Happy Birthday Gayatri Devi De

It's not every day that a girl turns 13! Love you Gaya.

Jenny and Johnny--Big Wave

Jenny and Johnny recently played an excellent set on NPR's Mountain Stage.

Speaking of JnJ, here's a performance of "Big Wave" from L.A.'s Culture Collide Festival back in October.

Kimya Dawson--France

Kimya has a new record that she's finishing up right now. Read all about it.

I'm So Tired

My new program--which I don't want--has me falling asleep at 8 and waking up a little after midnight. Damn!

Louis Armstrong - Wonderful World

After my dark post yesterday, let's go the other way for balance. If you have to take the good with the bad, it works the other way, too.

Songs To Aging Children

Unfortunately I do not know the artist covering this great song. It's originally by Joni Mitchell on her 1969 album, Clouds. Below it is featured in the funeral scene in Alice's Restaurant, performed by Tigger Outlaw.




A friend has passed away, another lingers on the brink, we are all servants of time.

Arlo Guthrie - Alice's Restaurant

There is only one day-after-Thanksgiving song that I know of, and this is it. We had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and didn't wake up until the following morning...

Regina Spektor--Dance Anthem of the 80s

Regina Spektor is excellent, but joined by The Roots, it's this whole other thing, people.

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving

It's some sort of buzzard, right?

You don't really want to eat this, do you? There's an alternative--tofu, the other white meat.

I've had a few versions of tofu turkey, and they all involve mashing the tofu and mixing it with other stuff. This recipe is quite different, you freeze the tofu and then deep fry it in spiced batter, then bake it with the gravy. It leaves the other tofu turkey recipes in the dust, in my opinion.

So just like I promised yesterday, here's the recipe for my wife's tofu turkey. As they say in India, it is "too good".

The Mama's Tofu Turkey

2 pounds tofu, thoroughly frozen (for a few days) --first, take it out of the packages and soak it several times in purified water, then place in a freezer container, tightly covered

batter
2 cups chick pea (garbanzo bean) flour
1 cup white or whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp powdered asafoetida (hing) you get it at a Chinese or Indian store
1/4 black or cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric

Mix together

Add water slowly and mix some more until you get the consistency of pancake batter, start with one cup and increase as needed

In a deep pot or wok, fill to 4-5 inches vegetable oil

Squeeze out water as much as you can from the tofu (remove from freezer several hours beforehand to thaw) as if it were a sponge, cut into half inch slabs

Dip each slab into the batter and fry on medium high heat until golden brown, set aside

Gravy

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil or ghee (clarified butter or butter oil, you can get it in an Indian store or make your own, just click around for instructions) in a stock pot. Add 1/4 tsp asafoetida, saute 1 cup diced carrots, 1/4 cup diced celery. When the vegetables have softened a little, add the following spices

1 tbsp poultry seasoning (never fear, it's vegetarian)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp marjoram
1 tbsp sage (all of these are dry, not fresh, herbs)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce or Braggs

Add about 4 cups water and simmer 15 minutes. Then add 2 cups nuts--whatever kind you have. Let cool overnight if possible (give it a least a few hours), then blend in blender

Arrange tofu in lasagna type pan and cover with the gravy

Bake at 350 until bubbly

Then you serve it with everything else, the stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. Like real turkey, this stuff will knock you out, so settle in to watch football or something.

You should be proud of yourself. You have given a turkey a reprieve and given thanks to God and creation at the same time. And had an innocent Thanksgiving meal.

Radiohead--I Might Be Wrong

From an performance in France, 2003.

Gator Run Leaves Much to be Thankful For

As we in the Gator Nation prepare to take on our rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, on Saturday, I would like to take this opportunity to look back a little bit at some recent a-chomp-lishments that the Gator Nation can give thanks for during a difficult football season.

Here's one for the '06 football team led by Chris Leak:


Next up, back-to-back with the '04s, who won in '06 and '07. Here's a look at the '06 highlights:




Here's '07:



Then back to football for an inspirational speech and one more title run. Oh my!

Radiohead--There There

Not just musical geniuses, also activists.

We're All Unhappy!

Elayne exhibits some existential angst in this Seinfeld clip from season 9.

Hector Diego Defeats Barack Obama

...when it comes to compassion for animals, for I have pardoned every turkey in the world (except a certain professor I once had). But no one listens to me.

