THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE GETS EVEN MORE BIZARRE
Wonder why Amy Barrett escaped this ambush? No Neanderthal gene? (scroll down to my previous posting) Not sure, but the primary reason is that she already suffered from this coronavirus a few months ago. Oh, an aside, she is (was?) a church leader for a secret church society known as People of Praise, which is severely anti-abortion and where only men are ordained to head family and church. The Democrats will have some fun if enough Republicans can stay healthy for the confirmation process.
- There is "only" a 55% chance that someone will have COVID-19 in a group of 100.
- However, the odds jump to 98% for a crowd of 500.
Who knows now if there will be another presidential debate, as Donald Trump purportedly pulled out of the second session because the affair will be performed virtually, meaning that the moderator could pull the plug on him at any time. Or is it getting more and more embarrassing for him? He saw what happened to Mike Pence against Kamala Harris. Every time Pence opened his mouth, he was lying or exaggerating on some White House policy. The consensus was that Harris won, but the Biden-Trump numbers did not change much.
Then just when you thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, 13 members of the pro-Trump Wolverine Watchmen cell were arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in an attack of the state capitol building. This is the group that sent out those robo calls to African-Americans last week and brandished rifles in protests this summer. The plan was to accomplish all the above before November 3 to somehow help Donald Trump. What were they thinking?
In every way, this was a call to follow-up on Trumps tweet to LIBERATE MICHIGAN. In preparation, Attorney General just yesterday overstepped long-standing Justice Department policy by urging state federal prosecutors to interfere with elections. This is my exaggeration, but appropriately so. Trump is actually taking steps to become president for life with the help of the Department of Justice and pro-Trump terrorist organizations. Hope those retired generals have enough eminence to maintain some control over the Department of Defense, whose leader is the Commander in Chief.
Clearly related to Trump's attitude regarding the pandemic, Midwest battleground states and several red states in the South are seeing a surge of infections. Then again, somebody up there must be concerned. What states? Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa. You can add Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Indiana, as these states are known to take a cavalier attitude about COVID-19. These and Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma are showing new hospitalizations much higher than their previous peaks in the past.
I'm further retrogressing in time to #82:
- Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu: Domenico Modugno
- Suzie Darling: Robin Luke
Let me start with Robin Luke, who graduated from Punahou a year after me from McKinley. When I first heard SD and learned that the singer was from Hawaii, I instantly liked it. Still do. Here is his story:
- He recorded the song in his bedroom using a primitive Ampex portable tape recorder, and placed one track over the other seven times. This is why it sounds so strange.
- The original title was All Night Long, but was changed to Suzie Darling for his 5-year old sister. Nothing to do with anything gruesome, for in 2020 she is alive and well in Missouri.
He tried a singing career but gave that up to get a PhD in marketing from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and retired from Missouri State University in 2011, where he was department head for 34 years.- That was his only hit, but he did appear on the Dick Clark Show singing Bad Boy.
- This was 10 years ago, but see him being interviewed.
- Watch him sing this song 8 years ago.
Interestingly enough that the pool reception of the Los Angeles DJ which produced #88, Patricia, also was responsible for #82, Nel Blu Dipinto De Blu (Ed Sullivan Show) by Domenico Modugno, more popularly known by Dean Martin as Volare. Must have been one heck of a party to produce two songs in my favorite 100. Exactly how I don't remember.
Modugno's life is also of interest. He is considered to be Italy's first canatautori (singer-songwriter). He lived a full life:
- In 1958 NBDDB, which he co-wrote with Franco Migliacci, won him first place in the Sanremo Music Festival. He went on to represent Italy in Eurovision Song Contest that year, and came in third. He returned in 1959 with Ciao Ciao Bambina, and came in 6th.
- With his NBDDB money, he bought a Ferrari, and totaled it, gaining an Allan Sherman song for that accident.
Migliacci said that in 1957 he was inspired by Marc Chagall's Le cog rouge of a man suspended in midair of blue. After getting drunk on wine, he fell asleep, and when he awoke began penning a song about a man who dreams of painting himself blue and being able to fly. This he discussed with Modugno, who wrote the music. Volare means to fly.
- He acted in 44 movies.
- In 1984 he suffered a stroke, so turned to fighting for social rights.
- He was elected Congressman in 1987.
- Passed away in 1994 from a heart attack.
This is a roundabout way to say that my #82 song is Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu. As I said, what a life.
Hurricane Delta raked the Yucatan Peninsula, weakened, then again strengthened into a Category 3. It is possible for further upgrade into a Category 4, but this graphic, upon which Category 4 Hurricane Lane is placed, shows a weakening to Category 2 before making landfall at essentially the same spot as Lane:
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