What these four country music legends said about America in 1991 is just as true today; and IT could make America "great," if we would heed it now, instead of drawing battle lines against each other
What these four country music legends said about America in 1991 is just as true today; and IT could make America "great," if we would heed it now, instead of drawing battle lines against each other
Down Under 33 years ago, the Highwaymen—Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson—put ALL today's Covidian celebrities to shame
Like listening to old George Carlin clips where he too told everyone it was a big club and you weren’t in it and you had to be asleep to believe in the American Dream. Everyone laughed but today a lot of the same people understand exactly what he meant.
And as for Joan Baez, I just think like Neil Young, when these otherwise brilliant artists got old, they forgot about their rebellious youth, got lazy and very frightened by the propaganda since they were prime candidates to be killed by covid (they thought). They failed to pay attention to what was really happening and basically let us all down. But they are just like all these other old people getting scammed all the time - easy targets. I still felt so sad and surprised about Neil Young threatening Spotify over Jo Rogan... what happened to him looking for a heart of gold?
I read how the whole Laurel Canyon music scene was another intelligence psyop and the musicians that suddenly became popular and were against what was happening then had lots of backing from the oligarchs of the day. That was why when we expected them to stand up there was no there there. I wish I had saved the article.
I think Dave McGowan couldn't have been more right on in his analysis of the very dark underbelly of the music and entertainment industry in LA in the 60s and 70s.
I lived in LA for a number of years, and knew Laurel Canyon a bit, as well as some of the other places Dave wrote about.
Almost every single rock star musician had family ties with the military industrial complex, or in Neil Young's case, the MSM, his father Scott Young was a famous journalist in Canada.
Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash both served in Military Intelligence when they were in the Armed Forces btw. Kristofferson was I believe a Rhodes Scholar as well.
These people don't show up out of nowhere.
Jerry Garcia's father was in the military too.
Joni Mitchell too. And Frank Zappa. David Crosby. Stephen Stills.
When some of them began to question the whole scene, and who was behind it, and what they were earning, they conveniently died at 27 or thereabouts. Hendrix, Joplin, et. al.
They were so messed up from drugs and alcohol it was easy.
And of course the Manson Family. The movie Chinatown has a lot of clues.
Roman Polanski knew it all.
How many people wasted part of their lives following The Grateful Dead around? I knew through friends girls who had kids with different guys, they travelled around selling crap to eke out a living. And when it all became too tiresome, they had their Trust Funds and went home to the leafy suburbs and country clubs.
He turned out to have a heart of gold bullion and his class loyalty won out.
The word on the street is that both Joannies shortly after the COVID op hit the headlines enrolled as Tony Fauci's head praetorian guard and AK-47 wielding limo driver respectively. However they might now be compelled to move on to serving Tedros at the WHO since Fauci hit the lecture circuit.
Of those I witnessed around me during the prime years of the COVIDIA CULT the "cultural creatives" were the most ardent bio-fascists followed by university professors. Beware the Professional/Managerial class!
Yeah verily, a few are still milking that toxic cow to this day!
back when National Lampoon was a magazine and a radio show, they put out an album, it must have been in the late '70s, and people like Christopher Guest were performers...there was a send-up of Joan Baez, who was living the life of luxury in the SF Bay Area, while the Black Panthers and the People's Park folks and the hippies etc. were fighting it out in the streets in Oakland and Berkeley on the other side of The Bay..."pull the triggers, N*****s, we'er with you all they way, just across The Bay..." showing what hypocrites they all were...it was so right on even then.
I just listened to it for the first time in many decades...I'm surprised by how much I remember...National Lampoon: Radio Dinner is the name of the album...every single person and thing they satirized deserved it. George Harrison saving the people of Bangladesh by selling his album lol. Just as funny as it was then. Thanks for the memories.
Producer Tony Hendra, Michael O'Donoghue, Bob Tischler
National Lampoon chronology
Radio Dinner
(1972) National Lampoon's Lemmings
(1973)
Radio Dinner is the debut album by the creators of the American satirical magazine National Lampoon. It was released on Blue Thumb Records in 1972 after RCA Records had declined to issue the record. The humor on the album is steeped in the pop culture and politics of the era. It includes "Deteriorata", a parody of Les Crane's hit rendition of the poem "Desiderata", and commentary on the 1972 presidential race. Among several pieces satirizing the former Beatles, "Magical Misery Tour" is a parody of John Lennon's primal therapy-inspired songwriting and his 1970 Rolling Stone interview, later published in book form as Lennon Remembers.
