Friday was indeed the perfect summer day the forecast promised, and so in late afternoon I told Alan we needed to truck the bikes to Belle Isle, do a half-loop, then head down the Riverwalk to Valade Park, where Bob’s Barge would be open. Bob’s Barge is a bar, on a floating platform right on the water, so you drink your beer looking out at the river and gently rising and falling with each passing vessel.
And so that’s what we did. It resembled what Jeff Borden once described as the ideal exercise, i.e. like sex: “You work a little, you get a reward, you go to sleep.”
But the real focus of the weekend was on Sunday, when this happened:
The girls played the Concert of Colors, an annual summer weekend of music that takes place downtown, mostly on the grounds of the DIA. The “colors” part refers to diversity, so as an all-female band, that counted. They had a serious delay getting onstage (tech issues) but sounded great once there, and had some new-music tricks up their sleeve, including some lovely harmonies.
There was this bomb-ass art car that looks like a roach parked out front. I believe the people who built it call it the Carcroach.
I was briefly left in charge of the merch. The view from the merch tent:
I shared the table with the merch guy for War. Obviously War, having had a several-decade head start, was doing more business than I was, but it was fun talking to him. He was like LA Mary’s son, only Hispanic and 20 years older (at least).
Now we’re home again, I’m tired, so here’s some bloggage:
Here’s some comic relief for you, where you don’t have to see his face or hear his voice.
At the Alligator Alcatraz press conference a reporter asked Trump what he planned to do to fulfill his next campaign promise. His full response was six minutes long. This is a verbatim reading of part of his answer. You won't have to listen to his voice or see his face.
— Decoding Fox News (@decodingfoxnews.bsky.social) July 6, 2025 at 6:35 AM
But remember, it’s Biden who was demented.
FWIW, and we’ve covered this here before, all of our appliances are EnergyStar (RIP) rated as efficient, and I’ve noticed zero difference in their efficacy. They may even work better, at least as it relates to toilet-flushing, if you know what I mean and I think you do.
A long, but skimmable gift-link transcript of a NYT conversation with Julie Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who broke the Epstein story way back when. From time to time in recent years I’ll ask one of my Columbus friends, “So how are people talking about Les Wexner now that he’s been so roped to Epstein?” And the answer, inevitably, is a blank look.
But first: Do you think that some form of the intelligence world — and Epstein’s connections to it — played any role in why he got off so lightly the first time?
Brown: I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody really knows except the people in the government that have these files. And I think that’s, in part, one of the unanswered questions about Epstein, because I just don’t know. I know there’s a lot of supposition about that, but as you said, I try to stick to the facts, and so it’s just something we don’t know for sure.
Douthat: Yeah. I’m drawing on your view about your skepticism around the blackmail narrative. There’s two intelligent stories you could tell: One, Epstein is literally an intelligence agency trying to gather dirt on famous people to get them to do what the U.S. government wants or what the Israeli government wants. That’s the most extreme. In the second one, which I find somewhat more plausible, Epstein is operating in a world where Les Wexner, his patron, is a Zionist and a supporter of Israel. Robert Maxwell, as we mentioned earlier, had connections to Israeli intelligence.
So this is a world of people who overlap with Israeli intelligence, and maybe Epstein is useful as a conduit of information. But it’s not that he’s being run as a kind of entrapment ring. If we don’t think that Epstein was running actual blackmail operations, then the idea that he is doing some kind of full-scale intelligence operation seems much less likely.
Hmm. Interesting. But I think it’s time for bed. Zzzzzz.
alex said on July 20, 2025 at 10:58 pm
I thought it was interesting — didn’t know it before — that Ghislaine’s family was trying to marry her off to him because they were broke. It’s the same plot line that seems to run through virtually every story about European aristocracy/nobility/gentry in the 20th century. It also makes her, if I may say so, a little less unsympathetic.
I find it plausible that Epstein wasn’t outright blackmailing people, but that people who know that there’s kompromat on them probably have a much harder time saying no to those who are in on it.
It was an interesting read. I was even impressed that Ross Douchehat, who did a softball interview of Allie Beth Stuckey earlier this week, was able to put on his journalist hat and ask some intelligent questions.
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basset said on July 21, 2025 at 12:12 am
Had two small appliances just up and quit this weekend, a toaster and a table fan. Wonder what’s gonna be number three?
About three quarters of the way through the Heinlein mega-biography; still most interesting. Didn’t know that he and his third Mrs. liked to go nekkid when circumstances allowed, he even carried a permission letter from her to any nudist venue he might try to enter while traveling without her.
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Dexter Friend said on July 21, 2025 at 3:39 am
How many killer attacks on the people of Gaza waiting for some flour and water at food distribution places does it take for the US press to start demanding withdrawal of aid to Israel’s IDF, who are committing genocide daily. Who could possible believe these daily murderous attacks on starving people are all mistakes. Every day, dead Gaza Palestinians, every day, an Israeli apology. I wanted to throw my shoe at the TV when recently the terrorist Netanyahu was applauded at Congress in Washington, DC.
Now starvation is claiming the lives of children daily, in Gaza. Now, even health clinic workers are starving to death. What kind of country do we live in here in the USA to support Netanyahu’s genocide?
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Jeff Gill said on July 21, 2025 at 6:50 am
De-Nazification, De-Baathification, De-Hamasification: what we clearly still don’t know how to do effectively is stand up a new government in a place where one was once entirely under a particular party/ideology, but have none of the members on any level in the post-transition government. Gaza can’t be entirely un-Hamas’d, because Hamas was too integrated into everyday life, including people who didn’t necessarily sign onto the whole program. At some point, both Israel & the US are going to have to work with the reality of 2 million people who didn’t like either of us to start with and really don’t now. But formally, Hamas can’t be the power broker: genocide is part of their official platform. That can’t justify being comfortable with massive collateral damage, but that’s where Israel has landed in this last year. Trump suggesting all of Gaza’s population could be moved is genocidal itself by the definition (you don’t have to annihilate a population to fall under its terms). That really fed Israel’s self-justifications in the last six months, I fear.
