Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Helaine Olen: This one letter sums up a lot that's wrong with the American medical system (Washington Post)
President Trump brought down the price of prescription drugs. Or so he says. At Monday night's reelection rally in Mississippi for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, he told the audience, "Drug prices are starting to come down." Perhaps he should tell it to Hedda Martin, a disabled dog walker from Grand Rapids, Mich. Martin, 60, experienced her 15 minutes of fame over the Thanksgiving break, after a letter she received from Spectrum Health's Richard DeVos Heart & Lung Transplant Clinic, denying her a heart transplant, went viral.
Paul Waldman: Why Pelosi won't have to worry about a 'tea party of the left' (Washington Post)
It wasn't long ago that Republicans were known for their monolithic unity, their ability to march in lockstep at every key moment. Democrats, on the other hand, were fractious and contentious, unable to agree on anything (thus the cliched headline "Dems In Disarray!"). But in recent years, the opposite has been true for both parties: Republicans fight among themselves, and Democrats mostly stay together ….
Paul Waldman: The Russia scandal was a bumbling conspiracy. But it was still a conspiracy.(Washington Post)
Of course, if it was a conspiracy, it worked - after all, Trump is president. The Russian government can be rightly proud of what it accomplished: For a modest investment of resources in gaming Facebook and hacking Democratic emails, they helped nudge the election in Trump's direction and throw the American political system into the kind of chaos we could expect when the president of the United States is the kind of clown who replaces the head of the Federal Reserve because he thinks she's not tall enough for the job.
Jamelle Bouie: Chuck Schumer Is Greatly Overestimating Trump's Popularity (Slate)
Perhaps now is the time to start treating Trump like what he is-a failing president, unable and unwilling to change course. Put simply, the public doesn't need (or want) Democrats to be conciliatory and bipartisan, it wants them to be an opposition.
Donald Trump's gut - as impressive as the rest of him (The Guardian)
The president believes it tells him 'more than anybody's brain', but is he talking from some other part of his body?
Dave Simpson: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons review - farewell tour has crowd beggin' for him to stay (The Guardian)
The 84-year-old Jersey Boy delivers a two-hour show stocked with hits and laced with a bone-dry wit.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Dave Matthews did not name his band the Dave Matthews Band. Instead, shortly after the group formed, a manager of a club needed a name to put on posters advertising the show. Band horns expert Leroi Moore told the manager to simply put "Dave Matthews" on the posters, as that was enough to ensure an audience, but the manager decided to add "Band" at the end. Mr. Matthews himself jokes that he would like to rename the band as "The Band That Used To Be Called The Dave Matthews Band But Isn't Any More Because It Was Wrongly Named To Begin With." Of course, Mr. Matthews is the leader of the band, and band concerts are known not just for the music, but for "Davespeak," which occurs when Mr. Matthews speaks about whatever he wants to, whether it is his favorite TV show or boxer shorts. Speaking of music, the Dave Matthews Band, like the Grateful Dead, encourages tape-trading. Fans are encouraged to tape the shows and swap tapes with other fans. The Dave Matthews Band has even allowed fans to plug their recording equipment directly into the band's soundboard. Early in their career, it was possible to get a spot on the board, but now they are so successful that getting a spot may be impossible. (Tape-trading is distinct from bootlegging; bootlegging is done for profit, while tape-trading is not.) Tape-trading helped the Dave Matthews Band gets fans even in places it had not performed in before. Band violinist Boyd Tinsley remembers, "We'd never been to Alabama before. We'd go to this place, and cars would be lined up down the road, and there'd be all these people going to this big club. We'd be sitting in our red van saying, "Oh, my God!" Tape-trading also helped the Dave Matthews Band get a recording contract with a major record label. An intern brought a tape to his boss at RCA Records, and the boss liked what he heard. The boss telephoned another RCA Records VIP in New York to tell him about the Dave Matthews Band. (Full disclosure: Actually, the VIP in New York, Peter Robinson, was already planning to see the Dave Matthews Band in concert that very night.)
