I had to vote for Free Bird. Last night, my band played a gig at a local bistro and toward the end of the set, after some in the audience were well into their cups, a guy in the back yelled out "Free Bird". So we three just looked at each other, and I started playing it, vaguely remembering the chord progression from that last time I played it...50 years ago?
Mind you, it's not our sort of song. We have two guitarists and a dobro player, and we play originals and covers of people like John Prine. But what fun. You should have heard the dobro player play that face-melting solo.
But seriously: Free Bird makes a perfect patriotic American anthem, for white people and for everyone else as well. And this bird you cannot change!
That's exactly the lyric line that makes me think of PDJT!
When I was still playing in full rock bands in the 80s (now it's all acoustic/eclectic coz we're all old), we had the list of the three most requested tunes by "in their cups" patrons: Free Bird, Stairway to Heaven, and Roadhouse Blues. Never actually played them though ha ha! Good for you for going off the cuff.
Pretty much the only thing we don't have in my main group is a dobro. Everybody plays guitar and at least one other, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and in my case accordion because we only bring out my keyboard rarely. Bluegrass instruments - but not that much actual bluegrass - we use them to play (besides originals) Stones, Beatles, couple oddities like Yes and Steely Dan, and of course Prine, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, on and on.
Oh and we have a terrific upright bass player - she has one of those "sticks." We try so hard to travel light but it never quite works!
I'd love to have a bass player. We had a bass player who played electric, but she moved to Seattle. Our lineup varies according to who can be available. We have a brilliant piano/keyboard guy, but he moved to KC last year. He can't make it to every gig, but if it's on a Saturday he can drive up.
Anyway, there is nothing in life that brings me more joy than playing music with others.
Share that sentiment! I can do solo easily, but it's nowhere near as much fun...
Multiply that joy by vocals. My voice is actually my first instrument. Almost everyone I play with does lead vocals too, plus harmonies. I've been singing with the two guys in my main group for about 27 years now, and with my guy of ten years in our duo. It's a hectic pastime, but closest thing to heaven on earth for me! Finally meeting a significant other to sing with was the icing on the cake.
Now I think this explains my own increasing love of karaoke -- we who can't play instruments CAN sing along with others to songs, making music together.
With other, living people, never as musically great as the studio album, but more fun at the moment.
S-i-l has a band consisting of wife, daughter and son with an occasional extra per venue. His son was part of his traveling band playing drums at 11 years of age. They play mostly old country with some blues and newer music always adjusting to the venue. He was invited to Marvin Hamlish s birthday party this year traveling to Bakersfield for it and to hear Marvs magic steel again.
Alas, no. I think our lead guitarist's sister made a video of one song or maybe a part of one, but we never record gigs ourselves. We're very low-tech. We do record a video of one of our originals each year for the Tiny Desk contest.
AMUSING: "ITEM 20: Democrats tried to play Stump The Stars at a Senate hearing with Secretary Kennedy. They failed.
"LUJAN: Are you aware a guy who works for you was charged for practicing medicine without a license?
"RFK: He was charged by a medical board, sued them, and they were found to be acting in actual malice and were fined $2.6 million by a judge for doing that."
INFURIATING: Kimberly Strassel of the WSJ has sold her soul to the Devil and has just gone over to the Dark Side:
Blūcher was an Alpha Male cavalry warrior that could have inspired Wagner. Seems like he was involved in all N European wars as long as he lived. I think the Squealing horse comes from Blūcher’s involvement in the Waterloo campaign with the Battle of Ligny….where his horse was killed, fell on him and he was pinned down for hour(s) as cavalry charged over him...
With regard to Chelsea Clinton running for the Dems in New York: History shows that many people cherish a naïve, not to say childish, faith that some people, simply by being related to a well-known personality, must have what it takes to lead them. History also has shown, by endless repetition, that this is a myth, but it's been the fleeting life-support for many pretentious dynasties, royal or other. Invariably, before many more generations inherited the throne, real-world events confirmed that high achievement is not heritable, and believing that it is can have very bad results.
