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(The Quotations - in the land of one-hit wonders)

I'm threatening to do an entire week of Doo-Wop next week. It's an almost extinct form of popular music that some people still swear by and maybe it's time to get those of you not familiar with it at least introduced. Like I always say, ignorance of your culture is considered uncool.

Rather than start at the beginning point (the early 1950's), I thought I would jump ahead and do something from the tail end of the Doo-Wop era, the 1960s. The Quotations were (as you can tell by the photo up there) from Brooklyn and were one of the only such signings to an almost exclusively Jazz label, Verve in 1961.

They delivered their one and only hit, Imagination, a standard written in the 1930s by the team of Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. That was what a lot of Doo-Wop was about; taking standards and giving them a twist that, not only made publishers happy but exposed a whole new generation to some tried-and-true song material.

Some of it was pretty corny and some of it was absolutely great.

So with this track, you get to decide.

One of the things I've promised to myself is to travel to India for Holi, which looks like my kind of celebration. It's Holi time right now.

Holi, also called the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Nepal, Srilanka, and countries with large Hindu diaspora populations, such as Suriname, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, UK, USA, Mauritius, and Fiji. In West Bengal of India and Bangladesh it is known as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra) or Basanta-Utsav ("spring festival"). The most celebrated Holi is that of the Braj region, in locations connected to the god Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana. These places have become tourist destinations during the festive season of Holi, which lasts here to up to sixteen days.

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing colored powder and colored water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad accomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in Andhra Pradesh.

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(Hidemaro Konoye - if it wasn't for that little thing called World War 2 . . )

Hidemaro Konoye, or Viscount Hidemaro Konoye as he was officially referred to, was born into an aristocratic Japanese family. His brother was Prime Minister in 1940. Hidemaro had a degree of obligations in the political world, but his interest was primarily music and bringing Western music, most notably the music of Gustav Mahler, to audiences in Japan. Still, he was the brother of the Prime Minister and that would prove problematic as time wore on.

From the 1920s and 30s he had gained a worldwide reputation and was a frequent guest conductor for numerous symphony orchestras around the world, including appearances with the NBC Symphony prior to the outbreak of World War 2. In fact, he was scheduled to embark on a U.S. tour with the orchestra under the sponsorship of his friend Leopold Stokowski when war broke out and all opportunities suddenly vanished.

Hidemaro recorded a fair number of works during his career, but he was responsible for many more arrangements of works for orchestra as well as performing works unfamiliar in the Far East. The Mahler 4th is probably the best known since it was the first electrical-era recording of any Mahler symphony (although the performance has been criticized for excessive cuts), but he also recorded on several occasions with the Berlin Philharmonic. One of those resulted in the set of discs I'm playing today. A session he recorded in Berlin on April 21, 1938 with the Berlin Philharmonic of the Haydn Symphony Nr. 91. It was briefly available in the UK on Decca via German Polydor but never available in the U.S. - I'm not sure if it's been reissued in Japan in recent years. But in any event, here is my slightly dog-eared set of 78's of the Haydn Symphony Nr. 91 - performed by The Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Viscount Hidemaro Konoye.

A delicious lil' song from the former Count Basie vocalist. This number also appears on her album Let The Good Times Roll. More on Helen Humes at Wikipedia.

What are you listening to this evening? It's a music thread and everyone is invited to the party.

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(Henry Wallace in 1939 - before he was vice-President or Presidential candidate, had the unenviable task of Secretary of Agriculture)

Most everyone interested in Presidential campaigns past is familiar with Henry Wallace, who ran for President on the Progressive ticket in 1948. Prior to that he was a moderately familiar voice as vice-President to FDR in 1940. But in 1939 he was still Secretary of Agriculture, a post appointed by FDR in 1933. It was not a particularly popular place to be, with price controls on cotton and pork and forcing farmers to slaughter pigs and plow under cotton in order to keep prices up. Nonetheless, Wallace did the best with what was handed him and he implemented a number of New Deal programs during his tenure, including the AAA Farm Program and farm subsidies and emerged as one of the best Agriculture Secretaries the country ever had. Here is one of his rare appearances, addressing a Jefferson Day dinner on April 22, 1939.

Henry Wallace: “Problems of Agriculture are not insoluble as long as the machinery is available to farmers to enable them to cope with their problems. Advance indications are that participation in the AAA Farm Program this year will be the greatest it has ever been. Nearly six million farm families, eighty-five percent of all the farm families in the United States will cooperate in 1939 in this program of balanced farming and soil conservation. In the corn and wheat region, the striking increase in interest is evidenced by the fact from fifteen to twenty percent more farmers are taking part this year than last.”

Less than ten years later he would break with the Democratic Party of Harry Truman and forge his own bid for the Presidency. But that's another story.

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While discussing the health care bill George Will claims that we're getting richer in the United States and that's one reason health care costs are going to go up. I'd love to know who he's talking about. Maybe his rich buddies because if he's talking about the general population of the United States, just the opposite is true. Sadly no one was allowed to follow up as it looked like Paul Krugman wanted to since the host decided to change the subject right after Cokie Roberts managed to get a few words in.

A Decade With No Income Gains:

The typical American household made less money last year than the typical household made a full decade ago.

To me, that’s the big news from the Census Bureau’s annual report on income, poverty and health insurance, which was released this morning. Median household fell to $50,303 last year, from $52,163 in 2007. In 1998, median income was $51,295. All these numbers are adjusted for inflation.

