August 7, 2008

(click image to go to Amazon to purchase)

Harry Shearer is a renaissance kind of guy. Actor, writer, radio host, satirist and recent awardee of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, you've seen his work in everything from Saturday Night Live to This is Spinal Tap (one of my all time favorite movies) to The Simpsons to the political novel Not Enough Indians.

And now, he's come out with the satirical album, Songs of the Bushmen, which lampoons the you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up headlines that is the Bush Administration. He offers songs like 935 Lies, which we've featured here at C&L before. And the album has been the cause of its own controversy as well, when Clear Channel banned Harry's songs and any ads for the album because they objected to the cover you see above:

Comedian and actor Harry Shearer's new album, Songs of the Bushmen, pays comedic "homage" to current and former Bush administration officials like Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove. But media giant Clear Channel doesn't want people to buy it. The New York Post reports today that the "notoriously conservative" company's outdoor advertising arm has banned signs for the album "because the cover depicts the president with a bone through his nose."

You gotta be kidding me. Rendition, torture, millions of Iraqi and Afghani civilian deaths, more than 4,000 troop fatalities for a war of choice and they're offended by a Photoshopped bone. I don't know about you, but I find their sensibilities offensive.

To show that we're not going to let Clear Channel determine what's appropriate, we've asked Harry to join us to discuss Songs of the Bushmen and I'm so happy that he's agreed to.

So, please, join me in welcoming Harry Shearer to C&L. As with all chats, we ask that you keep your comments respectful to our guest and limit your questions to the topic.

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