Sleater-Kinney, The Ramones, Frank Sinatra... And Ted Cruz, The Trumpf Slayer

This year-- after an 8 year hiatus, Sleater-Kinney got back together, released a new album, No Cities to Love, and have been touring non-stop (this week New York-- Kings Theater in Brooklyn tonight-- and then off to New Zealand and Australia in February). Thursday night at the House of Blues in Cleveland, they performed a cover of the 1987 Ramones classic "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)."

The original Ramones video is pretty rare too-- and, if I remember correctly, the first one that C.J. was in instead of Dee Dee. The video gives you some insight into the kind people who vote for corrupt, garbage, self-serving congressmembers like Steve Israel, Peter King and Kathleen Rice, all of whom have represented Mineola, mentioned, disparagingly, in the video:



Also in music news-- Frank Sinatra, founder of Reprise Records, where I used to work, would have been 100 today. (He died in 1988.) The city of Hoboken, where he was born and grew up-- at 415 Monroe Street-- is celebrating tonight. In 1935, at the age of 20, he was a member of the Hoboken Four (pre-Sinatra, the 3 Flashes). Sinatra's mom, Dolly, was a Democratic Party ward leader in Hoboken and in 1944 he met FDR and campaigned for FDR and Democrats that year, especially for liberals like Henry Wallace. He was vehemently anti-racist and, later, was even accused of being a Commie. Subsequently, he campaigned for Truman, Stevenson and JFK. By 1970, though, he was the poster boy for the whole concept of the Reagan Democrats, endorsed both Nixon and Reagan and contributed $4 million to Reagan's election campaign.

UPDATE: Cruz! Cruz! Cruz! The Trumpf Slayer

Maybe Trumpf's remarks about Iowa voters being brain damaged from too much exposure to toxic chemicals has finally caught up with him, but the newly released Des Moines Register poll, shows him losing to an even more dangerous and venal fascist, Ted Cruz, who isn't even constitutionally qualified to serve as president, having been born in Canada:

• Cruz- 31%
• Herr Trumpf- 21%
• Dr. Ben- 13%
• Rubio- 10%
• Poor Jeb- 6%
• Christie- 3%
• Huckabee- 3%
• Rand Paul- 3%
• Kasich- 2%
• Fiorina- 1%
• Santorum- 1%
• Lindsey Graham- 0%

What would happen if Lindsey Graham came out of the closet? His polling couldn't get any lower than it's been for the entire campaign. He should totally try it.