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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
took the day off.
safe travels.
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Michelle in AZ
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Hospitality Industry
David
Thanks, Dave!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
STUPID REPUBLICANS! STUPID REPUBLICANS! STUPID REPUBLICANS!
THE BOY THAT WOULD BE SPEAKER.
THE 'JESUS FREAKS' GO CRAZY!
HOT DAMN!
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
"BACK TO THE FUTURE II" YOU FIGURE IT OUT!
"GOD'S LOVE IS CONSISTENT, AND FOR EVERYONE."
"IF THE PRESIDENT DOES IT, IT'S NOT A CRIME."
THE TERRORIST!
CREEPY JESUS FREAKS!
DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Finally cooling off at night.
Keith Richards Joins In
Apollo Theater
From Keith Richards saluting vocalist Merry Clayton of "Gimme Shelter" fame to an all-star gathering of jazz musicians paying tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the stage of the Apollo Theater was a showcase for friends stepping up on behalf of honored and absent guests.
The 85-year-old Rollins spoke, but did not play, Thursday night as he received a lifetime achievement prize from the Jazz Foundation of America, which held its 14th annual benefit gala "A Great Night in Harlem."
Clayton, one of the top backup singers of the 1960s and '70s, appeared only by video as she recovers from a 2014 auto accident that cost her both her legs. She was the first recipient of the Clark & Gwen Terry Courage Award and in her taped remarks showed that she had lost none of her range and power, singing a few lines of the old Joe Cocker hit "You Are So Beautiful" and hitting high notes in easy and rising succession.
The event began with actor-activist Danny Glover leading a tribute to civil rights leader Julian Bond, who died earlier this year. Glover called Bond a "freedom fighter" and inspiration for the "young black adults who give life" to the Black Lives Matter movement.
For much of the night, the stage was filled to capacity with jazz, rock and rhythm and blues artists. Ravi Coltrane, Donald Fagen and Jack DeJohnette were among the many performers playing some of Rollins' best known work, including a relaxed and joyous run-through of "Paul's Pal," a fierce update of the Rollins-John Coltrane duet "Tenor Madness" and the Rollins standard "St. Thomas."
Apollo Theater
Statue Unveiled
Gordon Lightfoot
On a crisp autumn day with his hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" playing in the background, a humble Gordon Lightfoot reflected on his roots in Orillia, Ont., as a lakefront sculpture of the singer-songwriter was unveiled before hundreds of fans.
"When I found out they were working on it, I thought, 'Why me? What have I done that is so great that I should deserve to have a statue, a very artistic work done?'" said Lightfoot, 76, in an interview shortly before the unveiling, which was also attended by his wife and daughter and the mayor.
Figurative artist Timothy Schmalz of St. Jacobs, Ont., created the four-metre-high bronze work called "Golden Leaves - A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot," which is at Barnfield Point, on the Gordon Lightfoot Trail.
He said he designed it three years ago and got the funding for it - it cost about $500,000 to make - about a year and a half ago.
The sculpture depicts a bearded Lightfoot in his 20s sitting on the ground and looking down contemplatively as he plays an acoustic guitar. A wreath of leaves in the shape of a giant maple leaf artistically frames him. Some of the leaves depict scenes from songs on his 1975 album "Gord's Gold."
Gordon Lightfoot
Stolen Totem Pole Returned
Tlingit
A totem pole taken by the Hollywood actor John Barrymore from an Alaska tribe 84 years ago is being returned to the village after decorating the yards of California mansions for years and being stored in the basement of a museum in Hawaii.
The 30-foot-tall carved wooden obelisk belonging to the Tlingit tribe is due to reach Alaska on Nov. 6 from Honolulu, capping a journey that began in 1931 when Barrymore took it during a sailing trip along the coast.
University of Alaska professor emeritus Steve Langdon said a book published in 2001 contained a photograph showing Barrymore's crew members loading the pole onto his yacht with a caption that he "purchased" it at the ancestral village of Tuxecan on Prince of Wales Island.
Barrymore, a screen actor and grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore, put the pole on display in the garden of his California mansion, Langdon said.
In 1944, American actor Vincent Price and his wife bought it from Barrymore's estate and installed it in their yard, where it stayed until 1981 when the couple donated it to what would become the Honolulu Museum of Art, Langdon said.
Tlingit
All About The $
ESPN
ESPN has begun removing its videos from YouTube due to rights issues surrounding next week's launch of YouTube's ad-free subscription service, Red.
Fans can go to ESPN's own websites for its videos, the sports network said Friday.
The $10-per-month Red service launching Wednesday combines ad-free viewing with unlimited on-demand music. YouTube has said that creators have to participate in Red to have their videos show on YouTube in the U.S., even on the free ad-supported side. It has said creators behind 99 per cent of all content watched on the site have signed on, including ESPN's parent, The Walt Disney Co.
Spokeswomen for both ESPN and YouTube on Friday declined to say what legal issues might impede its participation.
ESPN
Our Tax Dollars At Work
61st Time
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday targeting President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act that, like 60 other attempts before it, stands little chance of becoming law.
The measure uses special budget rules that give it a greater chance of passing the Senate and reaching Obama's desk than previous efforts, but Obama has said he plans to veto it.
The bill, which also would cut off federal funding for women's healthcare group Planned Parenthood, was approved by a vote of 240 to 189, largely along party lines.
The bill would eliminate aspects of the healthcare law that require individuals to buy health insurance and larger employers to offer coverage or face tax penalties. It also would eliminate taxes on medical devices and generous healthcare plans opposed by Republicans. But to adhere to strict reconciliation rules it allows other elements of the law to remain in place.
It would deny funding for Planned Parenthood for one year. Republicans have sought to cut off support for the group in the wake of fraudulent undercover videos that purport to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetuses for research.
61st Time
Rupert "News" Analyst Pleads Not Guilty
Wayne Simmons
A Fox "News" guest terrorism analyst pleaded not guilty on Friday to U.S. charges that he falsely claimed to have been a CIA agent for decades, federal prosecutors said.
Wayne Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, Maryland, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
Simmons had appeared on Fox "News", the top-ranked U.S. cable television news right-wing propaganda network, as an unpaid guest analyst on terrorism since 2002.
A grand jury indicted him last week for portraying himself as an "Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer" for the CIA from 1973 to 2000. The indictment said Simmons allegedly tried to use that claim to get government security clearances and work as a defense contractor. At one point he was deployed overseas as an intelligence adviser to senior military officers. He faces charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud and making false statements to the government. A federal judge has ordered Simmons held in jail, citing arrests for driving under the influence and assault and firearms convictions.
The prosecutors' statement said Simmons' lawyer, public defender Whitney Minter, was seeking a top secret clearance.
Wayne Simmons
Former Subway Pitchman Makes Payments
Jared Fogle
Former Subway sandwich chain pitchman Jared Fogle has paid 10 victims restitution totaling $1 million as part of his guilty plea to charges of child pornography and traveling for illicit paid sex with minors, an assistant U.S. attorney said on Friday.
Similar payments of $100,000 each are in progress under an August deal in which Fogle agreed to plead guilty. The funds are meant to allow the victims to obtain counseling or other assistance and are separate from any civil lawsuits Fogle could face.
The 10 payments were made since late August, and officials hope to complete the remaining four by Nov. 19, when Fogle is scheduled to change his plea officially to guilty and be sentenced before a U.S. District Court judge.
Fogle would serve between five and 12 years in prison under the deal, but the judge ultimately gets to pick the sentence and Fogle could face a maximum of 50 years.
Jared Fogle
'Right to Hunt' Law
Wisconsin
Could carrying a camera in a state park cost you thousands of dollars in fines and nine months in jail?
Yes, if Wisconsin's new "Right to Hunt" bill, which was introduced last week by Republican state Rep. Adam Jarchow, becomes law.
The bill comes in response to activities by a group called Wolf Patrol, which in recent months has attempted to document and monitor the trapping and hunting of wolves, bears, and other wildlife in Wisconsin. The group this year has focused on the use of bait to attract bears. Although baiting is legal in Wisconsin, Wolf Patrol says it attracts gray wolves. The wolves in turn have killed at least 15 hunting dogs this season.
Jarchow told Wisconsin Public Radio that he submitted his bill in response to complaints from hunters who felt Wolf Patrol was harassing them.
The proposed bill, however, would criminalize photographing or videotaping hunters, as well as what it calls "impeding a person who is engaged in an activity associated with lawful hunting." It would also cover any "acts that are preparatory to lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping."
Wisconsin
Won't Get $20M Gift
Paul Smith's College
A small college in northern New York won't get a $20 million donation from a billionaire's wife after deciding not to appeal a court decision that barred the school from changing its name in exchange for the money.
Paul Smith's College officials said Thursday that pursuing the donation tied to a name change - which drew a firestorm of protest from alumni - would be "counterproductive." A judge ruled earlier this month that the name change was not consistent with a founding bequest that required the college be "forever known as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences."
The college's board of trustees voted over the summer to rename the college Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College in exchange for a $20 million donation from Weill, the wife of former Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill.
The college was established by the will of J. Phelps Smith, who stipulated the college forever honor his father, who ran a hotel on the lakeside college's site in the 19th century. The judge ruled on Oct. 7 that the name change was not in keeping with Smith's bequest.
A school spokesman confirmed Thursday that the Weills, who have supported the college in the past, will not make the donation. But the college said others donors are stepping forward, including a family that will match up to $5 million in donations over the next five years.
Paul Smith's College
In Memory
Arnold Klein
Dr. Arnold Klein once said, "Put me next to a patient, give me a needle and I'm really happy."
To which the man once known as Hollywood's "Dermatologist to the Stars" might have added: "Make the patient Michael Jackson and I'll be even happier."
Klein, who died Thursday in a Rancho Mirage hospital at 70, was a pioneer in the use of Botox and other injectable substances to improve personal appearance. For years, however, he was better known to the public as one of Jackson's closest friends.
It was a relationship that helped cement the doctor's reputation as the go-to guy for stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Carrie Fisher and others who wanted work to make them look younger.
Jackson's friendship would ultimately prove a curse for Klein after the King of Pop died of a drug overdose administered by another physician in 2009, and it was revealed that Klein had been regularly injecting Jackson with the powerful painkiller Demerol.
Klein's celebrity client roster once included entertainers such as Dolly Parton and Cher, powerful Hollywood executives, wealthy Beverly Hills socialites and even international royalty.
Klein's favourite patient was clearly Jackson.
Rumours persisted over the years that Klein had fathered two of Jackson's three children with Debbie Rowe, a nurse who had worked for Klein and who had married Jackson. Klein denied it.
Klein met Jackson in 1983 when Klein treated him for a skin rash. He quickly became the entertainer's regular dermatologist, treating him for ailments that included the skin disease vitiligo that causes a patchy whitening of the skin.
At one time Klein owned huge homes in Palm Springs, Laguna Beach and Beverly Hills, drove expensive cars and sported pricey jewelry.
At the time of his death, he still maintained a clinic in Beverly Hills. It was closed Friday.
Arnold Klein
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