Sports of sorts

What I've been reading lately....
* James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales: THOSE GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN: INSIDE THE WORLD OF ESPN (2011) -- A 750-page "oral history" of sports network ESPN, from its founding up to a few years ago. I skimmed over their tales of corporate struggles, but you'd never guess there could be such wild stories and such controversy involved with a cable TV channel that just broadcasts sports and sports talk. It's all here -- from Keith Olbermann's departure to Mike Patrick's "retirement" to Hannah Storm's wardrobe choices, and it's all great, hilarious stuff. As an oral history, the book tries to track down and interview everyone who ever worked for or appeared on-camera for ESPN, and though I've sometimes disliked this format for a book, this one puts you right inside the studio. You feel like you know these people. Which led me to re-read....
* Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller: LIVE FROM NEW YORK: AN UNCENSORED HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (2002/2003) -- I remember reading this a few years back and feeling mildly disappointed that the book wasn't big enough, that somehow it didn't do justice to the great comedy show that's been rolling since the mid-'70s and keeps coming back from the dead. But maybe that was just my uneasiness with the "oral history" format. This 2003 version (600 pages) includes some new interviews -- but of course, they're not set aside in a new spot; you have to re-read and find them. I had a great time, this time around. Although Eddie Murphy isn't interviewed anywhere in here, LOTS of other SNL veterans are, and there's some great backstage gossip. And controversy, too. A great way to blow off a few hours, if you were ever a fan.
* Rick Reilly: THE LIFE OF REILLY (2003) -- This is a best-of from when Reilly was writing the back-page column for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. My only serious disappointment was they didn't include Reilly's coverage of the 1986 U.S. Open -- a golf piece so hysterically funny I still laugh 'til I cry whenever I re-read it. Who knew you could make golf so funny? (This piece was brought to my attention by my old Air Force boss and writing coach Gary Pomeroy, who was always looking for funny stuff and taught me that the one place you could break the rules in a military newspaper was on the sports page. As a result, I went looking for my own funny golf stories -- and then just funny stories, period.) They also left out Reilly's column "Nobody Loves a Blit," a classic about REALLY stupid team nicknames.
But the stuff that IS here is pretty great -- especially the pieces about how taking part in sports or just being a sports fan helps hold people together. Some of this stuff will tear you up. Which leads me to....
* The annual BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING, series editor Glenn Stout (2005, 2007-2010). Amazing what you can find at Goodwill. After reading Reilly and remembering the way I got sucked into the YEAR'S BEST MUSIC WRITING series awhile back, I tried these. And man, was it worth it. Each volume assembles the best sports writing the editors can find each year, from national magazines down to local newspapers and Internet blogs. There's a lot of writing here about repetitive brain injuries to football players (before the NFL finally agreed there might be some brain damage involved with concussions), and about broken-down old players who gave their bodies for a few minutes of excitement for fans on the football field. There are lots of stories about drug- and steroid-abuse by players who then spiraled further downhill -- and about athletes who were able to come back from that. There are many stories about how sports holds people together -- one of the best is about a woman college basketball star who suffered a quadruple amputation ... and how her recovery helped hold her teammates together. There are amazing and moving stories of achievement and sacrifice here, superb and deeply human writing. The funny pieces are a real hoot. Overall, the stories are better and more human -- I hate to admit this -- than almost any in the BEST MUSIC WRITING series.
* Robert Young Pelton: THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS PLACES (Fifth Edition, 2003) -- I read an earlier edition of this a few years back and thought it was kind of thin and stupid. Not this one. In more than 1,000 pages, Pelton and the MDP staff look at dozens of global hotspots and tell you everything from getting there and getting out safely, how to exchange money, whether to drink the water, and how to place bribes in the right places. And they do it all with a grim but hilarious sense of humor. It also helps that one of the most dangerous places they go into detail about is the good old USA. I'm sure there's a newer edition out there....

#748: Submit!

I just sent a really silly horror-comedy short story to website Tor.com, who pay 25 cents per word if they publish your short story. This is the first piece of fiction I've submitted to a professional publication since about 2001. I'm a little shaky.
The story's called "The Coffee Maid," and it's a silly, awful piece about a haunted coffeemaker, and there's not a chance in hell that Tor will publish it. But it makes me laugh, so what the hell.
Tor says they'll get back to me in 3 to 4 months. Hey, if they'll pay me 25 cents a word, I can wait. The story's just over 5,500 words long. How much is that in real money?
I'll keep you posted, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't think the story's quite funny enough or scary enough. Definitely weird enough, though -- and I've read lots of horror short stories that had LESS reason to live. So.... Here we go again.

Hey, my blogging buddy R.S. Crabb over at Crabby's Record World has decided to hang this blogging stuff up, at least for now. I'm bummed by this -- Crabby has been one of the greats to follow since I started doing this stuff 5-1/2 years ago, plus he's made more comments here than ANYBODY ... in addition to turning me on awhile back to some of the strangest music I've ever heard (Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK, etc). So swing by Crabby's place, check out his latest stuff and beg him not to quit, like I already have. And then eat your heart out 'cause you didn't give him enough feedback before.
2000 Man, looks like it's just you and me, now....

