Behold the Master

Albert King was pretty much a guitar god. It's hard to argue otherwise.

He influenced many of the greats during my lifetime, but you can't get much better than going back to the original.

Here he is, from Sweden in 1980, performing probably his most popular song, "Born Under a Bad Sign."

Cheers.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

If this starts to get legs, it's not going to be good for the Giuliani campaign.

The Times comes out with a below-the-fold front page article this morning slamming the Rudy campaign for citing crime, economic and health statistics that are, at best, misleading. At worst, they've pretty much got to be called lies.

As my buddy up in the tundra and I have jabbed back and forth about, if this becomes part of the narrative of his campaign, everything he says is going to be held to a little higher truth standard than otherwise.

Think back to Gore's exaggeration (which could lead to headlines being created when he said that he was 'so hungry he could eat a cow') and Kerry's flip-flopping problem and the exaggerated coverage that brought him.

What Happened to Mike Gravel?

This is what happened, apparently...

Gail Collins Makes a Funny

Gail Collins must have been bumping right up against a deadline to get this in in time to make the national print edition of the Times, but thanks goodness she did.

The opinion piece is pretty much just a run-down of the cast of horses' asses running for the GOP nomination, but it has some really funny quips in it.

I mean, frankly, how can you not like an article that throws down a Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat reference? ;-)

Anyway, her little juxtaposition of where one might expect to see 'alleged' made me chuckle.

"Lately, Thompson has also been busying himself attacking the Fox network for bias against his alleged campaign."

Randy Newman Performs "Louisiana 1927"

I've been really tied up with work and life and just not in the mood to post much on the debate last night. It was kind of disgusting after a while.

So I will continue my little streak of appreciation for the music of the wonderful Randy Newman.

Here's his song, written pre-Katrina, about an earlier flood down in the Gulf. Obviously, the song enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in 2005.

I hope you like Randy at least half as much as I do...

Happy Birthday, Randy Newman!

Today is Randy Newman's birthday and I wore my special socks in celebration.

Anyway, I thought I'd put one of his more biting satirical songs up here.

Don't play it if you can be overheard or are sensitive to some vile language in making an observation about our southern brothers.

Deep Thought for the Day

I thought I'd read this somewhere before and was glad to find it's not a figment of my imagination...it came up on my iGoogle page this morning...

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

Albert Einstein

I Wish That I Had Jesse's Nerve

Race-baiting bigot, The Reverend Jesse Jackson is back at it with an opinion piece in the Chicago tabloid, the Sun-Times.

John Edwards (not Dennis Kucinich) is apparently the only candidate who cares about black people.

Nothing new here at all...just the same old time religion that's worked on some people for more than a generation. Shockingly, he waits until the last paragraph to throw down a little Dr. King on us, so his restraint is admirable.

I Could Not Write a Better Headline, So I'll Let it Speak for Itself

Thanks, Ryno...

How Long Until Matt Drudge is Openly Cited as Part of the Right Wing Attack Machine?

The Times ran an article in late October about how the Hillary campaign was learning to play nice with Matt Drudge, feeding him snippets here and there. The general feeling I got from the article was, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." I mentioned it briefly here.

Judging from what our boy in Miami Beach is up to today, I suspect the good times are about to end.

He led overnight with a link to the British rags and an article about an alleged lesbian affair with a senior aide, and has now pushed that down to make room for Obama's claim that talking to hubby does not induce a kind of transubstantiation whereby the spouse becomes a driver of policy.

Hillary will find that if she can't neutralize Drudge by playing nice with him, she'll turn him into the enemy and try to profit from him.

Eagles Featured on 60 Minutes This Evening

Taking a break from some outdoor work on perhaps one of our last nice days of 2007 here in Cleveland before Winter strikes, and I noticed that the Eagles are featured tonight on 60 Minutes.

I'm just hoping (against the impression laid out in the preview from CBS) that they don't pretend that Glenn Frey and Don Henley are the whole damned band...

Amen to That, Brother

I haven't posted enough (any?) of one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Randy Newman. This cat really has longevity and depth to what he does. You probably know him even if you don't know it.

There's a certain wry humor to most of his stuff that really catches my fancy.

Here's a cut (haha, i just had to change a funny typo there ;-) ) from SNL which seems to be from the 80s of "It's Money that Matters" and even without seeing him on stage with him, Mark Knopfler's signature guitar sound hits you like a color TV you should move.

Sunday Shows

Hmmm....FNS just started and Chris Wallace introduced Uncle Fred as someone who's "running hard" for the Presidency.

I'll have what he's smoking.

But Meet should be fun this week. Their scheduled guest list is a carbon copy of the early September lineup that ended up in Mary Matalin throwing a pen at Bob Shrum.

Giddyup!

More Evidence of Dan's Catlike Reflexes to Catch a Good Thing While It's Happening

If there was ever any doubt that I'm perpetually apprehensive about bringing new things into my life, I proved it yet again last week when I watched, loved and lamented the 2006-passing of the charming Fox show, Arrested Development.

What a treat!

I'm not sure how I tripped upon it, but added it to my Netflix list and watched Season 1 last week and was immediately smitten.

Starring former kid-star and brother of Justine, Jason Bateman, it's about a dysfunctional family trying to maintain appearances and the family business after the patriarch, Jeffrey Tambor (AKA Hank "Hey Now" Kingsley) was thrown in jail for embezzlement in the pilot.

The perfectly-chosen backdrop for everything that goes on in the series is the outwardly-beautiful, yet shoddily-constructed, model home they live in, out in the middle of nowhere. It's the ultimate metaphor.

I won't bore you with more plot lines from the show, but I'm anxiously awaiting getting seasons 2 & 3, and recommending that you do yourself a favor if you've not seen this delightful show and rent it right away.

Maybe good TV is not dead...

John Hiatt Performs "Cry Love"

I never got totally into John Hiatt, but always dug the use of the mandolin in this song...I hope you do, too!

This is from a Sessions at W. 54th performance.

The Best Little Whorehouse in...Nashua?

There have been two interesting articles this weekend about the whore like overtures candidates make when running for office. When compared to other indecencies performed once in office these examples are rather benign, but it still kind of gets my goad not that candidates will do it, but that we continue to eat it up, cycle after cycle.

The first example comes to us from Friday's New York Times. Jodi Kantor talks about the amount of unhealthy foods the otherwise-health-conscious candidates have to take in in their bid to be seen as one of the people. The paradox, of course, is that if candidates actually ate like the early voters in Iowa and New Hampshire wanted them to, they'd likely end up losing because they'd be perceived as undisciplined, overweight sloths.

The other article that caught my eye, by the AP's Phil Elliott, comes down to Rudy and Fred whipping out their double-barrels for all to see. In an effort to convince voters of...something, Thompson proudly told voters in New Hampshire the other day that he used to have his own skeet shoot, implying that Rudy apparently didn't.

While our choice of hobbies, I guess, does technically differentiate us from others, why in the hell the gun nuts continue to equate recreational gun use (whether target shooting or hunting) with one's reading of the Constitution will always baffle the daylights out of me.

It's times like these that I really feel sorry for John Kerry. While we should all rub our index fingers in the "shame on you" motion towards him for even playing the game, I really have to ask who gives a crap if the guy liked to windsurf? When we peer into his soul, would it reveal something different about the man than if he preferred shooting rabbits between the eyes?

Some Leftovers

"I Have a Vewwy Good Fwiend in Wome Named Bigus Dickus!"

I practically peed my pants the first time I saw this scene in MP's Life of Brian.

Why I'm Rooting For Hillary

Wow, I hadn't thought of the Cigar Aficianado in some time, but after this mention on TMZ, maybe I should be lending my weighty support over to the Hillary campaign...

Bloomberg Prez Rumors Persist

HuffPo has had an article up since last night detailing some foreign policy cramming sessions that Nurse Bloomberg had been going through in New York.

To date, whenever whisperings of a Presidential run come up, his lack of foreign relations experience has been the noted weak spot. He's publicly denied having any intention of running for President in '08, but folks still seem to be hung up on a Bloomberg/Hagel ticket. Hagel's retiring from the Senate and has also denied a desire for the world's most desirable office, but what's the cost of saying no until you're ready to jump in.

To me, these guys running would be the cherry on top of an already sinful sundae we're enjoying in this year's contest.