Sketches and songs
Radio Dinner parodies the pop culture and political landscape of the early 1970s.[2] The record's principal creators were National Lampoon editors Tony Hendra and Michael O'Donoghue. Other writers for the magazine also contributed, and much of the material was derived from Christopher Guest's improvisatory style.[3]
The record includes several references to and sketches about the solo careers of former Beatles John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.[4] It also satirizes Bob Dylan, played by Guest on "Those Fabulous Sixties", and Joan Baez, on "Pull the Tregros".[5][6]
"Teenyrap", the title of several pieces of dialog spread throughout the album, features two teenagers discussing Harrison's 1971 Concert for Bangladesh aid project.[citation needed] The record ends with "Concert in Bangla Desh", where two Bangladeshi stand-up comedians (played by Guest and Hendra) perform to starving refugees, in an attempt to collect a bowlful of rice so that Harrison can stage a hunger strike.[4] The comedians' jokes are punctuated by the sound of tabla rolls.[4]
"Magical Misery Tour (Bootleg Record)" is a parody of Lennon's primal therapy-inspired songwriting style. The song's lyrics include the repeated cry of "Genius is pain!" and were taken directly from Lennon's 1970 Rolling Stone interview, later published in book form as Lennon Remembers.[4][7] Hendra plays Lennon,[7] while Melissa Manchester makes a brief speaking appearance as Yoko Ono.[8] The album's liner notes states that the song is "From the album Yoko Is a Concept by Which We Measure Our Pain, recorded live at Rolling Stone. All Profits to go to the Toronto Peace Festival."[6]
The album sends up McCartney's newfound politicization on his and Wings' 1972 single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish".[4] Several times[citation needed] an Irish tenor begins to sing the song in a pub but is soon gunned down.[4] There are also "clues" alluding to the "Paul is Dead" urban legend.[citation needed] These include four backmasked segments spread throughout the album. The LP's gatefold sleeve has the words "Clue Number Five: II Tim 4:6", as well as a picture frame that reads "CLUE NUMBER SIX" along the top, followed by "R.I.P.", and finally a partially covered "P. Mc."[citation needed]
The National Lampoon team parodies Les Crane's musical rendition of the poem "Desiderata" in "Deteriorata",[2] and game shows in "Catch It and You Keep It".[9] "Profiles in Chrome" includes Windy Craig as Richard Nixon,[6] whose landslide win in the 1972 presidential election is also predicted.[7]
Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [9]
Newsday A−[10]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide [11]
Radio Dinner was originally set to be released on RCA Records, but the company balked at "David and Julie", a track focussing on the sex life of David and Julie Eisenhower—the son-in-law and daughter, respectively, of Richard Nixon.[12] Hendra and O'Donoghue refused to cut the piece and took the album to Blue Thumb instead, but were met with the same objection. Lampoon relented and the album was released without "David and Julie".[2][12]
Radio Dinner was nominated for a Grammy Award[3] in the Best Comedy Album category.[2] According to Hendra in his 1987 book Going Too Far, Lennon was shocked by the depiction of him in "Magical Misery Tour" and walked out when a radio DJ played the track when Lennon and Ono were guests on his show.[8]
In a 1973 review for Newsday, Robert Christgau wrote of Radio Dinner: "Except for one stupid bit about a car that runs for president, this is funny throughout, and often savage. As usual, the Lampoon crew raises bad taste to the level of masochism—what's remarkable is that they do even better on record what they have demonstrated they can do in print."[10] Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone said that, like the magazine itself, National Lampoon's recording career began "brilliantly", and he described the parodies of Lennon, Dylan and Baez as "sheer genius".[11]
The album became out of print in 1977 and, as of 2016, had yet to be reissued.[2] In his overview of National Lampoon's recording output, for Vulture, Ramsay Ess describes "Magical Misery Tour" as arguably the album's "most famous track".[2]
Track listing
Side one
"Deteriorata" – 4:25
"Phono Phunnies/Teenyrap/It's Obvious" – 2:37
"Catch It and You Keep It/Pigeons/Teenyrap/Quinas 'n' 'Rasmus/All Kidding Aside (PSA)/Phono Phunnies/Teenyrap" – 10:05
"Magical Misery Tour (Bootleg Record)" – 4:08
Side two (titled "Side Thirteen")
"Those Fabulous Sixties" – 1:45
"Profiles in Chrome" – 8:16
"Teenyrap/Phono Phunnies/Pigeons/Support Your Locol Polece (PSA)" – 2:25
"Pull the Tregros/Teenyrap/Ng Asi/Phono Phunnies" – 6:25
"Concert in Bangla Desh" – 3:26
Personnel
Adapted from the 1972 LP credits.[6]
Performers
Tony Hendra, Christopher Guest, Michael O'Donoghue, Diane Reed, Jack Marks, Melissa Manchester, Alex Bennett, Windy Craig, Loren Order, Jackson Beck, Jessica Hendra, Jill Andre, Naomi R. Page – vocals, dialogue
Norman Rose – narration
Musicians
Christopher Guest – guitar, musical arrangements
Frani Bell – guitar
Melissa Manchester – piano, keyboards
John "Cooker" LoPresti, Dean Munson – bass
Jim Payne – drums
References
New York correspondent (July 15, 1972). "Famous Music in Tie with National Lampoon". Billboard. p. 6. Retrieved August 25, 2021. An album, 'National Lampoon's Radio Dinner,' will be released this month, via Famous Music's Blue Thumb label.
