Monday, September 30, 2019
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Saturday, September 28, 2019
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (140)
Thank you for joining us today.
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1946 cartoon The Big
Snooze directed by Bob Clampett, (his final theatrical cartoon for Warner.)
As Bugs is pleading with Elmer not to quit, he turns to the audience and comments, "'Bette Davis' is gonna hate me for this." Davis, at the time, was going through a well-publicized legal battle with Warner Bros. trying to get out of her contract.
September 28, 2004 – After nearly 40 years of work on the would-be Beach Boys concept album, Brian Wilson Presents Smile was released on this date. Gallons of ink has been spilled writing about Brian Wilson's journey to getting his masterpiece to completion, we'll leave it to you bunkies to read up on it. We here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to celebrate the release by just listening to it. So as is our want, we would like you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in listening to a 2004 live performance of Smile
When Brian Wilson was going through a period of nervous breakdowns, he referred to the voices in his head as the "heroes and villains," which created a constant buzzing in his brain that he couldn't turn off. The Beach Boys did at least 20 recording sessions for the song Heroes and Villians over a period of several months, as Brian Wilson was very particular about it. Sections known as Cantina Scene and Bicycle Rider were dropped, although The Beach Boys often included them in live performances of the song.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about know. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the the 1946 Looney Tunes Daffy Duck (with a cameo by Porky Pig) cartoon, The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, (Bob Clampett's penultimate Warner Bros. cartoon .)
When Duck Twacy takes a street car to the gangsters' hideout, the conductor is a thinly-disguised Porky Pig dressed in a driver's uniform and a handlebar mustache.
Before you go, please hang around and watch this 2004 Showtime produced documentary about the making of this album, Beautiful Dreamer - Brian Wilson and the Story of 'SMiLE'. So please stay with us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second feature this evening.
David Leaf assembled the film as a chronicle of Beach Boys musician Brian Wilson's career and his valiant attempt to resurrect the shelved project Smile, which was to follow the Beach Boys' artistic breakthrough Pet Sounds from 1966 until Wilson's triumphant release of the album in 2004.
Demand Euphoria!
As Bugs is pleading with Elmer not to quit, he turns to the audience and comments, "'Bette Davis' is gonna hate me for this." Davis, at the time, was going through a well-publicized legal battle with Warner Bros. trying to get out of her contract.
September 28, 2004 – After nearly 40 years of work on the would-be Beach Boys concept album, Brian Wilson Presents Smile was released on this date. Gallons of ink has been spilled writing about Brian Wilson's journey to getting his masterpiece to completion, we'll leave it to you bunkies to read up on it. We here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to celebrate the release by just listening to it. So as is our want, we would like you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in listening to a 2004 live performance of Smile
When Brian Wilson was going through a period of nervous breakdowns, he referred to the voices in his head as the "heroes and villains," which created a constant buzzing in his brain that he couldn't turn off. The Beach Boys did at least 20 recording sessions for the song Heroes and Villians over a period of several months, as Brian Wilson was very particular about it. Sections known as Cantina Scene and Bicycle Rider were dropped, although The Beach Boys often included them in live performances of the song.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about know. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the the 1946 Looney Tunes Daffy Duck (with a cameo by Porky Pig) cartoon, The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, (Bob Clampett's penultimate Warner Bros. cartoon .)
When Duck Twacy takes a street car to the gangsters' hideout, the conductor is a thinly-disguised Porky Pig dressed in a driver's uniform and a handlebar mustache.
Before you go, please hang around and watch this 2004 Showtime produced documentary about the making of this album, Beautiful Dreamer - Brian Wilson and the Story of 'SMiLE'. So please stay with us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second feature this evening.
David Leaf assembled the film as a chronicle of Beach Boys musician Brian Wilson's career and his valiant attempt to resurrect the shelved project Smile, which was to follow the Beach Boys' artistic breakthrough Pet Sounds from 1966 until Wilson's triumphant release of the album in 2004.