MILFy Rachel Hunter and an Homage to Fast Times at Ridgemont High

This was Fountains of Wayne's breakout hit ... it's admittedly quite a catchy tune with an equally interesting video. It's probably what brought them onto my radar, but they have much better stuff.

I'd be remiss in not posting it, however.

This Looks Very Cool

Was looking for some tunage from The Format and came across a DVD they just released...Live at the Mayan Theatre. I'm going to have to check it out and also to post up more Format in the future!

Bringing Down the House

As has been documented here, I've been somewhat ambivalent about the Plame affair to date. I think it's downright rotten what the White House did to her, but for whatever reason, I've had a hard time getting fired up over it...and less so about the actions of Bob Novak himself.

Continuing down my well-paved path of irrationality, some of this changed today when news came out that Scott McClellan's new book will indict Boy Genius, Scooter, Big Time and even Shrub himself in quite the web of deceit around Valerie's outing.

While I find something comical about McClellan being involved in a story about "outing," that's kind of where the humor ends for me. When someone this close to the Oval Office starts talking like this, nothing good can come of it and innocent slips of the tongue no longer suffice to explain what happened here.

More disgust is sure to follow on this page...

Evening Cup of Joe

Joe Walsh, who brought us such high-minded titles as Life's Been Good, Ordinary Average Guy, The Smoker You Get the Player You Drink and, of course, I Like Big Tits, is also a holder of an Extra Class Amateur Radio License and a sober alcoholic. He and the band have grown up over time and as much admiration as I have for them, I can't deny that they've softened up a little bit.

That said, here's some recent live stuff...

How Ya Doin!?!

Hey, today is one of my favorite guitar players' birthday...Joe Walsh of Eagles and James Gang fame! A native of Wichita, Joe lived up in the Cleveland area in the 60s when he attended Kent State.

I'll post up a new-ish Joe song when I get home tonight.

Down in Joe's Garage, We Didn't Have No Dope or LSD

As happens on occasion, I found myself in a Zappa mood this evening...particularly craving the title cut from Joe's Garage. There's a 1980 bootleg from Paris, but the sound was a little too distant for my liking and I came across these cool cats covering Uncle Frank.

Doesn't Dan know any nice songs?

Something That Drives Me Nuts

I was reading a characterization of something that happened at my workplace last week and my toes just curled as the writer used one of the most annoying rhetorical shortcuts I can think of.

Paraphrasing, the person wrote that, 'it was so tense in the office, people were literally turning to stone as...'

Oh really? Now I wasn't on the same floor as this person, but you can't blame me. I was dealing with the Cuyahoga River turning to blood!

One of the most notable recent practitioners of this verbal bukakke was John Kerry, by the way. The New York Times, as well as other outlets, were all over it at the time. One zinger I remember was when he accused President George W. Bush of 'literally throwing out the baby with the bathwater.'

You Better Get Tough, MoFo!

**The audio below contains a number of F-bombs**

Once Howard went to Sirius Satellite, a common criticism of him has been that he's gotten soft. He's making a boatload of money, takes Fridays off and the FCC is no longer crawling up his back. Life couldn't get better, but at times it leads to the perception that he's lost the edge that drew some of us to him in the first place.

The clip below, from earlier this year, shows that he has not completely lost it...since he completely loses it here.

His news department somehow came up with a tape of Riley Martin's contract negotiations with Sirius management before his staff was able to get the tape ready for air during the regular show.

Profanity ensues and Howard goes off on Jason, Scott the Engineer and Baba Booey.

I Thought This was Cheap Trick...But I Was Wrong

I'd seen this Honda commercial a few times and the backing vocals, to me, immediately sounded like Robin Zander and the pride of Rockford, IL, but upon looking around, I found I was wrong.

It's Electric Light Orchestra. Still a pretty cool song...

The Prince of Darkness Comes Through

Bob Novak, the so-called Prince of Darkness, comes through with a winner of a column this morning.

First, he cites several Clintonistas who are running around saying that their campaign has some scandalous stories about her top competitor, Barack Obama, but has graciously decided not to use it. In the interest of avoiding the politics of personal destruction, let's all just bow our heads and offer blessings on their little hearts for not using these stories (yet taking the time to tell us that they have them and could use them should they so desire).

He also gives more mention to the occasionally-rumoured Presidential aspirations of race-baiting Lou Dobbs. Next to BillO, there are few news network commentators that I find more disingenuous or annoying.

The Ragin' Cajun

It's a truism that intra-party (family, country, neighborhood, department.....intra-anything, really) are much more fun to watch than inter-party ones.

Checking in today, I find that it remains true and DailyKos et al are a little hyped up about it.

When I was listening to the debate wrap up the other night from Sin City, I didn't think they were quite up-front enough about James Carville's relationship with the Clintons when he gushed over them (and expressed an albeit justifiably negative assessment of Barack's performance).

It's become the standard on the financial networks to disclose holdings before making recommendations and shame on CNN for not being diligent enough in making Mr. Mary Matalin's position more clear.

Oh, You British Think You're So Superior, Don't You?

Drudge has a Financial Times story linked up this morning that previews tonight's Shakedown in Sin Town.

I love those damned British. Here are a few snippets from the article that you would never find in a Yankee rag...

• Neither question was shockingly sycophantic.
• Taken in isolation, few of Mrs Clinton’s recent mis-steps stand out as egregious.
• ...in a tactic redolent of the scripted and micro-managed “town hall meetings”...

What's Up, Beeyatch?

Over the last two years, I've really started to dig Miles Davis (thanks, Richie). On his suggestion, I picked up the Bitches Brew Sessions...recorded around the same time, but not exclusively in the BB sessions themselves.

I remember the first time I put it in, I just kind of sat on the couch and hardly moved for an hour or two. It was undoubtedly unlike anything I've ever heard before or since. I understand that it will not be everyone's cup of tea, but hey, go get your own blog if you don't like it. ;-)

The notes in the linked Wiki entry confirm that others have had the same experience I had.

Kidding aside, this is the kind of thing that just wraps around your mind and I'm betting it takes everyone to a different place. I don't get medicated myself these days, but I can see how the music can attract that crowd, too.

Take a dive into Miles

The Race Card

Two video shorts I've posted here recently have prominent mentions in a Times article this morning on the increased frequency of race-based humor in network and cable sitcoms.

I concur and applaud this development.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, which had the Black family move in with Larry and Cheryl, as well as 30 Rock, have both crossed lines unthinkable a few years back this year when it comes to making racial stereotypes the butt of jokes.

The paper correctly notes that the theme running through the gags almost invariably has to do with white uncomfortability with racial stereotypes, but you have to start somewhere.

Kudos to these shows, though, for pushing the envelope. The taboo around including all ethnic groups in the humour pool is, in my opinion, more demeaning than respectful and this is a sign of progress.

Kenneth, What is the Frequency?

I thought I'd throw down a little more REM before retiring for the evening.

It's one of my favorite tunes by them because it really shows off some nice rhythm guitar licks by Buck and it has a very clever name, although I bet Dan Rather doesn't have very fond memories of it!

Rock on.

The Season Finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm

I had no clue when I was watching the episode last night that it was the season finale.

What a bummer because it was so damned funny!

Well, the scene with Larry feigning retardation in this episode honestly had me covering my eyes and laughing at the same time, but I am glad that LD hooked up with Ms. Black.

We can only hope that they brings the ruckus back back next season.

I'm stuck show-less now and might get a chance to catch up on some reading.

For now, don't me a Mopey Dick. Enjoy this little compilation from the finale that I came across.

Pervy Bush

This can't be the most original set of thoughts that I've ever come up with, but my lack of citations here is only because I haven't done enough reading lately to find more credible folks making the same point.

Disclaimer out of the way, the Bush Administration's indignation at the recent declaration of emergency in the perennially dysfunctional nation would be comical were the region not such a tinderbox.

While I guess there are a lot of things that clearly reside on opposite sides of the morality line but can still be reduced to a matter of degree, the President is really stretching any remaining benefit of the doubt they might have in complaining about Pakistan.

Really, what has the guy done that's so different from what happens over here. He begins with the real fact that there are some bad people around who want to cause havoc in the country and abroad. From there, he spins a bullshit story that existing legal standards need to be temporarily suspended so that he can protect the populous from them. He gets all sweaty on television telling us that this is the only way to avoid the dangers that lurk next door and he doesn't give a clear date to end this nonsense.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think that Bhutto is the Asian Virgin Mary, but the whole thing just has me scratching a nasty rash into my veil-covered head.