Must be something in the air. All the late-night talk-show hosts are giving up, and last night my hero Craig Ferguson announced he's hanging up THE LATE LATE SHOW at Christmas. He's the only one of 'em I'll miss! The man is NUTS! That's why he's worth watching -- you never know what the hell you're gonna see. Perfect for night owls like me. So if you haven't checked out the crazy Scotsman yet, you've only got eight months left to get with the program, you cheeky monkeys! And see that you do!
Craig says he's hanging it up before he gets stale. Maybe Crabby feels the same way.
Course I'm more from the school of Do what you can until you can't do it no more.
I'm not goin' anywhere....

#623: Hadda dream 2

Had another 1 of THOSE dreams, music dreams. Ghod knows why. Thot it'd B worth sketching-out here cos it was so odd....
Very vivid: I'm at some kinda Southern Colonial-style house somewhere, big old-style wraparound covered front porch with railings, big windows in the house, very airy, huge grounds all around.
...& 4 some reason I'm replacing bass-player & vocalist Mont Campbell in the British early-'70s experimental/art-rock/Canterbury trio Egg. & I don't even play the bass. Or sing.
I'm sitting in the big bright airy drawing room of this almost-mansion, drinking coffee & talking over whatthehell we're gonna do at some quickly-approaching gig, talking with long-haired glasses-wearing keyboard whiz Dave Stewart & drummer Clive Brooks.
I don't know why I'm here or how I got the job. & I say so.
Because I've only heard about 1/2adozen Egg "songs," & wasn't even able 2 listen all the way thru their last album, 1974's arty & odd THE CIVIL SURFACE. I'm not really even a fan.
But Dave & Clive don't take it personally. We're joking around & I'm laughing nervously cos I have NO IDEA what I'm gonna do at this quickly-approaching gig, which might even B scheduled 4 THIS VERY NITE at this plantation or whatever.
It's a beautiful, mild summer day. We step outside, out in2 the huge yard, me strumming a guitar (?! I don't play 1 of those either), & we continue 2 sit & laff at R strange predicament.
Because I don't know their material & we've never worked 2gether B4, we decide we could just sorta jam & noodle around & that might possibly fill up an hr or 90 minutes of performance.
Dave is philosophical about it: "We could do 1 long piece and call it 'This Will Take Up 20 Minutes,' and then do another long piece and announce it as 'This Will Take Up 20 More Minutes.'"
And we laff about this. It's just about what you'd Xpect from a band that titled their compositions with names like "Long Piece No. 2."
At this point the dream faded out & I woke up, but I'd like 2 know: What do these dreams MEAN, Sigmund?
I hardly ever dream. But a couple nites ago I dreamed I was a new member of TV's NCIS team. & I know that's where I was Bcos Agent Gibbs was there, scowling disapprovingly the whole time....

COMING UP NEXT: Cheers(?!) for Seattle-area radio ... & 15 Great Overlooked "Pop" Albums....