In fewer words, that belief is also known as the worship of celebrity. Or so I believe.
They keep trotting Chelsea out for different government positions. This is just the latest. Every time, they think she is going to have a chance, then she opens her mouth. She usually disappears within 2 weeks.
That's the odd thing about Democrats, or one of the many. Although most likely to be heathens, they fervently believe in magical personalities. It's reminiscent of the medieval belief that the mere touch of a king could cure people of nasty diseases.
That's a little vague; do you have a source? For one thing, there are far more than 200,000 federal employees. And for another, there are some surnames that are extremely common in the American population, regardless of whom they work for, or pretend to work for, as the case may be. In pure numbers "Smith" is the champion, with 2.5 million of 'em in the US, followed by Jones ...
My comment has nothing to do with today's great weekly summary. It is this. I just returned from a trip to Western Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Travelling by car from Torrington to Laramie (my alma mater) and avoiding the interstate I was stunned by the number of full coal trains moving east. In Guernsey, Wyo I viewed the train yard and there were four full trains poised to move east. And I had passed others on the tracks. Then on the 2 lane highway I had to pull over and let a convoy of huge flat bed trucks with giant mining vehicles being transported somewhere in Wyo. Wyo= the new frontier for coal, uranium, and rare earth materials mining. Plus all of the construction in SE Wyoming around Cheyenne and Warren Air Force Base for the new Sentinel Missle System/Silos. Billions being spent on all of this and it means jobs and prosperity. GO POKES !!! (a WYO cheer). Tired of the inner city? Check it out.
Fifteen years ago those trains were lined up mile upon mile wait for dispatch time to head for the energy centers. I used to drive along the tracks from Grand Island to Alliance then North. Some times they would be staged as far East as Broken Bow. What you saw was a ghost of times past.
I lived close to the tracks in St George and later Ogden. The coal trains ran hourly at night.
I remember those days as well, of course, having spent time in the area you referred to bird hunting, playing golf, visiting friends after college etc. My comment was directed at what is happening now; a re-awaking of mining in Wyoming. The agriculture there looked great too; especially (of course) all of the feed corn. Alliance was a great small town.
On our trip out west earlier this year, one of my favorite sights was all the mile long trains hauling coal, cars, chemicals, etc. I have always told my wife I would have loved being a locomotive engineer and see the country. The rail yard in North Platte, Nebraska is a sight to see. Would love to pull out a lawn chair,beer & smokes & watch trains all day.
Black National Anthem. Disgusting. That is what is wrong, everyone wants to be in a special group of hyphenated Americans. Just another excuse to not assimilate. As soon as I hear some one call themselves a “[insert label here]-American”, I quit listening to anything they say.
Hell I want a “Fat White Guy Who Has Worked 53 Years Full Time Since He Was 15, Never Been Without A Job, Never On Welfare,Never On Foodstamps, Never On Unemployment, Pissed Off Tax Payer” Anthem.
"“President Trump says he will be adding a portrait of Joe Biden’s auto pen to his Presidential Wall of Fame in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden.”"
I bet he's just trolling with that one, but it would be funny as hell!
Item 23 - I live on the NC-GA border. Darn near every house that is built in this area is done with illegal alien labor out of GA. Those dirt bags don't carry Workers Comp, they pay their thugs in cash, and if the damn thing falls down, good luck catching up with the crooked sonsabitches.
These are American owned companies. Most of them are owned by thugs who have acquired green cards or have become citizens. They then hire of bunch of illiterate thugs from places like Venezuela. Kick 'em the hell out!
I had to vote for Free Bird. Last night, my band played a gig at a local bistro and toward the end of the set, after some in the audience were well into their cups, a guy in the back yelled out "Free Bird". So we three just looked at each other, and I started playing it, vaguely remembering the chord progression from that last time I played it...50 years ago?
Mind you, it's not our sort of song. We have two guitarists and a dobro player, and we play originals and covers of people like John Prine. But what fun. You should have heard the dobro player play that face-melting solo.
