Rewind!

How ya like us now?

Donald Byrd - "Think Twice" (Mizell Brothers 2005 Remix) (mp3)
(purchase here)

"Maybe we ought to think twice..."

In thinking about today's post, I originally considered Alternet's comprehensive round-up of fibs surrounding Fitzgerald and his investigation. But, really, even grade schoolers know the deal on a rat. I rescind my previous statement and patiently await a decision(s).

But Miers' withdrawal literally plopped in my lap... And yet there is still no crust to rub from my eyes.

I'm not counting on Bush to break out the Grade A material now. Nor do I expect an entirely favorable outcome for the Democrats. Instead, I am looking to 2008: what do the Dems have to do to take it Back? Really, pointing out a poor candidate's poor credentials is small beans; what is needed is a reevaluation of what the party is in it for.

Barack Obama has been making some ill speeches, on point and inspiring; was this what it was like to hear JFK talk about asking what you could do? Here's a piece from a June '05 speech at Knox:

"So let’s dream. Instead of doing nothing or simply defending 20th century solutions, let’s imagine together what we could do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st century.

"What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy?  If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said 'Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we’re going to seriously retrain you and there’s life-long education that’s waiting for you'—the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program.

"What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future?

"It won’t be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment.

"And we need each of you."

If I have learned anything about living here it is that you can count on a motherfucker to keep up with the joneses. So, it's not really a matter of who's gonna take the weight; it's really when.

I suppose then it's about time I am finally leaning back on a Byrd classic. The Mizell Brothers brought a sophistication and class to the funk. Certainly helped that they worked with some progressive jazzers like Byrd, Bartz and Bobbi. But listening to their craft -- the attention to detail, like little Ghanaian bell drops and string swells -- and their well-stitched touch becomes amorous. Certainly, I can hear Mizell pumping through Crate'n Barrel speakers, but in the midnight hour over the Manhattan Bridge is when and where I found myself doing the side-to-side. The Mizell Unit was another one of those slow-burners for me -- I just dug up my ma's old Mizell-MJ 7", appropriately labelled, "Mom's" -- but I suppose the grown'n sexy has grown on me. Not to imply that I am all "grown" and feeling "sexy." I simply relate to that sound these days. On a sidenote, I was a little distressed to hear Jay use that phrase on ANTM last night. Further, dude actually seems to be pretty hands-on with the mo-dels; could it be out of compassion, or just plain Season 5 ego? That deserves a think twice...