Sunday will never be the same 

I thought of this song this morning, then went to YouTube looking for it, and sure enough, found evidence of somebody else who tapped into the same stream of collective unconscious.

Spanky and Our Gang on Wikipedia; on MySpace.

"Give a Damn" is another of my Spanky favorites, the one the Smothers Brothers got in trouble for. Nixon is said to have been one of the complainants. Was it Nixon who didn't want the Beach Boys to play on the mall on the Fourth of July? I think so. Or maybe it was Pat Nixon.

Funny how that music seems so all-American now, but it wasn't until later in the 70s that we stopped being surprised to hear rock and roll almost anywhere. I remember sometime in the mid-70s thinking "how cool" when a ride at a carnival played "Brown Sugar." Couple years later you wouldn't even take note of it. Couple decades later the revolution musically illustrates stock trading and luxury cars in commercials.

I used to listen to the greatest hits album almost every Sunday. It had another Sunday song on it, "Sunday Mornin'" and one named "Lazy Day." Seemed right.

I don't remember the name of the song about ridin' on the garbage truck with my friend Lou. (The way he got through the trial of the nature of the job was to stay high.) Russert's dad was a sanitation truck driver. Not implying anything, just had to mention it because everything links up in one direct way or another tortured way.

So, I haven't always made kind commentary about Russert's method on Meet the Press, but his passing sure did effect me. Of course I watched MtP without fail, and NBC has been my network of choice for election coverage since Huntley and Brinkley.

A few weeks back, I realized how important he had become to the U.S. election process. After his pronouncement on North Carolina-Indiana primary night that "We have our nominee" the Clinton campaign staff's Blackberrys reportedly went off in an insistent chorus. He mattered, and gave a damn, and blended with the NBC election team like Spanky's harmonies. Not a bad way to be remembered.

Thanks, Tim.

P.S. 

Steve Gillmor had a nice post on Russert and the promise of swarming yesterday. Nice to see the commenters getting used to him. Or tired of hearing themselves shriek. Or resigned to the idea that banishment by derision wasn't going to happen. Or whatever. (GOP swiftboating isn't going to have an effect on the election either. Clouds of gnats, a variant of the swarm.)

I gleaned from Twitter that Friday's NewsGang was a tearjerker. I almost hope it doesn't get posted because I know if it does I won't be able to choose not to listen.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy 

Love you. I thought about posting that story about you collecting money for the McGovern ad, but then wondered if you wouldn't want the story of why you couldn't go public made public, yet. May I sometime?