Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Helaine Olen: Leave millennials alone! (Washington Post)
True, complaining about the wasteful habits and lack of respect that younger generations show their elders is likely as old a habit as human existence itself. Horace did it. So did Geoffrey Chaucer. But millennial-bashing is also a prime example of a particularly nasty tradition: assuming individual behavior is the cause of economic woes, and not the result of them. If millennials aren't growing up the way their elders think they should, it is in no small part because they cannot afford to do so.
Greg Sargent: Trump's latest broadside at Democrats actually reveals a big weakness (Washington Post)
"Trump's inexperience and volatile behavior mean he's gotten nothing done," Democratic pollster John Anzalone told me. "And what little he has gotten done has been for the rich and corporations, so he has become a charlatan to the middle class."
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: I tried to sexually harass Siri, but all she did was give me a polite brush-off (The Guardian)
Virtual assistants are millennial Stepford Wives. But perhaps there's an upside for real women.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: Instagram is stripping its devotees of their basic humanity (The Guardian)
For the app's users, in quest of the perfect backdrop, other people and their problems are not just irrelevant, but invisible.
John Lahr: "Bill Hicks: his short and sensational life" (The Guardian)
Bill Hicks, one of the most daring American stand-up comedians of his generation, liked to ask for the non-smokers in the audience to identify themselves, then puff away at them while inspecting his cigarette pack. "What's cool is that every pack has a Surgeon General's Warning, isn't that great? Mine says Warning - Smoking May Cause Foetal Injury Or Premature Birth. Found my brand! Just don't get the ones that say Lung Cancer - Shop around. Gimme a carton of Low Birth Weight!"
Brendon Burns on Bill Hicks: 'I felt like he was speaking directly to me' (The Guardian)
In 1991, after doing my first year of open mic spots, I saw Bill Hicks on stage at the Edinburgh fringe, and for the first time in a long while, I didn't feel alone. I'd finally found a performer who was voicing what I'd always felt but had never managed to pinpoint as eloquently or hilariously.
Kate Lowe: Top 10 books about angry women (The Guardian)
Stories of female rage were for centuries often stifled or spun. From Euripides to Jean Rhys, Stephen King to Gillian Flynn, here are some of the exceptions.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 100 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Winters, CA
Little Winters is 11 miles from our driveway, up the frontage roads along I-505 (or longer, if you take the scenic routes through the orchards), by bike. I highly recommend it to anyone who visits NorCal. We love it, and love seeing it highlighted. Good job, li'l town!
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Ian MacKaye, co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, and member of the punk groups Minor Threat, the Teen Idles, Embrace, Fugazi, and The Evens, remembers going to a Ramones concert in 1979 in Virginia. Lots of people showed up for the concert wearing torn jeans because the Ramones' "uniform" consisted of T-shirts, leather jackets, and torn jeans. Unfortunately, the Ramones fans discovered that the concert venue had a dress code: no torn jeans. The fans went to a nearby pharmacy, bought needles and thread, and then went to the parking lot and started sewing up the rips in their jeans. Mr. MacKaye is an interesting guy with a strong work ethic and common sense. At concerts, he used to become angry when people would do senseless things such as bust up bathrooms. On stage, he would tell the audience, "The toilet is our friend - it takes the sh*t away. So what the f*ck is going on? Every show, you f*cking idiots break the toilets. It doesn't make any sense." Punk has a lot of sub-genres, and Minor Threat inspired a movement known as straight-edge, in which people abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs. (Henry Rollins, former singer of Black Flag, abstains from alcohol and illegal drugs.) Mr. MacKaye is credited with inventing the term "straight-edge." Fans who were straight-edge would sometimes draw an X on both of their hands because bars would draw a symbol on patrons' hands to indicate that they were of legal age and could buy alcohol - the X's were a counter-symbol to the bar symbols. By the way, Mr. MacKaye says that he was not a good student while he was in high school. He disliked writing book reports, and almost always he would not read the book. When he had to write a book report on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he ended up calling the home of the author, Ken Kesey. (Mr. MacKaye says, "I called 555-1212 and asked for Ken Kesey's number in Oregon.") Unfortunately, Mr. Kesey was out of town, but his wife talked to Mr. MacKaye for 45 minutes and relayed to him a number of Mr. Kesey's ideas. Mr. MacKaye says, "Not only did I immediately write a report and get an A on it, but I f*cking read the book because I couldn't believe she had been so kind to me. […] Kids are always calling me about sh*t. I'm always happy to talk to them."
• When Elvis Presley got his first royalty check from Sun Records - for $400 - he immediately bought his mother a new dress and new shoes. More money came in, and he bought a four-room house - Elvis grew up in a two-room shack - and furniture. The shack was called a shotgun house because a person could shoot a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would go out the back door without hitting anything. Elvis also bought his mother the car she had always dreamed of having: a pink Cadillac. Of course, he ended up making millions of dollars, and at least once he gave a new car away to a stranger. At a car dealership, he saw a woman named Minnie Pearson looking at cars. Apparently, it was obvious that she was only looking and not seriously considering buying. Elvis asked her, "Do you like that car?" She replied, "Shoot, yeah, but there ain't no way" that she could afford it. Elvis said, "Yeah, there is. 'Cause I just bought you it for you." He treated his only child, daughter Lisa Marie, well. Once, he flew her from Los Angeles, California, to Denver, Colorado, so she could see snow falling. Early in Elvis' life, someone did a good deed for him. Elvis wore his hair long, and he declined to cut his hair so he could play on his high school football team in Memphis, Tennessee, although he had talent. Humes High School football coach Rube Boyce, Jr., said, "I told him he's to have his hair cut by a certain time and he just never came back." Some of Elvis' fellow students threatened to cut his hair, and they trapped him in a bathroom. Fortunately, football center Bobby "Red" West, a tough guy who became one of Elvis' friends, put a stop to the bullying. When Elvis was younger - age 11 - and still living in Mississippi, his mother bought him a guitar. Some bullies once cut his guitar strings, but fortunately, some other kids pooled their money together so they could buy him new strings.
• When John Lennon was a kid, he enjoyed watching The Goon Show, in which Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Spike Milligan performed comedy. Also featured on the show was jazz harmonica player Max Geldray. John was intrigued by Mr. Geldray's playing, and John's uncle, George Smith, gave the boy a harmonica - his first musical instrument. John taught himself to play it, and during summer vacation, John and Leila, his cousin, took a long bus ride to Scotland, during which John played the harmonica almost constantly. The bus driver, a kind man, promised to give John a better harmonica the next morning if he would come to the bus station to pick it up. John talked the rest of the day about the better harmonica he was getting, and the next day the bus driver, as he had promised, gave John a better harmonica. By the way, the Beatles had long hair - something unusual for men back when the Beatles became famous in the 1960s. A reporter asked the Beatles, "Are those wigs you're wearing?" John replied, "If they are, they must be the only wigs with dandruff."
• The young Leonard Bernstein played music loudly both day and night, even when he had roommates to cut down on living expenses. One roommate, Edys Merrill, used to go around with her hands over her ears as she loudly sang, "I hate music - la dee da da dee. But I like to sing: la dee da da dee." Leonard responded by writing a song using those words and sounds - the song was one of a set of five titled Kid Songs, or I Hate Music. He dedicated the song to her.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
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
Overcast and still on the extra cool side.
Copyright Dispute Settled
Bitter Sweet Symphony
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones have ended one of the most acrimonious copyright disputes in British pop history, by granting Richard Ashcroft all future royalties from his 1997 song Bitter Sweet Symphony, performed by the Verve.
Ashcroft announced the news on the same day he won an Ivor Novello award for outstanding contribution to British music. In a statement he said:
This remarkable and life-affirming turn of events was made possible by a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith, who have also agreed that they are happy for the writing credit to exclude their names and all their royalties derived from the song they will now pass to me.
Bitter Sweet Symphony reached No 2 in the UK and No 12 in the US, where it was also nominated for a Grammy for best rock song. It was the lead track from the album Urban Hymns, which reached No 1 in the UK and went 10-times platinum, eventually selling more than 10m copies worldwide. It remains the 19th highest-selling album of all time in the UK, ahead of the likes of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, and Ed Sheeran's x.
Publishing company ABKCO, owned by Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein, argued that the Verve had used a larger portion of the sample than was agreed, and, following a lawsuit that was settled out of court, forced Ashcroft to relinquish the song's royalties and create a new songwriting credit: Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft. Following the decision, Ashcroft quipped: "This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years."
But following an overture to Jagger and Richards from Ashcroft's management company, the pair "immediately, unhesitatingly and unconditionally agreed" to hand over the royalties. Ashcroft gave thanks to everyone involved in the deal: "My management Steve Kutner and John Kennedy, the Stones manager Joyce Smyth and Jody Klein (for actually taking the call), lastly a huge unreserved heartfelt thanks and respect to Mick and Keith. Music is power."
Bitter Sweet Symphony
Sends Blistering Message
Samantha Bee
Samantha Bee broke down why she believes Democratic presidential hopefuls in the 2020 election "do not to have to go on Fox News."
The host of "Full Frontal" acknowledged on Wednesday that there could be "some benefits of crossing the media aisle," as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg did with his televised town hall over the weekend, in a bid to reach the widely watched conservative network's Republican and independent viewers.
But Bee asked why potential candidates would even want to appear on the channel, given its often critical, insulting and false coverage of them, such as when it mistakenly showed an image of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) in an alert about a shooting suspect.
Fox News is "an extension" of President Donald Trump's administration, said Bee, and she warned Democratic hopefuls that "at a certain point, if you play along with Fox, you don't look principled or bipartisan, you just look stupid."
"When you go on Fox News, no matter how lit your town hall game is that night, you are legitimizing them," she added. "You wouldn't go on North Korea's state television, right?"
Samantha Bee
Awarded $1.9 Million
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush has been awarded $1.9 million after winning a defamation case against Australia's Nationwide News over a story published in the company's Daily Telegraph, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday.
The judgement is the largest ever defamation payout to a single person in Australia, according to BBC News.
The case brought by Rush centered on allegations made by Eryn Jean Norvill, who co-starred with him in Shakespeare's "King Lear" during a production which ran in Sydney from 2015 to 2016.
The Telegraph article titled "King Leer" included Norvill accusing Rush of inappropriate touching, chasing her into a bathroom and sending salacious text messages - something the actor vigorously denied.
"This was a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensational journalism of the worst kind," Justice Michael Wigney said, while also noting that Norvill had been "prone to exaggeration."
Geoffrey Rush
Another Lawsuit Settled
Michael Jackson Estate
A years-long lawsuit between Michael Jackson's estate and one of the superstar's former managers has been settled, ending one of the final legal fights over the King of Pop's assets.
The confidential settlement announced Thursday with Tohme R. Tohme, Jackson's manager in the last year of his life, was reached after a trial had been underway for five days. It comes a month short of the 10th anniversary of Jackson's death.
Tohme had sought nearly $20 million from the Jackson estate in the lawsuit filed in 2012, saying he was entitled to a 15% commission on funds generated by deals he arranged for Jackson that were received after Jackson's death in June 2009.
"The estate acknowledges his efforts on Michael's behalf," Thursday's joint statement from the two sides said of Tohme.
Tohme, a Los Angeles native of Lebanese descent who is in his late 60s, was a little-known financier when he dropped suddenly into Jackson's life via his brother Jermaine.
Michael Jackson Estate
2019 Internet Freedom Award
Ivanka
Ivanka Trump is now synonymous with internet freedom - at least according to a tech industry lobbying group boasting members like Uber, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
The advisor to and daughter of the president was crowned Wednesday with the 2019 Internet Freedom Award. Yes, you read that correctly. Handing out the award in Washington, D.C., was the Internet Association, a trade group which proudly proclaimed Trump is totally deserving of the honor for all of her specific internet-freedom related accomplishments.
"Thanks to Ms. Trump's leadership, we have seen bipartisan support for increased opportunities and we are excited to present her with an Internet Freedom Award at this year's gala," IA President and CEO Michael Beckerman observed in a press release. "The Internet Freedom Award recognizes Ms. Trump's extraordinary contributions to public policy and the internet economy."
The group, founded in 2012, has a members list that reads as a who's who of the tech industry. In addition to the above listed companies, Twitter, Microsoft, Reddit, Match Group, Lyft, eBay, and Airbnb all belong.
Regardless, we can all rest easy now knowing that Ivanka Trump is a proud protector of our internet freedoms. It has to be true, the totally legit and sincere Internet Association said so.
Ivanka
Explains Weird Hum
Underwater Volcano
A strange seismic event off the coast of Africa has led scientists to a mighty finding: the discovery of the largest underwater volcanic eruption ever recorded.
The eruption also may explain a weird seismic event recorded in November 2018 just off the island of Mayotte, located between Madagascar and Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. Researchers described that event as a seismic hum that circled the world, but no one could figure out what sparked it.
