For most of YouTube's existence, you couldn't view a Prince video on the platform. That's because the artist refused to take his music online. Condiering the raw deal most legacy artists got from their record companies over streaming, this made all kinds of sense. But then Prince always marched to his own drum beat. Since his death, much of his work has made its way online, presumably enriching the estate. Case in point: "Cream," which is the last single of his that I absolutely loved prior to Prince's long, drawn out feud with his record company and that weird, changing his name to a symbol strategy in getting out of his contract. This song doesn't make much sense, being more a stream-of-consciouness compilation of catchy phrases more than anything else. But when you've got a groove going that seems so effortless, and that whole Asenio Hall Show-era Bob Fosse-style sex dance choreography, who could complain? Also, that retro train station introduction is outright bonkers and has nothing to do with the following video, but when you're viewed as eccentric, you must live up to expectations.
On this date in 1923, Dolph Briscoe, who would go on to become the 41st governor of Texas, was born. He would've been 99 today. Briscoe, a long-time Uvalde rancher, is generally remembered fondly from his terms as governor for being a decent guy. But his administration did earn some dubious distinctions. Briscoe was the last Texas governor to serve a two-year term and the first to serve a four-year term. He undermined two efforts to rewrite Texas' abysmal constitution (which remains a trainwreck to this day). Briscoe once appointed a dead man to the State Health Advisory Commission, and if what I've heard is true, called a press conference in the aftermath to reassure the press and public that he hadn't lost his grip on sanity.
But what most people remember him for--and which doesn't appear in most official biographies--is that he was the governor who ordered the closure of the infamous Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange. Ironically, Briscoe had no actual legal authority to order the Chicken Ranch (or any other brothel, for that matter) closed. But he did, hoping nobody would call his bluff. Fayette County Jim Flournoy certainly knew the governor had no authority to do so, but acquiesced to Briscoe and effectively ended a surreal two-week media circus that captured the attention of Texas as well as the rest of the country.
Governor Briscoe died June 27, 2010, after ignoring my interview requests for the better part of a year. Happy birthday, Dolph!
"Sentimental Street" is Night Ranger's best song, hands down. Sorry "Sister Christian" fans. That said, the video doesn't really make a lick of sense. The conceit of being crashed/marooned on a desert island with a magic lantern (a nod to the album title "7 Wishes") is taken up in video for "Four in the Morning," but doesn't make much sense there, either. There's a lot of pseudo-nostalgia throughout the video about old girlfriends and the band struggling before finding success, but there's no real context and the vibe is all over the place. There's no narrative through line, but goodness, who needs consistency when the band is sporting hair like that? The video itself may not be peak 80s, but the coiffures are almost there.
Even when he was still chafing under the "John Cougar" name, Mellencamp started writing some damn good songs. Songs with teeth that told uncomfortable truths. Early in his career he was a rage machine, always angry at somebody or something. That might've made him miserable to work with, but when he channeled that intensity into his music, such as with "Crumblin' Down," well, we were all better off for it.
Episode 40 of A Moment of Tiki is now live amongst the interwebz! Lighting can make or break a home tiki bar, but sometimes crafting tiki lighting from scratch isn't in the cards. In that case, repurposing found lighting from thrift stores, garage sales or flea markets is a viable alternative--if you keep your eyes peeled. With a little bit of creativity, found lamps can be converted into theme-appropriate lighting fixtures that are often easy on the bank account. In this case, I found an older rattan table lamp at a thrift shop at a bargain price. It wasn't tiki, but almost anything involving rattan is halfway to the South Pacific already. By seeing the potential in it, I was able to easily convert it into a worthy addition to my home bar!
Let's start the weekend off right with some retro electro-swing from the Speakeasy Three. "When I Get Low, I Get High" was orignally done by Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb, but these ladies--with a bit of help from the Swing Ninjas--certainly do it justice.
