LIFE ON CAMPUS: Majoring In Fun. Not so bad maybe if you’re not doing it on borrowed money, but . . . .

THE BANGLES: In Your Room.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Anders Trentemøller – Minimal Fox.

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Also, up to 80% off on Gift Watches.

JOHN MAYALL AND THE BLUESBREAKERS, a whole set from 1987. I saw him the year before at 12th & Porter in Nashville with my friend Bob Simms, who was — among many other things — a Nashville music god. The crowd was sparse, and Mayall came and sat at our table for a bit between sets and talked, mostly to Bob, but he seemed like a very down-to-earth guy. I’ve seen him numerous other times, most recently at the Bijou in Knoxville. Amusingly, his warmup act arrived with a tour bus and big equipment truck, while Mayall himself came in a Toyota Landcruiser pulling a U-Haul.

CRYSTAL METHOD: Roll It Up. The very cool introductory “Hammond Organ” lick by Byron Wong, which sounds like it’s coming from a B3 organ with a bad cord, is actually a Native Instruments B4 software synthesizer, but it sounds great. I have one of those, and I remember I spent a lot of time screwing with attack envelopes to figure out how he got that sound.

JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS: Crimson & Clover. When I was in law school, I went to see her with my friend Ralph at Toad’s Place in New Haven. We were standing right in front of the stage and Ralph held up a sign that said: “JOAN: $100 FOR YOUR PANTIES AFTER THE SHOW,” and she, without missing a beat, mouthed “I’m not wearing any.” It was a great show. She also did a show — opened for by the underrated Bus Boys — at UT when I was in college and there’s a story about that, too, but it’s not suitable for a family blog.

VIDEO: Roger Simon & Sheryl Longin talk with Bill Whittle about their new Walter Duranty play, The Party Line. (Bumped).

ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Hoffa Predicts ‘Civil War’ in Michigan.

Related: IowaHawk: “I’ve now become oddly accustomed to fat violent paramilitary thugs attempting to take state capitols by force.”

UPDATE: John Steakley emails: “Civil war? So violence, decay, despair, filth and chaos in the streets while innocent people flee as fast as they can? In other words, Hoffa threatens that Detroit will look like . . . Detroit.”

Ouch.

WHEN GLOBAL WARMING IS THE GOAL: TERRAFORMING MARS.

If this subject interests you, I recommend this article by my former student Robert Pinson from the Environmental Law Reporter.

ALBERT COLLINS, Iceman. This video is from 1992. I saw him a couple of years before that in the late, lamented Ella Guru’s in Knoxville — a small intimate club kind of like a more upscale version of Nashville’s 12th & Porter, then owned by Ashley Capps, now better known as the Bonnaroo promoter. It was a great show, and he walked around the whole place with his trademark 150′ guitar cord — no wireless that night for the Master Of The Telecaster!

THUGGERY: “Most chilling Michigan video — ‘There are people under there, oh my God.’”

BRIAN TRANSEAU & KIRSTY HAWKSHAW: A Million Stars. With Hubble deep-field video.

GIVE CHICKPEAS A CHANCE: The Hummus Blog. I used to make my own hummus, but haven’t done that in years.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “Union thugs… in broad daylight, on camera. Are they stupid… or do they know something about the willingness of the authorities to enforce the law?”

Tony Katz: “Congratulations, unions. You just reinvigorated the grassroots. Oops?”

WELL, THESE ARE THEIR THUGS: White House Refuses To Condemn Union Violence In Michigan.

GOOD QUESTION: What Is The AALS Good For?

CIVILIZATION 1, VIOLENT UNION THUGS 0: Mich. governor signs anti-union bills after protests.

UPDATE: Reader Jonathan Bailey writes:

In the USA Today piece you just linked they mention the destruction of the AFP tent but go on to say that nobody was injured. Did they not hear about Stephen Crowder being assaulted? Did they not hear there were people inside the tent or have they just chosen to ignore it and misstate the fact that he was assaulted and injured. Somebody needs to set them straight. This is typical MSM lies by omission at best.

Somehow, the mistakes all seem to run in the same direction.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Paul Lewis emails:

Pure Michigan is advertising like the dickens here in SW Ohio for us to come visit them. They are on Facebook under
Pure Michigan. I just wrote them “After the union beating today of Steven Crowder, there isn’t a chance in Michigan that we will visit you guys until that Union Thug is arrested.”

Maybe a Boycott is another avenue of fed up Conservatives. The left tried it with Chick-Fil-A and Papa John’s. Paybacks are, well, Michigan.

Well, to be fair, they passed the law despite the violence. But nothing wrong with leaving a note on Facebook.

IN RESPONSE TO MY TEN YEARS AFTER VIDEOS, reader Donald MacQueen writes: “In my salad days, I worked a few years as an usher at the Fillmore East in New York’s East Village. I saw a lot of guitarists, but the fastest by far was Alvin Lee. The only guy I’ve seen since who compares is the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.”

Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of great guitarists, but I remember the first time I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was in Nashville, and he — still pretty unknown — was opening for BB King. It was like a force of nature on the stage, which is a cliche but that’s the only way I could describe it. He was opening for B.B. King, who was still very much on his game, but the Beeb waited a solid hour to come out, and when he did it still felt like the echoes from Stevie Ray’s set were reverberating around the hall.

Here’s my favorite Stevie Ray song. The thing is, there are a lot of fast guitarists. But it’s not just a matter of playing fast. It’s a question of playing the right notes fast.

FORWARD! October US Exports Plunge By Most Since January 2009 As Trade Deficit With China Hits Record.

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ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL: Miles And Miles Of Texas.

Also: Choo Choo Ch’Boogie.

And: Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens.

WISH I COULD DANCE like Jan Vermeer.

ROSS DOUTHAT’S COLUMN ON LOWER BIRTH RATES reminded me of this column from a while back on how society has increased the burdens and reduced the rewards for parenthood.

LISA LASHES: Has It Come To This? I was never a huge fan of Hard House (even Lisa says that when she first heard it it sounded like someone had put cinder blocks in a clothes-dryer), but L² kinda makes me want to be. Just don’t confuse her with Lisa Pin-Up.