I have to leave bright and early for the auto shop, which recently stopped offering an Ethernet connection for customers chillin’ in the lounge. I’m taking advantage of this turn of events by taking my laptop and working on the sort of stuff that e-mail and Web access only gets in the way of, i.e., writing. Which means not much of a blog today, but I snipped a few zinnias to put in this simple little vase:
Howell Raines always did get on my last damn nerve. Aaron Barnhart lays out only one reason.
When someone remakes “Charlotte’s Web” with an R rating, the writer will go by one name, and it will be Coozledad.
There’s news, there’s non-news, and then there are headlines like this: The Duchess of Cornwall plans to take up pilates or Tai Chi. Can’t you hardly wait to know the rest?!?
And while we’re reading the Telegraph’s health page, ohmygod: Boy, 12, dies from heart failure after using too much deodorant.
I swear, the Brits put out the best newspapers, page for page, in the free world. I can’t believe I get to read them every day through the magic of the internets. Cold comfort at a time when my retirement portfolio is withering like a beehive hairdo on a 90-degree day, but we take it where we can get it, right?
You all have a good Friday, and be kind to one another — we’re all going to be standing in the same bread line someday, and we’ll have plenty of time to fight then.
Dexter said on November 21, 2008 at 1:40 am
Thanks for reminding us to check out the London tabloids.
I was doing that for a while then I pared down my newspaper surfing to all the NY papers, both Chicago majors, The Freep, LA Times,and others when breaking local news erupts.
IMHO, LA Times has the best photogs and does the best job with videos to illustrate local stories.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 4:04 am
Just want to draw your attention to a couple more brief after-action items: a description of Obama’s online operation and a note re a debriefing conference call w/ his field organizers. Not that there’s any “need to know” info at these links, but the evidence of effectiveness in innovation, implementation, and learning from experience is awesome. As with a lot things that work, Obama’s IT enterprises now seem natural (Why wouldn’t you, after all, have an online system for people to find out about local events?), but no one had ever done it before.
Governing is going to be a lot harder, but if, as president, he is half as good at making things work as was as a candidate, life could be a lot better in a lot of ways.
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Terry WAlter said on November 21, 2008 at 6:53 am
Something that’s been grinding my gears for a while. The financial world yakkers liked to call what they were peddling, ‘products’ . To me, a product is something you can hold in your hand; performs a function. Something that requires R & D; and that doesn’t stand for Ripoff & Destroy. Not a piece of paper that can blow away in the wind or numbers that can change or disappear with a computer keystroke. Which as we can see, is exactly what happened.
I couldn’t believe it when the New New Chrysler Corp. hired Bozo Bob to lead them. He took over Home Depot, slashed costs in a way that any moron could fathom, only it was poor long term strategy. All the while, he displayed an attitude worthy of an AIG exec.
Before the 2006 elections,Stuart Varney of Fox News was blathering away about how strong the economy was. Get the hell out of Manhattan, you stupid limey. Obviously, the electorate didn’t agree.
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Gasman said on November 21, 2008 at 7:05 am
cooz,
You made my morning. I haven’t laughed that hard since Sarah Palin’s last non-Fox interview. Maybe we could use the banding technique or even your emasculatome device on the CEOs from the big 3 auto makers. “Sure, we’ll give you a whole pile of cash, but first, you need to drop your drawers and smile.” Hell, just saying “emasculatome” to them might do the trick.
Unlike what they did to us, it would only hurt for a little while.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 7:05 am
Jolene, just remember, it all began with Joe Trippi!
http://twitter.com/JoeTrippi — “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 7:12 am
Absolutely, Jeff. All credit where due. Message for you from me toward the end of the previous thread, btw.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 7:25 am
Oh, got it — for you and Moe, a good paradigm for what Parker may be intending to talk about is a guy Nancy shared a dusty field, if not specifically a platform with last summer, named Shane Claiborne: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/newmonastics/claiborne_downwardmobility.shtml
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coozledad said on November 21, 2008 at 8:02 am
I just read about Mukasey having a seizure while he was defending the administration’s policies on torture. Maybe I need to rethink the whole “vengeful God” thing.
If anyone needs to get in touch with me, I’ll be in a cave.
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Gasman said on November 21, 2008 at 8:05 am
Jeff (tmmo),
Thanks for the great Shane Claiborne link. It should be required reading for anyone who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Claiborne’s words ring very true to my experiences within our church’s social ministries. In our ecumenical offerings, none of our partner churches are what could be termed evangelical. If ministering to the poor and downtrodden of our society isn’t evangelism, I don’t know what is.
As an educator, I understand and believe in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Until individuals realize the most basic needs of food, shelter, safety and self esteem, the realm of self actualization – represented by such things as a profession of religious faith – can be a nonexistent concern for those mired in the degrading cycle of poverty. As a Christian, I cannot think of a better form of evangelism, or better way to do what Jesus would have done, than to help our brothers and sisters out of that dehumanizing condition.
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MichaelG said on November 21, 2008 at 8:53 am
Dexter, you discovered correctly. Van Nuys is strictly a general aviation facility. However, Burbank (now officially called Bob Hope Airport) is just down the street. It is one of my favorite airports. Built back when the earth had barely cooled, BUR is a throwback. It looks and operates like a ’50s airport. No jetways, narrow cramped hallways, tiny departure lounges and the shortest taxi from landing to gate of anyplace anywhere – fifty meters maybe. I was there last week. Check it out.
EDIT: I had posted the URL but it was way too long and didn’t fit. Look at Microsoft’s local.live site, enter BUR and use the bird’s eye function. It’s like you are there.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 9:03 am
c’dad, did the post-election letter-to-the-editor on your web site get published?
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mark said on November 21, 2008 at 9:05 am
jolene- do you ever sleep?
enjoy your weekend.
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coozledad said on November 21, 2008 at 9:50 am
Jolene: Yes. They changed the title to “Get Over It”, I suspect because “The verdict of 1865” might get a few people riled up too much. I’m still shocked they didn’t publish Obama’s picture the day following the election, and the election coverage only stated “McCain Wins County.”
Now they’ve hired some hick oppo researcher from Liberty College as a new reporter. I thought the only degree Liberty offered was Wendy’s / Christian gift shop manager. That or civil rights positions in the DOJ.
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Jenien said on November 21, 2008 at 9:51 am
In the category of news, not-news, and worse, I have come up with the concept of anti-news. Anti-news, usually seen on the local evening news, not only doesn’t teach you anything new, but when you watch it, it actually drives a piece of knowledge out of your brain. It takes up space that would have been more usefully occupied had you been able to avoid it.
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caliban said on November 21, 2008 at 10:39 am
For fans of James Brown, Etta James, Sister Re, etc, free music:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IBGJ5K?ie=UTF8&tag=johnbellhavea-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001IBGJ5K
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HJ62YQ?ie=UTF8&tag=johnbellhavea-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001HJ62YQ
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Danny said on November 21, 2008 at 11:03 am
Our friend’s 12-year old boy died last year. He was at soccer practice and just collapsed. Nothing was wrong with him that they could find. He was normal in every respect. And it wasn’t a hot day nor a strenuous thing he was doing. Just out having fun and his heart stopped beating.
This was their only child and he meant the world to them. We still see them at church, but I can’t remember the last time I saw the mother singing.
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brian stouder said on November 21, 2008 at 11:04 am
Speaking of hack newspapers, here is something I learned in Allen Guelzo’s book about the Lincoln/Douglas debates: in the 1850’s, between 1/2 and 4/5 of ALL the US mail consisted of newspapers!
An upshot was – the politically appointed postmasters could directly interfere with ‘unfriendly’ publications, and of course mostly every newspaper had a strongly partisan point of view (or raison d’être) of one sort or another.
If a person could scrape together $300 (for the typefaces and a press and so on) – then they could become an ink-stained scribbler!
And – of course – if a paper’s political alignment (and choice of individual friends) was right, then lucrative government printing contracts could come their way…. and/or be pulled, if they didn’t behave!
(worth remembering, as our right wing hate-radio purveyors whine and bray at the mere mention of the term “fairness”!)
edit: Danny – that sounds like a waking nightmare
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 11:30 am
If you get stuck at Burbank, give a yell. I’m just down the street. We can go to Porto’s for Cuban coffee and pastries.
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Danny said on November 21, 2008 at 11:45 am
Perchance you’d be able to have a chat with Rona Barrett over a bear claw.
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Jeff Borden said on November 21, 2008 at 11:59 am
Funny video break!
Check out the latest from Sarah Palin, who just can’t seem to catch a break anymore. She appears at a turkey farm in Wasilla to pardon a big tom turkey, which she does while reading awkwardly from one of those flowery government pronouncements. She then takes questions outside.
While she expounds on her veep run and the work she faces in Alaska, a turkey farm worker in the background is putting live turkeys into a big funnel, then slashing their throats, waiting for them to bleed out, then lifting the headless birds out of the funnel. Poor Ms. Palin seems unaware of what is occuring behind her and the TV cameraman certainly does her no favors by not suggesting she move slightly to avoid the carnage being caught on tape. (MSNBC has politely blurred the gore and grue.)
I did a story for Crain’s years ago about the last of the live poultry shops in Chicago. Three were run by Middle Eastern guys. One by an older Jewish guy. I watched a chicken go from live to wrapped in butcher paper in about four minutes. The smell was much worse than the sight. I don’t know how those guys take it.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Some good news for all of us who still love a stack of newsprint next to the sofa — http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/health/research/20happy.html
Prayers, Danny. That’s all i’ve got.
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Rona, if she still walks the earth, probably doesn’t frequent Porto’s. It’s not far from Warner Bros, so likely it gets some studio types, but mostly it’s very down to earth. Porto’s isn’t chic or hip. It’s a Cuban bakery with very good food.
http://www.portosbakery.com/
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Danny, your second paragraph is one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.
I sleep, mark, but sometimes w/ interruptions.
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Danny said on November 21, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Rona stills walks the earth, but may not live around you anymore.
But, Mary, that’s no excuse for you playing coy like you’ve never met her or had numerous chats with her during your routine days.. Sandbagger! We KNOW you KNOW her!
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 12:29 pm
She’s far too old school for me, Danny. Sub D list. I saw Antonio Villaraigosa sort of recently. Does that count for anything? He used to be my neighbor but I think he moved into the mayor’s mansion. Or at least out of the house he shared with his wife. I’m sure all that messiness made the news outside of LA.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 12:36 pm
(note to self — do not have affairs with tv anchors who cover my administration, unless you’re sure no one will ever figure it out. *from the desk of The Mayor*)
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Gasman said on November 21, 2008 at 12:49 pm
With apologies to Jeff Borden; I was writing this as you were posting.
This encapsulates all that you need to know about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0r7TJUTn1c
This one was totally managed by Palin and her staff. There is no “media filter” present here, no aggressively hostile Katie Couric plotting to portray Palin in a negative light. Naw, this one is nothing but 100% genuine Sarah Palin in all her glory.
I’ve now seen about a dozen interviews of Palin, some more scripted than others, some with with a decidedly pro-Palin tilt to begin with. She sounds about as equally clueless in all of them. Her background as a local TV sportscaster should have at least made her more aware of her surroundings vis-a-vis the all-seeing camera. The fact that she and her staff are so incognizant to anything and everything but a few inches beyond the end of Palin’s nose is made very painfully obvious.
In Alaskan politics, they set the bar at a very low level for intellectual and ethical achievement. As example, I give you: Ted Stevens, Don Young, and Sarah Palin. I hope that the Republican Party decides to set the bar a bit higher on both counts before contemplating Palin as one of their anointed national figures.
Oh, and Jeff B., according to David Shuster (filling in for Olbermann) who commented after the clip ran, “By the way, Gov. Palin’s office is now telling our NBC news desk that a photographer asked her if she wanted that as a backdrop, and she replied, ‘No worries.’ “
What? Me worry?
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Connie said on November 21, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Do watch the CNN video of Mukasey’s collapse. First his speech blurs, then his head drops, then he’s down.
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Catherine said on November 21, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Jeff, thanks for that link way upthread. “For the most part, those of us who are rich never meet those of us who are poor. Instead, nonprofit organizations serve as brokers between the two in a booming business of poverty management.” Ouch.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I continue to be amazed by the attention being devoted to Michelle Obama–including by me, of course. DeNeen Brown and Richard Leiby wrote about the level of pride and hope that black women have invested in her in today’s Post; the associated video is very touching.
In their piece, they mention another article in which Erin Aubry Kaplan appreciates Michelle in, shall we say, a more elemental way.
Earlier this week, I happened to catch part of a discussion on NPR about Michelle in her role as a mom vs. everything else that’s expected of her.
To write this post, I had to track down the last two links, as I read the Kaplan piece a few days ago and, of course, listened to the last one on the radio. In that tiny amount of fairly focused research, I turned up dozens more links. It’s incredible to think of what these two people are taking on, how many people are watching them, and how many different dimensions of “accountability”—from fashion choices to setting the nation’s economy aright—they are subject to.
Just thinking about it makes me yearn for a nap—or a drink.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 1:35 pm
For the last eight years i’ve used Shane’s line when folks ask “what can i do” about the Housing Coalition, knowing they want to write a check. I tell ’em “the most important thing you can do is come visit, and let me introduce you around.” That’s not what they’re expecting (do we need money? sho’ nuff), but very often it happens, and we get to walk them through the “stations of the cross” as we quietly call the steps you have to navigate to find emergency shelter and get qualified for transitional/supportive housing.
I suspect it also helps us end up with ongoing donations rather than one-offs, but we don’t track ’em that way, and it isn’t the point. Our annual meeting a couple years back we got an art/architecture prof from the college to come into town and he did a mapping/photography project that we turned into a slide show on “Where You Are When You’re Homeless.” A roomful of bankers and execs and lawyers were dumbstruck to see spots they drive past everyday from street-level at 45 mph, then a click to the sidewalk vantage, and then the standing view atop the makeshift shelter . . . and then the view back towards the street, from lying-down altitude, as the cars whiz by.
In a way, they’ll never be able to not see those spots again. Getting the people to be less invisible is the next step, and we’re working on it, one handshake or hug at a time. Trite, but reality can be annoyingly trite sometimes.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I don’t quite get the outrage over Palin being filmed while turkeys are being killed in the background. It’s a little gross, but we don’t see close-ups of turkey heads plopping into the basin. Her position makes her seem a little clueless—most people would have moved to the side—but nothing worse than that.
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JGW said on November 21, 2008 at 1:57 pm
After seeing the turkey slaughter news conference, I’ve come to the conclusion that one segment of our society will be worse off since she didn’t get elected – late night tv hosts.
I almost pissed myself, watching the bloody guy dropping them into the killing cones while she is clueless or could care less.
It’s going to harder to goof on Obama, but I trust Biden will be semi-amusing and long winded. Palin however would have been more fun than Dan Quayle and Jerry Ford combined.
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Jeff Borden said on November 21, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Jolene,
I don’t believe there’s a lot of outrage, more like puzzlement. As a previous poster noted, Ms. Palin is a former TV sports reporter and throughout the campaign demonstrated her comfort in front of a camera. It just a little amazing that she or someone from her office didn’t think, “Hmmmm. Maybe we should move a few feet away and not have this guy so clearly killing birds in the frame.” It’s not that the imagery is so disgusting, per se, but it is very distracting, which no politician wants when they’re trying to make a point to their constituents.
One point of clarification, too, about Benjamin Franklin’s suppport for the turkey as the national bird. He was referring to wild turkeys, which I guess were smart birds and difficult to bag back in the 18th century. The only Wild Turkey’s I’ve ever seen are bottles of 101 proof Kentucky bourbon.
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 2:08 pm
There are many reasons I’m glad that Palin isn’t going to be our new vice president. One of them is the ridicule she would inspire. Not just because it’s not that great to have someone in that office who is ridiculous, but because of the accusations of sexism the ridicule would elicit. Call her uniformed and clueless and it can sound like you’re going after her for being a dumb blonde brunette.
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Gasman said on November 21, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Jolene,
The point I was making wasn’t outrage over the slaughter of turkeys, it was Palin’s inability to see anything other than the camera. She seems every bit as clueless as the first time I heard her speak. And this is from the person we were assured was “bright” and a “quick study” on issues as diverse as the economy, foreign relations, and national defense. If she worked in TV and she can’t figure out the basic premise of that medium, how is she going to be able to master those other pesky ideas? The un-blurred footage from Alaska is much more gruesome than what MS-NBC aired.
For the record, the imagery behind Palin is exactly why I’m a vegetarian. I figure that if I am not prepared to dispatch my meals myself, I shouldn’t be eating them.
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Catherine said on November 21, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Jeff, is that slideshow in print or online anywhere?
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whitebeard said on November 21, 2008 at 2:42 pm
JB, wild turkeys are protected in Connecticut and they are numerous where I live “in the country” and it’s comical that drivers, who will not pull off the road when police cars drive by, will stop in both directions to let a wild turkey and her brood cross the road.
It’s also touching to hear the mother turkey call to the last little guy to follow the others and cross the road.
There are no turkey-crossing signs to match the deer-crossing signs because the turkeys cross where they damn well please.
They also fly straight as an arrow with a magnificent wingspread and roost in the trees when they are not stopping traffic or raising their brood.
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Jeff Borden said on November 21, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Cool stuff, Whitebeard. I love city life, but I miss a great deal, too. We occasionally will see a peregrine falcon, but it’s mostly pigeons, gulls, sparrows, blackbirds and those $#&%*$#*& Canadian geese. I envy you the fauna you see regularly, man.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Catherine — no, and it would be up at http://www.lcchousing.org in a flash if i could . . . he didn’t have a full set of releases from the people who are in it, thinking originally that if no faces showed, he’d be fine. We shot most of the stuff when we did our 2004 HUD “point in time” count in January, and there are community volunteers more than homeless/marginally housed folk who show up in pictures who we can’t “put out there” for lack of releases.
So what we should really do is go out and re-shoot it, which is on my list of things to do . . . someday.
(The stickier issue, i now recall, is whose property is being used for what, and in fact there were arbor vitaes cut down and sections of fencing erected in the wake of the first showings of this piece, as property owners realized their alleys and eaves were being used in this way. We actually lost some folks their squats, which was an unpleasant realization. These are the “i’m not going in for any reason short of -10 degrees” folk, who aren’t our main target population, but we didn’t want to harm them while trying to serve others.)
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I guess it’s like the auto execs w/ their private jets. People don’t always think about how things will look to others, even when it seems obvious that they should.
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whitebeard said on November 21, 2008 at 3:25 pm
JB, we moved to Connecticut in 1981 and the country life. Before that we lived in Montreal, right downtown, where I could walk to work at Canadian National Railways headquarters in 20 minutes and my wife could walk to McGill University in seven minutes where she took graduate courses in anthropology.
But we also could walk in 15 minutes through a park to the top of Mount Royal, which has a magnificent sky-high view of Montreal and offered a lot of nature in a major world city.
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Jeff Borden said on November 21, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Montreal is a very wonderful place. I’ve never had a bad time there. The same is true for Toronto. I love Chicago but this Midwestern topography is a drag. . .just all flat plains. My folks lived in Northeast Ohio, where there were at least some rolling hills. The only thing I can get to the top of around here is the Hancock Center or the Sears Tower, lol. Great views, especially from the Hancock, especially at night.
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beb said on November 21, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I saw this on Americablog. I still can’t tell if this is serious, like John says or a spoof he’s fallen for.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/pole-dancing-mormons-make-push-for.html#disqus_thread
Especially dubious is the idea of making this an Olympic event.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Does anyone know what the HTML code would be for creating an additional space between paragraphs. I’m pretty much HTML-illiterate, but have picked up a few things. The codes that I’d think would add a linespace don’t seem to do it.
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Catherine said on November 21, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Mary, Porto’s, YUM. My other favorite stop in that neighborhood is It’s a Wrap, the most rockin’ studio resale shop ever. When my sister comes to visit, we go directly from the Burbank airport to one of the two, depending on whether the priority is shopping or pastries.
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I’m that huge honking hospital across the street from the Mouse studios. I’m sure you know the place.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Another byway on the Internet led me to the Forward 50, a list of 50 Jewish leaders in various fields. Was kind of fun to see how many I recognized.
The intro is interesting because it focuses on, among other things, the scandal about working conditions in the kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa, and a couple of the bios deal w/ people who had a role in addressing it.
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Jenflex said on November 21, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Jolene,
Try adding the tags between your para’s, and see if that works.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Try adding the tags between your para’s, and see if that works.
Here’s what I did:
No extra spaces appeared. Can you be more specific? Or point me to a clear example?
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Danny said on November 21, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Jolene, the tag is “br” for line break.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Thanks, Danny. I’ll try that next time I have something momentous to say. Or possibly before, in case that doesn’t happen anytime soon.
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caliban said on November 21, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Het rey et y’all, and ya ta hey.
Rollling
Stone has its 100 best singers out.
.
Missing Chrissie Hind and Ray Davies,. And Steven Stills and Richard Thompson. And Shane McGowan fer chrissake. Roky Erikson, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, John Prine, Nick Lowe, Jimmy fucking Hendrix, the guy in the Zombies, Joan Jett, Dr. John, Arthur Brown, David Gilmour, Ringo, Keith Relf, Steve Marriott, Rick Danko (who was at least Levon Helm’s equal, and if you don’t think so, listen to any version of Stage Fright), Axl instead of Alice, I think that’s asinine.
Most of all, I think this is moronic for including Madonna. It’s not that she’s not deserving, but how in the world does anybody think she’s a better singer than her contemporary Cyndi Lauper., equal in nerves and brains, wrote better songs, and didn’t ever need overdubbing. And had the brains to cover great songs, like Money Changes Everything.
Some of the inclusions are just silly. Some of the exclusions just make this seem like an idiotic publicity stunt. No Bo Diddeley? With John Lee, they got this right. Leaving of Michael Stipe, it’s ridiculous. Listen to Finest Worksong. or Radio Free Europe
Jim Morrison was brilliant. Five to one and the killer approached before dawn, he put his boots on, that’s reciting half-ass poetry and not singing like Jimi singing I’m a voodoo child. Not by anybody’s stretch of an imagination.
Anyway, Bjork, I love that from way back before she became a caraicature, when it was Sugarcubes. . But there were the Cocteau Twins.
Travelling Man
George Jones? Whiny jackass resorting to a a lawnmower asshole. That’s a better singer than Willie Nelson or Bob Seger? Really stupid list, like their guitar player list.
Not Shane McGowan? c’mon you morons. The list is so stupid. Soister, well Chain of Fools. Somehow in the discussion of Otis they seemed to miss Dock of the Bay. I’d say sting is a nearly great vocalist, but he couldn’t touch aybody that ever sang for the Zombies.
Now that boy could sing.
And there’s the obvious question about seperating the singer from the song.
Great singers? Rita Coolidge. Emmylou is not on this list. Hasil Adkins. Is’nt Mike Ness a great singer?
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Dexter said on November 21, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Workin’ on a Dream
Springsteen’s song for Obama
http://www.q1043.com/pages/news/brucespringsteen/
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Dexter said on November 21, 2008 at 5:31 pm
and…Sexiest Woman has no belly button!
NO BUTTON?
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Jeff Borden said on November 21, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I hate those lists, but I understand they tend to move a lot of magazines and they need all the revenues they can generate these days.
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I get a weekly layoff report from our ad agency. A year ago, they listed layoffs at 19 companies. Today it’s 111.
http://www.jwtinside.com/hrlive/printtemp.php?re=561
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Catherine said on November 21, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Mary, how can anyone read that and not want to slit his or her wrists? I recommend a latte and a Porto’s rice ball, stat.
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MichaelG said on November 21, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I’m going to be having jobs in Hollywood, Glendale and Newhall over the next year and a half or so. I’ll have to try Porto’s and those recommended delis.
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paddyo' said on November 21, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Yeah, Caliban, Chrissie Hynde was the one I kept looking for when I went through that Rolling Stone. That voice! A criminal omission, as are most of the others. (Especially Dr. John on anything, as well as Ray Davies singing “Celluloid Heroes” or “Lola,” priceless . . . )
As for Mormon pole-dancing . . . hard to tell if it’s bogus, but it IS true that the Latter-day Saints LOVE to dance. You could look it up.
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/2-200-mormon-youth-dance-in-washington-state-s-tacoma-dome
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LA Mary said on November 21, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Get the Medianoche sandwich at Portos and a potato ball. Have a slice of the mango cake or tres leches cake for dessert, or some fresh fruit tart.
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Connie said on November 21, 2008 at 6:49 pm
JB, you grew up in Ohio and have never seen a wild turkey? I’ve lived in Michigan, Minnesota, southern Indiana and now northern Indiana, and I have seen wild turkeys often in all those locations.
