Every day on Twitter at @Green_Footballs, Charles Johnson takes caustic and intelligent aim at the Republican right as well as the global Wikileaks/Edward Snowden/Glenn Greenwald fan club. The self-described “ex-wingnut” blogger of Little Green Footballs, seen as right wing in the years following 9/11, is now reliably center-left. Toggle to his bio, however, and it starts thus: “Scientist of Love. Guitarist w/ George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Al Jarreau, others.”
Yes, it’s the same Charles “Icarus” Johnson heard shredding like a fiend on “Life Is Just a Game,” from Clarke’s famous 1976 album School Days. Now 60 and based near Los Angeles, this political pundit and “code monkey” was far more than a six-string dabbler in an earlier life. He took the stage name Icarus at the urging of a girlfriend. There’s YouTube footage of him playing with drummers Simon Phillips, Sheila E. and Steve Gadd (in bands led by Clarke, Duke and Jarreau, respectively).
