Krugman on Katrina, Trump, and the Lessons of Recent History

The things that Krugman says seem pretty obvious, but very few people seem to be saying them.

What we should have learned from Katrina, in other words, was that political poseurs with nothing much to offer besides bluster can nonetheless fool many people into believing that they’re strong leaders. And that’s a lesson we’re learning all over again as the 2016 presidential race unfolds.

You probably think I’m talking about Donald Trump, and I am. But he’s not the only one.

John Peel's Desert Island Discs

John Peel, longtime and deeply influential British DJ, plus the force behind all those Peel Session releases, was born on this date in 1939.

Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener

H/t PK.

Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte

The Orchestra UniMi with Alessandro Crudele conducting. Not familiar with them, but they seem to know what they're doing.

Count Basie's Kansas City Seven - Lester Leaps In

Featuring Lester Young.

Jimmy Rushing - Going to Chicago

Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam

Happy birthday to Mr EC.

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Gold and Silver

Terje Rypdal, Miroslav Vitous, Jack DeJohnette - Sunrise

Guitar, bass, drums, but not a power trio.

nada is subject to the vagaries of circumstance

Terrible internet connection that I don't have the patience to struggle with, so nothing today, sorry.

Marianne Faithfull - Come and Stay With Me

Among other things, nice-sounding twelve-string guitar.

The Seeds - Can't Seem to Make You Mine

Johnny Nash - Hold Me Tight

An early Jamaican hit in the USA.

Catherine Russell - Darktown Strutters' Ball

This song is now almost one hundred years old - this version was recorded last month.

R.E.M. - Gardening at Night

Early early music by those Athenian boys.

RIP Julian Bond

He was inadvertently responsible for one of the most surreal moments of my life. In the fall of 1996 I was on my way to an 8:00 class at the University of Virginia, wending my way completely alone through the paths behind the buildings on the Lawn, turning corners often, when I suddenly came across another lone figure, dressed in a nicely tailored overcoat and laughing at something said by an unseen person in the Mercedes into which he was leaning. He noticed me and looked a little perturbed. My brain was racing trying to figure out why his face seemed so familiar, when I realized I'd seen it many times before but only when mediated by a TV screen or printed page. I nodded, he relaxed and turned back to the car, and I went on to class. He taught at UVA, so it made sense for him to be there, but wow anyway.

Steely Dan - Your Gold Teeth

Later extensively reworked as "Your Gold Teeth II" a few albums later. There are so many things I like about this song I'll forego mentioning them. Just listen.

Science Fiction/Double Feature

Happy anniversary to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, released forty years ago today.

L.C. Cooke - Tell Me

Sam's little brother.

Jimi Hendrix - Ain't No Tellin'

Handel - Concerto Grosso Op. 6 no. 4 in A minor

Happy birthday to conductor Raymond Leppard, here with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Krugman on Talking Points vs. Reality

Dr K on the things that barely registered at the Republican candidates' debate.

Strange, isn’t it? The shared premise of everyone on the Republican side is that the Obama years have been a time of policy disaster on every front. Yet the candidates on that stage had almost nothing to say about any of the supposed disaster areas.

And there was a good reason they seemed so tongue-tied: Out there in the real world, none of the disasters their party predicted have actually come to pass. President Obama just keeps failing to fail.

Dizzy Dishes

Happy birthday to Betty Boop, whose first appearance was in this cartoon; it was released on this date in 1930.

Bert Jansch and John Renbourn - First Light

Both gone now.

nada engages in non-specific activities

Nothing today, sorry.

Barbara Strozzi - Che si può fare

A seventeenth-century composer with whom I was unfamiliar.

RIP Billy Sherrill

Pitchfork has a good overview here. Here's an example of his work.

Johnny Rivers - Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

Today would have been Larry Knechtel's seventy-fifth birthday. He was one of the most active of the Wrecking Crew, the great LA session musicians of the sixties. Here he plays the piano, one of his many instruments, on a song was originally recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith.

Charlie Shavers - Undecided

Cilla Black - Step Inside Love

RIP Cilla Black, born Priscilla White but rechristened by her manager Brain Epstein. This song was written by Paul McCartney.

The Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died