For starters, the hum rang at a single, ultralow frequency, which was strange because seismic waves usually rumble at many frequencies. Moreover, there were hardly any detectable "p-waves" or "s-waves," which usually accompany earthquakes. And, incredibly, the island of Mayotte moved a few inches south and east after the mysterious event.
Now, scientists have an idea why. This weird seismic hum was likely the birth announcement of a new underwater volcano, according to Science magazine.
The underwater volcano is enormous, rising nearly a half mile (0.8 kilometers) from the ocean floor. It's the length of a 3.1-mile (5 km) race and lies about 31 miles (50 km) off Mayotte's eastern coast. And it came into being in just six months.
Underwater Volcano
Shaped More By Burning
Eastern Forests
Native Americans' use of fire to manage vegetation in what is now the Eastern United States was more profound than previously believed, according to a Penn State researcher who determined that forest composition change in the region was caused more by land use than climate change.
"I believe Native Americans were excellent vegetation managers and we can learn a lot from them about how to best manage forests of the U.S.," said Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology in the College of Agricultural Sciences. "Native Americans knew that to regenerate plant species that they wanted for food, and to feed game animals they relied on, they needed to burn the forest understory regularly."
Over the last 2,000 years at least, according to Abrams -- who for three decades has been studying past and present qualities of eastern U.S. forests -- frequent and widespread human-caused fire resulted in the predominance of fire-adapted tree species. And in the time since burning has been curtailed, forests are changing, with species such as oak, hickory and pine losing ground.
"The debate about whether forest composition has been largely determined by land use or climate continues, but a new study strongly suggests anthropogenic fire has been the major driver of forest change in the East," said Abrams. "That is important to know because climate change is taking on an ever larger proportion of scientific endeavor."
But this phenomenon does not apply to other regions, Abrams noted. In the western U.S., for example, climate change has been much more pronounced than in the East. That region has received much more warming and much more drought, he explained.
Eastern Forests
At Auction
Dodo Skeleton
You may have heard of the hapless dodo - an endearingly squat, toddler-size flightless bird - that was driven to extinction in the late 1600s and hasn't been seen for centuries. But a rare mounted skeleton of this iconic creature will soon be ushered into the spotlight.
On May 24, Christie's in London will offer a dodo skeleton for auction in its Science and Natural History sale. Bidding for the mounted dodo bones will start at $500,000 and may go higher than $700,000, according to the auction house's website.
The skeleton is a featured item in the sale, which also includes fragments of meteorites and moon rocks; centuries-old science equipment; a d fossils of dinosaurs, marine animals and dragonflies, some dating to more than 100 million years ago.
Dodos, which are relatives of modern pigeons, were once found exclusively on the island of Mauritius to the east of Madagascar. When Dutch explorers established an outpost on Mauritius in 1638, they discovered that the large, flightless birds were quite delicious. Within decades, the dodos were gone, decimated by human hunters and invasive predators.
The dodo skeleton in the auction was assembled around the beginning of the 19th century by the French amateur naturalist Paul Carié, Christie's representatives said in a statement. Carié owned the land on Mauritius where the bones were found, a swamp called Mare aux Songes. From a jumble of remains, Carié constructed a composite skeleton using fossilized and unfossilized bones from several individual dodos, according to an item description.
Dodo Skeleton
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers. Week of May 22, 2019:
1. Ed Sheeran; $4,241,278; $86.74.
2. Maroon 5; $2,910,577; $120.08.
3. Eric Church; $2,724,100; $94.89.
4. Elton John; $2,303,232; $138.59.
5. Pink; $2,220,822; $138.47.
6. Justin Timberlake; $2,086,782; $127.75.
7. Fleetwood Mac; $2,015,325; $146.25.
8. Cher; $1,564,626; $118.74.
9. Michael Bublé; $1,517,024; $124.47.
10. Ariana Grande; $1,450,877; $114.50.
11. Post Malone; $1,393,736; $82.87.
12. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $1,361,830; $112.24.
13. Bad Bunny; $1,303,591; $95.32.
14. Travis Scott; $1,242,879; $89.94.
15. KISS; $1,242,205; $106.79.
16. Arctic Monkeys; $1,233,530; $60.77.
17. André Rieu; $1,185,900; $81.73.
18. Blake Shelton; $1,044,392; $89.58.
19. Mumford & Sons; $1,038,012; $71.48.
20. Shawn Mendes; $982,467; $69.89
Global Concert Tours
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
