Positivity
The Grand Reopening of Texas Toli remix of Positivity by Prince and The Governors...
Positivity (Yes)Item:
Have you had your plus sign today?
And we had the best Covid results we've ever had all through May and the beginning of June, I mean positivity was low, the cases were low.Dig:
— Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida May 26 2020
On this day of The Grand Reopening of Texas, it gives me no joy to note that, of the four countries my life's journey has taken in, Ghana is probably managing this covidious challenge the best even with the greatest constraints (closely followed by France - the less said about the UK and US responses, the better).Prince:
— The Grand Reopening of Texas, Chief Toli Monger May 4 2020
Positivity (Yes)Item:
"Fewer Texans test positive for COVID-19 than residents of any large state in the United States. — Greg Abbott (June 19 2020)"...Prince:
We rate this claim False.
— Fact-checking Gov. Greg Abbott on coronavirus in Texas The Statesman June 19 2020
Do we mark you present, or do we mark you late?Dig:
Texas didn’t meet the guidelines laid out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May before moving to a phased reopening.Prince:
— Austin has nation’s highest 7-day metro positivity rate of coronavirus tests June 27 2020
Is that a good man?
Walking down that street with that money in his hand
Is that a good man?
[Chorus]Item:
Positivity (Yes)
Have you had your plus sign today?
Positivity (Yes)
Do we mark you present, or do we mark you late?
Gov. Greg Abbott continued to tout Texas's hospital capacity as plentiful Tuesday as hospitalizations due to the new coronavirus hit new highs and the state presses forward with business reopenings.Prince:Abbott, speaking during a news conference in Austin, called the state’s capacity “abundant” and said officials are “laser-focused” on maintaining that level.
— Gov. Greg Abbott points to “abundant” hospital capacity as Texas continues with business reopenings June 16 2020
Is that all your gold?Item:
Where did it come from?
What did you have to do?
(did you have to do?)
Can you sleep nights?
Do you dream straight up?
Just nine days ago, Abbott touted the state's "abundant" hospital capacity as the numbers of cases in the state were rising quickly.Prince:
— Texas Governor Hits 'Pause' On Further Reopening Amid COVID-19 Surge June 25 2020
Or do you dream in W's?Item:
"Hospitals have a lot of capacity...Prince:So we are very well positioned to be able to handle what comes down the pike
— Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: "We're not going back, closing things" press conference Anderson Cooper 360 June 30 2020
Positivity (Yes)Item:
Have you had your plus sign today?
Prince:Randy Kaye (CNN): You heard there him say that the positivity rate in Florda is 10 to 15 percent. Anderson, that is just not true. In Lee County where Fort Myers is, they've seen a positivity rate of 20 percent, that's up from 13 percent. And in Miami-Dade county, the positivity rate for the last two weeks has averaged more than 17 percent. The county itself says it would like to be around 10 percent. And just finally, the hospitals, he says, he said today that the hospitals have plenty of capacity. Again Anderson, not true. The mayor of Miami, on CNN just last night, saying that some hospitals in Miami are either at or close to capacity, Anderson.
Anderson Cooper: Hmm.
— Anderson Cooper 360 June 30 2020
Shall the court sing together?
"In every man's life there will be a hang-up
A whirlwind designed to slow you down
It cuts like a knife, it tries to get in you
This Spooky Electric sound
Give up if you want to and all is lost
Spooky Electric will be your boss"
Item:
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick faced a backlash Tuesday for suggesting that fellow seniors should risk their health for the sake of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.Prince:
— Sacrifice the old to help the economy? Texas official’s remark prompts backlash March 24 2020
Call People magazine, Rolling StoneDig:
Call your next of kin, cause your ass is gone
He's got a 57 mag with the price tag still on the side
Cussing when Spooky say dead, you better say died
Every life is valuable, but 500 people out of 29 million and we’re locked down, and we’re crushing the average worker. We’re crushing small business. We’re crushing the markets. We’re crushing this country. There are more important things than livingPrince:
— Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick: ‘There are more important things than living’ during pandemic April 22 2020
Don't kiss the beastDig:
“And I don’t want to die, nobody wants to die, but man, we got to take some risks and get back in the game, and get this country back up and running."Prince:
— Texas' Dan Patrick: 'There are more important things than living' April 22 2020
We need love and honestyItem:
Peace and harmony
Positivity
The bloc will allow visitors from 15 countries, but the United States, Brazil and Russia were among the notable absences from the safe list.Prince:
E.U. Formalizes Reopening, Barring Travelers From U.S. June 30 2020
Love and honestyDig:
Peace and harmony
“In my view, the worst thing we can do is to lock down Texas again. That’s not what Gov. Abbott wants. That’s not what I want,” he said. “But we need help from the young people out there to help bring these number of cases down and free up hospital beds.”Prince:
— Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Dr. Anthony Fauci “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” July 1 2020
I said, hold on to your soulItem:
Texas reported its latest record-breaking daily increase in cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, with 6,975 new infections identified. The number surpassed Italy's highest single-day jump in virus cases to datePrince:
— Texas Daily COVID-19 Cases Top Italy's Record When It Was Global Epicenter June 30 2020
You got a long way to goDig:
"Italy saw its highest single-day increase in cases of the novel virus on March 21, with 6,557 new diagnoses. Texas and Italy reported similar weekly average increases in cases surrounding their respective peaks, with both identifying at least 3,500 new infections per day. Italy's record increase came roughly two weeks into the country's national lockdown, which Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte originally implemented March 9. The country continued to diagnose several thousand new cases daily until early MayPrince:
— Texas Daily COVID-19 Cases Top Italy's Record When It Was Global Epicenter June 30 2020
Hold on to your soulItem:
Abbott's order marks a major reversal. For over two months, he ignored calls by the Democratic leaders of Texas' metropolitan areas to mandate mask wearing.Prince:He refused to allow leaders in Houston to enforce their own face-covering mandate with penalties, undercutting their ability to slow the spread of the virus. Hospital officials in Houston have said intensive care beds there are now in short supply.
We got a long way to go
— American Exceptionalism on the Virus June 29 2020
Prince:Hold on to your soul
Fade out with increasingly stark Linn drum breakbeat...
II. Positivity Reprise (Some Covidious Poetry)
Positivity (Yes)
Amateur epidemiology (Yes)
Profit mythology (Yes)
Faulty biology (Yes)
B-movie theory (Yes)
Capital monopoly (Yes)
Black Gold ideology (Yes)
Wicked wizardry (Yes)
"We are crushing the economy." (Yes)
"Hospitals have a lot of capacity." (Yes)
"I don't take responsibility" (Yes)
"Reopen the economy" (Yes)
Let's ignore Doctor Fauci (Yes)
Positivity (Yes)
Cowboy tomfoolery (Yes)
Shameless mimicry (Yes)
Constitutional lootery (Yes)
Delay-Deny policy (Yes)
Dereliction of duty (Yes)
Entitled supremacy (Yes)
Sense of superiority (Yes)
Assumed invincibility (Yes)
Disgraceful poverty (Yes)
Unvarnished sociopathy (Yes)
Unbridled pathology (Yes)
Positivity (Yes)
Buyer's remorse suddenly (Yes)
Selective amnesia mentality (Yes)
In search of herd immunity (Yes)
Positivity (Yes)
The phantom thread of greed lies at the heart of the matter
Their liability certificates are being served on a platter
Calls for sacrifice while seeking to avoid blame
America's real herd immunity is to shame
Positivity (Yes)
See also:Soundtrack for this note
Hearing the afrofuturist demo of Positivity has made my day, month and year. Youtube is the gift that keeps on giving and this time we have 5 different versions of the track. The album version gets the glossy sheen of the Lovesexy production to distinguish it from the Black album era, the others are minimalist funk masterpieces. There's also a live version with Patti Labelle and Mavis Staples's cover from The Voice.
I did a quick juxtaposition of photos from the last time we saw Prince live, three weeks before our first child was born. The Welcome 2 America tour was a return to form, Larry Graham, Santana and Sheila E were in the house. He even did a cover of Amel Larrieux's No one Else. What more could one want. We'll see if the Prince estate allows this adaptation to live on, I suspect the Spooky Electric covidious implication might be a bridge too far. Hold on to your soul, we've got a long way to go.
[Update] January 2021 - my video remix was removed by the copyright police although, interestingly, 5 other uploads are still available on Youtube. Oh well...
Previously in the same vein
File under: remix, adaptation, coronavirus, pandemic, disaster, rogues, culture, hubris, huhudious, USA, politics, hatchet job, Prince, humour, satire, observation, perception, neocons, poetry, toli
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