The Armpit Collection VI

Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley

The first great rock n roll record (and last?), for real. This is the type of album that sounds magical on vinyl, and yet it also sounds very appropriately old digitally. The vocals are incredible. Kicks in with the notorious Blue Suede Shoes, has the infamous Tutti Frutti, and is completely glorified by Blue Moon - Frank Sinatra can roll in his grave (but I'm sure we'll dig him up later). These are only the classics. It's also got One-Sided Love Affair & Tryin' to Get to You, actually, there isn't a bad song on the album. 28:03 of the original.

As American as... nevermind.

I'm sure you all heard, Budweiser is no longer an AMERICAN company. "Dey took 'er joooobs!" It was sold to Belgium's InBev for $52 billion — although Bud CEO, August Busch IV, had told the company's wholesale distributors months ago that a sale would "not happen on his watch." All it took was InBev to raise their price per share price to $70 (it was rejected at $65). Sellout.

InBev makes a lot of good beers, to their credit, including Stella Artois, Leffe, Hoegaarden, and Beck's (Stella is probably my favorite beer). InBev also comes from a country where their money is ACTUALLY WORTH SOMETHING.

Despite my best efforts, my employer refuses to pay me in Euros. The "Almighty Dollar" ain't what she used to be, remember that when filling up your gas tank... Oil has gotten more expensive worldwide, but prices have jumped twice as much in the U.S.A. compared to Europe due to the falling price of the dollar. Some economists expect a dollar rebound in late '08 or 2009. In the meantime, don't be shocked to see American treasures purchased by foreigners.