Demand Euphoria!
Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (139)
Thank you for joining us today.
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1946 Racketeer
Rabbit directed by Friz Freleng.
In the car chase, they pass a sign advertising Hotel Friz, a reference to director Friz Freleng.
September 21, 2011 –
In a post on their website on this date, one of the leading alt-rock bands of the day, wrote, “To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M. had accomplished something most bands of their stature could not - announce that they’re calling it quits after more than 30 years, disbanding amicably and without suing one another. Today we would like to celebrate the career of R.E.M. by asking you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in listening to two classic concert by R.E.M.; the first filmed in Mountain View, California on October 18, 1998, and the second filmed in Nürburg Germany, on June 3 2005:
Michael Stipe wrote the song Me In Honey in response to Eat For Two by 10,000 Maniacs - both songs are about pregnancy. In the late '80s, R.E.M. toured with 10,000 Maniacs, and both groups were very popular on the college rock scene. Stipe and Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant shared many of the same qualities, including shyness, awkward dance moves and a quirky charisma, and they became friends, then lovers, then friends again. Stipe credits Merchant with helping to inspire his songwriting, saying, "The work she was doing was real and important - all about the human condition."
Demand Euphoria!
In the car chase, they pass a sign advertising Hotel Friz, a reference to director Friz Freleng.
September 21, 2011 –
In a post on their website on this date, one of the leading alt-rock bands of the day, wrote, “To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M. had accomplished something most bands of their stature could not - announce that they’re calling it quits after more than 30 years, disbanding amicably and without suing one another. Today we would like to celebrate the career of R.E.M. by asking you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in listening to two classic concert by R.E.M.; the first filmed in Mountain View, California on October 18, 1998, and the second filmed in Nürburg Germany, on June 3 2005:
Michael Stipe wrote the song Me In Honey in response to Eat For Two by 10,000 Maniacs - both songs are about pregnancy. In the late '80s, R.E.M. toured with 10,000 Maniacs, and both groups were very popular on the college rock scene. Stipe and Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant shared many of the same qualities, including shyness, awkward dance moves and a quirky charisma, and they became friends, then lovers, then friends again. Stipe credits Merchant with helping to inspire his songwriting, saying, "The work she was doing was real and important - all about the human condition."
Demand Euphoria!
Friday, September 20, 2019
Eftychisméni epéteios María and Yanni
Happy 32nd Anniversary, (what a long strange trip it's been.)
Demand Euphoria!
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Monday, September 16, 2019
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Saturday, September 14, 2019
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (138)
Thank you for joining us today.
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1946 Acrobatty
Bunny directed by Robert McKimson. (This cartoon was the second Looney Tunes short to end with the written "That's all Folks!" on target color
rings )
This cartoon marks Bugs' second encounter with a lion, the first being Hold the Lion, Please (Leo the Lion). However Nero the Lion differs greatly from Leo the lion from Hold the Lion, Please, as Nero appears to be much more dangerous and aggressive in contrast to the dopey Leo, which is a much tougher figure that make outwitting it more delicious, though much like Leo, Nero isn't any smarter than Bugs
The programming staff at the home office of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour was overwhelmed by the positive responses they got from the broadcast of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the other week. So they thought that they would put together a double feature of detective movies - the 1946 Sherlock Holmes' film, (again featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce,) Terror by Night and a 1946 Charlie Chan film, starring Sidney Toler, Dark Alibi. So we would like you to relax (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack (perhaps, some popcorn,) and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching the first film in today's double feature, Terror By Night.
The film has a slightly ambiguous setting in time. Although a few characters wear 19th Century clothes, many extras can be seen wearing 1940s clothes, implies it's a contemporary update of Holmes.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about know. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the the 1956 Looney Tunes Daffy Duck/ Porky Pig cartoon, Deduce, You Say.
Look for two inside Warner Bros jokes; the first, the sign at the pub reads Selzer's Water, a nod to producer Edward Selzer, and second, when Daffy enters the pub, a sign next to the door Burton's Bock Beer, a reference to production manager (and future producer) John Burton.
Our second feature tonight the 1946 Charlie Chan film, Dark Alibi, one of four Charlie Chan films released that year. After the Swedish-American actor Warner Oland, a who had portrayed the famed sleuth Charlie Chan in 16 films unexpectedly died in 1938, the Scottish-American actor Sydney Toler, took on the role for the next 8 years and 22 titles. Dark Alibi, was Toler's 18th film in the series. So please join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second feature this evening.
Dark Alibi is one of the last Charlie Chan films starring Sidney Toler. This film and the three subsequent movies made in 1946 were filmed while Toler was quite ill. He was so weak, he could barely walk during these films. He somehow managed to make these last four films even though he was 72 years old and dying from cancer during the filming.
Demand Euphoria!
This cartoon marks Bugs' second encounter with a lion, the first being Hold the Lion, Please (Leo the Lion). However Nero the Lion differs greatly from Leo the lion from Hold the Lion, Please, as Nero appears to be much more dangerous and aggressive in contrast to the dopey Leo, which is a much tougher figure that make outwitting it more delicious, though much like Leo, Nero isn't any smarter than Bugs
The programming staff at the home office of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour was overwhelmed by the positive responses they got from the broadcast of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the other week. So they thought that they would put together a double feature of detective movies - the 1946 Sherlock Holmes' film, (again featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce,) Terror by Night and a 1946 Charlie Chan film, starring Sidney Toler, Dark Alibi. So we would like you to relax (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack (perhaps, some popcorn,) and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching the first film in today's double feature, Terror By Night.
The film has a slightly ambiguous setting in time. Although a few characters wear 19th Century clothes, many extras can be seen wearing 1940s clothes, implies it's a contemporary update of Holmes.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about know. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the the 1956 Looney Tunes Daffy Duck/ Porky Pig cartoon, Deduce, You Say.
Look for two inside Warner Bros jokes; the first, the sign at the pub reads Selzer's Water, a nod to producer Edward Selzer, and second, when Daffy enters the pub, a sign next to the door Burton's Bock Beer, a reference to production manager (and future producer) John Burton.
Our second feature tonight the 1946 Charlie Chan film, Dark Alibi, one of four Charlie Chan films released that year. After the Swedish-American actor Warner Oland, a who had portrayed the famed sleuth Charlie Chan in 16 films unexpectedly died in 1938, the Scottish-American actor Sydney Toler, took on the role for the next 8 years and 22 titles. Dark Alibi, was Toler's 18th film in the series. So please join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second feature this evening.
Dark Alibi is one of the last Charlie Chan films starring Sidney Toler. This film and the three subsequent movies made in 1946 were filmed while Toler was quite ill. He was so weak, he could barely walk during these films. He somehow managed to make these last four films even though he was 72 years old and dying from cancer during the filming.
Demand Euphoria!
Friday, September 13, 2019
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
... on the ceiling of the night
THE NAMES
by Billy Collins
Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name --
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner --
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds --
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.
Demand Euphoria!
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Monday, September 9, 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Saturday, September 7, 2019
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (137)
Thank you for joining us today.
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodies cartoon, the 1946 Frank Tashlin directed, Hare Remover. (This title is the last short Frank Tashlin directed before leaving Warner Bros. to direct live-action films.) :
Elmer seldom referred to his perennial co-star by name, but typically only as "that scwewy wabbit" or similar expressions. This cartoon is one of the few in which Elmer actually acknowledges the bunny's name. When he sees the bear munching a carrot and assumes that it's the rabbit transformed by his drug, Elmer cries with delight, "Bugs Bunny!" In the reverse situation, when Bugs mistakes the bear for Elmer, Bugs still calls him, "Doc!".
