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Singing the praises of the 1 percent

We could shock you with startling statistics about how the richest 1 percent own about 50 percent of the wealth, and how it’s been getting worse for the rest of us for a few decades now. But that’s depressing! And we’d much rather watch cartoons.

Like this 1933 Merrie Melodies gem “We’re in the Money”:

We can also sympathize with Zero Mostel’s character Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof:

Ethel Merman has been showing up a lot lately in Record Bin Roulette, and we’re happy about that. Here she poses the musical question “Can You Use Any Money Today?”:

The Beatles were nothing if not shrewd businessmen. A well-known story tells of Lennon and McCartney sitting down to compose a song, and John says to Paul, “Okay let’s write a swimming pool!” Which they did many, many times. Early in their career, they showed some economic savvy with the 1964 tune “Can’t Buy Me Love”:

A professional bassist for over 20 years, John has been at KNKX since 1999 where he hosts All Blues on Saturday and Sunday nights. He was previously a senior producer of BirdNote for 19 years, and the primary recording engineer for hundreds of KNKX Studio Sessions.
John Maynard started working in radio in the seventies as a DJ at Seattle’s KJR AM which at the time was the dominant AM station in the Seattle market. After a brief stint as a restaurateur and night club owner, Maynard returned to radio with Robin Erickson, creating the hugely popular “Robin and Maynard Show.” In the more than 20 years under that marquee, Maynard flew with the Blue Angels, piloted the Goodyear Blimp, sang with Donny Osmond and hung out in a Universal Studios bar with Kojak (Telly Savalas).