Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: Tom Remembers What Real National Emergencies Are (Tucson Weekly)
And he's sure the situation on the border isn't one.
Andrew Tobias: The Liberal Media
The problem [thing?] is, the TRUTH is liberal. It believes in science. It believes in crowd size. It believes in facts. It opposes bullying, tax fraud, injustice, illogic, voter suppression - misstatements and lies.
Matthew Yglesias: Democrats welcome an increasingly diverse America; Republicans aren't so sure (Vox)
The conflict bubbling beneath the surface of American politics.
Paul Waldman: In hearing, Republicans offer zero in response to Michael Cohen's actual claims (Washington Post)
The argument Republicans make about Cohen comes down to this: This gentleman, whom Trump employed for a decade, is such a dishonest criminal that we shouldn't believe anything he says about anything. Cohen himself realized this a few hours in. "Not one question so far" from the Republicans, he said, "has been asked about Mr. Trump."
Angelica Jade Bastién: 33 Essential Neo-Noirs, From Jackie Brown to Gone Girl (Vulture)
Noir is perhaps most known as a genre obsessed with crime - not just in the form of its more recognizable figures, like Bogart's Philip Marlowe and similarly morally complex detectives, but also crimes of the heart and mind that lead people to lose their very souls. Noir is an intrinsically political and psychologically attuned genre.
Chris Ingalls: "The Song Is You Is the Sinatra Biography That's Not a Biography" (PopMatters)
The revised and expanded version of Will Friedwald's acclaimed Sinatra book, The Song Is You, is about the music and nothing but the music.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
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Michelle in AZ
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Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Bruce
Anecdotes - Illness and Injuries
• In April of 1964, a little girl named Malkala became ill, spent seven weeks in the hospital, and then was bed-ridden for several months at home with the prognosis that she would probably never walk again. Her school classmates decided to chip in to buy her a gift - the third record album by the Singing Rabbi, Shlomo Carlebach. (She already owned and enjoyed his first two albums.) Unfortunately, they weren't able to find the record album in stores, so finally their music teacher called Rabbi Shlomo at his home. Rabbi Shlomo talked to her, then a few days later he showed up at the little girl's home with a guitar in one hand and his album in the other. He gave her the album and a personal concert, and then he told her, "You are going to walk again, I promise you! And when you do, I want you to call me, and I will come to wherever you are at that time to watch how you're walking. … Because it's not only going to be the most special moment in your life; it's also going to be the most special in mine." In August, she began to take a few steps in a resort in the Catskills. Rabbi Shlomo came, and he once again gave her a personal concert. Years later, in 1990, the now grown-up girl's 20-year-old daughter was working at a summer camp for mentally retarded Jewish children. Rabbi Shlomo gave a concert there, and the daughter met him and asked if he remembered the ill little girl who couldn't walk about 30 years ago, for she was the ill little girl's daughter. Rabbi Shlomo said, "Of course, I remember your mother. I want to know everything about her." The daughter wasn't sure that Rabbi Shlomo really remembered her mother until he asked, "So tell me, does she still have the record album I brought her that day?"
• R' Zalmele was visiting another Rabbi, when a man came to consult the Rabbi about whether certain tasks could be performed for a person who was ill although the tasks were normally prohibited on the Sabbath. The Rabbi wasn't sure, so he started to consult a volume of Jewish law, but seeing this, R' Zalmele immediately said, "It is permitted." This shocked everyone present, as it is considered unwarranted for one Rabbi to make a ruling when another Rabbi has been consulted, but after the man had gone, R' Zalmele explained, "I hope you did not take offense at my action, but it is essential that a Rav should have at his fingertips all the laws that deal with a person whose life is in danger, because we are talking about human life."
• Michael Stephenson and Diane Downes were dancing the Snow pas de deux from The Nutcracker. During several rehearsals, Mr. Stephenson had forgotten a certain step, so when they arrived at that step, Ms. Downes, trying to be helpful, whispered, "Effacé." Unfortunately, Mr. Stephenson misheard the word and thought she was saying, "I feel sick," so trying to be helpful, he whispered encouraging words such as "You're doing fine" and "Hang in there." After the dance was over and they were safely offstage, Ms. Downes asked him, "What the hell were you talking about?"
