Dinner was excellent, and the mushrooms turned out great. I actually made two marinades (one with lime juice and one with balsamic) as suggested in the comments below, and then ended up using neither. I just washed them, brushed them with a little olive oil, cooked them, and then tasted one to see which marinade would be better, and decided all it needed was a little sea salt and some pepper. Very good. Summer food rules, especially since so much of it is light and healthy and I’m always trying to make it so there is less of me to love. Apparently too big to fail only works for the banks.
At any rate, not much going on at the Cole homestead tonight or this weekend. I was thinking about going home to take mom out to dinner since my father is in Reno, but when I called my mom to ask, she said “That is ok, I have lacrosse games to watch.” I wish I hadn’t already mailed her a card.
Tomorrow I am renting a rototiller and plowing up the plot I have cleared for the garden, and I suppose I need to finalize what I am going to plant. I might go see Star Trek this weekend, as well.
Finally, I have been on the receiving end of a vicious assault the entire time I have been writing this:
Also, the Pens and Caps are on, and it is about to get brutal, as Ovechkin just intentionally destroyed Gonchar’s knee, and will probably be beaten to a bloody pulp.
What is on the agenda for you all?
TenguPhule
*shakes fist*
Damn you, Cole!
JenJen
What TenguPhule said.
TenguPhule
Tunch is channeling Palpatine?
robertdsc
Stay home and play Metal Gear Online for PS3, then go to sleep to get ready for work in the morning.
I’m a big Star Wars guy, so Star Trek doesn’t do anything for me.
Tunch iz king!
Betsy
Low key evening tonight, working (boo) much of the weekend, and then taking mom out to dinner at the Hungry Mother Sunday. Anyone in the Boston area, if you have a semi-special occasion (it’s expensive, but not on the level of aujourd’hui or something) I can’t recommend it highly enough. I had one of the best meals in my life there a few months ago for my birthday, and I’m excited to have an occasion to go back.
Mr. Stuck
Reds and Cards and cincy jumps out to a two run lead in the first. Hates the Cards, Cards is number 0.
John Cole
@Betsy: I googled their menu, and the cornmeal catfish and grilled rainbow trout both sound amazing. Although, tbh, anything is good with andouille sausage in it.
Also note that the steak entree features ramps.
JenJen
@Mr. Stuck: Hey! Are you a ‘Natian, or just a Reds fan, or just a Cards hater?
Oh, my… Alan Keyes Letter from the Notre Dame Jail! He’s totally out of his tree, this loon.
http://images.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/05/08/keyes_arrest/ForgiveAlanKeyes.pdf
KRK
Those photos don’t exactly scream “vicious assault”; seems like another anti-Tunch smear.
Your mom preferring TV lacrosse to dinner with you is at least a step up from her preferring to be dead. So you’ve got that going for you.
Betsy
@John Cole:
Heh, when I was out for my b-day with my mom, stepdad, and boyfriend, everyone at the table except me ordered the catfish. I recall it was highly regarded.
I had the one veg entree on the menu, and was made indescribably happy by the fact that the chefs put as much creativity and thought into it as they did into any of the meat or fish dishes. It was sublime. So often at “nice” restaurants, the one veg dish is essentially grilled vegetables or pasta primavera. Which I could make at home for a hell of a lot less than $20 a plate.
JL
Tunch is looking so healthy. The new diet must really appeal to him. I just finished The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and have mixed feelings about it. The story tugged at you heartstrings but I thought that it was too long.
Mr. Stuck
@JenJen:
Don’t know what this means,
but I’m a Reds lover, and a Cards Hater,
And git my lovin on the ruuuuun
JK
John,
Excellent coverage this week of Republicans’ latest manifestations of Obama derangement syndrome and the latest disinformation efforts of journalists like Jeffrey Rosen and Nick Gillespie, plus the Pentagon’s removal of that IG report.
Keep up the great work.
BTW, what is your favorite studio album by Little Feat?
Damn you Alex “A-Fraud” Rodriguez. Let’s go Orioles.
John Cole
@Mr. Stuck: She is asking if you are from Cincinnati. You use full sentences, so I doubt it.
TenguPhule
Oooo, burn.
AhabTRuler
Definitely. He’s still a big boy, but his fat rolls no longer have their own features (y’know like a moonscape, or a golf course).
John Cole
@JK: I really don’t care for their studio stuff too much. I generally just like live music better, unless the recording is terribad.
Laura W
@JL: Oh Gad. When I went down to Sullivan’s Island a couple of friends were all over me to read that NOW. I honestly can’t recall the last book of fiction I’ve read, number one. And two…I don’t need animal heartbreak “fiction”. And three, it would cut into all the brain-cell eroding time I waste here.
So I’m hearing you say I can continue to not read it?
TenguPhule
Features nothing, they were working their way up to independent sentient lifeforms.
TenguPhule
Balloon Juice, cheaper then beer and more amusing then bongs.
JenJen
@John Cole: Wow, real nice, John! That’s definitely the last time I patiently explain to you how to make a delectable marinade that you don’t even end up using.
Don’t worry, I’m not so petty as to unload my rich arsenal of West Virginia jokes on you.
In other news that doesn’t involve insulting your own devoted commenters, this new Wolfram Alpha search engine is going to be the shizz. Can’t wait.
JK
@John Cole:
OK
Tonight, Keith Olbermann includes the CBS golf analyst, responsible for that insane remark cited by Doug in the previous post, in his list of Worst Persons in the World.
Laura W
@John Cole: Here you go. Found this last night, actually.
Check out my Bonnie and Emmylou. Babies!
Cat Lady
Tonight in SportsHub (TM) USA a/k/a Boston you need picture-in-picture-in-picture.
What color do you call Tunch? He always reads a little pinkish or peachy, like he was white once and got thrown in the wash with the red towel or something. Or is it my monitor? Whatever, I totally love his vestigial devil horns.
Krista
What the hell is that strange-looking thing between your monitor and your framed Steelers stuff? I’m trying to figure out if it’s a computer speaker or a really elaborate lamp?
The mushrooms sound like they were excellent. We’ll be doing some grilling this weekend. We just got a new barbecue last week, although we made the classic mistake:
Me: do you think the box will fit in the Taurus?
Him: Sure, I’d say it’ll fit.
Me: Me too, and if it doesn’t fit in the trunk, surely it’ll fit in the back seat.
A half-hour and much cursing later, we have the entire barbecue out of the box, and stuffed into the car, with the now-destroyed box in the back seat.
Oh well — it was worth it. There’s a kickass pork shop about a half-hours’ drive from here, and they have these marinated capicola steaks that would make you weep, they’re so good.
BethanyAnne
I think I’m going to put some levels on the new Horde drood I recently rolled. Maybe I can hit 20 this weekend.
Ned R.
In re Trek — seeing a later evening showing at the local IMAX tonight. As someone whose mom loved the original series and who pretty well grew up with the earlier movies, TNG etc. — DS9 lost me after a bit and after that, eh — I don’t care about continuity, ‘the original spirit’ or whatever. Just give me a good film!
Laura W
@JenJen: Has he accused you of causing your dead dog to eat himself to death to get away from you yet?
You’re still golden, JenJen.
CaseyL
Very busy evening for me.
First I’m going to an Artwalk in Greenwood (a north Seattle neighborhood) with a friend I used to work with.
Then, I’m driving north to eat dinner cooked by my foodie friend, after which the two of us come back to Seattle to see Star Trek (11:00 show), which I have fought like mad* to be completely unspoiled for.
Tomorrow I sleep in. Hope to sleep in. Or at least as much as Ariel will let me; she’s used to very early breakfasts.
*Have avoided all reviews, blogs, and conversation about it, to the point of actually sticking my fingers in my ears and singing LALALALAICAN’THEARYOU.
Mr. Stuck
Oh, Cincin (natian) . From Middletown originally, grew up in Kaintuck. Still have kin in SW Ohio and once lived there in my twenties.
But am also a Browns fan, which usually gets the lions share of Cole’s petty insults. Next season though, just wait’ll next season, he’ll be sorry..
JenJen
@Laura W: Excellent observation. But give him time, just give him time.
I mean, honestly, to be from WV and talk smack about Ohio? Really? Really!?
@Mr. Stuck: Our beloved Reds are up 5-0! Too bad they’re not as good as that professional baseball team they have in West Virginia. Oh, wait…
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
@Krista: I thought it was a bong at first, but now I think it’s some artsy pencil holder.
Edit: Now that I’ve embiggened the pictures, I have no idea. It’s awfully shiny and intricate and metallic. An Art Deco mic?
John Cole
@JenJen: I only hurt the ones I love.
@Krista: Speakers. Harman Kardon SoundSticks
@Laura W: Sometimes I think Dennis Leary has it exactly right. Pig Pen, Lowell George, Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, all dead way too young, yet Bon Jovi keeps on trucking.
