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Rainer's Top Ten Commute Spins of 2025

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  Moving out of the homeless-poop-and-puke-spattered heart of the ghetto in 2024 meant that I wouldn’t be able to walk to work in the morning anymore, but the upside is that my drive time gives me more of an opportunity to listen to my music collection. (Yes, for the record, I am an old man who still collects and listens to CDs.) Here, in chronological order of original recordings, are my favorite road picks for 2025: Andre Williams – “Rib Tips and Pig Snoots”: Rare and Unreleased Au-Go-Go Soul 1965-1971 Song titles like “Jivin’ Around”, “Do It”, “Sweet Little Pussy Cat”, “Rib Tips”, “Pig Snoots”, “Chicken Thighs”, “Loose Juice”, and “Soul Party A-Go-Go” pretty much let the prospective listenership know up front what this Andre Williams brother is all about – namely, having a good, rowdy time. These aggressive, sleazy, and greasy soul and funk recordings, with their raspy vocals, lettin’-it-all-hang-out brass, and consistent danceability, are essential listening for fans of the g...
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Biz of Pigs: Five Cuban-American Show Business Intersections with Deep Politics

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  I Love Lucy star Desi Arnaz, who immigrated to the US from Cuba in 1933, “always supported the Cuban cause,” attested President of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association Felix Rodríguez Mendigutia in 2004, adding: “Anything against Fidel Castro, he supported.” [1] Though Arnaz kept his contributions secret, veterans of the doomed CIA-backed anti-Castro operation related that “the late Cuban-American entertainer […] helped finance the freedom of hundreds of Bay of Pigs fighters captured by Cuban government forces” [2]. Rodríguez Mendigutia and Bay of Pigs veteran Nilo Messer told The Miami Herald that “Arnaz also provided seed money for several exile organizations, including one headed by the late Jorge Mas Canosa that preceded the Cuban American National Foundation.” [3] Mas Canosa, among other anti-Castro ventures, was involved in the CIA-sponsored Radio SWAN, which broadcast propaganda into Cuba [4]. Arnaz’s connections with Frank Sinatra and racketeers Mickey Cohen and Nate St...
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When Harry Met CIA: Rob Reiner, Harry Connick, Jr., and the JFK Assassination

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  The release of Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy hit When Harry Met Sally made a star of pianist Harry Connick, Jr., who contributed youthful renditions of several old jazz standards to the soundtrack. Outside of New Orleans, however, comparatively few are familiar with Harry Connick, Sr., the corrupt Orleans Parish District Attorney who made his son’s music career possible. The elder Connick, who operated two record stores [1] with his Jewish wife, Anita Levy [2], also a lawyer, achieved some prominence as a US attorney, assisting Lyndon Johnson’s Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach in his efforts to desegregate America’s schools [3] and prosecute federal civil rights violation cases against local authorities [4]. Connick’s superior had been a key party to the cover-up of the JFK assassination. As Deputy Attorney General at the time, Katzenbach had written a memo directing that the “public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who ...
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