Comments on: Still The One

Still The One

jonp72 — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:18:02 -0800

When George Bush used the 1970s Orleans hit, Still the One, as a campaign song in 2004, John Hall issued Bush a cease and desist order for using his song without permission. A founder of the antinuclear group, Musicians United for Safe Energy (best known for the 1979 concert film, No Nukes), Hall decided to run for Congress in upstate New York, winning upset victories this year in both the Democratic primary and the general election against GOP incumbent, Sue Kelly. Before his Congressional victory, Editor & Publisher posted From Soundchecks to Soundbites, an interesting discussion with Hall about music journalism vs. political journalism.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:19:24 -0800

He is, indeed, still the one.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:21:46 -0800

He's still havin' fun, too.

By: Busithoth

Busithoth — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:27:20 -0800

he also had a couple of great segments on The Colbert Report, pre- and post-election

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:28:36 -0800

Way back in the early days of MTV, I remember a video of the John Hall Band featuring a shaven-headed lead singer, but I can't remember the song. Drivin' me nuts.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:31:52 -0800

Dance With Me?

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:33:22 -0800

Maybe.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:34:47 -0800

(MTV was way more interesting when they pretty much had to play whatever was sent to them to fill time. You had dinosaur rock, aspiring stars, hit makers, and underground stuff all side by side. Twisted the tastes of a lot of people, myself included.

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:45:06 -0800

Orleans also had one of the worst album covers ever.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:45:22 -0800

jonmc: Perhps it is actually driving you Crazy?

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:48:10 -0800

that's the one. nice work.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:50:37 -0800

Orleans also had one of the worst album covers ever. Now that's a MAN sandwich!! apologies to Jon Stewart

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:16:03 -0800

Well, Kelly seems to think that she might still be the one.

Albany – The election attorney who represented Senator Nicholas Spano of Westchester County in his close election two years ago that ultimately wound up with his 18 vote win has been retained by Congresswoman Sue Kelly. The 19th District representative is down by some 3,500 votes with her opponent, John Hall, already declaring himself the winner. But, with some 10,000 absentee ballots to be counted along with several types of paper ballots like affidavit ballots, military ballots and others, attorney John Ciampoli said the first step in the process is to re-canvass the actual voting machines.

By: tranquileye

tranquileye — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:29:24 -0800

Nice to see Hall and Oates finally having some political impact.

By: maggieb

maggieb — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:40:14 -0800

Loved his duet with Colbert. Sue Kelly was one of those page housemothers back in the Foley days.

By: maggieb

maggieb — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:42:37 -0800

Not the same Hall as Hall and Oates. Heck, John Hall was around the same scene as Jimi..... back when Jimi was "Jimmy James" (not Newsradio JJ......)

By: afx114

afx114 — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:55:25 -0800

Was he the dude who played Colbert's "My opponent smokes marijuana" card? I love that shit!

By: adoarns

adoarns — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:20:11 -0800

I guess he could only truly be the "Democratic Sonny Bono" if he were to sponsor further legislation making copyright term limits something of the order of

lim (x -> inf) author's life plus x years

Oh, and if he died in a skiing accident. As for a certain equine woman in his life, I quote Gregg Allman (on Family Guy, as I'm assuming that's a primary source around here):

I did a lot of drugs, married some broad named Cher. I wouldn't recommend either.

As for any other events in Sonny's life, which may or may not actually be more important than those I've named—in my defense, I was born in 1981 and none of it really matters to me.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:21:30 -0800

I remember a video of the John Hall Band featuring a shaven-headed lead singer, but I can't remember the song. What is, "Love Me Again?"

By: maggieb

maggieb — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:22:33 -0800

yep, afx114, same guy

By: lapolla

lapolla — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:37:17 -0800

thought the duet with colbert was awesome. (though, he's gonna have to learn to keep his hand over his heart for the entirety of the anthem.)

By: psmealey

psmealey — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:04:30 -0800

thought the duet with colbert was awesome. Me too... At first I was kind of dreading it, but then suddenly remembered, after the first couple notest that, duh, they can both sing. The segway was so awkward I had forgotten the Hall made his bones as pop singer. This is really un punk rock of me to say, but "Still the One" is a great, great pop song. Pure AM gold, baby, AM gold.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:11:32 -0800

This is really un punk rock of me to say, but "Still the One" is a great, great pop song. Pure AM gold, baby, AM gold. Actually, that's one of the most punk rock things you could say. And I agree, it's a great radio song. ("Dance With Me" on the other hand is dangerously close to Air Supply territory)

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:39:56 -0800

Actually, in Sonny Bono's defense, he co-wrote the Searchers' "Needles and Pins," which is a better song than "Still The One." It still doesn't make up for the Copyright Extension Act, but music-wise, I'm just sayin'...

By: augustweed

augustweed — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:27:03 -0800

Sting pulled "Brand New Day" from Bush's 2000 campaign too.

By: bardic

bardic — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:49:51 -0800

It's a neat story.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:21:40 -0800

Ummm... but that's hardly upstate...

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:09:46 -0800

Doohickie: In New York geography, everything north of the Bronx is, by definition, "upstate". "Upstate" is not a purely geographic term, it's the center-of-gravity of the population map. (Fully half of New Yorkers really do live south of Westchester.)

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:20:15 -0800

Ummm... but that's hardly upstate... posted by Doohickie at 3:21 PM PST Oh boy... if you ever want a good argument ask a bunch of NYers about where "upstate" is. Two different things here; political and cultural geography. Generally in NY politics talk "Upstate" is anything north of NYC. Now as for the cultural phenomenon of where "upstate" starts it's all a matter of perspective. To my friends from Ronkonkoma crossing the Whitestone Bridge put you "upstate." My mom from Kingston thinks "upstate" starts somewhere between Catskill and Hudson. I swear when my brothers lived in Troy "upstate" was north of Saratoga. When I was growing up in Hall's district (Northern Westchester County,) the exit from the GW bridge to the NB Deegan used to read, simply, "Upstate" and I found the concept of me being "upstate" as hilarious as when our relatives from Maspeth, Queens would say they'd be coming up to visit us "in the country." But in terms of political talk, Westchester and up are usually called "upstate" districts and everybody knows what you're talking about.* *And yes, these "upstate" districts include the areas more properly known as Central NY, Western NY and the Southern Tier (don't ever accuse somebody from Rochester or Buffalo from being an upstater unless you're ready to fight.)

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:36:37 -0800

Actually, Wikipedia does a pretty good job explaining the different "upstates." That article suggests many wouldn't consider Hall's district as "upstate," but I presume the folks who penned it don't get their news from the NYC stations. To them, Hall's district would be considered upstate.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:51:12 -0800

Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?