Eric Cantor responded to the almost unimaginable destruction visited on Joplin, Missouri by recent extreme weather by saying on Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.Damn, that's inspirational, don't you think? In any case, Fah Lo Suee and I plan to show our appreciation and solidarity with the empathy-challenged little putz by ringing his doorbell and running.
“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.
That being the case, here's a theoretically amusing little project to help you wile away the desperate hours in our absence:
Supergroup Collaborations Between Musicians That Either Should Be, Should Have Been, or Were But Shouldn't Have!!!
And my totally top of my head Top Five is:
5. KGB
As in singer Ray Kennedy (co-author of "Sail On, Sailor"), blues keyboardist Barry Goldberg, and original American guitar hero Mike Bloomfield on guitar. With Ric Grech and Carmine Appice as the rhythm section, circa 1975. And mostly as mediocre as you might have feared.
4. American Flyer
Craig Fuller from Pure Prairie League, Eric Kaz (morose songwriter of "Love Has No Pride") Steve Katz of Blues Project fame, and Doug Yule from the Velvet Underground. Debut album produced by George Martin, for heaven's sake. And it still didn't work, a minor hit or two notwithstanding.
3. The Unraveling Wilburys
A high-concept supergroup -- specifically, everybody in the band had to be certifiably nuts -- I dreamed up in the early 90s. My candidates were the late Syd Barrett, the late Skip Spence, Brian Wilson, Roky Erickson, Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green and Derek and the Dominoes' Jim Gordon (voices told him to kill his mom with an axe). I don't know if the music would have been any good, but I guarantee the rehearsals would have been a trip.
2. Golden Smog
A shifting line-up of 80s and 90s alt and indie stalwarts on a sort of roots-rock busman's holiday, with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens among the most frequent participants. None of their albums has ever really knocked me out, but I'll concede that this Tweedy-sung cover of the Kinks' tune has the real gone spirit.
And the Numero Uno match that should be made in heaven and what the hell are they waiting for, simply has to be....
1. Jeff Beck...
and
Prince.
Seriously, this is so fricking obvious I can only assume it's actually been attempted on the sly and didn't pan out for some reason, alas.
Alrighty, then -- what would your choices be?
[h/t Gwen DeMarco]
