A Good Take on the Bush disaster

Sorry, I forgot my camera today when I went skiing, so you'll have to wait for those photos. It was, however, an epic day of skiing.

I know there are dozens of articles and columns about what a disaster the last eight years have been, but this one by Bob Herbert, does the job without requiring pages of reading. Amen, Bob.

~ Tom

Still here...

I haven't had time to blog lately -- holidays, relatives in town, and all that jazz.

Now I am up at our place at Tahoe Donner through Sunday. Had a lovely day of skiing today at Squaw Valley. I'll try to remember to take my camera tomorrow and give you some breathtaking shots.

Happy New Year to you all.

Tom

Genre vs. "predictability"

A couple of days ago, we watched the DVD version of "Chaos Theory," a great little film that is basically a romantic comedy, with a dash of "Heathers" dark comedy thrown in. I actually enjoyed Chaos Theory even more than "Definitely, Maybe," which I blogged about recently, or "Love & Sex," which Michael Lally praised.

In this frame of mind, I went to Metacritic to read the reviews, after-the-fact, and was surprised and a little disappointed at a lot of the criticism leveled at Chaos Theory. The synthesis of the criticism was that it was too predictable, and that we all knew what was coming next, etc. I disagree, because there are some great plot twists in the movie, including a HUGE one, but even assuming the criticism is all true, so what! Romantic comedies, like most other movies in a so-called genre, ARE predictable to a large extent. That's why we watch them when we are "in the mood" for a certain type of movie. If this weren't the case, it would be like going to a sushi restaurant and finding only Yankee Pot Roast on the menu. Or going to a Springsteen concert where Bruce played only Country & Western songs of the most treacle sort. Or, buying a book by your favorite mystery writer and finding out that it was a dry, historical novel about the Mormons settling in Utah.

Anyway, don't believe all the reviews. If you want a nice entertaining evening, rent Chaos Theory and sit back with a big bowl of popcorn. I predict that you will thoroughly enjoy the predictable.

~ Tom

Metheny on Kenny G.

When you have been a jazz fan as long as I have (from about age 14 and still going strong at 64), you run into some perplexing moments when you interface with people who are quite decent, but don't know much about jazz. In their attempt to mesh with me they often mention Kenny G as one of their favorites. Early on in this process (but not for long), I would mount my high-horse and dump all over Kenny G., who deserves it [see below]. But the result would be that the well-meaning person would be visibly hurt or want to get in an argument. This problem would also arise when I would be in a group of unfamiliar people and tell my favorite Kenny G. joke:

What's the difference between Kenny G. and and Uzi? Kenny G. repeats more.

After telling the joke, someone would either come to G's defense or I would be told later by a third party that Kenny was so-and-so's favorite "jazz" musician, and that he/she had really been offended by my joke.

So, now days, if someone mentions Kenny G., my response is always something like, "That's interesting. If you enjoy that, you might also enjoy John Coltrane's version of 'My Favorite Things.' "

Well, much to my amazement, I ran across this incredibly cogent, wise and fearless rant by Pat Metheny on Kenny G. I've seen Pat in live performances many, many times with all kinds of fabulous and differing jazz musicians, and if anyone has the "street cred" to blast Kenny, it's him. If you are a jazz fan and not at all fond of Kenny G. and what he represents viz a viz the world of true jazz, please read this article. (Seriously, you need to read this article, if only to stand in amazement at how far out on the limb of righteousness Pat goes. Take the time to read it all).

~tom

Thoughts on identity

I am blessed to live in our home here in Alameda, which is about 500 feet from the San Francisco Bay, and which has a long greenbelt with many beautiful trees, just out our front door. As part of our home owners dues they maintain the trees and the greenbelts. I was out walking my dog the other day in the greenbelt when I noticed that a tree had a metal tag nailed to it with a number. Then I started checking all of the trees and sure enough, they've all got a number now.

This got me thinking of just how cool that is. Someone cares about each and every one of these trees on an individual basis. Just think about that. If there is a problem with a specific tree, the arborists don't have to say, "yeah, it's the 4th one from the left, 50 feet past the intersection of Cheshire and Sheffield." Now they can simply say, "it's number 377." Or if I want to meet someone at a certain tree, I can just say, "see you at #244." The numbers run consecutively so it's pretty easy to find specific tree. Or I might say, #45 is one of the most beautiful oaks in Alameda.

I realized that what we are dealing with here is the concept of individual identity. That dog you see on the street has no individual identity to you, but your own dog has massive identity -- your children, spouse, and friends have even more. I believe that the definition of true loneliness is literally having no identity, other than your own self-perception. Imagine having no identity -- it would be almost as if you were walking around invisible, or in another dimension. Or more apropos to my initial thoughts, just another tree in the forest.

~ Tom

Campbell gets her undies in a bunch...

I watched Obama introducing his new appointees on Monday, and was just gassed about how great he and all of them were. Then the questioning began. Soon, a reporter launched into a litany of negative quotes that Obama had made about Hillary during the heated primary campaign and then in essence asked how he could have appointed her, etc. I, and friends I've talked to, thought it was just a "gotcha" type of question, and would be a waste of time for Obama to explain the obvious: that was then, this is now. Instead, Barack pulled a beautiful JFK-type move, chuckling and smiling and saying: "Well, I mean, I think -- this is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign. No, I understand. And you're having fun." I understood where he was coming from: "If you want to ask me a question about the serious state of the nation and how Hillary and I are going to move forward to solve the problems, please ask. But if you are just going to have fun stirring up old quotes, then I'm not going to buy into it."

Well, I guess I should have known that the press would be outraged at being called out for doing exactly what they do. Here is Campbell Brown going berzerk. I was gratified to see that most of the comments are in support of Barack, not her.

P.S. I also love the fact that Obama has not called on a Fox News reporter yet in any of his press conferences.

Get a grip, Lefty's!

Amongst all the positive, yet legitimately sobering, news I am reading these days is an annoying thrum from the left of the Democratic party. It's a bit "all over the place," but the unifying theme seems top be that Barack is selling them out by picking "Clinton people" and "Insiders" to his administration. Well, I for one am tired of winning an election and then spraying a can of lighter fluid all over myself and lighting it! If you really think about it, the implication of the Left's complaints is that Barack should reward the support of the Left by appointing people from its ranks who really don't know what they would be doing. In other words, their hearts are pure, so give them on the job training.

Here is a wonderful article by a bona fide Lefty, which explains exactly why Barack is making all the right moves, as he is wont to do, thank God. Please take the time to read and digest this article so that you will be able to respond to our Lefty brothers and sisters. I love them all and trust that they will understand that Obama's presidency must by absolute necessity begin with "triage," which by no means makes it a long-run "mirage."

We don't need any "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" situations in this administration.

~ tom

Tom, The Big Softie

Ok, I'll admit it: I really enjoy a well-done romantic comedy, especially as my years are ticking on by. I have a small group of geezer male friends who share the same closeted malady, but these days we have all pretty much outed ourselves. Now what I'm talking about here is a classic romantic comedy, not a so-called "chick flick," although there can be legitimate cross-over there. (Perhaps another post will ensue on that thorny distinction).

The point here is that a couple of nights ago I watched "Definitely, Maybe" on DVD and loved it. Trust me on this one. All of the main characters are terrific and well-cast, the script is snappy and loaded with hilarious zingers that are easy to miss if you're not paying attention, and best of all, you are most likely to "well up" in a couple of parts (an essential for a guy who is has come out of the closet on romantic comedies.)

I had read many laudable reviews of this movie, but had noticed that one of the "stars" listed was Abigal Breslin, the kid who is in everything these days, so I was reticent to a degree, because I was not ready for a movie with a huge "kid quotient." As it turns out Agibail's part is essential but thankfully pretty small -- she's not on screen very much at all.

The three female leads are just wonderful, but I must ask, where in the hell did Isla Fisher come from? She is absolutely fabulous in the role of "April." If you hop on over to IMDB and check her out you will see that she is not a big star (yet?), but she was great in her role in this flick. Oh, and Rachel Weisz was, as always, impeccable. The directing by Adam Brooks spot-on.

Finally, while the highpoint of any romantic comedy for an out-of-the closet geezer is always the woman/women, you still have to have a worthy male lead or the whole thing just falls apart. Here, Ryan Reynolds, was perfect. Cary Grant, or for that matter Hugh Grant, couldn't have done any better.

