Zapped out

This blog, not to mention the entire world, has been so fixated on politics lately that we have forgotten some of the most important things in life--like great music. Ken Laster's radio program and podcast, "In the Groove," is all Zappa, all the time this week. Check it out at this link. Here's Ken's excellently chosen playlist, which highlights Zappa's fabulous instrumental skills:

Track * Artist * Album

Peaches En Regalia * Frank Zappa * Hot Rats
Cosmik Debris * Frank Zappa * Apostrophe
Waka / Jawaka * Frank Zappa * Waka / Jawaka
Yellow Pages * Alex Machacek * [ Sic ]
Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? * Frank Zappa * Roxy And Elsewhere
Blessed Relief * Frank Zappa * The Grand Wazoo
Montana * Frank Zappa * Overnight Sensation
Echidna's Arf * Ed Palmero Big Band * 12/12/07 Iridium
Inca Roads * Ed Palmero Big Band * 6/12/04 Bonn

Can't get entirely away from the news department. Not everyone is happy about the election of a Black president, if recent racist incidents at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania are an indication.

Bail out G.M., but throw out its execs. That's the basic advice from Tom Friedman in the New York Times today, who points out that the company and its supporters in Congress have only themselves to blame for its near-demise. Friedman also faults the United Auto Workers; while I would like to see the workers protected first and foremost, I have to agree that they must stop defending the company's environmentally disastrous policies if they want sympathy from the rest of us.