan‘s raving lunatic obsession with THE JEWS is that those few outlets willing to mention that fact in passing sometimes give me a link . Today I got what I think may be my first ever link on The Albany Times Union’s Capitol Confidential. I was also linked on the News’ Daily Politics and Ben Smith's Twitter feed. 

The Jimmy McMillan Show

|

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Jimmy McMillan, Rent Is Too Damn High

AGE 64 HOMETOWN Flatbush, Brooklyn

OCCUPATION Retired letter carrier for ZIP code 10018 in Midtown. CLAIM TO FAME A Vietnam War veteran, he travels city streets in his car shouting for social justice. A perennial candidate, he was called an anti-Semite during his mayoral run in 2005 for blaming rent problems on Jewish people.

Detroit Funk, French New Wave, Klezmatic Dysfunction, Electric Kool-Aid and Other Distractions (The Gateway)

|

I suppose part of my posting obits at the passing of the great soul heroes is to get Daylife to once again revert to the days when they said my writing was 90% "National" and 10% "Entertainment," instead of being 100% about politics.

Anyway, I would be the last to put General Johnson in the same category as the unforgettable Solomon Burke. But how many guys founded groups with cult status for both aficionados of Detroit Soul and N'awlins?

I first learnt about the General because of my Allen Toussaint obsession, though I'd surely heard the Showmen's "It Will Stand" on CBS-FM. A Toussaint production notable both for Johnson's soulful lead and the fact that it was Johnson who wrote it, and not Toussaint, it became a Rock and roll anthem (Doo Wop branch). Johnson also wrote one of my least favorite songs by one of the great unsung soul singers, Clarence Carter's "Patches."

But "Patches" was recorded not only by Carter, but a group tailored for Johnson by the Holland-Dozier-Holland production team, once they started their own Hot Wax and Invictus labels. Johnson not only piloted the Chairmen of the Board, hitting big with "Give Me Just a Little More Time," but also wrote hits for the rest of the H-D-H stable, including Freda Payne (the anti-war “Bring the Boys Back Home”) and The Honeycone–the indescribably great "Want Ads', the best Martha and the Vandella's song never recorded by Martha and the Vs–in fact, the best Martha and the Vandellas song PERIOD! [He later produced Martha herself (she’s now a Detroit Councilwoman for those who insist on the political link)]

In their dying days, the Chairmen also recorded the wonderful album, "The Skin I'm In" (the best P-Funk album George Clinton ever had nothing to do with, though his musicians, especially Eddie Hazel and Bernie Worrell, are all over it as session men).

After the bubble burst, Johnson eventually moved down to the Carolinas, where he became the leading exponent of the soul genre known as "Beach Music." (Like "Northern Soul, an utterly unexplainable genre– although it' other leading exponents seem to include the Platters and Bo Diddley).

Johnson is a leading member of the Academy of the Underrated; General, we salute you. Chairmen of the Board – You got me Dangling on a String www.youtube.com

The Gateway (Special “Festival of Party Disloyalty” Edition)

|

In the particular comment linked here, a poster name Winston takes me to task for what he perceives to be my preference for Republican Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson.

I have not endorsed Harry Wilson and may not do so, though I will admit I have been considering it. The article to which the comment is appended is, I think, the third mention I've made of Wilson, and my least positive so far. I think Wilson’s failure to endorse a change in the "sole trustee" status of the Comptroller casts doubt on his credentials as a potential reformer.

But the commentator did hit one nail upon the head; part of my reason for being reluctant to endorse a Republican is my record of outspoken opposition to Democratic Party officials doing so.

But, I am not a Democratic Party official (not even a County Committee member), I’m a blogger. And unlike Democratic Party officials, I have no fiduciary obligation to the Democratic Party.

© Room Eight