Popshot, a new punk rock magazine, scolds naïve anti-capitalists for getting the wrong end of the stick.

(Found in Aaron Krowne’s blog of which I was not previously aware; he was on my list of sites to look at because of mathematical material.)

If you’ve ever heard bagpipes, you’ve probably heard “Scotland the Brave”. One night I left a showing of The Seven Samurai, whistling the song of the peasants planting the rice; started to improvise on it, and soon found that it had mutated into “Scotland the Brave” but on the Japanese scale. Couldn’t do that again if you paid me!

Only once before tonight had I heard words sung to that tune, and somehow I suspected that “bring me my sheep / I’m so lonesome tonight” might not be quite right.

Well, anyway, just now this bloke John McDermott was on telly singing “Scotland the Brave”. But apparently the words are original with him, as Google finds them only at his site and at those of his fans. (I’d never have heard of him if it weren’t pledge season at KTEH, and he has multiple fan sites?)

The quest continues. Heck, if anyone knows the rest of the other version, I’ll take that. Hm, maybe it’s on one of Michael Longcor’s tapes?

Then Charlie drove in with a great big grin
Past the signs of “do not enter”;
While the warning beeps made a raucous din
In the operations center;
Fred said “Charlie, come back if you please,
You’re making me kind of nervous,”
While by degrees all the ISPs
Were reporting lack of service.

(thanks to Avram Grumer for the link)

All I seem to do in this blog is complain. I need a hobby. Or a job.
Well, here’s something positive: I’m listening to Dawganova by the David Grisman Quintet (1995), a playful acoustic album with a bit of bluegrass and a dollop of Brazil. (I hope that’s not too misleading. I enjoy a wide variety of music, from ABBA to Art of Noise to Baka Beyond, but lack the vocabulary to describe it.) I first heard them at a benefit in Mill Valley for (i think) Prop 215, and was promptly hooked. (Booker T & the MGs also played splendidly at the same event.)

Disappointment Nº 47906: After looking for years for a digital version of Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful, I find The Best of the Waitresses – and it lacks my two favorites (“Pussy Strut” and “Redland”).

In 1992 when Democrats campaigned on the idea of Change! for its own sake, I thought of a line of “Redland”: It won’t be better but I’ll settle for different.