• When author Wilborn Hampton was a young person, he and some kids from the neighborhood played Elvis Presley's new RCA record "Heartbreak Hotel" in a backyard. He and the neighborhood kids danced to the music. Suddenly, a neighbor lady opened her door and yelled, "Jezebels! You should all be ashamed of yourselves! That music is evil!" Then she went back inside. Wilborn and the others turned down the volume of the music a little and kept dancing. Certainly, people-especially females-reacted to Elvis strongly. Very early in Elvis' career, Mae Axton, a publicist for Colonel Thomas A. Parker, asked a girl who had been jumping up and down and squealing while Elvis sang, "Honey, what is it about this kid?" The girl replied, "He's just a great big beautiful hunk of forbidden fruit."
• Many people hope to discover geniuses, but geniuses are rare. When cellist Pablo Casals wanted to go to Paris (for a second time) in 1899 to become a famous musician, he asked for a letter of introduction from Count Guillermo de Morphy to famed French conductor Charles Lamoureux. Mr. Lamoureux read the letter, and then he groaned, "Everyone thinks to discover genius." However, he allowed Mr. Casals to audition for him the following day. After Mr. Casals played, Mr. Lamoureux, with tears in his eyes, told him, "You are one of the elect."
• Richard Strauss was a musical genius, but he was also the leading musical figure among the Nazis. For that reason, many people did not want his music to be played in the United States during and after World War II. One person who disagreed was conductor Bruno Walter, who stated, "I dislike Strauss as a person, and I abhor everything for which he stood. But Strauss is a genius, and some of his works are masterpieces. I cannot, in all honesty, boycott masterpieces because I detest their composer."
• In 1968-1969, youths threw eggs at several opera-goers at Milan. Why? The opera-goers were very well dressed, and the youths wanted opera to be democratized.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
I'm so tired of Whining Baby
OK, Tiny Hands, who's the actual "weak" person? The person who tries to cover up your grift or the person who has to have thieves and liars and grifters covering up for him?
Not that I have much patience or sympathy for the idiot that is Michael Cohen (because he's pretty self-evidently a vile person), but he proven himself to be more of a man than you are, MF'ing F of a F--and yes that's right I called your mother a F too!
You're reprehensible, your children are as crooked and messed up as you are, your daddy was a nasty racist, your mother was a cold F, your grandaddy was the original draft dodger and a pimp (your grandmother was probably complicit). It's a sad thing for the universe that you all keep procreating...and yes, I'm talking about the gold digging, racist, enabling thing you're currently married to who keeps creating Christmas horror stories in OUR White House that you hate living in. I'll be happy to show you the exit, and I'll happily risk the fall to let go of the walker long enough to kick you in the ass as hard as I can.
Eat excrement and expire!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
'WE SHOULD HAVE A HEART.'
GET OUT NOW!
'WE SHOULD HAVE A HEART'
WOULD JESUS BUILD A WALL?
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rainy night, rainy day.
To Reunite For One Night
Harry and Sally
It's been 30 years since "When Harry Met Sally" captured moviegoers' hearts.
In April, stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, along with director Rob Reiner, will reunite to celebrate the romantic comedy by kicking off Turner Classic Movies' annual film festival.
The 1989 film, written by Nora Ephron, follows Harry and Sally over the course of 12 years in a series of chance encounters. Crystal and Ryan were both nominated for Golden Globes for their performances and the film received an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the TCM Classic Film Festival.
Harry and Sally
SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award
John Cena
John Cena will receive the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award in honor of his leadership as a philanthropist.
Cena, 41, is a 16-time WWE champion, but his impact is felt most outside of the ring. He works closely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and has granted nearly 600 wishes for children with life threatening illnesses, more than anyone else involved with the organization. Cena also advocates for breast cancer awareness and early detection.
