Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 17...

Good early Sunday morning!! We are a week away from the Super Bowl. The Pro-Bowl is tonight and I may or may not watch it. It all depends on the broadcaster's moods. Usually we get broadcasters who belittle the Pro-Bowl and attempt to take the joy out of watching it with their caustic comments. Even though people say that broadcasters shouldn't spoil the mood if a person really wants to watch a sporting event the truth is that broadcasters CAN spoil the mood if their style isn't harmonious with the viewer and that's why for me a broadcaster is important when it comes to whatever sport I'm watching on TV or hearing on the radio.

Now, taking a look at the You Tube numbers we see that Ray's current music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President" is inching closer to half a million on-line views. It's current total is 462,039. It's been on-line for 4 months and I expect it to smash through the 500,000 mark at some point in February. A gap of a little more than 28,000 views separates it from the half a million mark. The President gave one of the most low-rated State of the Union speeches in history several days ago...commentators viewed it as a replay of 2009, 2010, and 2011's speeches with just a tweak here and there for topicality purposes. I didn't watch the speech...I heard snippets of it during newscasts on both radio and TV and that's all I needed to hear to form my own conclusion that it was the same old-same old speech instigating class warfare, highlighting so-called economic unfairness and so-called inequality, and how the Government should be the solution to everybody's personal and financial problems but a little ol' thing called the Constitution keeps getting in his way. In other words it was the same old garbage as before more or less...maybe more since the speech ran overtime.

Speaking of the President, the "Obama Budget Plan" music video from Ray Stevens is nearing 1.1 million views. At the moment it has 1,088,519 views. It was uploaded 9 months ago and was a slow climb to half a million views. The recurring battles about the budget and the debt ceiling in the latter half of 2011 pushed the video into the million views stratosphere.

A recent controversy surrounding Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and the TSA in a Nashville airport caused some activity for Ray's video titled "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore". The video has 276,126 on-line views now and was the second single/video release from Spirit of '76 in 2011. The music video's been on-line for almost 1 year...11 months and counting. It's a lot closer to 300,000 views now than it was prior to the Rand Paul story. The TSA music video, as I theorized in a couple of blogs, hits home with those who travel frequently and have to deal with the screenings and invasive pat downs. The song's title refers to the phrase "fly the friendly skies" made famous by United Airlines. His 2010 anti-illegal immigration video, "Come to the U.S.A." is nearing 5.8 million views! The totals at the moment are 5,791,250! The Obama Care music video from 2009, "We The People", has 4,648,990 views. "Throw the Bums Out!" has 854,504 and "God Save Arizona" is in the 800,000 range too with 840,795 views.

A short 5 years ago Ray Stevens released this wonderful salute to the music of New Orleans. New Orleans Moon, from July 2007, features Ray's versions of many songs celebrating not only New Orleans but the entire state of Louisiana as well. There are 11 selections on the CD and like a few of Ray's albums in the past this one slipped through without a lot of fanfare. A lot of that presumably had to do with the simple fact that none of the songs are comical and as a consequence there's a large segment of the listening audience that prefer comedy and funny business from Ray Stevens instead of thought-provoking, serious work. This has long been the case...even when Ray was releasing only non-comedy albums year after year...there are just some people who expect/insist on Ray Stevens being the funny guy without a trace of seriousness. Now, of course, there are plenty of people who appreciate all the music from Ray Stevens...whether it's serious or comical. "New Orleans Moon", the title track, was written by Ray and Chuck Redden. As a side note, Chuck wrote "The New Battle of New Orleans", by the way. Ray and Buddy Kalb re-wrote a lot of the original lyrics in the song and Curb Records issued Ray's version in 2005 as a CD single in limited quantities. That song isn't on this 2007 CD but I decided to mention the 2005 single's existence anyway!

Meanwhile, the first track on New Orleans Moon is "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans". I purchased the digital download/Mp3 album of New Orleans Moon when it was brand new but have never purchased a copy of what they now call the physical CD. I plan on doing so at some point. On this CD you will hear Ray's take on "Basin Street Blues", "New Orleans", "Louisiana Man", "Louisiana", "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?", and "When The Saints Go Marching In" among several others. Pay attention for several impressions by Ray of Louis Armstrong.

This was a comedy album released in 1988 from Ray Stevens. I recently came across commentary about the album and some of the songs from it and so I decided to give some spotlight to it again. I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like is based upon a phrase attributed to Will Rogers that went something like: "I never yet met a man I Didn't Like". Given the connection it makes sense for Ray to dress up as Will Rogers on the album's cover. Consisting of ten recordings the material runs the gamut from satellite TV curiosities and Hollywood scandals to hippies and boogie men to the Beach Boys, Michael Jackson, and Elvis...and everything else in between. First things first is "Surfin' U.S.S.R." which became a music video. The video features an extended comedic routine at the start with parodies of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Ray supplies the voices for both. There are also parodies of their wives who get in a fight in the background as their husbands talk about U.S. and Soviet relations...leading up to Reagan inquiring about Malibu, California and why there happens to be a Soviet sub there. Cue the main song as the two start dancing. The audio recording doesn't feature the Reagan and Gorbachev parody, though, it's only available on the music video. "Blood and Suede" is the story song about a Hollywood car crash between a drunk driver and a singer. The singer was listening to his own album real loud while the drunk driver, in a Mercedes, plowed into the Porsche. The song carries satirical undertones about the fast living and fast cars image of Los Angeles and it's surrounding area, cut throat lawyers that exist everywhere but are glamorized in Hollywood movies, and the egotism that exists amongst celebrities in general (the singer, afterall, was listening to own Greatest Hits album prior to the crash). For those who have this album, as I do, take a more closer listen to the song. When I originally heard it for the first time in the early '90s I didn't soak in everything that the song addresses. At that time I was mostly fascinated with it's melody and Ray's hushed small town hamlet storytelling narration. On this particular album Ray performs songs in various vocalizations. There's the Beach Boys style in "Surfin' U.S.S.R.", a talking blues style on "The Booger Man", a broad exaggeration on Bob Dylan in "Old Hippie Class Reunion", Michael Jackson enunciation parodies in "Bad", and of course in "Blood and Suede" we have the hushed storyteller delivery. There are songs in Ray's natural voice, too: "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis", "I Don't Need None of That", "Ethelene the Truckstop Queen", "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex", and "The Day I Tried To Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive". The song about Charlene MacKenzie was released as a single and it charted on the Country Top 100...but it peaked in the low-80s on the charts. "Surfin' U.S.S.R." didn't reach the country charts but it was issued as a commercial single and music video. The album reached the Top-60 on the country charts in the fall of 1988 and remained a best-selling country album for more than 15 weeks.

One of the great recordings of Ray's career is his take on "Indian Love Call". Aside from the obvious vocalization there is the standout arrangement of the song which is unlike any version. Whereas usually the song is performed as a mid-tempo love ballad with the love calls being a trademark, in Ray's version we get the love calls but we also get the R&B flavored, doo-wop harmony in the background. As many Ray fans know he often over-dubbed his own voice on his earliest recordings and the choir of doo-wop vocalizations heard in the background are his own voice. When he performed the song on television around the time it was a single he'd use a click track which integrated his over-dubbed background into the live recording. Ray's only performance of the song on television, that I'm aware of, is a 1975 appearance on the Pop! Goes the Country program. I'm aware of this because I own a DVD which features the 1975 episode in it's entirety. Ray, with a full beard by the way, sings "Misty", "Indian Love Call", "Twilight Time", and does a duet with the other guest, Sammi Smith, on "Everything Is Beautiful" as the show's credits roll. I'd written about the Pop! Goes the Country DVD collections many blogs ago. You can look up the information about them by searching their web-site, Country Music DVD. The 1975 episode with Ray Stevens is on DVD Volume 4. There are a couple more DVD's featuring episodes with Ray, too. On each DVD there's multiple episodes featuring all sorts of country music celebrities as guests but for the purposes of this blog I only highlight the DVD releases with a Ray Stevens episode. "Indian Love Call" reached the country Top-40 for Ray in 1975 and was one of his last single releases for Barnaby Records prior to his switch to Warner Brothers in 1976. His ballad rendering of "Young Love" reached the country Top-50 in early 1976 while the wonderful "Mockingbird Hill" didn't reach the charts.

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 16...

