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Short, sweet, and hard to beat from Mark Jago the angry poet. Sometimes you find a taste of brilliance in the oddest of places.  Rated PG for language.

While I’m no fan of mass transit, I think the Paris subway commute shown in the video below would be time well spent. Would that every train ride featured an act as talented as this one. It certainly beats the vapid content on the average morning radio show. Enjoy!

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So just how far down do you wanna go?
Well we could talk it out over a cup a joe.
And you could look deep into my eyes like I was a super-model.
- from the song Banditos by The Refreshments

By now everyone should be well aware of the fact that the U.S. Dollar has been falling even faster than George Bush’s approval rating for a long time. A recent story about Gisele Bundchen and her rejection of the dollar immediately brought the lyric above to my mind. Uh huh.
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Well, it looks like the 2008 Presidential campaign is really starting to heat up. Although Hillary Clinton may ultimately deserve much of the credit, Fred Thompson and Dennis Kucinich are also causing voters to look at candidates in a whole new light. Specifically, attention is turning from the candidates, to their spouses. Enquiring Americans want to know whether their next President’s spouse will cross the White House threshold sporting a cigar, or a tongue stud.

While this angle parodies the Searching for meaningless leitmotif that will surely characterize lamestream media campaign coverage; in this case I think it serves to brighten up an otherwise dreary field of poseurs, cretins, and imbeciles. (Ron Paul being the exception that proves the rule, of course.) I’ll simply enjoy it as an entertaining sidebar before getting back to issues that are really important. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

This past June I went to an excellent, but woefully under-attended concert featuring David Bromberg at Phoenix’ Orpheum Theater. David has been around a long time — having been a session guitarist in the 60s for the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and others. He also recorded what, for my money, is the best version of Walker’s Mr. Bojangles back in the 70s. David’s Orpheum performance was delightful and his band was as tight and talented as any you’re likely to see. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing many of my favorite Bromberg tunes live.

Surprisingly, there was a bonus in store that I hadn’t expected. Also on the bill was The Angel Band which I hadn’t previously heard of. They are a trio of lady vocalists, ala The Dixies Chicks, whose performance was every bit as impressive as David’s. This may have been partly because they were backed by the same superb musicians, including David. However, hearing their beautiful voices, tightly arranged with stunning harmonies, was truly a wonderful experience.

But why on earth take my word for it? You can download an mp3 version of their song We Are Shepherds for free, give it a listen and make your own musical judgement. I heartily recommend it, and I’m sure you’ll add the song to your personal mp3 player just like I did. Then I’m sure you’ll want to purchase their CD Beautiful Noise as well. Happy listening.