NAUGHTY ROCK DANCERS NEED LOVE TOO

Would you like to see Samantha Fox in a Bollywood number?

Of course you would.

"Samantha Fox - Bollywood 'Rock Dancer' 1995" (Watch on YouTube)

PRODUCTION NOTE: Sam shows up around the 2:10 mark, in case you want to skip the opening scene.

But you don’t really want to skip the part where they make ROCK DANCER an acronym, do you?

I am late because of traffic jam,

This is dF

BAD COVER VERSION 058: WILL I SEE YOU TONIGHT ON A DOWNTOWN TRAIN

I’ve always found it ironic that Tom Waits gets a lot of accolades as a songwriter, yet has never had a mainstream hit single. His albums generally do well, and his singles do pretty good on specialty-format charts like “Adult Alternative”. But he’s never cracked the Billboard 200.

Which just goes to show that “great songs” and “hit songs” aren’t always the same thing.

Then again, sometimes it’s more about the presentation than the song itself. As a performer, Waits has never been a commercial proposition, and he gets more respect from the hipster alt.crowd than from the mainstream. Which is why yr more likely to hear a Waits song on mainstream radio if someone else performs it.

Especially if that someone is Rod Stewart doing “Downtown Train”.

Actually, Waits does get covered a lot, but usually by artists who also have smaller “alternative” followings, rather than big-name stars. Sure, Springsteen has covered “Jersey Girl” onstage, and the Eagles did “Ol’ 55”, but none of them have been as successful as Stewart’s take on “Downtown Train”.

And the thing is, I never really liked Stewart’s version. The brilliance of the song shines through, but it’s too obviously Adult Contemporary for my taste. Moreover, he wasn’t even the first singer to release a cover version as a single. 

That would be Patty Smyth.

"Patty Smyth-Downtown Train.mp4" (Watch on YouTube)

It didn’t do better than Stewart’s chartwise, but I like her version a lot more. It’s obviously a more amped up arrangement, but I think it does preserve some of the romance of the original, even if it relies on 80s synths to do it. And of course Smyth was a really good singer in her own right.

Still, there’s nothing quite like the original.

"Tom Waits - Downtown Train + Lyrics" (Watch on YouTube)

PRODUCTION NOTE: I should mention that Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded her own version of “Downtown Train” the same year Smyth did. But that wasn’t released as a single.

Also, while we’re at it, Bob Seger recorded a version the same year as Stewart, but decided not to release it at the time because Stewart’s version did so well. 

Shining like a new dime,

This is dF

ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY MY ONLY POST ABOUT BRADLEY MANNING

After three years in the brig and at least a year of torture enhanced incarceration, Bradley Manning has been found guilty of five counts of violating the Espionage Act and five counts of theft – but NOT guilty of aiding the enemy.

Opinions about this are inevitably going to vary, and you pretty much know what people are going to say about it – i.e. exactly the same things they’ve been saying since Manning was identified as the person who leaked things to Wikileaks. Everyone made up their mind about this case and what it means on a macro level years ago, and I don't expect that to change with this verdict.

As for my own view, I’ll start by highlighting this comment from Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.

“Manning is one of very few people ever charged under the Espionage Act prosecutions for leaks to the media. The only other person who was convicted after trial was pardoned. Despite the lack of any evidence that he intended any harm to the United States, Manning faces decades in prison. That’s a very scary precedent.”

I do think the Manning case sends a message to would-be whistleblowers hoping to unmask cover-ups of govt shenanigans – make sure you hole up in a Moscow airport transit terminal before they find out who you are.

Okay, I’m being flip. But not entirely. Presidente Obama has made it clear throughout this case and also the Fast Eddie Snowden saga that when he said back in 2008 that he thought govt whistleblowers were patriotic heroes who should have more protection under the law, he meant “so long as you don’t go blowing any whistles at me”.

Not that Obama ever actually promised anything like that. You won’t find anything like that on any of his official web sites. Not anymore. And in the 21st century, deleting stuff is the same thing as having never said it.

And so here we are, in a world where the US Govt does no wrong, and anyone who can demonstrate otherwise with classified documents is an enemy of the state. 

As for Manning, I understand his motivations, and I think the whole “traitor” label was overblown and overused by people silly enough to believe that the War On Terrorz is an actual war. Also, it’s fairly obvious that his real crime in the eyes of the govt isn’t so much what he leaked as who he leaked it to, though the prosecution has long since made it clear that if Manning had gotten the New York Times to take him seriously, they’d still have charged him with treason.

Even if we accept the idea that Manning technically broke the law and therefore has to go to jail no matter his intentions, it’s also worth mentioning that of all the misdeeds and possible war crimes Manning exposed, none of them have been investigated or prosecuted. 

So there’s another message from Team Obama to you: if the US govt ever does anything illegal, we promise to prosecute the hell out of the person who tells you, and make an example of them until you forget what it was they were trying to tell you in the first place.

And then there’s that torture enhanced incarceration I mentioned in the first paragraph. But never mind that. The US does not torture, ever, and Manning actually got a 112-day prison credit out of it, so it’s not like he has anything to complain about.

BONUS TRACK: Bruce Schneier has a very good argument for whistleblowing. It is here. 

Blame the messenger,

This is dF