The Ray Stevens music video, "Obama Budget Plan", now sits with 1,018,737 on-line views. This is a pick-up of 18,407 views since my last blog entry on Christmas Day. The current totals for "Mr. President - Mr. President" is 419,864. The two music videos, as you can see, have a combined total of nearly 1.5 million views. Ray, like a lot of others in the music industry, typically take the last 2 weeks in the year off and rest up for the following year. 2012 as we all know is an election year...but at some point next month Ray is to release his novelty song tribute collection. Ray will also celebrate a birthday next month, too.

The Ray Stevens fans in and around the state of Florida will get their chance to see him in concert in February. He'll appear in three different locations in Florida during the month of February 2012. On the 21st he'll be at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach. On February 22nd he'll be at The Lakeland Center in Lakeland, Florida. On February 23rd he'll appear at the King Center in Melbourne, Florida. As of now those are the only concert dates for 2012 but I suspect the appearances for 2012 will increase dramatically as the year goes by. These Florida dates were announced earlier this year.

Ray Stevens and Santa Claus, Part 4...

As we draw closer to Christmas it inspires me to do a pictorial event that I call The 12 Rays of Christmas. Simply put it's 12 images of Ray Stevens taken from various points in time...most of the imagery, of course, will be from albums but a couple aren't. This particular image is the flip side of He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. Several of Ray's early albums for MCA featured hilarious pictures on the back and this one's no exception. This particular album reached the Top-10 on the Country Album chart early in 1985 and it would go on to sell more than a million copies. The album was released in the latter half of 1984 but it didn't start to race up the charts until the release of the second single, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", in early 1985. The squirrel single reached the country Top-20 upon it's release in January 1985. You might call it an unexpected hit because, as mentioned, it wasn't the first release. The album's first song, "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye", was actually the first single late in 1984. Then came "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and this was followed by "It's Me Again, Margaret".

The picture sleeve that accompanied the song, "Moonlight Special", in hindsight looks out of place given the fact that the image of Ray is rather calm, reflective, and serious...a complete opposite of the song. The single's b-side is "Just So Proud To Be Here". I have no idea if the song's title was inspired by the famed Minnie Pearl catch-phrase but I often assume it is given that Ray was one of Minnie's friends and for a long time a neighbor of his. This image also appeared on an issue of Cashbox magazine that I own plus it appears inside the liner notes of the 1997 Rhino CD, The Very Best of Ray Stevens. "Moonlight Special" is Ray's wild take on The Midnight Special television program complete with a Wolfman Jack parody called Sheep Dog. Three acts are spoofed: Gladys Knight and the Pips, Alice Cooper, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The song is lengthy...and a lot of it's length may have halted it's airplay potential. It's still one of the most hilarious songs he's ever recorded with funny impressions of the three rock acts I mentioned.

As of December 23rd this is the current album from Ray Stevens. Now, of course, he's released another CD called Bozo's Back Again but that is a collection of songs that features re-recorded material. The purpose of that CD was to bring back songs from the 1980's that he recorded that the public at large, for whatever reason, weren't aware of the first time around. A lot of the songs on that collection were love ballads. Spirit of '76, meanwhile, is a collection of songs in a political vein. The picture is a send-up of the portrait...also known as Spirit of '76. This particular CD features the following: "Obama Budget Plan", "God Save Arizona", "Mr. President - Mr. President", and "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore". As we head into January 2012 a lot of focus will be on the upcoming collection of novelty songs that Ray is to release. In recent interviews he's commented that the collection will be released in January...if this continues to be the actual release month and there are no delays I won't expect a lot of attention to be placed on Spirit of '76 until later in the year...but that's just my theory. This concludes the first 3 pictorials in The 12 Rays of Christmas. The rest of the imagery will be forthcoming...meanwhile...

You Tube at a glance...

Mr. President - Mr. President:
12/20: 401,837
12/23: 409,415

Obama Budget Plan:
12/20: 979,959
12/23: 997,322

Nightmare Before Christmas:
12/20: 183,963
12/23: 190,472

Santa Claus Is Watching You:
12/20: 211,430
12/23: 223,472

As you can see, the "Obama Budget Plan" video certainly has the momentum to reach the 1,000,000 plateau. It would be great if the video obtained that level on Christmas Day...but even if it reaches the million level later today or tomorrow it'll still be something to celebrate.

Ray Stevens: Comedy Music Magnet, Part 7...

Ray Stevens is a great entertainer...and I can't wait to hear his upcoming novelty song collection set for release in January!! The collection will feature 9 CD's and an accompanying booklet. I was hoping a pre-order would become available but at the moment no such luck. I have no idea if this collection will be sold only at Ray's web-store or if it'll also become available on Amazon and other places. Whatever the case once it becomes available for purchase I'll send off for it and then it'll probably take me several days to digest everything. 9 CD's is A LOT OF MUSIC!! In the meantime let's look at the statistics of a few of Ray's music videos...

"Mr. President - Mr. President" at a brief glance:

View total on 12/4/2011: 358,402
View total on 12/11/2011: 367,462

"Santa Claus Is Watching You" at a brief glance:

View total on 12/1/2011: 166,250
View total on 12/11/2011: 183,592

"Nightmare Before Christmas" at a brief glance:

View total on 12/1/2011: 158,237
View total on 12/11/2011: 169,789

As you can tell, the current video is approaching 370,000 on-line views. Now, with it being the Christmas season it shouldn't come as no surprise that his two seasonal music videos are performing strongly on-line. "Santa Claus is Watching You" increases by more than 17,000 while "Nightmare Before Christmas" has an increase of more than 11,000 views in a span of 10 days.

The "Obama Budget Plan" video, which some have been nick-naming 'Obama Money', has more than 935,000 on-line views.

A few days ago a new upload appeared on You Tube featuring a sing-a-long performance from The Andy Williams Show. The musical number features Andy, Ray, Dusty Springfield, and the Osmonds. As far as audio goes it's excellent to hear but it's too bad the visuals aren't in the same league. Don't get me wrong, though, it's not too horrific visually but it's obviously not the clip that was broadcast on TV (you can tell that by the time clock that runs on the bottom of the screen).

According to the uploader the episode this performance originated from aired in 1969, the year Ray became a recurring performer on Andy's program...

Ray Stevens In Concert...

Hello all...as a reminder...Ray Stevens will be out on the concert trail for several dates starting in October 2011. He'll get things started with an upcoming concert at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The show will be on Saturday October 8th at 7pm and all of the information can be found by clicking the theatre's link in the previous sentence. He'll close out October by appearing at the Country Tonite Theatre in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It'll be this concert, which takes place on Friday October 21st, that Ray will do two shows. There will be a 3pm show and an 8pm show. Ray will then do three shows in November. The first one will take place in Biloxi, Mississippi on November 19th at the Imperial Palace Resort Spa. This show will start at 8pm and it'll be in what the venue calls Studio A on the second floor (for those familiar with the venue!). Ray will then be appearing in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada on November 28th and 29th at the Scotiabank Convention Center. He's appearing during what the venue is billing as a Winter Festival of Lights and you can read all about it here. As you'll see, the venue's web-site has him paired up with Lorrie Morgan but there's no indication of which artist will perform first or if Lorrie appears just on the 28th or if Ray only appears on the 29th. It indicates that the November 28th appearance will be at 2pm while the November 29th appearance will be at 7pm. Ray's web-page states that he'll appear at this venue on both days so it's safe to say that Lorrie will also be appearing on those two days as well. Once you visit the Scotiabank Convention Centre's web-page with the link I provided you'll be able to examine the venue's site and call for information. Lastly, in February 2012, Ray will be appearing at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida. The exact date is February 21, 2012 and the show starts at 7pm. This venue is the only one to feature a press release that promotes his current success with political on-line music videos. You can buy tickets well in advance at their web-site. Meanwhile, according to a tweet posted on his Twitter page, Ray will soon be releasing a brand new on-line music video for "Mr. President - Mr. President", a song from his current Spirit of '76 CD. A lot of us have been hoping for a music video of this particular song and I can't wait to see it once it gets uploaded in the not too distant future.

Revisiting Ray Stevens, Part 10...

Labor Day Monday! Ray hasn't recorded too many songs that could be classified in the working man sub-genre of country music but he's recorded a few songs that tie in with it. I use the phrase "working man" because that's the most often used description even though everyone knows women work, too. Although Ray hasn't did too many working men songs I'd qualify some of the songs he's done about the country's economy part of that genre because the overall economy has to do with money, income, taxation, debt, and deficits...and there's not too many people who work for nothing and so songs about working and songs about the economy sometimes go hand in hand.