Ess, Ramsey (September 16, 2016). "Looking Back at the Albums of the National Lampoon". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Stein, Ellin (January 16, 2004). "The Welcome Guest". The Independent. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
Ankeny, Jason. "National Lampoon". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
National Lampoon (1972). Radio Dinner (inner-gatefold LP credits). Blue Thumb Records.
Riley, Tim (2011). Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – The Definitive Life. London: Random House. p. 511. ISBN 978-0-7535-4020-6.
Metzger, Richard (March 7, 2013). "'Genius is pain!': National Lampoon's 'Magical Misery Tour' is the best John Lennon parody, ever". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Dryden, Ken. "National Lampoon Radio Dinner". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
Christgau, Robert (March 11, 1973). "The Comedy Album Crop". Newsday. Retrieved August 16, 2016 – via robertchristgau.com.
Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John, eds. (1983). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. New York, NY: Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
"Record Censored, Lampoon to Tour". Rolling Stone. October 26, 1972. pp. 16–18.
Regardless if it's true upcoming talent or planted hack when one of these high profile "entertainers" makes the deal they don't really have a choice anymore. If they stray from the script they suddenly have suicidal tendencies.
My question was mostly rhetorical; mostly for comic effect.
As you say, stardom, whether earned or bestowed, is always granted. Even long before "cancel culture", if you stepped out of line, you were canceled. What has changed in recent years, is the extent of it and the brazenness and zeal with which it's carried out.
Taylor, like anyone who's "made it", knows what she can and cannot say, and that saying some unapproved thing and meaning it, is certain career suicide.
Mark Im pretty sure that Lymes was/is another bioweapon created by DARPA. I cant remember where I read that (Tessa Lena? Elizabeth Nickson? A Midwestern Doctor?) but Im pretty confident that there's quite strong evidence for it. So Kris was once bitten (by DARPA) twice shy and thus did not fall for the COVID Cartel tactics.
I found a large mark on my leg, an obvious 'bull's eye' rash, in 2018--two weeks after I had spent 10 days in the Maine woods. Blood test confirmed; doxycycline killed it.
"Since 1954, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) has served as the nation’s premier defense against accidental or intentional introduction of transboundary animal diseases..." — oh, the irony!
"The Plum Island Animal Disease Center operates Biosafety Level (BSL) 2, BSL-3 Enhanced, Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL-3), and Biosafety Level 3 Agriculture (BSL-3Ag) laboratory and animal research facilities."
"The history of Lyme disease in Connecticut began in 1975 when a cluster of children and adults residing in the Lyme, Connecticut area experienced uncommon arthritic symptoms..." — Lyme, Connecticut is on the mainland very close to Plum Island, New York. Nothing could be simpler than connecting those two dots.
Long Island Sound and the connections with Plum Island and Lyne Connecticut across the water...Woodshole and SUNY Stoenybrook, Montauk, Block Island, etc.
In contrast to Dylan, this is Joan Baez in Facebook,
"Dear Dr. Fauci,
I've painted your portrait to honor you and all you are doing for us and for the world. It will be a part of my second art exhibit of "Mischief Makers" paintings of people who have made meaningful social change without the use of violence.
I don't imagine you've ever thought of it this way, but you are engaging in nonviolent resistance every time you stand in front of the cameras and attempt to educate the public on how to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. You cheerfully continue your task, surrounded by people who are dreaming up every way possible to discredit you and what you bring to us: common sense, scientific facts, some warmth and a bit of humor, and towering moral fortitude. Telling the truth is out of favor with the rich and powerful, particularly these days. You speak truth to their dominion. You take a big risk in doing so.
Corragio, Dr. Anthony Fauci!
If my friends and I can ever be of help to you, you need only let us know. We've got your back.
A few quotes from my favorite, the late Phil Ochs,
"In every political community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. Here, then, is a lesson in safe logic."
"You can do right or you can do what you are told. The prize of the victory will belong to the bold."
"It's wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life."
That piece of fawning garbage, depressingly common from the music establishment, hasn’t/isn’t going to wear well, with more people gradually beginning to wake up.
