Sad day yesterday with the news of the death of Elizabeth Edwards. I hope her passing was peaceful, and I’m glad she could afford the best of health care (and serious drugs, when the time came). Whenever I see somebody “famous” going through something like this, I of course feel sad for them, but, even more sadly, lots of other people suffer through the same types of illness every day (many of them totally alone), and when they finally pass on, they often leave families devastated and bankrupt. Maybe, had her ex-husband gotten elected (and not turned out to be a schmuck), Elizabeth would have brought a human face to the death panel debate. But the president we did wind up with knows how to compromise (he’s so good at it, he knows how to pre-compromise), so we have socialized medicine tax cuts for rich people are protected.
Speaking of sad, it was 30 years ago today that John Lennon was murdered by an idiot who had the right to bear arms. It would have been nice to hear all the music that went un-made over the past 30 years (especially if every other track wasn’t from Yoko; I guess I am classless and clueless, but I just can’t appreciate her, um, whatever it is she does). I’d like to have heard his opinion on George Dubya.
Have I mentioned that it’s been snowing here? In fact, it hasn’t stopped snowing for something like 90 hours now. Syracuse has gotten three feet of snow since Saturday, and I don’t know what we’ve gotten out where I live, but I’ll bet it’s close to double that. And it’s not going to stop today, either. Maybe a little break tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday, they say (not that it won’t snow; just not as much). Then Sunday a N’oreaster is coming, which should suck (the weather geek says it will be a “more significant event” than what we’re having now), and as that passes through, there will be more lake effect snow as the wind swirls across Lake Ontario.
I must admit I’m getting just a wee bit tired of this. I don’t mind having a big storm come through every now and again, but when it snows 8 or 10 (or 12 or more) inches a day every day, it kinda sucks. I’m glad I have a tractor, but it still gets a little cold out there (it’s in the teens at the moment, and hasn’t been warmer than about 25 with the wind as relentless as the snow). Last night I made some trails around the back yard for the dogs to have some room to run around (and take a crap). Too dark to see, but they’re probably all filled in by now.
When I went to start my van yesterday, it wouldn’t. So, I had to take my car, which, of course, had no snow tires (and the regular tires are pretty sucky, too, with 3 out of 4 being the crummy stock ones). I decided to take the afternoon off, got a portable jump starter (been meaning to get one for a while) and a battery for the van, and then decided to go ahead and wait for snow tires on the car (as you might suspect, they’re selling a lot of snow tires this week).
As I was waiting, it occurred to me that the ‘Service Engine Soon’ light was on as I struggled to get home on Monday night (which I dutifully ignored, figuring it was something stupid I could deal with in the spring). So who knows? Maybe I don’t need a battery after all. We’ll see. Too damn cold and too much snow to mess with it at the moment.
On the bright side, snow tires turned out to make a huge difference. Who knew? I don’t think I’ve had snow tires since I had my Chevette, and they were studded. But that was about 30 years ago.
Oh well, another cup of coffee and then, you guessed it, time to plow the driveway before a trip in to the dentist.
I just got up, and already I need a nap.
I like Yoko. It puts me in a rarefied group. I meet very few people who agree.
Yoko as a person is fine. Her music? Oy.
I should have been clearer. I like her music. But, then again, you like football, PJ. There just ain’t no accounting for taste.
Hist. of art and arch. final today. :barf: I think after the final I’ll go try to kill myself at McDs by consuming 20 chicken mcnuggets for 4.99.
I had some friends who booked and ran the Great American Music Hall, you know, the one next to the Mitchell Brothers’ O’Farrell Theater :hubba: :boobs: where I never once was a projectionist. You might also remember it being used as a location in the film “Behind the Green Door” starring Marilyn Chambers with a small roll for ex-NFLer Ben Davidson as Porter the Bouncer. It was his big opportunity to stretch from being typecast as an ex-jock but he was unable to transcend the vicious stereotype during the remainder of his ‘acting’ career.