Here’s a pic of one we saw last summer in Benzie County Michigan: http://elmores.net/round-here/comments.php?id=1405_0_1_0_C
And two on the old family farm near Cadillac Michigan: http://elmores.net/round-here/comments.php?id=1469_0_1_0_C
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caliban said on November 21, 2008 at 6:50 pm
There’s the idea of great women singers. They can’t be quite so good. There’s Anne Richmond Boston, Aimee Mann, Chrissie, Maria Mckee. Do you have to know what you’re talking about? But you moake this list and leave out Chrissie Hynde? Dumbass.
That 100 llist didn’t include Warren Zevon. If you didn’t get Ray Davies, you’re an idiot. If you missed Rita Coolidge and included Natalie Cole, You’re an idiot.
If you think Madonna can ing, she was never in your universe Cyndi, not even close. One wrote better songs and was a most better singer. Go to Sonbza and get Money change everything. Great song by Tom Gray. What Cyndi thought about everything. Great song.
Randy Newman isn;t as great a singer as Tom Waits?
But if its just rocke and roll. How is Bon Scott and his alter ego left out? If it’s pure gorgiosness, where’s Emmylou,? The guitar slinger shit was ridiculous. Neal is in the universe with Steven? You can;t play and you can’t opine. One’s a genius. Others a sort of genius. They seem to be best friends
Steve and Neal. One guy’s the best guitar player not Richard Thompson. He writes pop songs his best friend cant understand.
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coozledad said on November 21, 2008 at 7:45 pm
You listen more than I do, Caliban. I always liked Neal because his voice was curled up somewhere in that guitar, but he could still front it. I’m deeply prejudiced about male singers. I like the ones who cross into a foreign tradition and make it work. I love the late Beatles, but John Lennon’s early vocal and guitar work square him with Carl Perkins and Elvis. Paul was a beautiful, angelic singer, but he was a better arranger.
Female vocalists face the uphill battle against the native douchebaggery of mixing-board idiots. This girl probably kicks them in the balls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugB-CgoIfdU
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coozledad said on November 21, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Addendum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxxp5e_CReo
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basset said on November 21, 2008 at 8:13 pm
old family farm near Cadillac, Michigan? my first job out of school was at TV 9/10 in Cadillac, late 77 to early 80… was up that way last week at my father-in-law’s old family farm in Newaygo County west of Big Rapids, turkeys came into the yard while we were there.
I used to work with Aimee Mann’s brother. interesting guy and he made a lot more sense than Caliban.
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Jolene said on November 21, 2008 at 9:10 pm
c’dad: I forgot to say thanks for your response to my note of this AM. Your LTE was great. It’s terrific that you wrote it and that it was published. All in all, it sounds like the election was a great experience for you and that you contributed a lot. I’m grateful.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I’m guessing Peter Frampton’s guitar didn’t make it onto the great voices list?
Just broke down and handed out $40,000 worth of popcorn and wreaths for 200 Scouts to deliver (and get payment for, we hope). If you use the Cub Scout index for economic forecasting, we’re down 8% from last year’s sales, which puts us in better shape than Citigroup or the S&P 500. About $12,000 funds the 150 Cubs and 75 Boy Scouts for the next year, along with another $3,000 in a fry booth at the Fourth of July Festival.
Having sent all the young ‘uns home, it’s time for an Oatmeal Stout. Which means i’ve got to go get something to drink for tomorrow afternoon, and the only thing left will be cheap beer in cans — central Ohio on Michigan Day. Talk about poor planning . . .
The worst thing is that the Columbus Crew is in an MLS playoff game Sunday and i’m not sure fifteen of us in the state even care. Maybe when the hangovers end on Sunday, some will accidentally click on ABC and watch a while.
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coozledad said on November 21, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Jolene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59LHCUtTfCM
It doesn’t matter where you come from. This country rocks.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Yo, my peeps — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1kjkUAA9VM — shouting out to Detroit, cuz Eminem has never sounded so . . . something.
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caliban said on November 22, 2008 at 1:38 am
Jeff.,
Where the hell did I dine? Pretty good. Do You, feel like I do? Woke up this morning with a wineglass in my hand. Who’s wine, where the hell did I dine? How do they get Eric Burdon so right and so wrong at the same time? It’s Sky Pilot, you idiots.
