equinoctial salutations

in just-

 in Just-
 spring       when the world is mud-
 luscious the little
 lame balloonman

 whistles    far    and wee

 and eddieandbill come
 running from marbles and
 piracies and it's
 spring

 when the world is puddle-wonderful

 the queer
 old balloonman whistles
 far       and       wee
 and bettyandisbel come dancing

  from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

 it's
 spring
 and
      the

              goat-footed

 balloonMan       whistles
 far
 and
 wee

     e.e. cummings 

Apropos of nothing

I do love this song.

Capraesque

R.I.P.

Andrew Wyeth has died.

"The Master Bedroom" has hung over our bed for many years, and he was one of my favorite American painters.

Rectal Emission

"When he is inaugurated in two and a half weeks and the lame don't walk and the blind don't see, there's going to be some gravely disappointed Starbucks baristas out there."

- Tucker Carlson, former Conservative wunderkind and future housemate on Surreal Life, weighs in on the incoming administration's prospects.

He may have lost that insipid bow-tie, but he's still an asshole.

To Happier Times...

2009 - Finally

There’s an old story about a conversation between Miles Davis and John Coltrane. ‘Trane was having troubles with his band, because they were annoyed by his tendency to monopolize sets with his trademark, meandering solos, leaving little or no time for his them to do their thing. The arrangement would call for each of them to play maybe sixteen bars, and then pass it off to the next man.

“I can’t explain it,” he said. “I just sorta get lost out there. I start ridin’ the groove and I just keeps going and I don’t know how to stop.”

Miles smiled, crushed out a cigarette and replied in that raspy old voice of his.

“You take the horn outcha mouth.”

So… For those of you embarking on a resolution for the New Year, mark well the wisdom of the jazz man. Remember, sometimes a bad habit can be resolved by simply takin’ the horn outcha mouth.

Anyhoo... Happy New Year All!

Thwack!

Zbigniew Brzezinski, (about whom comedian Alan King once remarked, "That's not a name--it's an eye chart!) has long impressed me as one of the most intelligent public figures in America. Joe Scarborough, for whom it seems safe to assume the term "ass hat" was originally coined, strikes me as being, shall we say, significantly less bright.

Clearly, neither man is lacking in confidence, but when such egos clash, it is prudent to wager on the smart feller. To wit:

A Holiday Moment

A soldier returns from 14 months in Iraq. Welcome home...

From the Bin...

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

A Holiday Classic

"...the darkness sets in. George’s brother, Harry, almost drowns; Mr. Gower, a pharmacist, nearly poisons a sick child; and then George, a head taller than everyone else, becomes the pathetic older sibling creepily hanging around Harry’s high school graduation party. That night George humiliates his future wife, Mary, by forcing her to hide behind a bush naked, and the evening ends with his father’s sudden death..."

Happy Holidays!

Lest ye forget the rest of the story...

SEASONS GREETINGS!

Prop 8 Redux

To me, the Gay Marriage issue is as relevant as regulations for left-handed fishing licenses; I'm right handed and I don't fish. I did however, spend almost 20 years in San Francisco, during which time I was able to discard my standard northeastern homophobia, conclude that I am an unadulterated heterosexual, and cultivate numerous close friendships and business relationships with LGBT folks of every stripe.

Accordingly, as a general rule, I am quite supportive of LGBT initiatives, but I am often loath to endorse the tactics employed in the service of these eminently reasonable objectives. The impracticality and the obnoxiousness of the in-your-face, "we're here, we're queer--get used to it" mentality always struck me as a profoundly counterproductive means by which to persuade folks who are "on the fence" to the other side of the fence.

But to address this issue is a dicey matter, like opposing Zionism or criticizing black people, or feminism, or religious dogma. These proprietary issues don't loan themselves to open discussion--especially with folks outside the community.

Well then... Today, I happened across a certified Gay and a certified Lesbian interpretation of my opinion. So if you don't like my attitude, take it up with Camile Paglia, who says:

"After California voters adopted Proposition 8 ... gay activists have launched a program of open confrontation with and intimidation of religious believers, mainly Mormons. I thought we'd gotten over the adolescent tantrum phase of gay activism ... Want to cause a nice long backlash to gay rights? That's the way to do it."

and Mark Simpson, who concurs:

"Perhaps the lesson of Proposition 8 is not that most straight people think gay people should sit at the back of the bus, but that if you take on religion and tradition on its hallowed turf - and that is what marriage effectively is - you’re highly likely to lose. Even in liberal California."

from the bin... (Holiday Season Edition)

Shocked! Shocked I say!!!

Politicos from Washington to Chicago are unanimously channeling Conrad Rains these days, in the wake of the Rod Blogojevich scandal. The good news is, this little imbroglio seems to mesh with the rise of Obama as it pertains to the fall of the House of Jackson.

From ABC NEWS:

Sources Say Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Is 'Senate Candidate No. 5'

Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is the anonymous "Senate Candidate No. 5" whose emissaries reportedly offered Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich up to $1 million to name him to the U.S. Senate. According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich “stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Rod Blagojevich” with something “tangible up front.”

Jackson was contacted Tuesday by federal prosecutors “to come in and share with them … insights and thoughts about the selection process.”

Jackson said, “I am not a target of this investigation” and has agreed to talk with federal investigators after he consulted with a lawyer.

The son of the famed civil rights leader denied that anyone had been authorized to make payments or promises to the governor on his behalf, averring the notion is “an impossibility to an absolute certainty.”

Read the whole story here.

The Political Class

Those of us who cut our teeth on Watergate, and can still remember Mayor Daly's Chicago machine, and are familiar with the smoke-filled legends of Joe Kennedy, have observed in the 21st Century a spectacular renaissance in the realm of good old-fashioned, off-the-charts-ballsy acts of rank political corruption ranging from the appallingly successful to the extravagantly catastrophic to the just-plain-pathetic.

It began, of course, with the Great Presidential Election Heist of 2000 and cascaded through eight years of antic misbehavior. Other highlights include The post-Katrina FEMA debacle, the Abu Ghraib Scandal, a host of lurid sexual imbroglios (apotheosized by Idaho Senator Larry Craigs "wide stance" misadventure in a Minneapolic airport, and Elliot Spitzer's stunningly hypocritical dalliance with a top-shelf hooker.)

There was Duke Cunningham's actual menu of misdeeds and the fees attendant thereupon, and William Jefferson's freezer full of cash and Ted Steven's Extreme Home Makeover in the Yukon. The list goes on, but I dare say the high- (or low-) watermark for mindless hutzpah was acheived today in Illinois, the American Capitol of Sketchy Civic Behavior where Governor Rod Blagojevich, who... well... you be the judge...

Lincoln may be rolling in his grave, but somewhere, Nixon is having a nice little chuckle.

Six Weeks To Go

"I'm just a simple president."
- George W. Bush, 12.8.08

heh-heh-heh...

Please God, let Helen Thomas live long enough to receive the respect that a dogged member of the press deserves from the White House, one last time...

Double-Oh Grommit

from the bin...

Another Choice Nugget from the Non Sequitur Bin

As an '80s DJ, I always found Rick Astley to be the embodiment of what was so terribly wrong with MTV--an archetypal, second wave, cheese-monger, the likes of which were responsible for the demise of not only the "radio star" but the great American garage band as well.

That said, his tongue-in-cheeky re-emergence into a new generation of pop culture is subversively cool, strangely admirable, and kinda meta--in an enchantingly incomplete sort of way.

He also gets full credit for co-opting Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends into his gig.

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings ... which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible ...

In the midst of a war … which has sometimes seemed to … invite and to provoke … aggression … the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged … by the whole American people.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving ... And I recommend to them that … they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience … heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it … to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony [and] tranquility...

Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Keep a good thought, and hang in there.

And on a lighter note...

I've always regarded Chico as the unfairly underappreciated Marx Brother.

In addition to his mesmerizing chops at the keyboard, he was also a notoriously naughty monkey. One of my favorite bits of apocrypha surrounding his legendary carnal exploits (which has been tidied up almost beyond recognition at Wikipedia, tsk, tsk...) involves the similarly underrated Tallulah Bankhead, the famed fallen débutante of the deep south.

Chico was a guest at a dinner party to which Ms. Bankhead had been invited. Wary of his proclivities, the host admonished him to be respectful and polite to the sophisticated lady. Chico agreed, and when he was introduced, he gallantly took her hand, gently kissed it and said:

"I'da very much like to f*** you tonight."

"And so you shall, you wonderful, old-fashioned boy," came the reply. "And so you shall."

“an ethical quagmire of the bottomless pit variety”

In an effort to reduce the $5 billion punitive damage sanction against them, Exxon funded several studies that criticized such damages in principle. When the case finally went to the Supreme Court, Justice Souter "declined to rely" on the studies because they were underwritten by Exxon. Souter's disdain has evidently created a new area of law in which to specialize: the dubious relationship between money and research.

It's an interesting conundrum, if you're into that sort of thing. Read on...