Happy 236th Birthday, America!
And, as tradition demands, here’s my annual dosage of Stan Freberg and friends with Billy Mays’ wonderful orchestra… Enjoy!:
♫ Stan Freberg: Shoot If You Must (Tyne Daly)
♫ Stan Freberg: America! America! (all)
Today we are obliged to give our Nation a ‘high five’ (up high – down low!) and give the old girl a kiss and a break, if only for a day! With all its faults and screw-ups it’s still a Great land of Beauty, Majesty and Promise… And, as infuriating as she/we can be, I love her still!
“I have often wondered at length if the sun on the back of the President’s chair is rising or setting. Today I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” – Benjamin Franklin (upon the signing of the U.S. Constitution)
Let’s all hope so, Ben!
(Franklin was later overheard wondering “So where’s my free beer and when do we get paid?”)
Happy Fourth of July! 
(now let’s go get stoned and blow some shit up!! WEEEEEEEE!)
Seattle’s Gasworks Park/Lake Union fireworks show went off beautifully, it’s also the only show in the country that I can watch from my front door… They have usually started the show with Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”, but this year they opened with Yes’ “Roundabout”, a bit of a surprise but nice… I’d use “Mars” from Holst’s “The Planets”, but that’s just me…
Alas, San Diego’s big show didn’t go quite as smoothly. As the narrator explained, these shows are computerised and sequenced to the split second. I have some problems with this utter FAIL being a simple hard/soft-ware ‘glitch’ – to blow the whole works ALL at once? I’m suspicious. Either way, there are no doubt some pyrotechnics engineers/technicians back on the job ‘market’ this morning after last night’s fiasco. Sorry, San Diego. My dear old Dad lives there, but likely had already retired for the night… so he probably didn’t get to witness this world class FAIL!
Comment on July 5, 2012 @ 4:01 pm