I had walk-in privileges and saw many shows at GAMH that I might not have been willing to pay for but thoroughly enjoyed. I could just walk in to the O’Farrell but that’s another story. One of those shows was Yoko and Sean Lennon in early 1996. Yuka Honda, a somewhat edgy Japanese musician and Sean’s collaborator girlfriend at the time was in the band. It was supposed to be a taping session for video but I don’t think that it has ever seen the light of day. One of the best things about these shows was that I would get regaled with the stories of the day’s activities and backstage. As I remember on this one Yoko was very nice and not a prima donna or rich bitsh. When they did the soundcheck, Sean and the band started and Sean spent a while doing spot-on imitations of his mum and I think a lot of folks thought he was mocking her. After a while, Yoko came up and after some quick tweaking everything was set. The son was just doing her soundcheck for her. I imagine singing like that, you need to save your voice.
A few years after that Sean was playing bass in Honda’s band Cibo Matto. They had just released a new album and were on the road supporting it. I think it was club dates mostly but these tours also sometime involve a few in-stores as well. There was a major one-stop entertainment distribution center in Woodland, CA (rhymes with ‘Bumfook’) and the distributor had arranged a performance there in their lunchroom at lunchtime. These were usually suck-up affairs to ingratiate the sales rep to the buyer and management. The employees from the warehouse and the sales and marketing departments were compelled to attend and ‘enjoy’. They could be pretty unglamorous affairs for the artists and they were not open to the public for real fans and consumers like one that happened in an actual record store. I got there at about 11:15 and sat in the lunchroom watching them set up and sound check and what I noticed was this son of one of the greatest legends of our time dutifully working and supporting his girlfriend and band mates to get it right as if they were getting ready to play Carnegie Hall or Madison Square Garden rather than a break room in a music warehouse in the middle of nowhere. He was totally unassuming and good humoured never showing a trace of ego that one might see from modern music royalty and wealth. Afterward he dutifully and gracefully endured the grip and grin autographing session. I had to figure he had been raised well. Since he lost his Father at 5, I am sure Yoko had a lot to do with that but certainly John left him a wonderful legacy to learn from.
btw, I respect and appreciate Yoko’s artistry even if it is not exactly my :joe: of green tea.
I know this is supposed to be Paul’s song (even though he doesn’t seem to remember parts of it. John still shines on in this video.
🙁 :gate: :blues:
Sean Lennon And Yoko Ono: DNA Memory
Download link
It’s only about 4 minutes short.
I have to recognize Annie Leibovitz during my test today.
Thanks to Sam Seder, I now know:
A conservative Loudoun County lawmaker says controversial airport pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration are part of a “wide-scale homosexual agenda.”
Eugene Delgaudio, a Republican representing Sterling on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, made the comments in a widely distributed e-mail sent in his capacity as president of the conservative nonprofit Public Advocate of the United States.
In the e-mail — reported by WUSA9 — Delgaudio also says the TSA’s non-discrimination hiring policy is “the federal employee’s version of the Gay Bill of Special rights.”
“That means the next TSA official that gives you an enhanced pat-down could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission,” he wrote.
http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2010/12/virginia-lawmaker-claims-pat-downs-part.html
Well, good. At least somebody would be benefiting from it. And, let’s face it, I’m so gosh darn hot, all the gay guys wanna feel me up.
And, well, from this picture on his website, it appears that Eugene knows a thing or two about what gay guys want.
Just looked at the web cam in my little town, and damned if the sun aint shining for the first time, in well, i dunno. Not gonna last, as we’re expected to get another foot or so of snow tonight out there, but it’s nice to see the sun (if only vicariously, from the Internets).
Crepuscular rays!
Holy shit, I am an idiot. My final is tomorrow.
I went to J & R ( a large electronics store in Manhattan) this afternoon and all the TV’s were tuned to MSNBC where Cenk Uygur was holding forth on the problems of the tax “compromise.”
I mention this because when we drove across country last summer, wherever we stopped, Fox Noise was on. I wonder if Fox offers some incentive to get people to put them on. perhaps that is how Fox counts viewers, too.
I don’t think I have ever been to J&R but I’ve always liked them. They had a rough time after 9/11 but they made through. And they are not Best Buy, Walmart, Musicland…
🙁 :gate:
vernon- thanks for sharing that great story :nod:
The Syracuse snow story led on NBC tonight :cold:
I had dinner with a friend who works in TV and I asked her if Fox gave incentives to businesses to tune to Fox News. “Absolutely,” she said. ” That boosts their audience numbers.” Something to keep in mind the next time O’Reilly brags about his audience.