But are these arbiters joking? Theres ‘Girls in their Summer Their Summer Clothes,:
http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs
And they missed Woodie Guthrie. These folks don’t no diick about vocals. They haven’t got the best of the bestby a mile. Aretha, that would would be Chain, chain chains.. (My doctor says take it easy, but your lovin’ is just so good).
There’s Ah Mary by Grace Potter. Now that girl can sing. Girl singers, boy these guys have it hung. Madonna is a singer? Self-promoting axshole, sure. Just about as good singer a Justin Timberlake.
Beat of my heart, she’s the shot of a gun. Nobody can be that stupid.
Somewhere in the future, Grace actually tells you how you fucked things up
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basset said on November 22, 2008 at 9:36 am
just for the record… today, Nov. 22, is the fortieth anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ white album. When I get to the bottom, I go back to the top of the slide…
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Danny said on November 22, 2008 at 9:51 am
bassett, we just watched a documentary on Lennon a few weeks back. Imagine, I think it was called. Pretty good stuff. This picture of The Quarrymen floored us when they showed it. Man, they were just babies.
Jeff, Frampton Comes Alive has been queued up on my bike rides this week. Man, do I remember how Boston and Frampton RULED in 1976. The soundtrack of many of our lives around the pool that summer and the next.
EDIT: We saw Frampton about 5 years ago. He’s been going to Phil Collins’ barber. And let me tell you, it was an awesome minivan convention in the parking lot, dude. As he started asking us if we feel like he do, the audience collectively thought, “yeah, we’re tired and we need to get home, pay the sitter, go to bed and get to work tomorrow. So hurry up, man.”
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MaryRC said on November 22, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Jolene, I second what Gasman said — it’s not the turkey carnage per se but the fact that Palin allowed her interview to take place in front of a background that was more interesting than she was. That must be the #1 rule for appearing in front of the camera, and that’s what makes her seem so clueless. We’re all peering at the guy behind her and saying “What’s he doing with that bird in that funnel? OMG!” Who even knows what she said?
My parents were farmers and when I was very young they tried to make a little extra money by raising turkeys and selling them at Christmas. We (the children) were just toddlers and weren’t allowed to watch my dad kill the turkeys but I do remember seeing my mom pluck and gut them at the kitchen table — a gory sight. They didn’t do this for long. They couldn’t compete with the big poultry farms and this was before people would pay premium prices for birds that were raised organically. And it must have been exhausting for my mom.
But my dad didn’t use the funnel as far as I know, so I was wondering what it was for, at first. I think he may have electrocuted them, come to think of it.
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beb said on November 23, 2008 at 4:47 pm
It’s strange to think that a week ago Susan Tompor was writing in the Detroit Free Press that she never knew Detroit was a dirty word. At the time I and other mocked her because “everyone” knew that Detroit was a dirty word outside of Detroit, but after watching the chorus of Congressman who are not only willing to see the American auto industry go down the toilet, throw a half million direct employees and another two million other people – shop owners dependent on the business from auto workers – but seem to be actively cheering on such a collapse I realize that I was wrong. The extent to which Detroit is a dirty word goes beyond jokes in Kentucky Fried Movie but seem to reflect a loathing on an appalling level.
Sure the management of the three car makers have gone out of their way to make matters worse for their industry but consider how little is being asked of the finance industry in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars. Those companies knowing invested in “instruments” whose actual worth was unknown and inherently unknowable. Yet we see their CEOs collecting tens of millions in bonus at a time when their companies were writing off tens of billions in lost assets. Anywhere else bonuses are tied to corporate health. But not on Wall street. If we can give 300 billion to shore up mismanaged banks surely we can give a tenth of that to shore up manufacturing jobs which, on the whole seem better managed.
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nancy said on November 23, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I wish one of the CEOs called before Congress last week had said the same thing, Beb.
I assume they’ll get at least some of what they’re asking for when they show up next month — it appears this initial hearing was mainly so that everyone could agree who has the biggest dick in the room, and Sen. Shelby wins. But I’ll say this: When Commerce Secretary Bill Richardson starts talking about his trans-continental water pipeline/pipedream, I’m going to be all over their failure to properly manage the southwest’s scarce resources. Among other things.
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