Pet Sounds Of Summer

Now that it’s nearly over I’ve finally figured out why it hasn’t seemed a proper summer: not enough pet sounds. No, not the barking and meowing kind, the woofer and tweeter type. Specifically, Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys masterpiece that audiophiles have been talking about reverentially for 55 years.

 

You're halfway through the album when you hear it — a heavenly harmony of instruments that features a harpsichord, organ, bass clarinet, string bass, sleigh bells, and a wonderful French horn. This is the intro to God Only Knows.

While the music itself is the output of The Wrecking Crew, the legendary session musicians, the rest of it is pretty much the sole creation of Brian Wilson who by all accounts was a musical genius, albeit sometimes a drug enhanced one. The album’s title is acknowledgement of that fact; it has nothing to do with actual animal noises but refers rather to the fact that Brian could hear sounds in his head that only dogs could hear.

Brian Wilson

The story of Pet Sounds is the story of art versus commerce, youthful optimism versus adult cynicism and the independent spirit versus the mundane status quo. It’s also a story of tremendous courage. In 1966, 23-year-old Brian Wilson hijacked the Beach Boys, a multi-million-dollar industry consisting of his two brothers, cousin and childhood friend, to give voice to the sounds he heard in his head and the emotions he felt in his heart. The result was an album that had leading musical figures struggling to match his technical innovation, lyrical depth and melodic genius. Half a century later, it’s questionable whether anyone has. - RS

It isn’t the carefree fun, fun, fun music about cars, surf and girls that previously made the Beach Boys synonymous with summer. What it is though is an artfully themed summation of all your youthful summers, especially the sadness of young, failed love and it’s attendant anguish and growth.

The album is an uncomplicated but masterful piece of music that reverberates unless you’re comatose. Paul McCartney has admitted that the album reduces him to tears. And he acknowledges that he’s long admired Wilson’s musical wizardry. Was Brian a genius? I suspect it depends who you ask but it is clear he was imbued with audio powers beyond the mere mortal, most likely enhanced by drug use.

I suggest you not focus on the “genius” aspect of it and even ignore the fact that it is an album recorded in mono that sounds like stereo – which is, objectively, quite a feat. Just enjoy it for what it is: a melancholy, melodic, poignant, painful and true set piece from our youth. Oh sure, there will be a few snobs and snots out there claiming the album is overrated; some people just like to be a contrarian. That’s okay, their loss. It’s a great album full of simple but heartfelt lyrics and amazing harmonies. Sometimes a song is just a song.

While my name isn’t Caroline I sure can relate to the “ where did that girl go?” part.  I especially love this version, complete with some of the hiss and pop that made those old vinyl days of rock and roll real. Going digital leaves a lot behind.

 

If you’ve listened to Pet Sounds before, listen to it again. If you haven’t, listen to it today, and discover that the best of the Beach Boys has nothing to do with the beach — it’s in that piano introduction of "You Still Believe in Me," that beautiful chorus and wonderful French horn at the end of "God Only Knows," and that train from "Caroline, No." Acknowledge the band's true legacy in the wistful, heartbroken sadness of Pet Sounds. – Vox

P.S. Just an unscientific observation: most women I know like this album, but men - real men, not the metrosexuals of ruined generations - absolutely love it.

  

Caturday bonus: Music for Cats

 

Please be safe out there, especially those of you in harm’s way this weekend.

“Everybody’s Always Blaming Me For Everything”

What a hollow speech by a hollow man, whose handlers thought it a good idea to have him throw in a biblical verse in order to cement Old Joe’s faith and probity, as if he ever had either.

As upcountrybananaland noted, he quoted Isaiah 6:8 in which Isaiah - after realizing and repenting for his own evil-doing – volunteers to be the Lord’s messenger to his own evil country filled with sin and corruption:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!

What Biden did not reference was Isaiah 6:9-13:

And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged, until the LORD has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”

Isaiah is under no illusion; he is told that delivering the message to a judicially blind and spiritually bankrupt nation would be met by ears that did not hear and eyes that did not see. A nation with a heart so hardened they are unable to change.

Even if you are not a believer you might wish to pray that there is a God who will forgive the sinful nation  we’ve become and cast his wrath instead on one that is an even greater evil. Pray that despite the wickedness embedded in our country the Lord in His wisdom decides to smite our enemies and give us one more chance to repent.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. - Proverbs 29:2

 

And now, for a bit of levity in a decidedly non-light situation, I offer this vintage Trump in response to Biden blaming him for the current Afghanistan fiasco:

"Everybody is always blaming me for everything." Donald Trump ~ Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

One Day Has Arrived

“We are on correct path now comrade.”

This, sadly, is true: America Is Now Actually the Mess Dems Pretended It Was Under Trump

It began on election night 2016…the talking heads at each network repeated the dire warning that a Trump victory meant certain doom for the American stock market. It was the first of about a million things they got wrong. Trump’s economy was humming along in overdrive until the Wuhan lab let the bat go free.

Objectively, the first three years of the Trump era were damned good ones for the republic. Unfortunately, American Democrats all live on a subjective moon that orbits a navel-gazing planet. Rather than just sit back and enjoy all of the peace and prosperity that President Trump helped bring about, all they could do was rend their garments over the fact that he had dared to defeat the least likable presidential candidate in history fairly and squarely.

Thanks to all the lies they made up and propagated until they were internalized as truth by their acolytes the country subsequently “elected” Joey and Kammie: a jackal and a hyena.

America will never be the same.

The entire Democratic party media cabal spent 4 years trashing Trump in order to enshrine a senile old fool in the White House who wasn’t presidential grade material even in his prime. Nor is his VP, the laugh-o-matic woman of color. So I don’t know who is actually running the show, maybe presidential advisor Susan Rice and her handlers, which would explain the fiasco that is Afghanistan.

Combined with runaway inflation, incomprehensible national debt, looming oil shortages, forced vaxes, open borders seeping millions of God-only-knows-what into the country every month…you would think there would be a rebellion under way. I mean, why aren’t all those irresponsible, crazy, extremist, violent right-wing terrorists that General Miley is so concerned about storming the White House as we speak?

One day has arrived

 

Obama’s Dreams Of His Father

From the annals of either (take your pick) utter tomfoolery or bold faced lies comes this drivel from the official White House spokesmouth: “Psaki says Afghanistan evacuation cannot be called ‘anything but a success.’”

RD™ conducts a death-defying leap from reality

That certainly begs the question of what failure would look like to these jackals, but decorum demands that I respectfully decline to inquire. Instead let’s focus on what Joey and P-saky define as success:

The Biden administration’s attempt to negotiate with the Taliban to help get our people out of Afghanistan safely has resulted in yet another embarrassing defeat.

After sending CIA director William Burns to secretly meet with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul to ask him to extend the August 31 deadline for U.S. troops to airlift American citizens and Afghans out of the country, the deadline remains the same—and Taliban claims another victory over the United States. The plan to have U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by August 31 has been approved by Joe Biden. - PJMedia

Barack Hussein Obama has essentially achieved his purpose of fundamentally transforming America into the paper tiger dream of his and his anti-colonialist African father.

copyright 2010

“Barack Obama has made it clear that he thinks the world would be a better and more peaceful place if the United States were too weak to affect the course of events…(he) has slashed missile defense, dramatically reduced investment in future military technologies, and broken promises to our allies. In addition, Obama is transforming our military into a politically correct force that no one will want to join.” – Jed Babbin

It’s a shame we didn’t think to classify “getting our citizens/allies/records and weapons out of Afghanistan ahead of the inevitable Taliban takeover” as infrastructure that both parties could have rallied around. Clearly a more shovel-ready project on earth has never existed. Which is why our inept withdrawal is even more mind-numbingly incomprehensible than usual.

Responsibility? You Can’t Handle Responsibility!!

I see that Jen, the Raggedy Doll™ currently in charge of official government propaganda, again denies reality as is her wont:

The RD™ had no comment regarding the irresponsibility level involved in planning a major military withdrawal before you got American citizens, allies, documents incriminating your allies, computers containing security data, weapons and equipment out of the country. I wonder where she thinks that plan falls on the irresponsibility scale?

Related loose end: I see that Biden is now considering extending the Afghanistan withdrawal deadline beyond his own August 31st deadline. Is it irresponsible to say that is no longer his decision?

And speaking of irresponsible Democrats leaving their friends behind:

Captain Cuomo, left at the gate of the Governor’s mansion, just like in Kabul

Cuomo asked mansion staffers to take Captain, and one volunteered, but the dog has a history of biting people and he was returned to the mansion just a few days later, the sources told the Times Union.

No wonder the Democrats’ dogs are biters.

Major Biden, dispatched to re-education camp after biting for the second time

Maybe they just don’t trust masked men

Or shawls

And finally there’s this: RASMUSSEN POLL SHOWS TRUMP WOULD CRUSH BIDEN IF ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY. Ha! Trump crushed Biden when the election was held in November of 2020. Is it irresponsible of me to point that inconvenient truth out?