#614: Up all night

A year ago or so I did a piece on TV-watching where I basically admitted 2 only looking at the box on Mon nites -- when I was addicted 2 the entire evening's worth of televised events, specifically WWE's MONDAY NIGHT RAW & the crazy English car guys of BBC America's TOP GEAR ... along with an occasional glance at CNN, usually while waking up & trying 2 force down a couple cups of coffee.
Things have changed a bit since then. I'm now watching about 2wice as much TV as I used 2 -- usually during my "weekends" -- & I'm finding most of it 2 B pretty great.
I broke away from my WWE addiction awhile back & am finding it suprisingly easy NOT 2 return -- after surrendering 1/2 of my Mon nites 4 most of 4 years 2 the work of John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, etc. But I DO miss TOP GEAR....
Lately tho, it's mostly the dramas that have roped me in. Police-procedural dramas, especially. I've long been addicted 2 NCIS, & now refuse 2 miss it on Tues nites. I've never seen a bad episode, & most of them grab me with just the opening trailer. I think it's the best continuing drama currently on TV.
It took a few episodes B4 I grew 2 like NCIS: LA -- at 1st I just thot it was a cheap new-location version of the original -- but I've since been sucked-in by its occasional moments of quirkiness & its cloak&dagger CIA/FBI/Pentagon-intrigue back-story. & Linda Hunt, who plays station director Hetty, has always been great.
I've also recently been sucked in by RIZZOLI & ISLES and THE MENTALIST -- both shows I was kinda cool 2 4 awhile. A rerun of THE MENTALIST in which hero Patrick Jayne helps a co-worker (an aging coroner) die with dignity had me crying like a baby at the end, & I've seldom missed an episode since.
Lotsa great acting here, especially Tim Kang as the stone-faced Oriental investigator on the CBI team. & is Patrick Jayne ALWAYS RIGHT? That would B hell 2 live with. Does he REALIZE how annoying he is? I'd like 2 see 1 episode where he's wrong -- just 4 a change of pace....
Not sure why I resisted RIZZOLI & ISLES. It's gotta great cast, & Angie Harmon is marvelous as the put-upon Detective Rizzoli. Still getting 2 know most of these characters -- & I should probly check-out the Tess Gerritsen novels the series is based on. She's got a great reputation.
Have caught a few other episodes of some other series' I originally blew-off: LAW & ORDER: SVU is always compelling, as is the original. Have also caught a few CSI's -- always solid. Was hooked on CSI: MIAMI for awhile, a couple of years back. CRIMINAL MINDS is also a twisted high-quality whodunnit with very compelling crime stories -- have always liked Mandy Patinkin's acting.
Was also shocked 2 catch an episode of LEVERAGE a week or 2 ago that featured a highly subversive critique of a thinly-disguised WalMart-like department-store chain. Small-town residents approached Timothy Hutton's team & whined about how the new megastore would destroy their town's way of life -- & the team went in & shut down the new store within 48 hours, shaking up the new store's management team on a variety of fronts, everything from environmental scares 2 rumors of unionizing & strikes, 2 accidental massive-sale giveaways.
2 see this kinda story presented on commercial TV -- especially during the holiday gift-buying season -- struck me as Xtremely subversive, a very pointed critique of modern capitalist society. Hope you had a chance 2 catch it, Bcos I wonder 4 some reason if it'll ever B re-run. Also probly no suprise that WalMart didn't run commercials during the show....
Topping off my evening's TV watching is the always-reliable David Letterman (some pretty good new music acts on that show, occasionally -- also sometimes some stuff that leaves me wondering how it ever got on the air) ... & my favorite late-nite loony, Craig Ferguson, whose show makes me laugh like an idiot.
I don't love everything, I still think there's a ton of garbage out there. I tried 2 like VEGAS, but it's just 2 slow-moving & sludgy, despite the good actors. I WANT 2 like Dennis Quaid, but coming after the high-tech NCIS & NCIS: LA, his show probly can't help coming-in 3rd-best. I tried 2 like 2 BROKE GIRLS, but it just ain't funny. & I'd like 2 C MIKE AND MOLLY again, but somehow I keep missing it.
I occasionally still catch episodes of AMERICAN PICKERS, PAWN STARS, HARDCORE PAWN, DUCK DYNASTY (hilarious!), STORAGE WARS & others -- but I missed the Ultimate Episode of the PICKERS, where they met the guy with the 20,000 record albums in his garage....
My most recent round of TV addiction started this past summer with LONGMIRE -- great acting, great writing, & at least 1 totally unXpected fall-out-of-bed shocking suprise in every episode! They just got me hooked & reeled-in every week when the series STOPPED! & now I just hope A&E brings it back....
Tho the puzzles on these cop&crime shows R usually of intrest -- & R sometimes really compelling -- the shows that stand out 4 me R the 1's with moments of humor, or quiet moments where some of these characters can let down their guard & act like themselves. It's moments like that which convince me that these characters could almost B Real People.
& dramas that don't include moments like that just don't measure up.

#609: This 1's 4 Jeff!

My old buddy Jeff Mann pops up quite a lot in this blog. He was my best friend in highschool, & what 1st brot us 2gether was a shared fascination with The Beatles & STAR TREK.
That, & the fact that he was drawing hilarious cartoons 4 the Meridian High School newspaper, the WARWHOOP, & I was jealous cos as a sophomore I wasn't allowed 2 B on the newspaper staff. But Jeff was 1 of the folks behind-the-scenes who got me on2 the paper as a junior. So he sorta set me on the path 2 where I am now.
But at 1st there was music & STAR TREK. Long B4 I knew whether I could write 4 a school newspaper, I was pouring-out little-known musical facts about the Beatles 4 Jeff, & he was reading 2 me big slugs of Stephen Whitfield's classic behind-the-scenes book THE MAKING OF STAR TREK.
The rest of the time I was listening-2 the radio in my bedroom 24/7, & Jeff was at home drawing HILARIOUS comedy covers 4 Beatles albums nobody ever heard of, complete with all-new comedy song-titles. When he was a little more serious, Jeff could draw great rock-star portraits (usually John, Paul, George & Ringo, of course) in pen&ink, too....
I think the 1st time I ever went "out" on a schoolnite it was with Jeff, scrunched into the passenger's seat of his little Mercury Capri -- & later in2 the passenger's seat of his even-smaller Austin Healey (I think). Ghod knows how my long legs fit in2 that car -- my knees were probly in my face.
But Jeff had no trouble fitting in. At 5-foot-10, maybe 130 pounds max, thin as a stick, he LOOKED like a walking cartoon, like a drawing he might've come up with himself -- like a younger, skinnier Paul McCartney. He had no trouble contorting his body out the driver's-side window of the car to shout "ROCK AND ROLL!!!" at passing cars & passers-by as we cruised down Nampa-Caldwell Blvd., the sounds of The Beatles or Wings or Elton John's "Love Lies Bleeding" blaring out the car's windows.... We musta scared the CRAP outta the old folks who were out on the blvd. those nites, wondering what kind of young heathens were blotting the landscape of Southwestern Idaho....
Jeff put practically The Beatles' entire catalog on tape as soundtrack music 4 driving 2&from school or 4 those nites of cruising ... later 2 B followed by McCartney solo or with Wings, & then by the Elton catalog. There's whole albums by Wings & Elton that I've never owned, couldn't even identify, but I've heard them all the way thru, many times over, thanx 2 Jeff. I don't think I've ever heard all of McCartney's 1st solo album or RAM by my own choice -- but I know I've heard them while hanging out laughing & being silly with Jeff, & the loony circumstances just made the music sound stranger. & I remember "Smile Away" & "Monkberry Moon Delight" & "Uncle Albert" ... & something haunting off the 1st album that I thot was called "Dear Boy" but now is apparently lost in memory....
We tripped over other stuff later. When Kansas's LEFTOVERTURE came out we both thot the lyrics were overblown & stupid, & we plotted 2 write our own silly concept album with outrageous lyrics -- we even briefly talked about PERFORMING it, even tho I've NEVER been able 2 play ANY musical instrument.
On the way to the Newspaper Awards Banquet at the end of my junior year, Jeff turned me on 2 Queen's A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, & suddenly we had another classic 2 B in awe of. I'd already heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" by then -- but I wasn't ready 4 the hysterical "Death on Two Legs" or the gorgeous science-fiction folk-song "'39" or the stunning "Prophet's Song."
There was more later -- Jeff & I shared an apartment with our buddy Don Vincent 4 a year, & mosta the music Jeff picked up on during that year Don & I later adopted as Good Stuff -- Journey's INFINITY, REO Speedwagon's YOU CAN TUNE A PIANO BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FISH, most Led Zeppelin albums, maybe a little bit of AC/DC -- jeez, even a little Ted Nugent.
Jeff never hadta convince us about early Elton John. But even 30 years later I was hearing stuff on GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD that I'd never been able 2 hear the 1st time around. I already loved "Love Lies Bleeding," "Grey Seal," "The Ballad of Danny Bailey," "Candle in the Wind," "All the Girls Love Alice" ... but it took me YEARS 2 notice "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock and Roll)," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Roy Rogers," "Harmony," ... & possibly Elton's greatest song ever -- yes, "Social Disease."
It wasn't just the music, tho. When Jeff & I 1st started noticing girls, 1st started going out, just started developing a "social life," we'd call each other now&then 2 try 2 figure out What It All Meant. & pretty much neither of us had a clue. But it was fun 2 try 2 figure it out, years B4 either of us would get married....
+ Jeff gave me 1 of the greatest Christmas gifts ever. After I wracked my brain 2 try 2 find something more impressive 2 give him 4 Xmas than WINGS OVER AMERICA, he trumped me big-time. I opened up the box & inside was a bright orange T-shirt with the bold print saying JEFF MANN FAN CLUB -- OFFICIAL MEMBER.
And I laughed like an idiot, til I had tears rolling down my face, & I wore it 2 school the 1st chance I got. It was just freaking perfect. Everybody knew we hung-out 2gether constantly. It never even occurred 2 me that some1 might've thot something else.... Anyway, nobody ever said anything....
I do a lotta Nostalgia here, & this is another round. But this Xmas Jeff is 800 miles away, & is probly starting 2 wonder if I'm EVER gonna get back 2 him with a long-overdue phonecall, so....

#602: On becoming a news junkie

Before I became a reporter, I pretty-much hated the news. Never read it, watched it or listened to it. Had no real use for "current events." Closest I got to reading a newspaper was skimming thru some long non-fiction piece in ROLLING STONE.
But somewhere along the way I got hooked on the work of journalists like Hunter S. Thompson, John McPhee, Tim Cahill. & when I got to Journalism School, I hoped that -- if I had 1/2 the writing talent I THOT I had -- maybe I could figure-out some lighter, more personal, funnier approach to writing 4 newspapers.
"Personality features" were always my favorite assignments at J-school. Something where you could loosen the rules a little bit, let some of your subject's personality in -- have some FUN with the writing. Wasn't until YEARS later that I realized you could do the same thing with sportswriting -- practically ALL the time....
On my good days, when I could write some real-life comedy (33 Thanksgiving turkeys delivered to a local resident due to a computer glitch -- she donated them to the Senior Center; old couple gives up growing a lawn & replaces it with multi-colored carpets -- causing car wrecks in front of their house), I thot I DID contribute something new & unique 2 the newspapers I worked 4. It was a joy 2 share a laugh with readers on the front page. & every fun story was like a gift from God -- most of them practically wrote themselves. They were almost effortless.
I couldn't see why EVERY reporter didn't do them.
They were also a great break from the usual grind of car wrecks, murders, trials, council meetings, DWI arrests, drug busts & political stupidity that is the avg reporter's daily diet. Journalism is a great career 4 a young person with lotsa energy & no social life. If you're a little older, with a Significant Other & a family, the job will eat you up. Because it never stops.
I don't look at newspapers much anymore, because most of them just make me want to know MORE. Or I wonder why the reporter doesn't journey much past the just-the-facts approach. Why so few reporters seem 2 do the daily job with much STYLE. They may be accurate, but they aren't that much fun 2 read.
I DO read local newspaper COLUMNISTS. The FUNNY 1's. & I wish there were MORE....
I have a little more fun with TV news, tho it can B frustrating 2. I gave up on most TV political coverage months ago -- the way the national media were more intrested in Herman Cain's Women Problems or Rick Perry's Senior Moments than they were in Xplaining Romney's plan to save the country. Besides, I'm pretty-much sick of the prez election & grateful that by this time Tues nite our long national nightmare will be over. Or perhaps it will be just beginning....
In addition 2 being great waking-up TV, I'd agree that nothing unites us like the national news-media in times of crisis -- Hurricane Sandy (Proof that there's No God: The Atlantic City Boardwalk is destroyed, but Snooki's house is OK), Katrina, 9/11, the Challenger explosion, etc. I just wish they worked up 2 their potential more often.
On the night before Election Day, you may know where Obama & Romney stand on some of the issues, but do you know what their plans 4 the future are? Do they have any clear, substantial, detailed plans for saving this country?
I don't think turning the clock back 2 1980 is a vision 4 the future. But clearly there R millions of people who wouldn't mind going back there. Or who didn't learn anything the 1st time around.

