The New Orleans area had a record six consecutive days of highs over 100 degrees. Then we had some relief thanks to a rainy Tuesday evening. It makes me appreciate normal summer in contrast to climate change summer. Climate change summer bites the big one.

Speaking of climate change, Southern California is poised to have its first hurricane since 1939. And the New Orleans Saints are there for a fake game. Oy just oy.

Good luck with Hurricane Hillary everyone.

The chances of rain in the next few days aren’t great so consider this week’s theme songs to be a plea for precipitation.

Our first theme song was written by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi for the classic 1971 Traffic album Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys. That LP was the soundtrack of my life that year and remains a favorite.

We have two versions of Rainmaker for your listening pleasure: the studio original and Steve Winwood jazzing it up live in 2005.

Our second theme song was written in 1968 by Bill Martin and Harry Nilsson. We have two versions of this Rainmaker: Harry’s original and the 5th Dimension.

One more rain song. I realize Eric Clapton is on the outs with many people, but this is still a helluva song:

We begin our second act with a segment about a woman who has burst into our national consciousness with flair and force. Beats the hell outta bluster and bullshit.

Meet Fani Willis: The stuff about the Trump case is stale but this February NYT Magazine profile by Mark Binelli lets us learn more about the hero of the hour. The featured image could be called, Tough In Pink.

I wonder if the DA drives one of these pink cars:

Heil, Wernher: Thanks to Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer, the atomic/space age is back in the news. There’s a swell piece at Slate by Dan Falk about NASA’s Nazi Past. He focuses on former SS officer and rocketeering pioneer Wernher von Braun who became something of a hero after he changed sides and joined the American space program.

I get queasy at the thought of Nazis getting a pass from the US government after the war. Practicality trumped morality in Wernher von Braun’s case. The US made a deal with the devil when they brought von Braun and his team to America. It may well have been worth it, but we need not celebrate.

The last word of our second act goes to Tom Lehrer:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Twitter Edition: I had never noticed the resemblance between the composer and talk show host, but here it is as big as life.

Gustav Mahler and Stephen Colbert, who were, quite obviously, separated at birth. pic.twitter.com/wQOMy37OME

— Anthony Princiotti (@tonyprinciotti) August 13, 2023

Your Weekly Oscar: Our classical music theme continues with OP’s salute to Bach:

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

Saturday GIF Horse: I used a picture from Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman in my open letter to Chief Justice Roberts. Here’s another look at Buster and Josephine the Capuchin monkey.

I’ve met a few Capuchins in my time. They’re charming critters who make excellent service animals. As always, Buster Keaton was ahead of the curve.

Speaking of monkeys, how about a monkey song from Gillian Welch?

Tweet Of The Week: I refuse to say X. Elon can go fuck himself. So can the Indicted Impeached Insult Comedian and his preposterous proposed date for his Dipshit Insurrection trial. This tweet and the chyron thereon capture it perfectly:

(Not a typo) ⁦@thereidout⁩ pic.twitter.com/eb0PNEW2Bz

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) August 17, 2023

The Junk Drawer: I stumbled into this deeply weird video because of my Sopranos obsession. Let’s visit Mike Imperioli’s OTT New York crib. It’s not what you’d expect from the man who played Christopher Moltisanti.

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: We saw Lyle Lovett on Thursday night. It was great: I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow.

Here’s Lyle on KUT in Austin with his buddy, John Hiatt:

That’s it for this week. The last word goes to Buster Keaton as the projectionist in Sherlock Jr.