Krista
@Comrade Mary: as long as there isn’t a wetsuit hanging nearby, we should be able to rest easy.
icedfire
I’m at work so I can’t watch the game.
Can someone give me details on the hit? I feel a tremor in the force, as though millions of bandwagon Pens fans rise up from their parents’ basements and took to the Internet in rage.
Krista
John: Well, aren’t you the fancy-pants, then? :)
@JenJen: awww….he loves you. Are you feeling all verklempt?
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
I should’ve been staring at the horizon and watching the sunset from 35,000 feet. Ahh well.
@John Cole: Hmm, Logitech G15 Keyboard and Razer mouse? (Dammit, I seriously need to stop obsessing over PC hardware).
JL
@Laura W: Benjamin Button is the movie about a baby who is abandoned because of his appearance. He looks like an old man and ages in reverse. It was amazing to see how they tied the story together but it was a tad to forrest gumpish for me.
The book that you would have trouble reading is Marley and Me. It was about raising and loving a destructive Yellow Lab. I had a golden like that.
John Cole
@JL:
EMBED-The Curious Case of Forrest Gump – Watch more free videos
Notorious P.A.T.
What is the difference between sea salt and salt? Or is that just another way for arugula-eating Democrat party members to show their contempt for average people?
JK
@Laura W:
That was a great clip.
Also too young to die: John Lennon, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Brian Jones, Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Joey Ramone, Joe Strummer, James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, Phil Ochs, Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, and Sandy Dennis.
John Cole
@The Cat Who Would Be Tunch: I moved the Barracuda out of the shot so I wouldn’t get too flamed.
Little Dreamer
@JK:
The ODS is really odious!
John Cole
This awkward family photos site rules. This is my favorite.
Notorious P.A.T.
Hahaha. I just looked more closely at those pictures because of Krista’s question. At first I thought “it doesn’t look like kitty is doing anything wrong”. Then I realized he’s sitting on John’s mouse pad.
Little Dreamer
@JL:
Benjamin Button is/was a Capricorn?
We’re old when we’re young, and we de-age as we get older. ;)
As you can tell, I happen to be one of them.
Laura W
@JL: Oh Shit. I KNEW that. I went to pee and I kept thinking about your title and I knew I was thinking of the wrong book! Not Marley and Me. What is that book that is all the rage with Oprah and her minions about dogs and a farm and they all DIAF in the end!
OOPS. Major spoiler alert there! But I heard it is a long and taxing book, so you’re all welcome.
JL
@John Cole: OMG, that was hilarious. Thank you for posting it.
A Ghost To Most
@icedfire:
The hit was hardly intentional (John is homering). It looked to me (and Craig Laughlin) that Ovie was trying to lay a shoulder into Gonchar, and his knee flexed a bit as they collided. They gave him two minutes, and it looked a marginal call at that. It was hardly an intent to injure; just another typical Penguin fan overreaction (like death threats).
Krista
Well, really, what were they expecting when they named the thing a “mouse”? Cats already love plunking themselves down upon whatever it is you’re focusing upon, so when you then create a small object that you move around erratically and name it a “mouse”, you’re really just begging for trouble.
JL
@Laura W: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I bought that book at the thrift store where I volunteer and still haven’t read it yet.
JK
@Little Dreamer:
The worst thing about Obama derangement syndrome is that it’s only going to get worse from this point forward.
The 2008 presidential campaign was simply spring training for Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, and Michelle Malkin. Obama’s 4 year term in office is the full season.
Laura W
@JL: Well, now you see how easy it was for me to confuse the two:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
And look! Now you don’t even have to read the Sawtelle one!
What else can I help you with tonight, JL?
JenJen
@John Cole: I’m still mad at you, but for more awkward photo fun, check out Sexy People. For example, is this hair even possible? And I’ve never really understood the let’s-look-like-we’re-sitting-in-a-brandy-snifter genre.
TX Expat
I know this isn’t so PC, but I’m getting drunk as hell tonight. I just finished the last final of my first year of law school and it was a bitch. I am currently listening to the Dandy Warhols, drinking a beer, eying the bottle of scotch that I am soon to dive into and doing a balancing test:
1. If I were to commit a tort on my Con Law professor, how would I do it and would it be worth it (now that I’m a third of a lawyer, I really think my criminal skills have greatly improved)
OR
2. Should I just steadily drink and play around on Rhapsody til I finally pass out from drunkenness and exhaustion (been pulling 14-18 days for the last 3 weeks)
Thoughts?
Little Dreamer
@JK:
I could be wrong, but I truly believe that in 7 years and 7 months (4 years? No way! Not in THIS environment, go long!) all of those loudmouths will find their names on a homegrown terrorists list. ;)
gbear
John, Have you ever seen this photo? Russian Nesting Tunches.
Another question: I’m about to hit senior discount in a few months and AARP has started sending me mailings again (I joined for a year when I turned 50 and thought pretty much everything they stood for sucked). Is there any good reason to join AARP?
freelancer
Fixed. Leary lifted the bit about good musicians dying and bad ones still around DIRECTLY from Hick’s first album.
Little Dreamer
@TX Expat:
Oh, I love Rhapsody, unfortunately I can’t afford it right now. I am hoping my library will still be intact when I return to it (my library has survived a couple of short absences already). There’s nothing like having just about every single album/song on earth (with the exception of The Eagles, Bob Seger, and a few other blowhards who refuse to allow access).
JenJen
Whoa!! From JC’s “Awkward Family Photos” comment and link… I’ve never seen this photo of Dubya, Laura and the Twins before.
Yikes! Awkwardly patriotic?
Krista
@gbear: Oh, what a neat photo! They do look like Tunches. (Although Tunch looks more like the nesting cat with all of the other cats inside of it.)
Oof — I swear to god, feeling and seeing a baby kicking you in the midsection has got to be one of the freakiest things ever. It’s amusement tinged with a bit of “this is a total John-Hurt-in-Alien moment, isn’t it?”
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@John Cole:
And what makes you think you’d get flamed for your choice in PC hardware? Running a blog on politics? Pffft!
I take it you do a bit of gaming here and there. Considering all the people you and your co-posters have been mocking since November, have you ever played Bioshock? You really should if you haven’t. I think it’d give you all sorts of inspiration for future blog posts.
Oh yeah, those family pics are a hoot. *shakes head* Why, people, why?
John Cole
BTW- My grocery store is now carrying Homestead Creamery milk. I had forgotten how good milk could taste.
Also, Knudsen’s Black Cherry Juice is amazing.
SammyB
Gotta rest up tonight because tomorrow is a very big day. Game 5 Hawks – Nucks. GO CANUCKS GO!
gbear
@John Cole:
Gaaaahhh!! Sailin’s Shoes, Dixie Chicken and Feats Don’t Fail Me Now are GREAT records. Only a half-step away from being live albums.
gnomedad
@Little Dreamer:
Ha ha, a Balloon Juice metablog, excellent! Thanks!
Nicole
Thank you for awkwardfamilyphotos. I now have a site to go to when FuckYouPenguin is not posting new stuff fast enough for me.
Tomorrow is International Migratory Bird Day. I know this only because it means I have to work this weekend.
I was virtuous and went for a run this evening, which means I can now celebrate my virtuousness with Blue Moon.
Laura W
@John Cole: I was hoping this thread would take the inevitable Dairy Queen turn. I got this today.
Barring any other choices at SavMor (aside from Chunky Monkey, which is always a solid backbencher), I decided to give it a second chance based on your enthusiasm. Plus, there’s cinnamon.
JenJen
@TX Expat: Congrats, TX! What, no wild 1-L parties tonight, though?
@Laura W: Hey!! I just tried that flavor yesterday… not my favorite, though. Would you believe the corner BP has a better Ben & Jerry’s selection than the Kroger does? It’s true. It’s where I first discovered Americone Dream, and I haven’t looked back. I owe an apology to Phish Food and One Sweet Whirled, for they have been forsaken.
JK
@freelancer:
EXHIBIT A: Denis Leary Vs. Bill Hicks PART 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INarE1WraFA
EXHIBIT A: Denis Leary Vs. Bill Hicks PART 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWaJDF-3YhY&feature=related
EXHIBIT A: Denis Leary Vs. Bill Hicks PART 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJ3M4mcetw&feature=related
Radar Online once had a great article about comedians stealing material from other comedians. I regret that I didn’t discover Bill Hicks when he was alive. It appears that Leary lifted a lot of material from Hicks. On the plus side, Rescue Me is one of my favorite tv drama series of the last few years.
@Little Dreamer:
I hope for the best but I’m more than prepared for the worst. Unfortunately, there are no liberals or progressives in the media who have as large a megaphone as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly to push back against their bottomless cesspool of lies.
gbear
@Krista:
Don’t make me pull this pregnancy over!!