Love the Highwaymen. Didn't know they were so subversive. And in 1991, so Kristofferson was likely speaking about Bush & the flag waving over Iraq. When the Dixie Chicks did similar a decade later, they got canceled in a big way.
On Lyme, I'm convinced that some cases are vaccine injuries that are misdiagnosed as Lyme, and in some cases the vaccines have amplified the effects of Lyme. My wife had a mild case of psoriasis until the HPV vaccine, then it BLEW UP into full blown psoriatic arthritis and MAS (multiple autoimmune syndrome). . .and I suspect something similar is happening with Lyme.
Also noteworthy, Lyme skyrocketed about the same time as the vaccine schedule (post 1989). Obviously Lyme existed before this and is awful either way, but the correlation with the vaccine schedule seems like too much of a coincidence:
Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer (later a U.S. Air Force major general).[2][3] Kristofferson's paternal grandfather was an officer in the Swedish Army.[4] While Kristofferson was a child, his father pushed him toward a military career.[4]
Kristofferson attended Pomona College and experienced his first national exposure in 1958, appearing in the March 31 issue of Sports Illustrated for his achievements in collegiate rugby union, American football, and track and field.[8] He and his classmates revived the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club in 1958, and it remains a Southern California rugby institution. Kristofferson graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in literature. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year. In a 2004 interview with Pomona College Magazine, Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life.[9]
In 1973, Kristofferson received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Pomona College during Alumni Weekend, accompanied by fellow performers Johnny Cash and Rita Coolidge. His award was presented to him by his aforementioned mentor, Professor Sontag.[10]
University of Oxford
In 1958, Kristofferson was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford,[11] studying at Merton College.[12] While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing,[12] played rugby for his college, and began writing songs. At Oxford, he became acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic, and poet Michael Fried. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, Kristofferson recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress toward his goal of becoming a novelist.[13]
This early phase of his music career was unsuccessful.[14] In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature.[12][15][16]
Military service
Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, attaining the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School.[17] During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[18] During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point.[19] Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of his career decision; sources are unclear on whether they reconciled.[20][21][22] They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, although Kristofferson says he is proud of his time in the military and received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards ceremony.[23][24]
Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950, shortly after the start of the Korean War.[34] After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West Germany. While in San Antonio, he met Vivian Liberto an attractive girl of Sicilian, Irish and German ancestry. They dated briefly before his departure. During the years he served overseas, they exchanged thousands of letters.
He worked in West Germany as a Morse code operator, intercepting Soviet Army transmissions. While working this job, Cash was said to be the first American to be given the news of Joseph Stalin’s death (supplied via Morse code). His daughter, Rosanne, said that Cash had recounted the story many times over the years.[35][36][37] While at Landsberg, he created his first band, "The Landsberg Barbarians".[38] On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and he returned to Texas.[39
Dylan is far too quietly on our side, if he is. Though, he has personal experience of what the behind-the-scenes players can do to you. Nonetheless, consider the graphics prominently featuring syringes used for several of the songs for his Rough and Rowdy Ways release in 2020. Or consider his lyrics to "My Own Version of You." He saw at least some of what was coming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QPBpFAKTGo&ab_channel=BobDylanVEVO
Kris Kristofferson didn’t look too good at Willie’s 90th birthday celebration when he sang with Rosanne Cash. He is 87 though. He’s always been a good guy . He was a helicopter pilot in the army. One time on the David Letterman show he told how he once flew his chopper under a bridge!
Like listening to old George Carlin clips where he too told everyone it was a big club and you weren’t in it and you had to be asleep to believe in the American Dream. Everyone laughed but today a lot of the same people understand exactly what he meant.
Scram!
Had no idea about Kristoffersons’s Lyme misadventure!
"however quietly, on our side" If they are quiet, they are not on our side.
He's also on video record telling us that he sold his soul to evil.
The Great Awakening is starting to look like The Great Reset.
A great deception? 2 Corinthians 11:14
Yes 2 Corinthians 11:14
The world is being prepared for the false second coming.
You can see it in all the TV, movies and "He Gets Us" ads
Well if you are quietly on are side, are you also quietly on their side? Who knows?
And as for Joan Baez, I just think like Neil Young, when these otherwise brilliant artists got old, they forgot about their rebellious youth, got lazy and very frightened by the propaganda since they were prime candidates to be killed by covid (they thought). They failed to pay attention to what was really happening and basically let us all down. But they are just like all these other old people getting scammed all the time - easy targets. I still felt so sad and surprised about Neil Young threatening Spotify over Jo Rogan... what happened to him looking for a heart of gold?
I read how the whole Laurel Canyon music scene was another intelligence psyop and the musicians that suddenly became popular and were against what was happening then had lots of backing from the oligarchs of the day. That was why when we expected them to stand up there was no there there. I wish I had saved the article.
That's Dave McGowan's thesis, which is (I think) somewhat overstated, though important.
I think Dave McGowan couldn't have been more right on in his analysis of the very dark underbelly of the music and entertainment industry in LA in the 60s and 70s.
I lived in LA for a number of years, and knew Laurel Canyon a bit, as well as some of the other places Dave wrote about.
Almost every single rock star musician had family ties with the military industrial complex, or in Neil Young's case, the MSM, his father Scott Young was a famous journalist in Canada.
Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash both served in Military Intelligence when they were in the Armed Forces btw. Kristofferson was I believe a Rhodes Scholar as well.
These people don't show up out of nowhere.
Jerry Garcia's father was in the military too.
Joni Mitchell too. And Frank Zappa. David Crosby. Stephen Stills.
When some of them began to question the whole scene, and who was behind it, and what they were earning, they conveniently died at 27 or thereabouts. Hendrix, Joplin, et. al.
They were so messed up from drugs and alcohol it was easy.
And of course the Manson Family. The movie Chinatown has a lot of clues.
Roman Polanski knew it all.
How many people wasted part of their lives following The Grateful Dead around? I knew through friends girls who had kids with different guys, they travelled around selling crap to eke out a living. And when it all became too tiresome, they had their Trust Funds and went home to the leafy suburbs and country clubs.
https://centerforaninformedamerica.com/laurelcanyon/
Thanks for the link.
thank you
He turned out to have a heart of gold bullion and his class loyalty won out.
The word on the street is that both Joannies shortly after the COVID op hit the headlines enrolled as Tony Fauci's head praetorian guard and AK-47 wielding limo driver respectively. However they might now be compelled to move on to serving Tedros at the WHO since Fauci hit the lecture circuit.
Of those I witnessed around me during the prime years of the COVIDIA CULT the "cultural creatives" were the most ardent bio-fascists followed by university professors. Beware the Professional/Managerial class!
Yeah verily, a few are still milking that toxic cow to this day!
Agreed, but with a slight correction — he turned out to have a heart of PONZI FIAT.
Darryl Hannah is handling Neil Young imo...Joni Mitchell is the other Joannie?
back when National Lampoon was a magazine and a radio show, they put out an album, it must have been in the late '70s, and people like Christopher Guest were performers...there was a send-up of Joan Baez, who was living the life of luxury in the SF Bay Area, while the Black Panthers and the People's Park folks and the hippies etc. were fighting it out in the streets in Oakland and Berkeley on the other side of The Bay..."pull the triggers, N*****s, we'er with you all they way, just across The Bay..." showing what hypocrites they all were...it was so right on even then.
Here's the full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUVBgN9zbTk
I just listened to it for the first time in many decades...I'm surprised by how much I remember...National Lampoon: Radio Dinner is the name of the album...every single person and thing they satirized deserved it. George Harrison saving the people of Bangladesh by selling his album lol. Just as funny as it was then. Thanks for the memories.
Radio Dinner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio Dinner
Studio album by National Lampoon
Released July 1972[1]
Genre Comedy, parody
Label Blue Thumb
Producer Tony Hendra, Michael O'Donoghue, Bob Tischler
National Lampoon chronology
Radio Dinner
(1972) National Lampoon's Lemmings
(1973)
Radio Dinner is the debut album by the creators of the American satirical magazine National Lampoon. It was released on Blue Thumb Records in 1972 after RCA Records had declined to issue the record. The humor on the album is steeped in the pop culture and politics of the era. It includes "Deteriorata", a parody of Les Crane's hit rendition of the poem "Desiderata", and commentary on the 1972 presidential race. Among several pieces satirizing the former Beatles, "Magical Misery Tour" is a parody of John Lennon's primal therapy-inspired songwriting and his 1970 Rolling Stone interview, later published in book form as Lennon Remembers.
