The Notorious G.O.P.

In honor of Christopher Wallace a.ka. Notorious B.I.G. who released his debut album Ready to Die twenty-three years ago today, the Notorious G.o.P have released their single. And it's real juicy.

It's Juicy

"It was all a dream,
I used to read Ayn Rand and Forbes magazine,
Tim Mcgraw, Ted Nugent up in the limousine.
Hangin' crosses on my wall,
Every Saturday, budget cuts, Mexico will pay for the wall.
I let my legislation rock as I tell Pop,
"Going after weed, civil rights, yo it'll never stop."
'Way back, when health care was a business,
Matchin' money, in fact, with profits in tact.
Remember Rappin' Ronnie?
"Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall, this wall."
You never thought the far right would take it this far.
Now we in the limelight, Bannon holds tight,
CEO's get a raise, blow up national deficit like we Tim McVey.
Born winners, rest of you are sinners,
Remember when I humbly ate caviar for dinner?
Peace to Republicans who have a heart, rarity,
Tom "name your price", Devos, Sessions, Bensy.
We blowin' Up like you thought we would,
Call the voicemail, same number, same gated community, we all good.

And if you don't know now you know.

You know very well who you are,
Don't let us help you out, happy hour is at the bar.
You had a plan, but not that many
Cause we'll take away the one, that left you good and plenty.

We made the change, our Christianity brief,
To up close and personal, health lobbyists leach,
And far from cheap, I play about 18 holes a day,
Spread lies, it's the alternative fact way
Obamacare and Dodd Frank keep me pissy
Girls used to miss me
Now they write letters cause' they diss me
We never thought this could happen,
Us controllin' stuff,
We were to busy depleating SNAPS and austerity stuff
Now Planned Parenthood plays us close like a Trump Twitter post
From Mississippi to the Emerald City coast
Cities in America, gentrified in weeks,
A sold House seat to hear American Heritage Foundation speak
Living life spreading fear,
Putting 5 gold Trump towers over there
Lunches, brunches, interviews we're so cool
Considered a winner, because I defunded that public school
Stereotype as a white male misunderstood,
And we still wear hoods

Uh, and if you don't know, now you know, know.


You know very well who you are,
Don't let us help you out, happy hour is at the bar
You had a plan, but not that many
Cause we'll take away the one, that left you good and plenty.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
If you're dirt poor, but can still purchase this
Fifty PAP screens, money tight, and no sofa,
Got no rides, well your free ride is over
Phone bill about two weeks back
No need not to worry, we're still cutting back
And we think you're just lounging
Ben Carson in charge of HUD,
Say goodbye to affordable housing
Thinking back on Lincoln's one room shack
Now the party is alt-right pimps hatred of  black
and we love to show our anger of course,
Smile every time a cop uses excessive force
We used to fuss when the landlord missed us
No tax credits, wonder why Christmas missed us
Your birthday will be the worst day,
We're cutting early childhood health for your Nurseray'
Uh, damn right we like the country that we live,
Cause it went from positive to negative,
and it's all

(It's all bad)

And if you don't know, now you know, know


You know very well who you are,
Don't let us help you out, happy hour is at the bar
You had a plan, but not that many
Cause we'll take away the one, that left you good and plenty.

Uh.
Yeah
Russian Mafia in the house
Kremlin brining in back
GOP
Uh.
For profit health care.
CEO's, CEO's uh.
Yeah....

If you don't know, now you know, know

The Session is Not in Order

Prophets exist, even in our time, and you don't need to own or falsely operate a bible to understand their truth*


the truth*


"What does he mean by falsely operate?"

"Glad you didn't actually ask inner heckler!"

I don't kill my neighbor for working Sunday but I do cast the first stone when told not to.


I've lied under oath. The oath I take when my parents asked if I stole, lied, or did, well, anything.

Having a younger sibling helped shift blame but there was no hiding the, "did you use all the toilet paper for your latest bowel movement?' routine.

I digress.

Our attorney general came out today saying, "I'm not a general but I do need a lawyer because I uh, I lied under oath."

He wasn't sleeping under a tree marked 'oath' mind you.

He said, under oath, that he didn't communicate with Russian foreign leaders before election day (something not to uncommon, hence no reason to lie) and he uh, did.

We've seen this.

"I did not have sex with that woman. Ms. Lewinsky.....I never..."

Ok, Bill, relax it was a consenting blow job and how dare you tarnish the holier then thou Oval Office where Nixon was taped talking about blowing actual jobs?!

We were warned by Coretta Scott King about Jeff Sessions back when the band Poison was on the charts.

Like the band Poison, he asked that the Justice Dept was 'nothing but a good time' and when asked about voting rights for people of color he would often say things like, "Oh my God, look what the cat dragged in?"

No.

We were warned.

I know what you're thinking.

"How can a 70 year old white man living in Alabama be racist?!"

I know.

Unicorns do exist.

And like unicorns this one has a sharp thorn.

Well, possibly many.

In 1986, U2 may have been searching what they were looking for but President Ronald Raegan found his man.

Raegan, fresh off his appearance in the Genesis video, nominated Sessions to be a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

What has more racial tension then northern Alabama you ask?

You guess it. It's counterpart.

When he wasn't being witnessed by Thomas Figures, a black Assistant U.S. Attorney, telling him he had no qualms with the KKK, other then quote, 'they smoked pot', he calling the NAACP and ACL quote, 'unamerican' and 'communist inspired', he was open to the ideas of others so long as it didn't interfere with his white privilege of understanding HIS world view.

Like a rubrics cube selling for 10.99 (two easy payments) the 80's weren't buying.

Coretta Scott King wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee finding serious fault for the nomination. In her letter, she charged that "Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters."

Who this guy?

Awww. He's 'Whiter old Dennis Kucinich"

It's the ears.

"Not Funny you."

Sorry Dennis

Where were we?

Oh yes!

The decade that brought us Poison, and poison in the shape of a potential judge.

It's well known he was deemed to racist in the 80's, at the height of white people coming around to the idea of black people on t.v.

It was a thriller, we all were dancing on the ceiling hoping into our little red corvettes.

Maybe I'm just to fast here?

I don't know.

What I do know is that lying over a small minute detail shows more smoke and a possible fire then being adult enough to be honest and explain yourself your honor.

I know lawyers and if there's anything I know about them they don't do Mad Lips. They have mad lips!

And,

and this is a very important baby got back Sir-Mix-A-Lot conjunction here,

It leads to the high possibility of fire.

So don't mess with the American people Trump and sycophants alike.

Let me get my Q-tip out Mr. Sessions:

"We don't believe you 'cause we the people

Are still here in the rear, ayo, we don't need you,

The doors have signs with, don't try to rhyme with

VH1 has a show that you can waste your time with.

Sincerely,

Your Southern Man born

Action Jack(son)

by way of Charlottsville, Va

to Ohio,

paradise, Wa

We're not going to let you suppress the truth,

after you tried to do it with a voting booth.

So pull this tooth, with no andesitic,

Recuse? No resign, your actions? Pathetic.

Truth will set us free, but you have to go,

Your outdated ideas?

We don't want them no more.

So away we go with Maya and Krazinky,

I receive safer packages from Ted Kzinksky.

I'm addicted to truth, and you don't have it.

The mic is hot, right now you can't grab it.

While Russians hack, your comedy is the same.

Disguises, who lies is? performance is lame.

Before I go, and give this up for lent,

Tell the truth now, or live to repent.

Forgive the sinner, aint nobody saint,

But your bullshit's got ta go',

clean up this taint(ed)

Paradigm.

I don't know why I rhyme,

I'm blind,

Blinded by Alabama Shakes,

This just started,

We doing whatever it takes,

I aint a Beastie, but Boy do I really like,

So I'm going to get back to the grind,

as I pontificate n' pass the mic.

Does the spider recuse or resign given their recluse nature to the truth and decency?

Recuse it is!

We refuse.

We resist.

This bullshit now, it won't persist.

Prisoner

Buy This Album

"I listen to all types."

My humble manager inside the Lakewood, Ohio Record Exchange was as affable as he was smart about his musical stylings and knowledge. This was the summer of either 07' or 08' and as we cleaned used Cd's and put LP's carefully in their spots we carelessly talked music the way la cosa nostra members would talk nonchalantly about the last 'job' they did.

Excited at twenty-three to be in school and working in a record store (albeit a 'chain' one) was my dream of working as Barry (Jack Black)  in the movie High Fidelity.

This was my 'Monday Morning mix-tape' conversation with him minus the comedic guilt trip. What were his top 5 artists?

"Ever hear of Ryan Adams?" he asked.

Having grown up with a dad who owned and played more cds then a radio station, I had heard of him, but wouldn't know his music if played. I played stupid.

"Summer of 69?"

He laughed.

That was BRYAN Adams. Not close, but who hasn't made a pun on names before?

As I began my vinyl record collection working in a Cleveland record store, those simple conversations come back to me more then ever as I listen to one of the best albums to yet grace 2017.


