Pressing Issues: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Take It To Eleven!

Sunday is 30th anniversary of Spinal Tap unleashed on the world. So: some of the best moments follow. Look out Cleveland!

Breaking: Philip Seymour Hoffman's death ruled accidental--autopsy reveals presence of heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine. Medical examiner describes it as "acute mixed drug intoxication." Hoffman was found with a syringe in his arm and dozens of packets of heroin in his apartment.

Friday Cat Blogging

An Internet tradition since 1854.... Zoe baffled by deer outside the window in the snow.

You Can't Stop Miles O'Brien

Much reporting and good wishes went out yesterday to PBS NewsHour correspondent Miles O'Brien after word of an accident leading to the loss of one of his arms. Just now got this release in my mail box, announcing his upcoming reports but nothing on the injury.

Friday, February 28         Inside Fukushima
Covered head to toe in protective gear and wearing a respiration mask, Miles O’Brien offers NewsHour viewers a rare look inside one of the most dangerous places on earth – the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. There, he reports on on-going efforts to contain radiation-tainted water that continues to leak from the plant into the sea and efforts to remove and secure the nuclear fuel from the disabled reactors.
Wednesday, March 5     Fish Fears
Radioactive water continues to leak from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the nearby harbor. Now the plume of radioactive water is reaching across the Pacific to the US West Coast, fueling fears and speculation about the safety of Pacific fish. O’Brien speaks with marine scientists in both Japan and the US about the risks to sea life posed by the radioactive plume, and to what extent Americans who enjoy bluefin tuna from Japan should –or should not –be worried.
Friday, March 7                 The Future of Nuclear Power
Before the meltdown, Japan strongly embraced nuclear power.  But three years later, there is not one nuclear plant generating power in the country. Utilities and the current government are anxious to get them re-started by this summer. But polls show that 80% of the Japanese people prefer they stay shut down forever. O’Brien takes viewers inside the world’s largest nuclear power plant – also run by Tepco in Japan –to examine the technology and the issues facing the country’s nuclear future.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Oak Ridge Prisoners--and the Guard

February 27: Great piece at Wash Post on the three activists--and the security guard who failed to stop them at the outset and thereby lost his job. He has a new job but now relies on food stamps and checks from his mother. "Kirk’s arbitration is now set for April. He thinks the Energy Department owes him, not only for his decades of service but also for properly assessing a threat that was not his job to prevent in the first place, for not escalating a situation that was essentially harmless. He knew right away, from decades of experience, that the old lady and her accomplices weren’t terrorists. He looks at the government, seemingly immune from consequence."

February 18: I've covered this case of the peace activists who broke into part of the Oak Ridge nuclear facility in the past and you can catch up here, including history and commentary from William O'Rourke. Sister Megan Rice, the elderly nun, was sentenced to nearly three years in the pen today and her two comrades nearly twice that. No need to point out the sentences handed down to criminals ranging from mass murdering soldiers in Iraq to Wall Street crooks.

Ready, Set, 'Fargo'

First teaser for FX series based on the Coen Brothers film (coming April 15 on FX) just released...Like "True Detective" it will run for eight episodes and done...Allegedly that's Billy Bob Thornton below.

Giant Piece

NYT just posted upcoming piece in this Sunday's mag on new efforts to bring extinct creatures -- such as wooly mammoths (left in their cover art)--back to life. Writer says this could be very, very, cool--or a disaster. No kidding. And can Wooly have it all?

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Brewer Vetoes Bill

Live coverage on cable channels of Gov. Jan Brewer announcing decision on vetoing Arizona bill allowing businesses to refuse service to gays. Brewer says she's given it strong consideration despite "cheers and boos from the crowd." Frames it in context of tough economic times out there and says no threat to religious liberties at present. So she's already vetoed it. Calls for taking opportunity to discuss treating everyone fairly. Then disappears without taking questions. Crowd outside shown cheering and people waving "Thank you, Gov. Brewer."

Johnathan's Article (and Song)

Salon with a lengthy piece tonight by woman (now living in NYC but not using her real name) who describes the final hours of an inmate named Johnathan on death row in Texas. Good piece, and as some know, I've written two books against capital punishment, including this ebook. But I was surprised she didn't mention that Steve Earle also witnessed that execution, at the request of Johnathan, has written about it in an essay--and wrote this song about it, titled "Over Yonder (Johnathan's Song)."

Judis Priests

Oh boy. Ron Radosh attacks new John Judis book that's very critical of Israel and Leon Wieseltier, a colleague of Judis at The New Republic, sends Radosh a note going even further.

I know with certainty that Judis’ understanding of Jewish history, and of the history and nature of Zionism, is shallow, derivative, tendentious, imprecise, and sometimes risibly inaccurate—he is a tourist in this subject. Like most tourists, he sees what he came to see...Remember Rosa Luxemburg’s letter to her friend in which she proudly announced that she had no corner of her heart for the Jews? Judis is her good disciple.

Peter Beinart tweets: "john judis is an old, dear friend of mine. don't agree w/ him on everything but will stand w/ him when unfairly attacked." Andrew Sullivan hits Wieseltier here. Jacob Heilbrunn does much the same.

Judis has now replied himself in piece at The New Republic titled Conservative Critics Say My New Israel Book Is Anti-Semitic. They Must Not Have Read It Very Closely.

Allman Film Stopped After Fatal Accident

You may have heard about young woman worker getting killed last Thursday on the set of the upcoming film based on Gregg Allman's memoir, Midnight Rider. They were filming a fantasy sequence involving a bed on some train tracks and somehow a train that they weren't expecting came along....A few others were injured by debris. Much dispute over whether the film makers' had gotten permission to do this shoot and they may be in some legal difficulty. So it's possibly quite significant that they suspended filming today and released workers and actors.

Guitar Great Dies

Flamenco guitar king Paco de Lucia of Spain has died at the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack in Mexico. One of his most famous songs:

Rock 'n Roll Daughter Arrested in Anti-Fracking Protest

Ray Davies was one of my musical heroes dating back to the Kinks--half a century ago--through the 1970s when I interviewed him twice for Crawdaddy. Of course, it was interesting when he got involved romantically with The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, but whatever happened to their daughter? Today Rolling Stone reports that Natalie Hynde has been sentenced for her role in a unique anti-fracking protest in England. (And see her piece about it at The Guardian.)"The 32-year-old, along with 55-year-old Simon Medhurst, had superglued themselves together around the drill site's gate on July 31st to create a "striking and symbolic" media image, according to The BBC, to raise awareness about fracking (a technique to fracture shale rock and retrieve natural gasses within). Hynde and Medhurst both denied wrongdoing."

Despite their claims, a judge said the pair "went beyond reasonable freedom of speech." Furthermore, district magistrate William Ashworth said that Hynde and Medhurst did beset the site "in the true meaning of the word" because they had blocked access to it. The blockade cost the drilling firm Cuadrilla £5,000 ($8,300). Hynde was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £400 and a £15 "victim surcharge"; Medhurst was told to pay £200 and a £20 victim surcharge.

But it could have been differently disruptive: Hynde said her original plan was to dig a tunnel at the site. Instead, she tried superglue because it was easier. "I wanted it to look peaceful, with the hands around the gate, and superglue seemed fast," she said. "I hadn't done it either, so I thought it would be a good thing to try." She did not know how long the fixative would hold. "If it did [obstruct access to the site], then great," Hynde said. "That wasn't the intention."

Tales of Hoffman--Lies But a Nice Payoff

UPDATE: NYT put story on front-page today and the full-page "apology" ad from the Enquirer, along with announcement of the new foundation, appears on page nine of the first section. The Enquirer in the ad suggest it merely made a "good faith error" leading to "an unfortunate turn of events" and actually acted responsibly, killing the story and apologizing (after the threat of lawsuit, of course) and that it goes along very willingly with funding the new grants for several years.

Earlier: Amazing Jim Dwyer story at NYT just now. Remember the National Enquirer claiming that Philip Seymour Hoffman's playwright friend David Bar Katz had said he and PSH were gay lovers--and that he'd often watched him do drugs? And that Katz was suing for libel? Well, you know that usually leads nowhere. Except this time: the Enquirer, it turns out, has quickly killed the story and apologized--and is funding a new award to be given annually to an up-and-coming playwright. And they're paying for a full-page ad in tomorrow's Times to announce all this.

Regional Music

Fascinating and detailed piece at site that explores music and technology on state-by-state study of what bands and performers are most popular, and then ranks and compares them. Yes, some obvious points: The Grateful Deead is much more popular in New England than in Tennessee. But granular details are great. I like the chart that shows you which artists stand out in each state, not by their #1 ranking but how far they diverge from the national ranking. For example, Neil Young is #49 in Mass. but only #128 overall. Rush is #38 in Delaware but only #385 elsewhere. Phish is #5 in VT and #353 overall. And much more.

Johnny Knew Best

For his birthday (1932): Young Johnny Cash live, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," and I'm old enough to remember when this was on the radio. Below that, one of the greatest cover songs by anyone, "Rusty Cage."

Fat Man and Little Boy

For Fats Domino's 86th birthday (yes, I attended his party at Tipitina's in NOLA a few years back): Okay, not the greatest tune I've featured here but it does have this distinction--this was the first single I ever bought on my own as a pre-teen, around 1958. My favorite TV show was Ozzie & Harriet and I loved Ricky. Suddenly he came out with a rock 'n roll song and I had to get it. Yes, it was the typical white kid covering a black man--Fats Domino, no less--but little did I know. (I guess I could call this "Fat Man and Little Boy.") Ricky couldn't sing much at the start and his attempt at a little Elvisy move is kind of pathetic but what the heck. I will take the brief James Burton guitar solo any time. And that multiple screen shot stuff--certainly ahead of its time!

Below that, Fats and Ricky do it together, many years later.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Kareem: It's Up and It's Good!

Always been a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fan, even before my friend Peter Knobler wrote with him his first autobiography, Giant Steps. I did meet him later, at one of Peter's parties. Post b-ball, he has gone on to write books and make films and engage in valuable speaking and activism (and let's not forget playing the pilot in Airplane!). And now this: A great piece for Esquire today on this year's Best Picture nominees for Oscars. And, amazingly, I agree with virtually everything he says--including his claim that nearly all of the nominees don't quite deserve it except for my own picks among them--Philomena and Nebraska (and maybe 12 Years a Slave). Read and maybe disagree. But he certainly endorses my previous critiques on over-praise for so many of these flicks. And he even closes with a reference to my man Graham Greene!

Cassius and Malcolm and Sam and Jim

My new piece at The Nation on 50th anniv of the epic Clay-Liston fight--and the gathering afterward with Clay (soon to be Ali), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and an undercover FBI agent. Plus clips of the fight, Sam Cooke joining Ali in the ring, Malcolm with Ali, and the Will Smith version.

'Total' Classic

You may have heard that President Obama hailed fellow Chicagoan Harold Ramis on his passing today, even quoting "Total consciousness." Here's the scene from Caddyshack.

Gorgeous George

For George Harrison's birthday: Before he became an ace songwriter he got to sing lead on a few very early Beatles covers, and here's a great live version of "Roll Over, Beethoven." Below that perhaps his greatest song, "Beware of Darkness," in studio and live--and go here for rarely-heard earlier version with a lovelier mix.

Gunner

Knicks' troubled point guard Raymond Felton arrested a few hours ago on felony gun charges on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A woman turned him in. And to think: Felton never known for his shooting. At least, unlike Plaxico Burress, he did not shoot himself in the leg. Felton has had awful season, as have the Knicks, and they lost again last night.

The Moo Pornographers

UPDATE One of the men, Reid Fontaine, had been employed as a IT specialist at a local school system since September. He has now resigned.

Earlier: Amazing story of the day, if you've missed, two youngish men in upstate New York busted for...cow porn. Yes, they snuck out in the night to a local farmer's barn and one of them filmed the other doing you know what. The farmer caught them on surveillance camera and tipped of the cops. "They were busted...when the farmer started to wonder why his animals weren't producing as much milk as usual."

Monday, February 24, 2014

Beethoven A Punk Rocker?

Should they have named the NYC club CBLvB? Fun piece her at The Atlantic marks 200th anniversary today (which even I missed) of Beethoven's most overlooked, but still swell, symphony, number eight. I've proposed plenty of other moments of Ludwig "inventing" rock 'n roll, from the final movement of his Symphony No. 7 to the "boogie-woogie" section of his piano sonata no. 32. But this Atlantic writer finds the eighth symphony an "occasion when Beethoven, in the midst of a personal—and odd—life crisis, opted to create a work to please madcaps, jesters, and wiseasses alike." Enjoy:

Headline of the Day

From the Detroit Free Press:

Oakland County man accidentally kills himself demonstrating gun safety

Genius was 36. Three kids were in the house at the time. The usual quote: "Drinking was a factor."

White Man's Burdon

Yes, Springsteen abroad did Eric Burdon's goofy classic "Spill the Wine" last night. Party Animal.

Harold Ramis, R.I.P.

The director of comedy classic Groundhog Day, Analyze This and co-star of the first Ghostbusters and more has died at age 69. Also, of course, an actor and comedy trouper. Here's a Groundhog Day collection of Ned "the Head" Ryerson clips...

When Clay Beat Liston...and Became Ali

Tomorrow marks one of the most momentous night's in 1960s history. No, not a Beatles performance on Ed Sullivan but young Cassius Clay (already one of my boyhood heroes) beating Sonny Liston to take the heavyweight crown in a huge upset--paving the way for his decades at the forefront of American sports and culture and politics.

Yes, the Beatles visited him in his training camp in Miami Beach for a much-publicized photo op. But the most amazing meeting was this coming together, in a modest hotel in a black neighborhood in Miami after the fight--starring (get ready) Clay...Malcolm X...Jim Brown...and Sam Cooke. And a certain undercover FBI agent. Ali was about to announce his membership in the "black Muslims" and get a name change. Malcolm was about to get kicked out of that faith and travel to Mecca. Brown was getting more and more outspoken on race. And Sam Cooke was about to write "A Change Gonna Come."

That's all for now--I'll be writing a longer piece for The Nation tomorrow. But here's a clip from the opening of the Hollywood film Ali, with Will Smith and a Sam Cooke character singing in a Miami nightclub that week--which happened and was immortalized on one of the great live albums ever, Live at the Harlem Club.

Catching a Code at the Doctor's Office

If you've noticed a tad more tension in the air than usual at your doctor's office, one contributing factor just might be the impending implementation of something called "ICD-10," short for International Classification of Diseases, version 10. Or, for long-suffering patients of every stripe, the cluster of diagnostic codes that reflect what you're being treated for--and how your doctor is reimbursed.

My sister, a clinical nurse specialist in Columbus, OH, has already taken three online courses in the new version. Docs have not been exactly eager to implement it, because they're not going to get any direct benefit--it's the health insurers and statisticians who will supposedly learn more about the procedures being ordered for patients. How much more? Diagnostic codes have mushroomed from 18,000 to a whopping 140,000. As that essential blogger you should be following, the Skeptical Scalpel noted when the codes first appeared (doc offices have until October this year to implement): the codes' specificity is mind-boggling.

His winner for most head-scratching: Code V9027XA, the code for "drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, initial encounter." The good surgeon pondered: "How does one have subsequent visits after drowning? Once one drowns, he is dead."

MedPage Today is running a series it calls "ICD-10 Follies," spotlighting various codes it deems may be "a bit too granular." Among the highlights is Code W61.92, "struck by birds," which gets its own youtube re-enactment here (or see below).

In case you were wondering, there are also separate billing codes for being struck by parrots, macaws, psittacines, chickens, geese, and ducks. Hence, W61.92 is for all other types of birds. You're welcome. --Barbara Bedway

Americans Hustled?

Wash Post fact-checks the Oscar nominees for best picture based on true stories (that's six out of nine). Or at least the trailers. Here's just one:

What's the Temperature, Darling

Another from Rosanne Cash, live, from hit new album.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

First Openly Gay Player in...NBA Tonight.

Update: Jason Collins did get in the game tonight, for 11 minutes. One (big) step forward. Watch him enter the game below--to applause from fans in a visiting arena (L.A.).

Earlier: While all the focus has been on--and remains on, thanks to current "combine"--Michael Sam as the likely first openly gay NFL player, much overlooked is that Jason Collins, who came out as the first NBA player in the off-season and then never got picked up by a team, will make his debut tonight as first openly gay in that league. He was just picked up by the Brooklyn Nets, after an injury, and will be in uniform tonight and possibly play.

Barry Bad News

Like other cheaters before him (see: McGwire, Mark), Barry Bonds now being welcomed back to baseball, this time by his old SF Giants, in a spring training role as instructor. What, instructing young players how to get away with shooting up and masking the results? And, of course, we've seen cheaters like Melky and Jhonny and now Nelson Cruz rewarded with big contracts even after serving ban time. Buster Olney defends it here, but Buster has been on wrong side of Hall of Fame controversy from the beginning. Barry, like ARod, cheated for years and years, not just a brief period, and lied, and lied, for years.

'Hammer' Time

Completed a series of four programs at my local Nyack Library last night, with pianist Yashar Yaslowitz playing many of Beethoven's most famous sonatas after I screened clips from various documentaries, docu-dramas and Hollywood depictions of the composer. It was another sellout (as was the first screening of the film on Beethoven's Ninth that I co-produced complete with amazing flash mob). Last night one of the sonatas was the "mighty" (as it's often called) late Hammerklavier, though the word that occurs to me most is "profound." Reminded that it holds the single greatest movement in all of the piano reportory, the slow 3rd movement, here from Barenboim--not my favorite version (see: Uchida) but you get the idea... Below that, incredible Raiford Rogers modern dance based on the Hammerklavier and two of the other late LvB sonatas. Showing how "modern" Beethoven still is.

Wendy, Can You Break This Trap?

February 22: NYT's excellent public ed. Margaret Sullivan with new column on the Robert Draper piece on Wendy Davis., finding much to fault, both the cover line and some of the story itself. "I’m not sure what The Times’s next major article on a female politician will be. But I’m hopeful that not only will it avoid strange planetary depictions and ’70s-era catchphrases, but also that it will rise above gender-based double standards, leaving them where they belong: in the dust of history."

Update to above: The author of the piece, Robert Draper, posts on Facebook that he disagrees with Sulliview's view of his focus on Davis's life story--and claims she "misrepresents" another writer's critique. "I don't agree with Margaret--I think when a politician calculatedly runs on his/her life story & the representation of that story proves to be inaccurate, reporters are required to examine that story in detail, else they become complicit in the narrative-shading. (She also misrepresents the viewpoint of Rebecca Traister, seeming to suggest Rebecca found fault with my piece when she didn't.) Still, reasonable minds can disagree on this, and I appreciate her even-tempered critique of a story that apparently caused heads of all denominations to explode." I've asked Sullivan for a response but she has declined for now.

Draper has also added a Comment to his original Facebook post: "There's no question that if the art dept. had gone with a glam shot, we would've rightfully caught hell for it. That said, on a certain level it's kind of weird that so much scrutiny for gender bias has been devoted to a story that, far more than any other previous to it, unambiguously portrays her as a person of intelligence, accomplishment & substance (rather than just an icon or cartoon). But what the hell--I did my scrutinizing, so others are free to do the same."

February 13: NYT Magazine cover this Sunday coming on Wendy Davis (at least she's not another woman-on-the-moon). Story here. My longer take, with criticism from others, at The Nation now.

Sunday Morning in the Church of Beethoven

Several weeks ago I posted a video here that captured the first night of the mass protests in the Ukraine--featuring thousands singing the "Ode to Joy." This, of course, illustrates the theme of our new, acclaimed film "Following the Ninth"--which follows the Ode and the Ninth Symphony arund the world as it is used in protests and other social gatherings. Now here's a little video of a small group Ukrainians in D.C. singing the "Ode"--with the words of the Ukrainian national anthem. As they write, "This is not a new anthem for Ukraine - this is in the tradition of playing Beethoven's brilliant 'Ode to Joy' during revolutions as a symbol of the invincible human spirit." Another vid. --G.M..

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Meow Detectives

As you may recall, I'm a big fan of True Detective--and opening song from the Handsome Family, and posted it in its entirety a few weeks back. Now comes this fun parody--with Warrior Cats as Marty and Rust evil twins? Starting from scratch.

Doubting Thomas

Don't always agreed with Jeff Toobin, but glad to see he is roasting Clarence Thomas at The New Yorker for something many make excuses--his total silence at SCOTUS for eight years now (anniversary is today). Toobin accurately calls it an "embarrassment" both for Thomas and the institution. And even "demeaning."

He also projects a different kind of silence than he did earlier in his tenure. In his first years on the Court, Thomas would rock forward, whisper comments about the lawyers to his neighbors Breyer and Kennedy, and generally look like he was acknowledging where he was. These days, Thomas only reclines; his leather chair is pitched so he can stare at the ceiling, which he does at length. He strokes his chin. His eyelids look heavy. Every schoolteacher knows this look. It’s called “not paying attention.”

Lightnin' Strikes

Classic clip of Mr. Hopkins covering Brother Ray's "What I'd Say," in his inimitable style.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Nina Simone, Goddamn

Nina Simone, born on this day in 1933.

If you have somehow never seen her, a key selection:

Friday Cat Blogging

Continuing the Internet tradition since, whenever, who knows.

Heavy Metal Thunder

There's a Pussy Riot Goin' On

They posted new anti-Putin video today, including unseen footage of the Cossack attack on them yesterday. UPDATE Friday: NYT writer assesses all this, Putin and the Cossacks and history of artistic dissent in Russia.

Malcolm and Sam

Malcolm X assassinated in NYC on this day in 1965. I was in high school and had just read his autobiography, a major moment in my life. Here from the Spike Lee movie, his final day, with Sam Cooke's "Change Gonna Come."

Motorcycle, Nightmare

You may have heard today that a "Venezuelan beauty queen" was shot and killed and became the new face of protest there. Now there's a haunting photo, from Reuters, left, of her getting carried away on a motorcycle. Other photos show her being treated in the hospital.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

4 Killed at Eviction Hearing

Shocker tonight as word emerges that a woman shot and killed four at a Native American tribal office over an eviction dispute--and when she ran out of ammo took out a butcher knife and stabbed one more. Details still sketchy but here you go for now. Updated here. Suspect (who had been evicted with child) is IDed. Friday update. Two seriously injured in hospital.

Robin Hood Rides Again!

Fab new video from the UK where, as you may have heard, there has been much debate for some time over a proposed "Robin Hood" tax to benefit the jobless and fight climate change and more. This vid, a newscast set in 2024, looks back at the positive effects of the tax, supposedly enacted in 2014. It stars the great Bill Nighy (who has done at least one earlier video on this), plus Andrew Lincoln of "The Walking Dead" and a "Harry Potter" star and more. Read more here.

Rosanne: Modern, Blue

Great live cut just posted from recent show by my fave NYC radio station WFUV.

Classic Bob

One of the great and often funny early Dylan interviews, on Les Crane show, 49 years ago this week. And here are the two songs he sang--not yet on record.

Taibbi Gathers No Moss

Matt exiting Rolling Stone for First Look, pens thank you farewell. First Look release. Note: he learned he was getting his big career break while walking in my native Niagara Falls.

To be able to say you work for Rolling Stone, it’s a feeling any journalist in his right mind should want to experience. The magazine’s very name is like a magic word. I noticed it from the very first assignment. Even people who know they probably shouldn’t talk to you, do, once they hear you’re from the magazine Dr. Hook sang about. And if they actually see the business card, forget it. People will do anything to get into the magazine, to have some of that iconic cool rub off on them.

There were times when I would think about the great reporters and writers who’ve had the same job I was so lucky to have, and it would be almost overwhelming – it was like being the Dread Pirate Roberts. It was a true honor and I’ll eternally be in the debt of Will and Jann, and Sean Woods and Coco McPherson and Victor Juhasz and Alison Weinflash and so many others with whom it was my privilege to work. I wish there was something I could say that is stronger than Thank You.

No journalist has ever been luckier than me. Thank you, Rolling Stone.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Russian Militia Attack Pussy Rioters With Whips

It happened this morning as the two freed members plus four others attempted to sing their new song about Putin and the Motherland in public. AP has report here and Mashable covers here with photos. AP photo at left. More photos. UPDATE: Now scary video up at BBC site.

Search for Body Today--Meanwhile, Some Free Pizza

Will Bunch at Philly.com and many others have posted a copy of the letter sent by the Chevron Community Outreach Team to Bobtown residents, assuring them Chevron will strive for "incident-free operations" and enclosing a certificate for free pizza and a 2-liter soda from Bobtown Pizza. Meanwhile today, well-control experts at the site will attempt to remove a charred crane near a well that burned out of control for five days last week before they begin capping two wells. And so now the search for a worker missing since the explosion can begin in earnest, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

Removing the crane may also allow investigators a chance to get the best view yet of an area where they believe they may find the body of a contractor who was working on the well Feb. 11 when it exploded into roaring flames.

The contractor, who was reported missing immediately after the fire, was identified Tuesday by his family as Ian McKee, 27, originally of Warren. His identify was first reported by The Times Observer of Warren County after it covered a vigil family and friends organized for Mr. McKee. A friend told the paper he was most recently living in Morgantown, W.Va.

Mr. McKee and 19 co-workers -- who were preparing to put in piping to bring the well into production -- were attending a safety meeting, standing near the wells at 6:45 a.m. on Feb. 11, when something apparently went wrong with the well and it exploded. A second employee suffered minor injuries.

--Barbara Bedway

Feeling Spacey

Rep. Frank Underwood meets Jon Stewart. Did he "kill"?

From Kiev

Updated Wednesday: Clashes cost at least 25 lives and hundreds injured Tuesday in renewed protests as fires burned. Then police moved in. Fires now out. Here are two amazing livestreams still ongoing.

Live streaming video by Ustream

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Mavis Gallant Dies at 91

Let's take a moment and say good-bye to the incomparable short story writer Mavis Gallant, who died in Paris at age 91.

Her postwar Paris was not the romantic landscape of so many American writers, but the haunted gathering place of survivors of mid-twentieth-century Europe's catastrophes--displaced persons, prisoners of war, impoverished ex-pats. "There was also a joint past that lay all around us in heaps or charred stone," she wrote in her short story, "An Alien Flower." The streets "still smelled of terror and ashes, particularly after rain. Every stone still held down a ghost, or a frozen life, or a dreadful secret."

The Globe and Mail of her native Canada (she emigrated to Paris in 1950) well describes her particular gifts:

Ms. Gallant had a journalist’s nose, a cinematographer’s eye and a novelist’s imagination. She combined her technical skills and sensory perceptions in the shrewdly observed and multi-layered short story, a form she made her own. A specialist in writing about outsiders trying to insinuate themselves into alien situations and cultures, her narratives move in waves of dialogue, observation and lashing tension. Reading her stories gives one a sense of a clock ticking, a door creaking open, or of an emotional wound about to be inflicted.

Seek out her Collected Stories, and be prepared for a sensory and emotional immersion. My favorite has remained "In the Tunnel," with its enigmatic closing lines: "some summer or other would always be walking on her grave." -- Barbara Bedway

Devo Loses Another

Bob Casale of the original Devo has died at just 62. Report here by brother Gerald, a Devo founder. Drummer died not long ago. Classic on Merv Griffin show...

Olympicat Curling Champion

Poisoned Penn

Supposedly great doc on PBS tonight on the tragic destruction of one of the world's great structures, the old Penn Station in New York. Replaced by a horror but now plans for nicer replacement. The original at left.

Reynolds Wrapped (Again)

Perhaps you have long forgotten about the notorious former Illinois congressman Melvin Reynolds, who got the boot back in the 1990s after facing 12 statutory rape charges, went to prison and then faced corruption charges as well. Now he's been arrested, in Zimbadwe of all places, and charged with pornography offenses. Something about filming "models" in his hotel room. Wild story.

This is the latest of several legal problems for Reynolds, an Illinois Democrat, who once was a Rhodes scholar. Reynolds resigned from his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. While in prison he was also convicted of bank and campaign fraud. He was in jail until his sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton in Jan. 2001.

Beethoven Returns!

Nyack and NY/NJ/CT friends: As some know, that screening of our Beethoven Ninth film (plus flash mob) sold out last month and dozens turned away, but now a 2nd screening-plus-music is set for Nyack Library (100 seats) for this Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30. Here's the recent "All Things Considered" segment on the film. And here's new video of the amazing flash mob at the first screening.

Billy and Pete (and Ludwig)

One of the highlights of our new film Following the Ninth is Billy Bragg singing (and talking about) his new version of the "Ode to Joy" with new updated "political" lyrics. But I should note that Paul Robeson sang his own version many decades ago--and here's the great Pete Seeger's version, with new lyrics and banjo. Below you can hear Billy sing the whole thing, and here are the lyrics. Also, a full chapter on Billy in our book, "Journeys With Beethoven."

See now like a phoenix rising
From the ashes of the war
Hope of ages manifested
Peace and freedom evermore!
Brothers, sisters stand together
Raise your voices now as one -
Though by history divided
Reconciled in unison

Throw off now the chains of ancient
Bitterness and enmity
Hand in hand let's walk together
On the path of liberty
Hark, a new dawn now is breaking
Raise your voices now as one!
Though by history divided
Reconciled in unison

What's to be, then, oh my brothers,
Sisters, what is in your heart?
Tell me now the hopes you harbor
What's the task and where to start
Though we speak in a million voices
Every word is understood
Furnish every heart with joy
And banish all hatred for good

Furnish every heart with joy
and banish all hatred for good.

Pussy Riot Detained in Sochi

Two of the freed members, in town to film another anti-Putin song, taken in with other activists--for the third time in three days. The bust happened at a...McDonalds. This time they were questioned about a theft at a nearby hotel. "We were detained on the 16th at 7:00, spent 10 hours with FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service) on the 17th, and today (we are) in a paddy wagon, accused of theft," one tweeted later. (Russian snowboarder, left, with Pussy Riot image on his snowboard in protest earlier.)

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/02/18/218476/pussy-riot-band-members-other.html#storylink=cpy

Monday, February 17, 2014

Just Win, Baby

If you missed, Lebron James kicked up a storm a couple days ago when he named the four heads that would be etched on his b-ball "Mount Rushmore," with the claim that he'd be there himself one day (probably true). But his four icons did not include Mr. Bill Russell (nor, for that matter, Wilt). He named Jordan, Bird, Oscar, Magic. Russ replied perfectly:

“Hey, thank you for leaving me off your Mount Rushmore. I’m glad you did. Basketball is a team game, it’s not for individual honors. I won back-to-back state championships in high school, back-to-back NCAA championships in college, I won an NBA championship my first year in the league, an NBA championship in my last year, and nine in between. That, Mr. James, is etched in stone.”

When I tweeted this, Charles P. Pierce replied: "He sent that back like it was a weak-ass Walt Bellamy hook."

Lebron's too used to pushover NBA centers today. Would love to watch him drive the lane on Russ in his prime. And, among other things, Russ averaged over 22 rebounds per game in his career--and a staggering 24.9 per game in his 165 playoff games. Led league in bounds four times--even though Wilt was also in the league. In an eleven-year period he never finished lower than 4th in MVP voting. In same period he was the #1 defensive player--based both on stats and observation--in the league. In the 1961 playoffs, he averaged 29.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 19.9 points. I'm old enough to have watched him play, on TV, dozens of times. Lebron might re-shuffle his pantheon if he'd ever played him.

Miley and Monica

Yes, Ms. Cyrus in her big new show rides a giant hot dog, twerks a car, and...simulates going down a la Lewinsky on a Bill Clinton impersonator. Close, but no cigar. It's all here:

'Masters of Sex' Has No Spirit of St. Louis?

Self-professed architecture geek Toby Weiss has a delightful post at his blog B.E.L.T. St. Louis (The Built Environment in Laymen's Terms) on the real-life locations depicted in Showtime's Masters of Sex series, about the groundbreaking research by William Masters and Virginia Johnson.

Weiss spoke with Thomas Maier, author of the book on which the series is based, and learned the Masters of Sex producers have yet to visit St. Louis, which he says accounts for the many architectural discrepancies. (That atomic-age, sleek home that Bill and wife Libby Masters occupy in the series? Not--they lived in a two-story brick colonial.)

And though Weiss has tried hard to find the brothels that played such a key role in Master's early research, he's not found an actual location yet. (Fun fact: Maier notes that St. Louis Chief of Police H. Sam Priest protected Masters, who delivered one of his children, and made sure the prostitutes in the study did not get busted while it was going on.) One thing is certain: the brothels used would have been considerably less picturesque than the one in the series. For help, Weiss entreats his readers: "If you’re as curious as I am about finding Bill’s cathouse, and know someone who knows these kinds of things, please let me know. The seedy underbelly of St. Louis was deep and vivid, and in this particular case, led to major scientific discoveries that permanently and positively altered the sexual landscape. If those brothel buildings still stand, they deserve an historic marker, don’t you think?" h/t @sarahkendzior -- Barbara Bedway

Speaking Frankly: Nerd Prom Re-visited

To celebrate the new "House of Cards" season here's the Kevin Spacey "House of Nerd Prom" video for last year's White House Correspondents Dinner.

New Vintage Pete Seeger Footage

Ten minutes unearthed from 1961 documentary with some great moments with Pete driving, talking, singing, on road and at home in Beacon.

Pete Seeger in "Wasn't That A Time" from Appalshop CMI on Vimeo.

The Loophole That Ate the World

Very worth your time is Matt Taibbi's deep-dive in the February 27 issue of Rolling Stone into how a teeny-tiny provision in the vast de-regulatory hand-out to Wall Street known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 has led to "a wholesale merger of high finance with heavy industry," and higher prices for everything from food products to metals. Not even lawmakers like then-Congressman Sherrod Brown--who voted for the bill and is now a leading voice against those hidden provisions--realized their votes were giving Wall Street the go-ahead for "ruthless campaigns of world domination." And all it took were these five words allowing commercial banks to delve into any activity that is “complementary to a financial activity and does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of depository institutions or the financial system generally.”

From the article:

Today, banks like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs own oil tankers, run airports and control huge quantities of coal, natural gas, heating oil, electric power and precious metals. They likewise can now be found exerting direct control over the supply of a whole galaxy of raw materials crucial to world industry and to society in general, including everything from food products to metals like zinc, copper, tin, nickel and, most infamously thanks to a recent high-profile scandal, aluminum.

Allowing one company to control the supply of crucial physical commodities, and also trade in the financial products that might be related to those markets, is an open invitation to commit mass manipulation. It’s something akin to letting casino owners who take book on NFL games during the week also coach all the teams on Sundays.

--Barbara Bedway

Louis CK as Lincoln

For the holiday, here's the classic SNL skit, if you haven't seen it for awhile.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Angelina's Next

Promo ad for Angelina Jolie's second directorial effort, coming next Christmas, aired in a three-minute spot during NBC's Olympics coverage (narrated, I think, by Tom Brokaw). Apt, I guess, since the hero is a 1936 U.S. Olympian who went on to survive years as POW in World War II. It's Unbroken. the Coen brothers wrote a or the script, and here's the spot:

A Little Richard

Snake Handling Pastor Dies--From Snake Bite

AP just reported it. And his name was Jamie Coots of Kentucky. In this vid he said he wouldn't seek medical attention if bitten. And he kept this word.

Speaking Frankly

Kevin Spacey on ABC this morning talked about his Rep. Frank Underwood on "House of Cards" but also noted that President Obama (who is binge-watching this weekend) only wishes he could be that ruthless.

Kitty's Back

I'm old enough to recall the initial uproar but you've probably heard of it: the 1964 slaying of Kitty Geneovese on a street in Queens when 38 people nearby failed to help or call police as they "did not want to get involved." Now there's a new book on the case which seeks to debunk the claims of inaction, the "myth" of that. This is not the first time someone has shot down the original claims but this seems like a complete look, right down to how the story got told, wrongly, in the NYT and Abe Rosenthal's role. However, the books does find two eyewitnesses who really did act shamefully, and probably more. Amazingly, the killer is still alive and in prison--and has been there for longest stretch of anyone in the state.

Sunday Morning in the Church of Beethoven

Continuing our weekly feature, Just launched five days ago: cool video of wonderful flash mob that I helped organize in Nyack, N.Y.--in a former church--following a sold-out screening of our Following the Ninth film (which I co-produced). The hosts for the screening, Rivertown Film Society, shot it from the balcony and with three roving cameras on the floor, then edited the video. The musicians hail from local orchestras, arranged by Arlene Keiser, with singers from Nyack High. They had exactly one rehearsal just before the screening, at another site. Yes, the audience was surprised. Of course, the message is: universal brotherhood/sisterhood.

This is in keeping with the theme of the film (featured in recent segments on Bill Moyers' PBS show and NPR's "All Things Considered"), which explores the amazing influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony around the world, and our book, Journeys With Beethoven. In fact, there is now a global phenomenon of "Ode to Joy" flash mobs around the world and I've posted some of them over the past few months. Maybe you'd like to try it your home town? BTW, we're doing a second screening of the film in Nyack on Feb. 19.

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