'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Assist
Letterman's Top Ten
10. "This vacation is flying by -- only 33 days left"
9. "Dang, Springer's a rerun"
8. "These margaritas are weapons of mass destruction"
7. "Whoever's in charge really screwed up the economy" (lengthy applause)
6. "My God! Mars is coming right at us!"
5. "Don't worry, George. In 17 months, you'll have the longest vacation of your life"
4. "Better start making stuff up for the State of the Union Address"
3. "I'm itching to declare another war"
2. "Proceed with 'Operation Letterman.' Make it look like an accident"
1. "Sitting around doing nothing reminds me of being president"
Many thanks to Chipshodt!
Reader Suggestion
'Hell on Bangs'
The Right to Be Wrong
On the Occasion of a New Lester Bangs book, Punk Pioneer Richard Hell
Remembers the Late, Great Rock Critic
by Richard Hell
It's gotten to where just the name does it: Lester Bangs. It makes me happy.
It's like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Of course, even apart
from the guy it signified, its perfection of pure form is stunning, but what
it evokes as the signifier of the person is even better. I think of his
innocence and goodwill first, and his compulsion to talk about whatever was
going on and to figure out what mattered (starting from music) and it makes
me sorry I can't call him up. It's strange. I didn't even like him very much
when he was alive. Just five or six years ago when his biographer was asking
for stories about him I told him that when I knew Lester I didn't take him
very seriously or pay very much attention to him. That though doubtless my
distaste was partly that of the junkie for the lush, I mostly thought he was
a buffoon. Lester was this big, swaying, cross-eyed, reeking drooler,
smiling and smiling through his crummy stained mustache, trying to corner me
with incessant babble somewhere in the dark at CBGB's, 1976 or so. He was
sweet like a big clumsy puppy, but he was always drunk and the sincerity
level was pretty near intolerable.
For the rest of a great read, 'Hell on Bangs'
Thanks, Kip!
Selected Sunday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The toasty weather has returned.
The kitten handled the long car ride quite well. In this cat-wrangling household, kittens are a novelty. 'Tux' is only the 3rd one in over 12 years - and not to be too mean, but also the first really smart one.
Did the grocery shopping & picked up fresh crickets for Jo, the (remaining) lizard & Shelob, the tarantula at Reptiles Unlimited.
Going to be adding a new feature on Thursday.
Tonight, Sunday, CBS opens the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a RERUN 'Without A Trace', then a RERUN made-for-tv movie, 'For Love Of Olivia'.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN 'American Dreams', then a RERUN 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', followed by a
FRESH 'The Restaurant'.
ABC begins the evening with the movie 'Angels In The Outfield', followed by a RERUN 'Stephen King's 'Storm Of The Century' (part 1 of 3).
The WB has the weekly RERUN 'Gilmore Girls', followed by a RERUN 'Charmed', then another RERUN 'Charmed'.
Faux has the Series Finale of 'Futurama', followed by a FRESH 'Banzai', then a RERUN 'Simpsons', followed by a RERUN
'King Of The Hill', then a RERUN 'Malcolm', followed by another RERUN 'Malcolm'.
UPN has the weekly RERUN 'Enterprise', followed by the movie 'Diamonds Are Forever'.
A&E has the movie 'Heartbreak Ridge', followed by a RERUN 'Crossing Jordan'.
AMC has the movie 'Airport 1975', followed by the movie 'The Usual Suspects', then a repeat of the movie 'The Usual Suspects'.
BBC -
[7pm] 'Ground Force America' - Sarasota;
[8pm] 'Faking It' - Lady Lisa;
[9pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[9:40pm] 'The Office' - Episode 4;
[10:20pm] 'Coupling' - Split;
[11pm] 'Faking It' - Lady Lisa;
[12am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[12:40am] 'The Office' - Episode 4;
[1:20am] 'Coupling' - Split;
[ 2am] 'Ground Force America' - Sarasota; and
[3am] 'Faking It' - Lady Lisa. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'The American President', followed by 'Inside The Actor's Studio' (Martin Sheen), then the movie 'Wag The Dog'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'The Original Kings Of Comedy', followed by the movie 'The Ref', then 'The Roast Of Denis Leary'.
It's 'Shark Week' on Discovery.
History has 'Snipers', 'No Surrender: German & Japanese Kamikazes', 'Mail Call', and 'Conquest' (once again, no 'Modern Marvels'!)
SciFi has the movie 'Momentum', followed by the movie 'Alien Hunter'.
TCM presents 24-hours of Jack Lemmon -
[6am] 'Irma La Douce' (1963);
[8:30am] 'Private Screenings: Lemmon/Matthau' (1998);
[9:30am] 'The Fortune Cookie' (1966);
[12pm] 'The Front Page' (1975);
[2pm] 'Some Like It Hot' (1959);
[4:15pm] 'The Wackiest Ship In The Army' (1961);
[6pm] 'The Apartment' (1960);
[8:15pm] 'The China Syndrome' (1979);
[10:30 pm] 'Days of Wine and Roses' (1962);
[12:30am] 'The Great Race' (1965); and
[3:30am] 'How To Murder Your Wife' (1965). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Demonstrators from left, Gerald LeRoy, wearing a cardboard cutout resembling President Bush; Mila Salazar, wearing a cutout resembling National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice; and Jeff Grubler, wearing a mask as Vice President Dick Cheney, protest what they called the U.S. occupation of Iraq during an anti-war rally in San Francisco, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2003.
Photo by Ben Margot
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Commits $10M to Defeat Bush
George Soros
Making a major foray into partisan politics, multibillionaire George Soros is committing $10 million to a new Democratic-leaning group aimed at defeating President Bush next year.
Soros, who in the past has donated on a smaller scale to Democratic candidates and the party, pledged the money to a political action committee called America Coming Together, spokesman Michael Vachon said Friday.
The group plans a $75 million effort to defeat Bush and "elect progressive officials at every level in 2004," targeting 17 key states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
"The fate of the world depends on the United States, and President Bush is leading us in the wrong direction," Soros said in a written statement. "ACT is an effective way to mobilize civil society, to convince people to go to the polls and vote for candidates who will reassert the values of the greatest open society in the world."
For more, George Soros
A Polish man, nicknamed Jerzy, right, is dressed as a native North American during a meeting of native North American culture fans in the central Polish town of Uniejow on Saturday, Aug. 9 2003. About 450 fans gathered for the 27th annual meeting in Poland.
Photo by Czarek Sokolowski
Blacklisting Didn't Affect Box Office
Dixie Chicks
Whatever negative effect public relations missteps may have had on other aspects of their career, the Dixie Chicks have been bulletproof on the road this summer.
Heading into the last North American dates of the Top of the World tour, the Chicks are looking at $60 million in gross box-office revenue, enough to make them tops among country acts and within the stratosphere of touring acts of any genre.
"The bottom line is, for all the so-called controversy, this tour has shown it's far more of a media storm than a storm with their audience," band manager Simon Renshaw says. He was in Nashville Aug. 4 for the Chicks' final U.S. date at Gaylord Entertainment Center. "The Dixie Chicks' fans remained totally loyal throughout the tour."
The numbers back Renshaw up. He tells Billboard that 56 shows into the trek, the Chicks have been averaging 15,878 in paid attendance, with an average gross of $980,337. "This tour has gone exceptionally well, exceptionally smoothly," Renshaw says, voicing a consensus within the Chicks' camp.
This is the Chicks' second tour as a headliner. On their Fly tour in 2000, they averaged $524,211 per show and 12,687 in attendance, according to Billboard Boxscore. The tour grossed $46.1 million.
Dixie Chicks
New Album Launches Hag Records
Merle Haggard
Country music legend Merle Haggard has formed his own label, Hag Records, which will release his new album, "Haggard Like Never Before," Sept. 30.
Industry veteran Tom Thacker is president of the new Nashville-based label. Thacker, a former manager and producer of Glen Campbell, Ike & Tina Turner and others, worked with Haggard as a consultant for three years before the launch of Hag, which is distributed in North America by Nashville-based Compendia Music Group.
"Haggard Like Never Before" includes nine new Haggard songs and two covers, including Woody Guthrie's "Reno Blues (Philadelphia Lawyer)," which Haggard recorded as a duet with Willie Nelson. The album's first single, "That's the News," which criticizes the media's coverage of the war in Iraq, has been sent to radio.
Merle Haggard
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
26 Minutes Off
Confederate Time
We may know why the South lost the Civil War: Confederate time was about a half-hour slower than Yankee time.
Archaeologists studying the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley say a clue to the sub's sinking may come from the historical fact that the Southern navy and the Northern navy used two sets of clocks to record the time of day.
The Confederate States kept Local Apparent Solar Time as the standard, while United States naval vessels maintained the Local Mean Solar Time of Washington, D.C. The difference was about 26 minutes, officials said.
Hunley scientists stumbled across the differing clock settings while investigating commander Lt. George Dixon's gold pocket watch that was found inside the sunken sub.
In the 1800s, time of day was a local matter. Most cities and towns used some form of local mean solar time. But because of the difficulty this caused in railroad scheduling, railroad companies agreed in 1883 to a system that divided the United States into four standard time zones. This became law with the Standard Time Act in 1918.
For the rest of an interesting read, Confederate Time
George and Margaret Schattauer admire a jackfruit harvested by their grandchildren in their Kona Hawaii orchard, Friday August 8th.The family will submit the fruit to Guinness Book of World Records as the worlds largest tree fruit. Officially weighed at the Kona Pacific Farmers Cooperative, the fruit registered 76.4 pounds with a circumference of 47.75 inches. Native to Western India, the fruit spread throughout South East Asia and first came to Hawaii in 1888.
Photo by Ken Love
Contest Aims to Reward
Songwriters
SongwriterUniverse, the Web site launched in January 2001 by veteran music publisher and music journalist Dale Kawashima, has just launched its first "best song of the month" contest.
Kawashima's the site will honor and publicize the top five songs submitted to the site each month. The winner will then be interviewed in the site's magazine section, which will also include an MP3 of the winning song with links to the writer's site and e-mail address.
According to Kawashima, his steadily growing Web site/online magazine, which fronts the motto "Empower the Songwriter," now attracts about 55,000 page views per month. "If you type the word 'songwriter' into the Google or Yahoo search engines, you'll see SongwriterUniverse listed on the first page," he says.
SongwriterUniverse is a free Web site. Its magazine section features interviews with hit writers and publishers, along with music education articles. It also provides extensive music resources and a message board section. Song evaluations and individual consultations are offered, and a music store sells industry resource books in connecting visitors to A&R and publishing executives, film/TV music supervisors and music attorneys. The site's advisory board consists of songwriters Billy Steinberg, Brenda Russell, Allan Rich, Jeff Silbar and Jud Friedman.
For more, Songwriters
Gets Behind Arnold
Michael Huffington's Endorsement
Arnold Schwarzenegger picked up an endorsement Thursday, just one day after announcing his plan to replace Gov. Gray Davis.
Thursday, former Republican Congressman Michael Huffington said he would stay out of the fray and throw his support behind Schwarzenegger, who is running on the Republican ticket.
Michael Huffington's Endorsement
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Spotted on Chicago Lakefront
Rare Japanese Bird
Chicago had an unexpected visitor this week, when bird watchers on the city's lakefront spotted a rare black-tailed gull believed to have begun its journey in Japan.
The bird was spotted shortly after dawn on Friday on a city beach overlooking Lake Michigan, the Chicago Tribune reported on Saturday. By 1 p.m. local time, birders from as far as away as southern Illinois had gathered to get a glimpse of the raregull.
Black-tailed gulls, native to Japan and Siberia, have been spotted in New England and on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Experts cited by the newspaper believe recent spottings mark the first time the species has been seen in the Great Lakes region.
They speculated the bird either flew from Japan or caught a ride on a freighter. The gull was first spotted in Racine, Wisconsin on June 12.
Rare Japanese Bird
Women rowers compete during the Snake Boat Race in Alleppey town, 90 km (56 miles) south of Cochin, capital of the south Indian Kerala state, August 9, 2003. Scores of long, low-slung chundan vallams (snake boats) powered by up to 100 rowers, participated in the regatta.
Photo by Sherwin Crasto
Musical Freedom Motivates Classical Label
Alia Vox
In 1998, internationally renowned Spanish viol virtuoso/conductor Jordi Savall and his wife, soprano Montserrat Figueras, founded the Alia Vox record label out of a sense of frustration with the limitations imposed by working with other labels.
Instead of dealing with continual corporate upheaval and the dictates of commercialism, the pair chose a path that no doubt added considerably more work to schedules already crowded with performances by their three noted ensembles, Hesperion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert de Nations.
Five years later, Savall and Figueras can look upon their decision with understandable pride. Alia Vox now boasts a catalog of more than 30 titles that have reaped enormous international acclaim -- including a recently announced Latin Grammy Award nomination for best classical album for last year's stellar recording of Biber's "Battalia" and "Requiem" -- as well as worldwide sales in excess of 600,000 units.
As the label celebrates its fifth anniversary with the Aug. 12 release of "Le Parnasse de la Viole," a new three-CD boxed set, Savall sees a greater need for Alia Vox than ever.
For more, Alia Vox
Judge Detains Accused French Rock Star
Bertrand Cantat
A French rock star accused of beating his actress girlfriend to death while in Lithuania must remain in police custody there at least until October on suspicion of manslaughter, a Lithuanian judge ruled.
Rock singer Bertrand Cantat was ordered detained at least until Oct. 14 to give authorities more time to investigate the death of his girlfriend, Marie Trintignant, last week, the judge said Friday.
Judge Dmitrijus Korsakovas extended Cantat's detention beyond an Aug. 14 date first set. Speaking to The Associated Press by phone, the judge said he also wanted to make sure Cantat didn't try to flee.
Some in France are eager to see Cantat returned home to face trial. A French investigating judge assigned to the case has not issued a formal extradition request.
Bertrand Cantat
A dog listens as Alphorn trio 'Wahlen' wearing traditional clothes plays at the alp Nendaz, Switzerland, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2003. An international alphorn player meeting is taking place in Nendaz on Aug. 9 to 10, 2003.
Photo by Olivier Maire
'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
The Ark Group splits up. Steve returns to the bottom of hell, as the rest struggle through the storm raging at Kanda Feng.
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