 

If you agree with James, read Bookworm’s position regarding the shoe being on the other foot. It will exonerate you from the responsibility of being nice any more.

Congratulations: You Nearly Made It!

How it started:

That would be with The Great Self-esteem Movement of the 70’s-80s, in which teachers and parents began to pour unconditional praise on children and to shelter them from adverse consequences and criticism. Accordingly, all of the children were above average.

Indeed between the late 60s and 2004, the proportion of first year university students claiming an A average in high school rose from 18% to 48%, despite the fact that SAT scores had actually fallen.

At best the participation trophy era created a generation of narcissistic underachievers. At worst it created a batch of nincompoops.

How it ended:

Incompetent nincompoopery at the highest levels.

 

Related: As US Schools Prioritize Diversity Over Merit, China Is Becoming the World’s STEM Leader.

It’s bad:

In a 2018 report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), China ranked first in mathematical proficiency among 15-year-olds, while the United States was in 25th place. And a recent large-scale study of adults’ cognitive abilities, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, found that many Americans lack the basic skills in math and reading required for successful participation in the economy.

Really bad:

The second reason for concern is that the nationwide effort to reduce racial disparities, however well-intentioned, has had the unfortunate effect of weakening the connection between merit and scholastic admission.

Meanwhile in China:

At the university entrance level, China relies on a hierarchical, layered system based on a highly competitive, fairly administered, national exam.

What a concept: let meritocracy rule. So while China develops and nurtures their best we here in the good old US of A – where meritocracy was invented – the wokesters insist on diversity first, competency later; and even then only to the degree our diversity obsessed culture permits.

Sure, accidents will happen. You’ve got to break a few eggs…

FIU bridge collapse: mistakes (engineering) were made

But that’s a small price to pay for equity, eh?

The engineering design error that directly led to the collapse was identified by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as a miscalculation of resistance to sliding of the connection between the walkway surface, and the truss that held it up.

Gee, that seems like a pretty basic calculation for bridge projects. You might have thought somebody in the project’s chain of command/oversight might have caught it.

The New York Times concluded that "the chief probable cause" was "the design by FIGG Bridge Engineers", and that "every company, institution and agency involved in the project was partly to blame for the bridge collapse."

Yes, we wouldn’t want to point the finger at any one individual or design firm (especially if they are minorities or women), that would mean they could be held accountable; something else we apparently no longer believe in.

“The social-justice rhetoric used to justify these diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs is often completely at odds with the reality…”

Way to go America: you nearly made it!

Who could have guessed that the “reward everything they do” approach would backfire? P.S. participation ribbons ‘Made in China’

Sunday: Another Week Awaits

 

 

Still life with lemons

Highlights from Alabama last night: 

“We don’t need more woke generals, we need more Pattons.”

“President Biden was going on vacation while Afghanistan was going to hell.”

Kabal burns as Joe…well who knows what Joe was doing

“He surrendered our airbase, he surrendered our weapons, he surrendered our embassy,”

“I told the Taliban, if anyone ever double crosses the U.S. of America it will be the last thing they ever do.”

“Vietnam looks like a Masterclass in strategy compared to Joe Biden’s catastrophe.”

It’s hard not to agree with Former British Colonel Richard Justin Kemp, CBE who told Mark Levin last night:

“(Biden) shouldn’t be impeached. He should be court-martialed for betraying the United States of America and the United States Armed Forces.”

But that is the extent of my ability to deal with the real world today. I promised Betty Ann (aka Mellow Lemoncello, aka ML Pirate) to do recipes today. She suggested showcasing a sharp tasting ingredient like lemon or lime – possibly in lieu of a sharp implement, I’m not sure, but probably a good substitute given the current  state of affairs.

So here goes: Bitter Fruit Recipe Sunday. As in life, lemon and lime are components in an endless array of dishes. Here are but a few: some savory, some sweet, some bittersweet. Just like the real world.

Mexican Street Corn: off the cob. Traditionally grilled and served on the cob, this version can be prepared ahead of the feast. Either grill the corn and remove it from the cob or remove it from the cob first and sauté in butter over high heat to give it some char.

 

Add roasted, chopped poblanos if you like

For something completely decadent: Lemon Cream Chicken

Or maybe you just want lemon cream pasta:

For your sweet tooth there’s Lemon Pavlova:

Which can be made standard size or mini :

Lastly, if you ever have extra lemons and have the grill on, half them and grill them to a char. Their warm juice will be slightly sweeter and enhance anything else you have grilled: chicken, pork, fish, grilled vegetables – especially cauliflower. You will be hooked.

Bitter fruit possibilities are endless. Please add your own.