WOI TV News Clips 253

Five years ago matter Reidy paid much attention to the antics of a quartet from England called the Beatles now however everything the four shaggy-haired musicians produce comes under the instant scrutiny of the most sophisticated connoisseurs of the art in five short years the Beatles have moved from amid the hysteria of the under-20 generation to the adulation of music critics composers musicologists and other assorted music lovers the Beatles have moved far afield from the days of I want to hold your hand and seem to declare in fact predict with impeccable precision what the future trends in the popular music field are to be in 1965 with their recording of yesterday many of us became believers in the beatles and watched with interest their journey from the frenzied hard rock style to the psychedelic or acid rock pop music which they pioneered and which now has become nothing but another cliche their strawberry fields forever represented the most sophisticated style of pop music yet to appear in the scene featuring the electronically reproduced psychedelic sounds coupled with multi rhythms freewheeling modulations and non conformist lyrics about alienation and despair Strawberry Fields was a prelude to their celebrated album sergeant pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which I like to refer to as a secular pop cantata Sergeant Pepper became and still is a valuable work a cultural phenomenon containing music and poetry of the highest caliber focusing on the existential question of trying to find meaning in an absurd world or better yet trying to exist in a society where no one cares the album is a veritable compendium of the psychedelic art its ultimate solution to cop-out by running away or using drugs Sergeant Pepper was followed by a lesser album magical mystery tour and for several months following there was no discernable activity by the Beatles eventually however there were indications of another metamorphosis of style seen in two single albums lady Madonna and Hey Jude both of which harken back to their earlier days gone was all of the psychedelic paraphernalia and multi-textured orchestrations they were back to the stark accompaniment of a solo voice these singles were followed by the subject of tonight's review their newest and I think most notable achievement a double record album called simply the Beatles if Sergeant Pepper was a compendium of psychedelia their new album is a veritable encyclopedia of every conceivable popular style within the last 15 to 20 years one might even say the Beatles are bringing it all back home in their new album which features musical parodies on the styles of their pop heroes Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, and even their own early hard rock style the music is almost without exception highly sophisticated and lyrical and is of such a uniformly high quality that it is difficult to pick a favorite certainly the most humorous selection is an Elvis Presley parody called let's do it in the road the most lyrical might be I will a non satirical simple love ballad and Julia which fits into the same category cry baby cry has also become one of the favorites on this album my choice for the most brilliantly conceived tune on the album is the plaintive and scintillating blackbird most of the selections on this album are by John Lennon and Paul McCartney but George Harrison is also represented by one of the more beautiful numbers called while my guitar gently weeps the new album has a thematic continuity just as did Sergeant Pepper although all the songs don't relate to a central theme many have a definite anti-violence motif such as happiness is a warm gun tire on a gun fetish the continuing story of bungalow bill and rocky raccoon are also based on anti-violence thoughts as his revolution one which because of its overt repudiation of destruction as a means to achieve revolution in society has apparently incurred the wrath of the new left there are of course some fillers of negligible worth such as birthday but the majority of these thirty songs represent the Beatles at their best and as many have been eager to observe their best is better than anyone elses the influence of and the dependence upon the lobbyists permeates the legislative process in Iowa the number of lobbyists in Iowa has increased at least 87 percent in the last ten years and many organizations are hiring more than one lobbyists to represent them consequently there are many lobbyists that are receiving higher pay to lobby for a particular interest than those lobbyists and those legislators who are working on many issues in this General Assembly now presently lobbyists are allowed on the floor of the House of Representatives behind the representatives desk as I can well testify since I have the view from the rear well this only lends itself to chaos and confusion caused by the lobbyists existence on the floor of the House of Representatives if we truly want a shorter session this year I call upon the members of the General Assembly to ban lobbyists from the halls and from the floor of the House of Representatives it is rather ironic there was a dollar squeeze play ever-present in the legislature we know that state funds are being appropriated to pay state agency lobbyists these lobbyists are lobbying for more state funds to help pay their salaries and expenses which go to the whining and dining of legislators in Des Moines this continues odd infinitum ad nauseum so I contend that the public is entitled to know something about the lobbyists who plays such an important role in the legislative process and this can be accomplished by financial disclosure financial disclosure for lobbyists has been a growing trend in the United States the last 20 years at present 27 states require a financial report without financial disclosure how are we to know that an organization spends many thousands of dollars to further its cause hires more than one lobbyist charters private planes for chips around the state holds dinner meetings in private clubs with legislators involving millions of dollars of state funds and affecting thousands of Iowans there needs to be a ban on the whining and dining which blatantly exists in Des Moines without such a ban what restraint will be placed upon a lobbyist not to pick up the tab for a legislators whining and dining continually throughout the session it is far better to have such a ban which would serve as a constant reminder of the need for rigorously correct relations between those who hold a public trust and those with a private interests contingent fees to lobbyists whereby lobbyists are paid fees contingent upon the passage or defeat of legislation should be prohibited in Iowa as has been done in 30 states the matter of disclosure has become the order of the day not just for lobbyists and legislators but for campaign contributions as well we only have to look at the disclosure of campaign contributions by the trucking lobby to point out the fact that the long truck bill was killed in the 90th Congress so I submit that if the lobbyists are concerned about their image what better way could there be than financial disclosure for all the world to see and if Iowa's lobbyists are lily-white in comparison with other state lobbyists as has been emphatically and righteously stressed by Iowa's lobbyists and their defenders then there should be no opposition to financial disclosure by the lobbyists the people of Iowa have come to realize that when the private interest is in conflict with the public interest the public is often the loser today there is still no statute in our Iowa Code regulating lobbyists and calling for their financial disclosure I call upon the public to speak out on this vital issue by writing and contacting their local representatives is this not the time for affirmative action the third week of this general assembly ended on a political note downstairs governor Ray was explaining to reporters his reasons for recommending healthy salary increases to members of the Executive Council upstairs in the Senate Democrat Senator Andrew Fremont was berating the Republican governor for recommending salary hikes during a period of what the governor calls austerity across the hallway in the state capitol House Democrats were also chatting the Republicans about the governor's budget Democrats are still smarting from charges made during the last campaign that a Democratic administration had drained the state treasury and raised taxes at the same time they are in the minority this time and that's something the Republicans won't let them forget politically however the minority has the best position at the firing line the Republicans with their complete Statehouse domination perhaps make even better targets than the previous administration part Democrat and part Republican today's brief verbal skirmishes were of an introductory nature senator Andrew from Altoona Kitty would be hurt again this session it is difficult or near impossible to have a legislative session without the ghost of Elections future hovering in the background the resultant minor distractions seem a small price to pay when one considers that it keeps politicians on their toes which in turn results in better legislation this is Ken Cosgrove reporting