Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" hits 2.5 million unique views...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I took a look at the numbers for "The Quarantine Song" and it's gotten 2,502,146 unique views...and this is a pickup of 93,422 in the last couple of days. When I posted a previous blog about "The Quarantine Song" it had accumulated 2,408,724 unique views. The COVID-19 vaccine is starting to be administered and here's hoping commonly heard phrases like pandemic, social distance, flatten the curve, and stop the spread will be a thing of the past soon. I have a nagging suspicion that those in power aren't too eager to give it up...which is why, in some States, the local officials there are throwing nothing but cold water on the vaccine roll-out. If anything threatens a scientist or politician's power of control over a people, like the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine certainly can, the more hesitant a Governor or Mayor will become in the roll-out. Several media outlets are deliberately misleading people about the vaccine and sewing doubts about it. The doubts were being sewn earlier in the year...but once the announcement was made that a vaccine had been approved by the FDA the politically driven skepticism ratcheted up. "The Quarantine Song" is available as an Mp3 for those of you, like myself, that also like to have Ray Stevens songs in your audio library rather than only in your video library. You can purchase your Mp3 by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" hits 2.4 million unique views...

Hello all...a quick blog entry on this early Sunday morning. I glanced over the YouTube unique view statistics for "The Quarantine Song" by Ray Stevens and it's leaped up another level and now has 2.4 million unique views. The specific number is 2,408,724! The last couple of days, as you readers know, I've been busy writing blog entries focusing on the Mp3 release of "The Quarantine Song" and so I hadn't checked in on the video until a couple of minutes ago. The video, having debuted in May of this year, is still being discovered as you can see from the growing number of unique views it continues to rack up. It's getting to the phase now where more and more people are clicking the video from wherever it's being embedded or whatever device they're using to be on-line and they're not actually seeing or bothering to read the video description or it's details and so quite a number of recent comments about the video have people wondering why it's coming out now rather than months earlier...but of course the video did emerge months ago...back in May of this year. So, aside from that petty annoyance of YouTube viewers not reading the video description, as a fan of Ray Stevens I continue to champion all of his songs and promote everything he's recorded. That's what I do...and will continue to do. Here's that smash video hit from multi-talented Ray Stevens... "The Quarantine Song"... 

Ray Stevens: My purchase of "The Quarantine Song" Mp3...

Well, hello all...I'm not in the raging panic that I happened to be in when I wrote my previous blog entry. If you go back and read the previous blog entry you'll see me in panic mode...freaking out over not being able to purchase the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" just as soon as it hit Midnight. In that blog I made the argument that it's December 11th so why isn't the Mp3 available for purchase, etc. All kinds of things were going through my mind. You want to know something else? I was awake until a little bit past 3am and Amazon was still showing the Mp3 not yet available for purchase. I gave up and fell asleep sometime after that. I woke up later in the day and checked Amazon and, finally, the product page shown that it was available for purchase. So, after a few updates with my Account, I purchased "The Quarantine Song" and listened to it. I then wrote a review on Amazon that isn't published yet. I should've copied and pasted it here on my blog but I didn't think of doing that. I was still in a euphoria that I finally was able to purchase the Mp3 that I completely forgot to copy/paste my review. I'll probably copy it when it's published and paste it here in a future blog entry. The thing that consumers/fans should know is that this is a brand new recording exclusively for Curb Records. It's not an audio copy of the music video performance from Larry's Country Diner. The music video originated in May and it's gotten more than 2,000,000 unique views on YouTube...but this Mp3 is a new audio recording of the song with a slightly different music accompaniment. 

If you have the vocal performance from the music video burned into your memory as I do you'll notice the difference in this Mp3 recording right away. The most obvious difference is in the vocal phrasing. In the performance in the music video he phrases some of the lyrics differently than in the Curb Records recording. You can purchase the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens: "The Quarantine Song" now on Mp3...

Hello one and all...several days ago I made mention that I'd heard that Curb Records was going to issue an Mp3 of the Ray Stevens COVID-19 comedy video, "The Quarantine Song". I had heard this bit of information on a radio show Ray guest starred on in early November that had only made it to the internet for on-line listening in early December. I hadn't seen any mention of the Mp3 in any other on-line site and until this morning Amazon wasn't showing it on their site but now they are. The radio interview where the host mentioned this December 11th release happened on WZON radio. The Mp3, at the moment, is listed on the Amazon page for digital downloads but on the product page it states that it won't be available until December 11, 2020. I thought it might be a typo and so I went ahead and clicked the purchase link and I was taken to something that resembled an error page...and as of this writing I haven't been able to purchase the Mp3 yet. 

Here's the lovely promotional photo being used over there on the Amazon product page...as you know the photo comes from the video performance of the song. The face mask and gloves are clearly visible in the photo. I'd remarked on Ray's social media sites that the song is now part of his audio catalog with Curb Records. Ray had previously recorded for Curb Records several times and they issued/distributed a number of DVD's of his limited animation music videos along the way, too, in addition to the audio recordings. 

The bizarre part about all of this is here where I'm at it's 12:56am as I type this and so it's technically December 11th...so why is Amazon showing a message that the Mp3 won't be available until December 11th when I'm in December 11th already here in the Eastern time zone. Anyway, I think I know what the issue is. A couple of months ago when Curb Records issued the 50th Anniversary Mp3 of "Everything is Beautiful" I was able to purchase the Mp3 right after it turned Midnight here. However, I was not able to post a review of the single on Amazon until after 3am Eastern time, 12am in the West. So, I'm thinking that I'll be able to purchase the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" once it turns 3am here. I say this because out on the West Coast where Amazon's headquartered there's a 3 hour time difference. This is the message on the product page at the moment...keep in mind it's 1:05am, December 11, 2020 as I type this and the Amazon product page still shows this alert...

I'm curious if anyone else has ever had this sort of issue of attempting to purchase an Mp3 on the date it shows it's available but yet are unable to purchase it. Since I'm sort of a night owl I'll be awake at 3am and I'll re-try purchasing the Mp3 at that time. Once I'm able to purchase the Mp3 I'll make mention of it in a future blog entry later today.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" hits 2.1 million unique views...

In this, my third blog entry of the day, I'm providing an update on the YouTube numbers for "The Quarantine Song" that Ray released back in May of this year during the first wave of COVID and the hysteria that followed with rationing of products and limited supplies of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and mandatory face mask wearing inside all retail stores. The song's title was slightly changed midway through it's appearance on the social media platforms...originally the song's title was "Quarantined" but then it was changed to "The Quarantine Song". Ray performed this song on an episode of Larry's Country Diner...and the cast of the show is who you hear laughing near the end of the clip. The video clip has moved past the 2.1 million plateau. As of this writing it's sitting at 2,169,872...as you can see I'm a bit late in reporting just exactly when the video crossed over into the 2.1 level given 69,872 unique views have already been accumulated by the time I started writing this blog entry! The unique views obtained on YouTube are separate from the views the video is getting on other social media sites. I know Facebook video views are counted differently than the method used on YouTube. As a result of this I stick with reporting the YouTube unique views. 

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" hits 2 million unique views...

Well, it's me once again!! Earlier tonight I was doing my usual internet browsing and I decided to visit the Ray Stevens YouTube channel...which is something of a routine thing for me...and I discovered that his COVID-19 comedy video, "The Quarantine Song", has pushed beyond 2,000,000 unique views. As of this writing the unique view count is 2,005,516 and so it must have vaulted into the 2 million range at some point earlier on Monday. The music video debuted in May of this year...a few months into the pandemic...and as we're well into November and soon to be in December the hyper-exaggeration of cases is at an all time fever pitch. The partial economic lockdowns being re-implemented by power hungry Governor's and big city Mayor's, in my opinion, is starting to reach a point of no return and that's why, I think, so many people are protesting the COVID-19 restrictions this time around. The people can see where things are headed. There's a very vocal and loud response to California restrictions by the public out there and it's caused many of them to rally for a recall of their Governor. It's hard to tell what's going to happen from day to day, week to week, or month to month...the uncertainty is enough to weigh on one's mind. The Thanksgiving restrictions in some of these States is beyond appalling...power hungry, mini-tyrants in State and local Government issuing edicts and mandates that they themselves have no intention of following but threaten fines or arrest if the ordinary everyday citizen dares to have fun or have any family and friends over. How come we all can't quarantine from the Government?

Ray Stevens: The Huckabee 2020 performances...

