sonopan

The Passing Parade 2009

2010-01-01T01:37:34Z

The people on this list are dead. In fact, they all died this year and, other than the fact that they for one reason or another attracted my attention, they have little else in common. Some of them have held my attention for years, others I've only learned about recently, but I found them all interesting and wanted to acknowledge their passing. They are actors and artists, scientists and preachers, musicians and politicians, famous and not. I'm sure your list is different. I also want to point out that this is a list of individuals and does not include groups, however noble, such as our brave soldiers in the field. Anyway, here they are... gone from us now except as memories and artifacts...

01-03 Pat Hingle, actor – original cast of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Price on Broadway… in the movies The Grifters, Hang ‘Em High, Sudden Impact, the ‘80s Batman movies… a common guest star on TV… played Colonel Daniel Webster Tucker in a great M*A*S*H episode… he served on the destroyer USS Marshall during WWII.

01-13 Patrick McGooham, actor – surprisingly born American, he originated the role of John Drake in the UK series Danger Man, which would become Secret Agent in the US and which would morph into the role for which he is best known, Number 6 in The Prisoner. He was also notably in the movies Braveheart, Scanners, Escape From Alcatraz and Ice Station Zebra. Many TV appearances, including a record 4 turns as a murderer on Columbo.

01-14 Ricardo Montalbán, actor – as a teenager he moved with his brother Carlos to Hollywood to be in the movies. He started off as ‘40s “Latin Lover” type but went on to be in Across The Wide Missouri, Cheyenne Autumn, Madame X, The Singing Nun, a couple of Planet Of The Apes movies and The Naked Gun. His most famous movie role is the title role in the Star Trek vehicle The Wrath Of Khan, based on an episode of the TV series where he originated the role. He will, of course, most famously be remembered for 8 seasons playing Mr Roarke on Fantasy Island. He was also a co-founder of the Nosotros Foundation, which supports Latino actors.

01-16 Andrew Wyeth, artist – both the son and the father of a painter, Andrew Wyeth painted portraits, rural scenes and still lifes… His 1948 masterpiece Christina’s World used to hang in the hallway of my elementary school (which now that I think on it, had a rather good selection…), and more than once I managed to stare that desperate desolation long enough to attract the attention of some hall monitoring dullard who couldn’t understand.

02-06 James Whitmore, actor – a wonderful portrayer of folksy characters. He had roles in The Asphalt Jungle, The Next Voice You Hear (a personal favorite), Kiss Me, Kate, Them!, Oklahoma!, Black Like Me, Guns Of The Magnificent Seven, and his last major role in The Shawshank Redemption. He was a regular guest star on television for many years, and was known on Broadway as “The King Of The One Man Shows”, among them Will Rogers’ USA and Give ‘Em Hell, Harry! He was also the long time TV spokesman for Miracle-Gro plant food. He served in the Marine Corps during WWII.

02-25 Philip José Farmer, writer – a seminal figure in science fiction, who moved the genre beyond machines and monsters, his Riverworld series is his magnum opus. Myself, I always liked his riffing on other authors… The Adventures Of The Peerless Peer, in which two of my childhood heroes, Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes team up made me dizzy with delight, and Kilgore Trout’s Venus On The Half Shell… well… damn… how often does a non-existent novel by a fictitious author actually see print?

03-08 Ernest Trova, artist – a native son of St Louis, “Ernie” Trova was a surrealist, painter and most notably a sculptor. Trova looked like he might become a major artist back in the late 60’s, but his work, which was dominated by his Falling Man series, fell out of fashion in the New York art circles. A lifelong St Louisan, Trova, in 1975, gifted 40 of his larger sculptures to be the startup collection of the Laumeier Sculpture Park, as fine an outdoor sculpture park as I’ve seen anywhere.

03-29 Maurice Jarre, composer, conductor – best known for his film scores, of which, Lawrence Of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago should be enough to earn immortality, but he also wrote the scores to Is Paris Burning?, Topaz, The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean, The Year Of Living Dangerously and A Passage To India. He was the father of electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre.

04-07 Dave Arneson, gamer – the man who essentially invented Dungeons and Dragons, but didn’t have the money to get it off the ground, something that was done by his post-genesis partner Gary Gygax, enriching the lives of geeks and nerds everywhere. I haven’t played the game in years, but I certainly had fun when I did…

04-12 Marilyn Chambers, actress – best known for being the “Ivory Snow Girl” and a string of pornographic films, the most famous being Behind The Green Door. She also appeared in Cronenberg’s Rabid and several other indie films, had a disco hit and ran for Vice President in 2004 and 2008.

04-25 Bea Arthur, actress, comedien, singer – started off on Broadway where she played Lucy Brown in the original English language production of Threepenny Opera and had significant roles in the original productions of Fiddler On The Roof and Mame, a role she reprised in the movie version. She was in a few other movies, my favorite being her appearance in Mel Brooks’ History Of The World Part I. She is, of course, best known for her television career, playing the title role feminist icon in Maude and then a softer turn as the ringleader of The Golden Girls.

05-04 Dom DeLuise, comedian, actor, director, producer, writer – the son of a housewife and a garbage collector who became what they used to call a “household name”. He was in a number of movies, almost all of them comedies (a cameo in Fail Safe being a notable exception) making an appearance in most Mel Brooks films and a long string of side kick roles with Burt Reynolds. He was a regular voice actor in any number of animated films and was a regular on the old Dean Martin Show, of which I was a big fan. He also played in a couple of comic operettas, wrote a number of cook books and books for children, was married to the same woman for 44 years and raised 3 successful children.