Sketches and songs
Radio Dinner parodies the pop culture and political landscape of the early 1970s.[2] The record's principal creators were National Lampoon editors Tony Hendra and Michael O'Donoghue. Other writers for the magazine also contributed, and much of the material was derived from Christopher Guest's improvisatory style.[3]
The record includes several references to and sketches about the solo careers of former Beatles John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.[4] It also satirizes Bob Dylan, played by Guest on "Those Fabulous Sixties", and Joan Baez, on "Pull the Tregros".[5][6]
"Teenyrap", the title of several pieces of dialog spread throughout the album, features two teenagers discussing Harrison's 1971 Concert for Bangladesh aid project.[citation needed] The record ends with "Concert in Bangla Desh", where two Bangladeshi stand-up comedians (played by Guest and Hendra) perform to starving refugees, in an attempt to collect a bowlful of rice so that Harrison can stage a hunger strike.[4] The comedians' jokes are punctuated by the sound of tabla rolls.[4]
"Magical Misery Tour (Bootleg Record)" is a parody of Lennon's primal therapy-inspired songwriting style. The song's lyrics include the repeated cry of "Genius is pain!" and were taken directly from Lennon's 1970 Rolling Stone interview, later published in book form as Lennon Remembers.[4][7] Hendra plays Lennon,[7] while Melissa Manchester makes a brief speaking appearance as Yoko Ono.[8] The album's liner notes states that the song is "From the album Yoko Is a Concept by Which We Measure Our Pain, recorded live at Rolling Stone. All Profits to go to the Toronto Peace Festival."[6]
The album sends up McCartney's newfound politicization on his and Wings' 1972 single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish".[4] Several times[citation needed] an Irish tenor begins to sing the song in a pub but is soon gunned down.[4] There are also "clues" alluding to the "Paul is Dead" urban legend.[citation needed] These include four backmasked segments spread throughout the album. The LP's gatefold sleeve has the words "Clue Number Five: II Tim 4:6", as well as a picture frame that reads "CLUE NUMBER SIX" along the top, followed by "R.I.P.", and finally a partially covered "P. Mc."[citation needed]
The National Lampoon team parodies Les Crane's musical rendition of the poem "Desiderata" in "Deteriorata",[2] and game shows in "Catch It and You Keep It".[9] "Profiles in Chrome" includes Windy Craig as Richard Nixon,[6] whose landslide win in the 1972 presidential election is also predicted.[7]
Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [9]
Newsday A−[10]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide [11]
Radio Dinner was originally set to be released on RCA Records, but the company balked at "David and Julie", a track focussing on the sex life of David and Julie Eisenhower—the son-in-law and daughter, respectively, of Richard Nixon.[12] Hendra and O'Donoghue refused to cut the piece and took the album to Blue Thumb instead, but were met with the same objection. Lampoon relented and the album was released without "David and Julie".[2][12]
Radio Dinner was nominated for a Grammy Award[3] in the Best Comedy Album category.[2] According to Hendra in his 1987 book Going Too Far, Lennon was shocked by the depiction of him in "Magical Misery Tour" and walked out when a radio DJ played the track when Lennon and Ono were guests on his show.[8]
In a 1973 review for Newsday, Robert Christgau wrote of Radio Dinner: "Except for one stupid bit about a car that runs for president, this is funny throughout, and often savage. As usual, the Lampoon crew raises bad taste to the level of masochism—what's remarkable is that they do even better on record what they have demonstrated they can do in print."[10] Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone said that, like the magazine itself, National Lampoon's recording career began "brilliantly", and he described the parodies of Lennon, Dylan and Baez as "sheer genius".[11]
The album became out of print in 1977 and, as of 2016, had yet to be reissued.[2] In his overview of National Lampoon's recording output, for Vulture, Ramsay Ess describes "Magical Misery Tour" as arguably the album's "most famous track".[2]
Track listing
Side one
"Deteriorata" – 4:25
"Phono Phunnies/Teenyrap/It's Obvious" – 2:37
"Catch It and You Keep It/Pigeons/Teenyrap/Quinas 'n' 'Rasmus/All Kidding Aside (PSA)/Phono Phunnies/Teenyrap" – 10:05
"Magical Misery Tour (Bootleg Record)" – 4:08
Side two (titled "Side Thirteen")
"Those Fabulous Sixties" – 1:45
"Profiles in Chrome" – 8:16
"Teenyrap/Phono Phunnies/Pigeons/Support Your Locol Polece (PSA)" – 2:25
"Pull the Tregros/Teenyrap/Ng Asi/Phono Phunnies" – 6:25
"Concert in Bangla Desh" – 3:26
Personnel
Adapted from the 1972 LP credits.[6]
Performers
Tony Hendra, Christopher Guest, Michael O'Donoghue, Diane Reed, Jack Marks, Melissa Manchester, Alex Bennett, Windy Craig, Loren Order, Jackson Beck, Jessica Hendra, Jill Andre, Naomi R. Page – vocals, dialogue
Norman Rose – narration
Musicians
Christopher Guest – guitar, musical arrangements
Frani Bell – guitar
Melissa Manchester – piano, keyboards
John "Cooker" LoPresti, Dean Munson – bass
Jim Payne – drums
References
New York correspondent (July 15, 1972). "Famous Music in Tie with National Lampoon". Billboard. p. 6. Retrieved August 25, 2021. An album, 'National Lampoon's Radio Dinner,' will be released this month, via Famous Music's Blue Thumb label.