My news addiction has even gotten in the way at work. I haven't been playing much music lately. (Still recovering from the batch of strange CDs Crabby sent me awhile back -- Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK may have scarred me 4 life....) I'll get back 2 it, of course -- but mainly over the past week or so I've been listening 2 Seattle's news-radio station, KOMO. Tho they have a definite format they repeat each hour, the great thing about the news is that it CHANGES -- unlike the playlists at all the local rock stations.
Have listened 2 a little music that's grabbed me, tho -- Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring," Beatles' "A Day in the Life," Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me," Led Zep's "When the Levee Breaks," Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" & "I Want You," Cat Power's "He War" & "Speak for Me," part of a track off the new Neil Young album, "Walk Like a Giant" (which sounds a little like the return of "Like a Hurricane") -- & some great trax by classic late-'60s psychedelic band Love: "Alone Again Or," "Maybe the People Should Be the Times," "You Set the Scene," "Your Mind and We Belong Together."
These last replayed while reading Andrew Hultkrans's book-length look at Love's 1967 cult-classic album FOREVER CHANGES -- not sure I buy all Hultkrans' claims 4 what influenced Love-leader Arthur Lee 2 write the songs 4 FOREVER CHANGES, but the album turned out a mostly-gorgeous period piece anyway, a great forgotten companion 2 SGT. PEPPER and PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (and DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED). Should have a review of the book posted soon....

#536: Things haven't changed much....

Checked-in over the last coupla days with an old friend, a book I hadn't re-read since 1983. & it showed me that no matter how high-tech we R now, TV news hasn't changed much.
I 1st read Michael Arlen's LIVING ROOM WAR (1969/1982) in journalism school, when I was researching how the media covers the military 4 a "term paper" I hadta write. Arlen's book shows clearly that TV news never got much of a handle on the Vietnam war, & we still don't really know What The Hell Happened. Maybe somehow we didn't WANT 2 know, cos we keep making the same kinds of mistakes in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Michael Herr's Vietnam-era psychedelic/autobiographical masterpiece DISPATCHES  was my other research book -- I'll probly B re-reading it next.)
Arlen points out that TV news is VERY good on details. Where they mess up is the overview -- showing what all the little pieces added-2gether MEAN. TV news is still messing up in that area.
When I 1st read the book, mosta the political stuff went right over my head. This time around, I noticed Arlen's amusing look at "media consultants" (who have bn advising politicians about TV at least since the Kennedy/Nixon debates in 1960), which brot him 2 the conclusion that with the help of these high-tech advisers, "even someone like a movie actor could be elected president."
Hahahahaha. Pretty funny, right? & this is B4 Arlen even MENTIONS then-Calif Gov Ronald Reagan....
I know what you're thinking. This book sounds awfully dated. & it is, a bit. But just substitute current names 4 those Arlen uses, & the critiques still work.
Bsides, as Arlen points out, as the use of TV consultants grew, presidential candidates worried more & more about creating an "image" that voters could latch onto, something like a "real person" they could relate 2.
& as a result, Issues were talked about less & less.
& of course this is still happening.
When was the last time your favorite news outlet talked about Issues surrounding the current presidential campaign?
When was the last time you heard CNN talk about how the Republican presidential candidates plan 2 put 14 million unemployed Americans back 2 work?
It's bn MONTHS.
CNN & other daily news organizations R more locked-in2 who won the latest primary, & which candidate said something stupid this week.
Have you seen or heard NE news broadcast discuss the economy or jobs in-depth in terms of the presidential race lately? Have you heard them outline Mitt Romney's jobs plan? Or Rick Santorum's? Or Newt Gingrich's?
No. & do you know why? Because -- at least 4 the purposes of TV news -- they don't HAVE any plans. Look 'em up. I did. It's just rhetoric. The only thing all 3 agree on is tax cuts 4 the rich, under the assumption that the Xtra $$$ will create new jobs. Tho there's nothing in the current economic climate 2 guarantee that'll happen.
& if the rich corporation-owners Dcide 2 keep their Xtra tax $$$, then what?
Obama's no better. Even when he comes up with a jobs proposal, his own party in Congress stonewalls him.
As long as Congress remains a joke, it doesn't matter WHO's president. Nothing's going 2 change much. Americans should stop Xpecting their president 2 somehow "save" them or rescue them -- that sorta feeling was what got Obama elected in the 1st place. & tho I thot he had some good ideas, none of them have come thru in the way he'd hoped. The only thing left is his rather good speech-making abilities....
I would LOVE 2 C CNN or some other network sit down with the candidates & talk IN DETAIL about their plans 4 the future -- apart from winning whatever the next primary-state is. Talk about fixing the economy, putting people back 2 work, fixing Social Security & Medicare, keeping gas & food prices down, making it so people don't havta squeeze every dollar til it screams.
But TV news doesn't do that -- it's 2 busy focusing on Herman Cain's women problems, or Rick Perry's senior moment, or Mitt Romney's inability 2 connect with 1/2 of his own party.
& we all lose. TV news should take the chance 2 B BORING in order 2 do the public good. If the upcoming presidential election really is that important -- & 14 million unemployed people should make it the most important election we've had in awhile -- our media owes it 2 us 2 get us as well-informed as possible. Not just 2 discuss 4 days who's most likely 2 win Ohio....
...Oh, Arlen's book? It's the best, most detailed, most passionate, sometimes most angry book of TV criticism since Harlan Ellison's THE GLASS TEAT. There's even some laffs in it.
There's even a Romney in this book....

9/11 +10

Lotta sirens going off out there 2nite, even 4 a Sat nite, even 4 a Full Moon. Hope it's just people being stupid, drunk drivers winding up in the ditch & so on.
Just B4 I left work, 1/2adozen police cars, an ambulance & a coupla fire engines screamed off 2 the east, out toward where the ferry dock 2 Seattle is. & a few mins later 1 of the ambulances w/ a 2-car police escort raced back the other way toward Bremerton.
I hope it was just an ugly car wreck, not something worse. There's nothing on the Net, the newspapers don't come out 4 hours (& might not have it), & the radio stations I listen 2 at work R useless 4 news. But you never know....

I don't remember that much about 9/11. I remember being awakened by my old girlfriend's son, calling & crying that the World Trade Center had bn hit & we were all gonna die. I remember switching-on the TV & seeing that chilling footage of the 2 towers collapsing in2 a cloud of dust. I remember going in2 shock, 3,000 miles away from where it all was happening. Here's what I wrote in the journal I kept at the time:

"...Bn a wild week in Reality: On Tues morn, Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center & part of the Pentagon, & the stunning saturation-news coverage of the event & the rescue operations after have continued ever since. Just stunning, terrifying -- thousands dead, & the pictures & stories continue 2 suck us in2 the TV nite after nite. Some amazing reporting being done, & TV again unites the country after a horrible disaster like no other media can. (The old girlfriend) has had a lotta trouble sleeping since Tues, she's hadda coupla bad nitemares -- I'm pretty sure she's worried about her son who's on Okinawa & getting ready 2 deploy with the Marines."

...Her son would go on 2 pull 2 tours in Iraq, 1 as a troop-driver in the initial invasion force.

...What I mainly remember is how QUIET it was during the days after. All air travel was grounded 4 a coupla days after the attack, & it was so QUIET where I was (Raymond, Wash). & the weather was beautiful. I was working in the Pacific County Superior Court Clerk's office as a part-time archivist then, & from their 2nd-floor windows you could see all the way west down the Willapa River in2 the bay & seemingly the ocean beyond -- & all of it framed in silence.
Everyone who came in2 the clerk's office talked quietly, even if they were upset -- which folks often were when going 2 criminal court or juvenile proceedings. But no1 raised their voice, no1 wanted 2 cause more upset. Everyone spoke in hushed tones.
& everybody kept looking out the windows, as if we all Xpected another attack any minute.
I think we were all waiting 4 the other shoe 2 drop -- wondering if the attacks were over, wondering if it could get any worse.
& nobody talked about the attacks, other than 2 say how terrible it all was. Most people hardly talked at all.
Everybody was quiet, thotful, distracted, a little tense, wondering what could happen next.
This went on for days.
& the radio kept playing Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand." Great song, I'd always liked it. But now I can't hear it without thinking of 9/11....

...The old girlfriend & I broke-up & got back 2gether, & I was holding her hand when the 1st "shock and awe" footage of the Iraq War played over CNN a few months later. I knew she was thinking her son was soon gonna B in the middle of that mess....
He came out of it OK, but he's had nightmares & other problems 2....

...Those R my 9/11 memories, & they aren't much.
Hope you all are well. Be careful out there today. & every day....

Roommates....

OK, I'm gonna B ranting & raving & bitching here 4 awhile (as usual), so if U wanna change channels right now I don't blame you.... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
So I have this roommate, J, who I've shared a house with 4 the past 3-1/2 yrs. It's HIS house. I just rent a room here.
I always pay my rent on time, I clean up after myself, I wash the dishes & throw out the trash & mow the lawn & pick-up the mail. A few times a year I try 2 cook something without poisoning us. When $$$ gets tight I sometimes find a way 2 cough up some Xtra cash. When the washer died, my income-tax return bought a new 1. When the lawnmower died, my tax return bought a new 1. When I KILLED the lawnmower awhile back, I paid 4 the repairs. But J never seems 2 remember this.
I don't play my strange music 2 loud (& never when J's at home) & I don't make much noise mosta the time. I'm not a real social person. I read & write & play my strange music & go 2 work, & if I can B left alone with what personal time I have left, that suits me just fine.
I know I'm grumpy & moody, that I can B a challenge 2 live with. I've bn like this mosta my life. I'm probly not gonna change much now.
J's a good guy & his heart's in the right place. He's gone a long way out 4 me, more than 1nce. If I have car troubles, he can usually fix them. Awhile back when I managed 2 boil-over the car radiator & kill the car's battery at the same time, J bought me a new battery & a new thermostat. & I paid him back in full the next time I got paid.
...But he drinks. A lot. & when he does, some pretty freakin' ugly things come out of his mouth.
J thinks he doesn't drink that much. He thinks he's cut back. He only drinks 3 or 4 18-packs a week, now. & he wonders why no women will go out with him. If they heard what he sez about them when he's drunk, they'd never get NEAR him.
If anybody wants anything from J, money or a favor, all they needta do is wait & ask him when he's drunk -- they won't havta wait long, & he'll give in every time. (He was drunk when I asked 2 borrow the $$$ 4 a new computer a coupla yrs back -- I'm no saint, either. I know how things work....) He'll especially give in if the person asking 4 the favor is a woman -- he'll do almost anything 4 a little attention.
J has 1 DWI conviction on his record -- & he knows if he ever gets another he'll lose his job. But that doesn't keep him from driving 2 the store when he's had a few. If he's drunk enuf, he'll blow $300 at the grocery store, or more at Wal-Mart. It's happened more than 1nce.
The worst part, 4 me, is that he's LONELY -- & that gets worse if he's been drinking. The 1st coupla yrs I lived here, I can't remember how many times we were up til 4 am just TALKING -- J usedta B able 2 do LONG monologues about how much his job sucked, & he'd never let the audience get a word in -- he just needed 2 get the frustration out, no matter how long it took. 1 time when he was REALLY shitfaced he told me the same story about work 3 times within 10 mins....
When he's had a few, he likes 2 turn on CNN, turn it up & start solving the world's problems. Sometimes he has some really good ideas, 2. But it depends on how much he's had 2 drink. Sometimes he'll feel sorry 4 all the hungry, homeless people Out There -- & a few mins later he'll B absolutely SURE that each 1 of those hungry, homeless people R sucking up his tax dollars -- why don't they just get a freakin' JOB?! .... I could live with this, but he Bcomes such an expert, such a freaking KNOW-IT-ALL after a few drinks -- he knows everything, he's done everything, & I haven't done shit.
Awhile back when I came home from my vacation, the 1st thing outta his mouth (he was shitfaced) was: "What are YOU gonna cook for dinner?!" Then, when he didn't want what I suggested, he said: "I'm sure glad yer back, cos I'm sicka walkin downhill 2 get yer mail...." He said he thot I might not come back from vacation, or that I might come back just long enuf 2 pack my things & move out.... Clearly he was sorta jealous that I went off & hadda good time without him....
Then he suggested we go hit his favorite bar. Trust me, taking me 2 a bar is about as appropriate as me taking J 2 a bookstore or a library -- I've never suggested it. But J won't let the bar thing go, it's always in the back of his mind. He thinks it'll cheer me up. The 1 time we went he blew $140 & then blamed me 4 it.
Leave me alone. That'll cheer me up.
Awhile back we hadda couple other roommates. 1 was a balding wanna-B-biker guy who's favorite phrase was: "Everything's gonna be all right, baby...." He was here 4 a coupla months B4 he fell in love with some1 & moved out. Then we got stuck with 1 of his old girlfriends -- who promised 2 cook & clean & do the dishes in Xchange 4 a break on the rent -- & then never cooked or cleaned. She never paid her rent on time 4 over a year, & I feel like I helped feed her 4 most of that time. Finally she moved out back at the end of Feb. I won't miss her. Not 1 of my favorite people ever.
Recently J has moved 2 a new work shift, so now I see him every day, not just on my days off. 1 of the reasons this arrangement useta work is cos we hardly ever saw each other & I didn't havta deal with what an ugly drunk he can sometimes B. Now I can't avoid him. Is there some kind of law that sez you HAVE 2 converse with the people you live with?
Awhile back, J thot I should try 2 apply 4 a job where he works -- after all the ugly stories I've heard about the place, why would I wanna do THAT? & Bsides, I don't want 2 C my roommate 24/7....
A decade ago, after my divorce & after my X-wife came & took the kids away, I had a huge old 4-bedroom house all to myself.
& I thot the silence was gonna drive me crazy.
Now I'm sure that I'm never going 2 B completely happy until I have my own place & can do what I want, when I want, & not havta worry about stepping on any1 else's toes.
3 more years in Washington will pay all of my major bills, & then it's back 2 Idaho where it's quieter & where at least I've got my family & a coupla old friends I can fall back on.
I'm tired of repressing who I am & what I do, postponing what I want 2 do, & caving-in & doing what a roommate wants 2 do, just 2 keep peace with a roommate.
Who I am & what I do is actually pretty boring, so I don't C why it should B a problem.
If NE of you out there have ever been in this situation -- how'd you put up with it?
...Sorry, this is kinda depressing. I shouldn't bitch. My life ain't so bad. I thot I could get some kinda comedy out of this. ... But I don't think it's gonna happen this time....