PS: That Bush family photo looks like W is about 20 minutes away from being pulled over for DWI. but then most of his photos from back then have that look.
mt
Agenda: No major mistakes. Navigate the Mother’s Day minefield with extreme caution. My Mom is gone but wife/mother of kids takes this event seriously. Card won’t do. Screw Hallmark. Will review Cole’s grilling solution. I smell victory.
Tattoosydney
A slightly chilly Autumn day here. Cleaning out my fish pond in preparation for new planting. I ordered a crapload of native water plants, in the hope that if I plant them all, some of them (and perhaps some fish) will survive the depredations of a hyperactive Australian red cattle dog…
@Laura W:
Given the scary psychological similarity between our dogs, tell me, does Leah stick her feet in her water bowl when she’s hot and (with evident delight) stamp all the water out, and peer at you longingly until you fill the bowl up, so she can do the same thing again a few times? Too cute.
TX Expat
@Little Dreamer:
Yeah, I love Rhapsody, too (obviously) because I like how they do that thing “if you like this band, here are their influences and here’s some more you might like.” That’s how I came across The Sounds.
After having worked in a Seattle nightclub during the early ’90’s, I got used to listening to the “latest, greatest, most indie group” EVAH. But I find that a lot of stuff I listen nowadays is old country so it’s fun to listen to stuff I listened to as a kid. Or new stuff, too.
It is annoying that they don’t have Radiohead, so I have to go to my I-Tunes library for that which kinda sucks the fun out of the whole Rhapsody thing. At least the Stones have all their stuff on there – oooh next round of songs!
I can play around on that site for hours – love.it.
Here’s another fun site that I just discovered today: http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager
It tracks the popularity of names over time, so this is also a good distraction (my name peaked in the early ’70’s after Dr. Zhivago came out)
Laura W
@JenJen: It could be the Pinot Grigio talking (shaddup JenJen!), but he was sorta hot in the day! I can totally see why Laura thought she could tame him. Wonder how she’s doing with controlling him now? Ha.
John Cole
@JenJen: Oh my.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: No.
Tattoosydney
Listening to the end of the world.
Warning: involves shaving, ballroom dancing and boys kissing.
freelancer
New Dollhouse tonight, Wash is Alpha!
After that, I’ll probably combine TX Expat’s (Congrats, BTW) and Robertdsc’s ideas: A nice domestic PA and MGS4 (single-player).
TX Expat
@JenJen:
Yeah, my classmates are going to a GIF tonight (free drinks), but I live in a city that has no public transportation or cabs that are susceptible of hailing. Sooo, since I don’t want to crash on someone’s couch or get a DUI (which would make it difficult to be admitted to the bar), I’m kicking it at the house. Maybe the roach I tried to kill (chased him around for 20 minutes) last night will show up again so I can project my dissatisfaction onto him.
Thanks for the good wishes!
Left Coast Tom
@gbear:
Some of his White House attempts at speeches left me with that impression. I never believed his claim that Jesus healed his untreated alcoholism…he seemed to me to slur his speech excessively at exactly those times when the shit was hitting the fan.
JenJen
@John Cole: Ha! I almost linked that one. Nice class ring!
That site just gives and gives. Awwww. Poor thing. Bless.
@Laura W: Hey, I didn’t say a word! But you still gotta try that J Pinot Gris. As far as the Dubya photo goes, there was a funny comment on that site; someone said, “OMG, I think I could totally hit that!” To which another replied, “Me too, with a f’n sledgehammer to the face.” :-)
@TX Expat: Right on! And you’re making me miss Rhapsody something fierce, too. Got any guest passes or coupons to offer up? ;-)
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Hmmmm. Another Pedro oddity to add to the list.
Tattoosydney
An actor out of work.
Krista
Oh, that is seriously, seriously…wow. There are no words.
Comrade Kevin
This evening I had marinated skirt steak for dinner, am now watching Rachel Maddow, then I will watch Jeopardy! and the A’s vs. Blue Jays.
Also, Woodbridge Sauvignon Blanc. Yes, I know you’re supposed to drink red with beef.
freelancer
@ JK
I found him a week before my 21st bday, he’d already been gone many years. I love his response to being asked about No Cure for Cancer:
“On the theft of his material by Denis Leary: ‘I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did.'”
Little Dreamer
@JK:
Remember they’ve been working on that arrangement for about 25 years. The fact is they got so big and so rude that now they are imploding because they can’t hide their brand of crazy, it’s so wildly distributed that they can’t hide from it now. They created monsters out of those who grasped their philosophical ideals and felt for the beginning of their tenure listening to the hate machine that is was all just all comedic jabbing – now they own the anger, the hate, and the responsibility for inciting violence and treasonous talk. Their demise will be broadcast widely, that only helps us. ;)
We don’t need people on our side as popular as their commentators, we only need to not be them. ::laugh::
Laura W
@Comrade Kevin:
Nonsense. You drink what you love with what you love to eat.
Unless you are seriously married to that wine, look for the Beringer 2007 Pinot Grigio. Under $10 for the 1.5 liter. Pretty darn good!
TX Expat
@JenJen:
Ok, just looked around (through email and other things), but no can do.
Make you a deal, though, when I switch genres I’ll post a youtube video, how’s that?
Here’s the song I’m listening to right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mgjZK46_uw
So ironic “heroin is so passe” considering that they are frightful heroin addicts or were back when I used to see them…
Zuzu's Petals
Ahem… still time for flowers, dear.
Of course, there’s always this.
demimondian
@John Cole: More than that, his orthography reflects a functional primary education (at least through third grade). That rules out most of Ohio, all by itself.
Comrade Kevin
@Laura W:
The Woodbridge was $10.99 for the 1.5L; I think my local grocery store carries your suggestion too, I know they carry Beringer.
Library Grape
WIN by Keith Olbermannn on torture tonight: “When are Republicans going to realize that this is not first about party? It is about the traducing of our national character and the selling out of our principles in what was a phony, ineffective pretense of protecting those principles. If a Democrat is also culpable, then they can go to Hell too.“
AhabTRuler
@John Cole:
Damn, Welnick still can’t get no love? That’s just cold.
JenJen
@demimondian: Again with the Ohio-bashing? I guess the Election Night glow has worn off for the Balloon-Juicers. I know for a fact you all had momentary feelings of affection for the Buckeye State right around 9:25 pm eastern that night. You’re welcome!
@Library Grape: Saw that, and actually cheered!
@TX Expat: That is an awesome deal. What’s next?
Laura W
@Comrade Kevin: This one may be 10.99 as well, but I seriously doubt you would not enjoy it (Negatives! Confusing me!) if you are OK with Woodbridge SB.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Cleaning music.
demimondian
@JenJen: Some of my best friends are from Ohio. In fact, my grandfather taught at Ohio Wesleyan for several years. How could I possibly have anything against that (flat and unfit for human habitation) wasteland, or for the (human-animal hybrid) “persons” who live there?
John Cole
Ohio drivers are also the worst drivers on the planet.
demimondian
@JenJen: May we have a moment of silence for the place this recording was pirated…if not for the place it describes.
Rosali
Keyboard cat came into my life this week and he just keeps cracking me up.
Little Dreamer
@John Cole:
Only if you’re nowhere close to New Jersey.
Irony Abounds
I saw the Star Trek movie this afternoon. Keep in mind I only have seen the original cast series/movies, so I’m not the best to judge, but I give it a B+. Perhaps they tried to be a bit too cute in some of the characters, especially McCoy, but it was a worthy effort.
Laura W
@Rosali: choking…on…dinner….
WereBear
I’m eating leftovers from a work potluck, we have them every couple of months for birthdays. The finale will be the homemade maple cheesecake, which I was able to abscond with.
(New York Maple!)
The devoted James Bond has been a fluffy ball of worry as I finally kick the flu that had me down for a week. I came home from work and crashed right through the cat’s dinnertime, and Mr. Bond discussed this annoying turn of events with the Spousal Unit for an hour until dinnertime finally arrived, but didn’t get me up.
I went to the doctor, who theorized I was actually fighting off two or three different viruses, confusing my immune system. And couldn’t do anything for me. I consider how public health funds have been cut and I blame the Bush Administration. People have been complaining for a couple of years now that their flu shots no longer work. Maybe the virus pool has gotten all roiled up.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: Ya know what’s weird, TS? I am music linked out all of a sudden. It feels like almost every thread lately has become a music link thread, and I am just spent. I have nothing left to give.
SHIT! I can’t even think of a “I’m so spent I have nothing left to give” song to link you to.
Edit: BILL MAHER TIME! I actually managed to remind my own self tonight. Yay me.
AhabTRuler
Look, the whole “worst drivers in the country” argument has been rendered completely moot. Anywhere that has cellphone drivers has the worst drivers in the world.
Edit: Oh, and in any case, the drivers in Puerto Rico are the motherfucking worst.
Nicole
I think this is true. I worked in Ohio for two months and I was a TERRIBLE driver while I was there. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I don’t drive that badly anywhere else. I think it must be Ohio.
Wini
@TX Expat: Congrats!! Feels good, huh?
I finished exam #3 of 4 about about hour ago… and I’m taking the rest of the night off (it’s been a looooong week).
JenJen
@demimondian: Yeah. I’m not from Akron.
@Little Dreamer: I mean, really.
Y’all haters. We’re not gonna secede, either. We’re going to stick around just to piss you off. ;-)
John Cole
@AhabTRuler: I like Welnick, but I was really much more of the Mydland era, and a lot of my favorite songs are from the Pig Pen/Godchaux era.
Here is a concert I will never forget- July 1st 1992 at Buckeye Lake with Bruce Hornsby at keyboard and with the Dead sharing the stage with the Steve Miller band. I just got out of the Army and back from Germany a couple of days before. I’ll never forget the airy Steve Miller notes floating up over the hills. I had a picture of me after the concert that I lost a while back, but basically I was wearing a white dead tie-dye that looked doubly dyed because after three years of German beer, all I could stand was Guiness in the states, and I had spilled it all over my shirt over the course of 10 hours.
Never forget that show.
Laura W
@JenJen: Yer MATT is on Maher tonight.
Sort of a Win Win for us tonight, huh? My Larry and your Matt!
Laura W
@Wini: GO WINI GO!
You’ve been working hard for as long as I’ve been reading this site, which is more than I can say for “some” of us. (OK, me.)
Colonel Danite
Star Trek on IMAX. 2 tickets= $27. Worth the price of admission.
TX Expat
@JenJen:
How about some David Bowie?
Quicksand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjsHlUhYIEg
By far my favorite Bowie song!
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
I know what you mean. I was hunting for something upbeat for asiangrrlMN the other night, and found myself scouring my Ipod for some inspiration, but there was nothing.
Oh well, we’ll have to let our musical reservoirs fill up again.
In the meantime, “My first dictionary” is quite wonderful, and a little disturbing.
Comrade Kevin
@Laura W: Taibbi?
JenJen
@Laura W: Oh SHUT UP! For some reason my DVR still records it at 11:00.. tell me it repeats at 11:00. Please. You know how I feel about Matt. This is like the best Friday ever!
@John Cole: Buckeye Lake? However did you survive the drivers?
@TX Expat: Awesome. But for me, “Heroes.” And “Ziggy Stardust.”
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: Your pretend-wife has a voracious, insatiable, music link appetite. You might want to look into pills for that.
;-)
TX Expat
@Wini:
Yeah, it does feel good. Here’s hoping I passed everything
I’m off to my brother’s house on Monday for some pool/beagle/margarita/baseball game therapy. Can’t wait!
You should take the night off, girl, you work hard! I can’t imagine trying to do this while working (even doing a part time program). I can honestly say that I’ve never studied so hard to feel so stupid. Sigh…
I hope you get to take some time for yourself before the insanity starts again!
Wini
@Laura W: Au contraire, my friend! Your ads/website prove otherwise :-)
Laura W
@JenJen: It repeats at 11. Naomi Klein too, on her bday! Taurus? All the smart people are Taurus. (Just in case Fuckhead is lurking. Heeeyyyyyyi!!)
Laura W
@Comrade Kevin: Yes. Sorry. I’m just accustomed to referring to him as: “JenJen’s Matt”.
Tattoosydney
I appears so. It’s relentless. Who knew that women could be so demanding?
demimondian
@Tattoosydney: I’m so…glad…that you linked to that site. “My first dictionary” brightened my day.
Little Dreamer
@JenJen:
Well, then I think you need a time machine, because I haven’t been in that area of the country in 20 years. ;)
Laura W
@Tattoosydney:
Now now, you know better than to generalize and stereotype.
BTW, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z0h_c9eH-8
In on the edit!
JenJen
@Laura W: He’s just the perfect combination of man. Speaks fluent Russian, played semi-pro basketball, writes his ass off, and is the best wise-ass political commentator going. I mean, c’mon, the Michele Bachmann comment, am I right, girls?
Tattoosydney
@demimondian:
I like “reticuloendotheliosis“.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@AhabTRuler:
I raise you any country in the Arabian peninsula or the subcontinent.
TX Expat
@JenJen:
Yep, those are cool, too. But “Under Pressure” with Queen is the shiznit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM
Oh Freddy Mercury how I miss you!
True story, I was at a party in Austin back in the early ’90’s when that Vanilla Ice monstrosity was popular and an individual at the party was under the impression that Vanilla Ice had come up with that sample on his own. I opened my mouth to gently correct this misapprehension, but instead found myself ridiculing this poor creature unmercifully.
Then moved to Seattle during the Grunge years and found myself on the receiving end of that same kind of treatment when I didn’t know who The Fastbacks were. I believe the kids call it karma…
Tattoosydney
Um. Made you watch boys kissing?
OMG. That opening sequence deserved an Oscar, or an Emmy or something …
demimondian
@Tattoosydney: Yes, that was awesome. I liked family/pretend, voting for “pretend”, because I thought it was more subtle.
Left Coast Tom
@John Cole:
I grew up in Michigan, so I’d be more than happy to agree.
But having seen LA drivers in Mammoth during snowfall…you should be grateful for Ohio drivers! LA drivers can slide jeeps sideways into snowbanks under conditions which should be OK for 2-wheel-drive. They skid with tire chains on. I cringed at SF Bay Drivers in Tahoe during Christmas and Presidents Day, but they’re wonderful in comparison.
demimondian
Got myself in trouble today at work — got described as “the place where tired old euphemisms go to die.”
I mean, just because I pointed out that it wasn’t the “sleeping” part of “sleeping around” that upset someone’s partner…
Tattoosydney
@TX Expat:
Undoubtedly. (I also have a special, previously secret and slightly shamefaced devotion to the camp bombast of “The show must go on“. )
JK
@freelancer:
I saw Denis Leary perform in 2005. I thought he was great, but this was before I knew about the controversy of him allegedly stealing material from Bill Hicks. Because Hicks died in 1994, I’d like to give Leary the benefit of the doubt that his 2005 performance consisted solely of original material.
My knowledge of the Leary/Hicks scandal consists solely of the material in the YouTube links I cited in my previous post. If Leary’s plagarism was truly as flagrant as these clips suggest, I’m shocked that he wasn’t completely driven out of show business and permanently blackballed by the entertainment industry.
Wikipedia entry for Bill Hicks says Ron Howard may be making a biopic on him possibly starring Russell Crowe.
@TX Expat:
Great Bowie song.
John Cole
This is a pretty odd Real Time.
Laura W
eh.
Comrade Kevin
@John Cole: I was planning on watching it when it comes on at 10 PM Pacific time, is it worth it?
John Cole
@Comrade Kevin: Yes.
Dennis-SGMM
Two songs you have never heard and probably should have:
Jose James – Desire (Moodyman Remix)
N.O.H.A. – Balkan Hot Step
AhabTRuler
@John Cole: Yeah, but he did die “before his time” so the least you could do is list his name with the others.
JK
@JenJen:
That was a brilliant takedown of Michele Bachmann. The Democrats need to pull out all the stops to defeat this whack job in 2 years.
Steeplejack
@JenJen:
Gosh, that doesn’t look like Texas in the background of that photo. If I didn’t know better, I would almost say it’s some old-money, white-bread enclave in New England or someplace like that. But that’s crazy talk.
freelancer
JK,
There’s a pretty big segment in his Biography “American Scream”, because he and his buddy Kevin Booth were in Waco during the Branch Davidian fiasco and they almost left the town and drove straight to LA from TX after Bill heard No Cure for Cancer. Hicks was pretty pissed.
And in the comedy, theft is really the big no no, but there are some people who come across the same jokes through linear thinking, similar trains of thought. Izzard has a bit about Easter and bunny rabbits similar to Hicks’, but its different because its his own. There are a few hacks that comics don’t like to perform in front of because they worry about being lifted. For instance, Robin Williams (who is famous for it, but he’s such a manic stream of consciousness performer, he’s not especially hated) 2002 Live special ripped off Hicks and Izzard’s Easter Bunny bits.
Everybody hates Carlos Mencia. (see Southpark’s Fish Sticks ep)
Leary only put out one more, less funny comedy album, then focused on acting. I don’t hate the guy, in fact, I think the best part of No Cure for Cancer was where he tells the story of how his brother shot him in the face with an arrow when they were growing up.
Russell Crowe as Bill? eh, I’d need to See it, but he’s definitely got the temper down. Ron Howard has my permission to direct it, but only because of Arrested Development, the guy knows funny.
John Cole
People do not appreciate how good Rescue Me is.
Steeplejack
@Nicole:
Saw a funny headline in the dead-tree version of The Onion in the break room at work today:
“Area Bird Creeped Out by Birdwatcher”
Thankovsky
@John Cole:
I need to watch more of that. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen. A friend of mine is a former New York cop who worked with the FDNY a lot, and he says they got the dynamics down perfectly in that show.
Dennis-SGMM
Well, son of a bitch. Had a flat earlier today (Caught a nail) and in the process of changing the tire I twisted off one of the frozen lugs. Pulled the drum, pressed out the old stud and pressed in a new one then replaced the tire. Fine. Now it’s several hours later and my lower back is singing to me and the tune sucks. One of the delayed rewards of spending thirty years in jobs that involved Lifting Very Heavy Things + being over sixty.
The worst thing is that I can’t tell in advance what’s bad to do and what isn’t. Just put some stuff away in the pantry and it’s no problem but if I fart and blink my left eye simultaneously I’m just about on the floor.
This too will pass.
LD50
Krusty the Clown: “If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you’re stealing my bit!“
Steeplejack
@Rosali:
I love Keyboard Cat! And yet I feel slightly ashamed.
JK
@freelancer:
There’s a clip on YouTube where Hicks is in Waco discussing the standoff. I’m still surprised that the powers that be in the entertainment business basically gave Leary a free pass for his lifting of Hicks’ material.
I haven’t made an extensive study of plagarism in comedy, but I suspect if I did exhaustive research, I’d find that a lot of my favorite comedians lifted from others.
I once read an article while Mort Sahl accused Woody Allen of plagarizing his material for Annie Hall. Subsequently, I found a Mort Sahl routine on YouTube that bore a strong resemblance to a scene in Annie Hall.
@John Cole:
I still like Rescue Me a lot, but I think its quality dropped off somewhat when the characters of Johnny Gavin and Jerry Reilly were written out of the show. I was deeply disappointed to learn that actor Daniel Sunjata is in actuality, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
John Cole
@Dennis-SGMM: Why do you blink when you fart?
Dennis-SGMM
@LD50:
I was at high school in LA in the mid-sixties when Allen was hosting the old Tonight Show. Allen in turn was taking from Ernie Kovacs.
TX Expat
@Tattoosydney:
No need to be shamefaced! That video is awesome although I bet Freud would have a lot to say about it. But who cares about him anyway, right? He was just a sexually repressed coke addict with all kinds of issues rattling around in that psyche of his. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.
Wini
@John Cole: Ooh – I do, I do! Just watched the last 2 weeks’ episodes on the DVR.
Dennis-SGMM
@John Cole:
If I don’t blink my eyes burn.
CT
Just caught the last half inning of Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS on ESPN Classic-that was a nice 1:3 scale model of Barry Bonds the Pirates had in left field. My apologies for raising the specter of Sid Bream hobbling around third on his stroke cane.
Steeplejack
@Laura W:
“But, Lord, when I looked in the sand I saw only one set of footprints.”
“That’s because Steeplejack was there to carry you through your dark time. Oh, and he said to tell you, God, you’re heavy.”
Montysano
Just got back from the grand opening of the studio/gallery section of our local Flying Monkey Arts Center.
Here in Rocket City, a local guy built up a genetics research company and sold it for $200M or so. He’s a science geek and doesn’t seem to care about cars or houses or traveling or fancy toys. Instead, he bought this old factory in a blighted part of town and turned it into an arts center, and did a helluva job. It’s now become so popular that it’s self-supporting. There’s even talk of a New Urbanist development in the area.
He was hanging around tonight, grinning big and enjoying what he’d done. Well done, Mr. Hudson.
JK
@LD50:
Steve Allen was one of a kind. He did an interview with Frank Zappa that may be Zappa’s earliest appearance on tv. In the segment, Zappa is demonstrating how he makes music using a bicycle. Allen also had Miles Davis perform on his show, Jack Kerouac read from On the Road, and Lenny Bruce perform.
In later years, Allen became affiliated with groups railing against the growing vulgarity on tv. I’ve always wanted to find an interview with Allen from that period to see if his views on tv vulgarity led him to change his stance towards Bruce whose work he promoted decades earlier.
Dennis-SGMM
@JK:
Allen was also the co-composer of Gravy Waltz.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM:
I’m a big fan of Allen and Kovacs, though I’m a little disappointed with Allen’s sweeping dismissiveness of rock music.
In January, PBS aired Make Em Laugh, a 6 hour documentary on the history of comedy and they inexplicably omitted any mention of Kovacs.
The documentary has several big omissions (in addition to Kovacs), but it’s still worth seeing for diehard comedy fans.
AhabTRuler
@Tattoosydney: Yeah but this is the most difficult one to watch, and not just because it isn’t one of the stronger Queen songs.
This isn’t much better (the song is, Freddie isn’t).
Steeplejack
@Dennis-SGMM:
I think you’re doing it wrong.
Indylib
@Krista:
That turned out to be one of my favorite things about being pregnant.
You should see it with twins who are competing for space in that confined area.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@JK:
Steve Allen also wrote some interesting stuff about religion and morality.
He was a very bright guy with widely varied interests.
Mr. Stuck
@Steeplejack:
Depends on wind direction, dinner, and relative humidity.
Ruemara
Make 5 more pieces for my jewelry line, create the designs for my new animation, dig up the next 2 garden plots for the melons and add support struts for the beans and squash. and work on the damn 2nd bathroom. It’s a full life and in the evenings, i play wow.
Betsy
@JK:
The Democrats should be contributing to her campaign fund. Nothing, but nothing, makes them look reasonable, respectable, and trustworthy like the rantings of Michele Bachmann.
slag
Tunch looks good! Sadly, my cats won’t let me come near them with the Furminator. They hate it.
JK
@HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:
He created a series for PBS called Meeting of the Minds where actors portraying historical figures from different time periods take part in a roundtable discussion with Allen serving as the moderator. It was a great show and I wish it would be released on dvd or re-aired
I consider Allen a renaissance man considering the impressive roster of guests he showcased on tv and the number of topics he wrote about in his books.
It’s regrettable that so much of the early tv work of Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, and others was never preserved.
Steeplejack
Wally Cox as Mr. Peepers!
I believe Steve Allen was a pretty good pianist. Also.
Dennis-SGMM
@Mr. Stuck:
I had a sardine-avocado-radish salad for dinner. Maybe that’s it.
JK
@Betsy:
I hear where you’re coming from, but I think this is a bit of a double edged sword.
On the one hand, it’s a good thing to have political opponents who can be easily dismissed as delusional.
On the other hand, cable tv news shows are often drawn to the most eccentric, off-the-wall personalities like Bachmann.
I’m troubled by the prospect of Bachmann developing a cult of personality and getting a bigger and bigger platform where she can disseminate her nonsensical views without getting challenged to defend them.
Mr. Stuck
@Dennis-SGMM:
Yup
JK
@Steeplejack:
Part of me wants to hold out hope that someone somewhere has many of these treasures and that I simply have not had the good fortune of finding them.
Betsy
@JK: Fair point. And unfortunately, people on the fringe sometimes have a way of moving the whole discourse to the right or left, just by expanding the boundaries of what’s reasonable. The crazier the outside person is, the more reasonable the person just on the inside of them sounds, even if that was the person who sounded crazy the day before.
(Forgive me if that was so incoherent that *I* sound crazy.)
Dennis-SGMM
@JK:
Would that it was so. Any of the recording of Kovacs and Allen was on kinescope. Most of the kinescopes were simply tossed within weeks.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM:
Thanks for bringing me back to reality.
At least I can hold out hope of tracking down concert performances of various rock and jazz musicians from the 1960’s and tv broadcasts from the 1960’s and 1970’s.
burnspbesq
I completely get where John’s moms is coming from. This is the best weekend of the year for lax fans – EIGHT games on television. My DVR will be working overtime while I am flying to Colorado for my niece’s wedding.
Oh, and I saw the most obnoxious bumper sticker in the history of the universe on Pico Blvd. in West LA tonight:
“I live in California, where the sky is Tar Heel Blue every day.”
I don’t approve of violence against women, but the driver of that car was very close to getting run off the road, dragged from the car, and punched in the face.
Go Devils!
JK
@Betsy:
You were perfectly coherent. I’m going to keep a champagne bottle in storage and hopefully open it to celebrate the political defeats of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.
asiangrrlMN
@Tattoosydney: Wait a minute! I see my name is being taken in vain. You knew when you fake-married me that I had insatiable appetites. Since you can’t fulfill one of them, the very least you can do is keep me supplied with endless musical links. How like a man to blame his fake wifey for his premature ejaculation.
On the other hand, you posted that yummy video of the two boys kissing, so all is forgiven (the song is great, too). Plus, I will listen to “Good Luck” again and again, so you’re off the hook. For now. I know you guys need time to reload.
@Betsy: No, no, no, no. A little part of my blackened soul dies every time my local wingnut speaks. If she is re-elected, I may fade into nothing.
