PLAYLIST FOR ZEP AUDITION (SINGERS/SONGS): Sorry about the monitors, people, we had like ZERO notice. Here are the ground rules: no breaks, no key changes, bring your own water and leave your cards at the door. If you are performing your own material, please give your changes to John Paul Jones IN ADVANCE. Eye contact with Mr. Page will lead to IMMEDIATE disqualification. Good luck. JIMMY BUFFET ("Goin' to California" wine cooler remix) JIM MORRISON ("Stairway to Heaven" Paris cemetry dub) NOEL GALLAGHER ("Rock and Roll") ANDY GIBB ("Boogie … [Read more...]

Senator McCain: You have repeatedly opposed equal pay for equal work. If for any reason you were unable to fulfill your duties as President, would Sarah Palin receive the same executive salary in the event of her succession? … [Read more...]

The Boston Herald, today's front page It wasn't until I saw this photo that "Joe The Plumber" suddenly clicked as racist bait. How many black plumbers do you know? And who did Joe turn out to be but our most antiquated, rednecked, "bitter"-talking voter? Since only pictures "matter," Joe turned out to be exactly who Rove & Co. wanted him to be: an angry white guy who doesn't want some uppity black to "spread the wealth around." The witch hunt began even before Palin winked: our Smokin' Joe is instantly more American than Obama if only because … [Read more...]

Former Village Voice columnist Leslie Savan, author of The Sponsored Life and Slam Dunks and No Brainers, has been blogging on campaign ads for the Nation: … [Read more...]

...if you want it … [Read more...]

"To note that Lennon and the band he founded have enduring capacities to ignite the public imagination is to commit an obviousness that is aptly painful..." David Hajdu in the New Republic. … [Read more...]

Sarah Darling (Tina Fey remix) Murder Incorporated (all hail: subprime credit crisis) Born in the USA (update the quagmire) 'Dad's Gonna Kill Me (Richard Thompson cover) Detroit medley (for "Devil With the Blue Dress") Farmer John (Premiers, Neil Young cover) Double Shot of My Baby's Love (Swingin' Medallions cover) The River ("On account of the economy...," or, "Daddy, what's a union card?") Nebraska (Chuck Hagel dub) State Trooper (immigration law import) Restless Nights (RE: domestic violence) Roulette (Three Mile Chernobyl outtake) None … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, copy, paste, resend and GET OUT THE VOTE: This is Your Nation on White Privilege By Tim Wise / September 13, 2008 For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help. White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has … [Read more...]

To William F. Buckley, Jr. October 18, 1965 Dear Bill-elect, What the hell does emunctory mean? You have here gone too far, sir, even for Buckley. I even heard one Roman turn over distinctly in his grave as the word went by and whisper to his neighbor, "Does that 'emunctory' come from the Greek?" Anyway, you're just an old fraud. You offered to pay a week's wages not to have to hear anyone who talks more predictable nonsense on the subject of foreign policy than myself. Sailor Bill, I come close to loving you here. When the hell did you ever … [Read more...]

"If I were Francis Bacon and dead, I'd find some way to come back just to paint Tilda..." David Thomson in the Guardian. … [Read more...]