If it was the Marlins, you wouldn’t see people in Florida getting up at 5 a.m. And if it was the Yankees — well, their fans aren’t real. They just buy the hat.
— Helio Rocha, a restaurant manager who stayed up all night in anticipation of watching the Red Sox’ Major League Baseball opener (played in Toyko) at 5:30 a.m. in famed Boston watering hole Cask ’n’ Flagon; March 26.
Adam Smith’s invisible hand has a puppeteer: the Federal Reserve. In case there is any confusion about who was pulling the strings behind the scenes of JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of Bear Stearns, the curtain was lifted Monday. By raising its bid — with the grudging approval of the Fed — to $10 a share, from $2, JPMorgan exposed what had long been whispered about but no one dared to say aloud: the Fed is officially in the deal-making business.
— from Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Dealbook” column in The New York Times; March 25; emphasis added. Full Story »
I guess I could make my friend Denny the journalist happy and begin this way - with a lede:
Neil Aspinall, friend of Paul, then George, then John, then Ringo, then The Beatles’ road manager and personal assistant, then chief executive for Apple Corps for more than 4 decades has died. He was 66.
But since I’m a storyteller, let me begin somewhere else:
My first encounter with George was behind the school’s air-raid shelters.This great mass of shaggy hair loomed up and an out-of-breath voice requested a quick drag of my Woodbine. It was one of the first cigarettes either of us had smoked. Full Story »
So by now you’ve probably heard that Ralph Nader is once again making a third run for the presidency. It pains me to have to say it, but Nader is making a terrible mistake and further tarnishing his legacy. He should not run.
Let me begin by emphasizing how much I admire Nader and all he has done. As a consumer advocate myself, I probably would not have the career I do if it wasn’t for him. His work on everything from auto safety to the corporate takeover of modern politics should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to stand up for the little guy. I read his book, supported his presidency, and when compared to the stiff mannequin that was Al Gore in 2000 and the incipient stupidity of Dubya, I pulled the lever for him.
But this isn’t 2000. It’s a very different world, and Nader simply refuses to recognize that.
Turner Classic Movies is currently in the midst of its annual “31 Days of Oscar” programming which means that almost every film they’re showing these days offers something interesting. Sunday, February 17 was John Wayne Day. I finished watching The Sands of Iwo Jima, the film for which Wayne received one of his two Oscar nominations, when a question occurred. (In these post-The War days the film seems particularly contrived and quaint, but at the time of its release in 1949 it was a huge hit. It was one of a string of films Wayne made that cast him as the archetypal American War Hero.)
Wayne is the troubled but heroic Marine sergeant John Stryker (one must note the debt that name surely has to the brilliant Nathaniel West); John Agar is the young Marine who must learn the code (ah, the length of Hemingway’s shadow). He must overcome his intellectual mis-education and accept the power and glory of being in The Corps - having the ability to travel to exotic places, meet strange and interesting people, and kill them. Wayne got his Oscar nomination in part because his character, Stryker, does something rare and notable for a character in a John Wayne film - he dies. In fact, Sands of Iwo Jima was one of the films that vaulted Wayne to the top of the biggest box office star list. (It’s a place he spends a lot of time both before and after death.) Full Story »
What’s the difference between a skeptic and a cynic?
A skeptic is someone who, when told something, doesn’t immediately believe it to be true and looks deeper into the issue before making their decision.
A cynic is someone who, when told something, automatically assumes it to be false, and doesn’t bother looking any further, because it’s just got to be bullshit.
It’s essential, especially in these times of fear and paranoia, that we maintain a healthy skepticism about what we are told. Full Story »
I wanted to add some more thoughts to Sam’s excellent estimation of the end of John Edwards’ campaign. I’ve pretty much been deep in the tank for Edwards since his awe-inspiring “Two Americas” speech in 2004, so to see and hear him bow out today was a grand disappointment. But even as he did so, I looked back and considered what brought him–and those of us who stood with him–to this point. Full Story »
Hello. My name is Jim Booth and I’m (at least nominally) a writer for S&R. For those of you vaguely familiar with my work and wondering where I’ve been, here’s a brief explanation of sorts.
