Jay Bookman

By lwwmm7

November 10, 2008 7:21 PM | Link to this

Can’t believe there are no comments here. Is a blog about a fine American maverick musician too tame for our usual gang of hate-mongers? I take back all those things I said about you, Jay, well, most of em anyway.

By Morningstar

November 10, 2008 7:31 PM | Link to this

By lwwmm7 November 10, 2008 7:21 PM

They’re just having a late dinner; and some began hitting the PBR or sherry too early in the day……

By lwwmm7

November 10, 2008 7:35 PM | Link to this

Or maybe a lot of Jay’s blog buddies don’t know who Merle is. Jay is sorta dating himself here.

By TN Gelding

November 10, 2008 7:42 PM | Link to this

They probably aren’t aware of it yet.

There’s a delay sometime in the post being available. I’m listening to Midnight Train to Georgia, again.

Who would have thunk it. Jay and country music with bourbon.

Get well soon, Merle!

By RW-(the original)

November 10, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this

The real news here is that Merle is only 71.

My prayers for a full and speedy recovery.

By lwwmm7

November 10, 2008 7:47 PM | Link to this

While my faith in humankind has been renewed by Jay today, I’ll sign off now before the haters get here. Have a great night everybody!

By AJC/DNC Management

November 10, 2008 7:58 PM | Link to this

I’d rather slide down a twenty foot long razor blade into a tub of ammonia than listen to some country bumpkin yelp about his grandmama being in jail.

You know how incredibly famous Shania Twain would be if she actually sang music, instead of all that screechy garbage?

Anyway, who ever the hell Merle Haggard is, I wish him a speedy and successful recovery.

By Ray-Bakersfield

November 10, 2008 7:59 PM | Link to this

I’m friends with Merle’s family members and have met Merle occasionally. Was at the hospital on Friday, the 7th. Merle is doing great and is in good spirits, already testing his vocal abilities. Baring no setbacks I’m sure we’ll hear from him and see him again soon.

By Amelia

November 10, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this

This is dedicated to AJC/DNC Management:

I was drunk the day my Mama got out of prison, and I went to pick her up in the raiiiin, but before I could get to prison in my pickup truck, she got ran over by a damned ole train.

Well you don’t have to call me darlin, darlin.. You never even call me, well I wonder why you don’t call me, why don’t you ever call me by my naaaame.

:)

By Truth

November 10, 2008 8:05 PM | Link to this

Jay… I just got a new found respect for you. Did you know that the greatest President ever, Ronald Reagan, pardoned Merle of past crimes? I hope Haggard makes it, but if he doesn’t, then his music darn sure will!

By AJC/DNC Management

November 10, 2008 8:16 PM | Link to this

Phoenix, which landed on the planet’s northern plains in May, had been struggling in the increasing cold and dark of an advancing winter.

Engineers have not heard from the craft since Sunday 2 November when it made a brief communication with Earth.

Oh great, NASA busted off another billion in our collective behind, at least this one didn’t take a whole entire crew of astronauts with it.

Maybe they should have packed some little spacecraft long johns for the trip, no?

I guess they figured since Mars is 97% CO2 that it would be toasty warm over there.

Morons.

By "The Corporal"

November 10, 2008 8:21 PM | Link to this

JAY

Check this out when you get a chance ………..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9-iuIoIpfo

By getalife

November 10, 2008 8:59 PM | Link to this

Country music sux. Always has, always will.

In honor of our Vets on Veterens Day

My flag is flying.

By AJC/DNC Management

November 10, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this

“Speaking truth to the power:”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.

“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”

By Lee

November 10, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this

Sorry Jay, nobody I know that likes Merle Haggard and Kentucky Bourbon voted for the American socialist obama. Your membership in the Real Man’s Club was revoked a long time ago.

Amelia, fyi, you’re quoting the lyrics to a David Allen Coe song.

By Greg Mendel

November 10, 2008 9:09 PM | Link to this

How come nobody gets mist-eyed about the Village People?

By "The Corporal"

November 10, 2008 9:10 PM | Link to this

“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 B.C. to 43 B.C.)

By Truth

November 10, 2008 9:21 PM | Link to this

Lee…. The song is actually written by Steve Goodman… remember?

“Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song. And he told me it was the perfect country and western song. I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was NOT the perfect country and western song, because he hadn’t said anything at all about momma, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin’ drunk.

Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to the song and he sent it to me and after reading it, I realized that my friend had written the perfect country and western song. And I felt obliged to include it on this album. The last verse goes like this here….”

DAC live is unforgetable… No matter how drunk I was…

By Greg Mendel

November 10, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this

“Amelia, fyi, you’re quoting the lyrics to a David Allen Coe song.”

Actually, it’s Steve Goodman’s song. He wrote it. Steve was a nice Jewish boy from Chicago.

By GOP is gone

November 10, 2008 9:31 PM | Link to this

I am a huge audiophile and love his music. I have that song in my itunes along with many others, oh around 10,000 plus but I have lost count. And that is just my computer library, I quit counting hard copy too. I have long admitted I need a 12 step program when it comes to good music.

Hope they were able to get it all out and he can make it through chemo and radiation ok. That damn smoking will get you every time, either your heart or lungs one. And think of all the second hand bar smoke he has breathed in for 50 or so years.

Good Luck Darlin

By Amelia

November 10, 2008 9:38 PM | Link to this

Wow, y’all got me. I wanted Management to think I wrote that just for him. :) Another good country song written by a Jewish boy is “A Boy Named Sue”, by Shel Silverstein. That’s funny, isn’t it?

By Hillbilly Deluxe

November 10, 2008 9:41 PM | Link to this

Jay you and I disagree on most things but we’re agreed on this. Merle is one of a kind. I once heard him say that he makes his music “complicated but simple at the same time”. I think that pretty much sums it up. Today I Started Lovin’ You Again, Sing Me Back Home, Mama’s Hungry Eyes, and many more. Those songs are pure poetry. I only got to see Merle play one time but it was something. He came out said hello, sang his songs and said goodnight. Every eye in the house was focused on him for the whole night. That my friend is stage prescence. Let the music speak for itself. I hope Merle recovers and is able to give us a few more years to enjoy his stuff. A damn shame he can’t get played on the radio anymore.

And speaking of Bakersfield, was there ever a more perfectly matched harmony duo than Buck Owens and Don Rich?

By Greg Mendel

November 10, 2008 9:53 PM | Link to this

Amelia:

Another is Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, with “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” Kinky was born in Chicago.

I saw Friedman at Agnes Scott College last year. He sang “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed.” Big hit with an audience of a primo women’s college.

Actually, 3/4ths cheered. 1/4 booed.

By Amelia

November 10, 2008 9:59 PM | Link to this

Greg: I haven’t heard of Kinky Friedman but I’ll have to look him up. He sounds hysterical. The 1/4 who booed have no sense of humor.

By Mr. Snarky

November 10, 2008 10:03 PM | Link to this

I’m not much of a country music fan, though I do like some Willie once in a while. You don’t get musicians with names like Merle these days. Hope he bounces back.

By Truth

November 10, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this

About a year ago I was researching my family tree and found that Willie and I are like 5th cousins… I know… Lame…

By TN Gelding

November 10, 2008 10:06 PM | Link to this

AJC/DNC Management

November 10, 2008 9:02 PM

It’s understandable why you guys are so paranoid after the last 7 years, 9 months and 21 days.

By Hillbilly Deluxe

November 10, 2008 10:12 PM | Link to this

Kinky Friedman ran for Governor of Texas as an independent a few years back. Some really interesting interviews from that time on Youtube. If he’d have run for President I probably would have voted for him.

By Greg Mendel

November 10, 2008 10:13 PM | Link to this

Mr. Snarky:

I like “oldies,” myself. Like Mozart and Brahms.

You don’t get names like Amadeus, either. Or Ludwig. Or Kinky.

By Amelia

November 10, 2008 10:13 PM | Link to this

Oh, TN Gelding is poking the bear. Time to say good night.

By TN Gelding

November 10, 2008 10:32 PM | Link to this

Amelia

November 10, 2008 10:13 PM

Good night.

By "The Corporal"

November 10, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this

Off Topic

Instead of all these bailouts why not just pass a law that individuals, businesses, banks and corporations no longer owe anyone any money? All is forgiven. There, problem solved and we can all start from scratch again.

By Soixante huitard

November 10, 2008 11:56 PM | Link to this

I’d rather slide down a twenty foot long razor blade into a tub of ammonia than listen to some country bumpkin yelp about his grandmama being in jail.

Actually that’s very revealing, Management. What that tells us is that despite your refusal to admit it it’s clear that Merle Haggard cannot but be your very favorite musician and in fact he surely must be one of your idols. (Bare with me, skeptics.)

Why else would you have felt compelled to use such a painful image as I’d rather slide down a twenty foot long razor blade into a tub of ammonia if it did not conceal deep down a profound and abiding love for the man, the music, and the terrible conflict that presented itself the moment you saw Jay’s post. Do I reveal my feelings? you must have wondered.

But of course, here there was no choice but to fake it and pretend you’d never heard of him because to admit otherwise, to admit that you shared this passion with Jay, your arch-nemesis in the all-encompassing area of politics, life, and truth, would have been to have to fall on your sword and cede victory to the enemy. It would mean you would have to completely revise your whole view of reality to keep it from crashing down.

So my friend believe me, I do sympathize. I know the pain you must feel inside at seeing your idol crash against the stones of poliltical calculation and have to be sacrificed in the name of the higher good. I do sympathize, friend, I truly do.

By Greg Mendel

November 11, 2008 12:08 AM | Link to this

“I’d rather slide down a twenty foot long razor blade into a tub of ammonia “

So, you’d vote for Dubya again.

By AJC/DNC Management

November 11, 2008 5:41 AM | Link to this

But, underscoring the difficult decisions Obama must make to fulfill his pledge of shutting down Guantanamo, the plan could require the creation of a new legal system to handle classified information inherent in some of the most sensitive cases.-Urinal/Jihad

You mean like a military tribunal?

So where are the mournful screams of outrage and depravity at now, liberals?

Are their no concerns for the well being of your little cut throat terrorist friends now that Oblahma is prez?

6 days and already two supposed Bush crimes turned out to, well, not be crimes anymore.

By How To Field Dress A Liberal, If You Must (Mad As Zell)

November 11, 2008 6:24 AM | Link to this

The Messiah doesn’t care whether the terrorists who will be set free after the closing of Guantanimo Bay end up back on the battle field shooting at American Soldiers, because they are, after all, his people. So while The Chosen One increases the terror movement by ten-fold by closing Guantanimo, the military will be spitefully cut by at least 25% or more because pinkos hate the U.S. Military and love any anti-American military, i.e. U.S.S.R., Al-Qadea, China, France, etc.

By Banned at the AJC

November 11, 2008 6:33 AM | Link to this

I wonder if Jay would be so quick to give the same cyberspace death penalty to a lib for namejacking, let’s say, AJC/DNC Management or Mad As Zell? Is Lady Kookman’s Justice really as blind as it pretends to be? Justice or just us?

Free Mad As Zell!

By GodHatesTrash

November 11, 2008 6:50 AM | Link to this

Well, it’s better than being banned for merely telling the terrible truth about southern rustics….

By Soixante huitard

November 11, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

The Messiah doesn’t care whether the terrorists who will be set free after the closing of Guantanimo Bay end up back on the battle field shooting at American Soldiers, because they are, after all, his people.

C’mon, Libby boy, don’t beat around the Bush. What are you saying about Obama’s people here?

C’mon, tell us. You seem to be trying to make some kind of statement here, but when you speak all I hear is gravel grinding together. You’re gonna have to clean out that mouth of yours before others can understand you.

By bobkwolf

November 11, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this

If you know who Pete Seeger, Bob Dylam, Tom Waits, Kris Kristofferson, Arlo Guthrie, Wille Nelson, Johnny Cash, John Prime, you should know Merle Haggard. He is an American Poet and regarded as one of the best American blue collar songwriters and singers of his time. also see www.greentrain.org, his latest movement to better the world! He is an American Hero and I’m glad he is going to be around to sing again!

His history is worth checking out

By Daryl

November 15, 2008 6:16 PM | Link to this

I seen Merle,s Brother play at a little church on damascus rd on the outskirts of quitman arkansas in 2001 when I was milking cows for a paycheck for John Stax.His brothers story about living in a boxcar in california as kids was tugging at my heart, his brother had just split from his wife in memphis and he talked to me along time after he played some great music, solo. Later I left my wife after I realized what he was telling me about his wife was about to happen to me. get well soon Merle and tell your BRother Hi for me and too keep on preaching the good word. sincerely Daryl

By Thomas (RedHeart) Peterson

November 28, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

God Bless Merle Haggard. I praying for ya’. I’m going to try and write a tribute song today in honor of you Merle Get well, Merle!!!!

Your fan, RedHeart