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to celebrate the anniversary the passing of Warren William Zevon, singer/songwriter, from cancer (peritoneal mesothelioma) on this date in 2003. In a extraordinary career that spanned more than 30 years, Zevon recorded more than 15 albums and worked with such music stars as Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Brown. His last album, The Wind, one of the most commercially successful and lauded releases of his long recording career, released just two weeks before his death. Today we would like to look about at the career and life of Warren Zevon by asking you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching this VH-1 documentary about the making of the Grammy nominated album The Wind, VH1 (Inside) Out - Warren Zevon: Keep Me in Your Heart.
The song, Keep Me In Your Heart was the final song Zevon wrote and recorded before dying of mesothelioma (a form of lung cancer) in September of 2003. This was also the only song on Zevon's final album The Wind that he wrote entirely after learning of his terminal illness. With the exception of the cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door, all of the remaining songs on The Wind were songs Zevon had already at least started writing beforehand. Zevon also saved the recording of this song for last. His deteriorating health rendered him too weak to continue commuting to the studio where the other tracks had been recorded, so he had a makeshift studio set up at his home to record this song.
Before you go - not to leave the evening a total depressing mess, here is a 1982 concert Warren Zevon did at the Capitol Theatre in early October of that year - enjoy!
Demand Euphoria!
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodies cartoon, the 1946 Frank Tashlin directed, Hare Remover. (This title is the last short Frank Tashlin directed before leaving Warner Bros. to direct live-action films.) :
Elmer seldom referred to his perennial co-star by name, but typically only as "that scwewy wabbit" or similar expressions. This cartoon is one of the few in which Elmer actually acknowledges the bunny's name. When he sees the bear munching a carrot and assumes that it's the rabbit transformed by his drug, Elmer cries with delight, "Bugs Bunny!" In the reverse situation, when Bugs mistakes the bear for Elmer, Bugs still calls him, "Doc!".
The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to celebrate the anniversary the passing of Warren William Zevon, singer/songwriter, from cancer (peritoneal mesothelioma) on this date in 2003. In a extraordinary career that spanned more than 30 years, Zevon recorded more than 15 albums and worked with such music stars as Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Brown. His last album, The Wind, one of the most commercially successful and lauded releases of his long recording career, released just two weeks before his death. Today we would like to look about at the career and life of Warren Zevon by asking you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching this VH-1 documentary about the making of the Grammy nominated album The Wind, VH1 (Inside) Out - Warren Zevon: Keep Me in Your Heart.
The song, Keep Me In Your Heart was the final song Zevon wrote and recorded before dying of mesothelioma (a form of lung cancer) in September of 2003. This was also the only song on Zevon's final album The Wind that he wrote entirely after learning of his terminal illness. With the exception of the cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door, all of the remaining songs on The Wind were songs Zevon had already at least started writing beforehand. Zevon also saved the recording of this song for last. His deteriorating health rendered him too weak to continue commuting to the studio where the other tracks had been recorded, so he had a makeshift studio set up at his home to record this song.
Before you go - not to leave the evening a total depressing mess, here is a 1982 concert Warren Zevon did at the Capitol Theatre in early October of that year - enjoy!
Demand Euphoria!
Friday, September 6, 2019
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
an organization of workers for a common purpose
"The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish," explained Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Mr. Gompers also stated: "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day. . . is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
And yet, despite Mr. Gompers's assertions, Labor Day is not a Seinfeldian holiday about nothing. It is, according to Department of Labor, "dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."
Workers being whom, exactly?
Whenever someone talks about Labor with an audible capital L, I picture a bunch of sweaty, grease-stained steelworkers, or guys in blue overalls and goggles with soldering irons. Their contribution is the oft-cited "sweat of their brows." Union regulations being what they are, though, they seem to be pretty well compensated for that sweat.