It’s been a rough couple of months.
On the blogging front, the two “big” stories I spent most of 2007 writing about, the evil that is Blackwater and the Jena 6 travesty of justice, are gone from the news cycle. In the first case Blackwater coverage is now buried - by, I suspect, tacit agreement between the Bush junta and corporate media - so as to allow Erik Prince and company to slither away with minimal (if any) punishment for their crimes against humanity in the name of protecting “American interests” in Iraq. In the second case, Jena’s impetus toward equal treatment under law has dissipated (sadly) due to revelations that the principal prosecutee/cause célèbre has been something of a habitual criminal whose previous unsavory behavior had been excused with wrist taps for the following reasons: 1) he was a star athlete; 2) he committed his crimes against fellow African-Americans rather than against whites in his home town in the deep south. Full Story »
Something big happened a few nights ago in Iowa. Barack Obama began the evening as one of the top two contenders for the Democratic nomination and by the time people went to bed he was John F. Kennedy.
This might sound like hyperbole - and to be sure, the race is far from won - but if the results we saw in the Hawkeye State last Thursday are replicated in New Hampshire and beyond, then what we are seeing may be a defining shift in American politics and culture. The key factor is the emergence of the 75-100 million strong Millennial Generation as a political force. Let’s look at some of the evidence.
The Young Voter PAC’s roundup provides ample data for consideration. Full Story »
I met Bill Clinton once - well, “met” might be too strong a word. “Saw” would be more apt as a description. He and Gore were doing that bus tour thing in ‘92 and their bus stopped near where I was and I stood in a small crowd while they stepped from the bus to glad hand for a few moments. Though I was near the back of the group, Clinton looked out over the sea (well, pond) of faces and we made (I think) eye contact. I saw caring in his eyes - and I liked it. It reminded me of our mutual hero, John F. Kennedy. I voted for him twice based on that glimpse as much as on any rational principle….
I had dinner one evening last spring with an astronaut. He’d piloted the space shuttle and now works in the aerospace industry. He was just the sort of person you’d want an astronaut to be - intelligent and thoughtful in his discourse, genial to everyone we met, casually modest about his exploits. It was like meeting John Glenn. He was what my parent’s generation used to call “an All-American guy.” He was the sort of guy you’d want to marry your sister. He just shimmered with the aura of heroism. I got him to give me an autographed picture of himself in his space suit…. Full Story »
Pundits are much like birds flocking south for the winter…they travel in large groups, directed a certain way by a few leaders that twist this way and that, directing the rest of the flock to follow. It seems that if you watch the flock, it looks like they have no idea which way they’re going, so willy-nilly and arbitrary are their changes of direction.
And so it is that this week we get no fewer than four distinct flocks flying around this week, each one presenting a very different directional tilt on the topic of whether or not Barack Obama is a candidate for “Generation X,” the “Millenial” generation, both, neither, or something totally different. Full Story »
Last week on SVR we looked at some of 2007’s top female artists, so this week it seemed appropriate to offer props to some of the guys responsible for outstanding CDs this year. We’ll start with CD of the Year candidate The Good, the Bad & the Queen, fronted by former Blur and Gorillaz auteur Damon Albarn, who’s shaping up as one of the true geniuses of our age.
Next, another CD of the Year frontrunner. Full Story »
(Part I Here) It takes a while to drive up to a decent trout stream from where I live. About the time the first side of the cassette ended (sides one and two of The White Album) I stopped at a country store for a diet green tea and a protein snack bar (I’m such a Boomer health junkie now). I hopped back into the truck, flipped the cassette to listen to sides three and four and headed up through the red and gold of the hills toward the river, heartened by what The Beatles were revealing to me and anxious to find out if I could be drawn in again…. Full Story »
Autumn fills me with yearning. Maybe it’s those first twinges of approaching winter - a warm evening begets a frosty morning - that come unexpectedly, as crises or messages from long feared lost loved ones do, when one isn’t expecting them, bringing fear or joy so suddenly that one isn’t able to anticipate them sufficiently and then try to appreciate them adequately….
Maybe it’s because autumn is that seasonal reminder that we’re finite - that we’ll all die some day - and that we don’t even know when that’ll be, so we can’t really plan. Death, like love, comes even to those who are looking for it at that moment when their attention strays - a fly buzzes, as Dickinson noted, or maybe, as Keats whispers to us, a bird is singing:
“Now, more than ever seems it rich to die…” Full Story »
I saw Elvis Costello two nights ago at (interestingly enough) the Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC (a suburb of Raleigh). It was an excellent show, and if he’d had a better audience, it would have been a great one.
The amphitheater only holds about 2000, so it was a fairly intimate setting for a show. Elvis appeared with the North Carolina Symphony (they played some of his orchestral pieces and provided interesting backup for some of his hits) and Steve Nieve, his original keyboardist from EC and the Attractions. So that was fun.
What I want to talk about, though, is not so much the show itself (though I’ll cover that). I really want to talk about the Elvis Costello I saw versus the guy who first burst onto the hinterland American consciousness in 1978. Full Story »
When Tom Snyder asked John Lennon in the famous Tomorrow Show interview why he became a musician and formed a band, Lennon replied slyly, “For the birds, Tom. That’s why every guy does it. To get girls….”
Pattie Boyd was one of the most famous of “the birds….”
Now Boyd has published her autobiography. It should be a riveting read for anyone interested in rock music, rock history, or rock stars in our popular culture.
I think maybe this starts at a Who concert in 1976:
I went to the concert with two musician friends of mine and some women who, for reasons obvious to me at least, shall remain nameless. Toots and the Maytals, one of the great reggae bands, opened the show. In retrospect, they played a nice opening set - what there was of it. We booed them off the stage early.
I always rationalize to myself that it was because they covered John Denver’s execrable “Country Roads” - I mean, who in hell can tolerate “Almost Heaven/West Jamaica” as a lyric? But that wasn’t the real reason we booed them off, pissed off Pete Townshend, and had to wait an extra half-hour for The Who to come out and play an amazing show.
What we wanted was the spectacle. We wanted The Who - rock stars who’d give us a show worthy of our grubbily lofty expectations. It was 1976, after all. No one would want to see authentic musicians like The Maytals playing their music - we wanted the Big Bang.
And The Who delivered - a laser lit , ear ringing spectacle that I have long told anyone who’d listen was the best concert I ever saw…. Full Story »
Today is the 38th anniversary of the ending of The Woodstock Music and Art Fair at Bethel, NY.
For all us Boomers who became what Hunter called “The Generation of Swine” and who’ve elected the likes of Thrill Bill and The Decider as OUR POTUSes, time for a little assessment and reflection on what Woodstock nation has contributed to our culture: Full Story »
Elvis is dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
There is no doubt that Elvis is dead these thirty years this very day. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.
All that follows may or may not have happened. I’m not sure I can say anymore. That happens to fiction writers….
I guess I could make my friend Denny the journalist happy and begin this way - with a lede:
This might sound like hyperbole - and to be sure, the race is far from won - but if the results we saw in the Hawkeye State last Thursday are replicated in New Hampshire and beyond, then what we are seeing may be a defining shift in American politics and culture. The key factor is the emergence of the 75-100 million strong Millennial Generation as a political force. Let’s look at some of the evidence.
I saw Elvis Costello two nights ago at (interestingly enough) the Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC (a suburb of Raleigh). It was an excellent show, and if he’d had a better audience, it would have been a great one.
I think maybe this starts at a Who concert in 1976:
