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(Louis Jordan - Five guys named Moe and a whole lot more)

A double dose of 1940s tonight. First off, Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five from the Chesterfield Supper Club Broadcast of July 17, 1945. Jordan was one of the first Jump-Blues outfits to gain national popularity in the early 1940s. They would be a wave of the future as far as Big Bands were concerned. As the War took a lot of sidemen off to the Armed Forces, bands were forced to pare down. And as time wore on, the number of venues a big band could play started to dwindle. So the small outfit was economical and attractive to the club owner who didn't have to shell out so much for a 10-20 piece band, where they could just pay for 5 or 6. Louis Jordan was a popular attraction and a regular on Radio broadcasts. He was a recurring act on the Chesterfield Supper Club.

(The Charioteers - human orchestra. Later, model for Do-Wop)

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Our second dose comes by way of The Charioteers. Early on, they were a gospel group, dabbling as a Human Orchestra. In the 1930s and 1940s many acappella vocal groups added the extra bonus of being able to imitate most any wind instrument there was in a band - a whole sub-genre of groups sprang up known as Human Orchestras. As the Charioteers popularity rose they gradually transitioned over to doing more pop/standard material and eventually became one of the models in the evolution of do-wop and vocal R&B. Here they are, also via the Chesterfield Supper Club from July 31, August 12 and September 2, 1945

Man, cameras are racist too? What is this world coming to?

When Joz Wang and her brother bought their mom a Nikon Coolpix S630 digital camera for Mother's Day last year, they discovered what seemed to be a malfunction. Every time they took a portrait of each other smiling, a message flashed across the screen asking, "Did someone blink?" No one had. "I thought the camera was broken!" Wang, 33, recalls. But when her brother posed with his eyes open so wide that he looked "bug-eyed," the messages stopped.

Wang, a Taiwanese-American strategy consultant who goes by the Web handle "jozjozjoz," thought it was funny that the camera had difficulties figuring out when her family had their eyes open. So she posted a photo of the blink warning on her blog under the title, "Racist Camera! No, I did not blink... I'm just Asian!" The post was picked up by Gizmodo and Boing Boing, and prompted at least one commenter to note, "You would think that Nikon, being a Japanese company, would have designed this with Asian eyes in mind."

Open thread below...

The Dead Weather simply kill on this track from Horehound, released in the summer of 2009.

The Dead Weather is Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes).

Got any favorite groups made up of bits and pieces from other groups? Broken up, or just taking a break from each other? Post a link for us!

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January 28, 2010 C-SPAN

(Nicole:) Emboldened by Obama's criticism of the Citizens United v. FEC ruling during the SOTU address, the Senate head of the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT) lashed out at the Supreme Court, calling the 5 member conservative wing of the court "activists" and "extreme". He particularly calls Samuel "Not True Bobblehead" Alito out for doing exactly what he said a Supreme Court justice should not do during his confirmation hearing.

In his confirmation hearing, Justice Alito -- and I might say, under oath -- testified that the role of the Supreme Court is a limited role. It has to do what it is supposed to do vigilantly, but it has to be equally vigilant about not stepping over its bounds and invading the authority of Congress. That was then -- when he was seeking confirmation. This is now.

Ouch. That left a mark. Leahy continues:

This is the most partisan decision since Bush v. Gore. That decision by the activist, conservative bloc in the Supreme Court intervened in a presidential election. This decision is broader and more damaging in that they have now decided to intervene in all elections. Last week's decision is only the latest example--but probably the most extreme--of the willingness of a narrow majority of the Supreme Court to render decisions from the bench to suit their own ideological agenda. I believe the activist conservatives now on the Supreme Court have got this decision dramatically wrong, as a matter of Constitutional interpretation and also common sense.

The Yes Men have done it again. They infiltrated the World Economic Forum at Davos and announced a united strategy to end world poverty. (As if!) They issued this press release and set up a fake website, featuring carefully-dubbed fake interviews with various leaders (including Bill Clinton, shown above) admitting past exploitative economic policies and pledging to change them.

But the press corps attending the event largely ignored them, more's the pity:

In a series of diabolically stupid video manipulations, a cabal of anti-poverty filmmakers have performed an elaborate slander of the World Economic Forum, showing its "leading lights" taking a dramatic departure from the litany of meaningless pledges they usually make at the annual gathering in the Swiss resort town.

In response, WEF spokesperson Adrian Monck could barely contain himself. "The only defense to satire is common sense!" he sputtered, before racing back into the WEF war room to deal with the burgeoning crisis.

Fortunately for the WEF, few media outlets picked up on the WEF's fantastic but fictional approach to world poverty ("World Leaders Pledge Strategy to End Poverty Now").

Instead, the media was dominated by coverage of a real WEF press release warning of "Over Regulation of the Financial Sector" (sic).

The forged videos showed eight of "leading lights of Davos" outlining a few clear strategies to end poverty.

The CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, the world's largest agribusiness conglomerate, spoke of "agriculture's role in today's economic savagery, and the broader long-term issues of robbing whole groups for the greed of the food industry," before calling for "universal justice and agriculture's reform" via Food Sovereignty. "We want to undo the injuries of global capitalism," added a much-improved "Klaus Schwab," founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

"The source of our financial treasure was violence towards the colonies of the global South," admitted "Queen Elizabeth II" most refreshingly, before pledging to sell her lands and use the proceeds to improve the lot of the world's poor. "We have caused this disaster," added "Prince Harry" with a stalwart giggle. "Nobody wants a catastrophe," Canadian Prime Minister "Stephen Harper" chimed in most helpfully.

"Haiti was a house of cards that we built through a history of exploitative economic policies," said a tired-looking "Bill Clinton." Now we have a chance to rebuild a more independent society by ending exploitation, forgiving their debt and bringing back real sustainability."

The perpetrators included a prominent film director, several Hollywood voice actors, at least one disaffected member of the World Economic Forum itself, and thirty-four of the Yes Men.

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Unbelievable. Everyone knows the Republicans think we need absolutely no regulation of anything what so ever but they generally don't say it out loud this bluntly. Of course we didn't get any follow up from David Gregory asking him how being smart has anything to do with making insurance companies behave.

Gregory: You don't want government in charge of health care, yet you're a supporter of portable health insurance; the ability to take health insurance across state lines, but I thought the Republicans were states' rights guys and didn't want -- because you'd have to have some kind of Federal regulatory agency to monitor that kind of portability, wouldn't you?

Boehner: No, you wouldn't have to. What we're saying is the American people ought to buy health insurance across state lines. They ought to buy health insurance where they get the policy that they need for themselves and their family at the best price.

Gregory: And there wouldn't have to be some sort of Federal regulatory agency...

Boehner: Well no! That's the whole point. The President said I'm for that but you know there has to be some bureaucrat in Washington that needs to make sure that this is done fairly. The American people are smart enough to do this on their own.

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(Johan Svendsen - Contemporary of Grieg, but less well known)

The music of Johan Svendsen has probably gotten more familiar to audiences now that it was say, 40 years ago. A contemporary of fellow Norwegian Edvard Grieg, he was most prominently known for his Romance for Violin and Orchestra and not a lot else.

After World War 2 the Society of Norwegian Composers sought to spread the word about Svendsen, and many other Norwegian composers for that matter. They issued a series of 78 discs through the Norwegian Office Of Cultural Relations, featuring a number of less familiar composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, performed by some of the leading orchestras and performing bodies in Norway. The result was a fascinating set of discs which, sadly were not commercially available, even at the time of their release. They were destined for educational institutions and radio stations in an effort to promote culture and not garner sales.

One of those recordings was the 2nd Symphony of Johan Svendsen, with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by their music director Odd Gruner-Hegge. Hegge had been music director of the orchestra in the late 1920's to early 1930s when he left and later resumed his association with the orchestra from 1945-1952. There is no actual date on the discs and no information regarding sessions. I am assuming it's 1946, but it could be as late as 1948. In any event, it's a rare fist recording of a seldom performed symphony played by an orchestra the composer was closely associated with.

Nice combination, if you ask me.

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This Week marks the passings of actor Pernell Roberts, author J.D. Salinger, former senator Charles Matthias, historian and progressive icon Howard Zinn and ex-Bush Commerce Chief Robert Mosbacher. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of six servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army PFC Gifford E Hurt, 19, of Yonkers, NY

Navy PO2 Xin Qi, 25, of Cordova, TN

Marine LCpl Jeremy M Kane, 22, of Towson, MD

Marine Sgt Daniel M Angus, 28, of Thonotosassa, FL

Marine LCpl Timothy J. Poole, 22, of Bowling Green, KY

Marine LCpl Zachary D Smith, 19, of Hornell, NY

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,693; in Afghanistan, 1,611. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 111 Iraqi civilians killed.

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From Sen. Bernie Sanders:

Sen. Bernie Sanders went to the Senate floor to explain why he opposed the nomination of Ben Bernanke for a second term as Fed chairman. While Bernanke was confirmed later in the day, 30 senators opposed him, far more "no" votes than the previous most for a Fed nominee (16 against Paul Volcker).

We need more Bernie Sanders out there standing up for the working class in this country.

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Sometimes it's all I can do to stop myself from throwing something through the TV screen, like this morning when David Gregory kept pushing David Axelrod about moving to the center.

Now, I have to admit: It's been a shock for America to adjust to our radical new single-payer health care system, having the troops pulled out of the Middle East, and the president nationalizing the banks and resurrecting FDR's WPA, putting America's unemployed back to work -- all in the first year.

Yeah, in what freakin' universe?

If I ever have occasion to be in an elevator with David Gregory, I will have to ask him one burning question: "Just where the hell do you think the middle is?"

MR. GREGORY: Let me move on to domestic matters and that pretty extraordinary appearance on Friday in Baltimore at the House Republican retreat. The president came there, a kind of British style question-and-answer period. He even gets the blueprint for the Republican agenda from the House side. I wonder whether the decision to accept that invitation-- was there recognition on the president's part that if he wants to be more than a one-term president, he's got to govern from the middle?

MR. AXELROD: You know, David, I'd say a few things about that. First of all, the decision to attend was not a last-minute decision on our part, it was, it was, it was on the calendar, we were aware of it. The Republican caucus had been good enough to extend that invitation. And this is something that--we had visited the caucus before. But it's interesting the way you asked the question: Does he, does he--did he do it because he wants to be more than a one-term president? We don't sit around in the White House making calculations on that basis. The president of the United States has one concern, which is how do we move this country forward, how do we get people back to work, how do we lift incomes, how do we build some security for the middle class who have been facing economic challenges not just through this recession but for a decade or more? And, and that's what he's thinking about. And if we can get some cooperation from the other side to do that, we're going to be a stronger country for it. That's why he went to the caucus, and that's why we're going to continue to have a dialogue with Mr. Boehner and others.

MR. GREGORY: Does he feel, does he feel like he has to move to the middle to achieve?

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