05-04 Amy Scott, good dog – my sweet little baby, who without knowing, gave me a truly magnanimous gift… my return to the community of dogs from which I had been exiled for decades. She was the best… she really was…

05-07 Mickey Carroll, dancer, actor, charity fund raiser – another native son and lifelong resident of St Louis who got his start as a dancer at the Fox Theatre where he met Jack Haley, who convinced him to give Hollywood a try. He was in several of the Our Gang movies as “Mickey”, but his big claim to fame was as a Munchkin in The Wizard Of Oz where he portrayed the Munchkinland Town Cryer, one of the three fiddlers and a marching soldier. In later life Mickey Carroll used his Oz fame as a tool to raise funds for a variety of local charities, particularly for the families of fallen police officers and for virtually any charity involving children, particularly Children’s Hospital where he was a regular visitor and entertainer.

06-03 Koko Taylor, singer, night club owner – the daughter of a Tennessee sharecropper, she moved to Chicago in the 1950’s where she met Willie Dixon who suggested that she remake the old Howlin’ Wolf song Wang Dang Doodle (which Dixon had written) and a career was born. She was dubbed the “Queen Of The Blues” in Chicago and was an influence on a generation of female singers.

06-03 David Carradine, actor - from a family of actors, a regular guest star on TV in the 60’s and 70’s, he will forever be known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine on the TV series Kung Fu. He was in dozens of movies from Box Car Bertha to Bound For Glory to Death Race 2000 to Kill Bill… The role I liked him in best was as Cole Younger in The Long Riders, one of my absolute favorite Westerns.

06-20 Neda Agha-Soltan, political activist, martyr - Iranian student who became a symbol of the resistance and a world wide media star by bleeding to death on camera. The struggle continues…

06-23 Ed McMahon, Marine, carnival barker, pitchman, comedian, professional sidekick – nobody my age needs an explanation… he was a welcome guest into my home most weeknights as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on The Tonight Show. He was also the original host of Star Search, and a long time spokesman for American Family Publishers. He was also the co-host of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for 41 years.

06-25 Farrah Fawcett, actress – after a few years doing commercials and guest star shots on TV two things came to Farrah in 1976… Charlie’s Angels and that poster, and again… nobody my age needs an explanation here… she left the show after only 1 season, she was making a lot more money with the poster anyway and went on to star off-Broadway and in several movies both made for TV and not, including a highly regarded performance in The Burning Bed. I really liked her as the preacher’s wife in The Apostle.

06-25 Michael Jackson, singer, dancer, icon – about whom anything said at this point would be redundant… and probably generate cash flow…

06-30 Harve Presnell, singer, actor – started off singing classical pieces, on Broadway the role of Leadville Johnny in The Unsinkable Molly Brown was written for him. He did a lot of stage musical work, was in a number of movies including Fargo and Saving Private Ryan, and had TV roles on Lois And Clark and Dawson’s Creek. If his rendition of They Call The Wind Mariah in the movie musical Paint Your Wagon doesn’t make you a little misty then nothing will…

07-01 Karl Malden, actor - and a damned fine actor… the movie titles say it all… A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, Baby Doll, One Eyed Jacks, Bird Man Of Alcatraz, How The West Was One, The Cincinnati Kid, Nevada Smith, Patton… none of these movies would have been half as good without him.

07-06 Robert McNamara, lying bastard - glad to see ya go...

07-11 Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, idealist - who famously had fertility work done that allowed her to give birth to twins just days before her 67th birthday, citing her long lived ancestors, her immaculate health and the fact that sexagenarians has as much right to reproduce as anyone else. The babies were delivered by emergency cesarian and weighed just 3.5 lbs each. She died of cancer 2 years later leaving her children orphans.

07-17 Walter Cronkite, journalist - “The Most Trusted Man In America” – from St Joseph, MO, he started work as a reporter in 1935, reported from North Africa and Europe during WWII, where he rode along on bombing raids over Germany in B-17s. He was the host of the TV shows You Are There and The Twentieth Century. He was the anchor for The CBS Evening News for 19 years. He broke the story of Kennedy’s assassination to the nation, famously becoming teary eyed in doing so. His editorial against the web of lies surrounding the Viet Nam War (see above, lying bastard) so dispirited Lyndon Johnson that he refused to run again. Cronkite was a great supporter of the Space Program rubbing his hands in delight when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. He was an avid sailor and music lover. He was what a journalist is supposed to be, and the vast majority of newsmonkeys using that title today should just go and be ashamed…

07-19 Frank McCourt, writer – from a family of writers, best known for his memoirs Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis.

08-06 John Hughes, writer, director, producer of films – he made a lot of movies about young people early on… Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and the iconic Breakfast Club, as well as some of the entries in the National Lampoon canon. I didn’t care much for his 90’s work, though I do have a soft spot for Dutch… He dropped dead walking down the street at age 59.

08-06 Willy Deville, musician – I first heard him as the leader of Mink Deville who, because they were the house band at CBGB’s, got recorded as part of the Punk Movement, of which they were never really a part. I think the first song I heard by them was Spanish Stroll. Willy was all styles at once and no style in particular, a musician who could and did do it all. It’s a damned shame more folks don’t know his work

08-11 Eunice Kennedy Shriver, social worker, organizer, activist – in the 40’s and 50’s she worked in the field of juvenile delinquency and ran a women’s shelter. Her focus on mental retardation as the Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation eventually lead to the foundation of The Special Olympics, a cause she would champion for the rest of her life. She was also a founder of The National Institute Of Child Health and Human Development. She received the Presidential Medal Of Freedom from Ronald Reagan and a Papal Knighthood from Pope Benedict XVI. She was a life long Democrat and a supporter of the Pro-Life movement.

08-12 Alex, sea lion, entertainer – a long Time resident of the St Louis Zoo, noted for fluid, artistic dives, adept catching of flying fish and a persistent smart mouth.

08-13 Les Paul, musician, inventor, entertainer – where do you begin with Les Paul? As a musician he was a guitarist with few peers, specializing in jazz and country, not your typical combination. With his wife, Mary Ford, he had many hit recordings and they had their own radio and television shows. As an inventor, he influenced every musician who would come after by inventing multi-tracking, overdubbing, tape delay, phasing and multitrack recording (not just the technique… the machine). He has been inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, The Grammy Hall Of Fame, The National Association Of Broadcasters Hall Of Fame and The National Invetors Hall Of Fame. Oh yeah… he invented the electric guitar…

08-25 Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy, Senator, Democrat, unbowed Liberal – “The Lion Of The Senate”, he served as Senator from Massachusetts for 46 years and more than 300 bills he authored were enacted into Law, focusing mainly on issues of health and social justice. It goes without saying that Teddy was a flawed hero, but he was a hero nonetheless... a man of reason and reasonableness... surrounded by chattering monkeys...

08-26 Ellie Greenwich, songwriter – she wrote or co-wrote Be My Baby; Da Doo Ron Ron; Leader Of The Pack; Do Wah Diddy Diddy; River Deep, Mountain High; Then He Kissed Me; Hanky Panky; The Chapel Of Love; and one of the two Xmas songs that can make me cry, Darlene Love’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

09-02 Jim White “The Big Bumper”, radio host – he worked for 30 years at St Louis’ clear channel station KMOX back before it was overtaken by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, much of that in the 10pm to 2am Time slot. He was raspy, ill-tempered and did not suffer fools gladly… I was a big fan.

09-11 Larry Gelbart, comedy writer – best known as the main writer and developer of the M*A*S*H television series, in his early days he wrote for Danny Thomas, Jack Paar, Bob Hope and most notably Sid Caesar. He wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for a number of movies including Tootsie, Oh, God! and Barbarians At The Gate and wrote the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To The Forum.

09-12 Norman Borlaug, agronomist, Nobel laureate – the father of the Green Revolution, in which artificial fertilizers made from left over WWII bomb making components allowed massive crop production, allowing food production to keep up with (and in this country exceed) population growth, allowing human population to grow to unprecedented levels. I leave it to you to decide for yourself if this was a blessing or a curse...

09-14 Henry Gibson, actor, poet – I first encountered him on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In where he would recite his silly poems with a big flower… He was in dozens of movies, my favorites being the Nazi leader in The Blues Brothers and as Werner Klopek in The ‘Burbs. His recent turn as the crazy, repressed judge on Boston Legal was funny as Hell…

09-16 Mary Travers, singer, songwriter – one third of Peter, Paul and Mary, she was the reigning goddess of the folk music movement of the 1960’s. Along with the other members of the group, she was a champion of the Civil rights Movement, and they sang at the 1963 March On Washington where Martin Luther King made his famous I Have A Dream speech.

09-25 Dave Sinclair, car dealer – he sold Fords. Lincolns and Mercurys in St Louis for as long as I can remember. Especially in the last few years, he often used his television commercials, delivered while standing behind a podium, to express his personal views, most recently revolving around the idea that the best way to restart the economy was to buy American products whenever possible. I don’t think I ever bought a car from him, I’m a Chevy kind of guy, but he was an undeniable part of the fabric of St Louis.

10-13 Al Martino, singer – one of the great Italian crooners, he had a string of romantic hits from the 1950’s through the 1970’s… best known currently for having played the role of Johnny Fontane in the Godfather movies.

10-14 Captain Lou Albano, wrestler, manager – an unsuccessful wrestler, he found glory managing a long string of wrestlers including George “The Animal” Steele. Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan, The Fabulous Moolah and Jimmy “Superfly” Snookah. He catapulted to superstardom when he teamed up with rocker Cyndi Lauper and made appearances in a string of her videos.

10-17 Vic Mizzy, songwriter – started off writing popular songs including My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, There’s A Far Away Look In Your Eyes and The Jones Boy. He also wrote the film scores for several Don Knotts movies, but will be most remembered for having written a number of television theme songs, notably The Addams Family, Green Acres and Quincy.

10-22 Soupy Sales, comedian, disc jockey, entertainer – king of the pie throwers, he was a WWII veteran and had a Master’s Degree in Journalism. In his long career he hosted dance show, radio shows and most notably children’s shows where he introduced the children not only to flying pies but also to the great jazz players of the day, Miles Davis was a guest 6 times. He was also a regular guest on many game shows. When he died, a cream pie was left on his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

10-23 Lou Jacobi, actor – a great character actor, he started as a stand-up comedian, moved to the stage in London and on Broadway and then into television and movies where he played in everything from The Diary Of Anne Frank to Cotton Comes To Harlem to Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex* But Were Afraid To Ask.

10-31 Qian Xuesen, scientist – after graduating college in his native China, he came to the United States and earned his Master’s at MIT and then moved to CalTech to pursue his career. He was one of the founders of JPL and developed many of America’s early missile designs, and worked on designs for an intercontinental space plane, pre-meditating what would eventually become the Space Shuttle. After WWII, he was sent as part of a team to debrief the German rocket scientists, whereon he recommended Wernher von Braun, later known as the “Father of the American Space Program” for acquisition. By all accounts Xuesen was a genius. During the Second Red Scare, his ethnicity caused him to fall out of favor and to be accused, despite his many, many contributions to American security, to be accused of being a Communist, which caused him to immediately lose his career and eventually to spend 5 years under house arrest at Terminal Island. After that Time he was traded to China for 12 down flyers from the Korean War, at which point he became the “Father of the Chinese Space Program”, making China the global military power it is now.

10-31 Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist – an explorer of the border between Nature and culture, between primitive and civilized, between Life and Death, his application of structuralism to anthropology turned the entire field on its head. His premise that human characteristics were the same everywhere was revolutionary.

11-03 Carl Ballantine, entertainer, magician – in fact, “The World’s Greatest Magician”… a regular on variety and comedy shows, Ballantine’s main act was as a bumbling, incompetent magician… a vaudeville act well past the heyday of vaudeville, he was the first magic act to headline in Las Vegas. He was also one of the wacky sailors on McHale’s Navy in the early 60’s. A very funny guy.