The term "Workers" has to include more than steelworkers and welders—otherwise we could just call it "Steelworkers and Welders Day." After all, a worker is just "one who works." I'm a worker (yes sporadically I consider myself a worker). Almost everyone I know is or was a worker.
The difference seems to be unions. If you belong to a union, you're a Worker or a Laborer (I'm not sure if they have different unions). If you don't belong to a union, you're a lousy lazy-ass—an exploiting bourgeois bastard.
Think what this means: All of the Kardashians, The Property Brothers, Caitlyn Jenner, and yes, even Donald Trump are Workers. Your friends who work awful hours at lousy jobs in wretched offices — they're bourgeois scum.
But let's take a step back and see how we got a Labor Day holiday.
Grover Cleveland was a very unpopular man back in 1896. He was one of the fattest Presidents in US history, (Chris Christie coulda been a contender, if he were president.) No one really likes a fat man - weighing over 300lbs, his nieces and nephews called him Uncle Jumbo to his face; only William Howard Taft was fatter, weighing in at a ginormous 335lbs, but I digress...
Two years earlier, Cleveland had broken up the Pullman Car strike using United States Marshals and some 2,000 United States Army troops, on the premise that the strike interfered with the delivery of U.S. Mail. During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. It didn't win him any friends with the fledgling labor movement in America.
In order to throw a bone to Labor, Cleveland supported a holiday honoring workers on the first Monday in September, hoping it would help Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. May 1st was initially proposed but was then rejected because government leaders believed that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the Chicago Haymarket riots which had occurred in early May of 1886.
Cleveland was proven wrong and the Democratic party suffered their worse defeat ever.
So remember the cynical origins of the holiday while you are BBQ'ing this afternoon.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Mr. Gompers also stated: "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day. . . is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
And yet, despite Mr. Gompers's assertions, Labor Day is not a Seinfeldian holiday about nothing. It is, according to Department of Labor, "dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."
Workers being whom, exactly?
Whenever someone talks about Labor with an audible capital L, I picture a bunch of sweaty, grease-stained steelworkers, or guys in blue overalls and goggles with soldering irons. Their contribution is the oft-cited "sweat of their brows." Union regulations being what they are, though, they seem to be pretty well compensated for that sweat.
The term "Workers" has to include more than steelworkers and welders—otherwise we could just call it "Steelworkers and Welders Day." After all, a worker is just "one who works." I'm a worker (yes sporadically I consider myself a worker). Almost everyone I know is or was a worker.
The difference seems to be unions. If you belong to a union, you're a Worker or a Laborer (I'm not sure if they have different unions). If you don't belong to a union, you're a lousy lazy-ass—an exploiting bourgeois bastard.
Think what this means: All of the Kardashians, The Property Brothers, Caitlyn Jenner, and yes, even Donald Trump are Workers. Your friends who work awful hours at lousy jobs in wretched offices — they're bourgeois scum.
But let's take a step back and see how we got a Labor Day holiday.
Grover Cleveland was a very unpopular man back in 1896. He was one of the fattest Presidents in US history, (Chris Christie coulda been a contender, if he were president.) No one really likes a fat man - weighing over 300lbs, his nieces and nephews called him Uncle Jumbo to his face; only William Howard Taft was fatter, weighing in at a ginormous 335lbs, but I digress...
Two years earlier, Cleveland had broken up the Pullman Car strike using United States Marshals and some 2,000 United States Army troops, on the premise that the strike interfered with the delivery of U.S. Mail. During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. It didn't win him any friends with the fledgling labor movement in America.
In order to throw a bone to Labor, Cleveland supported a holiday honoring workers on the first Monday in September, hoping it would help Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. May 1st was initially proposed but was then rejected because government leaders believed that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the Chicago Haymarket riots which had occurred in early May of 1886.
Cleveland was proven wrong and the Democratic party suffered their worse defeat ever.
So remember the cynical origins of the holiday while you are BBQ'ing this afternoon.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
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