Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Can It Happen Here? (nytimes.com)
The history of the pursuit of universal health care in America is one of missed chances.
Michael Jensen: "The Pundits Speak: Keith Olbermann and other traditional journalists on gay issues" (afterelton.com)
The traditional media discuss the 2008 campaign.
Colleen M. Lee: Is Missy Higgins Gay? (curvemag.com)
This songstress from Down Under wowed Australia last year with her best-selling album, On a Clear Night, and now she's got flocks of lesbian fans following her tours in the United States. Find out what keeps her humble, where her music is going next and whether she's thinking about hooking up with a Yank.
Trish Bendix: Amy Ray Takes Your Questions (afterellen.com)
The legendary musician answers questions from AfterEllen.com readers.
Kelly Rulon: "Malea McGuinness: Exclusive Interview" (curvemag.com)
As a trained opera singer she showed off her pipes in The King and I on Broadway, but Malea McGuinness left the acting stage and New York behind to pursue music in Los Angeles. Her latest album, True Believer, is a tribute to her favorite bands from the '60s and '70s.
Dorothy Snarker: NOT EVIL, NOT SKANKY, NOT EVEN KIND OF GAY (scroll down; afterellen.com)
Oh, Buffy. I miss you still. This week a promo clip from the never-completed Buffy the Vampire Slayer animated series was leaked onto the web. The show would have been set back when Buffy and the Scoobies were still in high school. This means Willow wasn't yet the lesbian witch we've all come to know, love, be frightened by and love some more.
Christie Keith: "Renee O'Connor saves the world (again)" (afterellen.com)
In need of a Renee O'Connor fix? I know I am, which is why I'll set aside my usual aversion to monster movies and tune into the SciFi Channel's Monster Ark this Saturday night at 9 p.m. And it's also why I turned up bright and early for a phone interview with Renee Wednesday morning, where she talked about the film, working with Xena co-star Lucy Lawless in the film Bitch Slap, and of course, how she feels about all of us at AfterEllen.com.
The Monday Or Thursday Poll
The Current Question
The current question:
What was your favorite Bernie Mac genre?
A. His 'stand up' comedy routine ala 'The Original Kings of Comedy'
B. His movie roles (Ocean's Eleven and sequels, Bad Santa, Booty Call, Mr. 3000, Guess Who?.. et al)
C. The Bernie Mac Show
BadtotheboneBob
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Fresh poll questions appear on Monday and Thursday, with Monday's results on Thursday, and Thursday's results on Monday.
What is a Pygmy Blue?
Charlie responded:
Reader Comment
Re: Ouija Boards
Hope this image comes through, Marty
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and pleasant.
TCM features 24 hours of
Peter Lorre
Major Design Overhaul For Magazine
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone magazine unveiled plans on Monday for a major design overhaul, scaling down its signature large-format pages to a more traditional magazine size in a bid to bolster sagging newsstand sales.
The U.S. pop culture magazine will end the oversized look that for more than 30 years has distinguished it from rival publications starting with an issue set to hit newsstands on October 17.
Officials with Wenner Media, the magazine's publisher, said Rolling Stone's circulation has grown to an all-time high of more than 1.5 million.
But single-copy sales on news racks slumped to 115,644 for the first six months of 2008, down from 142,062 for the last six months of 2007, the company said.
The company expects the new format will boost single-copy sales because in the past the magazine's size has proved somewhat unwieldy for retailers to prominently display.
Rolling Stone
Dylan's Wife's Diary
Caitlin Thomas
In the final hours of Dylan Thomas' life, his wife, Caitlin, according to lore, allegedly stormed in and demanded to know if the celebrated Welsh poet - who she described as the "bloody man" - was dead yet.
But like most marriages, it appears there was a different side, and in a diary that is now for sale, Caitlin Thomas wrote sadly about her dead husband.
"Oh God, oh Dylan, it must be cold down there; it is cold enough on top, in November: the dirtiest month of the year that killed you on the ninth vile day. If only I could take you a bowl of your bread, and milk, and salt, that you always drank at night, to warm you up," the diary says, according to notes provided by a London rare book dealer who is selling the collection.
The couple met in a London pub in 1936 and married a year later. Dylan Thomas died in New York on Nov. 9, 1953. Caitlin Thomas died in 1994.
Caitlin Thomas
Reruns On RFD-TV
`Hee Haw'
Reruns of the old cornpone comedy-variety show "Hee Haw" are coming back.
The one-hour programs will air at 8 p.m. Eastern time each Sunday beginning Sept. 7 on cable's RFD-TV, which bills itself as "rural America's most important network."
RFD, based in Omaha, Neb., with production facilities in Nashville, has been on the air since December 2000 and is available in 35 million homes. Its programming includes livestock auctions, tractor pulls, rodeo events, cooking shows and variety programs. It also simulcasts "Imus in the Morning" featuring radio personality Don Imus.
`Hee Haw'
New Home, New Album, Old Religion
Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell, Baptist-raised country star, who says he once confused "menorah" with "manure," displays a Jewish candelabrum on the mantel, and a Hebrew book sits on the coffee table.
Adding to the cross-cultural confusion, the Rhinestone Cowboy soon breaks into a plaintive cry, "Jeee-esus ... Help me find my special place." His German Shepherd joins in on the last bit.
It's not a hymn or a prayer. It's a line from an old song by the 1960s rock band the Velvet Underground. "Jesus" appears on the semi-retired singer's first album in 15 years for Capitol Records, the wryly titled "Meet Glen Campbell" (August 19), in which the 72-year-old singer covers tunes by the likes of U2, Green Day, John Lennon and the Foo Fighters.
Amid the jarring juxtapositions, Campbell reveals that he and his wife, Kim, attend the local synagogue every Saturday and celebrate Jewish holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah, as well as Christmas. Kim cooks a mean brisket but is still working on her matzo balls. And grape juice subs for Manischewitz in the alcohol-free household.
For two decades, the Campbells have been adherents of Messianic Judaism, a religious movement whose members regard themselves as committed Jews but are rejected by mainstream Jewish denominations as following an essentially evangelical Christian theology.
Glen Campbell
Another Week, Another Lawsuit
Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon is being sued by another creditor. Westmoore Lending of Huntington Beach, Calif., sued McMahon for more than $275,000 it says the pitchman and former "Tonight Show" sidekick owes from a 2006 loan.
A growing number of creditors say McMahon and his wife Pamela owe them money. The other actions have targeted debts incurred for the couple's Beverly Hills home, prescription drugs, credit card debt and attorneys' fees for his daughter's divorce.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court does not specify what the McMahons borrowed the money for, but claims they defaulted on the loan in early 2007.
Ed McMahon
Sues Universal Over Digital Royalties
Allman Brothers Band
Members of The Allman Brothers Band sued UMG Recordings for more than $10 million on Monday over royalties from compact discs sales and digital downloads services such as Apple's iTunes.
The lawsuit seeks payments from the sale of some of the U.S. Southern rock group's songs recorded for its first label, Capricorn Records, from 1969 to 1980 when the band enjoyed such hits as "Jessica," "Ramblin' Man" and "Midnight Rider."
Band members Greg Allman, Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson, Butch Trucks and Dickey Betts were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said UMG "refuses to pay Plaintiffs at the correct royalty rate for its digital exploitation of the Capricorn Masters," including from compact discs, digital downloads and ringtones.
Allman Brothers Band
Found In Collection
Stolen Art
The FBI says pieces from an extensive art collection found in the New York home of a dead dealer were stolen in the 1960s and '70s.
Investigators said Monday that at least 20 works of art in William Kingsland's collection were stolen.
They aren't sure whether he had anything to do with the thefts.
One of the stolen works, a bust by Alberto Giacometti, is valued at about $1 million.
Stolen Art
Cancels Flights Over Volcanic Ash
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines canceled 41 flights by early on Monday because of a towering plume of ash created by the eruption of a volcano last week, the airline said.
The cancellations began Sunday evening and affected flights between Alaska and Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Colombia, the airline said in a statement.
The ash was created by the eruption of Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian Islands on Thursday.
The airline also issued a travel advisory on its Web site that said volcanic ash cloud could affect Anchorage, Fairbanks and southeastern Alaska destinations.
Alaska Airlines
Auctioned For $910 In Japan
Ruby Roman Grapes
A new variety of premium grapes debuted in Japan on Monday, with a single bunch fetching as much as $910.
A Japanese hotel manager paid that amount, or about $26 per grape, for a 1 1/2 pound (700-gram) bunch of the Ruby Roman grapes to serve guests at an upscale hotel, officials said.
The tomato-colored grapes made their debut at an auction in Japan's northwestern Ishikawa prefecture, where they have been under development since 1994 in a state-led project.
The bunch that fetched the top price had about 35 grapes, each slightly smaller than a pingpong ball, local agricultural official Hirofumi Isu said.
Ruby Roman Grapes
The Evil That Men Do
Protected Species
Parts of the Endangered Species Act may soon be extinct. The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.
New regulations, which don't require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have been performing for 35 years, according to a draft first obtained by The Associated Press.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late Monday the changes were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a "back door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.
The draft rules would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.
The new regulations follow a pattern by the Bush administration not to seek input from its scientists. The regulations were drafted by attorneys at both the Interior and Commerce Departments. Scientists with both agencies were first briefed on the proposal last week during a conference call, according to an official who asked not to be identified.
Protected Species
A Turd In The Wind
'Complex S(expletive..)'
A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again, the museum said Monday.
The art work, titled "Complex S(expletive..)", is the size of a house. The wind carried it 200 metres (yards) from the Paul Klee Centre in Berne before it fell back to Earth in the grounds of a children's home, said museum director Juri Steiner.
The inflatable turd broke the window at the children's home when it blew away on the night of July 31, Steiner said. The art work has a safety system which normally makes it deflate when there is a storm, but this did not work when it blew away.
'Complex S(expletive..)'
In Memory
George Furth
George Furth, an actor and playwright who wrote the book for the innovative Stephen Sondheim musical "Company," died Monday. He was 75.
"Merrily We Roll Along," based on a play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, was the duo's second musical collaboration. The 1981 show, which told its showbiz story in reverse chronology, closed in two weeks. Yet Sondheim's score remains a favorite of musical-theater buffs, and revised versions of "Merrily" have been done in various regional theaters as well as in London.
Furth began his career as an actor, appearing on Broadway in such short-lived productions as 1961's "A Cook for Mr. General" and the Judy Holliday musical "Hot Spot" in 1963.
As a playwright, Furth had several solo Broadway productions, most notably "Twigs" (1971), a comedy which won its star, Sada Thompson, a best-actress Tony. Directed by Michael Bennett, it told the story of four women, all members of the same family and all played by Thompson.
Among Furth's other Broadway efforts were the book for the John Kander-Fred Ebb musical "The Act" starring Liza Minnelli (1977) and two other plays, "The Supporting Cast" (1981) and "Precious Sons" (1986).
Furth also acted in movies including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Myra Breckinridge," "Airport '77" and "Shampoo," as well as countless TV comedies.
There were no immediate survivors.
George Furth
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