'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Comment
Re: George Walsh
In case people forget, or are not 59 like I am, Gunsmoke's
Matt Dillon
on the radio was
William Conrad.
W.D.
East Liverpool Ohio
Thanks, W.D.!
William Conrad was
one of radio's consummate actors. Here's a site that pays tribute -
Gunsmoke: Characters on the Radio.
Although some may know him better as
Cannon, or
Jake and the Fatman, or even the narrator on
Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky.
The subject of the obit, George Walsh, was also a very familiar voice to
LA-area radio listeners, having spent 36 years at KNX, as well as providing the voice to
Flight to the Moon/Mission to Mars at
Disneyland.
But, weirdly, it was the reference to Roswell, NM, that got my attention. Last month,
Walter Haut,
another of the media who was present, also died.
Don't think it means anything, but found it an odd synchronicity.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Robert Parry: Death of an American Hero (consortiumnews.com)
"Hero" is one of the most abused words in the English language, often applied to people who simply face some danger or who do well in sports or business. But the word really should be reserved for someone who - in the face of danger - does the right thing.
Nell Bernstein Asks Us To 'See' the Children of Incarcerated Americans (A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW)
I propose that police and/or probation officers should submit to a judge a family impact statement prior to sentencing - just as, when you tear down a building, you have to come up with an environmental impact statement about what the impact is going to be and how you're going to mitigate it. When you tear down a family, even if you need to do it - just like you need to tear down some buildings - you should come up with a statement about how it's going to affect the children involved.
Ask Auntie Pinko (democraticunderground.com)
While it is certain that there are Democratic legislators in both houses who have engaged in corrupt practices at various times (and may still be doing so), the current scandal associated with Mr. Abramoff is a particularly clear example of the kind of "web effect" engendered by decisive majority power and its unbridled application. Mr. Abramoff and his associates wasted little or no time, money, and effort recruiting the influence of Democrats because, quite simply, they didn't need Democrats to achieve their ends.
Joel Stein: So, how's your dead brother doing? (latimes.com)
Sitcom writing, it turns out, is done almost completely by committee. All nine of us sit at a big conference table with two computers on either side, where writers' assistants type up our ideas for plots and snippets of dialogue. This actual task of writing is considered so foreign to the job of a sitcom writer that the Writers Guild ensures that we get an extra $20,000 for each script we write. Not even the Mafia has created union jobs with such cushy rules.
Joel Stein: How to apologize to a feminist (latimes.com)
He wasn't very clever. He wasn't very nice. And he's been trying to make it up to a certain red-haired columnist ever since.
Counting calories: Getting back to weight-loss basics (mayoclinic.com)
Your weight is a balancing act and calories play a big role. Find out how calories determine your weight and ways you can best cut calories from your diet.
Mary Rourke: Birgit Nilsson, 87; Wagnerian Soprano Known for the Power of Her Voice and Personality (latimes.com)
Birgit Nilsson, considered the finest Wagnerian soprano of her generation, has died. She was 87. Nilsson died Dec. 25, the Stockholm newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported. The cause of death was not announced. It was her family's wish that her death be kept secret until her funeral Wednesday in her native Vastra Karup, in southern Sweden.
Harvard at Home
Now, even without visiting Cambridge, you can experience some of the exciting research, teaching, and public addresses making news at Harvard University today-right from your desktop.
Harvard at Home: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Hubert's Poetry Corner
WALKING EAGLE
THIS UNIQUE TEXAS EAGLE CANNOT FLY, AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny & seasonal.
The kid was home again - his technicolor nightmare continued til the wee small hours of the morning. Ack.
No new flags.
'Truthiness'
Stephen Colbert
Stung by a recent Associated Press article that didn't credit him for coining the word "truthiness," Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert has struck back.
The world's oldest news organization, Colbert says, is the "No. 1 threat facing America."
In October, on Colbert's debut episode of the "Daily Show" spinoff, the comedian defined "truthiness" as truth that wouldn't stand to be held back by facts. The word caught on, and last week the American Dialect Society named "truthiness" the word of the year.
When an AP story about the designation sent coast to coast failed to mention Colbert, he began a tongue-in-cheek crusade, not unlike the kind his muse Bill O'Reilly might lead in all seriousness.
"It's a sin of omission, is what it is," Colbert told The AP on Thursday. "You're not giving people the whole story about truthiness."
Stephen Colbert
Man With An Opinion
Pierce Brosnan
And in 2004, he became a U.S. citizen - after being disturbed by the disputed presidential election of 2000.
"I went to the polling booths four years prior with my wife (Keely Shaye Smith), who's American, and by the time we got back on our bikes the world had changed. We'd been scammed, shimmied. Right before our eyes. In the most arrogant way.
"I thought Reagan was a joke. When I was in England, I thought, `No, they're not going to elect an actor. This can't happen. This is outrageous.'"
Now, he says: "Give me Reagan. Give me anyone but Bush."
Pierce Brosnan
New San Francisco Poet Laureate
Jack Hirschman
Jack Hirschman, a prolific Beat Generation poet known for decades of social activism, has been selected as San Francisco's new poet laureate, Mayor Gavin Newsom said.
Hirschman, 72, was set to accept the post at a ceremony at City Hall on Thursday. Shortly afterward, he planned to read poetry on the steps of the State Building in San Francisco as part of a demonstration against the death penalty.
As part of the unpaid position, Hirschman will be required to deliver an inaugural address on the state of poetry in San Francisco and work on poetry programs in the community.
Jack Hirschman
Sony's Gay Label
Music With a Twist
Sony Music has teamed with the founder of a gay cable network to form a record label geared toward developing gay, lesbian and transgender recording artists.
The label, dubbed Music With a Twist, plans to employ talent scouts nationwide to find emerging artists who have generated a buzz in the gay community and have the potential for mass appeal.
Sony Music has also agreed to become a charter sponsor of a syndicated radio show, dubbed Twist, produced by Wilderness Media. The show is launching this weekend in several markets and online.
Music With a Twist
To Compose Civil War Opera
Philip Glass
Philip Glass will compose an opera about Appomattox, the site of the surrender that ended the Civil War, that will be given its world premiere by the San Francisco Opera in autumn 2007.
Christopher Hampton will write the libretto for the opera, said David Gockley, the company's new general director.
Philip Glass
Baby News
Mason Walter Wilkerson
Melissa Joan Hart, former star of TV series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," has given birth to a baby boy.
Mason Walter Wilkerson was born Wednesday afternoon and weighs 9 pounds, People magazine reported. It is the first child for Hart, 29, and husband, Mark Wilkerson, 28, lead singer and guitarist for rock band Course of Nature.
Mason Walter Wilkerson
Joining NPR
Ted Koppel
NPR announced Thursday that, starting in June, Ted Koppel will provide commentary about 50 times a year to its programs "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" as well as "Day to Day," its new midday newsmagazine. He also will serve as an analyst during breaking news and special events and contribute to the NPR Web site and the network's podcasts.
Koppel's new NPR duties supplement his recently announced three-year deal to host and produce documentaries and town hall broadcasts for cable's Discovery Channel. Through a joint agreement, NPR will make an audio simulcast of Discovery-originated town hall programs available to NPR member stations for airing.
In addition, Koppel will be a contributing columnist for The New York Times, appearing periodically in the opinion and editorial section beginning Jan. 29, the paper announced Thursday.
Ted Koppel
File $20M Suit Over Memorabilia
Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are suing two California men for $20 million, claiming they stole a trove of photos, recordings and other band memorabilia from a warehouse with the intent to put the items up for auction.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It names three defendants: Allan Gaba, the owner of a North Hollywood warehouse, his friend, Roy Sciacca, and Gem Systems Inc., a company Sciacca was involved in.
According to the complaint, the band had been using Gaba's warehouse to store musical instruments, original sheet music, charts, photos, contracts and other items culled over the years from the early days of the popular '60s group.
In 1994, the band decided to clear out the warehouse, but claims Gaba had removed between 13 and 25 boxes full of their memorabilia without permission.
Beach Boys
Dismisses Claims About Frey Memoir
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," dismissing allegations of falsehoods as "much ado about nothing" and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to "Keep holding on."
"What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.
Frey has been under intense scrutiny since The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, posted a story last Sunday alleging the author had substantially fabricated his criminal record and other aspects of his past.
Frey, in his first interview since The Smoking Gun story came out, acknowledged he had embellished parts of the book but said that was common for memoirs and defended "the essential truth" of "A Million Little Pieces."
Oprah Winfrey
'Til Death Do Us Part'
John Waters
Murder-mysteries were front and center as Court TV spotlighted two new shows at the Television Critics Assn. press tour Wednesday, including the cable network's first original drama series, "'Til Death Do Us Part," and a series in which crime writers examine cases.
"'Til Death Do Us Part," which premieres in the third quarter, features cult director John Waters in the role of the "Groom Reaper," guiding viewers through true stories of marriages that end with one spouse murdering the other.
Waters joked that he mistakenly thought he would be playing the "Groom Raper."
John Waters
Musical Diary Goes Online
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A musical diary by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart goes online on Thursday, allowing Internet users to browse handwritten pages from the composer's catalog and listen to the opening bars of rarely performed works.
The British Library in London has produced a digital version of 30 pages and 75 musical introductions from "Catalog of all my Works," which can be accessed on its Web site www.bl.uk/turningthepages.
The original volume, acquired by the British Library from the heirs of the writer Stefan Zweig in 1986, details 145 works written by Mozart from February 1784 until his death in December 1791.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Launches Television Series
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is launching its own television series, teaming up with filmmaker Robert Greenwald to tell stories about individuals and communities fighting for environmental justice.
"Sierra Club Chronicles" is a half-hour show that will air monthly. It is scheduled to premiere tomorrow night on Link TV, which is available on DirecTV and the Dish Network.
The first of seven episodes is called "9/11 Forgotten Heroes." It tells the story of firefighters, construction workers and emergency medical personnel who continue to suffer from health problems from contamination at Ground Zero and must fight the government for health benefits.
Sierra Club
Protecting Bugman
Houston TV Stations
Several Houston television stations withheld a political ad on Wednesday accusing U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of corruption after a lawyer for the former House majority leader said the ad was false and could lead to legal action.
The ad, sponsored by public interest groups Campaign for America's Future and Public Campaign Action Fund, calls for DeLay to resign because of his indictment in Texas on campaign finance charges and his links to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"All four of the major broadcast stations (in Houston) contacted to air the ad, as well as Time Warner cable, have stated they either will not run the ad or will keep it off the air for further review," according to a statement sent out by DeLay's office.
Houston TV Stations
Battles Infection
Billy Preston
Singer-songwriter and keyboardist Billy Preston is recovering from a recent bout with a serious infection of the sac encasing his heart.
"Billy had a very catastrophic incident happen to him, but he is doing considerably better," his manager, Joyce Moore, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Preston, 59, has suffered from chronic kidney failure brought on by uncontrolled high blood pressure since 2001, Moore said. He had a kidney transplant in 2002, but the kidney failed and he has been on thrice-weekly dialysis treatments ever since.
Moore said that while Preston isn't "brain dead" as some reports suggested, he remains seriously ill and is not up and walking around. He cannot speak because he has a tracheotomy.
Billy Preston
Tells Court She's Sorry
Cynthia Watros
Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby on ABC's hit series "Lost," pleaded guilty to drunken driving Thursday. She was fined $370 and had her driver's license suspended for 90 days.
District Judge James Dannenberg also ordered Watros, 37, to undergo an alcohol assessment and to submit to 14 hours of counseling.
Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, a citation for crossing the white line was waived.
Cynthia Watros
In Memory
Phyllis Gates
Phyllis Gates, the talent agent's secretary who said she had no idea that Hollywood heartthrob Rock Hudson was gay when she married him after a whirlwind romance, died Jan. 4 of lung cancer complications. She was 80.
Gates was working as a secretary for Hudson's agent when the couple met in October 1954. He asked her out a few days later and the couple were married Nov. 9, 1955.
She would eventually learn the romance had been arranged to dispel rumors that Hudson was gay.
After the couple divorced in 1958, Gates said she never saw Hudson again. He died of AIDS in 1985 at age 59.
Gates, who never remarried, said she had no interest in exposing Hudson's homosexuality during his lifetime.
Phyllis Gates
In Memory
Bob Feldman
Bob Feldman, president of Red House Records and a champion of folk music, died Wednesday. He was 56.
Red House was founded in the early 1980s by Iowa singer-songwriter Greg Brown to issue his first albums. The label was named after the red house Brown was living in outside of Iowa City.
Feldman, who was the sole owner, started by investing $2,000 to reissue Brown's album "The Iowa Waltz." Feldman nurtured the label from a small business that he ran out of his apartment to one that now employs about nine people and was nearing $3 million in gross sales in 2005.
Even though Red House puts out only a few titles a year, the label has released over 200 titles in its 20 years. Some initial runs would number as few as 7,500 because Feldman wanted to get the artist's music out.
Bob Feldman
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