Cheer yourselves up and "definitely" check out "Definetly Maybe."

~ tom

No "secret handhsakes" these days!!!

I'm usually not big on just giving people a "point to another site" without at least some additional fresh comment or data. But here is justifiable deviation. You gotta play the video to really get the whole context. Nuff said, right?

T.

100 Greatest Singers?

Got my Rolling Stone a few days ago -- a special issue featuring RS's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time." Here are the top ten, with the "commentary author" for each.


1. Aretha Franklin -- Mary J. Blige
2. Ray Charles -- Billy Joel
3. Elvis Presley -- Robert Plant
4. Sam Cooke -- Van Morrison
5. John Lennon -- Jackson Browne
6. Marvin Gaye -- Alicia Keys
7. Bob Dylan -- Bono
8. Otis Redding --Booker T. Jones
9. Stevie Wonder -- Cee-Lo
10. James Brown -- Iggy Pop

Fortunately you can read the whole feature without buying the magazine here. You will have to read it page-by-page, but it's cool because you also get all the pictures that appear in the magazine.

Unfortunately, the online version does not appear to have the two-page article by Jonathan Lethem, "What Makes a Great Singer?," which precedes the feature. That puts some of the selections in a more acceptable context for me. But like all these sort of lists, the fun is in the fuming: How could you possibly include Christina Aguilera (#58) and leave out Alison Krauss!

I think you'll find the list interesting and I'd like to read your comments if you have any to offer.

Some of the pleasant surprises for me on a personal level:

Jackie Wilson - #26
Howlin' Wolf - #31
Donny Hathaway - #49
Tom Waits - #82

~ tom

The Scorpion and the Frog

Like so many of my close friends, I shed a few tears of joy on Tuesday night, and I have been feeling great hope and happiness over the fact that for the first time in a very long time, we have President who will bring us peace, pride, and maybe even prosperity, though the latter is going to take some time and some help from the other side of the aisle. That last point is the one that worries me.

Republicans and Republican law-makers, (especially now that they are a waning force of white people), will not pitch in to help even though they know it is the right thing to do. In fact they will do everything in their power to make Obama and the forces of good fail. They remind me of one of my favorite fables: The Scorpion and the Frog. Here's a summary of the Wikipedia entry for those who have forgotten it:

The Scorpion and the Frog is a fable often mis-attributed to Aesop. The story is about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion reassures him that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown as well. The frog then agrees; nevertheless, in mid-river, the scorpion stings him, dooming the two of them. When asked why, the scorpion explains, "I'm a scorpion; it's my nature."

The story is sometimes told with a turtle or fox in place of the frog.

It is often quoted to illustrate the purportedly insuppressible nature of one's self at its base level.

The right wing talkers are the worst scorpions of all. I read on a friend's blog that Rush Limbaugh actually referred to our next President as a "Chicago thug!"

My advice to the next Prez: You can sit down and talk with the scorpions, and even tolerate their prattle, but never, never, never let them get on your back.

Be strong,

~ tom

Cusack - a great mind (and actor)

Tomorrow is election day. I'll cop to it -- I'm a nervous wreck. So I thought I'd just do a post today to let you all know that my solidarity and karma are still here and set to full throttle.

But, in browsing my favorite sites, I came across this truly brilliant post by John Cusack, who is in the top five of my favorite actors list. I'll watch anything he is in, and in every case, I can say with no doubt that he makes the movie better then it would have been without him. (And of course he is just simply fabulous as Roy Dillon in one of my favorite [and criminally overlooked] flicks: "The Grifters").

If I were making a list of living people I'd like to spend a day with, Cusack would undoubtedly be on it. My friend Michael Lally presents a lot of similar lists on his blog, but I'm too lazy and limited to make an entire list of living people I'd like to spend a day with. Perhaps during his next bout of chronic insomnia Michael will craft such a list. Keep checking his blog ... Or, if you want to start such a list on this blog, leave it as a comment and we'll all jump in with you.

~ tom

Wonk heaven

OK all you Obama supporters like me, who teeter each moment between guarded hope and deep cynicism -- you need something to cheer you up and keep your mind on track. Wrap you mind around this site from now until Tuesday night. You don't have to be a wonk, but it helps. This is the 10/21 entry, which explains and rates the various daily tracking polls. Be sure to check the more recent entries too.

Bus my kid to a McCain rally!!!!!

A couple of days ago there was an item widely reported that in order to achieve a body-count barely exceeding embarrassment, the McCain campaign bussed in about 4,000 kids from local schools. Initially, I only focused on the obvious import, which was that McCain can't generate a legitimate crowd of supporters.

But then, I heard another pro-proposition 8 blurb here in California that really got me thinking at a different level. Some background: Several months ago, the California Supreme Court held that gay and lesbian marriages were legal and must be recognized by law here in California. This sparked the homophobes to scramble to get proposition 8 on the ballot here for the November election. The upshot is that a yes vote on 8 is for an amendment to our State Constitution declaring that the only recognizable marriage in California must be between a man and a woman.

In support of the proposition, the proponents have mounted this totally bogus campaign in which they claim that if Prop 8 does not pass, it will be mandatory that all school kids in California be taught that gay/lesbian marriages are just peachy. Along with that they feature a segment where a school class went the the lesbian marriage of their popular teacher.

I'm not up on the details of the class's attendance at their teacher's wedding. Was it totally voluntary with parental consent, or was the class "bussed" to the wedding without parental consent? If it was the former, I'm totally down with it as parent of now-grown kids; but if it was the latter, I would be offended and pissed off, EVEN IF I WAS THE BIGGEST SUPPORTER OF GAY MARRIAGE IN TOWN!

So, you see what I'm getting at, right! How can my kid get bussed to a McCain rally without my permission? Maybe they did get parental permission, and if they did, I'll back off. But if they didn't it is an egregious situation, and if I was one of those non-consenting parents, I would be raising holy hell. I'd rather send my child to a wedding between two loving people of the same sex than a rally of bigots and haters.

~ Tom

Lally-Obama-Powell mashup

As most of you know, the great poet Michael Lally is my long-time and dear friend. I have spent many hours in the last few days using my home recording studio to put together a mashup of Michael's poetry with speeches from Barak Obama and comments from Colin Powell. I took Michael's clips from his CD "What You Find There."

I hope you dig with I have done. Click on the link below which will take you to the MP3 file which you can download and play with any MP3 player.

I'd love to read your comments and/or answer any questions you might have.

Here is the link to the MP3 file.

Sayin' my prayers

I've never been a praying man, but in the last couple of weeks I've been saying a prayer for some very important people: Barak's Secret Service Detail. Ladies and gentlemen, may God bless you and keep you strong, vigilant, and most of all, lucky.

~ tom

Donna Brazile - A Great American

I've always loved Donna Brazile. Aside from being intelligent and articulate, with a razor-sharp wit, she is one of the most physically beautiful women around these days.

Anyway, I was surfing around and someone on a HuffPo blog comment steered me to this link pleading with me to take the time to watch it. I did, and boy did I mist up, and then got fired up. It's less than five minutes. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

~ tom

Wise words from The Boss

"They [the Bush administration] will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts, and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, compassion, toughness, and faith, to help us rebuild our house once again. But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I want that dream back, I want my America back, I want my country back."

~ Bruce Springsteen
(From the stage at a 10/04 Vote for Change Rally in Philly)

Kudos for Joe

Today, all the talk, and all the blogs, center on Palin's "performance" last night. As a truly life-long Democrat (when I was a young boy my Dad taught me about Hubert Humphrey's stand at the 1948 convention) I just want to say how proud I was of Joe Biden. He handled himself perfectly, and when he almost broke down in speaking of the travails of single father's I misted up big time because, unlike Palin's rehearsed, non responsive diatribe, I knew there was no way Joe was faking his true feelings. I'm so grateful that he is on the ticket, and I will be proud to call him my Vice President when he and Barack are elected.

For those of you who only remember Hubert Humphrey for his dubious stint as LBJ's VP, here is why he was my Dad's hero:

Despite aggressive pressure by Truman's aides to avoid forcing the issue on the Convention floor, Humphrey chose to speak on behalf of the minority plank. In a renowned speech, Humphrey passionately told the Convention, "To those who say, my friends, to those who say, that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years too late! To those who say, this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!" Humphrey and his allies succeeded; the pro-civil-rights plank was narrowly adopted. [From this Wikipedia entry]

Joe reminds me a lot of that Hubert Humphrey, which in turn reminds me of my late father, which is always good thing.

Jamie Cullum rules Monterey!

Back from the Festival on Monday. I've been busy, so I have not had a chance to blog before this. I'll try to give a full review of the Festival later, but for now, let me just say that Jamie Cullum, playing during the day on Sunday afternoon, just blew everyone away. I had never heard of him before. The cat just turned 29 years old and literally looks like Elijah Wood playing Frodo in the LOTR movies. But he a prodigious talent and one of the best live performers I've ever seen. At one point he was standing on his grand piano, singing with a wireless mike and accomplished a huge leap off the piano, all the while singing a driving, cooking arrangement of a song he wrote called "Twentysomething." It might sound corny, but you had to be there. And the cat can cover standards like as if he were Sinatra's ghost or Bennett's clone. The hard-core Monterey fans, just went ga ga over him, as did I. This is a very special guy. If you EVER get a chance to see him live, don't pass it up.

Here is the biography page from Jamie's web site.

And, you can, check out the Wiki pages.

Gotta run. The big debate is only three hours away and I have to turn on the TV now to enjoy the "pre-game show."

Go Barack!

Time to mellow out...

In a couple of hours we will leave for the Monterey Jazz Festival. We've had season tickets for many years.

I'm planning on not thinking about, Palin, McCain, Obama, Biden, football, baseball, war, peace, and so on. I just need some time to live in the moment and absorb the excellent vibes that will be put out by the performers and the astoundingly cosmopolitan crowds.

See ya Monday p.m.

~ Tom

Sean Penn - A Great American

This post on Huffington by Sean Penn is a bit long but well worth the reading. Here are a couple of excerpts to whet your appetite:

If John McCain, in reflection, offers no support for those that served beside him, nor those who serve today, what has experience provided him? And when a man regarded so highly in heroic terms of military service, confides personal glory as a common motivation to the young Americans who risk their lives, at what point would he acknowledge patriotism as something more considered than the glib hawkishness exulted by the Republican Convention? His choice of Palin is, once again, McCain's vainglorious head rising. It's about "winning," not serving. As Senator Joe Biden said this week, "Don't tell me your values, show me your budget and I'll tell you your values."

And, at the end, in recognizing that Obama's tax plan would whack him, Sean says:

This November, vote American. Vote imagination. Vote hope. Vote your conscience. Vote for the troops. Vote to make me pay higher taxes. (I owe it to your children and my own.) Vote to put your country first.

~ Tom

Charlie, ask about this!

I can think of a million things that Charlie Gibson should ask Palin in the upcoming interview, but here is one he should ask for sure:

"Do you believe in equal pay for equal work for women?" For that matter, someone should ask McSame about it too. As I understand it, both are against it.

Here are the facts from the AFL-CIO web site:

In 2007, women were paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man is paid, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Economist Evelyn Murphy, president and founder of The WAGE Project, estimates the wage gap costs the average full-time U.S. woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her work life.

Those working class white women who are gravitating toward Palin in the latest poll are not going to like her answer at all. How would she squirm around this?

~ Tom

A required read...

Here is a terrific article by Gloria Steinem from yesterday's LA Times. It's so refreshing to read a reasoned presentation these days. I especially agree with her statement that:

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom.

~ Tom

Days of big glasses

I had to buy a new scanner. The technology has improved vastly since I purchased the old one.

Here is a test scan of an old photo of Michael Lally and me in April 1992 at his place in Santa Monica. Those cool glasses I'm wearing sure look dopey now!

An historic moment

I just watched the roll-call vote wherein Hillary called for nomination by acclimation of Obama. That was cool enough but watching the audience reaction (guess Fox could find no sad faces) really brought it home to me. The majority of African Americans openly weeping, joined by no small number of others gave wordless testament to the long, hard struggle that brought the moment to fruition. Then hearing some of the old-timers like John Lewis interviewed, made me see just how important, (no, "monumental") this was for them

I immediately experienced a feeling, which I'm certain was felt millions of times at that moment by an aggregation of Americans from all walks and of all races:

"I never thought I would live to see this day."

Right now I'm proud to be an American, and I intend to increase the instances of feeling this pride by doing everything I can to elect Barak Obama.

~ Tom

A new drinking game?

I'm listening to Thom Hartman right now, who just made one of those points where you say, "Dang, I knew something not quite right was happening but I couldn't put my finger on it." Thom noted that for some years now the networks and Dems/Repubs have had a pool agreement whereby there is a single feed for the convention coverage. This is a rotating assignment, which this year falls to Fox! Thom noted that in 90 percent of the "cut-away" shots the people chosen were either looking entirely bored, talking to one another rather than listening to the speaker, or outright frowning. As soon as he said that I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about, and realized that it had bothered me without surfacing to my reality nodes. Thom's callers and guests who were actually there, said that 90 percent of the crowd were wildly cheering Kennedy, and that men and women, white and black, were opening weeping during Michelle's speech. You sure would have never know that from the Fox cut-away shots. Where were the smiling white faces?!

So, one of his callers suggested a new drinking game for the duration of the convention: every time a cut-away depicts a bored person, a yakking person, or a frowning person you take a slug of your drink. If you aren't drinking these days, use another beverage, or set up your own point system.

But, as one of Thom's guests noted, "Why are you surprised?"

~ Tom

Alice Smith & Mellencamp

I may have mentioned this before, but the Rhapsody music service is the best! Especially when you pay $15 per month and get a Sansa Rhapsody MP3 player. This allows you to download ANYTHING to the player for no extra charge. Now, whenever I read a favorable review, I just go to Rhapsody and download it to my player. Then, when I'm taking my hour-long walk each day with my dog, I fire up the player and put it on shuffle and hear all sorts of great new music that I would not have otherwise heard. Yesterday, I heard a couple of cuts from Alice Smith, which were really great. She only has one album out now, but check it out.

Also, I have been enjoying Mellencamps new release. On some of the tracks he really sounds like Dylan. In fact, as I was walking along the other day and one of his cuts came up on shuffle, I thought it was Dylan because I have a lot of Bob on the MP3 player. Then, as the song progressed I knew I have never heard it before, so I deduced that it was Mellencamp.

You should also check out the article on Mellencamp in the latest Rolling Stone (Downey Jr. on the cover). A representative paragraph:

With its rich, gothic-Americana sound, shaped by the impeccable tasteful roots-music producer T Bone Burnett, Life, Death, Love and Freedom is an "adult record," as Mellencamp sees it, marking the end of his hitmaking days and the beginning of something new. "I'm trying to live up to, you know, what a guy my age should be doing," he says. "I'm trying not to look silly. You know, it's like people say, 'Hey you're a rock star man.' And I don't see myself that way anymore. I'm just, like, a journeyman electrician or something."

And later:

Mellencamp is a lifelong Democrat. ... But his music has broad appeal in areas of the country that haven't voted Democratic in decades. "I have known for a long time that I was at odds politically with my surroundings," Mellencamp says. "I never wrote to my base. Nobody who is a Republican in Bloomington, Indiana is going to buy Neil Young's latest record, not even going to entertain the idea. But they might buy mine."

~ Tom

Dry drunk gets wet?

Heard on the radio about Bush getting drunk at the Olympics. Googled "bush drunk at olympics" and got lots of hits. Here are a representative couple: one & two.

I have always known that Bush was the classic "dry drunk," which in many cases is worse that a drinking, high-bottom, alcoholic. But the last couple of years I have been hearing many stories about his drinking again. Like all alcoholics, dry and wet, Bush has no sense of responsibility for his actions, or any ability to contemplate the consequences of his whims and caprices. For most alcoholics the price is paid by their immediate families and circle of friends. But in Bush's case, we in this country, and too many around the world, are paying the sad toll. I want a President, not an alcoholic father.

Some of you might wonder, "How can he get as drunk as he looks in those pictures when there is constant scrutiny on him?" I smile at this question. As any FOB can tell you, secret drinking is an art form. Let's see, in this case, I would imagine George did a little pre-event packing, downing a lot of vodka from his secret stash in private, before leaving for the event. This usually works fairly well except when the event is going to be long and you decide you have to do "heavy packing" to make it through. The result is that it hits you full force hours later causing you to not be able to get out of your frigging seat! Also, notice in some of the pictures the "innocent" water bottle. Oh, this is a prime alkie trick. Funny how vodka looks just like water, so you can literally be drinking openly and believing no one is the wiser.

Lord help us all! This can't end a minute too soon for me.

~ tom

Here's what we need a lot more of...

I just watched my DVR recording of last Thursday's Daily Show. The Stewart monologue is brilliant, and just the kind of thing that is an anecdote to the problems I discuss in my previous post. If you did not see it, check it out. The real stuff doesn't start until about 2 minutes in, but hang in there. Stewart just nails it.

~ tom

A soccer metaphor...

Lately I've been a bit depressed over the way this campaign is going. I keep thinking that the polls should not be this close, and I have this gnawing, inexorable feeling that the Obama presidency is slipping away.

I reminds me of over 20 years ago when I used to play in an "over-thirty" soccer league. My team was a bunch of guys who had not grown up with the game -- most of us had come to it by watching our kids play and then getting interested in playing. We were, in a word, the gringos of the league, winning only a couple of games over the three years I played. We were pitted against teams of guys who had grown up playing the game and each of those teams was a specific ethnic group. There were several Latin teams, a German team who had their own Mercedes bus, and an Irish team of skinny guys who talked trash the whole game and played mean.

My point is that every once in a while our team would get ahead, maybe even by two goals. But as the game progressed I had this gnawing, inexorable feeling that we were going to lose. The opponents played very aggressively, not being "gentlemen" at all. They pushed, elbowed, tripped, gamed the ref, faked injuries to get the foul call, etc. Most of the spectators dug it, or at least accepted it. And, of course we always lost in the end, no matter how hard we fought to hang on to our lead.

But the worst part was that we gringos did not even know HOW to do that stuff, and if we tried, we were so blatant and unschooled that the ref would call a foul or give us a yellow card!

I see the same thing in this campaign. We are just too fair --but we are also too inexperienced in the ways that ultimately win the game. I could cite countless examples of what I'm saying ranging from "Barack is an elitest" to the flag pin, to "he voted against the surge" to "he didn't visit the troops," and (the fake injury here folks) "he dealt the race card off the bottom." Lots of pushing, elbowing, tripping, and gaming the ref (media & press), right?

Shit, I just realized, we need a Pele.

Grimly yours,

Tom

After the crash...

My five-year-old Dell computer crashed a couple of days ago - total hard disk failure. I ended up buying a new computer, and it's taken me a while to restore all my backed-up data, and reload programs.

This new machine is a screamer, with six gig of RAM, quad core processor, and a 640 gig hard drive. Price? $750! I can't believe how the prices have gone down so much and how powerful the machines are becoming at those low prices.

I'll be back blogging now.

T.

Prick up your ears! Winwood's back!

Holy moley!! I have just listened to Steve Winwood's new album, "Nine Lives." Five friggin' stars children! I've always loved the man's voice, and his B-3 licks cook while never being overblown. I could go on about this album, but here is a review that says it all. (Be sure to click on the "more" link to read the whole review).

This album has: Top-notch musicians just playing their asses off, great new songs, Winwood in full voice, and fabulous engineering and production quality.

Need I say more?

T.

Lives in the Balance

Hi all.

Back from our place at Tahoe with my daughter and her family, and then some more time with them down here at home in Alameda -- love those grand kids!!! They flew back to Seattle on Saturday, so now I have some time to blog again.

I was out walking my dog today, listening to my MP3 player on "shuffle" when what to my wondering ears should appear, but Jackson Browne singing "Lives in the Balance." I was truly stunned by just how relevant and powerful the song is today, even though Jackson wrote it in 1986. Here are the lyrics, but do yourself a favor and try to find it in your music collection or online and listen to it as performed by Jackson and his always-fine musicians.

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

More on black presidents on film and TV

A few posts ago I presented my theory about how Dennis Haysbert's portrayal of President Palmer in "24" has served to generate acceptance of the idea of a black president in a wide, diverse viewing base.

Others apparently have been thinking similar thoughts. Here is a very interesting article about the subject. I particularly enjoy John Stewart's quip that he made as host of the Oscars this year. All due respect to the great Morgan Freeman as president in "Deep Impact" (1998), but Stewart's point is well-taken. This is why the Haysbert performance was special -- it literally transcended race. Viewers simply said to themselves "shit, this guy is one kick-ass prez!"

WTF @#$%$#&*@%!!!

Okay. Someone sent me this and it's driving me nuts!! Join the club.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

HOW SMART IS YOUR RIGHT FOOT???

Just try this. It is from an orthopedic surgeon............

This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't. It's preprogrammed in your brain!

1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (they will think you are off your tree...) and
while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your
right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.!!!!!!!!!

I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I both know
how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

Send it to your buddies to frustrate them too.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Strange, no?

~ Tom

Check out MI-5

I just finished watching the third disk (episodes 5 & 6) of the 5th season of "MI-5." I have watched this show from its beginning on A&E on American TV. It is one of the best spy/political/thriller shows you'll ever see.

In Britain, it goes by the name "Spooks." (I guess they can't use that term over here - remember it caused the downfall of the protagonist in Roth's great recent novel "The Human Stain.")

Trust me on this. Rent it from the first season on and you will not be disappointed. But don't get too attached to a character because jaw-dropping stuff happens that would never happen on an American show, except for maybe "The Wire. " (The deaths, etc. in the Sopranos were rarely surprising).

Heading up to our place at Tahoe/Donner tomorrow for a week. I hope to be able to have some time to blog more frequently.

Ciao for now,

Tom

Obama: Crank up those "24" reruns...

I saw a rerun of an early "24" episode the other day, with Dennis Haysbert as the President - a fine actor with a great screen presence. I realized how much of an effect that show has had on the general populace's acceptance of the idea of a black President. I realize that many of you are/were not enamored with "24" because of the torture, and arguably right-wing drift, but that makes it all the better for my larger point. The show has been hugely popular with a wide demographic, especially white men of the "Joe Lunchbox" flavor. And they thought President David Palmer was totally kick-ass and a great leader. Think about that. Television and movies can have a powerful impact on how we perceive race, gender, sexual orientation and other prejudice-producing differences between all of us.

And, after David Palmer actually is killed in later seasons, the new president is his brother Wayne, another black President.

So, Obama should grease somebody's palm and get those reruns going in earnest.

~ tom

Fight the Smears

Following up on my two previous posts:

Here is the first manifestation of the Obama campaign's fight against the smear onslaught.

This is a nice site because all of the rebuttal is in one place in a summary format that won't turn off people with short attention spans.

~ tom

Great minds think alike!

Please refer to my last post wherein I suggested that Obama create a "Swift Boat Task Force."

Well check this out!

It reminds me of when Oscar Wilde was asked at customs whether he had anything to declare and he responded: "Only my genius."

Bowing proudly with a bit of a smug smirk,

Tom

Swift Boat Task Force

With all the money Barack is raising, I think he can afford to create a "Swift Boat Task Force" with the sole job of quashing and debunking the smears, lies, and slime that the Republicans are going to promulgate. Read this short post for a perfect example. Not only should the task force rebut and unmask the wrongs, but they should also affirmatively attack the perpetrators, exposing and shaming them in the public sphere -- remember how effective Welch was in finally confronting and shaming Joe McCarthy? Along with this, Obama needs to keep on the high road as he did in the primaries. With the task force shoving these jokers onto the stage, ugly and naked, the comparison with BO's campaign will be compelling to decent Americans.

Tom

The Dap!

The whole Obama victory speech was truly moving and historic. But there was one moment that was so cool and so sweet it made me smile and tear up a bit. Apparently, I was not the only one who noticed it. Check it out. And take the time to read the comments

~Tom

Trane - genius explored...

Now this is totally cool.

Reminds me of that year Carlos Santana won all those Grammy's and he admonished us all to "listen to Coltrane every day."

War, Inc. - a shameless plug

I was listening to the Thom Hartman show this morning. Thom had one of my favorite actors on as a guest: John Cusack. I could go on and on about Cusack. He is one of the few actors for whom I will watch a film solely because he is in it -- "The Grifters," "Grosse Pointe Blank," or "High Fidelity" being some of my favorites. (As I commented to Eileen as we left the theater after seeing "High Fidelity," it was as if these guys had lovingly made the film just for me - still one of my favorite movies of all time).

Anyway, as I found out only today, Cusack has a new movie coming out today: "War, Inc." Hartman (whose opinion I totally respect), was raving about it, saying it was not only a powerful indictment against the Iraq war and corporatization of America, but also an absolutely hilarious and brilliant satire on the whole issue. Not surprisingly, in surfing around to get the link on the trailer for this post, I found lots of MSM sources saying things like "limping into New York" and the like. Cusack spent a lot of time on the Hartman show explaining how difficult is has been for him to get theater bookings because corporate Amerika is not looking kindly on his effort.

The film is only opening in LA and NYC this weekend, so Cusack was urging people in those cities to get out and see it. If they get good numbers in those cities they will get a larger theater release -- otherwise, you'll have to wait for the DVD. So, for those of my readers who are in LA or NYC, get off your asses and seek out "War, Inc." To spur you along, here is the trailer.

A Byrd soars....

I just heard that Robert Byrd, a powerful super delegate, has endorsed Obama. This got me thinking about the man's long life, including his youthful years when he embraced the Ku Klux Klan. That brought me back to one of Lenny Bruce's great riffs where he slips into the skin of a KKK used car salesman, who confesses that he has no beef with "Negroes" but needed to sell some cars to people who had the money to buy them. Unforgiving liberals: Don't forget that the exact same motivation, in one way or another, prompted young folks to join the Communist party!

My point is that Robert Byrd experienced a true reformation, which has made him one of my few living heroes. He opposed the Iraq war tooth-and-nail at every juncture, which is one of the main reasons he has today endorsed Obama. Please take the time to read his Senate speech opposing the war, BEFORE THE COWARDLY CONGRESS BENT TO THE WILL OF EVIL.

~ tom

May the force be with you, Barack

My good friend Josh sent me this link. I'm still laffin'. The whole thing is clever and funny, but the part that made me roar was the millisecond when Howard Dean appears near the end. I tip my cap to the people who put this together. Enjoy.

Weddings and death

I love weddings. I never tire of them. Send me an invitation and I'll be there if possible. Most likely, I will tear up with absolutely no shame. Perhaps the reason I love weddings so much is because of the joy and unmitigated optimism they engender in me. The couple are devoid of cynicism, and imbued with hope. As a stark contrast to my "wedding fetish," I offer the reverse: a death of a spouse in a long marriage.

Last week, a good friend unexpectedly died. While Eileen and I mourned his passing, we also bore the burden of supporting his wife, who was even a closer friend to both of us. As a friend of mine said recently, "death sucks." After attending the memorial service on Friday, and then sitting Shivah at their home last night with many of their friends, I was reminded of a wonderful quote from a Phillip K. Dick novel, "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said." Paraphrasing: "Grief is the price you pay for the privilege of having loved." So true.

Anyway, in this context, I "Stumbled" across this wonderful wedding video, which was just the corny, yet so, so sincere antidote to my sadness, which I desperately needed. It's seven minutes long, so don't feel that you have to watch the whole thing; but, if you are a wedding freak like me, you will not be able to abort.

~ Tom

Miles v. Jesus?

Well, Miles certainly has more albums...

T.

Legitimate journalism...

The media these days should collectively hang its head, if not put it in a noose and jump off the stool. Thus, it always heartens me when I come across some real journalism, even from a source with which I rarely agree, including their ultimate opposition to any Democratic candidate -- The Economist and this article. Here are the closing paragraphs from the article:

There is one final reason why Mr Obama is almost there. More than any other candidate this year, he has articulated an idea of a nobler America. That is partly because of who he is. When Mr Obama's parents married, in 1960, a union such as theirs, between a white woman and a black man, was illegal in over half of America's states. Now their son stands at the threshold of the White House. But it also has a lot to do with what he says and how he comports himself. Despite considerable provocation, he has never wavered from his commitment to bipartisanship—nor from the idea of America once again engaging with the world. There are severe problems with the details, on which Mr McCain will hopefully push him even further than Mrs Clinton has, but the upside of an Obama presidency remains greater than that of any other candidate.

For all these reasons, Mr Obama in our view now deserves the Democratic nomination. It is surely not worth Mrs Clinton dragging this to the convention. It is time for her, at a moment of her choosing, to concede gracefully and throw the considerable weight of the Clintons behind their party's best hope.

Clinton to use "nuclear option?"

Well folks, based on my title to this post you were probably thinking HRC was just confirming her cowboy diplomacy promise to obliterate Iran if they messed with Israel. No, this nuclear option is one she plans on using against Brack Obama and all of us who are his loyal, and perhaps too naive, supporters.

Let's see: I'll have an election where the other guy is not even on the ballot, where even I agreed that the results would not be counted, and then demand to seat all the delegates as mine. (Michigan). Then, I'll have an election where the other guy, and others, are on the ballot, but we all agreed that the results would not count, AND WE TOLD ALL THE PROSPECTIVE VOTERS THE SAME DAMN THING, and now we'll pretend that it was a real election with no such strictures, so gimme my delegates. (Florida) Huh?

Disgustedly yours,

~ tom

Hope for the future?

As a jazz fan, I often worry about whether the genre will die out. That's why I'm always happy to stumble across "youngsters" with obvious talent and dedication carrying on the tradition. Check out Melody Gardot, 22 years old. (Just let it roll after you click on the link). She is for real, but what I really like are the musicians behind her. They are obvious jazz-heads who, along with her, will carry on. It may not be Ella, Nina, or Nancy, but it sure as hell beats Brittney!

Oh, and then after you listen to a couple of her tracks, check out her bio. It's an amazing, uplifting story. Please check it out.

Ciao,

tom

Reality brings incredible saddness

As readers of this blog are well aware, I am a fervent supporter of Barack Obama. I truly believe that unlike anyone else in the picture, he is a unique figure at this time in our history, who would bring healing, pride and even joy back to our nation. I viewed all the recent attacks on him as acceptable, though often loathsome, because his weathering them showed his viability.

But today, I find this in Dana Milbank's column in the Washington Post (and I found many other articles of similar tenor). I hope beyond hope that I am wrong, but I am coming to believe that the Rev. Wright has become a pair of cement shoes for Barack. Why can't the guy just shut up until after the election? I'd like to say things like, "Well the American people will sort this all out and end up voting for Obama," but I'm not able to now. These latest Wright comments (including a coy aside implying that Barack's criticisms of him are disingenuous), are going to be amplified and repeated again and again by Republican smear merchants in general election, with fatal results.

Please tell me I'm wrong! I'm totally depressed to the point at which I'm actually thinking it might be best after all for Hillary to be our candidate. The next four years of Supreme Court nominations is THE most important issue in the next elections, bar none -- trust me on this. Accordingly, it is absolutely imperative, ABSOLUTELY, that John McCain NOT become president. If Obama is going to lose because of this Wright shit sitting on top of all the other stuff, then maybe Hillary could win, in view of her already-vetted past, along with her bare-knuckles approach. Again, I need some bucking up here folks -- tell me that Barack is going to be my next President. His first Supreme Court pick: Hillary Clinton.

Bloody but not bowed,

Tom

Fun, fun...

Hey, if you just want to smile a little and bring some cheer, try this.

Be sure to check out the caricature gallery.

Hillary's amazing past?!

I have been fuming over the Sean Hannity via Stephanopoulos' question to Obama in the last debate regarding his supposed connections with Bill Ayers, which the Hillary camp is now perpetuating. Tom Hayden, citing his wife's current revulsion over Hillary, writes an eye-opening article on this subject. Geez, my jaw was literally dropping over the facts that he presents. Not that I condemn Hilliary's connections, but the sheer hypocrisy of her current stance is appalling.

Here is a salient excerpt:

To take just one example, the imagined association between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers will suffice. Hillary is blind to her own roots in the sixties. In one college speech she spoke of ecstatic transcendence; in another, she said, "Our social indictment has broadened. Where once we exposed the quality of life in the world of the South and the ghettos, now we condemn the quality of work in factories and corporations. Where once we assaulted the exploitation of man, now we decry the destruction of nature as well. How much long can we let corporations run us?"

She was in Chicago for three nights during the 1968 street confrontations. She chaired the 1970 Yale law school meeting where students voted to join a national student strike again an "unconscionable expansion of a war that should never have been waged." She was involved in the New Haven defense of Bobby Seale during his murder trial in 1970, as the lead scheduler of student monitors. She surely agreed with Yale president Kingman Brewster that a black revolutionary couldn't get a fair trial in America. She wrote that abused children were citizens with the same rights as their parents.