11-08 Jeanne-Claude, artist – with her husband Christo, creators of often very large scale environmental art, most famously involving the wrapping in cloth of buildings, bridges, islands and cliffsides. I freely admit that it took me a long Time to “get” what they were doing, but then I became a big fan. I hope Christo carries on without her.

11-16 Edward Woodward, actor – I first encountered Woodward in his role as Sgt Howie in the original (and only, so far as I’m concerned) version of The Wicker Man and was completely taken aback to see him on the little screen in the title role of The Equalizer. He did Shakespeare and musical comedy, did a fine turn in Breaker Morant and even managed to turn up in Hot Fuzz. A fine actor.

12-04 William “Liam” Clancey, folk singer – a magnificent voice… the last surviving member of The Clancy Brothers, the Irish folk group that basically began the Celtic music revival in the 60’s and opened the door for all the Irish acts to follow. A tip o’ the pint to ya, lad…

12-09 Gene Barry, actor – another veteran of stage, screen and television, Barry was, for those old enough to remember, the star of Bat Masterson and Burke’s Law on television, but for me is best remembered as the protagonist in the original (and only, so far as I’m concerned) movie version of War Of The Worlds.

12-15 Oral Roberts, charlatan, huckster, grifter – the worst of a bad lot, Oral had, at his peak, the 2nd largest television ministry in America. Among the highlights of his career was the invention of what is now called Prosperity Gospel in which he convinced folks on limited incomes that the more money they sent him, the more money they would themselves end up with one day… a classic scam… and Oral put the money he got from grey haired old grannies to good use… he had a steady supply of Italian suits, diamond rings and gold bracelets… just like Jesus wanted him to have… his annual income during these peak years approached $90 million. He was also known for having claimed to have literally raised the dead in 1987… to have had a 900 ft tall vision of Jesus tell him to build a medical center to minister to the sick and assured him it would be a great success and last through the ages… it was built on the donations of his misguided followers, lost $10 million a year and lasted only 8 years before shuttering its doors in 1989. Another highpoint was when he went on air in January 1987 (same year as the raising of the dead and 2 years before the medical center went under) and said that God had instructed him to raise $8 million by March or God was going to kill him… well… “call him home”. God did finally call him home this year… not a minute too soon.

Nobel Prize

2009-10-09T23:40:15Z

You know... he's got to be the only person in history who, when told he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, shook his head and said, "What the Fuck?!?!"

One more political note...

2009-09-20T17:43:18Z

To my left leaning friends...

One of the things that made Barack Obama a viable candidate and which also makes him a viable President is his steadfast refusal to play "The Race Card"...

IT DOES NOT HELP HIM AT ALL FOR YOU TO PLAY IT FOR HIM.

Get a clue... for great swaths of the European-American population there is no quicker way to lose their attention (and their support) than to start screaming racism...

Political notes...

2009-09-16T03:35:14Z

To my Democratic friends: we all know that there's nothing you folks like better than standing neck deep in a pool of moral indignation and self righteousness, but let the Joe Wilson thing go... At this point all you're really doing is promoting his fund raising efforts and looking shrill. You are, not un-typically I'm afraid, indistinct danger of letting the side show take over the circus... stop it! You people have important ducks-in-a-rowing to do... get on with it before you shoot yourselves in the foot... again...

To my Republican friends: when non-partisan onlookers such as myself can't seem to tell the Republican base from the Lyndon Larouche base... well... you might want to rethink your strategy... Crazier than thou is not really a position to shoot for, you know what I mean?

To my Presidential friend: concerning your recent "I said that off the record" statement... jackass is in the right direction, but it just doesn't seem like it goes quite far enough...

Some Yellowstone pictures...

2009-09-10T03:51:11Z

Some Yellowstone pictures...

2009-09-10T03:46:44Z

The Grand Tetons

2009-09-06T04:03:21Z

A really nice set of mountains...

One of the locals...

Those dark spots are trees, cousin!

Home soon...

2009-09-05T03:44:04Z

I was just telling Sherry the other night, as we sat in rustic rocking chairs on the deck of the Lodge, drinking choke-cherry flavored mead and watching Old Faithful erupt for the last Time before dark, that part of what made Yellowstone such a perfectly magnificent place was not just what it has (incredible landscapes, amazing geysers and hot pools, teeming herds of great wild animals) but also what it doesn't have (television, radio, internet)...

I know I owe a lot of pictures here (hurray for digital! I took over 2000 pictures!) and I promise to post post some soon, but I've just driven about 11 hours, from our cabin at Old Faithful, Yellowstone, Wyoming to a town called Ellensburg, Washington (just down the road from Badger Pocket).

During our stay we saw deer, elk, bison, eagle, osprey, bison, chipmunk, squirrel, badger, bison, wolf, coyote and bison. We did not see any bears but... well... I'll post that next Time, I need some sleep.

After we left Yellowstone, it was by chance that our route took us by the headwaters of the Missouri River, which was cool. Tomorrow we are going to go by Mt Rainier and then on to Seattle to have sushi as a last vacation meal before the long plane ride VERY early Sunday morning...

sonopan @ 2009-08-30T22:26:00

2009-08-31T03:28:34Z

We spent the day at Craters Of The Moon National Monument here in Idaho... a lava field a little over 1000 square miles in size literally out in the middle of nowhere...

The lava itself is fascinating... its clear that it was once liquid...

The place is full of weird formations and cinder cones...

and a lot of the cinder cone slopes are sprouting these hardy little white flowers...

There are also a number of lava tubes, some of which are available for exploration...

Its a desolate kind of beauty, but I like it a lot.

Tomorrow... The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.

Further adventures...

2009-08-30T04:05:24Z

We spent the morning touring Glacier National Park... the pictures tell it all...

