'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Election Day USA
A Rerun from 08/30/04
By Baron Dave Romm
My name is Baron Dave Romm and I approved this message.
Election Day USA comprises twenty songs by sixteen artists. All the songs area anti-Bush/pro-America, and all the songs are available online as mp3s. A great collection that you don't even have to buy! This election is important, and Seal Lion Records wants to spread the word.
John McCutcheon weighs in with two great songs from his CD Stand Up!... Broadsides for Our Time (upper left). Duct Tape may be Tom Ridge's suggestion for how to deal with terrorism, but Let's Pretend is how the entire Bush administration deals with... well, everything. Pat Humphries's feminist call to action is codePiINK, a bit more grown up than the Barbie anthem Think Pink, is catchy and just a little angry. Yikes McGee satirizes Operation Iraqi Liberation (hint: look at the acronym). And so on. A terrific collection, which should be on everyone's hard drive.
If you happen to be in New York City during the Republican National Convention, or simply happen by pure chance to be near a den of conservatives, perhaps you should be playing these songs a bit louder than usual. Don't break any laws (heaven forbid), but blast those car stereos and portable boom boxes.
Speaking of the Republican National Convention (and you can be sure the conservative news media will cover it a LOT more than they did the Democratic National Convention), don't let them dominate the opinion pages of your newspaper or on call-in radio shows. Let your voices be heard as well! Call in! Write a Letter to the Editor! Put out those lawn signs, wear your buttons, get your Bush-B-Gone aerosol can labels!
A short one this week. Parting thought: I'd rather have a president who gets a blow job than one who gives them.
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, you can order Shockwave Radio Theater CDs, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm continuing to collect extra-weird stuff.
--////
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Comment
Pointing Out the Obvious
Candidate George W. Bush made a lot of expensive promises in 2000,
and he is making a lot of expensive promises in 2004. Because of Bill
Clinton's largest federal budget surplus ever, there was money to pay
for at least some promises.
In 2004, because of Bush's largest
federal budget deficit ever (which his administration is spinning as
good news), there is no money to pay for promises. (John Kerry wants
to pay for his promises by getting rid of the Bush tax cuts for
people making over $200,000 per year.)
Bruce
Thanks, Bruce!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot, still humid.
The backyard seems to have been taken over by spiders. The kid is delighted.
Actor Bradley Whitford points to his wife actress Jane Kaczmarek as she shows the location of her scar from hip replacement surgery, as they arrive for the W Magazine and Guess Hollywood Yard Sale in Los Angeles, September 12, 2004. The proceeds from the sale of fashion, jewelery and makeup from celebrities, benefits the charity Clothes Off Our Back, founded by Kaczmarek.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Makes Pitch for Kerry
Al Franken
Comedian and liberal radio talk-show host Al Franken launched into his trademark biting satire as he staged a pre-emptive campaign stop on John Kerry's behalf a day before Vice President Dick Cheney is to appear in the same southeastern Iowa town.
"He's going to announce tomorrow that if Iowa goes for Kerry, al-Qaida will hit Ottumwa with a nuke," Franken said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. "He'll say that increased chatter says that if Kerry wins, terrorists will hit Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Florida and any state in which the Democrats pick up a Senate seat."
Franken, a Minnesota native, spoke before about 200 people from a city park gazebo in the heavily blue collar community with a Cargill meatpacking plant and a John Deere farm implement factory.
"They've lost almost a million jobs. They haven't created one new net job. The numbers don't lie. If Bush and Cheney had run this country from its very inception, not one American would have worked," Franken said. "We'd all be hunter-gatherers."
Al Franken
Actor William Shatner and his wife Elizabeth arrive for the 2004 Creative Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, September 12,2004.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Back in the Spotlight
Chris 'Tweety' Matthews
It certainly can't be a bad thing for a man with a political talk show called "Hardball" to be nearly challenged to a duel by a U.S. senator. MSNBC has quickly moved to take advantage of Sen. Zell Miller's combative GOP convention interview with Chris Matthews, featuring it in advertisements. It was Matthews' second eye-popping exchange with a guest in a month.
Matthews' much-replayed interview with Miller came less than two hours after the Democratic senator spoke to the convention in favor of resident Bush, torching Bush's Democratic opponent, John Kerry.
Bush supporters' suspicion of Matthews was raised a few weeks earlier following his exchange with conservative columnist Michelle Malkin. During a discussion of the Swift boat controversy, Malkin said there were "legitimate questions" about whether one of Kerry's war wounds in Vietnam were self-inflicted.
"What do you mean by self-inflicted?" Matthews shot back. "Are you saying he shot himself on purpose? Is that what you're saying?"
Malkin dodged the question. So Matthews asked it again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.
Eleven times. Matthews grew increasingly angry, and Malkin exasperated. It was gripping television.
Chris 'Tweety' Matthews
Familiar with 'Deja Vu'
John Fogerty
John Fogerty's new album, appropriately titled "Deja Vu All Over Again," projects an air of familiarity, typified by Fogerty's distinctive voice, guitar and melodic instincts.
But the subject matter, particularly the title cut, which serves as the first single, is firmly placed in the here and now.
Sporting a melody reminiscent of classic Creedence fare, the "Deja Vu" single's lyrics draw parallels between the war in Iraq and Vietnam. The subject is close to Fogerty's heart.
"Most guys my age made a promise to ourselves as the Vietnam War was winding down that (our country) would never do this again -- at least I did," Fogerty tells Billboard. "I thought the book was closed on that. But about a year ago when everything was heating up to go to Iraq, I thought, 'Uh-oh, this is probably folly."'
John Fogerty
Eve Ensler, left, 'Vagina Monologues' playwright, actresses Jane Fonda, center and Sally Field pose during a press conference on women and power Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004, in New York. The weekend-long conference addressed a global movement to end violence against women and children.
Photo by Adam Rountree
New Film Melds Satire of Bush and Whodunit
'Silver City'
Describing his new film, "Silver City," as part murder mystery and part political satire, director John Sayles made it very clear on Saturday which politician the movie is satirizing.
"(The) character is very much based on George W. Bush when he first ran for governor of Texas," he told reporters just before his movie made its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Sayles, who started putting together the story shortly after the 2000 presidential election, and rushed pre-production so as to get the film into theaters before the Nov. 2 election, said he was discouraged by the deterioration of "the political and cultural conversation in the United States."
"There's a real pressure not to raise your voice, not to question what's going on internationally or in the country itself," he said.
'Silver City'
Rated As Worst Act
Oasis
Oasis, who set the soundtrack of the "cool Britannia" era in the 1990s, have been voted worst band of the festival season in Britain after their lacklustre performance at Glastonbury.
Forty-two percent of the 10,000 festival fans who took part in an online poll for the New Musical Express (NME) newspaper deemed the Manchester band to be worst they heard at the past summer's many rock and pop fetes.
In second place were glam revivalists The Darkness with 26 percent, followed by The Strokes at 17 percent and The Libertines at 15 percent.
Oasis
Sues Board Over Housing Flap
Geraldo Rivera
TV personality Geraldo Rivera is suing the co-op board of the housing development he lives in, alleging members wrongly kept a $10,000 deposit on one of his properties and prevented him from buying another.
The Fox News senior correspondent owns two homes in the 10.4-hectare Edgewater Colony, where residents own their homes but share ownership of the land.
Rivera said the board refuses to return the security deposit for construction of the first home he bought about five years ago, among other allegations.
Geraldo Rivera
Carel van Tuyll van Serooskerken of the Netherlands, who is the first foreign conservator to be appointed by the Louvre museum in Paris as head conservator, stands in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, September 12, 2004. Van Tuyll van Serooskerken , presently head conservator of the art collections of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, will start his new job as head conservator of the graphic Arts department at the Louvre museum on January 1, 2005, it was announced on Thursday.
Photo by Paul Vreeker
Fond Farewell to C-3PO
Anthony Daniels
Bidding goodbye to the gold robot after almost 30 years, Anthony Daniels shed a nostalgic tear for the mechanical manservant who changed his life.
"Oh yes, it was with moisture. This was very much a fond farewell," Daniels said of his last scene as C-3PO, the android who became an icon in the "Star Wars" movies.
"I finished filming on the last film last week. For the final shot I walked along a blue corridor with a blue background behind me talking to someone who wasn't there." he said.
Anthony Daniels
Singer Sophie B. Hawkins displays her political sentiments on her tee-shirt as she poses at the W Magazine and Guess Hollywood Yard Sale, in Los Angeles September 12, 2004. The proceeds from the sale of fashion, jewelry and makeup from celebrities, benefits the charity Clothes Off Our Back, founded by actress Jane Kaczmarek.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Delays Start of 6th 'Race'
'The Amazing Race'
The sixth installment of the Bert van Munster/Jerry Bruckheimer reality skein 'The Amazing Race' was set to begin Oct. 2, just days after the fifth season of the show is scheduled to air its finale. Now, however, Eye execs have decided to push back the bow of the next "Race" until late October or early November.
This isn't the first time CBS has delayed the "Race." Season six was slated to premiere Sept. 25; net pushed that to Oct. 2 a few weeks ago.
Same-week repeats of "Survivor" will fill "Race's" Saturday slot in the short term. CBS also has several reality skeins on its bench -- including "The Will" and "Fire Me Now" -- that could be used to fill the slot as well.
'The Amazing Race'
In Memory
Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb, who wrote the lyrics for such hit Broadway musicals as "Chicago" and "Cabaret" as well as the big-city anthem "New York, New York," has died of a heart attack.
Ebb died Saturday at his home, said David McKeown, an assistant to composer John Kander, Ebb's longtime collaborator. The lyricist was believed to be 76, although Ebb always was "sweetly vague" about his age, said director Scott Ellis, who worked with him on several shows.
With Kander, Ebb wrote the scores for 11 Broadway musicals, many of them for such leading ladies as Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli and Lauren Bacall. Minnelli was a particular favorite of the songwriting team, and over the years, the duo created special material for the performer's solo appearances on Broadway and on television specials.
Among the other musicals Kander and Ebb wrote during their four decades of collaboration were "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1993), "The Rink" (1984), "Woman of the Year" (1981) and "Zorba" (1968).
"New York, New York" was written for the 1977 Martin Scorcese film of the same name, which starred Minnelli and Robert De Niro. The song became a standard, particularly after it was recorded by Frank Sinatra.
Together, the songwriting team won Tony Awards for their scores of "Cabaret," "Woman of the Year" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman." In addition, the 2002 film version of "Chicago," directed by Rob Marshall, won the Academy Award for best picture.
Born in New York, Ebb went to school at both New York University and Columbia, where he received a master' degree in English literature. The lyricist got his start in the theater writing for revues, one of which, "From A to Z," had a short run on Broadway in 1960.
Ebb was brought together with Kander in the 1960s by music publisher Tommy Valando and one of their first collaborations, the song "My Coloring Book," was recorded by Barbra Streisand.
The team was hired by producer Harold Prince and veteran director George Abbott to write the score for "Flora, the Red Menace," starring a 19-year-old Minnelli. The show, which opened on Broadway in 1965, was not a success, but Kander and Ebb were signed to do Prince's next musical, a show based on Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories" and the play "I Am a Camera."
Called "Cabaret," it opened in November 1966 and ran for 1,165 performances, immediately establishing Kander and Ebb as musical-theater songwriters to watch. The production, set in pre-World War II Germany, featured a huge mirror which reflected back into the audience and featured a sexually provocative master of ceremonies, played by Joel Grey, who taunted and teased the audience in song.
The team's last Broadway collaboration, an original musical called "Steel Pier" had a short run in 1997. They also did a musical version of "The Visit," starring Chita Rivera, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in 2001, but a New York engagement never materialized.
At the time of Ebb's death, the team was working on several projects including revising "Over and Over," a musical version of Thornton Wilder's classic "The Skin of Our Teeth," and a murder-mystery musical called "Curtains."
Funeral services will be Tuesday.
There were no immediate survivors.
Fred Ebb
A set of new self-sticking stamps, planned for release by the U.S. Postal Service on Oct. 4, 2004 depicts 15 different types of clouds. The stamps go on sale nationally on October 5.