"From his unparalleled work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his support for a wide range of causes ranging from activism for military families to cancer research, John has made personal outreach and generosity of time and spirit his calling cards," said Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Stephen Cannella. "He might just be the most charitable person in sports, and his dedication to philanthropy richly reflects the spirit of the Ali Legacy Award."
The Legacy Award was created in 2008 and renamed after Ali in 2015 in recognition of his decades as a boxing legend, civil rights activist and icon. Previous recipients include Colin Kaepernick, Jack Nicklaus, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown and Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
The award presentation will take place at SI's Sportsperson of the Year event on Dec. 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.
John Cena
Wedding News
Pick - Tarantino
55-year-old director Quentin Tarantino tied the knot with long-term girlfriend Daniella Pick, 35, in an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles on Wednesday (11.28.18) evening and planned to celebrate their union with a larger gathering later in the night.
A source told E! News: "The ceremony was inside in front of a small group of family and friends including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Eli Roth. There were only about 20 people and it was very intimate and private.
People magazine obtained a photo of the happy couple posing in front of a wall of white flowers, with the 'Kill Bill' filmmaker dressed in a black suit and his 35-year-old bride in a long strapless simple satin white gown by Dana Harel, which she had teamed with a veil and tiara.
The couple first met in 2009 while Quentin was promoting his movie 'Inglorious Basterds' and the director popped the question in June 2017 after he and the Israeli singer and model had been dating for around a year.
Three months later, the couple celebrated their engagement with a party attended by the likes of 'Pulp Fiction' stars Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.
Pick - Tarantino
New Anime Series
'Blade Runner'
Sci-fi classic "Blade Runner" is coming to the small screen as an animated series, reports Variety.
Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, and Alcon Entertainment are partnering to produce "Blade Runner-Black Lotus," a new anime series inspired by "Blade Runner 2049."
"Blade Runner-Black Lotus" will consist of 13 half-hour episodes.
The series will be directed by Shinji Aramaki of the "Appleseed" films, and Kenji Kamiyama ("Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex").
The story will include a few familiar characters from the "Blade Runner" universe. It takes place in 2032, locating it 17 years before "Blade Runner 2049," and 10 years after "Blade Runner: Black Out 22," the 15-minute anime prequel anime to "Blade Runner 2049" helmed by Shinichiro Watanabe.
'Blade Runner'
Drops Again
US Life Expectancy
Life expectancy in the United States dropped yet again as drug overdose deaths continued to climb -- taking more than 70,000 lives in 2017 -- and suicides rose, a US government report said Thursday.
The drug overdose rate rose 9.6 percent compared to 2016, while suicides climbed 3.7 percent, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.
As a result, the average life span in America dropped to "78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2016," said the report.
Another downtick was reported by the CDC in 2016, though those data were later revised to show a flat year, said Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the NCHS.
Anderson said declines like this haven't been seen since the great flu pandemic of 1918 and World War I -- though those losses were steeper.
US Life Expectancy
Gets UNESCO Protected Status
Reggae
Reggae music nowadays seems as ubiquitous to the beaches of Southeast Asia and dorm rooms of Boston as it does to its Jamaican homeland.
Now the genre that evolved in the 1960s has been added to the list of global cultural treasures by UNESCO, the United Nation's cultural and scientific agency.
The sound, which reached international acclaim thanks to artists like Toots and the Maytals and Bob Marley, is attributed for giving voice to the oppressed in Jamaica.
Its inclusion to UNESCO's collection of "intangible cultural heritage" means that it now has protected status, joining a list of more 300 other cultural traditions like the Spanish art-form flamenco, Mongolian knuckle-bone shooting, and yoga in India.
Reggae music's "functions as a vehicle of social commentary, as a cathartic experience, and means of praising God remain unchanged, and the music continues to provide a voice for all," UNESCO said.
Reggae
Photo Is Of His Brother
Vincent van Gogh
One of only two known photos of painter Vincent van Gogh turns out to most likely be an image of his brother, Theo, the Van Gogh Museum announced Thursday.