Hello one and all!! Ray Stevens guest starred on Huckabee yesterday night. Ray wasn't interviewed but he performed two songs while the show's host, Mike Huckabee, played the bass guitar. I don't know if there was an interview segment that was recorded for the studio audience for a later release or if Ray was only there as a performer instead of as an interview subject. The series airs on religious station, TBN, and it's been in production for a number of years. It originated on the Fox News Channel but then moved over to the TBN. The acronym stands for Trinity Broadcasting Network. Ray's appeared on the show before but this, I think, may have been the first time there wasn't an interview segment. Ray performed "The Quarantine Song" midway through the hour long program. There was a studio audience...it wasn't packed with people because of the COVID virus...but there was an audience. Ray closed the show singing the "Everything is Beautiful" / "United We Stand" medley. This was the first time Ray had performed this on any television show. The performances from Ray were their usual stellar productions but be sure to take in all of the intense emotion of Ray's performance of "United We Stand"! The first video embed is of the medley...even though the video title states that it's only "Everything is Beautiful", it's actually the medley performance with "United We Stand". 

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 2 million unique views...

Three blog entries in a row!! I decided to look up the activity on another Ray Stevens music video...the highly active "Quarantined". The music video has officially been re-titled "The Quarantine Song"...I don't know the reason why...I guess using the word, quarantined, as a song title may have caused it to get lost in the search results or something because since the pandemic began in early 2020 'quarantine' has become a much used word. In a blog entry from September 1st I wrote about the music video topping 1,000,000 unique views. I was on YouTube several minutes ago and checked the video's unique view totals and as of this writing the video is in the ball park of hitting 2,000,000 unique views. The specific unique view count for the music video is: 1,831,008. The fact that the video amassed over 800,000 unique views in a little over 2 months time (since topping the 1,000,000 mark on September 1st) shows that it might be on pace to break into the 2,000,000 range by year's end. COVID-19 "cases" tend to be on the rise as well as hospitalizations. I don't like the idea of more lockdowns or rationing of hand sanitizer and other hygiene products...but we all witnessed how the nation reacted in the early spring and half the summer...you couldn't find hand sanitizer anywhere and shopping stores were limiting the amount of items you could purchase. Let's hope the future doesn't include the possibility of national lockdowns!!

Ray Stevens: Re-opened CabaRay shuts back down...

Hello all once again!! The news broke around 6pm Tuesday evening that the CabaRay showroom is shutting back down, temporarily, once again. The showroom re-opened on October 1st and it held two concerts there (October 1st and October 3rd) and so the news of it shutting down, again, comes as something of a surprise. In some of my September blog entries I promoted the showroom re-opening in October and provided imagery of the concert calendar...with concert dates filled out for the rest of the year. The showroom opened for it's third season in March and almost immediately shut down after it's opening weekend...and 7 months later, in October, it re-opened but it's shutting down after opening weekend. History repeats itself, yes, but I never thought it would repeat itself in one calendar year. 

Anyway, the message left on the CabaRay social media site left November and December open to perhaps returning to a normal CabaRay experience. The reason for the showroom shutting down, it's explained, is that with all of the COVID-19 restrictions, which they report they're following to the letter, it interferes with their ability to put on a quality show that will be fun and or memorable for the audience. So, if you go by their wording, they're closing down due to the restrictions interfering with the execution of the CabaRay experience (the dinner, the concert, the socializing in the piano bar, the dancing, etc.). In other words the experience of visiting the showroom is being hampered by the COVID-19 restrictions and they'd rather open up with no Government and health department mandated restrictions in place. 

In the social media message Ray remarked that until they're given permission that they're allowed to return to the regular rules of operation the remaining October concerts are canceled...and in late October an announcement will be made about November.    

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" hits 1,000,000 unique views...

Well, now, we're starting off the month of September with the announcement that the Ray Stevens COVID-19 music video, "Quarantined", has reached the 1,000,000 plateau. The specific numbers as of this writing are 1,000,945 unique views!! This accomplishment enables the video to move into the elite group of Ray Stevens YouTube uploads that have also obtained 1,000,000 or more unique views. In blog's past I've often remarked that his YouTube videos should receive achievement plaques based on unique views. 500,000 would be a Gold Upload; 1,000,000 would be a Platinum Upload; etc. A screen cap from each video would appear on the plaque much like an album cover appears on Gold and Platinum awards issued by the RIAA.