• Many people remember Russell Johnson, who played the Professor on Gilligan's Island (he's the super-intelligent scientist from Cleveland, Ohio, who could do almost anything except build a boat). Not so well known is that his son David used to be the AIDS coordinator for the City of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, David had to retire after contracting AIDS. Russell Johnson writes in his book Here on Gilligan's Isle, "AIDS is not restricted demographically; sooner or later, everyone will come in contact with an individual who has AIDS."
• Giuseppe de Stefano was a talented opera singer, but sometimes erratic when it came to showing up to perform. Once, his wife called Sir Rudolf Bing, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, to say that her husband was very ill and could not sing that evening. Sir Rudolf replied that since her husband was so ill, he ought not to stay at home, and so he would send an ambulance to pick him up and take him to the hospital. Mr. Stefano made a remarkable recovery and showed up to sing.
• Pianist Anton Rubinstein was gallant to the ladies and capable of great kindness. Once he heard that a woman was disappointed because she had been unable to attend one of his concerts due to illness, so he went to her house and played the entire concert for her. While in London, he met the Princess of Wales and kissed her hand. She withdrew her hand, saying that such was not the custom in England. Mr. Rubinstein replied, "With us, it is the law."
• In the midst of a smallpox epidemic, the Rav of Karutcha, R' Avraham Aharonson, was urged to get a vaccination, but he refused to until his maid was vaccinated first. When the doctors pointed out that every minute without the vaccine was dangerous, the good Rabbi replied, "That's exactly why I want the maid vaccinated first. Her life takes precedence over mine, because she is younger than I."
• In the bureaucracy of the former USSR, lower-level bureaucrats were very subservient to higher-level bureaucrats. A Soviet bureaucrat once met Queen Elizabeth and prepared to kiss her hand, but she withdrew her hand, saying, "I have a rash." The Soviet bureaucrat replied, "Oh, that's nothing - Leonid Brezhnev has hemorrhoids."
• When ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky's mental illness first descended on him during a tour in South American, he became paranoid and hired a detective to protect him. One of the detective's jobs was to search each stage for booby traps and for broken glass before Mr. Nijinsky performed.
• Totie Fields was a comedian who had a leg amputated because of phlebitis. Appearing on Merv Griffin's talk show after the operation, she said, "At least I still have a leg to stand on."
• "Astrology is a disease, not a science." - Maimonides
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Reader Comment
Current Events
Portraits of Predator
We all read some while ago about Predator using finds from his charity to buy a portrait of himself. What I had not realized was that the portrait Cohen talked about yesterday was a THIRD portrait!
There was a 3 foot one and a 6 foot one. The one Cohen talked about Wednesday is a nine foot portrait bought in 2013 using charity money to do it.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Added a new flag - 
- Curacao
'Brothers' Comedy
Brolin & Dinklage
Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage will star in "Brothers," a comedy package won by Legendary in a bidding situation, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
"Tropic Thunder" and "Get Hard" writer Etan Cohen will pen the script. "American Sniper" producer Andrew Lazar will produce via his Mad Chance banner. Brolin is also producing via his Brolin Productions banner and Dinklage is producing as well via his Estuary Films banner. David Ginsberg is also producing for Estuary.
Details about the project are being kept under wraps but it is in the vein of Ivan Reitman's 1988 "Twins" comedy which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. "Brothers" centers on both Brolin and Dinklage who are playing a pair of unlikely brothers.
Brolin, who recently booked the role of Gurney Halleck in Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of "Dune," will also reprise his role as Thanos in the upcoming "Avengers: Endgame." Dinklage who recently played actor Hervé Villechaize in HBO's "My Dinner With Herve" will return in April for the eighth and final season of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Brolin & Dinklage
Saturday, April 13
Record Store Day 2019
Record Store Day 2019 is taking place on Saturday, April 13 at record stores across the world. Today, the full list of releases has been revealed. Highlights include vinyl editions of Robyn's 2010 album Body Talk, Death Grips' "Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix)," Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks: Original New York Test Pressing, Soccer Mommy's 2016 release For Young Hearts, Weezer's Teal Album and Dusty Gems and Raw Nuggets, and Moses Sumney's Black in Deep Red, 2014.
