Country music legend and longtime Grand Ole Opry host Porter Wagoner died last night (Oct 28th) of lung cancer at age 80, according to a news report posted on the Grand Ole Opry website.  Always a fighting spirit Wagoner was active for most of his years and despite the fact that just a little over a year ago he had been seriously ill after suffering an intestinal aneurysm he somehow overcame this serious medical prognosis to make a miraculous recovery followed by a career comeback with a series of memorable performances including a wonderful appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman" (see the video clip of it below).  Wagoner also played Madison Square Garden as opening act for the White Stripes at the insistence of the Stripes who are huge fans of Wagoner's music, Unfortunately since he went on so early not a lot of folks had already arrived at the cavernous midtown Manhattan arena. Throughout his career Porter Wagoner boasted over eighty songs on the  country-music chart with nineteen of them being duets with Dolly Parton - whose career he helped launch and whose careers are often connected. (They were actually married to one another for a time. Additionally they were named "country duo of the year" in 1970.

Truly a country music vet,  Wagoner had recently celebrated his fiftieth year in the Opry (he joined the Opry in 1957) and a little earlier this year released on ANTI Records the critically acclaimed album "Wagonmaster."  Look for it along with other recordings from the Missouri-born artist in the country sections at Amoeba Music. Today's LA Times summed up Wagoner's legacy accurately by writing,   "His showmanship, rhinestone suits and pompadoured hair made him famous, with his own syndicated TV show, "The Porter Wagoner Show," for 21 years beginning in 1960. It was one of the first syndicated shows to come out of Nashville, and it set a pattern for many others."  For more information on the late great Porter Wagoner visit his official website.

Back in 1986, when this heated debate on "Crossfire" was broadcast, the beginnings of the current era of censorship in popular music were just unfolding  (meaning the era that began with the PMRC).  In this must-see 20 minute clip from the CNN show the late great, self-described 'conservative' Frank Zappa goes head to head with arch conservative John Lofton of the Washington Times.   Of course Zappa had been in the center of this fight against popular music since his career began decades earlier - defending both the music and freedom of speech.  But he was most publicly vocal during this mid eighties round which had begun the  previous year, 1985,  when the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) - the music censorship organization that was founded by then-Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper Gore and included many other political wives - first came about.  The PMRC and Lofton in this debate were most vocal about such songs as Prince's "Darling Nikki"  which was accused of promoting incest and videos such as Van Halen's  "Hot For Teacher" which is included below. Note that the arrival of the PMRC around the same time as MTV's meteoric early years, with its obvious influence on mainstream America, was no coincidence.

In September 1985 Frank Zappa testified before the US Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the PMRC and making a historic statement that said the PMRC's proposal to ban certain rock music was an "ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design. It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. (...) The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like. What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?"

This week Mac McCaughan (left) of the bands Superchunk and Portastatic and the influential label Merge, which has released approx 300 albums to date and which he launched  along with fellow Superchunk member Laura Balance,  spoke to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at a hearing titled "The Future of Radio." The hearing, which is not to be confused with the House of Representatives' Girl Talk-referencing copyright hearing from several months ago, took place on Wednesday, October 24th and is available in full transcript in PDF file by clicking here (finally your tax dollars at work doing something worthwhile).

According to the Committee's website, the purpose of the "The Future of Radio" hearing was to "assess the state of innovation and competition in the radio market."  And the Superchunk singer/guitarist's testimony stressed the role and the importance of the role that non-commercial radio has played in introducing independent musicians to wider audiences. He mentions Merge Records'  instances like the Arcade Fire and Spoon - two highly successful bands whose albums this year debuted in the  Billboard Top Ten. McCaughan also addressed the power of the internet, as well as the importance of maintaining network neutrality so that commercial and technological experimentation can continue. Additionally McCaughan urged the Committee to resist corporate pressure to loosen ownership restrictions in order to avoid a potential media monopoly; something that many others have voiced concern over. 

Today I spill a lil on the curb for the late great Vincent Price who died exactly 14 years ago on October 25th, 1993. A truly great and most unique American actor Price will be forever remembered for his distinctive voice and the semi-serious/semi-comedic roles he played in the countless horror films he starred in. He will also be remembered to some for such things as hosting the PBS television series Mystery! in the 1980's and for adding the ghostly voice-over at the beginning of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." 

Vincent  Leonard Price was 82 years of age when he died of  complications from emphysema  and  Parkinson's disease and was still active up to within a few years of his death; one of his last major film roles being a part in the movie Edward Scissorhands. That last film of his, in which his role was small due to his ill health, was in 1990 and capped an extremely long and illustrious, and most prolific film career that began for the actor in 1938 and included well over a hundred films - many available on DVD at Amoeba Music.  Two of my personal favorite Vincent Price films are House of Wax (1953) and Theatre of Blood (1973) - the latter being the very first film of his I ever saw and the one that got me hooked on his ever-engaging on-screen persona.  The film is pure brilliant horror and suspense with just the perfect balance of humor - the sort of  film that makes most of today's over-the-top on special effects but low on anything else so-called "horror" flicks pale in comparison.

This recent no-holds-barred political speech (above) made in Congress by Representative Pete Stark (Democrat) -  in which he just relentlessly tells it as it is on the issues of kid's health care juxtaposed with the expense and moral issues of the war in Iraq and the GOP's stance on immigration etc. (perhaps even going a little over the top in some of the personal comments at Bush in making his points - but nothing obscene or anything like that) - made me wonder how different would the world be today if more politicians constantly spoke their minds as freely as this.?  You know like in that Jim Carrey movie Liar Liar where he had no choice but to tell the truth no matter how undiplomatic it might sound.

More importantly what if politicians also fully acted on their words by fully following through with concrete actions?  And what if - no matter what - they stood by what they said? Note  that since this speech Pete Stark did apologize. Full story in today's LA Times.