"Quarantined" is only available as a YouTube video...it hasn't appeared on any CD or Mp3. Although I don't have the hardware to create a fancy looking plaque or a unique view award I did however create my own homemade certificate to commemorate Ray's latest million unique view video...and here it is...

I used a generic certificate design from an internet site and filled in the blanks with what I wanted to say. If I were to print it off I'd sign my username in the blank space and leave the other one empty.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 1,000,000 unique views...

Hello all once again!! I noticed a flurry of activity on social media sites the last couple of days...people sharing the Ray Stevens COVID-19 music video, "Quarantined". I decided to take a look at the YouTube video and discovered that it's nearing 1,000,000 unique views!! As of this writing the video has 995,292 unique views!! On August 25th the video turned 3 months old...having debuted on YouTube on May 25th. My first blog entry of the month focused on the pandemic and at that time the argument for or against face mask wearing was a big topic.

I wear a face mask, although I'm opposed to it, but I wear one only where it's mandated by a shopping store or whatever fast food place is open for carry-out. I don't like drive-thru...my driver side window is off-track so I open the driver side door to talk into the drive-thru microphone and then I open the door to receive the order. I don't wear a face mask when I'm driving (even though I have seen people seated behind their steering wheel wearing a face mask!) or when I'm with family. The oppressive over-reach of some Governor's in the country will have you thinking you're not allowed to engage in basic, God-given rights and activity unless they approve of it. This is why the pandemic has unleashed the true nature of Big Government politicians both locally and nationally...they've used the pandemic as a power grab where they've been allowed, most through fear and scare tactics, to take over parts of our lives that ordinarily would be hands off.

Through the use of fear tactics a lot of Governor's and Mayor's have used the pandemic to erode individual rights and liberty. The face mask issue, for example, has become some sort of a morality argument. If you wear one you're praised for "not helping spread a virus if you're asymptomatic" and if you don't want to wear one you're vilified and said to be "selfish, intolerant, cold-hearted, and cruel" when all you're wanting to do, as someone who doesn't wear a face mask, is to have the freedom to choose whether you want to wear one or not. The most vulnerable at having complications from COVID-19 should be the ones wearing the face masks in public as I've been saying for months.

The reason why there's a little over 180,000 fatalities of COVID-19 in a country with over 6 million "cases" is because it's a virus that's 90 percent deadly to those aged 60 and older and for those who have underlying medical conditions. There isn't any significant medical data to support the argument to keep the country in partial or full lockdown...the country for half a year has been in a state of economic chaos and uncertainty because with every COVID-19 "case" that springs up a Governor over-reacts and doubles down on keeping their economy at a stand-still.

The State I live in has a little over 4,000 COVID-19 related deaths...the "cases" are a little over 122,000. The population of the State is 11.6 million! Now, in a State with a population that size, our Governor's rhetoric would have you believing we're a "hot spot" of COVID-19 activity. The numbers don't show that. People do and have recovered from COVID-19. I'm tired of the over-reaction whenever there's increases in "cases". COVID-19 isn't an automatic death sentence.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" pushes beyond 900,000 unique views...

Hello all!! I've been watching the NHL play-off's and baseball games on and off throughout the weekend. I still don't know all the in's and out's and rules when it comes to ice hockey but I've been something of a casual viewer of the sport for a number of years. On last night's episode of Ray's locally syndicated PBS series, CabaRay Nashville, the guest star was Rex Allen, Jr.

As mentioned in a previous blog entry that I wrote I remarked that the moment that I find out if Ray's current music video, "Quarantined", has reached the 900,000 unique view plateau I'd write a blog entry about it. Well, today is the day. I looked at the numbers several minutes ago and "Quarantined" sits at 910,038. Has anyone else managed to maintain some of their sanity during the pandemic? Have you given up and succumbed to Government over-reach? Have you gotten to the point where you're numb to all things COVID-19, social distancing, and face masks and has both the elected and un-elected bureaucrats beaten down your once proud independence? The best thing to do, outside of voting this November, is to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all while listening to the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" video...over 900,000 people have seen it so far...



A recurring situation I've come across is the video embeds that I share in my blog entries sometimes are not showing up in the actual blog. When I go to preview my blog entries before I click publish I always see the videos posted in preview and so I assume they're showing up on the published blog entry. When I posted a video clip in a previous blog entry it failed to show up after publishing but was appearing in preview. It's a nuisance.

