« Return of the Long Cat | Main | Wednesday Morning »
June 19, 2007
Tuesday Morning
1. Michelle Cottle wrote a terrific piece on country music's Iraq war shift for The New Republic this month, and it's finally online and linkable. A must-read, as far as I'm concerned, as it chronicles how "war weariness is quietly creeping into even the reddest of red-state culture" - a sentiment borne out, of course, by the polls.
[W]hile alt-country artists and cranky old bulls like Nelson and Haggard were expressing their fed-uppedness, the vast majority of big-money, big-audience country served as a cheering section for the administration's foreign policy.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the surge. Sometime around 2004, the in-your-face calls to arms faded, and the war-themed offerings coming out of Nashville started taking on a more somber tone. In 2004, for instance, both girl-group SheDaisy and John Michael Montgomery produced hit singles focused on the pain of separation felt by soldiers and their loved ones. The former, "Come Home Soon," climbed the country charts to number 14; the latter, "Letters from Home," all the way to number two. As SheDaisy laments,
And I sleep alone
I cry alone
And it's so hard livin' here on my own
So please, come home soon
Come home soon.
2. Hillary at my high school, planting Roosevelt trees. More Hillary: she's chosen her theme song, and it ain't pretty - in fact, it's motherfuckin Celine Dion. What gives: Bill gets Fleetwood Mac, Hill gets Celine? Ouch. If she fails to win the nomination or loses the general election, this will undoubtedly be why. (Also: You can see Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" on the jukebox picture, just waiting to rock.)
3. Im in ur _____, ______ing ur ______. Now in shirt form.
Posted by caps at June 19, 2007 09:43 AM