@JenJen: I like Matt’s wit, but I am with Laura W in this case. Larry is yummy since he’s lost some of his blase coolness. I will have to watch Ed’s show on-line to watch Larry.
As for my weekend, take dad to the airport in seven hours. He has an economic conference in DC. I told him if he gets to meet Obama, I will be TOTALLY jealous. If he meets Geithner or Summers, not so much. He will miss my intellectual crush, Paul Krugman by one day upon his (my dad’s) return to Taiwan.
Then, tai chi and watching sports tomorrow.
Steeplejack
Worked the part-time gig tonight (big chain bookstore–wretched pay but health insurance), got home about 11:00 p.m. I work the same shift again tomorrow night, and then my belated weekend (Sunday-Monday) begins. My other job is feast-or-famine software/Web project stuff, schedule flexible, work at home. That’s cool. But did I mention feast or famine? Hence the part-time gig with insurance. Also must allow quality time for my extended midlife crisis.
I can’t go straight to bed when I get home from the store. I’m too wired. So that means haunting the dead threads at Balloon Juice and having a drink or two. Currently Mount Gay rum and tonic, big twist of lime. Gots to have that tartness to offset the sweet of the tonic water. Occasional extended song-surfing on YouTube if lured over there by Laura W. or TattooSydney. Damn you both! The latest truffle I rooted up–“My Ever Changing Moods” by the Style Council.
This weekend I will put the finishing touches on my computer repair/involuntary upgrade project. Will end up with a better machine–1TB hard drive, much better graphics card, upgrade to Vista (okay, we’ll see how that last one pans out)–but I didn’t really want to spend the money right now. But when your hard disk gives up the ghost, what are you gonna do?
I feel the urge to do some big cooking thing, or something food-related. I have been jonesin’ on hummus lately and buying a lot of it at the store. Maybe I’ll cook up a pound of garbanzo beans and make a huge homemade batch. Mmm . . . more garlic, please!
I’m pet-sitting a friend’s four parakeets, and I feel guilty when I get home late and they are snoozing peacefully. I put a cloth over their cage and try to keep the noise and the lights down to a minimum. Feel like I’m a teenager sneaking in late and trying not to wake up the parents. But do they let me sleep when the sun comes up at 0600 hours? Fat chance. Little bastards.
That is all. For some reason I have a sudden urgent need to look for the YouTube video of Dion doing “Abraham, Martin and John” on the Smothers Brothers show. Excellent solo acoustic guitar work, which surprised me.
asiangrrlMN
P.S. Tunch cannot possibly be at all evil. He has the sweetest face EVER. Ok, I can’t even type that without giggling.
P.P.S. I do not like Star Trek or L.O.T.R. Am I permanently banned?
Ruemara
@asiangrrlMN:
We can’t ban you, but we can marvel.
Steeplejack
@JK:
I am not optimistic, because I think a lot of the early stuff was shot on videotape and then taped over or simply thrown away. Desi Arnaz’s genius move was insisting that I Love Lucy be shot on film, thus ensuring its preservation. At least that’s what I read somewhere.
It’s not like early films, which were shot on film to begin with and at least have a chance of still existing somewhere. Although I also read that something like 60-80 percent of all the movies made before 1940 have been lost. Maybe not such a big loss, when you consider that before the ’50s films fulfilled the TV role–cheap, disposable entertainment. But there are some gems that got thrown out with all the junk, e.g., von Stroheim’s full version of Greed. I’d love to find a print of that in my great-great-uncle’s attic someday.
Thankovsky
@JK:
Don’t celebrate that! Those two are manna from heaven! I couldn’t imagine a more-potent image of the decline of the GOP than those idiots. They’re the perfect lightning rods. I love, love, LOVE ’em.
Soylent Green
A Japanese specialty:
Sexy girl dolls with guns.
asiangrrlMN
@Ruemara: Well, you can marvel at this. I don’t like Star Wars, the Stones, the Beatles, reality television, or WoW. What the hell, I don’t drink either beer or wine. I don’t care for steak. I don’t eat much pork, either. I don’t have cable. I have never seen The Sopranos, nor do I have any desire to see it.
Whew! It feels good to get that off my chest.
Thankovsky, then you can have ’em.
Soylent Green, those dolls are J.I.N.O.
burnspbesq
@JK:
Have you seen any of the “Jazz Icons” DVDs? Unreal. European TV broadcasts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, meticulously restored. Coltrane, Monk, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Ella, Duke, Lionel Hampton, and many more.
Thankovsky
@asiangrrlMN:
LOL, ah, well, I said I loved them – I DIDN’T say I loved them more than my current non-entity Congressman, to say nothing of my caricature of a governor who can’t pronounce the name of the state. ;)
Steeplejack
@Rosali:
“I like turtles.” Also.
asiangrrlMN
@Thankovsky: No backsies! Michele Bachmann is yours.
Thankovsky
@asiangrrlMN:
Okay, but I can’t promise I’ll return her in one piece. :p
JK
@Steeplejack:
You’re right. Dennis-SGMM expressed the same view in an earlier post.
I was browsing in the gift shop of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York 15 or 16 years ago and I recall seeing some compilation videos of Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows for sale. About 20-25 years ago either WNET or WLIW aired several episodes of the Ernie Kovacs Show. If I were industrious enough, I suppose I might be able to track down these broadcasts.
I’m with you on wanting to find that full length version of Greed.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
P.S. Picked up Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! today, largely on the basis of the comments here. First chapter is funny but a little Pythonesque. I am worried that this could get tiresome over the long haul. But I will stay the course. I think the last book I totally bailed on was Saul Bellow’s Herzog. [Shudder]
Cole: I found this neat and Tufte-worthy chart that helped me decide where to start. Apologies if one of the hard-core fans already pointed to it.
asiangrrlMN
@Thankovsky: Even better. Maybe you can fix her up the right way.
Now that I have foisted my local wingnut off onto you, I’m going to bed. Good night!
Dennis-SGMM
@JK:
It’s sad, The only reason any of the shows were kinescoped was for the purpose of delayed broadcast or distribution to remote places like Alaska. Once their intended purpose was fulfilled they were surplus.
Dick
As Mr. Cole contemplates what to do with his weekend this is in the NYT. This is what happens in war. War like the invasion of Iraq that Mr. Cole enthusiastically supported.
JK
@burnspbesq:
I’m not familiar with this series, but I’d love to check it out. It sounds very, very enticing. I’ll Google so that I can get more info on it.
A few weeks ago my local PBS network re-aired a half hour Miles Davis performance that orignally aired on CBS sometime between 1958 and 1960.
It has Miles playing with John Coltrane as well as Gil Evans and his orchestra. Their performance of So What is the greatest version of that song I’ve ever heard.
JK
@burnspbesq:
I’m not familiar with this series, but I’d love to check it out. It sounds very, very enticing. I’ll Google so that I can get more info on it.
A few weeks ago my local PBS network re-aired a half hour Miles Davis performance that orignally aired on CBS sometime between 1958 and 1960.
It has Miles playing with John Coltrane as well as Gil Evans and his orchestra. Their performance of So What is the greatest version of that song I’ve ever heard.
Thankovsky
@asiangrrlMN:
Well-played, asiangrrl…well-played.
Anne Laurie
As long as it includes tomatoes, you can’t go too far wrong. Find a local garden shop that sells transplants, unpot the little buggers into your rototilled dirt, and set up a support system at the same time. I like the newfangled aluminium ‘spirals’, but anything sturdy enough to hold the growing fruits up away from the wet ground & where you can inspect them for picking at peak ripeness will work. Yes, it looks a little odd when the 6-inch, 8-leaf seedlings are peeking out from under a 5ft. cage, but take my word that you don’t want the aggravation of trying to thread a half-grown vine loaded with green golfballs around/into your trellis in late July!
Annual public service announcement: If you have a spot that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight — a deck, a driveway, a wide windowsill — you can grow your own tomatoes. And yes, unless you have access to a superlative farmers’ market, the taste difference between homegrown and commercial tomatoes really IS that exceptional. If (like me) you are green-thumb-challenged, it’s not hard to find gourmet/heirloom seedlings relatively cheaply (5 bucks for a ‘brand name’ well-grown plant in a 3″ pot here in the Boston area, or 3 bucks for a six-pack of little sprouts). Pick the biggest container you can manage, make sure it has good drainage holes, mix in some Terrasorb with your topsoil/planting mix/whatever if you’ve got some, and make sure the whole thing doesn’t dry out on hot/sunny days. Then stand back and watch your tomatoes grow. Fertilizer, in my experience, is appreciated but not essential — it will improve yield, and some people say flavor, but in my experience too many commercial mixes encourage leaf growth rather than more/better tomatoes…
Oh, and John, I sent you an email. Apologies for not replying sooner — you succeeded in dumfounding me!
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Coltrane, “My Favorite Things.”
Viva Brisvegas
Just saw Star Trek and I’d rate it A-
The movie has all sorts of problems, but it’s also probably the most cinematic science fiction film I’ve seen since Empire Strikes Back.
Go see it, the wider the screen the better.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM:
@Steeplejack:
@burnspbesq:
The more I think about what treasures have been lost the bigger bummer it becomes.
The guests for the first episode of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson included Joan Crawford, Tony Bennett, Mel Brooks, as well as a brief introduction of Johnny by Groucho Marx.
It least with YouTube and other services some treasures are materializing. In the time I’ve been searching YouTube, I’ve seen things that I never knew existed.
If I had more initiative, I’d try to find mailing lists or message boards where people who collect this ephemera congregate.
Steeplejack
@JK:
In the 1970s there was a feature film released called something like Ten from ‘Your Show of Shows’, which might be available on DVD. I saw it in a little art house in the Garden District in New Orleans. The sketch I remember liking the best was their takeoff of From Here to Eternity, in which Caesar (several times) ended a comment with the statement “. . . because that’s the kind of guy I’m.” Then later Imogene Coca kills with “. . . because that’s the kind of guy he’s.”
JK
@Steeplejack:
I put this right up there with Miles playing So What with Coltrane and Miles playing Footprints with Hancock, Williams, Carter, and Shorter.
I know this sounds crazy, but I read somewhere that children’s show host Soupy Sales had a number of big name jazz musicians perform on his program.
JK
@Steeplejack:
Thanks very much, I’ll add that to my list of items to track down.
Tony Alva
FEED THAT POOR THING!!!! He looks like a concentration camp victim. Geez….
Steeplejack
@JK:
Amen. When I first found this on YouTube I was flabbergasted. I realized that I had just assumed that artists at a certain remove in the past–before the Beatles, say–were just unavailable on video. This was a revelation. I would love to find a video of Coltrane’s 10-minute take on “Greensleeves”–the highlight of what came to be known as my “Christmas mix CD from hell.” Ahem.
I am playing this again now (“My Favorite Things”). I love it when it goes all piano and bass at about 2:10. Lord.
Anne Laurie
No, you’re just too young to appreciate them {grin}. Srsly, I was in high school when the first Star Trek series appeared, and just having ANY kind of visual-media science fiction that included female characters and non-Caucasians really WAS that much of a big honkin’ deal for us not-white-boy geeks! Same thing, slightly different audience, for LOTR — Tolkien was the JK Rowling of the early 1970s, “proof” that a big sweeping epic fantasy could be written for grownups, *smart* grownups even — that the genre could be demanding & sexy & not just pablum for kiddies. Even then, those of us learning High Elven and inventing phan phiction knew, in our hearts, that ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’ and JRR’s endless flowery paragraphs of landscape description didn’t necessarily rise much above mediocre, but they gave those of us who already loved “speculative fiction” new platforms and new ways of finding our fellows. (Kinda like political blogging in the years 2000-2008, really.)
It’s one of those phenomena, like the Deadheads, where You Hadda Be There at just the right time and just the right age. You know that polite, glazed expression your mom gets when you try to explain why the CLAMP studio changed the whole orientation of anime fans, or why Robotech is practically not the same artform as Loly-goth and Magical Girl? Or how even ‘respectable’ people under 30 can use the phrase ‘skin art’ unironically? We’re just the wrong demographic, is all…
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Oh, yeah. That’s the earlier of the two performances of “MFT” on the Jazz Icons DVD, with Eric Dolphy. Great stuff, but I actually prefer the other version – McCoy just KILLS, and the group is almost telepathically in sync after four years of playing together.
OriGuy
It looks like two hours of Meeting of the Minds is available on VHS.
JK
@Steeplejack:
I’d love to find Greensleeves as well, but I have no idea if any such performance on film exists.
I’d also love to find a video of Oliver Nelson performing Stolen Moments. I’m doubtful however, any film of Nelson exists because he never achieved the level of fame as guys like Coltrane, Monk, Miles, Dizzy, and Bird.
Steeplejack
@JK:
Ten from ‘Your Show of Shows’:
IMDB.
Amazon.
At least a starting point.
burnspbesq
Here’s another taste from the Jazz Icons DVD series: Wes Montgomery playing Coltrane’s “Impressions.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXvdU7f-q7I
JK
@OriGuy:
This is terrific news. Thank you very, very much for passing it along. Very grateful to see another Steve Allen fan on Balloon-Juice.
@Anne Laurie:
That’s a great analogy. I once missed attending a lecture from a writer who was speaking on the similarity of fandom among Star Trek fans and Grateful Dead fans.
This is the best part of any open thread in weeks – A confluence of some of my favorite passions –
Classic Jazz Musicians, the Golden Age of Televison Comedy, Star Trek, The Grateful Dead, JRR Tolkien
Just waiting for a fan of the Godfather, the Sopranos, or the Beatles to check in.
JK
@Steeplejack:
This is a very good start indeed. Thanks very much.
@burnspbesq:
You are really hitting the jackpot.
burnspbesq
@JK:
Thanks. You got me in the mood.
Think I will listen to “Giant Steps” while I finish packing, and then call it an evening.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Steeplejack
@Anne Laurie:
True dat. I have lots of yoot coworkers at the bookstore, and I find myself in these conversations all the time. I try not to be old Mr. Buzzkill, but sometimes I can’t resist saying something like: “Jesus, your ‘greatest band evah’? They just found an old Farfisa chord organ in somebody’s basement and they’re channeling late-period Nuggets riff rock. Get over it!”
I actually love this song (and video), but I can’t think of another example, so I’m throwing in the Caesars’ “(I’m Gonna) Kick You Out.”
Farfisa–check.
Trippy guitar–check.
“I’ve been playing for three whole months” drumming–check.
Mama likes.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Before my recent hard-disk breakdown, I think I had a YouTube link to the other version, but this was the one I came up with in a quick search tonight. Awesome music.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Just got back from a late showing of Star Trek. I thought my affection for Trek had been permanently burned out by that last abomination of a Next Generation film, but it came roaring back within the first 10 minutes of the new film. There are things I could quibble with, but overall it was a blast. They really hit it out of the park with the casting, and I was surprised by how respectful they were of the original mythos. Somehow I had gotten the idea that this was going to be more like a clean install of a new OS than a reboot of the existing series, but they came up with a fairly clever way of tying in to the existing continuity while still leaving themselves a clean slate to use for future stories.
Also, Zoe Seldana.
Steeplejack
@JK:
Holy shnikeys, you hit a nerve there. That’s my all-time favorite jazz song. I have a mix CD that is nothing but different versions of “Stolen Moments.” It opens with the canonical Oliver Nelson version from The Blues and the Abstract Truth and ends with Ahmad Jamal’s unbelievable piano trio version from The Awakening (a great album from end to end).
JK
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
Thanks for your review. I’ve seen several interviews with J. J. Abrams and I confess to being somewhat put off by his statements that he was never a fan of the original Star Trek series. I had difficulty imagining how someone could do justice to a story which he did not originally embrace.
@Anne Laurie:
Are you planning to see the new Star Trek film this weekend?
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Frakkin’ awesome. Thanks for pointing me to that. My thumb hurts just looking at it.
J. A. Baker
Tunch: proving that cats are at their cutest when they’re asleep.
JK
@Steeplejack:
How many versions of Stolen Moments are there? The only thing I’d prefer to Nelson’s studio version would be Nelson performing the song live with the same musicians appearing on the studio version.
One of the downsides of YouTube is the fact that so many great videos simply disappear into the ether. There used to be a video of Oliver Nelson’s original studio version of Stolen Moments but it has vanished.
Other videos I miss from YouTube are original studio versions of Questions 67 & 68 by Chicago, And it Stoned Me by Van Morrison and Jigsaw Puzzle by the Rolling Stones. Someone posted Jigsaw Puzzle as music for a videogame but the sounds of the game drown out the song.
JK
@Steeplejack:
Given this fact, would you know if Oliver Nelson’s original studio recording of Stolen Moments, has ever been used for any feature film soundtrack?
Steeplejack
@JK:
Just off the top of my head, Sprout–a surfing movie, oddly enough.
This soundtrack is kind of interesting. (I own it.) Check out the other songs, e.g., Tommy Guerrero’s “By Fist and Fury.”
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
It is lovely, isn’t it?
Ned R.
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
Yes, my friend.
Less hyperpsyched than you but essentially agreed on it being v. enjoyable. I’d be happy with more films from this bunch.
JK
@Steeplejack:
Thanks for the info, I’ll try to track down the soundtrack as well as the film itself.
