Friday, July 26, 2013

Free Speech: 5 cents

My wife has loved Ted Nugent for decades.  She nearly cut off a toe in a fan while dancing to "Cat Scratch Fever" back in '79.  I saw Ted in concert probably three or four times by in the '70s.  He always put on a high-energy show.  He's a rock-n-roller, pro-gun, anti-drug -- always, always outspoken.  I wouldn't exactly call him a role-model, but he's far more decent and honest than most politicians -- either Clinton, Weiner, Filner, Menendez, or Spitzer, to name a few.  Though pro-gun, he never smuggled illegal arms to Mexican drug lords or to Al Qaeda members in Libya.

Nevertheless, Ted is in trouble for calling a certain deceased person a “dope-smoking, racist gangsta wannabe.”  

The good leftists of New Haven, CT are upset that a private citizen would express his opinion.  I suppose they would be just as upset with Obama's buddy Jay Z.

Whatever.

People have a right to boycott, to protest, and to express their opinion.  Nobody has a right to tell a private business owner such as Brian Phelps of Toad's Place, the site of Nugent's scheduled performance on August 6th, whom he may or may not bring in.  If a person is offended by Ted Nugent, the sensible thing would be to not go to his show.

If I bothered to watch much of the crap on television or listen to the pop music stations on the radio, I would probably find somebody who offended me.  Since I have better things to do than feel deeply and self-righteously indignant, I don't watch or listen to most of it.  It's America.  The first thing we tell you is you can say what you like as long as you get off my lawn.

All you Nugent fans out there, whether because you like loud guitars and feedback or firearms, if you happen to have some free time on August 6, 2013, and you happen to be in driving distance of Brian Phelps' Toad's Place, head on over.

You knew I was going to put up "Stormtroopers".  Who knew Ted Nugent was a prophet?   This is the studio version behind a rather chilling slideshow with lyrics thanks to Bernie Vest:   


Here's a great live version from 1977 with Derek St. Holmes and Nugent the way I remember him.

2 comments:

  1. Heh, I just about wore out my "Cat Scratch Fever" cassette back in 78 and 79. I had read an article about him back then. There was something about him I really liked. Oh, yeah he was talking about bow hunting and guns. How weird was that?

    Ok, so you made me leave my bubble and check out those links. Ugh! The stupid, it hurts my head.

    'Didn't Trayvon have the right to stand his ground?' He was being chased, he was being chased and fought back. You know, he may have won. That doesn't mean he's a criminal, he won. If you try to attack me and I defend myself, how can I be in the wrong? How is that right?

    So is this man stupid or evil? Yes Mr. Z, attackers always call 911 and describe the situation to law enforcement immediately before attacking their victims.

    Oh, well, back to my "bubble of truth."

    Hadn't heard "Stormtroopers" before. Thanks!

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  2. It really does seem like Bizarro world sometimes. That's another good reason to stay away from television. My wife has finally gotten so fed up that she is downloading audiobooks. I'm going to help her set them up on her player as well as burn off to some CDs for convenient access in the cars.

    One of these days, I am going to transfer all my old cassettes that haven't died the death to the computer. I've been saying that for at least ten years.

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