The song I always make reference to right away is "Working for the Japanese", a song Ray recorded in 1991. I reference this song because it's the first one he did specifically about the nation's economy and it's trading practices. The song, quite amusing and satiric, actually created some controversy among advertisers afraid that the song would offend Japanese businesses from sponsoring American radio programs. The song is harmless, actually, but if you're highly emotional and prone to hyper-sensitivity over practically anything then you may have issues with the song. That same year Ray recorded "Juanita and the Kids" which skewered the I.R.S. and had fun with the decades long stormy relationship between the I.R.S. and the working class. In the song the I.R.S. is auditing Ray and it's revealed who makes up his family...much to the embarrassment and disgust of the Government workers (as seen in the music video).

Two years later, in 1993, Ray recorded "If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus". This particular recording takes aim at the I.R.S. again by wondering why Uncle Sam can't just settle for 10% and leave everyone alone. It originally appeared on the CD titled Classic Ray Stevens which I feel a lot of people over-looked given it's unusual title. A lot of people, even today, when they see it listed on Amazon or Itunes assume that the CD is filled with previously recorded songs. The fact is all 10 songs were brand new at the time. The CD's title was a reference to the classical music design on the CD's cover.

Meanwhile, "If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus" was re-recorded by Ray in 2008 and released as an Mp3 single. The re-recorded song would appear on Ray's 2010 CD, We The People. Around this same time Ray recorded "Sucking Sound" which spoofed the political climate and Ross Perot specifically. Originally available on the CD, Hurricane, the song would end up being among the 22 songs on 2010's We The People. You almost get the feeling that slowly but surely Ray was gravitating toward political humor by the middle of last decade but he wouldn't completely submerge himself in it until 2009's music video release of "We The People".

The latest on-line numbers for the "Obama Budget Plan" music video are 642,806. The so-called big speech from the President is suppose to occur on September 8th...this coming Thursday...where he unveils what some call a jobs plan. Obviously such a speech taking place in September 2011 means that all of his plans and policies of the last 2 and a half years never worked. We all knew this but there are a lot of people who would have you believe otherwise. Now he's going to put on a show on September 8th and all of us feel that he's going to blame Congress and but the blame on a lot of other people...curiously leaving himself out of the equation except when it comes to casting himself as the mediator-in-chief and creating a storyline where Congress is to blame for everything while he's sat helpless watching it from the sidelines. Without the speech having aired that's my theory of how everything will be spun.

There are a lot of other theories as to what he'll say on the 8th and how he'll attempt to emotionally manipulate practically any scenario and recite sob stories from a sob family from sobville, U.S.A. He's not above using people's misfortunes to bolster his own potential political fortunes...he's did such things before by using children and using the disabled to emotionally manipulate an outcome or to serve as human props on stage while he's spewing venom against who he sees as "filthy rich and greedy". So, frankly, this September speech from Obama isn't going to change people's opinions or change people's feelings or their mood. He'd have to be delusional to think otherwise...and maybe he is?!? I believe he feels that people are going to just overlook all of the laws and policies that he's set in place (how anyone can overlook Obama Care is beyond me!) but nevertheless he's going to hope that people set aside all of that which is why he's always ridiculing those who challenge the things he's said or done.

He wants people to think everybody who disagrees with his views are from another planet or aren't living in reality. The truth is Obama's not living in reality and I feel he wants people to shrug off the realities of unemployment and high anxieties and simply vote for him again on the promise that "we just need more time to get things done". Yeah...he needs more time alright...more time to damage the country with his radical, economically destructive policies.

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 14...

A couple of days ago Country Weekly published a brief review of the current Ray Stevens CD, Spirit of '76. The review can be found here. The review is positive...rating the CD 3 and a half out of 4 stars. The review mentions three songs from the CD and it mentions Ray's You Tube success. The on-line review also includes an embedded video of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", also known as the TSA song. Also, there's a link to purchase the digital download at either Amazon or Itunes. I highly recommend it! This Spirit of '76 is a companion piece to the collection he put out last year, We The People. That collection features 22 songs and the current one features 11 songs.

The "Obama Budget Plan", the current video, sits with 547,380 views so far. Ray's video from last year about illegal immigration, "Come to the U.S.A.", is mentioned in the review as is "Mi Casa Su Casa"...which is a further tale of illegal immigration found on the Spirit of '76 CD.

Expect the topic of illegal immigration to heat up again as Obama and company (Department of Justice and Homeland Security) enact shades of the proposed Dream Act. The plan is to offer amnesty to all illegal immigrants...turning a blind eye to the obvious fact that they're here illegally. Obviously this plan is part of Obama's re-election campaign. You don't need 10 years in college to figure out Obama's agenda and strategies.

It seems as if the Democrats care more and more about shoring up votes than seriously trying to solve the country's problems. Is it any wonder why Obama's really never been off the campaign trail? In my opinion and probably the opinions of millions of others the President is an arrogant, vain, out of touch, incompetent man-child whose answer to everything is blame this and blame that but never can the blame, in his mind, be put on him. It must be nice being the President for nearly 3 years but feel entirely blameless and fail to see that your policies are the result of this dismal atmosphere in America and overseas.

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 13...

Ray Stevens Spirit of '76 collection is ranked at #86 in sales on Amazon's Comedy CD list. The CD collection officially went on sale on Amazon this past Tuesday (August 9) where it had been on pre-order for a couple of months. The Mp3 digital download, however, had been available since April of this year so a lot of the more die-hard fans of Ray Stevens already had the collection on their computer's music program long before it went on sale in CD format. Some use Windows Media Player, some use Real player, some have their music sent to their Itunes library to hear the audio files they purchase. The "Obama Budget Plan" has 511,281 on-line views! With the video having over half a million views it allows it to join the ranks of several other videos that Ray's released on You Tube which have gotten half a million views and higher. The insipid budget plan that was signed by Obama recently has temporarily pushed the budget topic off to the sidelines but it'll be a hot topic once again. The economy will always be a priority...and with the economy in poor condition and unemployment still well over 10% nationally...the debt, deficit, and budget isn't too far off the radar.

That unemployment percentage I gave includes those who've stopped looking for work or are working part-time in low paying jobs or whose jobless benefits have ran out and therefore are no longer counted as "unemployed" given that they no longer can make a weekly or bi-weekly unemployment claim. When the jobs numbers come out and whenever there's a drop in unemployment it's not wise to foolishly believe it's because companies are hiring again. A lot of factors have to be weighed in before one reaches the conclusion that companies are hiring again. Chances are people are being dropped off the unemployment registry because they've reached a benefit deadline and are no longer able to draw unemployment.

In the latest attempt to divide people, Obama apparently is now going down the "let's all get along" route due to his realization that it's potentially the only way he can salvage his presidency. I don't know of anyone who'll fall for the scheme but I'll bet some out there (the absolute clueless) will feel empathy. His most recent sound-byte revolves around him bemoaning the political structure that's been in place for decades upon decades. All of the sudden when it looks as if he's starting to come across as vulnerable in the eyes of Independent voters the time has apparently come for the White House to kick start a divisive dialogue that places America's political landscape as being broken and in their opinion Obama's the right person to fix it.

Nothing's wrong with America's politics, Mr. President...but I feel there's something fundamentally wrong with you.

Obama's been in office since January 2009...it's August 2011...he can't separate himself from what's taken place since he's became President. He and his campaign workers will no doubt try and spin his presidency as being a victim of a broken political system but the facts still remain that he's the President and it's his party which controls the Senate and up until January 2011 they also controlled the House of Representatives. Obama's Administration will no doubt use the Republican controlled House as a scapegoat and perhaps use it as a divisive tool but that doesn't erase the facts of what decisions and policies have been put in place since January 2009. Does he think that the American voters in 2012 are going to be dumb enough to believe that a Republican controlled House is responsible for things that took place prior to their arrival in Congress in 2010?!? Maybe he and his Administration thinks the voters have short-term memories?

The Democrats controlled both houses of Congress dating back to the middle of last decade. The smart and informed voters aren't going to fall victim to the "there's something wrong with America's politics" argument. The informed, smart voters will see that for what is: Nothing more than a campaign tool of which the desired result is to have people arguing over political discourse and spend less time fuming over Obama's policies and decisions. In other words, Obama would love it if the voters would just ignore the turmoil and problems going on and ignore the policies that he's responsible for and simply turn off all the politics and vote for him again for old time's sake. He won't be able to re-create a 2008 euphoria but apparently he feels if he can sour people on politics they'll ignore what's going on in Washington and as a result be ignorant to his unpopular policies. You see, if you're uninformed and, to put it bluntly, ignorant, you won't realize the damage and financial destruction that his Administration has heaped upon the country. Then, in theory, once an electorate is ignorant or is soured on politics Obama can act as a savior bent on "fixing" America's politics (for the better?) and the voters will cheer him on as a savior, prophet, God, messiah, etc.