Montana is a curious state: they have no sales tax of any kind; they are pretty universally white folk with a strong tendency towards blondes; the highways have state installed white painted crosses where folks have died in traffic accidents; they still have open range most places and we encountered cattle on or near the road several times.

What are you looking at?

After leaving the glory that is Glacier, we were almost immediately smacked in the psyche by a large swath of land where the trees had all been killed by Wood Beetles (one of which flew up my shirt sleeve while I was driving with the window open and bit me rather hard, several times before I could capture him and expel it from my Universe). Traveling across Montana is different... the entire geography alters completely every 50 miles or so... from the high mountains to the pine forest to the endless sea of flat, dry grassland that is the Blackfeet Reservation, back to the forest, into the Belt Range, a very enjoyable region of grassy, forested mountains often with sharp ridges running down from the tops and occasional great rocky outcroppings like these:

The small white bridge that you see in the last two pictures here is spanning the Missouri River, (which at this point is about the size of the lower Meramec for you St Louis readers) and the highway we were on followed the river for some 30 miles or so, which was very nice... unlike the great muddy river it is when it hits the Mississippi, here the Missouri is clear and placid... we saw people riding inner tubes down it.

Also, this afternoon our Critter Prayer was finally answered and we saw real, live bears in a valley alongside the interstate about half way between Helena and Butte which is where we sleep tonight...

Pilgrim's Progress...

2009-08-29T04:24:07Z

First, a couple more shots of Dry Falls... these taken in full sunlight... I am so happy I made it here...

We had really hoped to get to Glacier today, but it took A LOT longer than we'd hoped, mainly due to a lot of road construction and the number of slow down towns we had to pass through... there are no Interstates when you're this far North...

After passing through an seemingly endless sea of dry dusty wheat fields the size of small counties we finally came back to the forest after Spokane. We passed through the Bitterroot Range, rocky mountains with tall pine forests, and took a break to see the Kootenai Falls... not the place to go swimming...

So far on this trip I've met another person named William Scott, a person who "wasn't sure" whether jackalopes are real and a long string of people who give us mean looks or make joint smoking gestures when they see the California plates on our rental car...

What happened today...

2009-08-28T07:12:11Z

We woke up, drank coffee, hugged and kissed our hosts and headed out early this morning... we had to drive back up to Port Townsend to catch a ferry to Whidbey Island... a beautiful place of small farms and towns... the most notable thing that happened there was that a deer came charging out of the woods and onto the road, there was really nothing at all I could do to prevent a collision, and leaped like Rudolph, clearing the car altogether and leaving us nervously laughing and wary of flying deer for the rest of the day...

Here are some pictures... the first is of Deception Pass and the rest are within the confines of Cascades National Park and, since nothing I could say would improve on them, I'll just let them speak for themselves...

After we passed through the Cascades we found that Eastern Washington is a constantly changing place, with the topography and vegetation changing completely every 50 miles or so, including everything from Eastern New Mexico-like scrub desert to Eastern Colorado-like dry grasslands to rough steppe to the lush peach and apple orchards of the Columbia basin.

One of the things I really wanted to see was Dry Falls, a geological remnant of the last Ice Age. At its peak, it flowed more tnan 10 times the flow of Niagra, and was the largest water fall on Earth... ever... It is still an impressive site... here is a collage of photos of it as it is too large to get in one shot.

And here I am at Dry Falls...

We stopped in the town of Coulee City, which ain't much of a city, for the night. We're staying at the only motel in town and once we got a look at the only restaurant in town, we went to the gas station and ate ice cream instead...

Our story so far...

2009-08-28T05:26:03Z

Well... Saturday afternoon we flew into Seattle, here's a picture of Mt Rainier I took from the plane:

We went to Kingston, where Jeff the Chef and Miss Vicki live (Vicki's mom Miss Billie was up to visit also...) and Jeff made us a magnificent dinner and we all got drunk...

The next day we woke up drunk and early and drove up to the little tourist town of Port Townsend where we shopped alittle and the adjourned to the bar for a few hopurs before dining at a lovely Thai restaurant:

That's Sherry on the left, then Miss Billie, Miss Vicki, Jeff and me. I sobered up a bit and drove us all back home.

The next day the girls... well... I'm not really sure what the girls did, but Jeff and I took the ferry across to Seattle...

...and went to the Air & Space Museum which really kicked ass with a collection that included everything from a model of Da Vinci's flying machine to a scale model or the Mars Rover, Lunar Lander and a module from the International Space Station. The collection of planes from the World Wars were especially nice. They say that next year they'll have a Shuttle.

Yeah... we got drunk again that night...

The next day we drove over past Port Angeles to the lodge at beautiful Lake Crescent...

The woods around there are northern rainforest... primeval... cool...

Drunk again? What do you think?

Yesterday we broke out the passports and took another ferry across the strait to Victoria, British Columbia, a very nice, typically clean and polite Canadian city with a downtown steered towards the tourist trade.

Needless to say, after a bit of shopping, we ended up in an Irish Pub, but after a few Guinness, the 4 day drunk was really wearing on me so I switched to Bubble Tea, a local delicacy that I wish would invade the rest of the country...

Finally, we went to the local wax museum before taking the ferry back to America and driving home.

Anyway, that brings us to today... I'll catch up tomorrow...

Celebrity activism...

2009-08-16T15:18:26Z

One of my favorite "political" shows is Real Time With Bill Maher, not because I agree with his politics, (which at several key points I really, really don't) but because of his willingness to say, well... anything. Its one of those shows where hardcore satire and serious political analysis work together.

This week opened with a one on one with Maher and Brad Pitt, and Pitt was cool, intelligent, focused and erudite. He mostly spoke of his charitable foundation which is helping to rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, both physically in the sense of building houses and also "spiritually" in the sense of rebuilding the idea of New Orleans, the community. It was a very nice interview and to my mind represented the best of what celebrity activism can be.