Basset, fair warning: if you’re 3/4th through, you have a slog ahead of you. The fun stuff is behind you; there are some tragic insights into his last few months… I was hoping for a summary of his life and career and impacts, but Heinlein dies and the book kind of abruptly ends. Turns out Patterson’s health was turning sour as he finished, which didn’t help, I’m sure.
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alex said on July 21, 2025 at 7:17 am
What kind of country do we live in here in the USA to support Netanyahu’s genocide?
One that’s powerless to do anything about its own president’s depredations — and, like Israel, is being led by a man desperately clinging to power in order to evade punishment.
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basset said on July 21, 2025 at 10:27 am
Jeff, sorry to hear that… been concerned that Mark Lewisohn may not get any more of his Beatles history out before he passes, the current one is years behind.
My other current reading is a modern reprint of “Technical Manual TM 9-1270, Ordnance Maintenance” for the 1903 Springfield army rifle, bought one recently which was built in 1943 by the Smith Corona typewriter company.
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Julie Robinson said on July 21, 2025 at 11:43 am
My reading goals these days are distraction and keeping it light. Ina Garten’s memoir is fitting both of them, and her narration is fun.
Dennis got out of the hospital on Friday and is feeling great, so much better than before the surgery. We get daily follow up calls and he’s on two new expensive meds. I’m still furious with the insurance for all the delays but very thankful for all the care he received. It’s not lost on me that a couple generations ago he wouldn’t have had intervention available. The resting part: difficult.
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Dave said on July 21, 2025 at 12:52 pm
I had to look to see how old Mark Lewisohn is and learn that he’s 67. One can only hope that he’s still working on it and releases another book. Then again, I see that volume I was released in 2013, so he is lagging. According to Wikipedia, he hoped to release volume II in 2020 but in 2018, he tweeted that it was way too early to say when he may release volume II. So, your concern is valid and you are the premier Beatles fan here.
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basset said on July 21, 2025 at 3:14 pm
Hmmm, never thought of it that way but you;’re probably right, I know I am capable of absolutely boring a hole right through anyone who is willing to listen long enough on that topic. Still not gonna pay over $600 face value and no telling how much to a scalper when Macca’s here in November, though.
On the wall to my right is a nearly life size printout of the Sgt. Pepper centerfold mounted on foamcore. The mapmakers at work made it for my retirement lunch a few years ago and cut the faces out so everyone could pose for pics… I was pleasantly surprised.
Meanwhile and unrelated, I have discovered kraut juice, just saw some in the grocery and had never noticed it previously… something cold and salty is just right on a humid and close to 100-degree day.
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Brandon said on July 21, 2025 at 7:59 pm
Coming soon to a bookstore near you: Gwyneth: The Biography.
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Deborah said on July 21, 2025 at 9:20 pm
I won’t be reading that one.
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LAMary said on July 22, 2025 at 2:40 pm
It’s possible the merch guy you talked to worked for the same company Pete works for. Pete is mostly in the office now, talking to artists about what kind of merch they want.
On another note, a close friend of mine who happens speak Greek and used to be a roadie (not a merch roadie) got a phone call from Eric Burdon a year or so ago. Eric was converting to Greek Orthodox so he could marry a Greek woman and he needed a Greek Orthodox godfather. I wonder if the new Mrs Burdon was at Kate’s show.
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Jeff Gill said on July 22, 2025 at 7:16 pm
Ran across these from Fred Winston, a Chicago area DJ for many years, photographically enjoying his retirement in SW Michigan:
https://fredwinston.smugmug.com/Nourishment
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alex said on July 23, 2025 at 9:02 am
Scrolling through Fred Winston’s photography was a much more pleasant experience this morning than scrolling through the WaPo and NYT. I think I’ll also forego scrolling through the 60 e-mails that landed in my inbox since I logged off last night. It’s all too, too effing much.
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nancy said on July 23, 2025 at 5:35 pm
Mary, Eric Burdon is no longer part of War. From the part of the show I heard, it’s edging well into nostalgia-act territory. The shirts were overpriced and, to my eye at least, underwhelming. They’re all about the Cisco Kid or Low Rider. I wanted one for Spill the Wine, dammit.
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Dexter Friend said on July 23, 2025 at 5:44 pm
Trump knew he is in “the files” last year. Johnson’s suppression of a vote on this issue is shameful and is only a delay. Trump has flipped his lid…now he is ordering that President Obama be arrested.
I had a pleasant day, a low-traffic drive to Sylvania to pick up my custom-fitted shoes, a VA benefit. The mechanics I hire have my hoopdee 2008 Honda Odyssey humming along on superslab 24 at 85 mph, just rolling with the traffic. I wonder how damn fast we have to drive to get ticketed? We drive fast on the freeways, and never see cops as in the days of yore.
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Ann said on August 2, 2025 at 10:42 am
I did a tour of our local (and locally-owned) power plant recently. I learned that when energy efficient appliances, and especially LED bulbs, came in, city electrical usage actually declined for a few years. Also learned that they buy natural gas futures. When Texas had the big ice storms in 21 and lost power pretty much all over the state, Marquette was able to sell the natural gas they’d contracted to buy to Texas and instead burnt diesel for a weekend. Made $1.4 million dollars on the deal. They also turn off their generators every night and buy power at nighttime prices from the grid instead. Couldn’t do that when they were burning coal.
Of course burning natural gas isn’t ideal either, but we can lease panels on their solar farm to ease our consciences–which we’ve done.
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