I have not eaten a turkey since February, 1974. Instead, I eat The Mama's Tofu Turkey, the recipe for which I posted yesterday...when the sorrow of turkeys all across America was so far away! Or so they thought.

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving

Look at these great recipes.

You can have a vegetarian Thanksgiving, and cause less pain to others. Pain is pain is pain.

Yes or no?

It is difficult to discuss vegetarianism when the motive is compassion. One will immediately be accused of self-righteousness. The problem with that view is that then compassion cannot be discussed, and the anti-vegetarian view is defeated before it even gets a chance. If you cannot state your case, you are defeated, and I won't allow that to happen just because people feel guilty and try to shut me up.

See here--I know I'm a jerk like everyone else. But this jerk is committed to a better diet.

U2--Bad

"I'm not sleeping..."

Angus and Julia Stone--You're the one that I Want

Excellent re-imagining of the Grease show tune.

U2--Promenade

Oh...tell me...
Charity dance with me
Turn me around tonight
Up through spiral staircase
To the higher ground

Little Dragon - Fortune

Linda Ronstadt--Blue Bayou

In the latest edition of Rolling Stone, Jenny Lewis contributes a playlist of 1970s California rock, which includes this lovely tune.

Innocent Thanksgiving Dinner

You don't really want to eat this, do you? There's an alternative--tofu, the other white meat.

I've had a few versions of tofu turkey, and they all involve mashing the tofu and mixing it with other stuff. This recipe is quite different, you freeze the tofu and then deep fry it in spiced batter, then bake it with the gravy. It leaves the other tofu turkey recipes in the dust, in my opinion.

So just like I promised yesterday, here's the recipe for my wife's tofu turkey. As they say in India, it is "too good".

The Mama's Tofu Turkey

2 pounds tofu, thoroughly frozen (for a few days) --first, take it out of the packages and soak it several times in purified water, then place in a freezer container, tightly covered

batter
2 cups chick pea (garbanzo bean) flour
1 cup white or whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp powdered asafoetida (hing) you get it at a Chinese or Indian store
1/4 black or cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric

Mix together

Add water slowly and mix some more until you get the consistency of pancake batter, start with one cup and increase as needed

In a deep pot or wok, fill to 4-5 inches vegetable oil

Squeeze out water as much as you can from the tofu (remove from freezer several hours beforehand to thaw) as if it were a sponge, cut into half inch slabs

Dip each slab into the batter and fry on medium high heat until golden brown, set aside

Gravy

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil or ghee (clarified butter or butter oil, you can get it in an Indian store or make your own, just click around for instructions) in a stock pot. Add 1/4 tsp asafoetida, saute 1 cup diced carrots, 1/4 cup diced celery. When the vegetables have softened a little, add the following spices

1 tbsp poultry seasoning (never fear, it's vegetarian)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp marjoram
1 tbsp sage (all of these are dry, not fresh, herbs)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce or Braggs

Add about 4 cups water and simmer 15 minutes. Then add 2 cups nuts--whatever kind you have. Let cool overnight if possible (give it a least a few hours), then blend in blender

Arrange tofu in lasagna type pan and cover with the gravy

Bake at 350 until bubbly

Then you serve it with everything else, the stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. Like real turkey, this stuff will knock you out, so settle in to watch football or something.

You should be proud of yourself. You have given a turkey a reprieve and given thanks to God and creation at the same time. And had an innocent Thanksgiving meal.

The Roots--U2 Tribute

The legendary Roots crew busted out a U2 medley at the NAACP in 2007.

Moiraine Damodred, Aes Sedai

I can't tell you much about the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan because it is so vast and complex (but very readable) but I can say it is filled with powerful and magical women known as Aes Sedai, who battle the forces of darkness for the benefit of the world.

What do I think of Robert Jordan's writing? I'll use a Sanskrit word three times to describe it--sadhu sadhu sadhu!

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!

Throw A Blanket Over John Lennon Naked

Christopher Eccleston as John Lennon

I'm fairly sure this PBS Masterpiece Theater version of Lennon's tortured life--John Lennon Naked--will be universally panned. I kept wondering, when are they going to portray the softer side of John Lennon? I have just finished reading Philip Norman's John Lennon: The Life, which, although not sugar coating anything, depicts a man who was a mean drunk but generally very charming and kind. So I was in no mood for this acerbic treatment of a 20th century icon who ranks as one of the most interesting and endearing figures in all of Western history. It would have been impossible for Lennon to have gotten as far as he did if he had really been as sour and bitter as this hastily written biopic portrays him for 80 plus minutes.