The most recent audio release from Ray Stevens is technically a Jeannie Seely recording. In my previous blog entry I promoted their "Dance Tonight" duet and wrote a review of the song. The Mp3 is available for purchase on Amazon. Her album is called An American Classic and it features a blend of solo and duet recordings. One of those duet recordings is with Ray Stevens on "Dance Tonight", from the pen of Paul McCartney.

You can read my commentary about Ray and Jeannie's "Dance Tonight" and find a link to their duet by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 900,000 unique views...

Yes, it's me once again...with a rather quick follow-up to my previous blog entry. I just left YouTube and noticed that the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" video is nearing 900,000 unique views!! On August 8th the video had obtained 853,331 unique views and when I looked several minutes ago the numbers were 883,357!! This is a pickup of an additional 30,026 unique views.



When you do the math it means that the video needs 16,643 unique views to break into the 900,000 plateau. Will it push past 900,000 later today or by the end of the week? I'll be keeping track and once it cracks 900,000 I'll obviously write a blog entry about it. Is anyone at their wit's end with the pandemic? Anyone tired of the over-reach from local and State Government and their politicization of COVID-19 as they pick and choose which medical professional to listen to? The scientists who tend to favor guidelines that aren't strict routinely get mocked and vilified whereas scientists who favor Government control guidelines are praised and applauded. Remember when Fauci appeared to be in agreement with President Trump over a recent issue? The media vilified Fauci and claimed he was being bullied and pressured by the President. As long as the scientists are saying things that make the President look bad then the media is cheering them on. I think the video will crack 900,000 later today but that's just my guess.

Since there aren't any unique view awards that I'm aware of I've often felt that video clips that surpass the criteria of specific totals should receive some sort of award or plaque for the achievement. I'm referring to video clips made by professional recording artists either on major or Independent record labels. Their music is rewarded with Gold, Platinum, Double-Platinum sales certifications by the RIAA so why can't unique view thresholds on social media get recognized in some manner? You could even refer to video clips with 500,000 or more unique views as a Gold View...then the next plateau would be Platinum View at more than 1,000,000 unique views, etc. etc. The video hosting site once had a YouTube Awards presentation (in 2007 and 2008) for user generated video clips.

Ray has had dozens of video clips push past the 500,000 range and several others have pushed well past 1,000,000 unique views. "Quarantined", it appears, will be Ray's next Platinum View video but first it needs to reach 900,000.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" and COVID-19...

In a previous blog entry I had provided the most recent unique views for the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined". The numbers for that video were sitting at 816,307 on August 1st. I checked the numbers on August 3rd and they were 828,968 for a pickup of 12,661. I looked at the numbers a couple of minutes ago and "Quarantined" now sits with 853,331 which is a pickup of 24,363 unique views in the last five days. The COVID-19 pandemic, long since politicized, remains a topic of discussion each and every day. The intense focus on COVID-19 "cases" rather than hospitalizations or deaths has single handedly panicked a large swath of the country. A true disservice to the public and causing fear...businesses can't even get their workers to come back for fear of COVID-19. The panic and fear generated by anti-Trump politicians are to blame, in my opinion. Companies/businesses whose CEO's have completely overhauled their job sites to make them safe and COVID ready, based on local and State health mandates, face the burden of getting their workers back. As mentioned they're not returning to work because of the fearmongering of COVID-19 but also, not to forget, they're making more money on unemployment...so good luck getting them back if the checks keep going out with no cut-off in sight.

This intense focus on cases is politically designed to sabotage those in public office who hold differing opinions of the virus and choose to go about dealing with COVID-19 in their own way rather than falling in line with a one size fits all solution. Anyone who dares say that the virus can be dealt with on a local level without State or Federal Government intrusion is shamed and ridiculed. Anyone who dares say facemask wearing should be voluntary is also vilified. The concept of social distancing, I thought, was created to keep people separated 6 feet in case someone wasn't wearing a facemask. This inhumane practice of social distancing, strangely enough, is still being enforced inside retail stores and pretty much everywhere else even though everyone who enters stores and fast food restaurants are required to wear a facemask. I'd love for someone to explain why, even with facemasks on, they still want everyone separated 6 feet.

The video clip below will be three months old on August 25th. If the song/video is new to you Ray takes a humorous look at all of the frustrations and annoyances the pandemic has brought to daily life. The song picks at the disruption of normalcy that the pandemic unleashed on society...as you could guess it's a novelty song. There are those who think the serious nature of a pandemic means that there is nothing to laugh at or there's no humor to be had but that's why the humorless prudes are proven wrong each and every time. You can take a virus seriously but still balk at the Government over-reach. You can usually find the absurdity in the most serious of issues...and Ray has proven this time and time again whenever he decides to sing a topical piece and "Quarantined" is no exception...

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" pushes beyond 800,000 unique views...

Hello one and all!! Earlier this month the "Quarantined" video from Ray Stevens pushed onto the 700,000 unique view plateau. I did a mid-month update in a previous blog entry where the video was in the middle portion of that unique view total and today I'm announcing that the YouTube video has obtained more than 800,000 unique views as of this writing. The specific unique views on YouTube of the video are 804,737. There have been a number of COVID-19 songs that have appeared on social media sites...and other songs that deal with elements of the pandemic. There are novelty songs as well as some serious songs centered around the social distance silliness. I call it silliness, still.

In my state there's a facemask mandate. Local businesses are enforcing it...you can't go in without a facemask. The social distancing creation, I thought, was only meant to be a requirement if people were not wearing facemasks. I fail to see the need for social distancing if everyone in a room is wearing a facemask. The entire pandemic has brought about a series of rules and regulations that consistently contradict one another, in my opinion. I've not heard any evidence that supports this idea that asymptomatic people can spread the virus to other people.

The egotistical chess match between members of the medical community is a turn-off, for me. When you have doctors and scientists continually at odds when it comes to therapeutics and a vaccine I think, like so many others do, that they're more interested in who gets credit for discovering a cure instead of working together to find one. The information about COVID-19 evolves and changes...meaning that society has to make adjustments. The more information that exists the more knowledgeable one becomes...and there's been a lot of factual information come along dealing with COVID-19 but there's also an underlying force at work to intentionally mislead, confuse, and frighten people about the virus.

The amount of "cases" of COVID-19, in my opinion, is being used as a fear tactic to keep the people in panic mode. Society has already been scared about the virus...and statistics show that people have been sufficiently scared enough to refuse to even return to work once their workplace re-opens. So, shame on much of the medical community for not leading with a winning attitude and for encouraging people to live in fear and panic. This mentality of being too scared to return to work or travel more than 40 miles within your own State is what happens when you emphasize weakness, fear, and panic. The optimism of not letting the cure be worse than the virus is long gone, I'm afraid, when it comes to 90 percent of the medical community.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" music video update...

Well, it's me once again!! I decided to post an update on the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined". When I last posted about it, on July 3rd, the video had gotten 716,522 unique views. When I checked the video statistics a few minutes ago the updated unique view total had risen to 757,540. That's a pickup of 41,018.

As a lot of you are probably aware there's been a spike in "new cases" of COVID-19 in certain pockets of the country. I don't know where you stand with the experts concerning COVID-19 but I'm about fed up with the whole thing. Let me correct that...I've been fed up for awhile...but each and every day I hear things that reinforce how fed up I happen to be with all things COVID-19. This isn't to say that I think the virus isn't something to take serious...but you can have common sense and still take things seriously at the same time. Like a lot of other people I reject the idea that you must shut down, lockdown, and live in fear...awaiting for an official vaccine. Let me tell you something...you may just be waiting for more than a year or two...and for those who feel that we should all just live in partial shutdown mode indefinitely, well, if that's you then I think you need to make yourself an appointment with a psychiatrist because that's silly talk.

I'm fed up with local and State officials playing around with our liberty and fundamental rights. I'm tired of seeing Blue Governor's using COVID-19 as a cover to implement their leftist social ideology...which otherwise would never see the light of day pre-COVID-19. I'm tired of local government's and local school boards hyperventilating over COVID-19 being dangerous for children when there's absolutely no evidence that an overwhelming majority of children get the virus...and there's also no evidence that should a child get the virus that it's transmissible from child to child or child to adult. There is no evidence to support the frenzy and panic of children being seriously impacted by COVID-19. The science and evidence doesn't support keeping school's shut down.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 700,000 unique views...

