Dr. Laura's point is being proven again

A video from the University of New Hampshire's Alpha Phi sorority is proving Dr. Laura Schlessinger correct regarding the cultural use of the N-bomb.

 In a moment that turned out to be the 72-year old Dr. Schlessinger's Waterloo on broadcast radio, she referenced the double standard with questionable language in an infamous 2010 incident.

Schlessinger:  Not everything that somebody says -- we had friends over the other day, we got about 35 people here -- the guys were going to start playing basketball. I was going to go out and play basketball. And my bodyguard and my dear friend, he's a black man. And I said, "White men can't jump, I want you on my team." That was racists? That was funny.  ("White Men Can't Jump" is a reference to a Woody Harrelson movie.)

Caller: How about the N-word? So, the N-word's been thrown around --

Schlessinger: Black guys use it all the time, turn on HBO, listen to a black comic and all you hear is November, November, November.  I don't get it. If anybody -- if anybody without enough melanin says it is a horrible thing, but when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing.

The video in question that reminds us of the Schlessinger incident was the sorority singing along with Kanye West's "Gold Digger" as it is playing on a jukebox.  The lyric in question they were singing was the chorus of the song, which goes, "Now I ain't saying she a gold digger, But she ain't messing wit no broke November, Get down girl go head get down".  That lyric is repeated often in the song, and the song also contains a few 25-point penalties for inappropriate language.

So the question is asked again -- why is the sorority being punished for singing along and playing a nasty song from Kanye West, but if certain groups play it, there is no problem.  Note too how many school choirs now sing the obscene ditty from one Cee-Lo Green known as "Foxtrot You" in their performances.

Is there a double standard in society?  This likewise is the same with certain groups.  How is it sexual perversion lobbyists have a right to write the laws, but everyone else is not allowed to play in the same sandbox?  As Antonin Scalia warned, how is it conservative Evangelical Christians are not permitted a seat at the legislative table when sexual perverts are?  The same goes with this incident at the University of New Hampshire.  How is it using the N bomb is acceptable for some groups, but not others?

Notable Quotables, 2010

The Year in Review time is here, and here we go with some outrageous, and fun quotes from 2010.

“Has feminising of today’s classical music allowed the tackiness of women in concert halls where it’s appropriate to be Henry Ford, and wear anything, provided it’s black, even if it’s a black sweatshirt, black jeans, and sneakers, something that I find inappropriate when the dinner jacket is worn?”

-- On “Beethoven and Blue Jeans”. Later in the year a friend and I attended the Methodist university's concert choir performance of Händel's Messiah and the dress of the choral singers had started becoming sloppy with questionable dresses. What is with the sloppiness of dress in the orchestra?

“Whatever happened to the idea of walking golf? The pros do it, but the country-clubbers who want the revenue ban the simplest of golf fundamentals.”

-- On playing my first full round of golf.

“Eardrum-busting prerecorded music is not church music – ever.”

-- Excessively loud church “music”.

“Hey, it was the 13th marathon on the 13th of February. Something was bound to go wrong.”

-- Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon XIII was canned because of snow on February 12 just eight hours from the gun. The second attempt is in seven weeks, and unfortunately, they will have a course different from the one originally drawn. A user sent me this statement. The 13th renewal of the marathon is February 19.

“It would have been better if McMurray fending off Junior on Lap 208 was at 9:34 PM instead of 7:34 PM where Family Guy would never have aired."

-- On “Family Guy” insulting Sarah Palin, which should have never aired. It also began the Ganassi Triple Crown of the Daytona 500 and both major Indianapolis races (500 and 400). The Harley Earl, Borg-Warner, and PPG Trophies.

Word association

It’s funny how the mind’s synapses work. A co-worker of mine was discussing how she was considering changing the name of her pet pygmy frog, Bob, to Jesús since she had gotten him as a Christmas gift last year.

Hearing that, I thought to myself that the name Noel might be an even better choice. That reminded me of the singer/actor Noel Harrison*, and all of a sudden I couldn’t get The Windmills of Your Mind out of my mind.

* Why didn’t I think of Noel Coward? Good question. Perhaps my mind also subconsciously realized I needed a good idea for a blog post.

At any rate, you might not remember Noel Harrison. He’s the son of the actor Rex Harrison, and was a co-star (with the luscious Stefanie Powers) of the short-lived Girl from U.N.C.L.E. series of the late 60s. He also sang, and his rendition of the Michel LeGrand/Marilyn and Alan Bergman song The Windmills of Your Mind won an Oscar in 1968 for Best Song, from the Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway crime caper flick The Thomas Crown Affair.*

* Oddly enough, it was not Harrision but Jose Feliciano who sang the song at the Oscar show. Why? Again, I don’t know – I suppose some internet research might reveal the truth. I suspect I’ll discover the answer around the same time I figure out why I’m not writing about Noel Coward.

Now, if The Thomas Crown Affair sticks in your mind at all, it might be because of the remake a few years ago, which featured Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the McQueen/Dunaway roles. That movie featured The Windmills of Your Mind as well, in an absolutely hideous, wretched version by Sting, so bad that I’m not even going to link to it.* But then, there have been a lot of covers of The Windmills of Your Mind. As I’ve suggested, I didn’t care for Sting’s. I wasn’t thrilled with Feliciano’s either, although it was better. Dusty Springfield had a hit with hers. Matt Monro (who sang the title track to the Bond flick From Russia With Love) had a version, which I thought was a little cold.  It was fine technically, but there wasn't much feeling to it.

* Of whom Joe Queenan once wrote, “Sting, where is thy death?” It is true that Sting has had a few good songs over the years, mostly from when he was with The Police. The Windmills of Your Mind is not one of them.



No, for me the Harrison version has always been pretty much the definitive article, so to speak. It’s tight, not drawn out, and epitomizes the hypnotic nature of the lyrics, in a way most of the covers fail to do. But I have to admit that I was taken by Allison Moyet’s rendition, which I more or less stumbled upon.

Aside from the fact that the running time was nearly twice that of Harrison’s original, all you had to do was hear the word “Round” to tell that this was going to be quite different. As a matter of fact, I almost clicked it off right then and there – I had heard Sting’s version, after all. But I think by the time she came to “spiral,” my hand paused, and by the end of the first line I was hooked. Yes, it’s different, but unlike so many covers of classic songs, it’s also terrific. She does a particularly nifty job in interpolating a lyric that, in the original, has a distinct male-to-female reference. (Yes, I know someone else probably wrote that for her, but it’s still good.)



Anyway, don’t just listen to me – listen to the song. I still have Harrison’s at the top, but Moyet’s a close second. ◙

To the Moon!

By Judith Hadley

In honor of the anniversary of the moon landing, here's The Chairman of the Board singing one of my favorite songs, the way only he can sing it.

And Now For Something Completely Different

By Drew

For absolutely no good reason whatsoever, here's the Cowboy Junkies' ultra-cool cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane."