Rod Alence
@ralence.bsky.social
Politics and political economy of Africa, based at Wits University in Johannesburg. Sometimes also posts about music, tennis, and basketball.
#ClocktoberMusic #MusicChallenge Saw Yazoo do this at the Ritz in NYC in 1982. Alison Moyet's voice blew up the room. Best vocal performance I've ever heard. The recorded version is great but live was another level. I was a teenager but thinking, is this what peak Aretha sounded like?
Yazoo - Midnight (Remastered Audio) HQ
YouTube video by Happy Charlie
youtu.be
I bought Samir Amin's "Delinked" a couple decades ago in a used-book store in Johannesburg. Just noticed that it seems to be an autographed copy. #booksky
#EnergyInASongOrMovie There's a pretty good cover by the Cramps, too.
Warren Smith - "Uranium Rock" Lyric Video
YouTube video by Sun Records
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 30 Song with a name in the title Way ahead of its time.
the MODERN LOVERS "Pablo Picasso" 1972
YouTube video by warren loft
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 30 Song with a name in the title Indie supergroup philosophizes about That Ground Ball.
Buckner's Bolero
YouTube video by The Baseball Project - Topic
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 28 Song with a name in the title Barnard shout-out this time (Vega not Dietrich)
Suzanne Vega - Marlene on the Wall (1986)
YouTube video by musick2138
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 27 Song with a name in the title. Nice Columbia football shout-out!
10,000 Maniacs - Hey Jack Kerouac
YouTube video by Natalie Merchant
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 26 A song with a name in the title The video of this (more) Africanized cover version starts with Manu Dibango impersonating the African continent and includes backing vocals from Peter Gabriel.
Manu Dibango - Biko (Clip officiel)
YouTube video by Wagram+
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 25 A song with a name in the title. "They say that afterlife’s an afterglow. I’m gonna wait ‘til John Lee Hooker says so."
Garland Jeffreys - Till John Lee Hooker Calls Me
YouTube video by Kolja Schwarten
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 24 Song with a name in the title Rave on!
Rave On John Donne - Van Morrison
YouTube video by hogger13
youtu.be
Streaming Michigan-Lithuania hoops. Wonder if the Euro stepping Michigan guys realize they are playing against the son of the originator, Sarunas Marciulionis?
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge Day 23 Song with a name in the title LKJ's searing tribute to Walter Rodney ("blown to smithereens in the miggle of a dream")
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Reggae fi Radni (Live 2001)
YouTube video by Dread Moon
youtu.be
#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge Day 22 (late entry!) Song with a name in the title
Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs Tears (Official Video)
YouTube video by Billy Bragg
youtu.be
A tennis hypothetical: Your serving and returning stats are around pro tour averages, as are your opponent's. Before a match, you are offered a 5% (pp) increase either in your first-serve pct or in the pct of points you win off your opponent's second serve. Which should you choose? 🎾 🧵1/4
A tennis hypothetical: Your serving and returning stats are around pro tour averages, as are your opponent's. Before a match, you are offered a 5% (pp) increase either in your first-serve pct or in the pct of points you win off your opponent's second serve. Which should you choose? 🎾
Economics explained@dumaletter.bsky.social · 3mo agoA hypothesis on who wins: Dominance = 0.75 (relative return rating) + 0.25 (relative serve rating) Explanation: You win by getting breaks, which requires mobility and mental toughness. This is also partly already explained by weakness in your opponent’s serve. Still, serve is not enough.
Rubio may be a closet Poulantzian: "Markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States." -- Remarks at NATO headquarters, 4 April 2025
Miliband set to meet Rubio amid Trump fury at his Foreign Secretary appointment
Miliband also called for calm in the conflict between Iran and the US, as Trump threatened to ‘bomb and destroy’ bridges and power stations
independent.co.uk
Burnham anthem to-be:"Break a Circuit with Me".
Make a circuit with me - The Polecats
YouTube video by NewWaveAlternative
youtu.be
Limited Texas experience (besides black ice on the I-40 in Amarillo in January 1995, one of the scariest moments of my life), but this monologue is classic.
TRUE STORIES - Texas Joke (Spalding Gray)
YouTube video by SpecialProjectsFor
youtu.be
an appliance is making a weird noise that isn't on youtube@jesseltaylor.bsky.social · 3mo agoName the U.S. state you loathe the most, I don't care what the reason is unless it's like weird or bigoted
Man, that Moby Dick quotation bot really jumps in quick with the commentary.
One thing I like about all the Czech players, women and men, is that they seem to be products of a coaching system where ridiculous grips are simply not tolerated. 🎾 #wimbledon
Infantino later today: Belgium's appeal accepted retrospectively. Game must be replayed without Balogun.
During the England-Ghana World Cup game last night, the British commentator said, "Ghana and England have a long history: Ghana's first national coach was English." And I was thinking the history is a lot longer than that.
