Montanan gets blistered in Senate committee as he defends 'white culture.'

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"It’s shameful. Sir, you have no decency. You have no honor. You say inflammatory things because you think it will ingratiate you to those who are paying your salary and you sit here before me and try to wrap yourself in an American flag. You disgraced the ideas that we all swear an oath to uphold. God, I pray for us if we let someone like you represent us before the diverse nations of this world." – Cory Booker, a Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey, speaking to Jeremy Carl, a Bozeman resident who was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as Deputy Secretary of State for the United Nations and International Organizations.

Columnist, attorney and immigration expert Kari Hong writes that contrary to the actions of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Gov. Greg Gianforte, cities like Helena have the obligation to protect their citizens from unlawful actions by federal law enforcement agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Our colleagues at WyoFile report that even though the Wyoming Supreme Court has found that the state’s constitution protects a woman’s right to determine her own healthcare, including abortion up to the point of fetal viability, that is not stopping the Wyoming Legislature from passing similar laws trying to curb, ban or make the process more difficult. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has urged lawmakers to protect unborn life, and lawmakers say they’ll try to rally support for banning abortion in the state’s constitution.

The New York Times reports that National Book Award winner George Saunders is recommending people ditch three different delusions in order to live a more happy life. And we could all use a couple of fewer delusions and a little more happiness.

Our colleagues at the Nevada Current point out that throughout the West, the snowpack and moisture is at critically low levels. Even though Montana’s water supply and weather patterns are a bit different, the finding, coupled with the Daily Montanan’s previous reporting, are painting an alarming picture.

A few weeks ago, during one of my frequent second-hand store and thrifting journeys, I came across a clean copy of the 1966 single “Dirty Water,” by The Standells. I can almost bet every one of you smart, beautiful and trendy “Hooksters” knows the song, but not so much about The Standells. That’s OK. They’re not exactly a household name.

But I decided to flip the record to the “B” side and listen to “Rari.”

It’s hard to describe to people much younger than 50 having stacks of 45-RPM “singles” and going through them. Many times the B-sides were deep-dive tracks from an album or session that were not deemed by producers or record labels as likely to be best-sellers or even chart-able, so they were essentially filler. There is a fun and deep history of songs that defied those expectations, though, and some “B” sides competed with the “A” side. Many of those backstories include sleepy or distracted radio disc jockeys accidentally flipping the record and receiving positive feedback from audiences. At other times, listeners just liked both tracks and they competed with each other, much to the chagrin of record companies, which saw the success as a sort of failure because they had guessed wrong, missing the opportunity to sell another single.

In their early days of selling records, record companies would match “A” and “B” sides by usually putting a slower tempo song on a side, then a faster tempo on the other, often because recordings and dancing were still seen as inextricable, even until the early days of rock-and-roll.

But back to the Standells.

They were a Los Angeles garage band, and they sounded it like it. “Dirty Water” has that stripped down, in-your-face sound that depends on volume as much as melody. Even though the band is not widely known, their edgy brand of rock is often credited as inspiration for other 1970s and 1980s punk groups, for example, The Sex Pistols.

As good of a song as “Dirty Water” is, “Rari” deserves a listen because it is indeed a deep track — one that was probably meant to round out an album. Yet, it’s more than filler. Instead, it’s a little gem and a great example of a loud, garage rock song that seems to point more to what rock would evolve into, as much as it is a snapshot of music in 1966.

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