All-nite television....

Talk about guilty pleasures....
This post is not about music OR books. It's about an addiction I've developed on Monday nites, the 1 "weekend" nite off I can count on each week. Xcept 4 CNN when I'm waking up, Monday nite is about the only time I DO watch television. & over the last 3 years I've become addicted 2 the WWE's "Monday Night RAW" professional wrestling on the USA Network, & BBC America's hilarious British car show TOP GEAR.
The 2 couldn't B more diffrent. My roommate Jay got me hooked on wrestling. At 1st I thot it was REALLY STUPID, the kind of thing idiots & lowlifes & drunks & violence fans would enjoy. But I put-up with it 2 get 2 the Good Stuff that followed later in the evening.
But then I slowly got addicted 2 the Big Comedy & the Big Drama -- almost Gothic Drama in some cases, the dramatic equivalent of a heavy-metal concert, as funny & doomy & over-the-top as yr fave heavy metal band.
I started 2 look 4ward 2 the latest adventures of the larger-than-life heroes, the evil bad guys, the soap-opera plotting & gossip. I wondered what "living legend" from pro wrestling's past would come out of the woodwork 2 further my education.
I don't even care whether the wrestling action is "real." Doesn't matter 2 me. & such considerations don't detract from the entertainment value. Obviously some1 is scripting & choreographing this stuff. No way could they pull it off without a framework 2 follow. & besides, I know there's no way I could get slammed around (or fly around) the ring the way these folks do without seriously hurting myself, probly permanently.
So I don't care if the punches R pulled or the injuries R faked. Doesn't make NE diffrence 2 the actual spectacle or the effect -- which is gloriously cheap entertainment.
I'm not such a rabid fan that I'm going to the upcoming Wrestlemania -- I won't even be buying the pay-per-view of it. But I love the big laffs & I get sucked in2 the big dramas, & I hava great time week after week.
Bsides, I think the characters R great -- some of them R way larger than life, comparable 2 characters outta the best movie you've ever seen or the best book you've ever read. I'm hooked on the ongoing story. I love the struggles toward greatness & thru adversity, the legends & the history & the mystique around summa these athletes.
I want somebody, ANYBODY, 2 shut The Miz up. I want somebody 2 silence Alberto Del Rio. I want some1 2 put a gag on announcer Michael Cole, & I hope it's Jerry "The King" Lawler. I really do think John Cena's the All-American Guy. I wait 2 C what new outrage Randy Orton pulls off. & I wish somebody would kick CM Punk's ass & make him a little more humble. & I can smell what The Rock is cookin'.
& that's just a few of the stories that R continuing on RAW every week. Yeah, sure, it's pretty fakey & over-the-top at times. But it's not really about NE of that. & the entertainment level is pretty amazing. & these WWE people R on the road around the country (& around the world) 5+ nites a week. I don't know how they do it & keep their energy up....
So now that I've maybe blown my credibility with some of you, let me try 2 get it back....

My son got me hooked on TOP GEAR, which is the best, funniest show on television right now, near as I can tell. It's certainly the cleverest, wittiest show I'm aware of. It's at times beautifully filmed, brilliantly edited, marvelously hosted by the hilarious Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond & James May -- & I don't even think U havta B much of a car fan 2 love it.
I love looking at old "classic" cars, but most newer cars leave me cold. The trio of hosts shows that there's plenty of newer vehicles U can still "wow" at, even if U can't afford them.
& the show goes way beyond its basic format of looking at, test-driving & reviewing cars -- some of their historical pieces (like 1 on the roots & birth of the automobile) R pretty great 4 documentary value, & summa their races & travels around the globe have bn amazing. These guys have shown that there isn't much that cars can't do. They have driven 2 the North Pole in tough, specially-outfitted Toyota pickups, driven across South America & thru part of Africa, crossed the English Channel in self-modified "aqua-cars," & much more.
& some of their nostalgia pieces R also pretty amazing -- including 1 long film they did last season on the demise of the British sports-car industry, something uniquely British from the 1950's, '60s & '70s that is now mostly gone. U might not Xpect something this moving in a car-review show, but there it is. These guys Rn't just a buncha jokers. They've got soul, 2.
They are usually hilarious, & never ever boring. If I have 1 complaint, it's that they don't do ENUF shows -- they make 6 in a "series" & then take a break 4 a few months. & tho I do sometimes get tired of BBC America's endless re-runs during their Monday nite TOP GEAR marathons (tho U might catch something new in an episode you've already seen 2wice), I'm also grateful that recently as the hour gets later they've been pulling-out 5-, 6- & 7-year-old episodes I've never seen B4, including 1 they ran 2nite that featured The Guys as roadies 4 The Who. So I guess this post does have some connection 2 music after all....