George!! Don’t order the Epstein Potato Chips anymore. This is what came.
[Too soon?]
This song is by Hüsker Dü, courtesy of Son Volt as a nod to DIVIDE in the puzzle yesterday at 9D (“Do the splits?”). Turn it up!!
Hüsker Dü was an influential punk rock band from St. Paul MN from 1979-1988. It played a huge role in convincing “the underground” that melody and punk rock weren’t antithetical. (Wikipedia) I think OC featured their song Diane previously. Bob Mould is still active with the alt-rock band Sugar. He started playing guitar when he was 16. He heard the Ramones and figured anyone could play (not kidding).
While we’re on the topic, and if you’ve still got it turned up. . .
Sadly, all four of the original Ramones have passed away. Forever sedated. Rest in peace fellas. Thanks for all the fun.
Oy, our Canadian hockey women got schmeared by the U.S., 5-0, and it was total domination. Looks like it’s the USA’s year. This is Abbey Murphy. She killed us. She’s not even a pro yet: plays hockey at U of Minny. Born in Illinois.
The puzzle today was a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis’s great song, “Great Balls of Fire.” Four large squares comprised of four letters each (F, I, R, E) were enclosed in a circle (“ball”). And the lyric GOODNESS GRACIOUS was an answer, along with the title. A nice constructing job by Joseph Gangi.
I posted the following for the gang:
Ouch! A puzzle on getting kicked in the nuts!? Puh-leeze!
The late folksinger and union man Utah Phillips told the following joke when I saw him perform in NYC several hundred years ago. It was about Idaho Blackie whose land abutted that of the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. Idaho would sit on his porch with his shotgun and shoot at ducks flying overhead. One day he hit a duck and it fell to earth onto the property of the neighbor. When Idaho went to retrieve it, the neighbor said, Hold on — if it falls on my property, it’s my duck. And Idaho said, But it was my shot that brought it down.
They argued for a while, and finally the neighbor said, Let’s settle this in a way that brings honor to our great White Brotherhood. We’ll take turns kicking each other in the balls, and the last man standing gets the duck. Idaho agreed and the neighbor said, Since your shot brought it down, you can go first. Idaho took a few steps back to get a running start and landed a perfect excruciating blow. The neighbor doubled up in agony and it took him a while to get up, dust himself off, and recover. When he was finally ready he said, Okay, it’s my turn now. Idaho stood there, stroking his beard, looked at the guy and said: You know, I’ve been giving this a great deal of thought. You can have that duck.
Utah Phillips passed away in 2008. He was a wonderful singer and may have honed his sense of humor in the vaudeville theater his stepfather Syd Cohen ran in Cleveland before moving the family to Utah. Phillips was a great union supporter and a card-carrying member of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), also known as the Wobblies. Which is how you walk after getting kicked in . . . Enough.
Here’s Rex on the iconic song:
I wonder how well younger solvers know this song. It’s a classic, but I don’t know if “classics” from the ’50s still factor into younger people’s store of songs. The song is well before my [Rex’s] time (came out 12 years before I was born), but I know it very well—rock music simply hadn’t been around *that* long when I was a kid, and so the store of “oldies” seemed finite and you could still hear them all over the place. Also, Jerry Lee Lewis was a … let’s say, colorful figure. Frequently in the news (and, after the ’50s, usually not for music—he had many wives, many personal tragedies, many tax problems). “GREAT BALLS OF FIRE” came out in November of 1957, the month before he married his 13-year-old cousin (who eventually left him, stating that she had been “subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable” (Wikipedia)). He lost two children very young in separate accidents (car, pool), At least two of his wives died young (drugs, pool). But as an artist, he is best known for his wild, energetic playing style.
He was a massive influence on Elton John.
I noted that Rex’s two parentheticals, above, reminded me of Nabokov’s pretty famous one in Lolita: VN remarks on the accidental death of Lo’s mom (picnic, lightning). I was happy to see commenter upstate george thank me for the “shout out to Nabokov.”
The following is from historian Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter today:
Answering allegations that agents had used zip ties on children, spokespersons for both the FBI and Homeland Security flatly denied the allegations. “ICE didn’t zip tie, restrain, or arrest any children. ICE does not zip tie or handcuff children. This is the kind of garbage rhetoric contributing to our officers facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.”
After the presentation of photographic evidence of zip-tie bruises on a 14-year-old female U.S. citizen as well as personal testimony, the FBI changed their assertion to say no “young” children were zip-tied.
Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.
I know, — crazy as a loon, right? At 3D today we learned that the LOON is the state bird of Minnesota. It led Son Volt to reach out to John Prine for us again (not complaining).
In response to all the sh*t Bad Bunny (and others) received for the all-Spanish Super Bowl halftime show, the band Foreigner posted the Spanish version of its biggest hit on its Facebook page after the game. The woman joining them is Mexican singing star Joy Huerta. (Wow.) Huerta is gay and married to Diana Atri, left, below. They have two kids, who, if they are not gorgeous, should demand a refund.
We’ll let the song close us out today. Thanks for stopping by!
The Wellington Files 