Ess, Ramsey (September 16, 2016). "Looking Back at the Albums of the National Lampoon". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Stein, Ellin (January 16, 2004). "The Welcome Guest". The Independent. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
Ankeny, Jason. "National Lampoon". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
National Lampoon (1972). Radio Dinner (inner-gatefold LP credits). Blue Thumb Records.
Riley, Tim (2011). Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – The Definitive Life. London: Random House. p. 511. ISBN 978-0-7535-4020-6.
Metzger, Richard (March 7, 2013). "'Genius is pain!': National Lampoon's 'Magical Misery Tour' is the best John Lennon parody, ever". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
Dryden, Ken. "National Lampoon Radio Dinner". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
Christgau, Robert (March 11, 1973). "The Comedy Album Crop". Newsday. Retrieved August 16, 2016 – via robertchristgau.com.
Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John, eds. (1983). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. New York, NY: Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
"Record Censored, Lampoon to Tour". Rolling Stone. October 26, 1972. pp. 16–18.
Yes I recall that record well. The Baez sendup was apt.
That said she did have a beautiful voice and maybe still does.
her father was in the Military too.
Well now, isn't that just perfectly darling ... Taylor Swift with a tray of Genocide Joe 2020 endorsements!
Do pop stars get Mulligans or do they just double down?
Regardless if it's true upcoming talent or planted hack when one of these high profile "entertainers" makes the deal they don't really have a choice anymore. If they stray from the script they suddenly have suicidal tendencies.
Indeed.
My question was mostly rhetorical; mostly for comic effect.
As you say, stardom, whether earned or bestowed, is always granted. Even long before "cancel culture", if you stepped out of line, you were canceled. What has changed in recent years, is the extent of it and the brazenness and zeal with which it's carried out.
Taylor, like anyone who's "made it", knows what she can and cannot say, and that saying some unapproved thing and meaning it, is certain career suicide.
"Celebrity" is code for "Distorted Reality."
That guardian article makes it easy to know whom to boycott. I'll never give a cent to anyone who pushed the jabs in any way.
It doesn’t hold up well! Then all the please subscribe stuff at the bottom.
Maniacs
Mark Im pretty sure that Lymes was/is another bioweapon created by DARPA. I cant remember where I read that (Tessa Lena? Elizabeth Nickson? A Midwestern Doctor?) but Im pretty confident that there's quite strong evidence for it. So Kris was once bitten (by DARPA) twice shy and thus did not fall for the COVID Cartel tactics.
Read the book "Bitten". Weaponized ticks.
The lab leak of a mythical "virus" is pure hokum but the weaponized ticks delivering Lyme appear to be real.
While not definitive she makes a strong case in the book.
My dog caught it but was effectivly treated by homeopathy
Lab 257 also worth reading (or the first chapter, anyway).
I found a large mark on my leg, an obvious 'bull's eye' rash, in 2018--two weeks after I had spent 10 days in the Maine woods. Blood test confirmed; doxycycline killed it.
Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
"Since 1954, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) has served as the nation’s premier defense against accidental or intentional introduction of transboundary animal diseases..." — oh, the irony!
"The Plum Island Animal Disease Center operates Biosafety Level (BSL) 2, BSL-3 Enhanced, Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL-3), and Biosafety Level 3 Agriculture (BSL-3Ag) laboratory and animal research facilities."
"The history of Lyme disease in Connecticut began in 1975 when a cluster of children and adults residing in the Lyme, Connecticut area experienced uncommon arthritic symptoms..." — Lyme, Connecticut is on the mainland very close to Plum Island, New York. Nothing could be simpler than connecting those two dots.
Long Island Sound and the connections with Plum Island and Lyne Connecticut across the water...Woodshole and SUNY Stoenybrook, Montauk, Block Island, etc.
Plum Island. And a variety of tick not found in New England.
In contrast to Dylan, this is Joan Baez in Facebook,
"Dear Dr. Fauci,
I've painted your portrait to honor you and all you are doing for us and for the world. It will be a part of my second art exhibit of "Mischief Makers" paintings of people who have made meaningful social change without the use of violence.
I don't imagine you've ever thought of it this way, but you are engaging in nonviolent resistance every time you stand in front of the cameras and attempt to educate the public on how to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. You cheerfully continue your task, surrounded by people who are dreaming up every way possible to discredit you and what you bring to us: common sense, scientific facts, some warmth and a bit of humor, and towering moral fortitude. Telling the truth is out of favor with the rich and powerful, particularly these days. You speak truth to their dominion. You take a big risk in doing so.
Corragio, Dr. Anthony Fauci!
If my friends and I can ever be of help to you, you need only let us know. We've got your back.
Sincerely,
Joan Baez"
What a nitwit you have to be to type such madness.