Most significantly in terms of her recent attacks on Barack, after Yale law school, Hillary went to work for the left-wing Bay Area law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, which specialized in Black Panthers and West Coast labor leaders prosecuted for being communists. Two of the firm's partners, according to Treuhaft, were communists and the two others "tolerated communists". Then she went on to Washington to help impeach Richard Nixon, whose career was built on smearing and destroying the careers of people through vague insinuations about their backgrounds and associates. (All these citations can be found in Carl Bernstein's sympathetic 2007 Clinton biography, A Woman in Charge.)

Check it out the entire article -- it's worth the read.

By the way, I knew Bob Treuhaft in the mid-seventies when I was still practicing criminal law in the S.F. Bay area. He was a sweet, but totally committed guy. And - a fact I'll bet you did not know - he was married to Jessica Mitford.

~ tom

Maureen says it so well...

I love Mo Dowd! She has the rare ability to present logical, well-reasoned substantive positions and yet still make her comments devilishly humorous, if not outright hilarious. Her post-Penn. primary autopsy is outright Hillary-arious, but it's also so, so right on. Enjoy.

~ tom

P.S. I had to run to my dictionary re: "Brobdingnagian" Here's the definition:

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

Poets laureate

I am definitely a California guy, and especially grateful to live 500 feet from the Bay. We may be wine-drinking, cheese-nibbling effete snobs, but to our credit we love our poets.

~ tom

Edward Hoagland

I don't read as much as I should, and one of the literary formats I tend to ignore is the essay. I'm up at our place at Tahoe this weekend, and I happened to notice that I had one of my favorite essay collections up here: "Tiges & Ice -- Reflections of Nature and Life" by Edward Hoagland.

All the the essays are worthy reads. One of my favorites, which I just reread with pleasure, is "Running Mates" dealing with the subject of friendship. Here is a wonderful excerpt from that essay:

Friendship can be exploitive and predatory, a strange symbiosis of quiet underwater carnage, though I've seldom seen one stay that way. Yet friends are partly for quarreling with. Most of us need to squabble occasionally in order to tap off our toxins, and friends permit us to without inflammatory consequences. We can be a trifle mean, or stumble into a brief tailspin, and be forgiven. Knowing our knotty nuttiness, our self-destructive lonely spells, they let us phone a bit too much and don't require us to specify just how tricky we feel. Friends are for jitters as well as barbecues.

Some other Hoagland quotes on a cool site I had not seen before.



All the best,

~ tom

I'd rather be bitter than racist...

Obama tells the truth inartfully concerning the "bitterness" of small-town America and gets crucified.

Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania, actually says that many of his constituents in Pennsylvania will not vote for Barack because he is black! Nothing happens to him! Why is he not the reverend Wright of the Hillary campaign? I just don't get this -- uh, I just got it: Racism remains acceptable in this country.

People, THINK about this! The fricking GOVERNOR of a big state says that many people will not vote for a brilliant, sincere man simply because he is HALF black ... [Uh, er, what about his white half?!]. That is disgusting.

OK, how about my own personal poll, directed to registered Democrat, Joe Six Pack in Penn:

Question 1: Barack Obama has said {insert "bitter" comment by Barack}. Will this comment cause you to not support Obama?

Question 2: Your Governor, Ed Rendell, says that a significant number of his constituents will not vote for Obama because he is African-American. Are you among those constituents?

My predictions:

Question 1: Yes: 50%; no: 50% (And that is giving Joe Six Packs the credit they deserve; I've heard a lot of them on talk shows, and in blogs saying "I'm bitter and Hillary is full of shit for trying to say that "I'm proud" of being a loser in this f***ed up system." )

Question 2: Yes: 1%; no 99%.

The point here is that if my poll results are correct, Rendell should be pounded far more than Obama. After all, the "voters" should be up in arms and INSULTED by Rendell characterizing them as racists. Why does Rendell get a ride? See the following...

But of course we all know that the answers of the people polled to Question 2 will probably be mostly lies. (See anything about the "Tom Bradley effect" in the California governor's election in the 80's. The polls said Tom would win by double digits and he lost. The post-election autopsy revealed that a huge number of the people polled lied when they said they would vote for Tom. They were inherently racist and did not want to admit it directly or in their own minds).

What this all means to me is that Obama is the only politician in my lifetime who has the courage and conviction to actually raise honest, troublesome issues, give his own views, and then genuinely request and respect the views of America as to what they believe.

T.

The Good Old Days?

One of the smartest, coolest guys I ever knew was my late father. He was with us at least 20 years more than he would have been in the "good old days," thanks to a couple of by-pass surgeries. In fact after the first one, he coined the phrase, "the good old days were not that good."

Just watching the recent media retrospective on the 40th anniversary of the King assasination, proves Dad's prophetic words. Every time I see all that media footage, I am stunned over how just a few decades ago, blacks could not use the same restrooms or drinking fountains as whites or sit in the front of the bus, etc. Were those the good old days? Hell no.

And on the medical front, I've already mentioned Dad's "borrowed days" as he called them. But thanks to medical science, I still have the joy of my wife, Eileen. Her privacy is important, so suffice it to say that if she had faced 40 years ago what she faced only a few years ago, she would not be here with me now. Needless to say, the good old days are not that appealing to us!

I could go on and on... But in closing, in my mind, the best argument against the good old days is the advance in computers and the Internet. The change in our lives as a result of them is literally amazing. Every time I see a "not-that-old" movie like "All the President's Men" and see NO COMPUTERS, and people typing on IBM Selectric typewriters (remember how cool we all thought those were), I am so grateful for modern word processing. (I remember projects I had to submit in law school [1966-1969] using correction tape, and carbon copies, which were so unforgiving and time consuming that one's creative juices were regrettably, but inevitably, stunted.)

The impetus for this post came from reading a great post from Micheal Lally in his blog today. He hits the nail right on the head. It's so cool that a prospective techno Luddite has evolved into a top-notch blogger who now routinely uses all the power and magic of the ether!

Ain't it cool?

T.

Terri Lyne Carrington

Some years ago at the Monterey Jazz Festival I heard Terri Lyne Carrington for the first time, playing trap drum-set with Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson and other greats. They were all fabulous, but Terri was the salt the made the stew so fabulous. Like all great drummers, she was more interested in holding things together and advancing the "moment" (be it kicking ass, or mellowing out) than showing her prodigious technical chops. I have been hoping to see her live again, but no luck so far.

Anyway, I was thinking about her for some reason today, so I Googled her. Among other things, this came up: A perfect example of how selfless Terri is -- this is her group after all, and she could have given us a bunch of technical bombastic shit, but no, she just glues this all together. Hendrix would have loved it!

If you want to learn more about Terri check out her site

Oh, and just in case you hard-line jazz fans (I'm one too) aren't impressed by the Jimi Hendrix cover above, listen to Terri with Stan Getz. The opening solo is impressive, and I love her trading eights with the bass man and Stan at the end, and then riffing that final 8 with Stan at the very end.

As you can see, she plays with the "big boys and girls." Plus, you can fall in love with her for her looks and aloof charisma.

Five out of five stars for Terri...

TW

Obama gaining in Pennsylvania

Holy cow! Obama is gaining significant ground in the PA primary.

I still don't think he can win it outright, but if this poll holds true or gets even better, Hillary will not gain that many delegates, and she won't really make much of a dent in the aggregate popular vote.

Of course, if he were to win it outright, that will be the end of Hillary...

Real Clear Politics

Here is the best site for neutral input on the election, especially polls. I devour this site every day. If you want to track the polls for each and every day, as I do, go to the main site, then click "Polls" in the main pull-down menu, then click "Latest Polls" at the far right of the pull-down menu.

After checking out the latest polls, then explore and enjoy, including links to articles that RCP provides from both sides of the aisle.

A truly great site. Bravo and kudos to them.

~ t.

A couple of flicks...

Over the weekend I watched a couple of DVD movies that had gotten laudatory reviews:

The Assassination of Jesse James and In the Valley of Elah.

Assassination: This was the LONGEST movie I have seen in a long time. What I mean here is that I was squirming and wondering when it was going to end, or why it was not moving ahead and keeping my interest. In the real world it clocks in at 160 minutes, which to me seemed like about 300 minutes. I want to make it clear that I do not have ADD. In fact I have watched many, many movies that were as long or longer, and felt the time just whiz by -- even Bergman films! (An example: "Gladiator is just a couple of minutes shorter, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time when I first saw it on the big screen, and still am riveted as I watch it on DVD). The actors in Assassination were good, script so-so, the directing crumby, and editing atrocious.