The second part of the show is a panel discussion and this week the panel was composed of four star general Anthony Zinni, a conservative journalist who's name escapes me and actor Ashton Kutcher who's foppish appearance and nervous energy made it clear that even he thought this was his first Time away from the kiddie table. In an attempt, one supposes, to "prove himself" he leapt into the conversation without any regard to what others were saying, often making points that were at best tangential, and at one point had to be corrected by the other panelists when he didn't seem to understand that since John Boehner is the House Minority Leader that he cannot be a Senator. Kutcher was shrill, overbearing and worst of all ignorant and misinformed. To my mind he represented the worst of what celebrity activism can be.

Getting a good education...

2009-08-10T01:36:06Z

Newsmonkeys! What the Hell are you thinking? In an era where middle and high school teachers are way too frequently going to jail for molesting their students, trading in kiddie porn and roughing up wheel chair bound ushers at the baseball stadium... why on earth would you run a teaser all night for the 10pm news promoting the lurid headline, "Find out which teacher's legs once graced the cover of Playboy!"? I mean... wait a minute... what?... oh... drumming up business?... gotcha...

St Louis in the News!

2009-08-09T02:52:26Z

I noticed St Louis popping up in the national media a coup[le of times this week...

The first spotlight on our fair city was the Tea Partyers doing their usual number of shouting down anybody who can string three words together at a town hall meeting hosted by Representative Carnahan meant to explain the Health Care Plan. The meeting ended in a fracas of fist fighting and arrests by police. I guess it was a good strategy... a second town hall meeting to be hosted by Senator McCaskill was cancelled by the school that was to be hosting it. Once again, the Know Nothing nature of Missouri displays itself in full blown fury...

The second story, which makes a curious dovetail with the first was the story that a 6 month old baby was thrown out of a local Burger King because it wasn't wearing shoes...

Finally, if you watch the local news on Channel 4... have you noticed that the new Neighborhood Crime Reports are almost exclusively in wealthy, bright white areas? To be fair... criminality in my neighborhood isn't really news...

Well...

2009-07-22T03:52:46Z

Over the weekend I saw Howie Hershfeld. Howie is aco-founder and active member of the Howard-Brinkley Report, a local comedy troupe who do improvisational, topical comedy skits (a little SNL, a little Monty Python, a little Who's Line Is It Anyway?)... they are very funny, you should go see them if you have the chance. When I saw Howie, I asked him if they had a show coming up, and he said that they had one scheduled at Cummel's just a week from now. I started to tell him that I was in negotiations with Cummel's to do an art show there but hadn't heard back from them, when he added... "but I guess that isn't going to happen since they just went out of business..."

Well.... shit...

Howie went on to say that he thought they'd already had the auction to sell the fixtures. I drove by it today at about 1 and they were locked up, lights off... no sign, but no business either, so I'm guessing Howie was right.

Well... shit...

I guess it was inevitable... the building they were in is being heavily gentrified, and the rents had to be astronomical... hard to keep up selling soup...

I've had lunch at Cummel's off and on for more than a quarter century... gonna miss it.

Burn, Baby, Burn!

2009-07-17T02:33:30Z

So, last night, when I tried to see what was on the news, every news broadcast I could find was showing the video of Michael Jackson spinning in circles with his hair on fire... I sighed and went to bed...

This morning when I switched on the news to see what might have happened overnight, every news broadcast I could find was showing the video of Michael Jackson spinning in circles with his hair on fire... I cursed and headed off to work...

Somewhere between home and office I had a small epiphany... its the hit show of next season! Celebrities Spinning With Their Hair On Fire! OK... that title is sort of long and clumsy... but dig it... a half hour show, one night a week of celebrities spinning in a circle with their hair on fire! Rod Blagojevich seems like an obvious choice... I'm for Dennis Miller too... Rush Limbaugh goes without saying... It could even lead to Susan Boyle's big comeback! If they ever do bring in Osama bin Laden, that would clearly have to be the season finale...

Just a thought...

Michael Jackson

2009-07-08T03:27:54Z

Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson... Michael Jackson...

Bullshit Newsmonkey Sympathy...

2009-07-03T06:00:35Z

Here's the thing that I hate the most about the endless and inescapable Michael Jackson postmortem coverage...

The same bunch of newsmonkeys that have for years and decades piled on the guy a constant stream of lurid stories about sexual deviancy and plastic surgery and bizarre behavior and titillating health problems and drug dependency, etc, etc, etc are now falling all over themselves to turn him into a marble saint. Newsmonkeys! I know actual honesty is beyond you, but a little consistency, please! Not only is your overt fawning unneeded and obviously false, but we all know that in 6 weeks or so you'll be piling on his corpse with another stream of lurid stories, so why this weird jog of conscience and politesse? Its unseemly...

News Monkeys...

2009-06-25T02:59:49Z

There were two stories on the local news this evening...

One was about a poor old woman on the East Side who didn't have enough money to have her air conditioner fixed and subsequently became the first victim of this hotter than the back side of the devil's balls heat wave...

The other was about a suburban woman who put her 6 or so show dogs in some sort of close quarters in her garage. They were huskies or malamutes or something northern, and they also succumbed to the heat....

Guess which story got the most on air Time...

Cribbed from Saxon Pagan...

2009-06-14T04:22:38Z

This is why I don't accomplish more than I do...
YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 28 things about you. I don't care if we've never talked, never really clicked, or if we already know everything about each other. I really don't. You are obviously on my flist, so let me know with whom I'm friends!

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

“No” I said, it wasn’t me.”