So watch John Lennon Naked if you are a die hard Lennon specialist and if PBS ever has the cheek to air it again. But if you want good music, you have a low tolerance for boredom, and especially if you are a Lennon enthusiast, consider yourself lucky to have missed an opportunity to waste your time on a Sunday night.

Aimee Mann--Wise Up

One of my very favorite songs.

Help!

You can watch the entire film right here. Brought to you by The Walrus Speaks, a family cyber radio and television station. What could be more wholesome than the Liverpool Four?

Rolling Stones - As Tears Go By

It's live, and not lip syncing. Which is stupid. So are the screams of the girls. But Richards is a very talented guitarist, and some of the songs he wrote with Jagger can stand up with the very best of them. Especially the ballads.

1965.

Angus and Julia Stone--Private Lawns

Brother and sister tandem, Angus and Julia Stone performing on KCRW back in '09.

George Harrison - Dream Scene

From the album Wonderwall, 1968. Very innovative then, still interesting 42 years later.

Jenny Lewis--Silver Lining

From June 2009.

Beatles LP Countdown - Here Comes The Sun

One of my very favorite songs by anyone. Harrison had been having a hard time, but one day as he was doing his meditation the sun came out, and thankful to God, he wrote this song.

U2--Angel of Harlem

It never fails. The temperature starts to drop and just like that, I want to hear U2. I only really like a few of their songs, and oddly enough, only in late Fall/early winter.

Charlie Crist Commutes Morrison Sentence

Exiting Florida Governor Charlie Crist says he is going to commute Jim Morrison's 1969 conviction for indecent exposure and other charges at a Miami concert. OK, so let's presume Morrison was innocent, as Crist has. What of the warrant for "the use of obscene language"? Or "precipitating a riot"? These charges are ridiculous on their face. I guess it was a sign of the times.

Kimya Dawson--Viva La Persistence

From January of '08. Back when Bush was boss.

Aimee Mann--Calling It Quits

People of Newburyport, Mass., see Aimee Mann on Friday night! No excuses! More tour dates here!



That is all.

Crosby, Stills and Nash--A Long Time Gone

From Woodstock.

Lotta Love

Nicolette Larson had just the right voice for this song.



And of course, the original by the incomparable Neil Young.

Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home

Their Satanic Majesties Request was the Rolling Stones' answer to Sgt. Peppers. What do you think?

1967.

Beatles added to iTunes

Nice to see that the Beatles catalog will, at last, be available on iTunes. $1.29 per song. $12.99 for an album. $19.99 for a double album. Bit pricey actually, but that's iTunes for you. At least it's now overcharging for the finest music ever recorded.

The Meth Minute: Bob Meets The Beatles

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down--Body

From Thao and company's 2009 KEXP appearance.

Beatles LP Countdown - I Want You

How many times have I listened to this, after having some refreshment...if you get my drift...and been startled at the abrupt ending. As one should be.

I'm pretty sure that is the late, great, Billy Preston on keys. I have always liked Paul's bass glissando (or is it a portamento?) and the sound of wind toward the end. And of course, the end.

Thao and Mirah--How Dare You

Nice duet from buddies Thao and Mirah.

Thao & Mirah "How Dare You" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Sarah Palin's Alaska

I never thought I would live to see the day that there would be a politician doing a "reality show." In fact, most of these reality shows are already quite far from real, but Sarah Palin's show is absolutely ridiculous judging from this review of it for those of us, like myself, not fortunate enough to get the TLC channel.

However, the bigger question has got to be--what will this do for Palin's political career? At this point I am willing to believe almost anything, the world is that crazy. But I'm going to let Ten Years After have the last word.

Because they would love to change the world, too.

John Lennon Is Still Turning 70

More staying power than Frank Sinatra, don't you think?

The 70th birthday party for John Lennon continues, this time at New York City's Beacon Theater. Cyndi Lauper and friends did Johnny proud.

Read the article.

John Adams Theme Music

I have one more episode of John Adams to watch, and I will savor it. I rate this series as highly as any I have ever seen, and I am a harsh critic. The producers have done the world a great service in presenting the career of a man who is underrated by the masses, but not by historians.

President John Adams' accomplishments were immense, as was his intellect and sincerity. Not charming but extremely competent and hard working, the United States of America owes him a great debt. The man was a giant.