So, for now, it looks as if he and his Administration (and the mainstream news media) are going to invent a problem (political discourse) and project it as some sort of social crisis and Obama will come riding to the rescue.

It says a lot about an Administration when they have to either invent a crisis or find a mundane topic and twist it into something vital in an effort to create potential positive publicity when a President's own record will do more harm than good.

If anyone reading this can't see this latest scheme for what it is then you're exactly who the Obama Administration is catering to.

My message to whoever gets the Republican nomination for President is to continue to rub Obama's nose in his own failures and make him defend his policies. When voters or candidates look at the facts it's a slam-dunk win for any Republican. As it's been said over and over and over Obama's the worst President since Jimmy Carter. Carter's time in office is strikingly similar to Obama: both had issues with oil companies and the oil business in general, there were high gas prices (cheap compared to 2011), high unemployment, big Government expansion, and massive entitlement incentives. Those who said Carter had personal charm were probably correct...but all the charm and all the talking couldn't get him re-elected in 1980. This same thing can happen in 2012...all the charm(?) and brow-beating that Obama revels in won't get him re-elected if the Republican nominee points out every single fault of Obama and points out all the negatives that happened since he took office in 2009.

Common sense and facts must win out over charisma, smooth talk, and mile wide grins. With a few exceptions the voters threw a lot of the bums out of Washington in 2010...but more work is needed in the Senate since a lot of those members will be up for re-election in 2012. In November 2012 it'll once again be time to "Throw the Bums Out!" as Ray Stevens suggests in this music video...

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 11...

In a jump of nearly 20,000 on-line views in two days time we see that the Ray Stevens music video of "Obama Budget Plan" now sits with 424,772 views. I was hoping that there would be a spike in the total of on-line views and with the debt ceiling and all of the bickering going on between the House and the Senate...in addition to the in-party bickering...Ray's music video clearly demonstrates the irony in the whole ordeal. The song's title is also a sarcastic reference to the fact that Obama, himself, doesn't even have any plan when it comes to slashing Government spending or balancing the budget...all he knows how to do is spend and spend and spend...which is why, as a joke, the "Obama Budget Plan" refers to a situation where a person spends and spends and spends without responsibility for their actions. Up until January 2011 Obama was able to get any spending bill he wanted passed in Congress since his party controlled both chambers of Congress throughout 2009 and 2010. Since January 2011 it's not been so easy (which is a good thing!).

As I touched upon in previous blog entries the Senate half of Congress (controlled by Democrats) has already said that the House version of the debt ceiling bill will die on the Senate floor. Obama wants a "long-term debt ceiling" bill...as we already know this isn't because he has a concern about the nation's economy (given his penchant for big spending). His goals are purely political. He doesn't want the debt ceiling or the budget or anything else that shows him to be the irresponsible big spender that he truly is...he doesn't want that to be on the minds of voters in 2012.

The Harry Reid version of the debt ceiling bill that Obama shows a lot more favoritism to would create a scenario that enables the debt and budget topic to be dismissed as a non-issue in 2012. If Reid's bill were to be signed into law somehow it would take the Government spending and debt off the table as a campaign issue in 2012. There's still ObamaCare, though, and the more things come out about that travesty the worse off the President becomes. Anyway, this debt ceiling controversy and the two very different bills clearly show that the Republicans have some sort of a plan to cut spending while the Senate simply wants to pass a bill that doesn't cut much of anything but would take the issue out of the headlines for political reasons. You'll never convince me the big spending Democrat party are now all of the sudden budget hawks and have fiscal responsibility. Democrats who pop up on TV, who clearly have a record of big spending but now preach fiscal responsibility since it benefits the President, is tough to stomach a lot of times.

Latest poll numbers show his approval ratings in the gutter...but I'm sure his Administration will cite an obscure poll that shows him to have the highest approval ratings of any President in history. In case you hadn't heard, his Administration likes to tout him as the greatest of all-time. It's laughable, yes, but scary when you realize his Administration truly believes it. The only thing in my opinion that the President is great at being is a narcissist and a class warfare advocate. His anger at BP during the Gulf Oil Spill is something that a lot of us would hope to see him display at America's true enemies...and terrorists at home and abroad...but no...Obama appears to coddle the enemy while taking great delight in humiliating a business. It really doesn't matter to me if BP was at fault or not...the facts are clear that given the opportunity to tear down a business or trash a business Obama goes for the jugular but when having the opportunity to trash and belittle America's real enemies, not an oil company that made a mistake, he's strangely quiet and carries a "I don't want to be bothered by that stuff" attitude.

It's hard to tell where the debt ceiling and the budget talks go from here. Earlier on July 29th the House passed the debt ceiling bill that John Boehner's been supporting...but Harry Reid has vowed to kill it once it enters the Senate. Meanwhile, Reid's version of the debt ceiling bill is most surely going to fail to generate votes in the House and so in the end we're back where we started.

In the meantime, enjoy Ray Stevens' "Obama Budget Plan"...you can watch the video here and can purchase the song on Ray's current CD, the Spirit of '76, which can be purchased at his web-site or you can purchase the Mp3 download at Amazon. The CD version of the collection won't be released until August 9th on Amazon...but the CD version is available at Ray's web-site for purchase now.

As a reminder...Ray Stevens will be heard on WSM radio August 1st between 7-9pm Central time, 8-10pm Eastern time. He'll be appearing on a recurring program hosted by Eddie Stubbs at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum called Intimate Evenings.

Ray Stevens and the Debt ceiling...

As the debt ceiling and all things budget heat up again Ray Stevens' latest hit video, "Obama Budget Plan", satirizes the federal Government's over-spending. The video's gotten 407,089 views to date. This is an increase of nearly 7,000 views in a day and a half. I'd love to see this video reach half a million views by mid August. It certainly has the potential...unless Ray comes up with a new music video by then!?

In true ironic fashion the video shows a family who take their cues from the Government...so the dad gets him a printing press and soon thereafter he makes tons of money, literally. The video shows the consequences of the family's money making scheme...watch until the end to see the irony play out.



As I mentioned in a previous blog entry...Ray Stevens will appear on WSM radio on August 1st. The time is 7-9pm Central (8-10pm Eastern). The program is called Intimate Evenings and it's hosted by Eddie Stubbs. I've known of Eddie for more than 10 years and in anything that he's a part of you can bet there's going to be a lot of interesting information and knowledge going out to all the listeners.

The show is held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. I've heard several of the past episodes down through the years...each contains a small audience...and so Ray will have the chance to play off an audience during the 2 hour program. The tickets to the event are only available in extremely limited quantities and can only be "won" by calling the station at a certain time...last night as I was driving to work I picked up WSM on my car radio and heard Eddie give away tickets to the show. He often encourages people to call in if they know for certain that they'll be able to attend.

The Intimate Evening link gives a brief explanation of the event. The link gives a person the chance to win tickets to the show as well. Given that today is Wednesday and this coming Monday is August 1st that leaves only 3 more business days until the show. There's the rest of today, then there's Thursday and Friday.

"Obama Budget Plan", "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", and "God Save Arizona" are just three of the wonderful songs on his current CD, Spirit of '76.

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 10...

As I predicted yesterday, the Ray Stevens "Obama Budget Plan" video has crossed the four hundred thousand mark on it's three month anniversary. The exact view count for the on-line video is 400,698. Given that today, July 25, marks the video's third month of on-line availability and it's gotten more than 400,000 views in that time it works out to more than 100,000 views per month. The Spirit of '76 collection, which contains "Obama Budget Plan" and quite a few others, gets it's major CD distribution release on August 9.

The collection, as most of you perhaps already know, was originally released in Mp3 format several months ago but it was released without much fanfare. I assume the August 9th release will come complete with fanfare and publicity...and let's not forget that on August 1st Ray Stevens is to be on Eddie Stubbs radio program on WSM.

Edit: 7/26/11: I just left WSM's web-site and they now have a promo ad for the upcoming Ray Stevens interview. Here's a link giving a brief description of the event...

Intimate Evening.

I heard a radio show the other day whose host lamented the fact that the budget was a hot topic. The host even complained that the topic is tedious and a surefire way to turn off listeners and he apologized for talking about it. I didn't keep the radio tuned to the show to find out if the host continued on that sour road or not.

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part 33...

The "Obama Budget Plan" from Ray Stevens is right on the doorstep of 400,000 on-line views. At the moment the exact numbers are 397,995! It wouldn't be too much of a prediction if I say that by the end of the day the video gets even more on-line views to push it beyond the 400,000 mark. The video's been on-line since April 25, 2011 and tomorrow will mark it's third month of availability. It would be a neat accomplishment for the video to reach the 400,000 mark later today or on it's third month anniversary tomorrow.

Month 1: April 25-May 25
Month 2: May 25-June 25
Month 3: June 25-July 25

August 2 continues to be the often quoted "deadline" when it comes to the country's debt fiasco. It's been reported countless times that Congress has until August 2 to raise the debt ceiling or a financial ripple effect will be felt world-wide. As this day looms the Ray Stevens music video spoofing Obama's reputation as a big spender and tax hiker is even more appropriate. I feel that Obama is capable of solving the debt and deficit issues rather quickly but his rigid far-left ideology prevents him from embracing the Republican proposed method of spending cuts and budget balancing that the country truly needs. The bill entitled Cut, Cap, and Balance that I refer to as C.C.B. passed the House of Representatives but was shot down in the Senate. The President made it public knowledge that he'd veto any bill that doesn't pretty much mirror his own ideology. He doesn't appear to be very willing to work with the Republicans (which isn't anything new). He prefers the Republicans work with him instead of the other way around. The main reason he doesn't want a short-term solution is not because he's concerned with the debt or anything associated with the nation's economy...the reason he doesn't want a short-term debt ceiling solution is because he doesn't want to have this in the headlines in 2012 when he's running for re-election. He wants any potentially negative story out of the headlines by this time next year so he can coast to a victory(?) in 2012.

Meanwhile, you can watch the video of the "Obama Budget Plan" on You Tube or visit Ray's web-site. He's got the video on the site's main page. Obviously you can watch the video here, too...



In keeping with the theme of finances and revenue that I started with I feel it's time to visit the world of advertising/sponsors and how it impacts directly or indirectly the music one hears on the radio.

One of the things that isn't reported on very often is how much influence advertisers have on the radio and television industry. The general public pays hardly any attention to this kind of thing but once in awhile news programs point out the importance of advertising revenue for any TV program or radio station. This is often during news segments that deal in financial news...the bottom line is it's an accepted concept that businesses crave advertisers. The equation that's often left out is the influence the advertisers have on practically everything. In a perfect world a business and it's advertiser(s) (also referred to as sponsors) work hand in hand. However there are certain times when an advertising company executive objects to something...and in order for the sponsor to get their way they threaten to pull their advertising unless the objectionable content is removed or reworked.

I came across an article several days ago while scouring the Google news archives and it sums up the above opening paragraph. The article is dated July 4, 1991 and it's no more than a paragraph in length but it shines the light on an alleged event that took place centering around a Ray Stevens single at the time titled "Working For the Japanese". In the report it's stated that the single was showing signs of becoming a hit in the Dallas, TX area but apparently, according to the report, a Toyota dealer pulled thousands of dollars in advertising from the radio station in protest of the song. Now, of course, you all can guess the outcome, right? Advertising money is so crucial that the radio station stopped playing the song because of the advertiser threat.

I'm not here to defend radio stations because there are plenty of cases where a radio programmer prevents the playing of songs that they do not particularly care for...whether there's a public demand or not. So, radio programmers are just as guilty when songs aren't being heard...but in this 1991 article it's made clear that it's the advertiser that played a big part in killing the song's momentum in the Dallas area. The article, in my opinion, shines the light on what happens when sponsors cross the line and become what I like to call activist advertisers.

Instead of an advertiser latching onto something that'll potentially make money for them it seems that modern-day advertisers are involved too much on content rather than profit and they become something of an activist...threatening to pull sponsorship if a TV show or a radio station doesn't cater to the sponsor's demands.

It used to be an advertiser craved the chance of having their product seen or heard by hundreds of thousands of TV viewers or radio listeners but pretty much the rule nowadays is for TV and radio to do what the sponsors dictate or face the consequences of losing financial support from the sponsor.

The 1991 article about the Ray Stevens song, brief as it is, is a perfect example of that kind of thing and I'm happy I found it so I can introduce it to those who may be curious why the song didn't become as big of a hit as it was capable of becoming. I've read comments from people all over the internet who've often mentioned that they vaguely remember hearing the song but couldn't recall hearing it a lot. The article, I think, is a small glimpse of what happened all over the country but the Dallas, TX blurb is what I come across one day. I'm sure there were copycat threats by sponsors at other radio stations in protest of the song, too, but that's just my guess. The fact that the article made mention that the offended party was a Toyota dealer explicitly shows that the sponsor allowed his occupation (a seller of Japanese cars) to dictate his decision.

Ironically, though, 12 years earlier in 1979 Ray Stevens was involved in a comical parody of Barry Manilow. I've not found any archived articles that indicate that radio or advertisers objected to this recording...I came across several commentaries from music critics of the time period that either loved the parody or hated it. Those who hated it all come across as the sort of critics who hate any novelty song. Nothing you say will change their negative opinion of any novelty song. When music critics slant their observations in such a transparent way their criticisms lose a lot of merit. This is specifically why I consider myself an enthusiast and not a critic...my obvious love of the songs recorded by Ray Stevens doesn't qualify me as being objectionable or critical. Sure, I have my opinions on a wide array of topics but I can't help it if I can't find any negative thing to say about Ray Stevens. The single that Ray had out at the time was "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". The song was written by Dale Gonyea and according to various articles that I came across a couple of years ago Barry Manilow himself thought the parody was funny. People Magazine did a write-up of the song...and a lot of other publications did write-ups of the song and highlighted Ray's career for those who discovered him because of the Manilow parody. As far as the charts go it landed in the Top-50 on the Billboard Hot 100 but what many historians cite as the ultimate of irony is the single almost made the Top-10 on the Adult-Contemporary charts in 1979...it fell one position short.

Why is the song's success on Adult-Contemporary radio ironic? Well, in 1979, Barry Manilow was the king of Adult-Contemporary radio...churning out hit after hit after hit...and to see a parody of him go as far as it did on Adult-Contemporary radio was rather ironic and astonishing. Manilow had been a hit maker since late 1974 with the debut of "Mandy". Throughout 1974 and into 1975 and beyond it wasn't uncommon to hear Manilow constantly...the peak in airplay came at some point in the mid '80s...so he had like an 11 year stretch of dominant airplay support (1974-1985). Afterward he became focused almost entirely on concept albums where he covered a lot of musical territory such as jazz, blues, big-band, and show tunes. Nowadays he's pretty much known for his series of decade look backs with such titles as Greatest Songs of the Fifties, Greatest Songs of the Sixties, etc. etc.

Sometimes I like to show off the detailed lengths that the 1979 parody went to. The more detailed that a parody is the more hilarious it becomes. There was a time when you could find Ray's single, with picture sleeve, on eBay a lot of times but it's rarely up for sale anymore. I admit that I never bought the picture sleeved single when it came up for sale on eBay because the sellers were always asking too much for it. I knew how rare the picture sleeve is but the price wasn't right. I bought the single, minus the picture sleeve, later on when it came up for sale.



The above images are of the Ray Stevens single from 1979 and Barry Manilow's second studio album. The other image of Ray at the piano for the album The Feeling's Not Right Again is a visual parody of Barry's 1975 album, Tryin' To Get The Feeling. As I pointed out in a couple of other blog entries: Ray's 1979 Manilow parody and the 1976 chicken-cluck version of "In The Mood" are the two recordings that CD compilers spotlight from his Warner Brothers era (1976-1979).

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 8...

I came across another write-up of Ray Stevens' current CD, the Spirit of '76, and it can be found when you click here. It's from a web-site called Music News Nashville and it shown up this morning when I did a blog search for Ray. The date shows July 9th and so it's hot off the presses. Another thing hot off the presses...well, to be more specific, the presses are hot as Ray and company print money as far as the eye can see in the "Obama Budget Plan"....a humorous look at the debt crisis and the irony in all the things that the Federal Government can get away with that We the People would obviously be arrested for. The video's been on-line for 2 months now and it's gotten 363,470 views. The article above also contains a link to Ray's web-site...so once you've read the write-up, for those who hadn't purchased the current CD yet, click the link to Ray's web-site and see what you're missing out on.

Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 4...

A recent interview done with Ray Stevens made it's way on-line a couple of days ago. The interview is broken into 3 parts and it was conducted by Jeremy Roberts. Google the National Pop Culture Examiner and once you enter their site look up the author's name. Afterward, open his profile and you'll find the interviews. If attempting this is a bit too much you can simply Google "Ray Stevens + Examiner" and the interviews will show up in the search results. The first part of the interview was published on June 18, the second part came along on June 24, and the third part was published on June 25.

The "Obama Budget Plan" is sitting at 316,756 views...the music video was uploaded by Ray Stevens on April 25...yesterday marked the 2 month anniversary of it's You Tube arrival. The video continues to rack up anywhere between 6,000 to 10,000 views weekly. The song comes from his current CD, Spirit of '76. Elsewhere on that CD is a song poking fun at cap and trade...with a song cleverly titled "Cap'n Trade the Pirate". Cap and Trade is not a subject that's on a lot of people's minds even though it may become a subject on a lot of people's minds at some point.

I won't get into all the complexities and technicalities of Cap and Trade but for those who want to know about it you can easily find information on-line. It's more or less an environmentalist issue...critics charge that Cap and Trade is simply a back door way of shutting down refineries across the country and after looking at the basics of Cap and Trade you can see where critics come to that conclusion. The environment is one of those touchy subjects because it's a double-edged sword...on the one hand you don't deliberately want to pollute the atmosphere but on the other hand you have to be cautious and alert if a Government becomes too powerful and too expansive. The last thing a person wants is to have a State or Federal Government controlling a person's every move. That's not what America's all about.

However, America has seemingly always had economical competition with Japan...and on this 1991 CD we hear the very satirical, economical, and infectious "Working for the Japanese". The song closes out #1 With a Bullet. The single reached the country charts but by this point in time country radio had passed over the comedy song...pop radio had long since stopped playing comedy songs...but Curb Records nevertheless released a promo single to radio stations. Ray performed the song on Nashville Now...on the same episode Ray performed "The Sheik of R&B" (track 6 on the 1991 CD). In addition to those two songs I've also seen Ray perform on television a couple of other songs from that 1991 CD: "Power Tools" and "You Gotta Have a Hat".

That particular song, a spoof of the hat acts in country music, can also be seen on the 1993 home video, Ray Stevens Live!. The home video was a million seller but it has never been released on DVD. The home video consistently comes up for sale on eBay. Curb Records released an audio CD soundtrack of the home video in 1995...but nothing beats seeing Ray on stage so all that the audio CD will do is cause you to thirst for the home video counterpart.

Songs performed on the home video are as follows:

1. Shriner's Convention (second verse omitted)
2. Can He Love You Half as Much as I?
3. I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.
4. Ahab the Arab (partial performance)
5. Information Man (alternate title of "Secret Agent Man")
6. Gitarzan
7. Sex Symbols
8. You Gotta Have a Hat
9. Amazing Grace (abbreviated performance)
10. Misty
11. The Streak
12. Everything Is Beautiful

Ray is brought out on stage by way of introduction from his brother, John. Ray enters the stage riding the famed 'Coy' motorcycle and wearing a Fez and Hawaiian shirt. This, of course, is a visual enhancement during his performance of "Shriner's Convention". Although the show takes place at his own theater he still has the concert timed out and so the second verse is omitted. An elaborate production is put forth during the performance of "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.". The song opens with video footage of Ray playing the part of the evening newscaster in addition to field reporter Renaldo Riviera and U.F.O witness Mr. Frisbee. After the witness gets through explaining what he saw out in the woods the action returns to the stage and Ray appears dressed in full Elvis costume and is later joined by pink space aliens while a huge U.F.O. hovers overhead...the song climaxes in a bit of high theatrics as we see Ray being beamed up into the U.F.O. as the audience goes into fits of laughter.

Not surprisingly this performance was written up in several columns by Branson, Missouri writers of the time period...I recall one review stating that Ray's performance of "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O." was the hottest thing in town and that it became something of a must-see performance by those who were on vacation down there. The song originates from Ray's 1989 album, Beside Myself.

Later, he comes riding out on stage in a camel costume after having sang the opening lines of "Ahab the Arab". He doesn't continue with the song, however. He instead launches into a mini-standup comedy routine by telling jokes. This is followed by a black and white video presentation of Ray as a James Bond-style character...upon it's conclusion Ray comes back out on stage decked out in a white tuxedo and carrying a gun.

He tells a few more jokes before launching into a brief song called "Information Man", clearly patterned after "Secret Agent Man". On the back of the home video it gives songwriter credits to those who wrote "Secret Agent Man". Obviously I don't want to write an entire review of the home video and so I'll stop here.

The follow-up, More Ray Stevens Live!, was not widely released but people could purchase it through Ray's fan club and at the gift shop at his Branson, Missouri theater. The follow-up home video inserted comic bits, songs, and performances from his road band that were not shown in the first home video. In actuality it was one concert performance at his theater, filmed in 1992, and broken into two separate home video releases in 1993. The concert was 1 hour and 40 minutes in length. The first home video ran a total of 56 minutes and the second Live! home video ran 44 minutes. Also, "More Ray Stevens Live!" featured solo performances by Janice Copeland and performances by Ray's stage band. The band was called The French Fried Far Out Legion...and in the opening number Ray's brother introduces all members of the band who go on to perform a brief instrumental. This is followed by Janice Copeland's portion of the show. Ray makes an appearance and performs "Cletus McHicks" before another jam session gets underway with "Orange Blossom Special". Ray performs "Turn Your Radio On" and then the entire band lip-synches "In the Mood" as Ray's chicken-clucking performance is played over the P.A. system. Some of the band members get into the clucking and cackling which is greeted with laughter by the audience. Janice Copeland returns in character as Beulah the Bag Lady...Ray's brother plays the straight-man to her rural jokes. Eventually she performs "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". Ray closes out the home video performing "The Haircut Song", "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", and "It's Me Again, Margaret".

Songs from the second home video are as follows:

1. The French Fried Far Out Legion
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water
3. Love Can Build a Bridge
4. Cletus McHicks and His Band from the Sticks
5. Orange Blossom Special
6. Turn Your Radio On
7. In The Mood
8. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
9. The Haircut Song
10. Mississippi Squirrel Revival
11. It's Me Again, Margaret

Ray Stevens in a Town near You...

The latter half of 2011 appears to be a jam-packed time on the road for Ray Stevens...some new tour dates have been announced. For those who hadn't stopped by his web-page yet I'm passing along the concert dates in this blog, too.

Given that the appearances are so far in advance indicates, at least to me, that the appearances have officially been set...but as usual appearances are subject to postponement or cancellation at any time.

A few blogs ago I made mention of an October appearance in Pigeon Forge at the Country Tonite Theatre. Ray will appear twice on the same day...obviously this means two shows. He will do a 3pm and 8pm show on October 21st.

On November 19 Ray will do a show at the Imperial Palace Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi at 8pm. On November 28 Ray will be in Canada! Judging by the traffic of my blog page I've noticed down through the years that those in Canada drop by frequently and if anyone's near Niagara Falls, Ontario on the 28th Ray will be appearing at the Scotia Bank Convention Center on two separate days. The first show will be on November 28th at 7pm and the second show will be on November 29th at 2pm. In late February 2012 he'll be doing a couple of shows in Florida. On February 21, 2012 Ray will be at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida. The show is at 7pm and information can be found here. The next day, February 22, he'll appear in Lakeland, Florida for two shows at the Lakeland Center. Those two shows are 2:30pm and 7:30pm and you can get your tickets directly from their web-site here. An additional appearance in Melbourne, Florida on February 23 at the King Center is listed at his web-site but there's not a concert time listed.

In the meantime the "Obama Budget Plan" has gotten 312,384 You Tube views. Budget battles, debt, and deficit issues continue to be at the forefront of the Federal Government reaching a fever pitch the other day when several members of Congress walked out during budget talks and debt ceiling discussions. The Republicans in Congress are willing to raise the debt ceiling if certain conditions are promised (hopefully in writing!) and that no tax increases will be implemented.

Looking elsewhere "Caribou Barbie" has 413,967 You Tube views. "God Save Arizona" is at 754,049 while "Throw the Bums Out!" is close behind with 737,012. "Osama Yo' Mama" has 1,093,379 views and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" has 1,183,865 views. "Come to the USA" is now up to 5,291,699 views and "We The People" has 4,412,345!

Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 3...

I wrote a blog several weeks ago where I provided the track list for Ray Stevens' current Spirit of '76 CD but I decided to provide it again.

1. The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore
2. Mr. President - Mr. President
3. God Save Arizona
4. Cap'n Trade the Pirate
5. My Uncle Sam
6. November Storm
7. Mi Casa Su Casa
8. Grandpa Voted Democrat
9. Obama Budget Plan
10. News Machine
11. New Normal

As you can see there are 11 songs altogether. I came across some commentary on-line wondering why the CD is titled Spirit of '76 even though there are no traditional patriotic songs on it. To my way of thinking the CD's title reflects a modern-day battle for Independence from Obama's tyrannical big Government, nanny state policies. The iconic image that Ray reproduces on the CD's cover is an optimistic feeling that those who are putting up the fight will ultimately win in November 2012.

I'm sure many people know what tyranny is and so I won't spend much time defining it. When a Government becomes expansive and over-regulates to the point where it interferes with private enterprise and has it's hand in everything...that's just one loosely based definition of modern-day tyranny. America's economic system is based upon capitalism...when Government interferes and chunks of fatty socialism is added to the mix it presents a whole lot of problems for a capitalistic economic system. Based upon things that Obama has said in the past and things he's said in the present the big reason why the economy is so off and in decline is because he doesn't want to do anything to help America's businesses. He wants to punish successful businesses with over taxation...creating a burden on the very businesses who are instrumental in keeping the economy going.

On one hand Obama likes to hike taxes on all businesses large and small...and on the other he appears dumbfounded that unemployment continues to hover around 10%. Common sense says that you can't expect any business burdened with high taxes and domineering regulations to be willing to hire people. Like the domino theory...if a business is burdened with high taxes they're going to offer low wages...a company that offers low wages isn't going to attract much of a work force...resulting in continual high unemployment. Lower the taxes...then companies will be able to raise pay rates...and the work force will become more attracted to a company. It's that simple! Nobody is going to work at a company where much of their paycheck is going for fuel costs...there are a lot of scenarios where people can't afford to take a job offer if the pay is low. It's not always the case that a person is lazy or doesn't want to work...a company has to offer quality pay in an economy rife with inflation. Ray Stevens tackles this "New Normal" on his current CD!

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part 30...

Inching closer to the three hundred thousand mark...the "Obama Budget Plan" video has gotten 261,185 unique views at the moment. Earlier this morning the Spirit of '76, the current CD from Ray Stevens, was ranked on Amazon's Top-20 Singer-Songwriter best-selling list. The CD's been featured on that list's Top-100 for a couple of weeks. Earlier today on Twitter it was mentioned that Ray hopes to have his much-anticipated Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music finished at some point in July. My guess is a release date, should it be finished in July, will come at some point in August or September...perhaps later in the year. Although there's still the possibility that the collection will be released sooner rather than later once it's completed since it is a highly anticipated release among his fans and novelty song specialists in general.

One of the songs that Ray Stevens often performed in concert for years was "Sex Symbols". The song spoofed the unlikely but commercially successful duo of Willie Nelson and Julio. Ray doesn't vocally impersonate Willie but he does an impression of Julio in the recording. In performance Ray would use a dummy likeness of Julio and act like a ventriloquist. The Julio dummy makes a cameo appearance in Ray's music video of "The Blue Cyclone". "Sex Symbols" is one of the songs from Ray's 1987 album, Crackin' Up. The comedy album's biggest single was "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" but the remainder of the album is just as good if not as topical as the Rolex song. The B-side of "Sex Symbols" is a very funny western story called "The Ballad of Cactus Pete and Lefty" where Ray tells the story of a drifter and his pet sidewinder, Lefty. Cactus Pete mentions a few celebrities throughout the song but there's nothing topical among the conversation. The song was made into an animated music video nearly 20 years later in 2006 and can be found on the DVD, Cartoon Carnival, Volume One.

As I mentioned in previous blog entries, Crackin' Up is the album that some (not all) music critics described as R-rated (believe it or not). Their criticism was largely built on "Sex Symbols", "Three Legged Man", and "Cool Down Willard". In the case of "Three Legged Man" you'll hear a comical story of a man who steals another man's wife...not only does he steal the guy's wife he also takes the man's peg leg in an effort to persuade the man not to run after them (it hilariously backfires). "Cool Down Willard" tells about an envious man whose annoyed by all of the attention the women in his family give to Willard Scott. This song is topical in places...as it makes mention of Willard being the weatherman on the Today show and reference is made to Willard's segment on saluting birthdays of those reaching 100 or above. The 1987 album also contains "Gourmet Restaurant" which became an animated music video from Ray in 2006, too.

One of the unusual aspects of Ray's catalog of songs is that a lot of them have since become music videos...years and in most cases decades after they were originally released in audio form. Ray rarely made music videos prior to 1992...in fact there were only two music videos released by Ray during the 1980's - the decade many cite as being the birth of the music video concept. Ray's first music video was "Santa Claus Is Watching You" from 1985...then a music video for "Surfin' U.S.S.R." came along in 1988. In 1990 he put out two music videos: one was "Sittin' Up With the Dead" and the other was "Help Me Make It Through the Night". The latter video received some nice exposure on the various video programs on The Nashville Network. Then, in 1992, Ray came out with Comedy Video Classics which incorporated the four previously released music videos and added four new ones: "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", "It's Me Again, Margaret", "The Streak", and "Everything Is Beautiful".

Ever since the direct-market release of Comedy Video Classics in 1992 and it's subsequent retail release late in 1993 Ray Stevens has become uniquely tied with comedy music videos. Ray was definitely a pioneer in the commercial viability of home video and his string of home video releases in the 1990's: Comedy Video Classics, Ray Stevens Live!, and Get Serious! were immensely successful throughout the bulk of the decade. I don't have the precise stats but Comedy Video Classics spent over a year on Billboard's home video chart. The collection couldn't chart in Billboard until it became available in retail stores and so after a year being sold exclusively on TV and in print advertisements (1992-1993) it became available for retail purchase in shopping stores across the country in late 1993. It spent the rest of 1993 and nearly all of 1994 among the Top-20 best selling home videos.

Around the time Comedy Video Classics hit retail stores in 1993 a new direct-market offer became available: Ray Stevens Live!. This concert video was taped at Ray's Branson, Missouri theater and it became a million selling home video, too. Available as a direct-market release originally (1993-1994) it hit retail stores in mid 1994 and it remained a top selling home video through the rest of 1994 and into 1995. In fact there were many weeks in mid '94 where Ray's two home video releases would flip-flop chart positions and compete against the other. In mid to late 1995 Ray came out with Get Serious! which is a direct-to-video movie. Within the movie there are music video insertions...ten music videos are interwoven throughout which help add to the movie's unique presentation. The movie is 1 hour, 50 minutes long and it satirizes political correctness by shining a light on it's toxic influence. Political correctness is basically an extension of progressive liberal Utopian beliefs where "everybody gets along and there's no fighting, screaming, shouting, or war". While in theory a Utopian existence is ideal but in practice it's artificial and not the way of nature and that's why those like myself oppose political correctness. Humans need to fight...they need to argue...they need to joke and have fun without the fear that a bystander isn't going to "be offended"...political correctness is censorship...and censorship is never a good thing.

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 6...

I hope you all caught the trio of interviews that Ray Stevens gave over the weekend. As I touched upon in my previous blog entry Ray was to appear on two programs that air on the Fox Business Network and then appear on a program that airs on the Fox News Channel. The shows that Ray appeared on were America's Nightly Scoreboard, Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch, and Huckabee. The appearance on the Judge's program was brand new...earlier I had contemplated whether the appearance would be new or a rerun from earlier in the year. The appearance on Huckabee re-airs tonight at 8pm Eastern on the Fox News Channel. In a departure from the norm, Ray is the first guest on Huckabee. Usually a musical guest on a news program will appear toward the end of the show but this time around Mike had Ray open the show. Ray sang the "Obama Budget Plan" and the two of them spoke a little bit about Obama, music, and comedy.

I noticed that a certain theme took center stage in the trio of television appearances...the theme was the explanation of how important music is in everyday life. Ray commented that music helps a lot of people understand things that are going on and that people can usually remember things a lot more if it's presented in music form. Ray remarked that his political direction hopefully causes the non-politically active to become a bit more aware of what's going on in Washington, D.C.