Isn't it always the luck...just when we thought the warmer, summer weather would be something of an antidote for COVID-19's impact, at least that's what all medical professionals were predicting, here we go with several spikes of COVID-19 in multiple states in various parts of the country. As I've often remarked on here and elsewhere there's something to be said about spikes in cases and if those led to hospitalization and or death within a quarantine time frame (usually 2 weeks). If, at the end of an individual's quarantine, they weren't admitted into an ICU or they didn't pass away then it shows even more data that the virus can cure itself on it's own.

"Quarantined" is nearing 700,000 unique views. As of this writing it's obtained 694,382 unique views. This is a pickup of 8,017 from a previous blog entry. It's been on YouTube for a month and two days (having debuted on May 25th). When it comes to social media that's a lengthy amount of time but it's still bringing in unique views by the thousands and I predict it'll push beyond the 700,000 unique view plateau as we head into Monday...maybe sooner. Oh, by the way, the episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville airing locally here on PBS in three minutes (8pm) is the episode guest starring John Michael Montgomery.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined"...a month later...

It's me once again!! Today marks the anniversary of "Quarantined" making it's debut on social media. It was one month ago, on May 25th, that Ray Stevens debuted his COVID-19 novelty song, "Quarantined", in video format. I'd been keeping up to date on it's performance and as of this writing the video has 686,365 unique views. This is an increase of 11,087 since my previous blog entry.

The video's debut coincided with the horrific murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis...yes, it's been exactly one month since his murder was captured on camera and one month since anarchy, chaos, and a tidal wave of Marxist anti-American sentiment has taken center stage in our country. I address these political/topical issues from time to time...and in my way of thinking I feel you all share similar thoughts as I do and so that's why I don't hesitate to sometimes vent when I see things happening in the country. "Quarantined" is a comical song...but it's also social commentary...and with that in mind hopefully you'll interpret this as my way of venting my frustration with some social commentary of my own:

The anti-American socialist groups have been simmering under the radar for decades here in America but the murder of George Floyd enabled those radical anti-American socialist groups to latch onto the genuine outrage of the murder and use it to their Marxist advantage and become way more vocal and have much more of a presence than previously obtainable. Early on the rioters focused on destroying and burning businesses because the very word, 'business', represents capitalism, a naughty word in the minds of socialists and communists. Then, in the guise of their combating perceived racial injustice, Confederate statues and flags were removed from public display...mostly all of them violently toppled by angry Marxists...and once the rioters got the ball rolling on destroying business and Confederate statues they shifted to destroying iconic images of America's founding and heritage and toppling statues of Union soldiers (the Union fought against the Confederacy over slavery in the Civil War). These rioters are interested in the complete destruction of America's past...and they want to be in charge of America's future...and with the help of liberal politicians and a Joe Biden presidency (I shudder at the thought) well, if he becomes President, the Marxists will be praised and welcomed with open arms at the White House.

Ray Stevens: COVID-19 and "Quarantined"...

Hello all the Ray Stevens fans! Just when you think COVID-19 was pushed from the headlines here we go again...more panic and fear being spread due to rises in cases...ensuring more and more total control over our social lives by local and State Government.



The COVID-19 pandemic isn't something to take lightly, of course, but as I've mentioned time and time again the local and State Government across the country do not want to ease up on their power. Although the State Government has this kind of power granted to them during times of a pandemic you can tell which State Government relishes that power rather than seek for ways to return the power to the people. Every time we get to the end of one of these Phases in the re-opening process it never fails that a Governor will wait to the last possible second to declare the next month remain under lock-down...Tennessee, which I don't live in, but it's an important state given Ray Stevens resides there, they're even thinking about reverting back to Phase One. Indoor gatherings have long been a target of the medical community.

The uncertainty of indoor gatherings in a COVID-19 plagued country played a big part in the President's Tulsa rally this past Saturday. While the venue itself was 2/3 full a lot of supporters chose to stay home and watch the rally on-line or on television. The rally was carried in it's entirety on Fox News where it drew over 7 million viewers while social media streaming seen the rally pickup viewers in the multi-millions as well. I point this out because too much of the focus was on the less than full venue. The reason so much media focus is on the turnout is, quite frankly, to embarrass the President for saying the rally would attract millions of people to the venue...those kinds of numbers were gained through television and on-line viewing...rather than in-person. So, then, with the left leaning media having a field day embarrassing the President for the in-person turnout but failing to report on the rally's television and internet performance, which were in the millions, it once again shows the media bias on full display. The digital numbers also sent a powerful statement that the President hasn't lost his support or hasn't lost any enthusiasm among the people for his re-election...even though COVID-19 fears and concerns impacted in-person attendance. The next rally should definitely be held outside and like this past Saturday's rally it should be televised and streamed, too. I wonder if the protesters are contracting COVID-19?? Why aren't the Governor's throwing a fit about that? It's a rhetorical question I asked in previous blog entries. The liberals feel that protests are altruistic regardless of COVID-19 whereas they feel a rally is selfish and a super spreader of COVID-19. Can a virus distinguish between a crowd of anti-police, anti-Trump protesters and a crowd of pro-police, pro-Trump supporters?

When I posted about the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" music video several days ago it was sitting at 651,025 unique views. The most recent unique views show the video with 675,278...a pickup of 24,253!!

Since COVID-19 is getting all kinds of headlines again it's hard to tell when or if the CabaRay will re-open this calendar year. It opened for the 2020 season in March (it's third season) but after it's opening weekend (in which concert proceeds went to Tennessee tornado victims), the CabaRay permanently shut down due to COVID-19 mandates from the Tennessee Government and the State Health Department and it hasn't been open since.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" remains Steady...

Can you believe the hypocrisy at play when Blue State Governors praise protesting and violence which includes hundreds and thousands of people close together and marching throughout neighborhoods...but in the same breath continue to be so overbearing when it comes to their mandates on COVID-19 crowd restrictions? It's blatant hypocrisy...for all to see...and yet they stand there at their podiums or sit there behind a table and dictate their mandates concerning crowd control and mass gathering rules. A rise in "cases" of COVID-19 is currently being discussed and used for political purposes. There are many who think a rise in cases means the virus remains uncontrollable and is something to fear. However, there are even more who think a rise in cases is a result of increased testing availability...but if you remove the amount of cases from the data and look at total hospitalizations or deaths from COVID-19 it's well under the staggering amount of infections the medical experts were predicting back in late February and early March. No, there isn't a vaccine or a proven therapeutic for COVID-19, but medical data continues to show that it's not the deadly contagious virus it was predicted to be. I haven't come across any information to explain how the virus wasn't as deadly here in the U.S. as it happened to be in other parts of the world. The panic and fear surrounding COVID-19 could be justified when cases began to dramatically show up in early Spring...but that mindset should've evolved over the course of the last several months as more medical data has accumulated. Nobody on June 17th should feel about COVID-19 the same way they did on March 17th. The panic and fear should have subsided significantly by now.

"Two more weeks of Quarantine..."; 2020

The on-going medical and political debate surrounding COVID-19 continues to rage here in mid June. State Governors, State Government, local mayors, local Government, and Federal Government continually seem at odds over how to re-open. When you factor in all kinds of opinion from the medical community...who largely influence those in public office...it's a recipe for disaster. There's also a disconnect between the medical community and those who run large and small businesses.

You will no doubt see examples of professors and scientists on television supporting or opposing whatever a State Government is doing when it comes to COVID-19. A cable news channel who pushes a liberal ideology will obviously have on 'experts' that oppose the idea of re-opening "too soon" whereas a cable news channels that pushes a conservative ideology will have on 'experts' who are usually in favor of re-opening, but, gradually...with the understanding that those in the medical profession aren't economic professionals...and a country needs a thriving economy.

This is why medical experts shouldn't be influencing Government policies. They should give advice but shouldn't actively participate in the legislative process...and by that I mean the medical community shouldn't be giving public speeches for or against policy decisions. Their only role is to advise...it's not to publicly disclose their personal opinions and react to the actions of a Governor or the President. When the medical community does this they're, in effect, being a political medical organization rather than a neutral medical organization. The maddening thing for so many of us is the fact that medical doctors who advise State and Federal Government are not elected to those positions and therefore can't be held accountable to voters.

The "Quarantined" music video from Ray Stevens remains steady...it continues to rack up unique views. A previous blog entry shown that the video had obtained 631,837 unique views. The number this morning is 651,025...a pickup of 19,188.