Obama, A True Blues Brother

Our half-Kenyan President, Barack Obama, continued to kick off his 2012 re-election campaign last Wednesday night at the Masonic Center in San Francisco (such a fun name to say, Francisco! Francisco! Francisco!).  When I heard a blurb from the speech on an am radio station, I immediately thought of two things; First, I wish that am radio had DVR capabilities so that I could make sure my ears hadn’t deceived me.  My second thought was that the morsel of this speech I heard sounded familiar to me.  I couldn’t place it immediately, then, it dawned on me…  Obama was ripping off the Blues Brothers.  And not only was he ripping them off, but by golly, he IS a Blues Brother!

In the speech, Obama once again boasted about the visions he has for America.  The following, is one of his visions, in a long, redundant, run-on sentence. 

            “A vision, where we live up to the idea that no matter who you are, no matter where ya come from, no matter what ya look like, no matter whether your ancestors landed here on Ellis Island or came here on slave ships, or came here across the Rio Grande, we are all connected.”

Actually, this next quote wasn’t what followed in the speech, but what Elwood Blues (Dan Akroyd) ranted in his preamble of the song “Everybody, needs somebody to love” in the Blues Brothers Movie from 1980. 

            “And remember people: that no matter who you are, and what you do, to live, strive and survive.  There are still some things that make us all the same.  You, me, them, everybody, everybody.”

Obama’s cadence, tone, pauses and words were as unoriginal as Obama’s certificate of live birth. 

As I thought about it more and more the song got stuck in my head, and the rest of the day I couldn’t help but draw parallels between Obama and the Blues duo. 

The first parallel is that they all obviously claim residence to the great city of Chicago (notice I choose my words carefully here) and believe they are on a [delusional] mission from God. 

It’s no secret that Obama and the Blues Brothers have left an enormous wake of destruction in their paths.  You can’t tell me that Obama, being late to address every issue isn’t like the Blues Brothers showing up late to their own sold out concert event.  Both parties promised the show of shows and delivered a circus event instead.  Our leader has made a pattern out of being late to discuss or address any major issue as it’s happening.  A week, two weeks, even three weeks go by with barely a word from him or his press secretary.  After a month of skyrocketing gas prices he has finally decided to put together a task force to address the problem.  The reality, the national average last week was $4.00 a gallon.  Gitmo is still open, we’re still at war in two countries and the two parties in politics are still at war themselves.  Wasn’t this the President, that wrote in his book the “Audacity of Hope” (kind of sounds like the title from the human rights organization Amnesty International’s “Conspiracy of Hope” slogan) how he was going to bring the two great political parties together again, like it used to be in the old days?  Instead, like Obama, the brothers skipped out with all the money, and left out through the drummer’s secret back door. 

If there is any truth to the parallels I have found, then just like in the movie, the masses will gather, chase down this criminal, and justice will be served.   Then our Blues Brother President will find himself suffering the same fate of both our protagonists and the usual Illinois politician; yes, singing the blues from a prison lunchroom.  Without the secret service, maybe he use some of that book sale money as protection money in jail.  He'll just have to "spread it around a bit."

David Byrne: A Little Less Talking, A Lot More Use Of Your Head

Last week David Byrne of the long-gone-new-waved band “Talking Heads” received a somewhat half-assed and distracted online apology from former Florida Governor, Charlie Crist.  As it turns out, Crist used the song “Road to Nowhere” (a great lyrical choice to kick off your run for office, by the way) as his campaign theme when attempting to switch from Republican Governor to Independent Senator in 2010.  Crist used the song, but never obtained a license to do so.  Byrne, unlike most songwriters, artists, actors, poets, writers, journalists, MSNBC employees, thespians, entertainers, producers, directors and MSNBC employees, is shockingly, some type of liberal or something.    Crist, who was then whisked off to court, lost the case and was ordered to issue an apology as part of his restitution. 

We all get this, right?  Someone running for office wants to make sure they have a hook for their campaign, so they sit down with their planners and pick out slogans, strategies and songs to promote their new political direction.  Crist, who was 25 when the song was still retrievable in tangible form, probably grew up being a fan of the band and it all seemed like an easy fit. 

But, it’s not that easy.  In fact, Byrne and Crist are both wrong, and Crist was taken advantage of like an Uno player with one card left forgetting to call out “Uno”, first.

Music copyright laws are set up to protect artists so that they are compensated for the songs they create.  But what most of the articles written on this story fail to recognize is that to protect the artist’s work, it is legally allowed to be used by ANYONE!  No if’s, and’s or but’s.  If someone wants the license, they are legally entitled to it.  Crist’s main mistake was that his campaign wasn’t diligent enough to obtain or even attempt to obtain a license for the song.

It doesn’t matter what Byrne thinks or feels he needs in this situation.  Artists have the right to compensation for their work, but they don’t have the right to pick and choose who their fans are, let alone who they politically disagree with that likes them and wants to use their songs.  Selling that song is the reason he published it in the first place. Crist was forced to apologize for not asking permission, when in fact legally, all he didn’t do is fill out an application, and turn it in.  If anything, he should have had to apologize for having awful taste, lack of due diligence and an out-of-touch campaign theme. 

Byrne, after having won the case made the following statement. “It turns out I am one of the few artists who has the bucks and cojones to challenge such usage.”  Cojones? Please.  Byrne is nothing more than an overrated, out of the spotlight,  liberal musician, taking issue with an American conservative politician, yet unwilling to even become a U.S. citizen first.  Byrne, like a mouthy prostitute, should be happy he’s at least getting paid, say “thank you,” and go on his way.  Matter of fact, what if Charlie Crist applied for a proper music license when David Byrne applies for U.S. citizenship?