Valley of Elah: I loved this movie. The more I see of Haggis' output, the more I respect the guy. He is getting to the "Mamet" level -- not saying this because I think Mamet is the greatest, but to acknowledge that when watching a Mamet movie or play, I KNOW it's Mamet. Likewise now, I can say the same for Haggis, and I love his work. "Valley" is simply a great movie in my mind. Tommy Lee was more than "Oscar-worthy" in his role. It's so Haggis to watch this proud, stubborn man learn that his son was murdered and cut to pieces, but to also have to learn that his son was totally fucked up by the war: sadistic, a drug-user, aggressive, and ultimately a neglected son. Jones is simply amazing in conveying his evolving pain/knowledge as the story unfolds. And who says Charlize Theron can't act? Remember, she did win an Oscar, after all!


~ Tom

Georg Heym

I was "Stumbling" around the Net and hit upon this interesting post about 20 great artists who did not make it to 30.

I could certainly tweak the list big-time, but I was intrigued with #10, Georg Heym.

I Googled him and found a lot of truly interesting stuff. His poetry, even translated, is pretty compelling. Here is a good example.

The above link also contains a lot of good info, including the tragic circumstances of his t0o-young death.

A total "jaw-dropper"

Wondering why the Clinton camp has been so quiet about the Rev. Wright blow-up? Well, check this out!

I'll take a "crazy uncle" ( and I had a couple of them) over a bunch of fascists any day.

~ tom

Cool...................

My blog is Birth of the Cool. Well, here is the essence of cool.



Damn, I miss him....

Billie et. al. - Cool

Sometimes I wander (wonder) off course. This brings me home. OMG!

p.s. Gerry looks like he's about 17...

Pulling your coats...

I was a bit distressed when all this stuff about Obama's erstwhile minister surfaced, especially the "God Dam America" bit, which gave me a visceral wince. Then I read this amazing post on Huffington Post and felt a lot better. Check it out. Now the real question is how to get middle of the road folks to read it and think about it.

I'm worried that even good-hearted non-blacks are not going to understand the loud, seemingly confrontational sound cuts from Obama's church -- gee we thought this guy was pretty white, but this is scary! Anyway, the above-linked post says it all -- the Christian right is far more dangerous and evil than Rev. Wright could every be.

Also, check out this wonderful site. I just heard Robert Greenwald on a progressive radio program. He is the founder of "Brave New Films." The guy is doing a great service for us all. Check out the FOX Attacks Obama, part 2 film along with lots of other short films that Greenwald and his crew have blessed us with. Bravo.

~ tom

The "real" cost of the war...

I can't help but grieve over the incredible mis-allocation of resources that this pointless war has cost us. Here is a cartoon that shows the madness.

Eileen and I were driving home the other day on Interstate Highways, and the road surface was ugly and rough. We both complained about it and then realized that if we had just a fraction of the total dollars being spent on this bullshit war, we could pave the road to the smoothness of a baby's ass. Of course there are myriad other examples: schools, bridges, health care, social security, arts and music, and so on. With this war grinding on, and the cost of it, I wish I had the nerve to withh0ld my tax payments. But, at this stage in my life, I'm not ready to face heavy fines and jail time for such a stance. So, this leads me again to my support of Obama. I want the nation to evolve to the point where I view my tax payments as "dues" that I pay to make my life and the lives of others more enriched.

For example, Eileen and I are fortunate to live in a development that has a home owners association that pays for keeping up the common grounds, providing us additional security, and other benefits. The payments we make are termed "dues" and I HAPPILY pay them for the services I realize for the payment. My dream is to pay my federal taxes as if they were "dues" to advance the common good for our country. Instead, I pay my federal taxes with shame. Shame over what my dollars are paying for, and shame over my cowardice that prevents me from withholding payment.

~ tom

This says it all...

Why do I fervently support Obama?

This excerpt from his speech on abortion says it all. Can you imagine anyone from the Bush crowd, or for that matter Hillary, making such a speech?

Think about what sort of country we will have if Obama is President. I'm so cynical these days that I fear to hope too much. But, I can't help it.

~ Tom

Prick up your ears, installment 7 - Little Big Town

Somewhere a while back I read a review of an album called "A Place to Land" by a group I had never heard, or heard of: Little Big Town. The review was one of those five star deals and it got me interested so I downloaded the album from Rhapsody to my MP3 player and checked it out. I love this group. Two guys and two girls, singing in wonderful harmony, with very strong song-writing. Great instrumental support, and top-notch engineering. I guarantee that you will like this album if you are anywhere near my wavelength.

Here is the chorus from a kick-ass track called Novocaine:

I'll take your wrong and make it right
I'll take your load and make it light
I'll dry your eyes and you can bet
Any hurt that you remember gonna help you forget
Make you numb to the pain
I'll be your Novocaine.

Here is an excellent Allmusic review of the album

And, the Allmusic reviews give you a 30 second excerpt of all the tracks!

Tom says, check it out!

Spitzer - The elephant in Clinton's living room

The first thing I thought of when I heard about the Spitzer denouement was Bill Clinton righteously wagging his finger and saying in that patronizing tone of his, "I never had sexual relations with that woman." I think a whole lot of people had the exact same thought, as evidenced by this piece on Huffington Post.

~ tom

Ed Harris

We got around to seeing "Gone Baby Gone" on DVD the other night. I had read quite a few reviews and the blogs of good friends, which/who all lauded Casey Affleck and Amy Ryan's performances. But I don't recall much ink being spilled on the wondrous, gripping performance by Ed Harris. That scene with him and Affleck after Affleck has basically executed the child molester and Harris is getting drunker by the minute while examining moral relativity was Harris as good as I've ever seen him, and I've seen him in some truly great roles over many years. He has always been one of my favorite actors.

As for the flick, the plot was the typical Lehane contrivance, but in this case much, much less plausible than Mystic River. Still, it was a nice diversion, and again, hats off to Ed Harris.

~ tom

Take heart Obama supporters

Just heard Johnathan Alter on the Ed Schultz show, indicating that Hillary cannot win the nomination. He refers us all to Slate's cool delegate counter. Check it out.

Here is Alter's Newsweek column explaining in detail why Hillary cannot win.

Mystery veep....

Assuming Obama gets the nomination, I strongly recommend that he choose this mystery man as his running mate.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

He was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri and grew up in a military family. His ancestors fought in every major American war.

His father, a career officer in the U.S. Air Force, flew B-17s and B-29s during World War II, dropped cargo during the Berlin Airlift, and was later involved in missile programs. He is buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

After graduating from high school he attended the University of Southern California on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship from 1963–1964.. In 1964, he earned appointment to the United States Naval Academy where he was a member of the Brigade Honor Committee.

After graduating from Annapolis, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. As a first lieutenant during the Vietnam War he served as a platoon commander with Delta Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines. He earned a Navy Cross, the second highest decoration in the Navy and Marine Corps for heroism in Vietnam. He also earned the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts.

He attended Georgetown Law School from 1972 to 1975, graduating with a law degree. While at Georgetown, he wrote his first book, Micronesia and U.S. Pacific Strategy.

From 1977 to 1981, he worked on the staff of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. During this time, he also represented veterans pro-bono.

During the Reagan Administration, he served as the nation's first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984 to 1987. During his time as Assistant Secretary, he sought to reorganize the Marine Corps. He was gravely concerned with the disarray the Marines had fallen into post-Vietnam: drug use, racial infighting, and low morale within the Corps left him with the impression it was no longer America's premier fighting force.

In 1987, during the Regan administration, he served as Secretary of the Navy, becoming the first Naval Academy graduate to serve in the military before serving as the civilian head of the Navy.

After his resignation, he earned his living primarily as an author and filmmaker. He won an Emmy Award for his 1983 PBS coverage of the U.S. Marines in Beirut.

Among his awards for community service and professional excellence are the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Medal of Honor Society's Patriot Award, the American Legion National Commander's Public Service Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Media Service Award, the Marine Corps League's Military Order of the Iron Mike Award, the John H. Russell Leadership Award, and the Robert L. Denig Distinguished Service Award.

In November 2006 he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, where he continues to serve.

Who is he?

Senator Jim Webb from Virginia.

Obama should choose him as a running mate, because Obama's only arguable weakness is lack of military background and experience. Webb, would combat (pun intended) this quite handily.

Hillary's brain...

Inside Hillary's brain:

Let's see, how will I get Catholics to support me. I know, I'll mock their religion.

How will I get Red Sox fans to support me. I know, I'll mock their team.

How will I get gays and lesbians to support me. I know, I'll mock the idea of them wanting to be married just like normal people who are in love.

How will I get environmentalists to support me. I know, I'll mock their belief in global warming.

How will I get fundamentalists to support me. I know, I'll mock Jesus Christ.

How will I get Obama supporters to support me. I know, I'll mock their movement and their sincere fervor.

~ Tom

John Alvin

Do you know who John Alvin was? Neither did I until a saw this tribute.

I learn something new every day.

~ Tom

Clerical error my ass!

Consider the following from the NY Times:

Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district.

The article goes on to note that officials explained that these anomalies were just "clerical errors!"

I don't think so. And I'm still stroking my chin over the Clinton win in New Hampshire that was way different than the exit polls. Brings to mind John Kerry up in his hotel room writing his victory speech after he got the exit polls in Ohio, only to find that the ballot count was far different. I hate to be cynical, but I can't help but be when I read this kind of stuff.

Obama and the women

From what I can see, Obama is slowly but surely wooing women away from Hillary. I think if you read this column by Kate Michelman, you will see why. I admire her for speaking out as she does in this cogent, eloquent, and thoughtful piece.

~ Tom

Obama has "it"

Here is an excerpt from the comment I posted today on Michael Lally's blog:

There is just something about Obama that touches the proverbial nerve. It's akin to observations people make about naturally gifted athletes, or charismatic performers -- you can't teach it or learn it. You either have it or you don't. I've known from the git go that Obama has "it." But the absolute confirmation of it was when Tim Russert played a clip of Harry Truman in July 1960 begging JFK to withdraw from the race and "have patience", bluntly stating that JFK was too green to be president. Then, Russert played JFK's response, which raised goosebumps for me even after all these years. I get the same feeling these days when I listen to Obama's soaring, yet genuine oratory, or just see his lanky grace and magic smile.

After posting that comment, I tried to find the video that I mentioned, but was only able to find a transcript of the relevant portion of the Meet the Press program. Here it is, and you have to admit, it's really quite uncanny...

MR. RUSSERT: ...and we've been able to find exactly what Harry Truman said about John Kennedy back in July of 1960. Let's watch this.

(Videotape)

PRES. HARRY S. TRUMAN: Senator, you--are you certain that you are quite ready for the country, or the country is ready for you in the role of president in January 1961? I have no doubt about the political heights to which you are destined to rise, but I'm deeply concerned and troubled about the situation we are up against in the world now and in the immediate future. That is why I hope that someone with the greatest possible maturity and experience would be available at this time. May I urge you to be patient.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Incredible. Two days later, this is how John Kennedy responded to Harry Truman. Let's watch.

(Videotape)

PRES. JOHN F. KENNEDY: The world is changing. The old ways will not do. It is time for new generation of leadership to cope with new problems and new opportunities, for there is a new world to be won, a world of peace and good will, a world of hope and abundance, and I want America to lead the way to that new world.

Today I say to you, with full knowledge of the responsibilities of that high office, that if the people of the nation select me to be their president, I am ready.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Forty-eight years later, maturity, experience, "be patient," "I'm ready."

MR. CARVILLE: Yeah.

MR. SHRUM: It's the same debate.

MR. MURPHY: Yeah.

A Whole Lotta Snowing Going On

We got up to our place at Tahoe/Donner yesterday, just beating the big storm. There was a ton of snow awaiting us and I shoveled a path to the front door and shoveled the snow on the deck away from the sliding glass door and window. Then it started snowing again! It snowed hard all night and when we awoke, all my shoveling was replaced with another 2-3 feet!

We had hoped to ski today and Monday, but it's still snowing, the highways are closed, and they are predicting winds of up to 60mph! Tomorrow is going to be sunny, the roads clear, and all the lifts running. So, we scrubbed the mission for today, and will ski tomorrow (a Monday with no crowds) and drive home tomorrow evening. It should be an epic day at Squaw Valley USA where we ski.

Here is a picture I took about a half an hour ago. Notice the half-moon window peeking over the top of the huge snow bank -- the top of that window is 12 feet from the floor inside our unit! You can't even see the deck, which is buried on the other side of the bank.

Nature is a gas!

John & Elizabeth - a class act

I was saddened to hear this morning that John Edwards was bowing out as a presidential candidate. If he had ever been able to rise to the level of a serious contender to insure that we don't have another 4 years of Republican rule (if only for the Supreme Court nominees), I would have supported him in a heartbeat.

When I heard this morning that he was throwing in the towel I first thought it was to give his supporters time to mull it over and cast a meaningful vote in the upcoming "Super Tuesday" primary elections. After some mulling that over, I realized that while that supposition makes some sense it doesn't explain his exit. He had contended all along that he was going to the convention with his delegates, in the hope that he could broker a better future.

No, I sadly concluded that the real reason is Elizabeth. She is dying of cancer. You all may have forgotten, or never tuned into it, but back just after John declared, it was revealed that Elizabeth's cancer had surged back from remission and was ultimately terminal, but that the end date was unpredictable, abliet certain. I think people forgot this, but I didn't. I admired her choice to let her husband run for president, knowing that even if he succeeded, she would not live to see the full promise fulfilled.

I don't mean to bring folks down by this post. It's just that I have had WAY TO MANY dear friends succumb to cancer, including my own brother, so I am very familiar with all the jargon and am able to translate it to the real prognosis.

I believe that once John realized that he could not get the nomination, even though he might have been able to be a mover and shaker at the convention, he decided to withdraw to be able to spend his time with his wife until she dies. I truly hope I am full of shit on this, but I will not be surprised to wake up one morning in the next year and read that Elizabeth died of cancer. If that heartbreaking turn of events actually happens, all of you should hearken back to this post and give a sincere tribute to John for his decision.

~ Sadly,

Tom

Poetry

Some of my favorite people, and my best friend, are poets. I have a deep empathy with them, which includes their frustration about the fact that few people read poetry on a regular basis. In that regard I am ashamed to admit that, while not as bad as the mass of transgressors, I do not read enough poetry. I know I should, but I just don't seem to be able to get around to it. In view of the first sentence of this post, it should be obvious that my shame is genuine.

Anyway, there was a very interesting review in Sunday's S.F. Chronicle touching on the subject. I think I will order the book. Maybe reading a prose book on poetry will help me view poetry as a forethought rather than an afterthought.

I loved a quote by Carlos Santana at the Grammys a few years back when he won a lot of awards. He said something like, "Listen to John Coltrane every day." I say, read some poetry every day.

T.

Prick up your ears, installment 6 - SiA & Downtempo

I'll admit it, I am a fan of the music genre often called "Downtempo." While I have never liked most rap music, for some reason downtempo really appeals to me. Massive Attack, Portishead, Lamb, Morcheeba, Hooverphonic and the like are very cool on the whole. My favorite downtempo group is Zero 7, featuring SiA, the definitive downtempo singer.

SiA has a new album out, "Some People Have Real Problems," that I listened to for the first time yesterday on my walk with my dog. I LOVE this album. SiA gets to show us that she is far more diverse that her signature, laconic, slurry delivery -- this girl can sing. My "Allmusic" link to the album reveals that their critic does not agree with me. I guess I'm just one of those people he describes as:

"Sia is exactly the sort of artist a middle-aged Starbucks devotee who wants to remain at least tangentially hip would flock to: if Amy Winehouse did yoga instead of Jack Daniels, she'd sound a lot like Sia.

I'm guilty, but feeling zero shame about it. SiA simply makes me feel really, really good. What's not to like about that? Oh, could have have a Mocha Grande please?

~ Tom

Getting nervous

Remember my prediction a few posts ago that we will bring some sort of military action against Iran within 30 days, and that I hoped I was wrong? Well this blurb from today's Associated Press is not making me rest easy in that regard:

In Abu Dhabi on Sunday, President Bush said Iran "defies the United Nations and destabilizes the region by refusing to be open and transparent about its nuclear programs and ambitions." Calling the country the "world's leading state sponsor of terror," he urged Arab nations to join with the U.S. to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Well I urge you all to "confront the danger" of this idiot and his cronies "before it's too late." Call, email or write your senators and congressman and tell them you won't stand for another resolution like they served up for Iraq.

~ tom