Comments on: The late-Scorsese Pulitzer.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:22:38 +0000

Interesting that there was a union for the daily paper ad sales reps, at least in Philly. But the reference to time-and-a-half in the first graph is out of place considering Tierney’s acknowledgement lof “a big commission”. And that line about pressmen getting time-and-a-hal for vacations requires some further explaining, even if THEIR union rules are involved.

By: Danny

Danny — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:52:14 +0000

you did know that was him on the Cat Stevens record, right? he was, I dunno, about nineteen or twenty at the time.

saw him perform at a film festival in Nashville a couple summers ago - just RW and a piano in a mall multiplex theater. he was supposed to lecture on film scoring, ended up being an hour of hysterically funny stories with some piano acrobatics thrown in. most entertaining.

and one of his sons is touring with Yes this summer, forget whether it’s Adam or Oliver but anyway one is in Ozzy’s band and the other’s taking dad’s place. actually they both are, RW played on Black Sabbath sessions years ago.

Yeah, it’s Oliver with Yes and Adam has been touring with Ozzy since 2004. I think Rick played on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, IIRC.

And you’re right about Rick’s sense of humor. Funny guy. On the 35th anniversary tour DVD he coments that they have the same group of guys and the same music with the only difference being that they each weigh individually what they used to weigh collectively. Steve is very thin to the point of fraility, but the rest of them have gained a few.

By: john c

john c — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:22:12 +0000

I agree the Y exercise seems like a disaster waiting to happen, though I can also see how it might - might - be helpful. Still. I’d be pissed if that were thrust on me and my kids.
It did remind me of a story my brother-in-law once told me. He was getting his MBA at Kellogg, then and still one of the top business schools in the country. His class was doing business case studies and in one, the obvious answer was to lay off lots of people. A student dutifully said that, and the teacher stopped in his tracks and stared, asking the student to repeat it. He did, and the teacher proceeded to call that the stupidest answer he’d ever heard. How could that student possibly come up with that answer after reading the same case everyone else read. In fact, it was so stupid that he would like that student to get up and leave right now. As the student rose to leave, the teacher stopped the charade and said this: The answer was correct. Laying people off is the smart thing to do in that case. You all are the best and the brightest. You will probably never get fired. I thought you should get a sense of how it feels.

By: Jeff (the mild-mannered one)

Jeff (the mild-mannered one) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:12:55 +0000

Joe Hill, where have you gone?

By: nancy

nancy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:57:56 +0000

Mark, your skepticism made me wonder if I’d misremembered something about Philly, but no, I hadn’t. The story’s from Fortune:

(New Inquirer owner Brian Tierney) was flummoxed upon learning that Knight Ridder didn’t send its union-represented salespeople to meet clients in Chicago because they had to be paid time and a half.

Tierney says this was his response: “Guys, how bad is it if I ask you to leave your house for a night, fly out to Chicago, stay at the Hyatt, go to Morton’s, have steak with a client, a bottle of wine, maybe take them out to listen to some jazz on Rush Street, come back the next morning, get a big commission, and put in your expenses? Is that punishing?” He also laments that pressmen are paid time and a half when they go on vacation.

By: Jeff (the mild-mannered one)

Jeff (the mild-mannered one) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:28:15 +0000

Or third prize, a set of steak knives.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:53:23 +0000

A UNION? For ad salespeople? And, being paid “OVERTIME”? A opposed to, say, a bonus on a commission, plus the first class airfare and maybe a notch up in the hotel accomodations? I sold print advertising (not at a daily) for a number of years, and must have missed out on something. Or maybe I’m just clueless about how it’s done in Philadelphia; or maybe just clueless.

By: michaelj

michaelj — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:29:36 +0000

There’s Raging Bull’

It’s repugnant.

Violence in movies is acceptable. Beating up women isn’t.

If there was a word aside from f**ck in Raging Bull, well, yeah, guess I missed it and the wife beating was odious. Did I mention this monosyllabic asshole brutalizing his family wasn’t worth making any more than a few mimutes of a documentary? It’s just not a good movie. Auteur, auteur. I thought New York Stories was good.

Gutdom, he made The Last Waltz so I know he’s got soul. Look how he get’s Ringo when the estimable drummer hits a fill.

Goodfellas? That’s all how Shoeless Joe plays it, and thr women. The Departed? now there’s when the director made a director’s movie.

I don’t know what you think about the great American novel, but I know, Nancy, ypu’ve given it some thought.

I thought that was Look Homeward Angeland I know it’s Hucklebery Finn, and why doesn’t the Second Coming know this?doesn’t poll well? and it was his editor we should thank. It’s possible that jottings from Kurt Vonnegut about spoonfuls of syrup, with no editor, might fit the bill. Or bushwhacking a piano, or Easy Rawlins walking mean streets he knows by heart.

I just read Cosmopolis. It’s not good (well, it’s good, but it’s kinda like Grand Street but not goof) and I cherish Don deLillo. This book seems like he’s trying to catch up to William Gibson, who didn’t invent the internet, but cyberspace, yeah he did. Invent that idea of cyberspace.

Wipe a third time. We have al lof you infornation and if its unconstitutional, so what, your pretzeldent is protecting you against terriss. If the prezeldent does it it’s legal.

By: Harl Delos

Harl Delos — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:08:02 +0000

The folks at WVUD-FM in Dayton used to have a feature every evening (called “Wax Museum” IIRC) where they would play an album straight through, uninterrupted. They started and ended each album with that k-sproing-SPRING riff from Roundabout, so that you knew when to start and stop the tape recorder.

In that era, of sex and drugs and rock-and-roll, I only ever experienced the last very often. I’d sit alone in my room, listening to Close To The Edge, but I stared at incense, and burned a candle. It didn’t matter; everyone already knew I was hopelessly square.

Of all my regrets, the lack of a misspent youth comes close to the top of the list.

By: basset

basset — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:04:17 +0000

I used to sit in my dorm room with one candle burning, listening to the Wakeman solo from “Yessongs” on headphones… and that’s all I need to say about that.