from Bruce
Anecdotes
Critics
• Elaine May went backstage to see Dudley Moore after a Broadway performance of Beyond the Fringe and told him, “I loved the show.” When Mr. Moore, who was in a mood for receiving lots of reassurance, asked her if she had really loved the show, Ms. May, who was not in a mood for giving lots of reassurance, replied, “No.”
Death
• British comedian Stephen Mangan started out studying law, then switched to serious acting, and finally started performing comic roles. He read many, many biographies of theatrical actors such as Ellen Terry, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Henry Irving, etc., and he says, “As a 16-year-old, all I wanted was to be living in digs in Darlington, heading off to do the matinee of Charley’s Aunt.” But he instead studied law, although at school he was around many, many “people who flipped their capes over their shoulders and said, ‘I’m going to become an actor.’” Still, when he graduated, he was too afraid to take a chance on theater, and he says that it seemed that he would become “a disgruntled lawyer, a slightly bitter bloke with the world’s largest theatrical biography collection.” However, his mother died from cancer at age 45, and Mr. Mangan’s priorities immediately changed. “From that moment, I heard the clock ticking,” he says. “You think, God, if that’s how long I’ve got, why not try and do it?” He tried it, and he succeeded at it.
• Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says, “The honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about.” For example, Mr. Seinfeld telephoned fellow comedian George Carlin a few days before Mr. Carlin died of a heart attack. And of course, Mr. Carlin made jokes about death. Journalist Tim Russert and musician Bo Diddley had recently died, and Mr. Carlin said, “I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they’ve had a crash. It improves your odds.”
• Groucho Marx got a lot of letters in his old age, but he reasoned that he got so many letters because two of his famous comedian brothers, Chico and Harpo, had died before he did. If they had lived, they would have received many of the letters. Groucho was a skeptic concerning the afterlife. Before Chico and Harpo died, they made a promise to Groucho, who explained, “They said they’d get in touch with me if there were a hereafter.” So what happened? Chico died in 1961, Harpo died in 1964, and in an interview with movie critic Roger Ebert in 1970, Groucho said, “I never heard a word. Not a godd*mn word.”
Easter
• Bob Ferguson owned a shoe-repair shop in Akron, Ohio, and his shop was notable for its window displays. When a friend suggested that he put a bunny in the window for Easter, Mr. Ferguson displayed a mannequin dressed (undressed?) as a Playboy Bunny.
Education
• Comedian Buster Keaton spent exactly one day in school. At age six, he was already a veteran comedian in vaudeville, thanks to his vaudevillian parents, and he treated school simply as another stage on which to make other people laugh. After disrupting the taking of attendance, the teaching of geography, and the teaching of grammar, he was sent to the principal, who sent Buster back home to his parents with a note pleading with them to keep Buster at home. His parents thought the note was funny, and his mother started teaching Buster at home (and on the road, since they continued their vaudeville act).
• Comedians Jimmy Durante and Don Knotts once co-hosted a Kraft Music Hall special on TV. During rehearsal, the director said that when they were introduced, he wanted both of them to walk onstage doing the famous Jimmy Durante strut. In other words, Mr. Durante was supposed to be himself and Mr. Knotts was supposed to imitate Mr. Durante. However, Mr. Durante was forced to ask Mr. Knotts to show him the famous Jimmy Durante strut. He requested, “Hey, Don, do me! I don’t know what I do!”
***
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***
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BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC TWOFER
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Ukraine: National Anthem"
Single: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: Richard Grosser
Artists Location: Sydney, Australia
Info:
Ukraine is not yet dead.
Ukraine is not yet dead, nor its glory and freedom,
Luck will still smile on us brother-Ukrainians.
Our enemies will die, as the dew does in the sunshine,
And we, too, brothers, we’ll live happily in our land.
We’ll not spare either our souls or bodies to get freedom
And we’ll prove that we brothers are of Kozak kin.
We’ll rise up, brothers, all of us, from the Sain to the Don,
We won’t let anyone govern in our motherland.
The Black Sea will smile yet, grandfather Ddnipro will rejoice,
Yet in our Ukraine luck will be high.
Our persistence, our sincere toil will prove its rightness,
Still our freedom’s loud song will spread throughout Ukraine.
It’ll reflect upon the Carpathians, will sound through the Steppes,
And Ukraine’s glory will arise among the people.
“Before the opening night performance of Verdi's Don Carlos, the audience observed a moment of silence, followed by the Ukrainian national anthem, performed by the Met Orchestra and Chorus and conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.”
Price: $1 (AUS) for one-sided single
Genre: Ukraine National Anthem
Links:
“Ukraine: National Anthem”
Richard Grosser on Bandcamp
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC #2
Music: “National Anthem of Ukraine (Metal Version)”
Single: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: DemoniacDeath
Artists Location: Dnipropetrovs'K, Ukraine
Info:
“Hi! My name is Michael, I'm from Dnipropetrovs'k which is in Ukraine (that's a country). I'm kinda musician and sort of composer. I like to create music (ranging from melodic death metal to chiptune) and I like it when people like what I create. Enjoy!”
Price: Name Your Price (Includes Free)
Genre: Metal. National Anthem of Ukraine
Links:
“National Anthem of Ukraine (Metal Version)”
DemoniacDeath on Bandcamp
Other Links:
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The TV weather guys swore it was gonna rain - it didn't rain.
ABC Allegedly Threatened
Oscars
Some controversial changes to the 2022 Oscars reportedly came about after ABC threatened to pull the plug on the telecast entirely.
That's according to The Hollywood Reporter, which delves into the Oscars' announcement that eight awards won't be presented live this year. That decision has sparked backlash, and the Reporter describes a "civil war" now unfolding on the Academy's board.
But one source claims "he was told that ABC had warned the Academy that it would cancel the Oscars telecast, via a clause in the Academy and ABC's deal for the Oscars' broadcasting rights, if 12 categories were not removed from the show." This source, a governor of one of the branches affected who says he spoke with Academy CEO Dawn Hudson directly, alleged, "We were told we'd have to sacrifice something or we were going to lose the whole show." The Reporter says the current plan, though, was "able to satisfy" ABC.
This plan as announced last week is for eight of the 23 awards — documentary short subject, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short film, live action short film, and sound — to be given out before the telecast, and the acceptance speeches will then be edited and placed into the broadcast. The change is coming after the 2021 Oscars drew record-low ratings, and Academy President David Rubin said, "We must prioritize the television audience to increase viewer engagement and keep the show vital, kinetic, and relevant."
Oscars
Slams Prince’s Estate
Morris Day
Morris Day, frontman of Prince-spawned funk group the Time for more than 40 years, has laid into his late benefactor’s estate, which he claims has told him he can no longer work under the name Morris Day & the Time.
“I’ve given 40 years of my life building up a name and legacy that Prince and I came up with,” he wrote in a social media post. “A name that while he was alive, he had no problem with me using. I literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into bringing value to that name. In fact, he booked me on several tours, and many jam packed nights at Paisley Park, under the name Morris Day & The Time. Not once ever saying to me that I couldn’t use that name configuration.
“However, now that Prince is no longer with us, suddenly, the people who control his multi million dollar estate want to rewrite history by taking my name away from me, thus impacting how i feed my family,” he continued. “So as of now, per the Prince Estate, [I] can no longer use Morris Day & The Time in any capacity.”
A rep for Prince’s estate told Variety on Thursday: “Given Prince’s longstanding history with Morris Day and what the Estate thought were amicable discussions, The Prince Estate was surprised and disappointed to see his recent post. The Estate is open to working proactively with Morris to resolve this matter. However, the information that he shared is not entirely accurate.”
However, a letter from an attorney representing the estate, addressed to Day’s attorney Richard Jefferson, dated Dec. 13, 2021 and provided to Variety, does indeed state that Day “has no right to use or register [the name] THE TIME in any form” — which presumably includes concerts and recordings — and references a 1982 contract in which Day “acknowledged that PRN Music Corporation, an entity which, at the time, was wholly owned by Prince, is the ‘sole and exclusive owner of all rights in and to’ THE TIME.”
Morris Day
Russia’s Last Independent TV Channel
TV Rain
TV Rain, a youth-focused Russian TV station often critical of the Kremlin, was shut down by state authorities on Thursday, but its staff got in one last full newscast that ended in a symbolic protest.
At the end of the night’s report, the staff gathered around the news desk. The anchors were overhead saying “no war” as everyone walked off together. The broadcast image of the empty studio was replaced by the TV station’s logo and a message asking for donations before the telecast cut to old footage from a performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake.
The Swan Lake bit was an inspired, highly-evocative gesture, especially for Russians who could recall the coup of August 1991 when, unable to actually report the news, stations simply played footage of the ballet for three days nonstop.
Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor, announced this week it was banning TV Rain, accusing it of inciting protests and disrupting the public, according to the New York Times.
TV Rain
NBC Reality Show/Competition
Million Dollar Island
You’ve heard of Survivor, right? The show where maybe 20 contestants are dropped onto an island to compete against each other in a series of challenges over the course of a month or two? Well, NBC has a new reality show in the works that makes Survivor look like some kind of a baby bullshit. Called Million Dollar Island and based on a Dutch show, the series drops 100 people on an island for 50 days, and the last person left standing gets $1 million.
That makes it sound a little more PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds/Fortnite/Battle Royale (pick your reference point) than it will end up being, though. There aren’t weapons stashed around the island, for one thing. Also, NBC probably doesn’t want anyone getting murdered so their corpses can be looted for better gear—though that thematic thread is still there in Million Dollar Island.
As explained by The Hollywood Reporter, each Million Dollar Island contestant is given a bracelet signifying $10,000. They’ll get or lose bracelets based on things they do on the island, and “when a player leaves the island” (alive, probably), they have to choose who will get their money bracelets. That means you’ll have to have good relationships with your fellow competitors, or at least make your fellow competitors think you have good relationships with them, a la Survivor master “Boston Rob.”
Million Dollar Island
Analysis
Uh-Oh
The former President Donald Trump appears unlikely to face federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss despite a U.S. congressional committee's court filing accusing him of illegal conduct, according to legal experts.
"I'm not sure the Justice Department is even investigating this criminally," said Ankush Khardori, a former trial lawyer for the Justice Department's anti-fraud unit. "That's the open question."
The republican businessman-turned-politican Trump may have committed multiple felonies in his effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, a House of Representatives investigative committee stated in a court filing on Wednesday. The Democratic-led committee was formed to investigate last year's Capitol attack by a mob of Trump supporters treason weasels who tried to block formal congressional certification of Biden's victory.
The committee lacks the power to bring criminal charges on its own. But the filing suggests that later this year it will formally urge the Justice Department to carry out a criminal investigation of Trump - a step known as a "criminal referral," said University of Minnesota law professor Alan Rozenshtein, a former Justice Department national security lawyer.
While the filing is a major development, Garland has long appeared hesitant to charge Trump, and the committee's latest revelations may not change the attorney general's thinking, Rozenshtein said.
Uh-Oh
‘Greatest Single Mistake’
Stone
In the waning days of the Trump former administration, Roger Stone railed against the outgoing president for refusing to issue preemptive pardons relating to the Jan. 6 insurrection, The Washington Post reported on Friday. Stone called the man he helped win the presidency in 2016 the “greatest single mistake in American history,” according to video footage obtained by the paper.
The footage, shot by a Danish film crew for an upcoming documentary about Stone called “A Storm Foretold,” also offered details about the extent to which the longtime Trump adviser deviant may have been involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. For instance, footage shows Joshua James, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy on Wednesday, in Stone’s room at the Willard Hotel hours before the insurrection. Stone also communicated with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes — who is awaiting trial on seditious conspiracy charges — later in January, the footage reveals. (After being subpoenaed in November by the Jan. 6 committee, Stone declined to answer questions during testimony and last month sued to avoid turning over his phone records.)
As Trump supporters traitors stormed the Capitol, Stone is seen saying that the riot was “really bad” for the pro-Trump fascist movement, yet also that it was to be expected since there wasn’t a “fair, honest and transparent election.” Stone took a private flight out of the city that night, telling an aide, “I really want to get out of here.”
In the following days, the shady GOP operative drafted — and said he sent to Trump the loser — a five-page “Stone Plan,” in which he urged the president to preemptively pardon Stone, Republican lawmakers, and “the America First movement” for charges that could have stemmed from the effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. ( Trump The unindicted conspirator had just pardoned Stone the month before for Stone’s conviction for impeding the congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.)
Trump The known liar ultimately didn’t do this, having been warned that if he did issue pardons to lawmakers, allies, family members, and himself, he should be prepared to list specific crimes. White House counsel Pat Cipollone, one of the attorneys who had Trump’s the grifter's ear, “fucked everybody,” Stone complained in a Jan. 19 phone call with a friend then imprisoned for fraud whom Stone unsuccessfully lobbied Trump his daddy to pardon, according the footage.
Stone
Hard Reality
Russia
On Feb. 23, Razil Malikov, a tank driver in the Russian army, called his family and said he would be home soon; his unit’s military drills in Crimea were just about wrapping up.
The next morning, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Malikov hasn’t been heard from since. On Monday, Ukraine published a video of a captured soldier in his unit, apologizing for taking part in the invasion.
“He had no idea they could send him to Ukraine,” Malikov’s brother, Rashid Allaberganov, said in a phone interview from the south-central Russian region of Bashkortostan. “Everyone is in a state of shock.”
The reality of war is dawning across Russia.
Russians who long avoided engaging with politics are now realizing that their country is fighting a deadly conflict, even as the Kremlin gets ever more aggressive in trying to shape the narrative. Its slow-motion crackdown on freedoms has become a whirlwind of repression of late, as the last vestiges of a free press faced extinction.
Russia
"The One"
L.A.
The mega-mansion known as "The One" sold Thursday for $126 million at a bankruptcy auction. That's a huge discount from its $295-million listing price, even with a 12% auction fee bringing the total to about $141 million.
The Bel-Air property set a record for the costliest house sold at auction, but it fell well short of the California sales record set by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who purchased a Malibu estate for $177 million in October. The most ever spent on a U.S. residence was $238 million by hedge fund mogul Ken Griffin for a New York City penthouse in 2019. Several international sales have surpassed $300 million.
The buyer will be disclosed by March 8, when paperwork must be submitted to U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Deborah Saltzman, who will hold a hearing later this month on whether to approve the sale. It is possible that the winning bidder will be a limited liability company, a legal entity often used by the wealthy to hide their real estate purchases.
The One is just the latest L.A. trophy home to end up in bankruptcy after a blitz of costly development in the region's glitzy hillside and coastal communities.
L.A.
Bell Returns Home
Paul Revere
A bronze bell cast in 1834 in Paul Revere’s Massachusetts foundry has come home — capping a nearly two-century, cross-country odyssey that saw it hauled by oxcart to churches in Ohio before languishing for decades in a California garage.
After a weeklong journey across the U.S., the historic bell was returned Friday to the site where it was created 188 years ago, said Kiley Nichols, a spokesperson for the Paul Revere Heritage Site in Canton, just south of Boston.
The museum said the 1,000-pound (453-kilogram) bell was made by the Revolutionary War patriot’s son, Joseph Warren Revere, who took over his father’s foundry in 1804.
In 1984, real estate agent Jeannene Shanks became the bell’s accidental owner. She’d helped broker the sale of what once was First Baptist Church in Vermilion, Ohio, to a fitness center — but the gym didn’t want the heavy bell, and Shanks didn’t feel good about it being scrapped. She made a $1,000 donation to the church in exchange for the bell, which earlier had adorned the belfry of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland.
When Shanks and her husband, Robert, retired in Chino Hills, California, they hauled the bell with them.
Paul Revere
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