But seriously: Free Bird makes a perfect patriotic American anthem, for white people and for everyone else as well. And this bird you cannot change!
That's exactly the lyric line that makes me think of PDJT!
When I was still playing in full rock bands in the 80s (now it's all acoustic/eclectic coz we're all old), we had the list of the three most requested tunes by "in their cups" patrons: Free Bird, Stairway to Heaven, and Roadhouse Blues. Never actually played them though ha ha! Good for you for going off the cuff.
Pretty much the only thing we don't have in my main group is a dobro. Everybody plays guitar and at least one other, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and in my case accordion because we only bring out my keyboard rarely. Bluegrass instruments - but not that much actual bluegrass - we use them to play (besides originals) Stones, Beatles, couple oddities like Yes and Steely Dan, and of course Prine, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, on and on.
Oh and we have a terrific upright bass player - she has one of those "sticks." We try so hard to travel light but it never quite works!
I'd love to have a bass player. We had a bass player who played electric, but she moved to Seattle. Our lineup varies according to who can be available. We have a brilliant piano/keyboard guy, but he moved to KC last year. He can't make it to every gig, but if it's on a Saturday he can drive up.
Anyway, there is nothing in life that brings me more joy than playing music with others.
Share that sentiment! I can do solo easily, but it's nowhere near as much fun...
Multiply that joy by vocals. My voice is actually my first instrument. Almost everyone I play with does lead vocals too, plus harmonies. I've been singing with the two guys in my main group for about 27 years now, and with my guy of ten years in our duo. It's a hectic pastime, but closest thing to heaven on earth for me! Finally meeting a significant other to sing with was the icing on the cake.
So when will you Surber Bros get together and host an in person concert that we can all attend? Wouldn't that be FUN!!!?
S-i-l plays what they named River Songs and post on Facebook nearly every Friday from his home on the rivers edge.
Thank you and got it!
Now I think this explains my own increasing love of karaoke -- we who can't play instruments CAN sing along with others to songs, making music together.
With other, living people, never as musically great as the studio album, but more fun at the moment.
S-i-l has a band consisting of wife, daughter and son with an occasional extra per venue. His son was part of his traveling band playing drums at 11 years of age. They play mostly old country with some blues and newer music always adjusting to the venue. He was invited to Marvin Hamlish s birthday party this year traveling to Bakersfield for it and to hear Marvs magic steel again.
Because I’m new here I have no idea what S-i-l (?) stands for but it sounds great.
Son in law and welcome to Surberville , a growing community of diverse thought but not dei.
I raised my lighter to you.
I hope you taped and and will give us a link to that performance, I wish I could have been there.
Alas, no. I think our lead guitarist's sister made a video of one song or maybe a part of one, but we never record gigs ourselves. We're very low-tech. We do record a video of one of our originals each year for the Tiny Desk contest.
Ditto!
LS's Oakland CA concert on YouTube is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY
AMUSING: "ITEM 20: Democrats tried to play Stump The Stars at a Senate hearing with Secretary Kennedy. They failed.
"LUJAN: Are you aware a guy who works for you was charged for practicing medicine without a license?
"RFK: He was charged by a medical board, sued them, and they were found to be acting in actual malice and were fined $2.6 million by a judge for doing that."
INFURIATING: Kimberly Strassel of the WSJ has sold her soul to the Devil and has just gone over to the Dark Side:
https://nypost.com/2025/09/05/opinion/rfk-jr-has-turned-health-services-into-a-goat-rodeo/j
My kind of band.
😂👍🇺🇸🙏
She looks like Lord Fahrquad from Shrek.
Perhaps she is aspiring to look like Frau Blücher in later life.
Leachman was a looker at Grëta’s age though….AtabaChron 40 years onto her and you’d be in the Brute Squad neighborhood of Andre the Giant .
*in horse voice* Whinny
We always wondered exactly what she was doing to those poor horses.
Blūcher was an Alpha Male cavalry warrior that could have inspired Wagner. Seems like he was involved in all N European wars as long as he lived. I think the Squealing horse comes from Blūcher’s involvement in the Waterloo campaign with the Battle of Ligny….where his horse was killed, fell on him and he was pinned down for hour(s) as cavalry charged over him...