Believing in reincarnation as I do, I wonder who were these larger than life men and women who founded my country? Who were they before and after their lives that we know from history? Such questions naturally evoke an even more important question--who are we? Reincarnation or no, what is our human potential?

John Adams is the sort of film that inspires human potential.

Pearl Jam--Tremor Christ

This was recorded at Eddie Vedder's house in 1995.

Cindy McCain Says No To Homophobia

Anti-Bullying PSA From NOH8 Campaign @ Yahoo! Video

That's right, folks, John McCain's wife. And friends.

Laura Marling--Blues Run The Game

From September.

Secret Mountains--Rejoice

Baltimore's own (h/t YANP).

Secret Mountains - Rejoice from john andrews on Vimeo.

John Lennon - Mother

This is a 1971 performance at Madison Square Garden, introduced by John as "from one of those albums I made since I left the Rolling Stones."

Screaming Females--Buried in the Nude

Hot new group features searing guitars. Tasty.

Laura Marling--Failure

He used to be a singer in a rock and roll band.
He would write the songs and I'd tremble at his hand but oh, la laa.
He lost poetic ethic and his songs were pathetic, and he's a failure now.

The Mountain Goats--Ezekiel 7 and The Permanent Efficacy of Grace

From the 2009 album, Life of the World to Come.

Yoko Ono Interview

John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance

1969.

Weezer--Say it Ain't So

Dear Daddy,
I write you in spite of years of silence.
You've cleaned up, found Jesus,
things are good or so I hear.
This bottle of Steven's
awakens ancient feelings.
Like father, stepfather, the son is drowning in the flood

She Keeps Bees--Cage Match

Aptly compared to PJ Harvey. Pigeon-holed perhaps, but quite an honor.

Unfinished Music # 1 - Two Virgins, Side One

John and Yoko stayed up all night recording this, and at dawn consummated their relationship. I recommend listening to it with headphones.

1968.

Paul McCartney - Love In The Open Air

"Love In The Open Air" is not one of Paul's post-Beatles songs. Rather, it is an instrumental he composed for the 1966 British film The Family Way by John and Ray Boulting, starring Hayley Mills. George Martin also contributed.

It's not stunningly beautiful, but it's beautiful.

The Roots--Dear God 2.0

The Roots pulled off a really genius move by building a song of their own off of a recent Monsters of Folk song that was an instant classic. Greatness doesn't have to age to be built upon.

Guided By Voices--As We Go Up We Go Down

Sweet song that the guys from Walking the Room used to end this week's show.

Tegan and Sara--The Ocean

Nice live acoustic performance on WBEZ.

Beatles Influence - Elvis Presley

Presley was more than a singer for the teenage Beatles. He was a symbol of everything they wanted to be, although their aspirations eventually changed. Aside from his voice and music, it was probably the raw sexuality exuded by "The King" that fascinated them. What teenage boy does not want to be sexually powerful?

But it always came back to the music. I would vote for "Heartbreak Hotel" as Elvis' finest contribution. On top of the stabbing guitar riffs--and as Beatles biographer Philip Norman called it, the jangly "whorehouse piano"--Elvis laid down his voice, a lonesome Southern stallion in need of some feminine company. Preferably the woman who has just left him at the Heartbreak Hotel, but you get the feeling he would accept a substitute.

Buddy Holly probably had the greatest influence on the Beatles' actual music, but Elvis' influence on their psyche is incalculable. He was for them what they were for me, in our teen years.

John Lennon - A Spaniard In The Works

Lennon's first book, In His Own Write, was a fact of merely publishing his scribbled sayings and drawings from The Daily Howl, a handwritten rag which he had passed around to his teen aged mates at Liverpool's Quarry Bank High School. With A Spaniard In The Works, he actually had to have some discipline--a rare achievement for him--to finish the project. The end result is a delight. Here's an excerpt--

"Jesus El Pifco was a foreigner and he knew it. He had imigrateful from his little white slum in Barcelover a good thirsty year ago having first secured the handy job as coachman in Scotland."

You can read the entire book here.

Charles Bukowski--The Genius Of The Crowd

No writer that I know of could convey their own pain with as much clarity as Bukowski.

Today Is Govardhana Puja

Although only a boy, Krishna held up Govardhana Hill to protect his friends in Vrindavana from the torrential rain sent by the Vedic god Indra.

Twist And Shout

Good morning, Beatles people. After Ringo's stellar performance yesterday in "Boys", I can't resist some more hard-driving rock and roll featuring Johnny on lead vocals.

The local time is 7.33 AM, at 37 Beatle degrees. Keep it here at KTWS Radio for all your Beatles music, broadcasting every day of the year 24/7 from America's Deep South. That's www.thewalrusspeaks.blogspot.com on your cyber radio dial!

Leave Ani Alone

Jake Lloyd is being called difficult for his recent moody interview with an Aussie TV show, but it was the bloke asking the questions that seems like a complete toolbox to me.

Does Ringo Love Boys?

Philip Norman, the author of John Lennon: The Life, has commented that Ringo sings in two different voices in "Boys", one male, and one female. Well, why not?

But the real reason I am posting this great song is to highlight Ringo's vocals. Some folks may have the impression that the man was not so great a singer. But damn! Listen to this song!

Don't you know he means boys? Bop shoo wop, bop bop shoo wop!

Jenny and Johnny--Silver Lining

Jenny and Johnny stopped by WXPN's World Cafe for a chat and to play some live music from their album. Every song sounds better than the album version.

J. and J. are also on tour now. Here's a clip of them playing the Rilo Kiley song "Silver Lining" on Halloween in New Orleans. The band all dressed as Jenny!

Anni Rossi--Crushing Limbs

Running on the rocky cliffs,
Waiting for them to pull me down,
I hear their footsteps loud and clearly,
Coming to draw me in as their own.

Alan Grayson Has A Spine

Of course, when you have a spine you are likely to lose an election in which most of your central Florida constituency thinks that Ronald Reagan is a hero. But I am very sorry to see Grayson go. He told the truth.

Listen to it.

U2--Seconds

U2's early 80s incarnation warns against nuclear war.

The Beatles On Thank Your Lucky Stars

The first one featured a performance of "Please Please Me." I tried to locate this seminal television appearance by the Liddypool Four, but now I am starting to think it is not available. Anyway, this video is very early, in 1963.

I wish I had been a child in England at the time instead of walking around completely oblivious to the Beatles in 1963. thinking that the Four Seasons were the epitome in ear candy. But when they came, we all came.

If you catch my drift.

Beatles LP Countdown - Octopus' Garden

Ringo may not have written many songs, but this one is a humdinger.

Alan Watts- A Conversation With Myself

A fascinating man.

Ted Leo--Dancing In the Dark

There's something happening somewhere...

Pearl Jam--Immortality

This is for my friends in South Florida that were so fantastic to be around when I went home last weekend. I spent an hour or so Saturday night driving around with a couple of them listening to Pearl Jam. It was legendary.

Pearl Jam--Masters of War

Are you voting for the Masters of War today?

Zach Galifianakis Sparks on TV to Prove Point

On Friday, Comedian Zach Galifianakis lit a joint on Real Time with Bill Maher to show people that you can still have a conversation while you're a little high. If you're in California please do the clear-eyed, sober thing and end the stupid drug war.

Pearl Jam--Breath

All these reaching hands out grabbin' things, grabbin' me
Day in, day out, accumulating...
Whoa, I suggest you step out on your porch
Run away my son. See it all... See the world...

Beatles Influences - Buddy Holly

Today we are starting a new KTWS series--Beatles influences. And I believe the best should come first. I'll rate early Beatles influences in this, not chronological, order: 1. Buddy Holly. 2. Little Richard. 3. Elvis Presley. My reasoning is that Elvis was only a singer and performer with sex appeal who did not write any songs. Little Richard did write songs and his scream was influential. But Buddy Holly's melodies inspired the Beatles' composing genius like no other. So without further ado, I give you Buddy Holly's "Everyday".

1957.

Lancet Journal Article Exposes Corporate And Cultural Interests Behind The Stupid War On Drugs

It doesn't take a scientist to know that alcohol causes

more harm than any other drug by far.

A recent Lancet article by David Nutt, chairman of Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, list alcohol as the #1 dangerous drug, with cannabis being way down on the list. He found that "the current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm."

But here is the rub--Nutt was forced to quit his nation's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs a year ago after publicly criticizing ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol. It looks like the same entrenched corporate and cultural interests are running the show in Britain too. A respected group of scientists speak the truth, and is penalized.

Any honest person can see what is happening in Britain and the US in relation to drugs and unjust laws, and how entrenched interests literally have no shame. Are you honest?

Read the article.