In the four decades that the Census Bureau has been tracking household income, there has never before been a full decade in which median income failed to rise. (The previous record was seven years, ending in 1985.) Other Census data suggest that it also never happened between the late 1940s and the late 1960s. So it doesn’t seem to have happened since at least the 1930s. Read on...

Transcript via ABC News:

WILL: Can I say something that Paul and I might actually agree on?

VARGAS: Sure.

WILL: Twenty years from now, the country is going to be spending a larger portion of its GDP on health care than it is now for three reasons. We're getting older, and as we age, we get more chronic diseases that interact with one another. Second, we're getting richer; we can afford to buy more medicine. And, third, medicine is becoming more competent. Therefore, we're going to spend more on health care.

KRUGMAN: But there's a...

ROBERTS: The other thing is, you know, the health care industry is the biggest employer in most of our cities now. So when -- when the speaker talks about a job creation bill...

VARGAS: A jobs bill, exactly.

ROBERTS: ... it's true.

VARGAS: Let's shift a little bit to Charlie Rangel...

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Eric Cantor claims that no one wants to go on Medicaid. Really? I wonder if those with no insurance at all or with their premiums going through the roof that might prefer that option would agree with you? He also says the GOP wants "more people uninsured". As Media Matters asked, Freudian slip?

CANTOR: ...the, the reality is, and take a little bit a different approach here and difference with that statement, the reality is Republicans do care about health care. We want to address the first and most foundational element which is cost, because if we can bring down costs, more people can access care. But we also know that there is something we need to do to get more people on insured. The problem is with the president's bill, it's about expanding Medicaid. No one wants to, to go onto Medicaid. That's why physicians in Florida and other states are leaving Medicaid in droves because of the imperfect reimbursement structure. That's what this bill is about is expanding the government programs that don't work. We need real reform to bring down costs.

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This Week marks the passings of first female Air Force General Jeanne M. Holm, skier C. R. Johnson and actor Andrew Koenig. In addition, the Pentagon has released the names of twelve service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Marine LCpl Joshua H Birchfield, 24, of Westville, IN

Marine Cpl Gregory S Stultz, 22, of Brazil, IN

Marine LCpl Adam D Peak, 25, of Florence, KY

Marine SSgt Christopher W Eckard, 30, of Hickory, NC

Army SSG Michael David P Cardenaz, 29, of Corona, CA

Marine LCpl Matthias N Hanson, 20, of Buffalo, KY

Marine LCpl Eric L Ward, 19, of Redmond, WA

Army PFC JR Salvacion, 27, of Ewa Beach, HI

Army CPT Marcus R Alford, 28, of Knoxville, TN

Army CWO Billie J Grinder, 25, of Gallatin, TN

Army Sgt Marcos Gorra, 22, of North Bergen, NJ

Army Cpl Daniel T O'Leary, 23, of Youngsville, NC

Per iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied soldiers killed in Iraq to 4,698; in Afghanistan, 1,667. During this same week, Iraq Body Count lists 69 Iraqi civilians killed. In addition, a story I haven't noted in most of the media, CSM reports that half (7 of 15) of the Afghanistan Taliban leadership was arrested this week in Pakistan--where we officially are not at war.

In an unbelievable game, Sidney Crosby scored on a bang-bang play in overtime after the US failed to clear the puck out of the zone to give the gold medal to Canada. The underdog US team fought tooth and nail throughout the game and the tournament with heart and toughness. and scored the tying goal by Zack Parise with 24.4 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime -- and send the country of Canada into apoplectic shock. The Canadians had a great home-ice advantage, but the US team seemed unfazed by the crowd.

Roberto Luongo was pretty shaky in the entire game as he bobbled many shots that came his way, but Canada did a great job of limiting rebound shots. I thought Canada slapped the great Martin Brodeur in the face by pulling him after they lost to the US in the third game of the tournament, but their plethora of talent prevailed.

The goal Crosby scored was to the short side of Miller, who probably was stunned that it got through his pads. Miller was named the MVP of games.

It's a tough loss for the youngest squad in the Olympics, but nobody picked them to make it this far. Canada's team had 14 All Star players, while the US carried only four.

In overtime the teams skate four on four for twenty minutes and if it's still tied they go to a shootout, which is a rule I hate in Olympic hockey. The extra ice really benefits the skillset of Crosby, who is a great skater. I called Nicole right before the period began to tell her he was the player I feared the most since he is their star, but is really tough with more ice to work with.

The American team can hold their heads high for winning the silver medal with their valiant effort.

What a game and what a tournament. And my heart goes out to Brian Burke, the man that put the US team together, because his 21-year-old son was killed in a car crash right before the Olympics started.

Of course something this ludicrous had to appear on Breitbart's site written by Frank Gaffney: Can This Possibly Be True? New Obama Missile Defense Logo Includes A Crescent

The Obama administration’s determined effort to reduce America’s missile defense capabilities initially seemed to be just standard Leftist fare — of a piece with the Democratic base’s visceral hostility to the idea of protecting us against ballistic missile threats. A just-unveiled symbolic action suggests, however, that something even more nefarious is afoot.

Gaffney later had to issue an apology of sorts.

And as Digby observes: Teabaggers Aren't The Only Kooks.

They are part of the same pie. The war against symbols has been going on ever since Bush took office. Remember how insane the right wing went over the red crescent design that won the memorial of the Flight 93 back in 2005?

And FOX News had to get in on it too.