I’d hate to meet her? in a dark alley!
Dang and she was going for the Yasir Asshat look.
Thanks! I was trying to remember what movie that character is from. Lord Farquaad was my first thought when I saw that photo.
With regard to Chelsea Clinton running for the Dems in New York: History shows that many people cherish a naïve, not to say childish, faith that some people, simply by being related to a well-known personality, must have what it takes to lead them. History also has shown, by endless repetition, that this is a myth, but it's been the fleeting life-support for many pretentious dynasties, royal or other. Invariably, before many more generations inherited the throne, real-world events confirmed that high achievement is not heritable, and believing that it is can have very bad results.
In fewer words, that belief is also known as the worship of celebrity. Or so I believe.
They keep trotting Chelsea out for different government positions. This is just the latest. Every time, they think she is going to have a chance, then she opens her mouth. She usually disappears within 2 weeks.
Lucky thing we remember her lineage.
That's the odd thing about Democrats, or one of the many. Although most likely to be heathens, they fervently believe in magical personalities. It's reminiscent of the medieval belief that the mere touch of a king could cure people of nasty diseases.
And with a Democrat woman, the mere touch can give you a nasty disease.
Or an accusation of rape. Or insensitivity. Or of being a MAGA troglodyte. Etcetera.
A comment somewhere yesterday noted there are 200k federal employees and twelve last names.
That's a little vague; do you have a source? For one thing, there are far more than 200,000 federal employees. And for another, there are some surnames that are extremely common in the American population, regardless of whom they work for, or pretend to work for, as the case may be. In pure numbers "Smith" is the champion, with 2.5 million of 'em in the US, followed by Jones ...
It was just a joke, Wim, and very funny.
Is Valoree your girl friend? Seems possible, when people share a very peculiar, private sense of humor.
She is not, nor would my wife of 54 years approve. But if I were available, I might look her up. She knows a joke when she hears it.
Gasp! That is worse than most redneck families I know. *begging the pardon of all redneck families.
“Rep. Jerry Nadler to Retire After More Than Three Decades in Congress.”
He is now free to pursue his life-long dream as Danny Devito's stunt double......
Danny is cute and very funny! Jerry is repulsive.
Eell yeah...other than that... the same??
Amen
He likes fried chicken way more than subway.
Of course, the Penguin.
if only the Dims hadnt TDS and tranny'ed all the comic book movies of last 15 yrs.
My comment has nothing to do with today's great weekly summary. It is this. I just returned from a trip to Western Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Travelling by car from Torrington to Laramie (my alma mater) and avoiding the interstate I was stunned by the number of full coal trains moving east. In Guernsey, Wyo I viewed the train yard and there were four full trains poised to move east. And I had passed others on the tracks. Then on the 2 lane highway I had to pull over and let a convoy of huge flat bed trucks with giant mining vehicles being transported somewhere in Wyo. Wyo= the new frontier for coal, uranium, and rare earth materials mining. Plus all of the construction in SE Wyoming around Cheyenne and Warren Air Force Base for the new Sentinel Missle System/Silos. Billions being spent on all of this and it means jobs and prosperity. GO POKES !!! (a WYO cheer). Tired of the inner city? Check it out.
Wyoming, not West Virginia, produces the most coal. Has for about half a century. Strange that they are the two Trumpiest states.
America, learn to coal
Plus, seems that some of the "rare" earth minerals we need can be derived from coal mine tailings!
Winner all around.
We used to dig coal in NODAK but then struck oil.
Fifteen years ago those trains were lined up mile upon mile wait for dispatch time to head for the energy centers. I used to drive along the tracks from Grand Island to Alliance then North. Some times they would be staged as far East as Broken Bow. What you saw was a ghost of times past.
I lived close to the tracks in St George and later Ogden. The coal trains ran hourly at night.