Oh by the way, my manager? A guy a year younger then me at the time was in a band. The name?

PRISONERS.

He did have a lot in common with his favorite artist*.

Prisoner, Ryan Adam's 16th studio album comes out after his almost seven year marriage to singer/actress Mandy Moore ended amicably but with enough heartache to fill an entire career catalogue.  Transformed into musical stylings of a rocking country boy who grew up the middle child, this is an album that his grandparents, (who helped raise him) would be proud of.

Quite simply, Prisoners takes us all captive, and shows a Bruce Springsteen meeting Steve Earle country rock album that isn't forced. It's 'the boss' in 1987 making a country rock album is how I'd describe it to someone curious.

It's hard to miss the ode to the 1980's synth rock  as Adams starts off his 'break up' album with an arena rocker meeting his church organ single Do You Still Love Me?

Somebody has been looking through the boss's tunnel, and on the other side the love isn't reciprocal for our lost hero.

Luckily, the call and response of this heartbreak is. Put into music beautifully.

Songs like To Be Without You are pretty self explanatory and showcase the artist's love for country music telling the story of the blues.

If Adams has a love of Taylor Swift's 1989, (He wrote her a lengthy letter as a fan of hers praising her album and covered her songs on tour), then the decade is in full view as the 'prisoner' lets it be known on the album track.

Also, it's worth mentioning that elements of Fleetwood Mac permeate this record like they grey skies of Seattle. It's the subtly twang of a guitar, a progression, and an army of euphoric sound that matches our rain, i.e. with rhythm and purpose.

I'm not going to go into a track by track analysis of this album as I've read the rather harsher reviews that are nothing more then ardent Adam's fans still coming to terms that an artist who is as country as he is eccentrically rock n roll could possibly  love the 80's as a musical decade. The consensus is that this fails to be yet another 'Ryan Adam's album.' As if music can't fathom an artist speaking his truth in a great way. Especially now given that we live in such a utopia.

Adam's is going through/went through a public divorce with a high profiled person. On Prisoner he puts it out on the tracks and lets us know through his musical catharsis of honesty, that all across the country we may feel that prisoner ethos.

This prisoner doesn't want to live in this 'haunted house' anymore, and in his grief, he shows it's possible to joyfully participate in both being, and escaping as a Prisoner.

My old (young) manager Adam from my hometown of Sagamore Hills, Ohio (originally) is still rocking and rolling in living and working in Cleveland, Ohio. In many ways his depth is his favorite artist's depth. It's amazing how tiny conversations can reconnect your memories to musical milestones.

"No, not summer of 69'. Love is Hell man."

"Sounds like the punk Beatles song lyrics", I scoff.

"It's the Adams's Silver Hammer of truth!"

"Ha!"

I lost touch with Adam or "Gravy" as us co-workers called him. Me getting randomly shot on the east side of Cleveland, recovering, and moving cross country will do that.

Still, I long for those conversations in the Emerald City, and listening to a new Ryan Adam's album shows the listener, that he too appreciates those moments.

My Mom has a wisdom describing two things that may appear different but are overall the same in meaning or substance.

"Same church, different pew", she'd say.

Although this North Carolina kid is crooning about a real life  divorce, many of us (especially my backyard of Seattle) feel an odd divorce from their country.

Many feel like prisoners, as they break those bars of confinement.

Depression, addiction, a sense of empathy mixed with apathy.

The human mind is intricate.

This album brings back more unsure memories of where I was when I was younger, but also the jovial conversations between co-workers and management.

This wasn't, "You're fired!"
It was, "You're hired! Now tell me why you want to work in a record store?"


I thank Adam for getting  me deeper into the music of one of his favorite artists and introducing me to a country I can appreciate.

Both Prisoners in their own right.

Breaking free.

And Mandy Moore forgive me for making this comparison, but just  as Ryan said goodbye to a well known celebrity, perhaps we should consider the same.

Amicably of course.
And get to know our roots and where we came from.
And appreciate the Adams's in our world.

Thanks 'Gravy'. If memories are where the proof of life exist, then I had my share in Lakewood, Ohio talking to my manager.

So next time a friend gets you into a new artist you can stomach or you're feeling that nostalgia for who got you into a more famous one remember; we are all singing a different form of the blues as we 'joyfully participate in this thing called life.' ((If you'll let me paraphrase fictional mob boss Tony Soprano and real life artist Prince.))

Then we disappear

*Note Adam did not merry Mandy Moore, is divorced, or write "Sweet Illusion" But, and this is a conjunction that Sir Mix a Lot would be proud of, they both are charmingly handsome and musicians.