Goodnight Irene

I thought I'd talked about Grooveshark before, but I must have dreamed it. Grooveshark is a streaming music site, sort of like Mixturtle and the former lala, before it was assimilated by the Evil Steve Jobs.
What I like about Grooeshark though, is that you can not only search by title or artist, but it lists the album name as well. The fun things you find are, well, fun. I searched for "Goodnight Irene"...I'd only heard a version by Tom Waits (There is only one Tom Waits and his name is Tom Waits) and I found quite a surprise: Michelle Shocked's version was nice as was Johnny Cash's. The Pogues' version was a shambling mess as you'd expect, but the jewel may have been the version by the Chieftains with Willie Nelson, from the Another Country album.

I also found some interesting versions of "The Black Velvet Band". One was by a band called "Celtc Pride II", but I think that was a mistake. It featured a female singer with an accent I cannot place and it's driving me nuts...so, any help...
You might be able to listen to it here. I had to create an account to share it, you might have to do the same to listen to it.
It's fun to listen to several versions or covers of the same song...until your wife and kids go nuts hearing the fifth rendition of "Green Fields of France" and begin to throw whatever is handy at you.

Take your chances I say.

Amsterdamned

So those of us in California face a proposition on the ballot this fall(Proposition 19) which will essentially legalize the use of marijuana. Currenlty, "medical marijuana" is legal here and it seems that was the first step in a move to completely decriminalize it.
I always the thought the "medical" idea was kind of funny, not that there aren't benefits to its use for some people, but the fact that there is no real control...no control as to the levels of THC in the "medicine", no control on how much to take(prescription?), and the fact that so many "patients" take their dose right at the "pharmacy". I don't know, I just thought it was a "Emperor's New Clothes" thing, where I thought "Am I the only one who sees this for what it is?"

If Proposition 19 passes it wont matter anymore, but other things might. Here is an interesting article from the New York Times on how a Dutch city is dealing with the issue.