Forensic testing by experts at Amsterdam University "confirmed the high likelihood of the boy in the photograph being the 15-year-old Theo van Gogh, and not Vincent," the Amsterdam museum said.
The museum says there is now only one known photographic portrait of the camera-shy Dutch artist, taken when he was 19. Both photos are in the museum's collection.
The photo now thought to be of Theo was first publicly presented in 1957 by researcher Mark Edo Tralbaut. A Dutch television program called into question whether it was indeed of Vincent in 2014, prompting further research.
Vincent van Gogh
Lethal Weapons
Florida
Usually, when you pass gas in public, it results in blushing and embarrassment, but one Florida woman ended up arrested over the ordeal.
Shanetta Yvette Wilson, 37, of Dania Beach, Fla., was waiting in line at a Dollar General when she passed gas. The customer standing by her, John Walker, allegedly took offense and the two got in a verbal dispute "in reference to the defendant farting loudly," according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office complaint affidavit.
In response, Wilson allegedly pulled a small "lock back knife" from her purse, opened the knife and told the victim she was going to "gut" him. According to the police report, she pulled back her right hand, which was holding the knife, in a position to attack the victim.
According to the affidavit, Walker was "in fear that he was going to be stabbed by the defendant."
The woman was found by deputies walking in the area near the store and identified by Walker. She was arrested and taken to the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach. She has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, and her bail was set at $2,500.
Florida
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 November 28, 2018:
1. Taylor Swift; $9,356,183; $125.55.
2. Jay-Z / Beyoncé; $6,813,235; $127.90.
3. Ed Sheeran; $6,016,266; $91.84.
4. U2; $4,976,018; $132.29.
5. Drake; $4,326,244; $117.30.
6. Eagles ; $4,268,453; $167.25.
7. Kenny Chesney; $3,958,565; $95.33.
8. Bruno Mars; $3,590,211; $153.84.
9. Billy Joel; $3,423,493; $119.96.
10. Roger Waters; $3,347,565; $68.90.
11. Foo Fighters; $2,264,766; $78.41.
12. Phish; $2,204,620; $65.88.
13. Justin Timberlake; $2,109,749; $110.47.
14. Phil Collins; $2,092,876; $150.65.
15. "Springsteen On Broadway" ; $2,000,397; $509.45.
16. Journey / Def Leppard; $1,814,531; $101.50.
17. Jeff Lynne's ELO; $1,644,287; $112.40.
18. Britney Spears; $1,457,537; $132.09.
19. Zac Brown Band; $1,441,810; $52.81.
20. Shakira; $1,441,763; $110.56.
Global Concert Tours
In Memory
Gloria Katz
Gloria Katz, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and longtime collaborator of George Lucas, has died at the age of 76.
Katz met Lucas through her husband and writing partner, Willard Huyck, in 1969. Lucas hired Katz and Huyck to write the screenplay for his 1973 film, American Graffiti, which earned the couple an Academy Award nomination.
Lucas again turned to Katz and Huyck to work as script doctors for what would become known as the first Star Wars film in 1977.
In a 2017 interview, Katz said Lucas had "a lot of reservations" about his script for Star Wars. "He said, 'Polish it - write anything you want and then I'll go over it and see what I need,'" she recalled. "George didn't want anyone to know we worked on the script, so we were in a cone of silence."
Katz said she and Huyck ended up writing about 30 percent of the film's dialogue and also developed Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia character to be a woman who "can take command; she doesn't take any shit … instead of just [being] a beautiful woman that schlepped along to be saved," she said. Katz and her hsuband also sought to bring some levity to the script.
In 1984, Katz and Huyck wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's second Indiana Jones film, Temple of Doom, which was produced by Lucas. Two years later, Huyck made his directorial debut with the cult comedy, Howard the Duck, using a script written by Katz. Lucas served as executive producer on the film.
Katz's last writing credit came with the Lucas-produced 1994 adaptation of Radioland Murders. In her later years, Katz served on the board of the Writers Guild of America and as an advisor at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Gloria Katz
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