The Oppenheimer Report 8/27/18

Arizona Senator John McCain has died at 81 of brain cancer, and after watching a CNN special about his storied career as a public servant, first as a Navy pilot and then as a politician, I think McCain might have made a decent President. Too bad somebody had the bright idea to make Sarah Palin his running mate when he was running against Obama. Sometimes, I am shocked by decisions made in order to pander to the Republican base. Palin was not McCain’s choice, and she clearly undermined his status as one of the rare politicians with honor. Somehow, the American voter made the quantum leap from a moron who almost became Vice President to an imbecile who did become President. It simply astounds me that Rump had the gall to impugn McCain’s integrity as a war hero, and his flag raising debacle today has me convinced me that the orange emperor has become unhinged. Admittedly, I don’t know who John McCain really was, but compared to our Commander-In-Tweet, he looks pretty good. I take bittersweet pleasure in hearing so many people in the media attacking Rump, and I don’t know how our country got so far down the toilet drain that this clown looked like a viable alternative to the status quo. Sadly, that speaks volumes about the sorry state of American politics. As I said when he was elected, his election was a shot across the bow of democracy and freedom. People hated the Washington insiders enough to vote in this clearly unqualified, boorish, incompetent puppet of big money. Now, even his media darling Fox News is beginning to say “enough is enough.” What a nincompoop. My biggest fear is that there will be an over-reaction in the other direction, and that the pendulum will swing too far to the left in the next election. They’ve got a few morons in their ranks as well.  

Last week, local singer/songwriter Christina Hutt asked me to accompany her during her performance at the Kearney fireworks display next Saturday night. A few weeks ago, we played together at the Kearney Regatta, and although it was a last-minute gig, and I was flying blind during that performance (no rehearsal, no capo or nuthin’), she was happy enough with my accompaniment to ask me to join her again. Last weekend, we actually rehearsed - something new for me - and I think she’s going to put on a great show. While there is no guarantee the show will take place, because weather is always a factor, if it does, there will likely be a large audience.

Coincidentally, Christina and Gina Horswood, another great female vocalist who lives in the area, just completed background vocals on a new song I co-wrote with singer/songwriter Sean Cotton and my wife Shauna. The unmixed recordings showed promise, and we’ve gone with a kind of eerie, Cajun voodoo vibe, which should be interesting. Sean just sent me a close-to-final mix of the song and I’m excited. Good musicians and singers make all the difference, and I am grateful to be in the midst of all this remarkable talent. The song to which I refer is entitled “Watch For Wolves” and it was inspired by an experience I had late last winter while walking on the frozen lake near our house. I came across a freshly killed deer carcass near the shoreline. There was blood everywhere on the pristine, snow-covered, and otherwise undisturbed lake, and the implied violence of this spectacle, coupled with the eerie silence of the winter morning, moved me to write the song. The song uses the metaphor of the wolf as predator to imply a much larger threat, one that I feel is omnipresent of late. I think we’ve penned a good song, and I’m eager to hear the final product.  

Wish me luck next Saturday night!

- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED