Late Night TV
Jay's Back
Jay Leno gave ``Tonight'' over to a foreign policy discussion with Sen. John
McCain on Tuesday as terrorism continued to redefine Hollywood entertainment.
Returning to the air a week after the East Coast attacks, it opened on a somber
Leno standing on stage beside a large video American flag.
In a strained voice, he recalled the ``horrible images'' from New York and
Washington and lauded the bravery of firefighters, police and those who died on
the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
``My dad used to say 'Fight the good fight.' And that's what this is, folks. We
got sucker-punched and we got knocked down but ... we will get up,'' Leno said.
Before the ``Tonight'' taping, Leno came out on stage and urged his audience to
be restrained and respectful.
He said he would crack jokes in the future, but vowed ``we won't be
inappropriate, we won't be insensitive.''
He veered only briefly into humor. It seemed unbelievable, he said, that only
days ago a big news story was actress Anne Heche's mental state.
Later in the show, a solemn rendition of ``My Country 'Tis of Thee'' was offered
by Crosby, Stills and Nash. The group also performed ``Half Your Angels,''
written after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Welcoming McCain, Leno questioned him about the background of Osama bin Laden,
identified by officials as the prime suspect in the attacks, and about U.S.
intelligence operations.
The Republican senator from Arizona added that he doubted Afghanistan would heed
demands to turn bin Laden over to face justice.
Comedy Central also has kept ``The Daily Show,'' a satirical show that runs four
times weekly at 11 p.m. EDT, on reruns since the attack. The network decided
Monday not to bring the show back live this week, spokesman Tony Fox said.
Late Night TV
TV News
Telethon!
A who's who of entertainers--from Tom Cruise to Tom Hanks to Tom Petty--has
agreed to assemble Friday night for an unprecedented telethon on ABC, CBS, NBC
and Fox to aid the victims of last week's horrific terrorist attacks.
The live event, called America: A Tribute to Heroes, will "raise funds and raise
the spirits of all who have been touched by the horrific tragedy that has struck
America," according to a joint press release Tuesday from the four networks.
Billed as "an unforgettable and uplifting evening filled with music, memories,
hope and inspiration," the event will be simulcast commercial free on ABC, CBS,
NBC and Fox from 9-11 p.m. ET/CT (it will be tape-delayed in Mountain and
Pacific time zones). In addition, the feed is being made available to all other
broadcast and cable networks and radio stations. (E!, MTV and VH1 are among
those cable nets planning to carry the broadcast. E! is also planning a one-hour
preshow airing at 8 p.m. ET/PT that will heighten awareness of the telethon and
provide a preview of what's gone into making the event happen.)
Participants will include the aforementioned along with (in alphabetical order)
Bon Jovi, Amy Brennenman, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Sheryl Crow, Cameron Diaz,
the Dixie Chicks, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Calista Flockhart, Dennis
Franz, Kelsey Grammer, Faith Hill, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Conan O'Brien, Ray
Romano, Julia Roberts, Paul Simon, Will Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Sela Ward,
Robin Williams, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young, with more likely to be added
in coming days.
Telethon
Weekly Review
Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and
damaged the Pentagon using hijacked commercial airliners. Bodies
rained down on the streets, soon followed by tons of concrete, marble,
and steel. The Bush Administration abandoned the White House. The
president was hiding out in an undisclosed location. Five thousand
people were feared dead, including 350 firefighters. Two hundred
sixty-five people died in the hijacked airplanes, including one that
crashed in Pennsylvania, possibly after passengers struggled with the
terrorists. One hundred eighty-eight died at the Pentagon. President
Bush pledged "to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this
act." Newspapers filled with stories of last-second phone calls and
emails from the doomed, saying goodbye and I love you. Osama bin
Laden, the famous CIA-trained terrorist, quickly became the prime
suspect as federal authorities identified the hijackers, many of whom
had been in the United States for years, learning to fly big jets in
Florida. All nonmilitary air traffic in the United States was
suspended. Major-league baseball and the National Football League
cancelled their games. "Make no mistake about it," the President said
in a brief address, "this nation is sad." Thousands of volunteers
rushed to lower Manhattan. Balbir SignhSodhi, a 49-year-old Sikh, was
shot dead at his gas station inArizona, apparently by someone who wanted
to kill a Muslim and wasconfused by Mr. Sodhi's turban. The Rev. Jerry
Falwell blamed the terrorist attack on the American Civil Liberties
Union, abortion providers, gay-rights advocates, and the federal
courts. It was because they had turned America away from God. "He
lifted the curtain of protection," Falwell said, "and I believe that
if America does not repent and return to a genuine faith and
dependence on Him, we may expect more tragedies, unfortunately." One
thousand prostitutes marched in Calcutta to condemn the attacks and
kindly offered to donate their blood...
[ continued at Weekly Review ]
Radio News
Over-Reacting A Bit?
Movies and TV aren't alone in reviewing the content of their entertainment in
the wake of last week's terrorist attacks. Clear Channel Inc., which owns
over 1,200 stations including seven in the Twin Cities, is circulating a list
of 150 songs its local programmers might consider avoiding for the time being.
Clear Channel managers here say the list is merely a "memo from the main
office," not something they must adhere to.
Many of the songs on the list are heavy-metal warhorses like "Sweating Bullets"
by Megadeth, "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica and a half-dozen cuts from AC/DC
including "Safe in New York City," "Highway to Hell," "TNT" and "Shot Down in
Flames."
Some of the 150 song titles "suggested" by Clear Channel are baffling.
John Lennon's "Imagine" and The Youngbloods' "Get Together" would seem to be
precisely the sort of message people might like to hear in difficult times.
Likewise, who could possibly object to Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful
World"?
Several Beatles songs -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Obla Di Obla Da" and
"Ticket to Ride" -- are also on the list.
Clear Channel 1
Do you ever think that sometimes big decisions are made while a bong is being
passed around?
Over-Reacting Radio?
List of Songs
Here are some of the other reported song titles Clear Channel suggested its
stations avoid:
Black Sabbath, "War Pigs," "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," "Suicide Solution"; Dio, "Holy Diver"; Steve Miller, "Jet Airliner"; Van Halen, "Jump";
Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust," "Killer Queen"; Pat Benatar, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Love is a Battlefield";
Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party"; REM, "It's the End of the World as We Know It"; Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House"; Judas Priest, "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll";
Pink Floyd, "Run Like Hell"; Pink Floyd, "Mother"; Savage Garden, "Crash and Burn"; Dave Matthews Band, "Crash Into Me"; Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"; Pretenders, "My City Was Gone";
Alanis Morissette, "Ironic"; Barenaked Ladies, "Falling for the First Time"; Fuel, "Bad Day"; John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire"; Peter Gabriel, "When You're Falling";
Kansas, "Dust in the Wind"; Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"; Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"; Arthur Brown, "Fire"; Blue Oyster Cult, "Burnin' For You"; Paul McCartney and Wings, "Live and Let Die";
Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe"; Jackson Brown, "Doctor My Eyes"; John Mellencamp, "Crumbling Down," "I'm On Fire"; U2, "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; Boston, "Smokin"; Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young";
Barry McGuire, "Eve of Destruction"; Steam, "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"; Drifters, "On Broadway"; Shelly Fabares, "Johnny Angel"; Los Bravos, "Black is Black"; Peter and Gordon, "I Go To Pieces," "A World Without Love";
Elvis, "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"; Zombies, "She's Not There"; Elton John, "Benny & The Jets," "Daniel," "Rocket Man"; Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great Balls of Fire"; Santana, "Evil Ways;" Louis Armstrong, "What A Wonderful World";
Ad Libs, "The Boy from New York City"; Peter Paul and Mary, "Blowin' in the Wind," "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"; Rolling Stones, "Ruby Tuesday"; Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; Happenings, "See You in September"; Carole King, "I Feel the Earth Move"; Yager and Evans, "In the Year 2525";
Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky"; Brooklyn Bridge, "Worst That Could Happen"; Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again"; Cat Stevens, "Peace Train," "Morning Has Broken"; Jan and Dean, "Dead Man's Curve";
Martha & the Vandellas, "Nowhere to Run"; Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen, "Dancing in the Streets"; Hollies, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"; Sam Cooke/ Herman Hermits, "Wonderful World";
Petula Clark, "A Sign of the Times"; Don McLean, "American Pie"; J. Frank Wilson, "Last Kiss"; Buddy Holly and the Crickets, "That'll Be the Day"; Bobby Darin, "Mack the Knife";
The Clash, "Rock the Casbah"; Surfaris, "Wipeout"; Blood Sweat & Tears, "And When I Die"; Dave Clark Five, "Bits and Pieces"; Tramps, "Disco Inferno"; Paper Lace, "The Night Chicago Died";
Frank Sinatra, "New York, New York"; Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Travelin' Band"; The Gap Band, "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"; Alien Ant Farm, "Smooth Criminal"; 3 Doors Down, "Duck and Run";
The Doors, "The End"; Third Eye Blind, "Jumper"; Neil Diamond, "America"; Lenny Kravitz, "Fly Away"; Tom Petty, "Free Fallin' "; Bruce Springsteen, "I'm On Fire," "Goin' Down"; Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight";
Alice in Chains, "Rooster," "Sea of Sorrow," "Down in a Hole," "Them Bone"; Beastie Boys, "Sure Shot," "Sabotage"; The Cult, "Fire Woman"; Everclear, "Santa Monica";
Filter, "Hey Man, Nice Shot"; Foo Fighters, "Learn to Fly"; Korn, "Falling Away From Me"; Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Aeroplane," "Under the Bridge"; Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings";
System of a Down, "Chop Suey"; Skeeter Davis, "End of the World"; Ricky Nelson, "Travelin' Man"; Chi-Lites, "Have You Seen Her"; Animals, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place";
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"; Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, "Devil with the Blue Dress"; James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"; Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein, "War"; Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Tuesday's Gone"; Limp Bizkit, "Break Stuff";
Green Day, "Brain Stew"; Temple of the Dog, "Say Hello to Heaven"; Sugar Ray, "Fly"; Local H, "Bound for the Floor"; Slipknot, "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"; Bush, "Speed Kills";
311, "Down"; Stone Temple Pilots, "Big Bang Baby," "Dead and Bloated"; Soundgarden, "Fell on Black Days," "Black Hole Sun";
Nina, "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"; Drowning Pool, "Bodies"; Mudvayne, "Death Blooms"; Megadeth, "Dread and the Fugitive," "Sweating Bullets"; Saliva, "Click Click Boom";
P.O.D. "Boom"; Metallica, "Harvester or Sorrow," "Enter Sandman," "Fade to Black";
all songs by Rage Against The Machine; Nine Inch Nails, "Head Like a Hole"; Godsmack, "Bad Religion"; Tool, "Intolerance."
Clear Channel 2
Fun Link
Oh, Go Ahead!
BC 'Sanitized'
Theater News
Broadway Closings
With overall box office down nearly 80 percent last week, at least four Broadway
shows will close this weekend, with others likely to follow.
The final curtain will come down Sunday on the revival of The Rocky Horror Show,
the Tom Selleck-starrer A Thousand Clowns, the Irish import Stones in His
Pockets and the comedy If You Ever Leave Me, I'm Going with You. (A fifth
production, Blast!, announced two weeks ago that it would close on Sunday.)
In fact, some producers say they'd shutter the productions earlier if there
wasn't an Actors' Equity rule requiring shows to give a week's notice.
The list is almost certain to grow longer as virtually every show has been
impacted by the attacks.
Crowd-pleasing big-ticket revivals The Music Man and Kiss Me Kate face a tough
struggle to stay open. Tourist-destination productions like Les Miserables and
The Phantom of the Opera didn't have many tourists to play to. And for the first
time in its four-year engagement, Disney's The Lion King failed to sell out,
filling to 70 percent capacity last week.
Even The Producers, the city's toughest ticket, suffered a bit. There were at
least 150 cancellations per show last week, Daily Variety says. Although those
tickets were snapped up by people willing to wait in line, there was also a
substantial number of ticketholders who failed to show. For the week, the Mel
Brooks' musical did about half its usual $1 million business.
Despite the troubled outlook, producers and performers have announced a benefit
next month, with proceeds going to a victim-relief fund.
Broadway Closings
New! Updated!
BartCop Astrology
Check it out at BC Astrology.
"Guitar Greats" has been set aside for now, and replaced with an astrological look at the
WTC Tragedy using various, relevant horoscopes, including charts for Manhattan and the US.
Very interesting reading!
Newspapers
International Newspapers
IPL Reading Room Newspapers
Music News
Elton John
British pop star Elton John, who is openly gay, said in an interview published
Tuesday he was too old to adopt a child at 54, but would have done so 20 years ago.
John told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet he and his partner, David Furnish, had
thought a lot about adopting a child.
``But I have come to the conclusion that it is too late for me. Had it been
20 years ago, then I would definitely have done it,'' John told the paper, in
what it called an exclusive interview.
John, on a one-day visit to Sweden to appear in a television show, said: ``I
don't want to be 70 years old when my daughter turns 16.''
Elton John
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Don't worry about the HTML, just send text, or rich text, or a Word document, photos, video, whatever you have, and Michele will take care of the rest. Don't hesitate to write with any questions you may have and bring on the recipes!
To check out 'Train Station Chicken', and more (like 'Dump Cake' & Peach Cobbler),
In The Kitchen With BartCop
Reader Response
Blasphemies and Trivialities about the Atrocities
Carl
I had been thinking lately that NYC was in for some tough times. Reason? I
thought the absurdity of packing all those people and too-tall buildings on one
tiny sliver of land had gone too far. God, the Fates, and the planet's crust
had long ago shown a low tolerance of the hubris expressed by pricking the
sky. That's why the Tower of Babel, the Colossus at Rhodes, and Nero's gold
and ivory monstrosity had such short lifetimes. The Egyptians knew this and
tried to beat the game, but, to repeat Jack Nicholson's remark in "Going South"
about a gold mine, for a long time the Pyramids have looked as if mice have
been at them.
Though I always read or listen to my news, I followed the CNN TV coverage of
the NY and Wash terror attacks, because this occasion called for pictures.
That was an experience!
Though they spent a lot of time afterward asking officials if they had any
intelligence warning that this would happen (as if, if they had, they let the
airliners through anyway!), CNN itself seemed to have lacked any inkling, and
for a while they had to depend on amateur videos.
One guy had audio on his, and when he saw the plane slice into the second
tower, he made the only comment appropriate to being totally surprised and
appalled. "SHIT!!" The first time they showed the video, CNN obligingly
left in that truly heartfelt remark. Maybe they didn't know it was there before
broadcasting. Thereafter they edited it out..
But that wasn't their only stumble in the midst of their generally fine
coverage. I suppose, in this, they share all our foibles, especially in the
face of an incredibly important and "late-breaking" story such as this.
Eager to finger the guilty parties, they named a man as one of the pilots of the
Tower planes, only to report the next day that he was alive and well and
apparently uninvolved in Florida.
Then they breathlessly said that five firemen, buried during one of the
collapses, had been dug out of the ruins alive, having taken refuge in a Chevy
Suburban. ( I could just see that vehicle's manufacturer jumping up and down
with joy!) But later they again backtracked and said that the firemen were
some of the current rescuers instead. They had fallen down a hole in the
wreckage, and while they were being helped back out, other rescuers arrived
and immediately jumped to some very joyful but erroneous conclusions.
And then there was the street reporter who got mileage all morning long out of
a couple of squashed "ground zero" cars that he found deposited along a street,
and he made a big point of showing us some long steel ribbons dangling out the
back of one, like wedding streamers, before he apparently realized that, like
us, he didn't know what they were -- or used to be. So sadly we are still in
the dark, and we absolutely ought to know!.
Meanwhile we sure saw a lot of the intriguing Paula Zahn, though she kept making
me wish for a protractor, so I could measure the angle at which she keeps her
head tilted to one side. And when she interviewed the former CIA and FBI guy,
William Webster, he had his tilted at exactly the same angle and in the same
direction, and they badly disoriented my screen. What causes that? Being
cool? Their earphones? Occasionally Webster would straighten his noggin,
though not for long. Paula was relentless. I am worried about her, and if
she has any control of it at all, I think she should treat the top of her
spine better.
One of my first questions was: why didn't Bush immediately charge up to D.C.
regardless of whether Cheney thought Air Force One was a target? Wouldn't
that have been a much better way to express what he is trying so hard to say to
the terrorists now, "Screw you!"? That's what another Texan, LBJ, would have
done. Bush's plane could have ducked and dodged. The WTC and the Pentagon
couldn't, and besides, Topgun was on the job!
How easily remarks like "End of the World" and "Things will never be the same
again" came to people's lips, and how embarrassing it will be to see that the
world has not ended, and instead all too soon things will be back to business
as usual, even as people wrap themselves in the Bible and the Flag.
Throughout history smaller countries with far less means have rebounded quickly
from much greater devastations, natural and manmade. The U.S. itself endured
an especially long period of self-inflicted nonsense -- the Civil War.
And in that vein more embarrassments await ....in a country with a huge
heartland that doesn't care all that much for New York or Washington anyway,
having long regarded both places, along with other coastal cities, as dens of
iniquity.
The commercialization started quickly. Within hours some Christians in that
ever virtuous heartland hiked gas up to six dollars a gallon, and EBay had to
call a halt to people trying to sell WTC rubble. I wonder what the seagulls
are thinking, seeing all that shattered glass, concrete, and steel being
brought to the trash mountain on Staten Island, instead of the tasty garbage
that they were formerly served? Are they turning up their beaks, unaware that
they're hopping across a gold mine?
--Shucks! The channel on the G5 satellite went dark again, after CNN had
graciously stayed in the clear for two days, apparently so that we impoverished
dish owners wouldn't miss anything. So now I will have to shell out some
dollars or face life without Paula. ...and to see what happens when the stock
market reopens. But forget that. The surest sign of normalcy regained will
be when the AOL welcome screen once more prostrates itself at the Britney Spears
altar (whoever she is)!
~~ Carl
Michael Dare
'A Modest Proposal'
There's a 1964 film starring James Garner called "36 Hours." As
written by Roald Dahl, who later became one of the greatest
children's authors of all time with "Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach," it tells the tale of an
army major who wakes up from a coma in a VA hospital after the war.
His first question, of course, is "Did we win?" He's told America did
indeed win the war, that the invasion of France was a complete
success. He says "Thank God the attack at Normandy worked."
It's all just a ruse. It's actually a German Hospital full of actors
who speak perfect English, it's actually BEFORE D-Day, and he has
just given away our invasion plans to the enemy.
Good idea. Here's the plan.
We capture Osama bin Laden and knock him out. We crank him full of
LSD and sodium pentathol and let him wake up in paradise with the 77
virgins he's expecting to greet him. Let him meet Allah, played by
Charlton Heston, but only if Regis Philbin isn't available. Allah
says "Welcome to paradise. It's time for the final reckoning. Many
acts were done in your name for which I wish to give you credit. Tell
me all you did or planned to do in my name."
And bin Laden spills the beans. We find out everything he did and
planned to do, information that would be totally lost if we just
killed him.
After we get everything out of him we possibly can, Allah pulls off
his fake beard and says "Surprise!" He's put in a cage and left in
Times Square where New Yorkers get to spit and piss on him for the
rest of his natural life.
~~ Michael
Michael Dare
BartCop TV Is Here!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot', has updated, again!
There is even more to check!
The Vidiot.
The Vidiot has been updating nearly daily!
Read all the latest.
International TV News
No More 'Adult Content' In Israel
The Council for Cable Television and Satellite Broadcasting has informed
Israel's three cable TV operators -- Golden Channels, Tevel Digital and Matav
Digital -- and satellite broadcaster YES that they must remove "adult content"
channels from their schedules by Sept. 26.
The move, announced by the Communications Ministry, is the result of a surprise
clause religiously observant legislators inserted into the 25th Amendment to the
Communications Law (1982) prohibiting the broadcast of "adult content" channels.
The amendment itself, passed in July, was intended to open up Israel's domestic
communications market to competition.
YES introduced adult channels to Israel when it launched its service in July
2000. Rival cable TV operators followed suit with other channels, including
Playboy, Spice and the locally produced Blue.
"We will find a way to offer our customers the same service at the same price so
as not to affect them," YES CEO Shlomo Liran earlier told reporters.
All of Israel's cable TV operators have made similar pledges.
But legislator Yigal Bibi has threatened tougher legislation if the TV operators
attempt "ruses" to circumvent the intention of the clause.
No Satellite Smut In Israel
TV News
ABC Says 'Enough!'
The arresting video images of airplanes slamming into the World Trade Center
won't be shown again on ABC News without the network news chief's special permission.
ABC News President David Westin ordered the ban Tuesday amid concerns expressed
by viewers that their repetition is proving disturbing.
``There is a sense that repeated use of these images is inappropriate,'' said
ABC News spokeswoman Su-Lin Cheng Nichols. ``People will remember these images
forever whether we put them on or not. It's no longer a public service to
continue to air them.''
Even last Thursday, CBS News President Andrew Heyward told The Associated Press
that his network was being careful in using the images, generally restricting
them to stories where they are relevant, such as a discussion about the
structural reasons for the buildings' collapse.
NBC News spokeswoman Barbara Levin said the footage is airing less. ``We will
only use it when it is appropriate and germane to the story,'' she said.
Some cable news networks were criticized in the days following the attacks when
the images were used as part of on-air promotions of their coverage. That use
has generally subsided.
A CNN spokeswoman also said the network is being judicious in use of the video,
but has no blanket ban.
ABC Says 'Enough!'
Tiger Wood Update
SAG & Scabs
Continuing to take a hard line against those who crossed picket lines in last
year's six-month strike against advertisers, the Screen Actors Guild will soon
name names of many more strikebreakers, adding as many as 100 to the list of
seven publicly identified and banned from the union so far.
SAG's national board endorsed the move on a near-unanimous vote last week, but
left the details of how to make the disclosure up to individual branches.
SAG's first announcements came last year after it conducted trial boards against
actress Elizabeth Hurley and golfer Tiger Woods, who were found guilty and
agreed to $100,000 fines.
Though SAG urges producers to bypass non-union actors, it cannot legally prevent
such work, so SAG's latest move has two goals: to embarrass strikebreakers
publicly and emphasize how seriously it takes strikebreaking.
SAG & Scabs
First Person Diary
Ray Berry
Ray has (temporarily, I hope) suspended 'Bush-Toons'. In its place, he has put
his daily diary of life in Manhattan since Tuesday.
Ray has great observational abilities, a way with words, and has still been able
to keep his sense of humor.
To visit & read, www.bush-toons.com
Michael Dare
'My First Death Threat'
I was working at radio station KROQ in Pasadena doing a satirical
news program on the day of the terrorist bombing of the Marine
Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon on October 23, 1983. KROQ played
progressive rock and was one of those independent stations that
didn't stick to corporate playlists. In order to keep their license,
KROQ, and all FM stations had a mandate to deliver a certain amount
of news every week. KROQ got around this by using gangs of comedians
to fulfill that purpose. There was the Firesign Theater, there was
The Credibility Gap, and in 1983 there was us, the Three Guys from
Hollywood, a revolving gang of satire fiends that usually consisted
of Richard Goldman, Robert Roll, and myself.
Our show was called Newsrag and one part of it was Musical News.
There was a time when I plugged my guitar right into the station's
board and improvised a Musical News song, live, over the air, with no
lyric sheet in front of me but the front page of the LA Times.
Newsrag was meant to be played throughout the week as mischievous
news breaks, but we wrote, performed, and taped it all in one-day
marathon madness sessions.
We were gathering our news material for the week when the news came
of the bombing. We had to deal with it. It was our lead story. I went
to a separate room with my guitar, sat down, and tried to think of a
song about the embassy bombing. I was in a room where I could hear
the station, which was playing a hit song by The Talking Heads
called "Once in a Lifetime."
"And you may find yourself sitting in shotgun shack" it started. "And
you may say to yourself, this is not my beautiful wife," it continued
to the chorus. "Watching the days go by. Into the air again. Watching
the days go by. Into the silent water." Great song.
I started singing along but with different words. Aha! This could
work.
I quickly called in the other two guys and we got right on it. We got
a copy of the song from the control booth, took it to an editing
room, and made a tape loop out of the opening instrumental part of
the song, which turned out to have only one chord and one rhythm
throughout. It worked perfectly and I started singing along, in my
finest impersonation of David Byrne's famous whine.
"And you may find yourself in an embassy in Beirut" I started. "And
you may say to yourself are those my legs over there?" I continued to
the chorus. "Watching the bombs explode, watching the bodies fly,
into the air again, blame it on Philip Habib."
We looked at each other like "can we do this?" We couldn't deny it
was funny, it was musical, and it was news. A perfect satire. Just
because we created it on day it actually happened didn't concern us.
We rehearsed a few times, taped it with the two guys singing backup
behind me, then got on with the task of writing the rest of the show.
The next day I was at home in Hollywood listening to Newsrag on KROQ
and it sounded pretty good. Afterwards, the DJ played a song, then
came back on the air saying "The Three Guys from Hollywood are not in
the Building! It was a tape. They recorded it yesterday then left.
It's just me here and I played this tape because it was on the
playlist. I didn't know what was on it. It wasn't me."
The phone rang minutes afterwards and I found out what had happened.
One of our listeners had a brother who was killed in the embassy
bombing. He didn't think our little song was funny. He called the
station and offered to come down and blow our heads off with a
shotgun. The DJ's little plea apparently talked him out of it.
So over the years I've gotten used to it, a death threat here and
there, all part of the vast parade of putting yourself out there. You
can't make bold statements without alienating somebody.
I've gotten a lot of flack for my writing of late but I can't help
myself. I was cranking out more than 1,000 words a day on my new
novel, with Helen's column as a diversion written in one mammoth
marathon session every Monday. The rest of my time was devoted
to "Hollywoodland" where I'm up to chapter 20.
Then the power went off in my computer and hasn't' come back on. I'm
suddenly on a borrowed laptop where I can't access anything, not my
bookmarks, not my private mailing list, not my quote file, and not my
novel, which I can't even think of writing without the whole thing in
front of me.
I'm up to speed. What am I to do with all this energy when I can't
work on my novel? I'm already cranked up to more than a thousand
words a day and I can't stop, especially when there's such a juicy
subject in front of me. I'm the last thing I ever expected to be. I'm
a war correspondent.
You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now, that Woody Allen was
right when he said "Comedy = Tragedy + Time." But there are things to
be said and thought right now, at this very moment, wild things,
things I'll be embarrassed about later, things that might be right,
might be wrong, things that exemplify the frustration we all feel as
the chain of responsibility in this horrible crime gets longer and
longer until it reaches right into our heart and we try to avoid that
part of ourselves that shares some of the blame. After all, what were
you personally doing to help the cause of Airport security? You
thought someone else was taking care of it? They weren't. Welcome to
the world of personal responsibility for everything that happens.
Yeah, I've gotten more death threats, yeah friends have deserted me
and asked that their names be stricken from my address book, but
others have said I disagree but keep it up. That I will.
Here are some letters in response to www.war
<<
AND PLEASE NOTE WHAT FOLLOWS!
<<
-- Maxie Rizley
From: "Gregory Pilsworth"
Reply-To: "Gregory Pilsworth"
To:
Subject: Re: [Darenet] www.war
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 08:59:46 -0400
Dear Mr. Dare,
Your reliefweb and peopledaily links do not work. Consequently, It's
difficult to verify your statements when your corroborating sources
don't work. Similarly, I think your comments about the USA handing
over 43 million are misleading. The money was given to the UN. There
are also inconsistencies in http://www.afghan-
info.com/News/US_Aid.htm site. One figure lists the value of the
wheat contribution at 32.8 million dollars. Other figures however
indicated 65,000 tons wheat , $ 5 million food commodity and $ 19
million livelihood, food security. Doing the math results in the
figure that the wheat is valued at only 19 million. It's pretty hard
to make bombs out of wheat. Which figures are correct? It was not 43
million in cash handed directly over to the Taliban.
I am extremely sorry for what has happened to you and your
countrymen. In this particular instance, however, I chose to disagree
with some of your comments. Typically, I enjoy most of what you write.
Yours sincerely,
Gregory Pilsworth
Michael,
Be careful when you say that the U.S. gave 43 million to the Taliban.
Yes a good chunk of it, maybe all of it, may have wound up in Taliban
hands, but the U.S. did not directly hand it over to that group, as
was made clear in that AP story that you pointed to as a reference.
Overall, enjoy your take on things, especially now in the aftermath
of this horrific tragedy.
Best regards,
Bill Diehl
News Correspondent
ABC Radio Network
New York
Maxie and Gregory and Bill and everybody,
I invite disagreement. I WANT you to prove me wrong. Sometimes I hope
I'm wrong. I want you to think about anything I say, especially if it
differs from some preconception filed away in your vast stronghold of
former knowledge, and I want you to see if the walls in your mind can
stand a little battering. If the walls fall down, so much the better,
your mind is now free to do what it likes, to think as it likes. When
the walls fall down, you see a little clearer. It's never bad to gain
a little perspective and allow your better nature to rule your
behavior.
I was on assignment from a newspaper to dig up Internet dirt on the
terrorist acts. I only scratched the surface and can't apologize for
what I dug up. Just doing my job, asking a lot of "what if"
questions, trying to separate truth from fiction on one hand while
smashing them together on the other.
Less than five minutes before I posted that piece, the links all
worked. If, as these postings suggest, the money went straight to the
UN, then it is the UN who gave assistance to Afghanistan with our
money. They say none of went to the Taliban? I say prove it. It
doesn't leave us blameless, just a further link down in the chain of
blame. If I were a reporter, I'd follow the money.
If something I say is wrong, if you can prove it, I can only thank
you for taking down another wall in my mind. I can take it. I'm
Superman. I'm fighting for TRUTH, JUSTICE, and THE AMERICAN WAY.
Question everything. Does anybody really believe that a group of
children, anywhere in the world, upon being told that some of the
tallest buildings on earth just fell down on top of more than 5,000
people, would respond by dancing and laughing? Where the hell did
that film clip of Arab children celebrating come from? I bet it's old
footage of a birthday party. They're riling us up for war and the
media's all part of it.
That being said, I'm changing DARENET and HELENAHANDBASKET from
announcement to discussion groups where everyone's responses go to
the whole group. Let's talk about this.
~~ MD
TV News
Suspension Of 'EAS' Tests
The government is allowing television and radio stations to suspend routine
tests of the emergency alert system this month to avoid creating confusion or
fear following last week's terrorist attacks.
The Federal Communications Commission won't punish broadcast stations or cable
systems for not conducting the required tests before Oct. 2, the agency said
Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency had requested that broadcast stations
suspend the weekly and monthly tests, the FCC said.
No Tests
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