A few quotes from my favorite, the late Phil Ochs,
"In every political community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. Here, then, is a lesson in safe logic."
"You can do right or you can do what you are told. The prize of the victory will belong to the bold."
"It's wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life."
and don't forget what they did to Phil Ochs who gave Bob Dylan a run for his money
That piece of fawning garbage, depressingly common from the music establishment, hasn’t/isn’t going to wear well, with more people gradually beginning to wake up.
RFK for president!
The Babylon Bee, surely!?
'Mischief makers'--as they say, you just can't make this stuff up!
No Lyme disease there, just pure dementia.
Oh, how, I wish you hadn't shared that! Makes my already moderated-love of her heyday's music that much more...qualified...tethered...aware of what would come... https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/08/carls-rock-songbook-80-joan-baez-silver-dagger
Still one of my top five (non classical, bluegrass or jazz) CDs.
We listened to this for thousands of miles with our four sons many times driving the entire west coast.
Thank you Mark Crispin Miller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfrVSqBYilc
Love the Highwaymen. Didn't know they were so subversive. And in 1991, so Kristofferson was likely speaking about Bush & the flag waving over Iraq. When the Dixie Chicks did similar a decade later, they got canceled in a big way.
On Lyme, I'm convinced that some cases are vaccine injuries that are misdiagnosed as Lyme, and in some cases the vaccines have amplified the effects of Lyme. My wife had a mild case of psoriasis until the HPV vaccine, then it BLEW UP into full blown psoriatic arthritis and MAS (multiple autoimmune syndrome). . .and I suspect something similar is happening with Lyme.
Also noteworthy, Lyme skyrocketed about the same time as the vaccine schedule (post 1989). Obviously Lyme existed before this and is awful either way, but the correlation with the vaccine schedule seems like too much of a coincidence:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/ss/figures/s6622a1f1.gif
Love these wild men!!! I sure hope we haven't seen the last of their kind!! What would the world be without their kind of spicy??
re Kris Kristofferson:
Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer (later a U.S. Air Force major general).[2][3] Kristofferson's paternal grandfather was an officer in the Swedish Army.[4] While Kristofferson was a child, his father pushed him toward a military career.[4]
Kristofferson attended Pomona College and experienced his first national exposure in 1958, appearing in the March 31 issue of Sports Illustrated for his achievements in collegiate rugby union, American football, and track and field.[8] He and his classmates revived the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club in 1958, and it remains a Southern California rugby institution. Kristofferson graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in literature. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year. In a 2004 interview with Pomona College Magazine, Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life.[9]
In 1973, Kristofferson received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Pomona College during Alumni Weekend, accompanied by fellow performers Johnny Cash and Rita Coolidge. His award was presented to him by his aforementioned mentor, Professor Sontag.[10]
University of Oxford
In 1958, Kristofferson was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford,[11] studying at Merton College.[12] While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing,[12] played rugby for his college, and began writing songs. At Oxford, he became acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic, and poet Michael Fried. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, Kristofferson recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress toward his goal of becoming a novelist.[13]
This early phase of his music career was unsuccessful.[14] In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature.[12][15][16]
Military service
Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, attaining the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School.[17] During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[18] During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point.[19] Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of his career decision; sources are unclear on whether they reconciled.[20][21][22] They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, although Kristofferson says he is proud of his time in the military and received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards ceremony.[23][24]
re Johnny Cash's military service:
Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950, shortly after the start of the Korean War.[34] After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West Germany. While in San Antonio, he met Vivian Liberto an attractive girl of Sicilian, Irish and German ancestry. They dated briefly before his departure. During the years he served overseas, they exchanged thousands of letters.
He worked in West Germany as a Morse code operator, intercepting Soviet Army transmissions. While working this job, Cash was said to be the first American to be given the news of Joseph Stalin’s death (supplied via Morse code). His daughter, Rosanne, said that Cash had recounted the story many times over the years.[35][36][37] While at Landsberg, he created his first band, "The Landsberg Barbarians".[38] On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and he returned to Texas.[39
Dylan is far too quietly on our side, if he is. Though, he has personal experience of what the behind-the-scenes players can do to you. Nonetheless, consider the graphics prominently featuring syringes used for several of the songs for his Rough and Rowdy Ways release in 2020. Or consider his lyrics to "My Own Version of You." He saw at least some of what was coming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QPBpFAKTGo&ab_channel=BobDylanVEVO
Dylan has sold his songs for ads on tv, I think that says it all
Kris Kristofferson didn’t look too good at Willie’s 90th birthday celebration when he sang with Rosanne Cash. He is 87 though. He’s always been a good guy . He was a helicopter pilot in the army. One time on the David Letterman show he told how he once flew his chopper under a bridge!