FROM THE "WILD, WILD WEST" DEPARTMENT:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on the ballot in Florida, his campaign announced Friday, after he secured a nomination from the obscure “Reform Party”—as his campaign deploys an aggressive and laborious strategy to secure his place on ballots in all 50 states.
The Reform Party, founded by former independent presidential candidate Ross Perot, voted Thursday to officially nominate Kennedy for its ticket in Florida, Kennedy’s campaign said.

In addition to Florida, Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, will also appear on the ballot in Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas and Hawaii, his campaign said, adding that it’s collected enough signatures to also appear on the ballots in New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, New Jersey and Ohio.

While Kennedy hasn’t secured ballot access in enough states to secure the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidential election, his presence on the ballot in just one of the six swing states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin) that are expected to decide the 2024 election could be enough to sway the outcome as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are consistently polling within single digits of each other.

Without the backing of an official political party, Kennedy is required to petition for ballot access in most states, though he’s attempted a workaround in several states by soliciting nominations from lesser-known political parties, including the Natural Law Party of Michigan and the American Independent Party in California.
Kennedy’s campaign has also filed lawsuits challenging ballot access rules in several states, including Utah and Maine, and his campaign has admittedly delayed filing petitions until the last minute to avoid challenges from the Democratic Party, his campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear told the New York Times.

Not to glorify the use of narcotics, or anything, but this is the most joyous celebration of bored nihilism I’ve ever heard. Joey Ramone said he wrote the song when he was stranded in London during Christmastime, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. And, here, the boys are symbolically kicking down the doors of their hotel room and running amok for our pleasure.

These were my contemporaries: they were playing CBGB’s on the Bowery, while I was plying my singer-songwriter hack across town in the West Village. Geographically close, but two different worlds, and I, theatrically trained emoter that I was, missed the whole punk revolution that was brewing right under my nose. Talk about not seeing the forest for the tree! We might have been close in age, and just like me they had been born and bred across the east river - but they were the real deal: dedicated to the rock and roll lifestyle, while I was just visiting.

They’re all dead now - but, man, did they rage against the dying of the light. They immolated themselves, these four similarly named Icaruses, in pursuit of rock immortality. And, they achieved it. And, you can feel that undeniable energy in this romp - their call to arms against banality.

THE BEST GARAGE ROCK ALBUMS OF THE 1960'S:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/genre/11-garage-rock/1960s/#google_vignette