Ray commented that comedy has always been a surefire way to create awareness and even though the subject matter of which he's singing about isn't a laughing matter the fact still remains that a lighthearted approach a lot of the time can go a long way. In a couple of the interviews Ray commented on the business of making music and how a lot of established artists had to adapt to the new ways of selling music or suffer financially. Gone are the days where a person goes to a record shop and buys something on vinyl...very rarely do people make mad dashes to a store to purchase a CD...a good number of consumers, of course, are purchasing music on-line and the audio files go directly to a person's computer or cell-phone depending on which device is making the purchase. Publicity was given to his current CD, Spirit of '76, which is currently ranked at #35 on Amazon's Singer-Songwriter best-selling Mp3 list. His previous release, We The People, is ranked at #27 on Amazon's Comedy best-selling Mp3 list.

In addition to those TV appearances Ray appeared in-studio on the Tom Sullivan radio program a few days ago. Fox News Radio uploaded the interview and here it is...



The above interview is by far the longest one given by Ray during the course of the last couple of days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Ray was in New York which explains why he appeared in-person on the radio show. A lot of times, of course, Ray calls in from Nashville. The "Obama Budget Plan" received quite a boost in You Tube over the weekend, too. The video now sits with 214,047 unique views in a little over a month's time. The video was released on April 25, 2011 but let's back up a few years...

The year was 1988 and this single paid tribute to the sounds of early rock and R&B while at the same time told a humorous tale of a man attempting to teach a deaf woman how to drive a '57 Chevy. Titled "The Day I Tried To Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive" it was on the country charts for a couple of weeks in 1988 signaling one of Ray's final chart appearances for MCA Records. The single was lifted from his comedy album that year, I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. As you can probably guess from the album's title Ray appeared in Will Rogers attire performing a rope trick. Throughout the song Ray tries to teach Charlene all there is to know about cars but she mishears quite a lot of information which causes minor accidents along the way...climaxing in the car finally coming to a stop...as a result from a crash, of course! In the 1995 direct-to-home video movie that Ray starred in, Get Serious, Charlene plays a substantial role in the story. The character was played by actress Connie Freeman. In the movie Charlene wanders into Ray's life after years of absence. She helps him evade the police, a mob of protesters, and a posse put together by a record company executive (played by Michael Airington).

Although the Charlene MacKenzie single reached the charts, the song from the album which received a bit more wider publicity during that time period was the album's lead-off, "Surfin' U.S.S.R.". The single was made into a music video...Ray's second (following the seasonal "Santa Claus Is Watching You" a few years prior). The song's video spoofed current events and it included exclusive content not found on the audio recording such as the opening spoof of a newscast and comical dialogue between Reagan and Gorbachev. As the two political leaders have small talk, Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev engage in a little pushing and shoving which ultimately results in a wild take-no-prisoners cat fight. Ray, of course, did vocal impressions of the two political figures. The Cold War was nearing an end (1991 is the year it officially ended) and all over the news, specifically during the latter half of Reagan's second term in office, were indications that the Cold War may soon be at it's end. The song itself was a mixture of several pop music sounds. On one hand you have the Beach Boys feel...the island music and the Mike Love-style vocalizing from Ray which instantly makes one think of the Beach Boys. Secondly there's a heavy use of Soviet references and the fact that the Beatles had once recorded a song called "Back in the U.S.S.R.". This connection is eluded to in the "Surfin' U.S.S.R." music video as all of the members of the crew hold up pictures of Vladimir Lenin...all except Ray's character...he holds up a picture of John Lennon!

Ray Stevens and Obama Money, Part 5...

140,715 is the most up to date number of views for the "Obama Budget Plan" by Ray Stevens. The death of Osama bin Laden still carries a lot of priority as interviews with those in the NAVY Seals trickle out as well as interviews with former members of the Bush Administration.



As mentioned, the "Obama Budget Plan" video has obtained over 140,000 views since it's debut 2 weeks ago. At the moment his previous video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" has 155,566 views. The "Osama Yo' Mama" music video has risen to 1,041,226 views. This is an increase of more than 60,000 views since the news was released about his death.

I'm hoping there's an upcoming media blitz from Ray surrounding the Spirit of '76 collection. Even with 2011 not being an election year it doesn't mean that America's voters have no opinions on the issues. I hope this Spirit of '76 collection of songs, as well as last year's We The People collection, helps secure an Obama defeat in 2012. One of the songs on the latest collection, "Mr. President, Mr. President", is one I'm hoping becomes a music video. It's amusing and catchy. I'd love it if Ray were to perform "Mr. President, Mr. President" at campaign rallies later this year and into 2012.

There's obviously nothing wrong with backing a candidate for President...but if the person being backed/endorsed doesn't get the nomination I think all Republicans should show their support for whoever gets the nomination. This coming election in 2012 is about removing Obama from power. It's not about gaining a "true Republican" as President or gaining a "fiscally responsible" person as President. The Republican party can't afford to continue to allow petty in-party bickering over who's a real or true Republican and allow Obama to use that political bickering to secure a victory next year. After the Republican nomination for President is decided I hope all factions of the party such as the social conservatives, the hard-line conservatives, the moderates and RINO's, all back whoever runs against Obama. Whoever runs against the Obama agenda will more than likely get the nomination for President in 2012. Should any Republican show uneasiness about telling it like it is or appear weary and intimidated at the idea of debating Obama...those Republicans shouldn't even be running!

The candidate has to be articulate and able to deflate Obama's monumental ego and point out all the flaws in the Obama vision of America and go after the policies already set in place by Obama. The candidate also has to explain how he or she will do things differently and why their way is better. In the meantime enjoy the "Obama Budget Plan" song/video and remind yourselves why his 2012 defeat is important.

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 23...

"Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens is a very funny story based on the Arabian Nights and other stories utilizing Arabia and the Middle East as a back-drop. Those who crave political correctness typically want to censor this song and are constantly seeking a day when the song and it's music video will be out of public view for eternity. You see, the politically correct kind want to censor, control, and dictate what people can see, read, and hear. If that doesn't explain the kind of people they are nothing will. Those who object to political correctness are often called racists, trouble makers, old-fashioned, ignorant, prejudiced, and on and on and on. You can also tell when someone's politically correct even if he or she doesn't come right out and say so. You want to know how? The politically correct person almost always comes off apologetic for liking "Ahab the Arab". I've seen numerous posts on Twitter where somebody comes on with a link to the music video and then concludes by saying something like "I know I shouldn't laugh but it's funny!". Well, let's take a look at a line like that...there's nothing wrong with laughing when you hear "Ahab the Arab". It's a very funny song and there's nothing to be apologetic about. In other words don't feel as if you have to say you're sorry for liking the song...however, it's perfectly fine to feel sorry for those who don't like it.



A lot of people on-line get confused when this music video was produced. Some people who look up the song's chart data will see "1962" as the year of release and naively believe the video was taped in 1962! Obviously this isn't the case. This music video of "Ahab the Arab" was put together in 1995 for a direct-to-home video movie that Ray released that year titled Get Serious!. That movie runs 110 minutes and you can typically find copies of it on eBay. There was never a DVD release and so the only way a person can see the movie is on home video. The music videos from the movie are readily available on various home video and DVD compilations from Ray...but I suggest you track down the movie and watch it yourselves. It's a family friendly movie, of course, but there are moments where some of the references will no doubt go over younger viewer's heads.

A lot of the jokes are what one may call inside jokes...in other words the jokes will be understood better by those familiar with Ray's music and his life's experiences. His experience, for example, in a hotel during a Shriner's convention ultimately led to the writing of "Shriner's Convention" (one of the music videos in the movie). However, for those not as familiar with his career, there's the inclusion of the song "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" which serves as the springboard for the movie's overall plot. In that one single song Ray's music career is spotlighted. Search my blog page for further information about Ray's 1995 Get Serious! movie. I say this because I can go on and on and on and on writing about the movie but that's something I did several blogs ago!

Jumping to contemporary happenings in the career of Ray Stevens we see that he's continuing to spread his music all over the video hosting sites across the internet. Several music videos in are experiencing heavy unique views: the current "Obama Budget Plan" has 138,363 views so far; plus there's the resurging "Osama Yo' Mama" with 1,039,049 views; "Come to the USA" with 5,165,019 views continues to pull in numbers, as does "We the People" which sits at 4,356,105 views. His previous video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has 154,988 views.