CNN...The First Name in Cable News

I think next spring, CNN will be asking if the Easter Bunny really exists....thanks for the note, GB....

Let's Leave Mothers Out of This and I'll Leave This Out Of...

Team McCain caused a little stir over the weekend when the canidate was being interviewed with mom on MSNBC. She had some rather interesting (and perhaps not all that statistically-uncommon) opinions on how the Mormons in SLC ran the Olympic bidding process.

I just found the whole thing kind of amusing and was reminded of the interview Connie Chung did of Newt Gingrich's mom in the 90s when she was coaxed into whispering into Maury's wife's ear what she really thought of Hilary Clinton.

Rhymes with witch...

Mexican Americans...They Like White Girls Named Debbie, Too

It's too bad Cheech decided to go straight and turn his back on his part in one of the great comedy duos of all time.

Well, we can still look back at his "protest tune" from Cheech and Chong's Next Movie.

Man Tan Williams Coming to Cleveland

Brian Williams and the NBC Nightly News is coming to Cleveland today to produce a segment, to be broadcast tomorrow, on the Cleveland Clinic, which is a medium-distance walk or a short drive from where I live.

They're highlighting its status as one of the world's premier medical research facilities and what a huge chunk of our local population the CCF employs. According to the Plain Dealer, he should be staying in town and broadcasting from the Flats tomorrow night.

I might just have to tune in!

Snap Shots Installed on Site

Came across a cool functionality to add to the site. You should now see, when you hover over external links, a little preview of the site/page pop up for you. While the advertisements are something I could do without, they are relatively unobtrusive, so I can live with it. LMK if you find it annoying or not working properly. You can opt out of it on the top corner of a pop-up if you so choose.

Go Brownies.

The Only Funny Thing About the Pakistani Situation

Maybe I am the only one goofy enough to find phonetic funniness in the fact that the biggest three players in the current power struggle in Pakistan are named:

Pervez
Bhutto
and Ashfaq

Hillary Appleseed

The claims behind the stories starting to pick up steam this week, that the Clinton campaign has actively been planting questions in the crowds, are not surprising to anyone with a lick of sense.

And I possess not a shred of doubt that hers is the only one who pulls these kinds of monkeyshines.

I guess I just find it funny first because it's her.

I'm one of those people who just takes so much glee in seeing the Clintonistas get slipping on the floor in their own feces. The secondary reason it's funny to me is that "listening tour" and "a conversation" were how she characterized both her original Senate campaign and then her foray into the Presidential waters last winter.

Other candidates go out with the express goal of speaking to the people about their vision, but Hillary went through pains to make us believe that she's presumably being molded by what folks are telling her.

Oh well....Barack is on MTP for the full hour today.

A Bittersweet Song

I saw Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited a few weeks back and it easily met my high aspirations.

As usual, the cinematography reflected both an intense focus on details and a desire to feed his audience the visual equivalent of pop rocks. The other standard you can count on is a kickass soundtrack and that, too, was delivered.

I'll grab another track or so at some other time from the movie, but I did want to post up Peter Sarstedt's beautiful "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)"

This was featured in the short, shown before the movie (and available for free on iTunes), Hotel Chevalier as well as in the feature presentation.

To bring the testosterone level back up from subzero levels, I may have to post some hardcore pornography or Motorhead music, so be warned.

I've Got Friends in High Places

We know that former NYC Top Cop and Giuliani confidante, Bernie Kerik was indicted on as series of charges in the Empire State the other day.

Understandably and predictably, he's set up a legal defense fund for himself.

The amusing and interesting thing to me (and HuffPo which has this as their splash this morning) is the theme they chose with the pictures. All over the site are pix of him with Mayor Guiliani, GeeDub and L. Paul Bremer, as well as Kerik walking around doing security in Iraq.

While these relationships and events probably are high points in his public life, they're hardly beacons of success and only sure to draw in the nincompoops who didn't need the pix anyway to believe the lie that he's being picked on.

The New York Times Editorial Page Gets it Right?

I had to check and see what my coffee was laced with this morning as I nodded my head in agreement with the Times editorial staff.

Lamenting the current writers' strike in Hollywood, they rightly point out that the last strike was a catalyst in the growth of "reality TV" shows. I, along with their page, hope that we are not led down a similar path again!

Larry David....Ass Man Extraordinaire

This is one of the funniest sequences ever on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Here's hoping the season is already written now that the writers seem to really be digging in on the strike.

The Internet Has Everything

You can order books, my favorite pizza, truffles, and a Polish bride just as soon as you get rid of your current one!

More Queen...With a Twist

I had been in the mood to post up some Queen that I liked the other day and came across something hilarious and fascinating. I think I've heard something about the dancing Filipino prisoners at some point, but I guess they're quite the internet phenom. They got their 'start' with a production of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" but I prefer this late-Queen cut of "Radio Gaga."

Have a good day!

The Important Observance Today

Today is a big holiday in some circles, I guess....it's Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day.

Hmmm...

I'm not much of a fan of the spicy foods, but a friend of mine who works in our Texas office sent me up her favorite chili mix recently. Perhaps I'll throw that in the pot tonight....

Richard Pryor on the Mafia

I remember vividly the first time I heard Richard Pryor do his 'working for the mafia' bit.

I had just picked up a compilation of his album releases, was listening to it in the coche on the way home and had to pull over because I was laughing so hard.

The man was a damned genius.

The Second Oldest Profession

Ronald Reagan used to have a line to the effect of, 'They say that politics is the world's second-oldest profession, but the longer I'm in it, the more I understand its similarities to the oldest.'

No reasonable person can argue that people running for office, particularly the highest office in the land, have to whore themselves out, but Giuliani's Robertson endorsement really puts the nail in the coffin.

I don't have a particularly hard time dealing with rational people of faith who like to speak about their faith publicly. I don't mind that they argue for, for instance, public support of religious-based organizations offering certain social services. While I am no legal scholar, I think it's hard to justify Medicare payments to religious hospitals or student loans to people attending religious colleges. Reasonable people can disagree on these points and it's worth at least debating.

But Robertson is an outright nut. His decision to demonize members of our society and encourage assassination of foreign heads of state, while cloaking it in religion, sickens me.

He has every right to his opinions and to mobilize his flock to vote in lock step with him.

But I really get turned off by the pols who kiss his holy ass.

Unfortunately, this was a big power grab for the Rudy campaign and it's going to pay off for him big time.

Now I'm off to search on Monster for jobs in Canada.

Great, This is Just the Allegiance We Needed!

this is pretty sickening....

Now Where Did They Come Up With Their Name Again?

Queen, in the delightful video (not all that well-received in the States, however) for "I Want to Break Free."

Thank Goodness for CNN

clipped from www.cnn.com Disappearance of cop's fourth wife suspicious, relatives say

Interesting Little Firefox Plug-In

Just trying out Clipmarks to see how it works in posting straight to the blog. This clip is from Rolling Stone's National Affairs Daily.

clipped from www.rollingstone.com 11/5/07, 1:48 pm EST When In Last Place, Gay Bash Politics as usual for the Kentucky GOP; listen to Pat Boone’s anti-gay robocall. Earlier, Pat Boone’s Folsom Street phase: UPDATE: How low will they go: Here’s another robocall, this one purporting to be from the Homosexual Lobby itself, endorsing Bashear. -- Tim Dickinson More National Affairs, Gay Marriage

>> Yep, that tool is pretty neat. I'm adding this comment post-post, but clipmarks is very useful. Once you install it and you are on a site w/ interesting content, you just click the app on, float over what you want and clip it. Then you have the option of saving it for yourself, emailing it, or in this case posting it to a blog. In the past, pulling content from a site like that would be kind of a pain and would not bring along clickable links as I did above. I downloaded, installed and posted this to the blog on my first try, all in like 2 minutes. Thumbs up.

What a Sad Day

The Chicago WCKG that I grew up on has lost its way. First they abandoned the classic rock format for a talk station anchored by Steve Dahl. Now they changed formats as of this week for this format.

Icky....I pray for its quick failure.

Random Question

Before Heather would agree to marry him, did Sir Paul McCartney go down on one knee?

