Idolator: George W. Bush

The National Council On The Arts Gets Jingoistic With It

Dan Gibson — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

The National Council On The Arts was created in 1964, and it's had members like Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Helen Hayes, Harper Lee, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Richard Rodgers, John Steinbeck, and Isaac Stern. The NCA advises the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and is appointed with deciding how grant money should be doled out. George W. Bush's most recent appointment to the board is his attempt at a parting shot toward those highbrow elitists who think that "talent" is a more important quality in artists than "patriotism": Lee Greenwood, who's best (well, exclusively) known for his hit "God Bless The U.S.A.," will start his four-year term with the council on Nov. 17. According to the council's Web site, "The Presidential appointments, by law, are selected for their widely recognized knowledge of the arts or their expertise or profound interest in the arts. They have records of distinguished service or achieved eminence in the arts and are appointed so as to represent equitably all geographical areas of the country." And here I thought Greenwood's top qualification was "He's generally available to mug his way through Republican events on short notice." [LA Times]

Light Up The Tree, Mister President (And Bring John Lennon With You)

mjohnston — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:15:55 EST

The efforts of Clear Channel's programmers have probably helped you already get sick of holiday music, but there are many fine celebratory songs that would never cross their airwaves out there. To help cut through the clutter we've asked Jon Solomon, whose 20th annual 24-Hour Holiday Radio Show on WPRB kicks off at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, to offer up some seasonal cheer in MP3 form. Today's song brings together George W. Bush and John Lennon's Christmas wish for the world:

I am surprised with how thoughtful and well-crafted this "mash-up" is. The Lennon song isn't one of my favorite holiday tunes, but I think this is pretty remarkable.

Cal-TV and Waxaudio - G.W. Bush Happy Xmas (War is Over) [MP3]
Cal-Tv and Waxaudio: G.W. Bush Happy Xmas (War is Over) [YouTube]
Wax Audio [Official site]

George W. Bush Apparently Not Chummy With Many Record-Industry Lobbyists

mjohnston — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:20:22 EDT

President Bush stopped by Opryland last week, and apparently one of the record labels with an office down in Nashville sent a hapless intern to the presidential press conference in hopes that an industry-friendly quote could be coaxed out of the Commander in Chief. Of course, the president being the president, he played dumb when asked about whether or not artists should be paid royalties for radio play:

QUESTION: Mr. President, music is one of our largest exports the country has. Currently, every country in the world — except China, Iran, North Korea, Rwanda and the United States — pay a statutory royalty to the performing artists for radio and television air play. Would your administration consider changing our laws to align it with the rest of the world?

THE PRESIDENT: Help. (Laughter.) Maybe you've never had a President say this — I have, like, no earthly idea what you're talking about. (Laughter and applause.) Sounds like we're keeping interesting company, you know? (Laughter.)

Look, I'll give you the old classic: contact my office, will you? (Laughter.) I really don't — I'm totally out of my lane. I like listening to country music, if that helps. (Laughter.)

Our President On Performance Royalties [Hypebot]