Lizz Wright & Political Ads

I’ve been trying to come up with a list of ballads by female jazz singers to put on an mp3 cd for those long car drives. I especially like the slow ones with interesting lyrics and blue overtones and there are plenty of those among my 12,000 tracks. My starting points were Karrin Allyson and Jackie Allen, maybe my two favorite singers after Barbra. Or maybe even before Barbra. Hard to say since they all have such different vocal styles and qualities. Then I went to a singer I haven’t listened to in a long time, Lizz Wright, a young black woman with a sexy alto voice. It didn’t take long to find at least a dozen that fit the bill for slow and bluesy—“Dreaming Wide Awake,” “Soon As I Get Home” (from The Wiz), “Vocalise/End of the Line,” and “Blue Rose.” I went to YouTube and picked out two that would go nicely in this blog, something for my occasional reader to listen to while perusing this post. I hope you like them.

Finally, less than two weeks to go. Finally. I and everyone else in the country are sick up to our armpits with all the negative campaign ads. Last night, in the tiny segment between the local news and the national news, I counted eight political ads, all of them negative. Eight. In about four minutes. One after the other. Did any of them convince me to vote one way or the other? No. In fact, if it were legal and feasible, I’d vote to throw all the bums out. Just leave an empty spot in the Senate or House. Even in the Oval Office, couldn’t we just have a stuffed figure sitting there doing nothing? A dummy? Hey, wait a minute, isn’t that what we’ve had all along? Just kidding, Barack. Just kidding, Mitt. I know either of you would be better than a scarecrow. But just barely.