2009-06-11T23:07:12Z

Every week day I drive in the morning rush hour traffic to my office downtown, and every day I am confronted with the same annoyance… bicyclists. I know… I know… it’s a Green thing… its healthy… its fashionable… Be Respectful! Share The Road, the cyclists say, even as they weave in and out of traffic, run red lights and slow down traffic flow by riding out in the middle of a bridge lane even though there is a 6 foot wide path on either side of the bridge… The cyclists pulling little trailers full of toddlers are a special treat… I, like many others, have long held the belief that bicyclists should be banned from major thoroughfares during rush hour… but then, I’m not a cyclist…

This morning I was taking my usual route to work which causes me to take 14th Street between Lafayette and Chestnut, meaning that I cross the 14th Bridge over the railroad tracks (this is the aforementioned bridge with the wide lanes for foot or bicycle traffic that nobody ever seems to use). Just before the bridge I was waiting for the light to change at Chouteau when she pulled alongside and worked her way up to the corner… a young woman on a bicycle… 20’s I’d guess… wearing her plastic helmet and cuffed shorts… a bag across her shoulder with a button that said, “I Love Clean Air”. She didn’t wait for the light to change at Chouteau, shooting across when she thought the timing was right. I passed her just at the far end of the bridge, got stalled at the inevitable traffic at Spruce, and when I crossed Spruce she was about 4 car lengths behind me. A southbound commuter bus turned left just after I passed and I saw the girl on the bike go down. The bus kept rolling.

Shocked and horrified I immediately pulled over and parked in a bus stop and ran back to see if she was alright. I had to dodge traffic to get to her because people anxious to get to work were driving right past her, often dangerously close, and I realized that some of them did not see her and I was afraid she’d be run over so I literally stood over her so no one would hit her. She was moaning and rolling around a bit… and there was blood. I told her to lay still so she didn’t get hit by a car, that I would call for an ambulance. By then two women who had been waiting for a bus got there and the three of us stood in a triangle around the cyclist, shielding her from the increasingly impatient and oblivious drivers. I pulled out my cell phone and called 911.

“911… how can I help you?”

“A woman riding a bicycle has been hit by a bus and she is down in the street at 14th and Spruce… she needs an ambulance.”

“What kind of a bus was it sir?”

“What?”

“What kind of a bus was it? Was it a Bi-State bus?”

“It was a big damned bus! Green I think, what difference does it make? We need an ambulance!”

“How old is she?”

“You know, I didn’t card her… I really don’t know… can you send the ambulance?”

“Can you describe the woman?”

“Yes… she wearing a bike helmet and laying in a pool of her own blood… can you please stop asking me these pointless, asinine questions and just send the fucking ambulance?”

The phone briefly seemed to go dead… then it started ringing… another woman answered, “EMS dispatcher, how can I help you?”

“A woman riding a bicycle has been hit by a bus at 14th and Spruce, she is injured, we need an ambulance!”

“Do you know the address there?”

“She is laying in the middle of the intersection… there is no address…”

“So you don’t see any address?”

“She’s in the middle of the god damned intersection! Send an ambulance to 14th and Spruce and tell them that when they see the bleeding woman they’re found it!”

“Thank you, sir, I’ll send Emergency Services right away.”

The two women had been comforting the woman, keeping her from moving… the pool of blood, most of which seemed to be coming from her nose and mouth was growing to a disturbing size.

The bus driver had pulled over a block down Spruce, apparently waiting to see if the girl was hurt. Having seen her sit upright she got out of the bus and walked up to us.

“I didn’t even see her”, she said.

She stared blankly at the moaning girl for a few minutes and then the light in her eyes changed a little.

“Do you think she hit my bus?”, she said…

The two women and I looked at her with shock and disbelief.

I stared her right in the eye and said, “Don’t you even think of trying some bullshit like that… you fucking hit this girl and you know it… you can see the way she’s laying that she was on the driver’s side of the bus… Hell I saw her go down… if she’d hit you she’d have been on the other side of the bus and I couldn’t have seen her… You’re wrong for this shit and everybody here knows it!”

I got a few “Amens” from the two ladies the the bus driver looked at her feet and felt her career going down the drain… Seconds later we heard the first sirens as two police cars came tearing down 14th, which seemd an odd direction since the Police Station is at Tucker and Spruce, 2 blocks to the East…

The Policemen came over to us, one called in an injury victim and asked for an ambulance (something I thought had already happened!) and stayed by the cyclist and asked us to stay there as well to keep the traffic at bay… all through this scene, cars are whizzing passed us and honking angrily for making them late for work… while the other officer worked the crowd for witnesses… shortly we heard the sirens of a Fire Truck, which pulled into the intersection in such a way as to protect the girl.

The Firemen broke out their EMS equipment and treated the girl who had mostly stopped bleeding. She said she was dizzy and her face hurt and the fingers on her right hand were numb. The Cop got her name and address and a number for somebody whom he called to tell about the accident. I listened as several witnesses told what they had seen… all agreeing that the bus driver had failed to yield and probably hadn’t even seen the girl. I said much the same, gave my name and phone number as was told I could go. I walked back to my truck to find I’d left the door open and the motor running…

When I got to work, still full of adrenalin and shock I ran into somebody who had seen me out there. “I thought you’d hit her”, he said.

“No” I said, it wasn’t me.”

Nothing at all like Patriotism...

2009-05-19T03:31:38Z

Remember back in 1979 when the taxpayers of the United States (that's us) pulled Chrysler's ass out of the fire and ponied up $1.5 billion (a sum that seems almost paltry these days) so they wouldn't go under? Well, here we are... round two... and there's no point in talking about how much money they're going to soak the taxpayers (that's us again) for this Time.

I realize fully that I have been for the Detroit bailout after witnessing the Wall Street bailout, and I guess somewhere in there I was romanticizing the whole midwestern guy in a pickup mythos that attends the automobile business, but really, I expected better...

