Help Me, Rhonda!

Trumpster Fire

The train wreck that is the current Republican presidential nominating process continued last night with the Nevada Caucus.

To the complete surprise of absolutely no one with a brain,
the state which permits legalized prostitution and is home to the kitsch mecca known as Las Vegas made asshat Donald Trump their leading choice.

The caucus itself was something of a dumpster fire, with all sorts of complaints being reported. I do wish all the people saying "that's what you always get with a caucus" would come watch how Iowa does theirs. Disaster is not "normal" for our caucuses. (Speaking only for the Republican side. Dems are seriously fucked up. Coin flips, are you !@#$ kidding me?)

Given the situation on the ground prior to the caucus, this is hardly surprising.

The progressive mainstream news media (but I repeat myself) have been busy this morning trying to spin this as more Trump "domination," because they desperately hope he is the GOP nominee (he's the only Republican Hillary routinely beats in head-to-head polling).

I view it more realistically...

• Even though turnout more than doubled over 2012, Trump (46 percent) finished well behind Romney's winning percentage (51 percent). Far more people turned out to vote AGAINST Trump than for him.
• Trump essentially tied the leading Not Trump options (Rubio and Cruz), and both Rubio and Cruz continue to beat Trump handily in head-to-head polling. After more than eight months of 24/7 media coverage, Trump has reached his ceiling of support, and whenever the Not Trump forces unite, he's toast. Whether they WILL unite is an open question.
• Despite the media narrative, only 3 percent of delegates for the GOP nominating convention have been awarded, and Trump has received only about 31 percent of the total votes cast so far, a most unimpressive total (especially considering that New Hampshire and South Carolina were both open primaries). He is the weakest "front-runner" in recent memory, well behind even Romney and McCain.

"So, you're not worried?"

Disgusted and pissed off, yes...worried, not so much...still WAY too early to worry...and Trump has all the earmarks of being a paper hairdo...

Wordplay

Me and Rhonda

The title of today's post is in part
a reference to the Beach Boys song featured today, and in part a wry reference to the Republican party's current mess.

That said, it also gives me an opportunity to mention Rhonda,
my 2010 Hanson Cigno guitar. She's a bit of a show-off, so...

Housekeeping

Just wanted to throw in a reminder about clicking on the live links provided throughout, like this one. A lot of the content (and some of the humor) depends on you following those links at least now and then. Also, comments are always welcome, of course. Agree or disagree, I'd love to hear from you!

"So would I!"

Dessert Logic

From the essential comic strip Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, which you should read every day, as I do (even though Wiley is a squishy liberal).

Until Next Time...

The music business was very different for pop/rock bands in the mid-1960s than it is today. There was tremendous pressure on popular bands like The Beach Boys to release new albums every few months, which often resulted in a certain amount of recycling or repackaging of old material. That was certainly the case with "Help Me, Rhonda," a song the band originally recorded in monaural sound for their The Beach Boys Today! album, their first of three album releases in 1965. Recording sessions for that album ended on January 19, 1965. They'd be back in the studio about a month later to begin work on Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), their second planned album of the year.

On February 24, 1965 the band recorded a new arrangement of "Help Me, Rhonda," complete with new instrumental solos, and used Capitol Records's simulated stereo process called "duophonic stereo" for this version (as they did for the whole album).

The re-recorded version even changed the spelling to "Rhonda" from the original's "Ronda." All of the changes must have made a difference, because the revamped "Help Me, Rhonda" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart on May 29, 1965 and held the top spot for two weeks. It was the band's second No. 1 hit.

The song quickly became a staple
of the band's live shows, and has remained one for half a century.



Today's send-off is the "duophonic stereo" version. Enjoy...