Steeplejack
@JK:
Well, I’ve got 15 or so on my mix CD–don’t have it at hand right now–and there are a lot more than that. I’ve got Oliver Nelson, Ahmad Jamal, Lee Ritenour, the Caribbean Jazz Project, Chris Walden, the Turtle Island String Quartet, Stanley Jordan, Booker Ervin, Freddie Hubbard and some others. There’s a really cool no-word-singing version by UFO (United Future Organization) from the anthology Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, but I can’t find an audio link.
One that I don’t have that I’d love to get is a long version by the Clark College Jazz Ensemble circa 1980-85. I used to live in Atlanta and always listened to WCLK, the college’s excellent jazz station. (I still listen occasionally via the Web. Check out “Jazz After Hours” from midnight-5:00 ET weekdays or “Serenade to the City” 9:00 p.m.-midnight weekdays.) For a while they were playing the jazz ensemble’s long version from an album they released, with everyone in this big band taking a solo. But somehow it worked. “Stolen Moments” can lend itself to a long, leisurely interpretation. No cowbell, thankfully.
Good luck with that! As you said, Nelson was not super popular even back in the day, and that was a big ensemble for that session. Can’t believe anyone would have been moved to put it on video. Not that it shouldn’t have been, of course!
Steeplejack
@JK:
I posted a good-sized monograph on the various versions of “Stolen Moments,” but either it went to moderation (too many hyperlinks?) or it got shredded. I saved the text, so if it doesn’t show up
tomorrow morningafter daylight I’ll try to post it again.I’ve really got to go to bed. The parakeet mob is going to be screeching at me in about an hour. Rapture.
CaseyL
Just me, checking in at 2:30-ish a.m. my time to tell you all YOU MUST SEE the new Star Trek movie. I am so jazzed about it I’m already trying to figure out how soon I can see it again.
Boy Howdy, did JJ reboot this franchise. It kicks all kinds of ass. The principles are all terrific, but Pine as Kirk and Quinto as Spock are revelations.
The dialog is smart and snappy, the characterizations manage to be fresh and sharp while still true to the characters as we know them, and the visuals are amazing.
Michael D.
Good on ya!
Krista
Glad to hear all the good reviews of the Star Trek movie — I’ve been intrigued by it, but DH is doubtful. Maybe I’ll have to drag his ass to it sometime in the next while. It’s been ages since we’ve seen a movie in the theatre.
R-Jud
@Krista:
We’re making it our first post-baby date tonight based on all the raves we’ve been reading. We’re neither of us big on Star Trek, but the idea of seeing something that is fun though not stupid appeals to us. Plus, popcorn for dinner= win! Between this and the Bean sleeping for a sold 7 hours two nights in a row, it looks to be a nice weekend.
harlana pepper
I dunno, but if I were you, I’d plant some catnip in that garden o’ yourn.
harlana pepper
aaahhhh!!! i can see the lil orange thingies on toppa his widdle haid! eeeeee!!! (so cute)
Krista
7 hours! Sweet! And yes, I’m a big fan of movie popcorn for dinner (although I may have to forgo it if we go — my glucose levels are higher than the doc would like.)
I’m also wondering if the new X-Men movie is going to be any good. It’s kind of hard to lose when you have both Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in tank tops, but if the movie’s really bad, all the pretty in the world won’t help.
demkat620
@Krista: Going to the movies sent me in to labor with my first child.
True story.
Dennis-SGMM
@Steeplejack:
Steve Allen is on several compilation DVDs available at Amazon.
Maybe better: searching Steve Allen on YouTube yields a wealth of clips.
Laura W
@Dennis-SGMM: Re. your back:
Blame Bacchus.
Dennis-SGMM
@Laura W:
I deserve that!
Montysano
@R-Jud:
As a parents who are gobsmacked to be celebrating a 21st birthday this weekend, let us assure you that it all goes by very quickly. But I do remember that first sweet time when I said “Your mother and I are going out; we’re not sure when we’ll be back. There is food. Don’t set anything on fire”.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM:
I was pleasantly surprised to find some Ernie Kovacs dvds on Amazon. There’s also some Mort Sahl LPs and CDs.
mt
Waffles. Going to town with WAFFLES. Life is good.
Church Lady
Going to see the youngest graduate from high school this afternoon.
mt
Congratulations Church Lady. I’ve got a ways to go before I can post that milestone.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Do. It’s definitely worth seeing in the theatre – though fair warning, the first scene may turn you into a blubbering wreck if you’re suffering from any pregnancy-hormone emotionalism.
You can safely skip Wolverine, though. It’s crap, even by silly summer superhero movie standards. Also, no Zoe Saldana.
asiangrrlMN
@Anne Laurie: I’m thirty-eight, so I’m hardly a spring chicken. I remember seeing Star Wars when it first came out, and I was not impressed. I am just not into Sci Fi. Plus, I don’t like movies (American ones) in general.
tripletee, I looooove me some Wolverine, but I was planning on waiting until I can get it on Netflix, anyway. Hugh Jack. Eh.
Let the banning begin!
@Tattoosydney: Yes. Very. More like that once you’ve recovered!
JK
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
Were you a bigger fan of Star Trek The Original Series or The Next Generation?
wasabi gasp
@asiangrrlMN: I also saw Star Wars as a young’un when it first came out and it completely fascinated me. This didn’t turn into any further appreciation of science fiction, but it did make, to this day, the 20th Century Fox theme as much a part of Star Wars as the Star Wars theme itself.
And now, that’s what fascinates me, for a few moments, each and every time a 20th Century Fox film begins to roll.
wasabi gasp
@asiangrrlMN: Also, I would have pegged you as being much younger as well. Something about the chipper peppiness of your posts, like you might be roller skating or something while writing them.
JenJen
@Steeplejack: You know, I would ask my Republican friends all the time, “So, how come George W. Bush is the only member of that entire family to speak with a Texas drawl? Don’t you think that’s a little strange considering he went to, like, Andover and Yale?”
Nobody could ever answer. Huh.
asiangrrlMN
@wasabi gasp: Thank you, I think. What you call chipper peppiness, others have called angry, bitter sarcasm. I think I like your definition better.
As for Star Wars/Star Treks, I think the problem is that I love books. I love them in part because I have a very vivid imagination, and movies inevitably disappoint. I much prefer foreign films, especially British ones. Yup. I am definitely an effete liberal.
I’m watching Larry O’Donnell on Ed Show, and he’s hawt. Man, I love the way he makes the rightwingers’ heads explode. Hee hee. He makes them see so fucking stupid. Well, more than they already make themselves seem.
JenJen, oooh, that’s a good one. I’m going to use that. Did you see your beloved Matt is the subject of this morning’s open thread?
wasabi gasp
It was a compliment.
As far as books go, at that time, I found Star Wars blew Hop on Pop out of the water. ;)
asiangrrlMN
@wasabi gasp: What the hell is Hop on Pop???????
I should have used the Google first. Did. I am not a big Dr. Seuss fan, either.
Steeplejack
@JenJen:
Word. I used to live in Texas, and there are plenty of natives who don’t speak as “Texican” as Dubya does. I wonder if he’ll lighten up on the accent now that he’s retired.
wasabi gasp
@asiangrrlMN: I take back the roller skates. :P
JenJen
@asiangrrlMN: I did, I did! Always nice to start the day with a little Matt Taibbi!
He didn’t get much of an opportunity to be hilarious on Bill Maher last night. When you’ve got the “Family Guy” creator on the panel, well, he just kind of sucks out all the oxygen. I doubt I could be funny sitting across from Seth MacFarlane.
@Steeplejack: He and Laura didn’t waste any time getting rid of that show-farm in Crawford, that’s for sure.
Andrew J. Lazarus
Back to food. I am visiting my family in DC soon. I can get morels in California for $20/lb. Is this cheaper than DC would have?
Also, we get Mexican-grown ramps here. Maybe I’ll try them. Unfortunately, I’m the only carnivore in my house right now, so no steak with.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Never had a big preference one way or the other, really.
Studly Pantload
Was fortunate enough to see the new Trek flick at the old restored Cinerama theater here in Seattle. I tell you, IMAX theaters wish they were the Cinerama. Anyhoo, the flick kicks butt, and seems to be a set. up for the installment or two, a la Wrath of Khan. Great cast, great chemistry, and some serious blowing up of shit.
CaseyL
Hey, Studly – I was at the Cinerama too! 11:00 show.
Interesting that you say it was better than IMAX, since the friend I was with was a little miffed that we weren’t seeing on IMAX. I wouldn’t mind seeing it a 2nd or 3rd time that way, but preferred Cinerama for the maiden viewing :) IMAX is too big; you can’t see the whole screen at once, and moving one’s head back and forth to take in everything is distracting.
Dayv
Dinner was excellent, and the mushrooms turned out great. I actually made two marinades […], and then ended up using neither. I just washed them, brushed them with a little olive oil, cooked them, and then tasted one to see which marinade would be better, and decided all it needed was a little sea salt and some pepper.
You win at portobellos, sir.