The idea that Chrysler was going to have to close some dealerships was inevitable, but doing it through the mail seems a bit harsh, though not as harsh as refusing to take back the unsold cars from the dealers they've just put out of business... What ultimately pisses me off though, speaking as a local boy, is the fact that the taxpayers, the United States taxpayers, and yes that is me and you, in the midst of bailing Chrysler out for the second Time, have to suffer the further pain and humiliation of Chrysler closing up their widely acknowledged state of the art facility right here in Fenton, MO, eliminating hundreds of jobs belonging to the same folks who are bailing them out, and moving those jobs to Mexico.

Chrysler, you should have stayed German...

Into the Grandmother Country...

2009-05-05T03:27:08Z

I’ve got to admit up front that I didn’t really like her when I first met her… in fact I’d put off meeting her for years… I didn’t care for dogs… not at all…

My son had begged me for some Time to get him a dog, but I had resisted for all I was worth because I could not tolerate dogs, not for many years, and I just didn’t want one in my house. My son, Eric, must have brought the issue to my Dad, because one day my Dad looked at me with that look he gets when he is presenting a premise that is so obviously true that it cannot be argued against and said, “If you’re not going to give the boy a brother, you should at least get him a dog.” And so we did. We had my son’s birthday lunch at a Burger Chef in Columbia, IL, and while we were finishing our sodas the car pulled up and a woman got out carrying what my son described as, “a funny looking teddy bear”. It was, of course, a puppy.

Eric named her Amy, even he isn’t sure why, but it suited her. I was pleased with the joy and laughter Amy brought Eric, but… well… I tried to have as little as possible to do with her… I didn’t like dogs.

Just a few days after Amy’s arrival, Sherry and Eric went up to visit her relatives in Iowa, and I had to spend the next week personally taking care of the yappy little piss pot… and in that week we bonded and came to love each other enormously.

Amy grew to be a warm and friendly dog… everybody liked her. The lady next door gave her a windmill cookie every day. The woman who delivers our mail always carried a treat for her. I once saw a woman I did not know walk a half block off her route, over to my gate, unwrap a sandwich, give it to Amy, pat her on the head and walk the half block back to the route she’d been on. The UPS guy has called her by name for years, and I have no idea how he ever found out what her name was… in fact, when I see him on the street, he refers to me as “Amy’s Dad”.

Amy always got along with people, and took part in everything from barbeques to religious services with enthusiasm and decorum. Until her hearing got bad, she used to love walking in the Krewe of Barkus Parade every Mardi Gras.

It’s the little things that tug at you, though… The way she would smart mouth me at the gate or if she felt that breakfast was running late; the silly smile she would get when she thought she’d done something funny… Our favorite story about her was the tale of the Pizza Bush… Sherry had been taking her for a walk in Tower Grove Park and, being a dog, she was sniffing around every corner when, under a nearby bush, she found an entire pepperoni pizza! Every Time she went to the park after that she was clearly looking to find the Pizza Bush again…

In the last year Amy’s health had been in decline. She had to take daily medicine for incontinence. She occasionally took pain meds for arthritis. She couldn’t hear much at all. She slept most of Time.

Sunday morning we celebrated her 16th birthday in our traditional manner, steaks and vanilla ice cream, both of which she ate with great gusto, the most she’d eaten in a week or more.

Last night she got to the point that she could barely walk. We had already had the discussion that not being able to walk was the point at which we would consider euthanising her. By this morning she couldn’t stand, at one point she fell while standing still and landed face down in her water bowl. Sherry and I took the day off work and Eric, who was in town for the weekend, emailed his professor and said he’d not be back until tomorrow. By this afternoon, she couldn’t get up, couldn’t really move her legs at all and eventually she wasn’t even able to move her head. At 3 this afternoon the vet came over and gave her the shots to end her misery. She was laying in her favorite spot, surrounded by all of us, petting her and talking to her and sobbing… Miss Glenda, the neighbor who gave her windmill cookies was there too. I watched the light go out of her eyes and we all cried so hard…

She was the finest of dogs… loyal, good natured, friendly, clever… She comforted me in my black moods and saw me through many a hard day. I loved her more than I loved most people… she never lied to me, never betrayed me, was a better, truer friend than any bastard on two legs has ever been.

She blessed me with many things, but most of all she blessed me by bringing me back to the world of dogs. At the beginning of this piece I mentioned not having liked dogs… that was both true and not. I had had a dog as a child, Ginger, whom I adored, and who one day made her way out of the yard and down the block and was run over by a car that didn’t even bother to stop. As I carried her home my heart broke with such ferocity that I took my self out of the communion of dogs, never to return. Amy changed that. Amy showed me that even though Ginger had broken my heart, there was no reason not to love other dogs… her for instance. I meet a lot of dogs in my business, and they usually like me and I like them… Amy did that. After they took her remains off to the crematorium, I went over and loved Buddy real hard.

Kinky Friendman once said that when you get to Heaven that the dogs and all the other animals you’ve ever had as pets come running up to greet you and that that’s reason enough to go. I take great comfort in that tonight.

When my son’s first hamster died I comforted him in part by telling him that the hamster had gone to the Grandmother Country, a concept I freely admit having borrowed in substance, if not name, from an old Lionel Barrymore movie called On Borrowed Time, a place where my Mother, Eric’s Grandmother, who had passed away just a couple of years before, would feed him and take care of him until we could all be together again. Over the years, many other hamsters have gone to the Grandmother Country, and now Amy has gone over too. I know it’s a sentimental mythology that I, myself made up to comfort a child, but tonight I take great comfort in that too… and if it ain’t true… well… it ought to be.

Good night Amy… my sweetest baby dog… Queen of the yard… the Hound of renown… Pizza Bush Finder... Miss Smart Mouth... the Beep Beeps… the Huppa Puppas... Number 1 Dog... I’ll miss you so much until I see you again, and scratch your back and do the Magic Ears…

Hug your dogs tonight and give ‘em a snack… they deserve it…