'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Country With A Twist
By Baron Dave Romm
Note: My first column for Bartcop-E was Feb. 16, 2002, and I did several a week before settling down to Mondays. I feel honored that Marty would let me share my musical musings, and pleased that so many have enjoyed them. But to be honest... my collection isn't that large and I'm running out of CDs I know well enough to recommend. This column will continue, but the subject matter will range far and wide. Thanks (again), Marty!
Perhaps we've been spoiled; perhaps we've been corrupted by the entertainment industry. The marketing category "country" tends to focus exclusively on people like Vince Gill and The Dixie Chicks. Good stuff, to be sure, but is it really what cowboys and cowgirls listened to on the lone prairie? There is a lot of music out there from that is from the country and western areas of the US; some traditional but non-commercial, some just a little off the beaten path. Here are a few CDs that I file in Country but that are never going to be mentioned at a Country Music Award Show.
There really isn't anything quite like The Holy Modal Rounders. What Pink Floyd was to rock, the Rounders were to jugband music. Back in the 60s, Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber were stoned a lot but instead of becoming president they went on to be in the soundtrack of Easy Rider and appear on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. From their first album in 1964 they bent the rules. They had fun, and it showed. It helped that they were incredibly talented musicians with lots of friends. They made some of the most memorable music that couldn't quite be placed in any Top 40 category. Stampfel went on to marry into the science fiction publishing world and released two albums with the Bottlecaps. The People's Republic of Rock N' Roll is terrific, with backup vocals by the Roches and photography by Betsy Wollheim. Definitely off-the-wall country rock. Of his many collaborations, Stampfel has noted, "I'm the world's only human who has played with Buckminster Fuller, Bob Dylan, and Mississippi John Hurt."
It may be a given that homosexuality was rampant among cowboys who spent months solely in the company of other men (and cattle), stopping into town to get drunk and brandish their phallic symbols but... what about the women? Lisa Koch has answered that ancient question with You Make My Pants Pound. Lesbian line dancing at its finest. From the title song about true lust to a fantasy torch song to a great send-up of wymyn's music, this is a CD that should add a bit of estrogen to any collection.
Then there's the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra. It's a one-joke band -- playing songs using power tools -- but they're generally good arrangements and the album is short enough so the joke doesn't wear thin. Chain Gang, using actual chains, is conceptually pure. You have to scour the used bins (or used CD web sites) to find a copy, and it's not worth tracking down, but if you see it while flipping through the stacks, give it a shot. Slipping in a track or two in a mix collection adds a bit o' spice.
The River Of Song is a PBS tv series about the diverse people of the Mississippi River, and the 36 music tracks take you from Minnesota to New Orleans. These cuts range from traditional Chippewa, Swedish and Hmong tunes to variants on sea chanties and New Orleans jazz of the 20s. An extraordinary collection. I haven't seen the tv series, but the two CD set comes with an excellent descriptive booklet. Highly recommended.Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here. Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm collecting extra-weird stuff for a possible CD compilation.
39 Years Ago Last Night
The Beatles
Ed Sullivan, center, stands with The Beatles during a rehearsal for the British group's first American appearance, on the 'Ed Sullivan Show,' in New York on Feb. 9, 1964. From left: Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Sullivan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The rock 'n' roll band known as 'The Fab Four' was seen by 70 million viewers. 'Beatlemania' swept the charts with twenty No.1 hits and more than 100 million records sold. The Beatles broke up in 1970.
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Reader Link
from That MadCat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cool.
Was abruptly awakened this morning - the kid has this toy chicken, that was part of a game that's long gone. Part of the game was the chicken would squawk, and about every third or fourth squawk, the damn thing lays an 'egg.'
One of the cats activated the chicken, and the kid was trying to get it to turn off before I woke up. I'm not real gracious early in the am, especially before caffeine, nor do I see too well without my glasses, so I stepped on the
damn cat trying to get to the damn chicken. Performed a 'battery-ectomy, and was proud I didn't 'kill' the chicken completely.
The 23rd Annual RAZZIE Nominations come out today!
Tomorrow (Tueday), the Oscar nominations will be announced.
Tonight, Monday, CBS opens the evening with a FRESH 'King Of Queens', then a FRESH 'Yes, Dear', followed by a
FRESH 'Raymond', then a FRESH 'Still Standing', and finally, a FRESH 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Matthew Broderick, Otto Orkin Insect Zoo's Nate Erwin, Tony Bennett, and k.d. lang.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are John Ritter, Clipse, and Faith Evans.
NBC starts with a FRESH 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Third Watch', followed by a FRESH 'Crossing Jordan'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Michael Clarke Duncan and "American Fido" competition.
On a RERUN Conan are Matt Damon, Rita Wilson, and Jurassic 5.
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 1/14/03), are Moby and Fat Joe.
ABC has a FRESH 'Veritas: The Quest', followed by a FRESH 'The Practice', and then a FRESH 'Miracles'.
The WB has a FRESH 7th Heaven' followed by a FRESH 'Everwood'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Boston Pubic', and a FRESH 'Joe Millionaire'.
UPN offers a FRESH 'The Parkers', a FRESH 'One On One', a FRESH 'Girlfriends', and a FRESH 'Half & Half'.
HBO airs 'Unchained Memories: Readings From The Slave Narratives, from the WPA Federal Writers' Project, during the Great Depression. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, with readings by Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Oprah, Don Cheadle, Alfre Woodard, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Big Dog Watch Continues
Former United States president Bill Clinton listens during a rare television interview with talk show host Larry King on the CNN program ' Larry King Live' in Los Angeles, February 6, 2003.
Clinton discussed many topics including his presidency, his dealings with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and his life since leaving the White House.
Photo by Rose M. Prouser
Protest White House Action
Poets
A group of poets will participate in a reading to protest White House cancellation of a symposium after some of the participants expressed anti-war sentiments on Iraq.
Jamaica Kincaid, Galway Kinnell and Jay Parini will read their own work at the Feb. 16 reading in Manchester, along with works by the poets who were to have been featured at the White House. Organizers said they plan to select verse that
addresses the tradition of dissent in literature.
The White House event, planned by first lady Laura 'Pickles' Bush, had been scheduled for Wednesday to feature the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Mrs. Bush, a former librarian who has made teaching and early childhood
development her signature issues, has held a series of symposiums to salute America's authors.
However, the White House called off the symposium after learning that some poets might use it to express opposition to a possible war with Iraq.
The sponsors of the Manchester reading, bookstore owners Edward and Barbara Morrow, say they disagree with the perception that people opposed to war are unpatriotic.
Poets
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Poynter's 'MediaNews'
'Romenesko'
Fans of the Poynter Institute's popular MediaNews Web page run by editor Jim Romenesko may have noticed a significant change in the site's presentation on Thursday, courtesy of publisher William Dean Singleton.
Attorneys for Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., had complained that the Poynter site's use of the name MediaNews to head Romenesko page's constituted a trademark infringement. In several letters to Poynter, Singleton's
lawyers asked that the use of the name be stopped, citing case law and claiming that Poynter's actions "dilute the distinctive value of the MediaNews Group mark."
After several letters between lawyers on both sides, including one to Poynter that suggested they simply place a space between "Media" and "News," Romenesko agreed to remove "MediaNews" from the daily feature's name. Thursday, it was changed to the eponymous "Romenesko."
In a letter posted on Poynter.org, Poynter President James Naughton wrote: "The gist of the law firm's concern seems to be that eliminating the space between the words 'Media' and 'News' might prompt the unsophisticated, raffish crowd who tune in to
Poynter Online to think it was Dean Singleton in his pajamas pecking away at the keyboard in Romenesko's Evanston apartment."
'Romenesko'
Building Special Effects Campus
George Lucas
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas hopes a $300 million special effects campus for his film company will help San Francisco rival Hollywood as a producer of movie magic.
"San Francisco's always had a quality of filmmaking that most people haven't been able to recognize, we always get shoved under the title 'Hollywood,'" Lucas said Saturday at the project's groundbreaking.
The campus, for the digital arts project of Lucasfilm Ltd., will be near the Golden Gate Bridge at the Presidio and is expected to help make the national park economically self-sufficient. Congress has mandated that the Presido break even by 2013.
The 850,000-square-foot project is scheduled for completion in 2005 and eventually will house 2,500 workers, Lucasfilm officials said. Lucasfilm's headquarters, Skywalker Ranch, is across the Golden Gate Bridge from the Presidio in Marin County.
George Lucas
Presidio
Lucasfilm
One With Nature
Frances McDormand
"Fargo" star Frances McDormand is one with nature. McDormand, a practicing pagan, says she holds feasts celebrating the change of seasons, during which she's inclined to practice
nudism. "I've been known to bare my breasts at winter solstice," she tells Jane magazine. "It doesn't offend anyone." She also bakes cookies honoring the sun and the moon with her son.
Frances McDormand
Archivists Catalogue Papers
Gary Snyder
The chronology of the life and continuing work of Gary Snyder - Beat poet, environmentalist, Buddhist scholar, character in a Jack Kerouac novel - fills to overflowing dozens of boxes stacked on shelves 12-feet high.
Among the collection that fills 180 feet of shelves, are handwritten notes on scraps of papers and published books that all show the development of Snyder's poetry and reveal the depth of his continuing influence in modern poetry, the environmental movement and American Buddhism.
Sifting through what archivist John Skarstad calls "little windows on what was new, what was hoped and what was dreamed at the time" is now the mission of archivists at the University of California, Davis.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose literary career started in the Beat movement, gave his papers - which includes unfinished poems, manuscript and letters from Snyder's friends and fellow Beat writers Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Philip
Whalen - to the university where he taught for 16 years before retiring in 2002.
A note from Kerouac discusses the recent publication of his 1958 novel "Dharma Bums." Kerouac based the character of Japhy Ryder on Snyder.
For more, Gary Snyder
The University of California, Davis
The Online Archive of California
Still Attracts a Crowd
'Xena'
Her television adventures may be over, but "Xena: Warrior Princess" still attracts a crowd.
A talk by the princess warrior herself, actress Lucy Lawless, was the highlight of the annual Xena Convention, which ended Sunday and was expected to draw 5,000 over three days. The TV show's final episode aired two years ago after six seasons.
Appearing with Lawless on Saturday evening was Renee O'Connor, who played "Xena" sidekick Gabrielle.
'Xena'
Xena: Warrior Princess
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Country For Hire
Rent Liechtenstein
The tiny principality of Liechtenstein is putting itself up for rent in a bid to attract corporate conferences and bolster its tourism industry, a local official said on Friday.
The new "Rent a State" scheme lets corporate clients symbolically take over the tiny country of just 33,000 residents tucked away among the Alps between Switzerland and Austria.
"The basic idea is that an entire, small country plays host to a conference with all the various possibilities at its disposal," said Roland Buechel, director of the state tourism agency in Liechtenstein,
which covers an area of only 60 square miles. Rent a State is based on the Rent a Village concept developed by event management firm Xnet AG in small towns in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Customers will get tailor-made programs that put their brand on display and involve local officials -- but not the monarch Prince Hans Adam -- in special events.
Rent Liechtenstein
Thousands of Muslims gather at the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the holy Kaaba, black cube centre left, during evening prayer in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003. About 2 million
Muslim pilgrims from all over the world will gather in Mecca to perform the Hajj pilgrimage each year. The Hajj is one of the most sacred duties of the Muslim faith and is required at least once by every able bodied Muslim who can afford it.
Photo by Amel Emric
HBO Special
Ali G
Newt Gingrich, Ralph Nader, and Ed Meese are claiming a controversial cult British star, with a new show debuting on HBO on Feb. 21, lied in order to interview them.
Ali G (born Sacha Baron Cohen) has made a name in England by adopting a thuggish "gangsta rap" alter ego, interviewing establishment figures and getting them to sound stupid on TV.
"Da Ali G Show" has been extremely successful in England but, until now, he has been known in the United States only for his cameo as the limo driver in a Madonna video.
"At no stage did they say it was for the U.S. market or HBO," said a stunned Meese, when he learned the interview he gave Ali G would soon be airing on HBO.
"They sold it as a way of appealing to young people, and said it was for the BBC," said a puzzled spokesman for Gingrich, who reportedly talks about condoms in his segment.
Meese said Ali G handed him $100 for the interview.
"He was talking in an argot with which I am not familiar," said Meese, a former U.S. attorney general.
Ali G
Fights Verizon
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Friday opposed Verizon Communications request for a stay on a judge's recent order requiring Verizon to turn over the name of a customer suspected of downloading songs on the Web.
Last week, Verizon filed a motion for a stay on the order until the company's appeal of the decision could be heard.
U.S. District Judge John Bates in late January said Verizon must cooperate with recording industry efforts to track down online song swappers, rejecting the telecommunications giant's assertion that such a move would violate customer privacy and turn it into an online copyright cop.
RIAA
Car Wins ARCA 200
Alice Cooper
Sign that the end is near: Alice Cooper wins the Daytona 500.
Don't write off civilization just yet. It was only the annual Automobile Racing Club of America event at Daytona, the Advance Auto Parts 200, in which a Pontiac ostensibly sponsored by the aging rock star won.
The driver of the Alice Cooper/Montgomery Racing Pontiac, No. 27 (not 666), was Chase Montgomery, a 19-year-old from Mt. Juliet, Tenn., a burg undoubtedly more stock-car friendly than one of those old makeup-wearing, snake-handling
concerts that seem quite a bit more normal given the rock 'n' roll excesses of the intervening years.
"I don't know if he's a good-luck charm or if we just had our ducks in a row," said Montgomery, referring to Cooper. "I'm going to make him come to the next one."
Alice Cooper
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Over Power Lines?
Broadband
Coming to a home or office near you could be an electric Internet: high-speed Web access via ubiquitous power lines, of all things, making every electrical outlet an always-on Web connection.
If it sounds shocking, consider this: St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. and other utilities already are testing the technology, and many consider it increasingly viable.
This truly plug-and-play technology, if proven safe, has the blessings of federal regulators looking to bolster broadband competition, lower consumer prices and bridge the digital divide in rural areas.
While existing providers of broadband through cable TV lines or phone wires consider the technology intriguing, they stress that talk of it has been around for years, with nothing to show for it.
For the rest, Broadband
New MoMA Exhibit
'Matisse Picasso'
The "Matisse Picasso" exhibit, charting the complicated, decades-long friendship and rivalry between Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, has already received raves and played to huge crowds in London and Paris. It features side-by-side displays of 138
works from two of the most important artists of the 20th century, and covers almost 50 years.
The Museum of Modern Art, known as MoMA, has been located in a huge, bright blue former stapler factory in Queens while its Manhattan home undergoes a $650 million expansion and renovation, scheduled to be completed in 2005. The
Queens museum has been drawing an average of 1,000 to 2,000 visitors daily, compared to 3,000 to 4,000 at its location on West 53rd Street in Manhattan.
The show begins with two self-portraits from 1906, when Matisse and Picasso were introduced to each other by Gertrude Stein in Paris. Although their personalities were — in Matisse's words — "As different as the
north pole is from the south pole," over the years they came to regard the other as his only true peer.
"Matisse Picasso" will be on display through May 19 at the Museum of Modern Art in Queens. Previously, it was shown at the Tate Modern in London and the Grand Palais in Paris.
'Matisse Picasso'
Museum of Modern Art
Matisse Picasso Exhibit
Investment Strategy
Vintage Comic Books
Demand for high-priced vintage comic books featuring the Man of Steel, Batman and other crime-fighting superheroes is growing as baby boomers and others spooked by the downward spiral of stocks flee traditional investments.
Indeed, investors who paid $80,000 in 1992 for a copy of the coveted Detective Comics No. 27, which features the 1939 debut of Batman, would have seen their investment soar to $300,000 late last year, a 14 percent annual rate of return.
In comparison, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, considered a benchmark for U.S. equities, had an annual rate of return of about 9.3 percent during that 10-year span. The index has declined, however, in each of the last three years.
Like many counter-cyclical investments, the market for vintage comics, rare coins and stamps tends to rise during periods of economic turmoil and political uncertainty.
Comics from the 1930s and 1940s that feature Superman, Batman and Captain America are considered the blue chips of the market for their solid track record of continued appreciation, but they also trade at a high premium.
Lower down the rung are more obscure titles from this same period, such as "Amazing Man" and "Phantom Lady." The EC horror comics of the 1950s also are considered a good buy by industry insiders.
Vintage Comic Books
Unions OK Merger Plan
SAG & AFTRA
The national directors for Hollywood's two major performers' unions voted for a proposed merger that they said would give them more bargaining power with entertainment conglomerates.
At a joint meeting, the national boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Saturday approved principles of consolidation that are the first step in forming a new union.
All 69 SAG directors voted in favor of the merger proposal. AFTRA approved the plan 72-3. The two unions represent about 130,000 performers.
AFTRA represents recording artists, TV and radio broadcasters, and performers in daytime TV, game or reality shows. About 40,000 of its 70,000 members also belong to SAG, which represents actors in film, commercials
and prime-time TV shows. SAG, Hollywood's largest performers union, has 98,000 members.
SAG & AFTRA
North American Box Office
Top 10 Movies
Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the Feb. 7-9 weekend, according to studio estimates collected on Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued on Monday.
1 (*) How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days .. $24.1 million
2 (*) Shanghai Knights .............. $19.8 million
3 (5) Chicago ....................... $10.7 million
4 (1) The Recruit ................... $9.5 million
5 (2) Final Destination 2 ........... $8.7 million
6 (*) Deliver Us From Eva ........... $7.1 million
7 (4) Kangaroo Jack ................. $5.9 million
8 (3) Biker Boyz .................... $4.0 million
9 (6) Darkness Falls ................ $3.8 million
10 (7) The Two Towers ................ $3.4 million
NOTE: Last weekend's ranking in parentheses.
* = new release.
Top 10 Movies
Polar owls look out of their cage in St. Petersburg's Zoo, January 10, 2003. The Owls and polar bears were the rare animals which remained in their regular places while all others were taken to warmer shelters. In European
Russia and East Siberia, where temperatures approached minus 50 degrees Celsius, hot water pipeline systems collapsed in 13 regions, forcing about 23,000 people to live without heat, Russia's Emergecies Ministry said.
Photo by Alexander Demianchuk
'The Osbournes'
Freshly Updated! 'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
Critical Date Approaches
Nick's Crusade
