Archives for January 2004

Brrrrrrrrr!! Before I go back to my fishing hole in the ice, here’s a link to keep the blood circulating: “Spain Sentences Imam for Book Offering Advice on Wife-Beating.” The Imam’s defense lawyer contends that his client was wrongly sentenced to prison for encouraging violence against women. Why? Because he was merely following Islamic teaching. “Freedom of […]

It’s too cold to blog today. Besides, blogging used to be fun. Now it’s just blabbermouthing. Bloggers go on and on. They — OK, we — don’t know how to shut up. A friend of mine says the Web is more accurately called the long-winded Web. He’s right. I’m going ice-fishing. Here’s something to look at […]

And the winner of moveon.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” contest is “Child’s Pay” by Charlie Fisher. Not a word is spoken, yet the ad tells the truth in simple, powerful terms. It conveys the message that the Maximum Leader is willing to saddle America with a trillion-dollar debt. You’ll be seeing it on national television […]

Tonight’s a big one for moveon.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” ad contest. The liberal advocacy group will name the winner on its Website. For those unfamiliar with the competition, here’s the dope. The jury is looking for “the ad that best tells the truth about President Bush’s failed policies” in 30 seconds. The winning ad is to […]

Prompted by yesterday’s item, “Catching Up With Willie Nelson,” a reader writes: “It occurs to me that people, especially Toby Keith, won’t fuck with Willie like they did the Dixie Chicks. His talent, eloquence and commercial power are formidable and have stood the test of time. Willie’s influence within the industry is enormous. Moreover, there is […]

Let’s end the week with Paul Krassner’s predictions for 2004. He has taken the culture’s pulse for so long and with such accuracy that his prescience should surprise no one. It’s a tough game, making predictions. He knows that as well as anybody, except for Our Maximum Leader, who ought to be eating his words about […]

News item: The New York Times reported that CBS “in effect” paid Michael Jackson $1 million to sit for a “60 Minutes” interview. The report, based on an anonymous source, was vehemently denied by the network. Poet-punster Leon Freilich offers this commentary: TIFFANY TRASH?The Jackson “interview”Has critics singing the blues,Wondering if CBSIs guilty of molesting […]

Let’s consider some recent high-profile liars and the lies they told. A reader writes: “William Jefferson Clinton lied about a blow job in the oval office. Cost to the American public: Embarrassment and wasted millions in federal funds for the Starr investigation. Cost to Clinton: He was impeached, but not convicted, and lost his license to practice law. “Martha Stewart is […]

Have you heard, or heard about, Willie Nelson’s new antiwar song? It’s called “Whatever Happened to Peace On Earth,” and he sang it last week in Austin, Texas, at a fund-raising concert for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. “That’s only the second protest song I’ve ever written,” Nelson told the Austin American-Stateman, “but it just […]

Here are the 15 finalists in moveon.org voter fund’s amateur “Bush in 30 Seconds” political ad contest. To watch the ads, just click on the high- or low-bandwith versions (and don’t forget to click the left arrow when the screen comes up). Some of them are terrific. For a quick taste, here’s a random sample of photo […]

I don’t know what got Mugs started. It could be our conversations about Eric Ambler, who I’ve been reading lately with an avidity bordering on madness. Some Amblers remain in print, about a half dozen. Many more are out of print. When you find them, they’re shelved among the mystery and thriller novels. Mugs says that’s […]

Three generations of American playwrights, each playwright considered by many to be the best of his generation, each writing prose for the page and not the stage. Here’s Arthur Miller on Fidel Castro, David Mamet on the power of names, Tony Kushner on Eugene O’Neill. How nice. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Any year that begins with Cuba’s incomparable jazz pianist Chucho Valdes at the Village Vanguard has to be an auspicious one. When Chucho also surrounds himself with three hand-picked New York musicians (especially the sensational Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto) and then invites Mexican-American trombone great Steve Turre to sit in on several numbers, it’s more than […]

I see that Sharon Waxman, of The New York Times, and Foxnews.com’s Roger Friedman are feuding over stories they wrote about the influence of the Nation of Islam on Michael Jackson. The New York Post’s Page Six says Friedman is howling that Waxman ripped him off. She in turn accuses him of being inaccurate. What […]

Jazz critic Ben Ratliff made my day on New Year’s with a gorgeous, appreciative review of Chucho Valdes and his New York-based quartet at Manhattan’s Village Vanguard. “You can start to take the virtuosity of Cuban musicians for granted sometimes, especially when they’re playing material that binds itself in technique,” he began. “One example is […]