BIG JIM SULLIVAN DIED: In British pop music in the 1960s, there were two top session guitarists — “Big” Jim Sullivan, and “Little” Jimmy Page. The latter man you might have heard of, but the former had quite a career as well, though much more behind the scenes:

While most hired hands were known only to producers and forensic fans who pored over album credits, his face was familiar and his name dropped by the rising stars of London’s nascent rock scene. “Big Jim was a big influence,” noted Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore, who had been taught guitar by Sullivan. “He’d only been playing about two years, but he was just about the best guitarist in England.”

His talents were in demand by Lulu, Tom Jones and The Small Faces, and led to a huge catalogue of hits . Averaging three sessions a day at his most prolific, he brought his light touch and adaptable technique to cuts as disparate as Frankie Vaughan’s Tower Of Strength (1960), Marty Wilde’s Rubber Ball (1961), The Small Faces’ Itchycoo Park (1967) and, not least, Shout (1964), the breakout hit of a 14-year-old Lulu (“This little girl was screaming and shouting with incredible dexterity,” he recalls of that recording. “She made my hair curl!”)

Only a pre-Zeppelin Jimmy Page had such a lofty reputation on the session circuit (and, indeed, sometimes the songs were credited to the wrong Jim).

Just as significant was the nudge that Sullivan gave to the sound — and so the direction — of rock ‘n’ roll. He used a volume pedal on Dave Berry’s 1964 hit The Crying Game, popularised the vocal-apeing talkbox guitar effect, and was among the first exponents of the wah-wah pedal.

Critically, he was the first to use the battery-powered distortion device known as a fuzzbox on a British record (PJ Proby’s 1964 hit Hold Me), showcasing the frayed sneer that would soon usurp the crystalline jangle of early pop. “The older session men used to call me the Electric Monster,” Sullivan once noted.

Both Page and Sullivan were reported to have played on the sessions for Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” for the 1964 James Bond film of the same name, among other sessions they shared. A few years later, Sullivan would lend Page his Gibson acoustic for the first Led Zeppelin album.

INSTAVISION: I talk with Mickey Kaus about welfare reform, the state of the election, and more.

TAXPROF: Tax Whoppers From Last Night’s Debates. Actually, as you’ll see, the “whoppers” are all from Obama. Romney just gets a “didn’t explain.”

PAUL RAHE: Barack Obama’s Chickens, Coming Home To Roost. “If Barack Obama seemed halting, uncomfortable, exhausted, and depressed last night, it was because he was saddled with defending the indefensible. What could he say? He had promised shortly after becoming President that his program would bring unemployment way down. He and his allies in Congress had sold Obamacare in part as a jobs bill. And the facts were there to be seen — exceedingly high unemployment and underemployment coupled with persuasive evidence that the growth needed to boost the economy was not in the offing. Instead of coming out of a recession, we were on the cusp of a new recession, and nearly everyone sensed it. For the first time in his life, Barack Obama was cornered. For the first time in his life, he was to be held accountable for his achievements.”

Also: Timothy Dalrymple: Five Surprising Responses To The First Presidential Debate.

UPDATE: Romney Crushes Obama Among California Voters in Snap Polls.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Heh. This is what happens when you pick John Kerry as your debate coach.

“THREE UW PROFESSORS IRKED AT SOME DETAILS OF OBAMA’S RALLY,” and, yeah, I’m one of them. The article is in The Wisconsin State Journal, a traditional newspaper:

Downs was joined by law professor Ann Althouse and political science professor Ken Mayer in raising concerns. Mayer sent a letter outlining four concerns to university administrators on Wednesday. Althouse later shared it with [Instapundit], a conservative-leaning blog run by a Texas law professor.

Texas, Tennessee… what’s the difference? Not much, out here in Wyoming… I mean Wisconsin, where we’re lining up in droves to give our President a big hug after his debate debacle.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): A reader emails:

I read this. Then I thought…well, isn’t this about audience suppression? I mean requiring registration and ID and such?

Rrrraaaccciiisssts!

By the way, I am curious about the rainbow of color at this rally in Madison.

Just sayin’.

Heh. And I love the Tennessee/Texas confusion. In the words of Tex Ritter: “They say that Virginia is the mother of Texas. We never knew who the father was, but we kinda suspected Tennessee.”

TUNKU VARADARAJAN: What the heck happened to Obama? “He wasn’t exactly sweaty-Nixonesque, but the Obama on display in Denver was more flaccid, dull-brained, and shifty than we’ve ever seen him in the White House. One thing is clear: Romney’s a debater—and he’s likable.” I thought Obama looked pretty much the same as always.

And reader John Lucas writes: “Obama’s inability to stand up to Romney, to look him in the eye, to speak effectively without a Teleprompter and his apparent lack of preparation all give us a good insight into why he is reluctant to meet with foreign leaders. They are going to be a lot more aggressive and forceful with him than Romney was last night, and he can’t handle it.”

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF “BAD LUCK:” Central Banks Run Printing Presses—Inflation Rises. “There’s no free lunch in economics, not even for central bankers and their powerful printing presses. As central banks across the world come up with ever-more exotic plans to stimulate us out of our economic malaise, the threat of inflation is always looming in the background. Some recent data points quietly point in that direction.”