Additional releases include new music from the Flaming Lips, Julien Baker, Courtney Barnett, Jeff Tweedy, and Broken Social Scene. There will also be vinyl releases for the soundtracks of "Twin Peaks," Bohemian Rhapsody, "Breaking Bad," "The Sopranos," and Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse, as well as a vinyl compilation from Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast.
Other artists with exclusive releases include David Bowie, Sigur Rós, Jack White (with a series of 3" vinyl singles from his various projects), R.E.M. (an archival live album under the alias Bingo Hand Job), John Cage and Sun Ra, and Fleetwood Mac.
Pearl Jam are the ambassadors for this year's Record Store Day.
Record Store Day 2019
Hospital News
Luke Perry
Riverdale star Luke Perry has been hospitalized following a stroke, according to a report Thursday by TMZ. Shortly after, People confirmed the report. A rep for the actor told the outlet: "Mr. Perry is currently under observation at the hospital."
According to the initial TMZ report, the 52-year-old actor suffered a "massive" stroke Wednesday morning. Paramedics reportedly responded to Perry's home in Sherman Oaks, California, at around 9:40 a.m., and brought Perry to a Los Angeles hospital.
His condition is currently unknown.
Perry rose to fame in the 1990s as Dylan McKay on the popular television program Beverly Hills 90210-a show that's getting a reboot on Fox this coming summer. Since 2017, he's starred on Riverdale as Fred Andrews, father of protagonist Archie. He's also got a part in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino flick, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is due in theaters in July.
Luke Perry
Sale Price Cut
Neverland Ranch
Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch has returned to the housing market at a drastically reduced rate as allegations of sexual abuse have been brought to light.
The singer's 2,700-acre California property, now rebranded as the Sycamore Valley Ranch, has been listed for $31m, a major drop from the original asking price of $100m when it was first put on the market in 2015. Included in the estate is a tennis court, a swimming pool and a movie theatre.
Real estate agent Kyle Forsyth told CBS News that the decision to relist with a reduced price was because "the timing is right for new stewardship". The price drop is allegedly the result of years of drought and natural disasters but the property is well-maintained. Jackson originally brought it for $19.5m in 1987.
The news comes just days before HBO airs Leaving Neverland, a two-part four-hour documentary that features the testimonies of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, two men who allege that the singer sexually abused them as children. In the film they claim that Jackson would habitually molest them in various parts of the property. "It sounds sick but it's kind of like when you're first dating somebody," Safechuck explained, after listing the many spaces at the complex where Jackson would allegedly abuse him.
Neverland Ranch
FBI Raid
Grave Robber
Almost 2,000 human bones from ancient Native American burial sites have been discovered among tens of thousands of rare cultural artefacts by FBI art crime detectives at an Indiana home.
An FBI investigation determined that Don Miller, who died in 2015 aged 90, collected the objects in violation of several treaties and federal state statutes.
In addition to Native American artefacts, Miller had reportedly collected priceless relics from countries including China, Russia, Peru, Haiti and Australia, and stored them in outbuildings scattered around his home.
When the war ended, Miller went on to spend 30 years working as an electrical engineer for the Naval Avionics Centre in Indianapolis, while simultaneously making trips to build churches in Haiti and Colombia.
After retiring at 60, he said he and wife Sue, a former high school teacher, regularly travelled to impoverished countries to do missionary work.
Grave Robber
1st Sighting in Northern Hemisphere
Hoodwinker Sunfish
For the first time ever, a hoodwinker sunfish was observed in the Northern Hemisphere when it recently washed up in Santa Barbara County, researchers announced Wednesday.
The Mola tecta washed up about a week ago at UC Santa Barbara's Coal Oil Point Reserve along Sands Beach in Goleta, the university said in a news release, describing it as one of those "out-of-nowhere, first-ever discoveries that send scientists' hearts aflutter."
Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia, who was the first to describe the rare species in 2017, made the official determination that the fish was a Mola tecta, the release stated.
"It really was exciting to collect the photos and samples knowing that it could potentially be such an extraordinary sighting," said Jessica Nielsen, a conservation specialist at Coal Oil Point who was among the first to see the deceased fish. "This is certainly the most remarkable organism I have seen wash up on the beach in my four years at the reserve."
Nielsen was first alerted to the stranded sunfish by an intern. At first, she thought the creature was a mola mola, an ocean sunfish known to inhabit the Santa Barbara Channel. She took measurements and photos, then posted about it on the reserve's Facebook page last Friday.
Hoodwinker Sunfish
Worm 'Superhighway'
Canada
Prehistoric worms populated the sea bed 500 million years ago--evidence that life was active in an environment thought uninhabitable until now, research by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows.
The sea bed in the deep ocean during the Cambrian period was thought to have been inhospitable to animal life because it lacked enough oxygen to sustain it.
But research published in the scientific journal Geology reveals the existence of fossilized worm tunnels dating back to the Cambrian period¬¬ 270 million years before the evolution of dinosaurs.
The discovery, by USask professor Brian Pratt, suggests that animal life in the sediment at that time was more widespread than previously thought.
The worm tunnels--borrows where worms lived and munched through the sediment--are invisible to the naked eye. But Pratt "had a hunch" and sliced the rocks and scanned them to see whether they revealed signs of ancient life.
Canada
In Memory
André Previn
André Previn, the four-time Oscar-winning composer and conductor, died today at his home in New York. He was 89.
Among Previn's many movie credits, his musical work, scores or arrangements for Gigi (1958), Porgy & Bess (1959), Irma la Douce (1963) and My Fair Lady (1964) won Oscars. In one particularly Oscar-friendly year, 1961, Previn was nominated for his scores for Elmer Gantry and Bells Are Ringing, and the song "Faraway Part of Town" from the film Pepe.
Previn's dozens of film scores, orchestrations and other music contributions (even uncredited ones) stretch back to 1948's Tenth Avenue Angel and 1949's Lassie movie The Sun Comes Up, and continue through '50s classics like Bad Day At Black Rock, Gigi, and Kismet, to '60s prestige films including A Long Day's Journey Into Night, Elmer Gantry, Irma la Douce, Two For The Seesaw and My Fair Lady.
Outside of Hollywood, Previn wrote, with Allan Jay Lerner, the 1969 Broadway musical Coco starring Katharine Hepburn as Coco Chanel. In 1974 he composed the music, to Johnny Mercer's lyrics, for the London musical production The Good Companions. He wrote, with librettist Philip Littel, a 1998 opera version of A Streetcar Named Desire and, in 2007, the movie-based opera Brief Encounter, with John Caird.
Previn was also known worldwide as a performer and pianist, who appeared with artists as diverse as Ella Fitzgerald and Renée Fleming. He was a frequent guest, both in concert and on record, of major orchestras around the globe, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic. He held chief artistic posts with the Houston Symphony, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras.
His chamber music work and concertos included collaborations with his fifth wife, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Lynn Harrell. In 2009, to celebrate his 80th birthday, Previn presented four concerts with music spanning his career at New York's Carnegie Hall.
Previn's personal life was unusually public for a composer and conductor of "serious" music. After his first marriage to jazz singer Betty Bennett ended in 1958, Previn married lyric writer Dory Langan, who found fame of her own as Dory Previn, a singer-songwriter who detailed, in song, the couple's headline-making break-up prompted by the husband's affair with the also-married (to Frank Sinatra) Mia Farrow. Previn and Farrow later married, had three children and adopted two others (including Soon-Yi Previn, who would go on to marry Farrow's longtime companion Woody Allen, prompting Previn to publicly declare, "She does not exist.").
After his divorce with Farrow, Previn married and divorced Heather Haines Sneddon and, later, Mutter.
André Previn
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