I remember those days as well, of course, having spent time in the area you referred to bird hunting, playing golf, visiting friends after college etc. My comment was directed at what is happening now; a re-awaking of mining in Wyoming. The agriculture there looked great too; especially (of course) all of the feed corn. Alliance was a great small town.
My favorite memory was photographing a freight train carrying three passenger jet bodies that were being shipped to the Boeing plant in Seattle.
One word comment for this "COOL".
Mine baby mine
Stay tuned for some MAGA GDP numbers in 4Q and into 2026.
On our trip out west earlier this year, one of my favorite sights was all the mile long trains hauling coal, cars, chemicals, etc. I have always told my wife I would have loved being a locomotive engineer and see the country. The rail yard in North Platte, Nebraska is a sight to see. Would love to pull out a lawn chair,beer & smokes & watch trains all day.
I was just in NM, home to our oil and natural gas. Just keep it between us…
About ITEM 24:
I recently noticed a banner on a frozen dinner I was preparing. It proclaimed that the container was "now" made of "plant-based fiber."
Took me a moment to guess what they meant... looked it up to confirm.
Yep! Cardboard.
I personally think this is marketing genius - not to mention the delightful sense of humor of somebody at Healthy Choice.
…and a wee bit o’ petrochemical derived impermeable polyvinylidene chloride….
Vodka's are now advertising as gluten free......
Ha ha! It won't be long before windshield wiper fluid is marketed as gluten free.
And probably available in pumpkin spice.
https://www.mrclean.com/en-us/shop-products/multi-surface-liquids/all-purpose-cleaner-with-spiced-harvest-scent
=p
Oh that’s hilarious!
I have a friend who collects these, she’ll like this. Recently sent her this from the Bee:
https://babylonbee.com/news/ford-introduces-pumpkin-spice-f-150
Love that color, the 25 cup holders.... lol not so much. here is another that Bee worthy though it is real.
https://www.foodandwine.com/kingsford-miller-lite-beercoal-beer-infused-charcoal-2025-11735167
Black National Anthem. Disgusting. That is what is wrong, everyone wants to be in a special group of hyphenated Americans. Just another excuse to not assimilate. As soon as I hear some one call themselves a “[insert label here]-American”, I quit listening to anything they say.
Hell I want a “Fat White Guy Who Has Worked 53 Years Full Time Since He Was 15, Never Been Without A Job, Never On Welfare,Never On Foodstamps, Never On Unemployment, Pissed Off Tax Payer” Anthem.
Whiter shade of pale?
I think your about two or at most three words too long in the tile Al.
Item 20. RFK jr played whack a mole with those idiots. He scored 💯 %.
God Bless America sung by Kate Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPIeLh7_M0A
#31…..’Shoulda been a. Cowboy…should have learned to rope & ride
miss Him……
R.I.P. TOBY .we loved ya !!
Thanks Don. You outdid yourself today - it’s practically a laugh line per item!
Amen.
#30. Gender disphoria Is a mental illness and the mentally ill are not allowed to buy guns.
Frankly, that should mean no democrats buying guns.
Amen, brother.
Right to the poll, what could be more fitting for the National Felons League than the black national whine?? Askin for a friend.
Colt 45 and watermelon instead of hotdogs and beer?
Make their uniforms pink or orange jump suits with flip flops?
"“President Trump says he will be adding a portrait of Joe Biden’s auto pen to his Presidential Wall of Fame in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden.”"
I bet he's just trolling with that one, but it would be funny as hell!
Item 23 - I live on the NC-GA border. Darn near every house that is built in this area is done with illegal alien labor out of GA. Those dirt bags don't carry Workers Comp, they pay their thugs in cash, and if the damn thing falls down, good luck catching up with the crooked sonsabitches.
These are American owned companies. Most of them are owned by thugs who have acquired green cards or have become citizens. They then hire of bunch of illiterate thugs from places like Venezuela. Kick 'em the hell out!
No YMCA in the poll? Missed opportunity, there.
I always LOVED "Hold On I'm Coming." Too bad about the copyright...
Rush’s theme, (My City was gone). https://youtu.be/8W1PnI7QGS8