Inflation is good for debtors. The United States and Europe are the world’s largest debtors. What do you expect?

MEET THE STREETS: Barack Obama as the houseguest who won’t leave.

JENNIFER RUBIN: Media Sycophants Didn’t Help Obama. “They have never given President Obama the sort of scrutiny he got last night. They have mouthed the president’s false talking points (‘a $5 trillion tax cut for the rich’), egging the president on. When Mitt Romney debunked these easily, Obama had nowhere to go. He looked lost without the protective blanket of compliant media and over-eager left-wing bloggers.”

Well, those media are already preparing their “comeback kid” storyline for next time. But he’ll have to do better than last night for them to roll that one out.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS: Not as helpful as thought? Maybe. Maybe not: “The JAMA authors imposed an unusually strict standard for statistical significance. Using the typical standard, the analysis would have concluded that omega-3 supplements are associated with a 9% reduction in cardiac deaths.”

IT’S FLEET WEEK IN SAN FRANCISCO, and Bookworm proffers The girl’s guide to visiting the USS Makin Island.

AT AMAZON, the Kitchen & Dining outlet sale.

OCTOBER 3, 2012 — THE NIGHT LIBERALISM DIED: Roger L Simon writes that “Liberalism will come back, of course, under one of a million names. But for now Mitt Romney has administered it a serious body blow.”

BYE BYE TO REDISTRIBUTED PIE: the night liberalism died.

THE DOG THAT DIDN’T BARK:

On NBC News’ live Wednesday night debate coverage a clearly upset David Gregory was shocked that Barack Obama didn’t hit Mitt Romney with the liberal media’s favorite talking point, as he whined: “He didn’t bring up the 47 percent!” Obama not mentioning the hidden camera video of Romney talking about the 47 percent also stunned NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams who asked Savannah Guthrie: “Were you surprised we didn’t hear the number 47?”

As Iowahawk tweeted last night, “It doesn’t occur to bubble-dwellers that Obama avoided Romney’s ‘47%’ comment because it was a winner with normal human beings.”

Maybe Gregory and Brian “No one understands this NASCAR nation more” Williams needs to read sister network CNBC’s Website more often.

CELEBRITY TWITS: no, I didn’t misspell that.  I’ve never understood how such intellectually dim people can hate the system they live in so much, after reaping such disproportionate benefit from it.

THE WAGES OF “SMART DIPLOMACY:” Ex-Carter aide: U.S. power in Middle East ‘rapidly, rapidly coming to an end.’

Zbig screwed it up royally last time, so he should recognize the signs.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Social Security in the Red, Second Year Running. “We’re in fine shape, because our government’s obligations are 100 percent backed by… government obligations. Glad that’s all been cleared up.”

YOU DON’T NEED A WEATHERMAN TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Florida: DCCC Cancels Buy Against Allen West. “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has cut its advertising in Florida’s 18th district, the home of a fiercely competitive race between Rep. Allen West (R) and Democrat Patrick Murphy. The independent expenditure arm of the DCCC had originally reserved about $96,000 in the West Palm Beach media market from Oct. 16-22. That reservation has now been canceled, a Democratic source familiar with the buys told Roll Call today.”

UPDATE ON THE INSTACHICKEN RECIPE: ‘Tried your roast chicken. It was a hit with everyone. One suggestion: lay a couple of strips of bacon over the chicken before putting it in the oven (skip the butter if you do this). Bacon improves everything dontchaknow.”

GOVERNMENT: Drug Squad Confiscates 1624 Daisies in Suburban Garden Raid.

HOW OBAMA AND BIDEN BURIED THE MIDDLE CLASS: Ed Morrissey in the Fiscal Times:

Biden’s right about the middle class being buried.  But it’s his own administration and party that did the burying, which has been the only shovel-ready job the Obama White House managed to produce.

Ouch. Read the whole thing.™

RELATED: Baby bust continues: US births down for 4th year.

Well, that news should make Obama’s Science Czar — or at least an earlier iteration of him — pretty darn happy.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: “Retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has signed a contract with the William Morris Endeavors talent agency. . . . The firm’s co-CEO is Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, brother of Chicago Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.”

WHY THE DEMOCRATS Have Given Up On Missouri.

UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes:

Weigel really pushes the racial meme doesn’t he? Well, you’ll find what you set out to look for. But…if that is the view Democrats have of what motivates Missouri voters they will be out of power in this state for a very long time. Weigel might have bothered to look at the party dynamics over the last twenty years. I’ve been here for twenty five and the decline of the Democratic party has progressed over that period to the point that it is competitive at the state level in about 3 counties: St. Louis, Jackson (Kansas City), and Boone (Columbia, home to Mizzou), and they are only barely competitive in Boone. Take a good look at the county by county results from the 2010 midterms. The only counties held by Democrats were St. Louis and Jackson. This isn’t about race. It’s about a party that has moved well to the left of the average Missouri voter.

The real question isn’t why people are leaving the Democratic party. It’s why anyone would stay, at this point.