I Have No Self Control

Don't feel like posting much that requires too many brain cells, but with the King Tut stories in the news the last few days, I just couldn't resist the opportunity to throw this out there.

Who knows how long it will be until the next time it's even mildly relevant...

The Only Thing That Got (Him) Off Was Breaking All the Rules

"James Dean" was always one of my favorite Eagles songs. They really get to show off what made these guys gods of 70s rock. It's a shame it doesn't get as much play as lesser-songs like "Tequilla Sunrise," but what the hell are you going to do.

Fall is finally setting in here in Cleveland...blowing rainstorm coming in out the window.

Enjoy this live cut from Houston in 1977.

Perez Hilton Made Me Laugh

With this post.

Blackbirds: Satis est Satis

Loyola University Chicago, my alma mater, has found itself leading the Sun-Times news this evening.

It seems that their literary magazine, Diminuendo, had some kind of a racy drawing on the front cover and the Society of Jesus decided that they'd had enough...the issue has been pulled.

This is such a run-of-the-mill story that it's not worth my having a very strong opinion on, but looking back on some of our adventures during those days (none of which landed us on the front page of the city's blue collar paper, mind you), it's good to know that the students there still have some, uh, spunk in them.

I'll be keeping an eye on The Phoenix for the rest of the story.

Go Ramblers!

Play of the Week...Barack Obama

The Junior Senator from Illinois seems to have had the best week of all the candidates.

Not only was he able to tag-team with Superfly Edwards the other night against Hillary Clinton and let her walk right into self-caused clothesline, but he got to deliver the famed, "Live from New York...It's Saturday Night!" last night on NBC.

The skit itself is actually kind of clever and amusing, so give it a watch if you've not already checked it out.

More Sunday-Appropriate Music

Johnny Cash and countless others have performed "Run On" but I really dig it when the Blind Boys of Alabama crank it out.

Jack Kevorkian Memorial 5K Funeral Run

Another marathoner, this time an elite Olympic hopeful, has kicked the bucket during a a case of the runs.

The US was holding its Beijing team trials the day before the famed New York City Marathon today and 28 year old Ryan Shay dropped dead at the 5.5 mile mark of the race. An autopsy is pending.

This comes after another runner died a few weeks back at the unseasonably-warm Chicago marathon.

I get that these two deaths fall well inside the expected norms when we talk about the number of people participating in this nonsense.

But, I couldn't help remembering the tragic irony of old Jim Fixx, once the high priest of the running religion...who also died of a massive heart attack out on a training run.

Larry King Is Such an Idiot

While I do love the show, Seinfeld, after watching enough Curb Your Enthusiasm (which doesn't have Jerry's involvement), I think it's clear where the genius really is.

I've always found Seinfeld, outside his role on the show, to be quite a bore.

But I have to hand it to him for handing Larry King's nonsense right back to him the other day.

Notre Dame / Navy 3OT

One thing I really like about Sirius Satellite is that they have such a wide offering of NFL and college sports. I don't have the patience or interest to sit in front of the TV to watch a full game, but if I'm putzing around the crib, I've found myself listening to a lot of football this year.

So I'm getting caught up in (what is now) a triple overtime Notre Dame-Navy game in South Bend. The Irish are in serious danger of blowing their 43 year winning streak against the Midshipmen.

But with as piss poor as these teams are, it kind of struck me that getting fired up about this game is about as silly as it would be to get excited about a wrestling match between these two titans...

(Yes, I know I'll burn in hell for this one...)

Neil Sedaka Performs "Calendar Girl" with Chris and Adam from Fountains of Wayne

I was browsing around, trying to stash away some stuff by one of my favorite bands, Fountains of Wayne, and stumbled upon something absolutely charming.

It's Neil Sedaka at some club in New York, singing "Calendar Girl" with FOW's Chris and Adam doing backup vocals.

What a treat!

Playing With the Queen of Hearts

I've been really tied up and without much time for posting, but I did notice today that Barack Obama is not backing off the Junior Senator from New York.

He's now chiding her for playing the gender card after a rough debate performance the other night.

He's specifically referencing her speech the other day, cheerleeding women to rally behind her against "the boys club of presidential politics."