Monday, June 30, 2008

Bowie on Bowie



David Bowie discusses his favorite David Bowie songs. Totally fascinating.

I mean, is there anyone alive with whom it would be more fun to have dinner? My top 4:

1. Bowie
2. Bill Clinton
3. David Milch
4. Tom Waits

Hmmm. No women. Madeleine Albright? Jhumpa Lahiri? Chrissy Hynde? Courtney Love (tell me that wouldn't be entertaining)? Cate Blanchett? Sarah Vowell?

Please nominate your ideal dinner companions of both sexes in the comments.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Is your jack rabbit on at work?

Ladies, take note!

If there's a Long John Silver in Chicago, someone's in trouble!

Stay tuned, especially for 8:20-9:15. And I'm fielding guesses on the identity of Alexyss' guest...

(Ella, I have a feeling I made you watch this when I first got my hands on this, but it's worth another look.)

Friday, June 27, 2008

The Mad Crapper


Story and visuals by a couple of guys I went to Goddard with. Enjoy.

Unlike ScarJo, We Do Trade Emails

Dear David:

Thank you for contacting me concerning the President’s domestic surveillance program. I appreciate hearing from you.

Providing any President with the flexibility necessary to fight terrorism without compromising our constitutional rights can be a delicate balance. I agree that technological advances and changes in the nature of the threat our nation faces may require that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted in 1978, be updated to reflect the reality of the post 9/11 world. But that does not absolve the President of the responsibility to fully brief Congress on the new security challenge and to work cooperatively with Congress to address it.

As you know, Congress has been considering the issue of domestic surveillance since last year. Just before the August recess in 2007, Congress passed hastily crafted legislation to expand the authority of the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to conduct surveillance of suspected foreign terrorists without a warrant or real oversight, even if the targets are communicating with someone in the United States. This legislation was signed into law by the President on August 5, 2007.

As you are aware, Congress has been working on reforms to FISA. On November 15, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3773, the “Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007” (RESTORE Act) by a vote of 227-189. The House bill did not provide retroactive immunity for private companies that may have participated in the illegal collection of personal information, nor does it provide immunity for Administration officials who may have acted illegally.

On February 12, 2008, the Senate passed S. 2248, making its own reforms to FISA. During consideration of this bill, I was proud to cosponsor several amendments, including the Dodd-Feingold amendment to strike the immunity provision, which would have enhanced privacy protections while maintaining the tools to fight terrorism. However, with the defeat of this amendment, the bill did not provide for a mechanism that would allow the American people to learn exactly what the Bush Administration did with its warrantless wiretapping program and provided for no accountability.

The House and Senate worked out a compromise, reconciling differences between the two versions of the bill before it can be signed into law. While I recognize that this compromise is imperfect, I will support this legislation, which provides an important tool to fight the war on terrorism and provides for an Inspectors General report so that we can finally get to the bottom of the warrantless wiretapping program and how it undermined our civil liberties. However, I am disappointed that this bill, if signed into law, will grant an unprecedented level of immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the President's warrantless wiretapping program, and I will work with my colleagues to remove this provision.

The American people understand that new threats require flexible responses to keep them safe, and that our intelligence gathering capability needs to be improved. What they do not want is for the President or the Congress to use these imperatives as a pretext for promoting policies that not only go further than necessary to meet a real threat, but also violate some of the most basic tenets of our democracy. Like most members of Congress, I continue to believe that the essential objective of conducting effective domestic surveillance in the War on Terror can be achieved without discarding our constitutionally protected civil liberties.

Thank you again for writing. Please stay in touch as this debate continues.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Chitra my queen!


I can't stop singing this song today. (Okay, so it's not a song but a jingle)

Really?


TB, take a look and tell me if you see the Bice....and the bianch....and the mini-riff

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Do I Really Need a Title For This Sort of Thing At This Point?

SINGER and GERVAIS, a mix.
A celebrity mix.

Warning: Serious


By now, we all know the stories about the 4th Amendment abuses perpetrated by the Moron/Psycho administration. The bad news is: it appears it's going to keep going. As you may know, government wiretaps are overseen by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), who have to grant warrants and generally justify any secret eavesdropping. There is an amendment being debated right now that:

1. Expands the president's wiretapping authority
2. Allows the government to use "Exigent Circumstances" to bypass the authorization process.
3. Allows the government to CONTINUE surveillance denied by the court throughout the appeals process and then keep and use everything they gather even if they lose.
4. Grant all the telecoms immunity for their complicity in all illegal wiretaps to this point, without revealing who was tapped and for how long.

This basically turns the 4th Amendment into toilet paper, IMHO.

And guess who announced his support for the Cheney/Rockefeller/Hoyer bill? Mr. Yes-We-Can! That's right, Barack Obama has inexplicably signed on, calling it a "compromise", and saying that he's against the immunity part, but he'll still sign the bill - presumably so we can move forward without the Republicans being able to say that he's soft on terrorism.

Wait a second....wasn't that essentially the mindset that got us into the war? Isn't he supposed to be the guy who speaks truth to power? BOOOOO! I know, the important thing is that he gets elected, and I'm down with that, but this is exactly the sort of bullshit that people pilloried the Clintons for. And with good fucking reason! Wonder if he's accepting any telecom money now that he also changed his mind about the importance of public financing? Naw.....

Senators Dodd, Feingold, Boxer, and Leahy - among others - are fighting right now to at least filibuster enough to get a vote delayed until after the Senate recess. Sometimes some inertia is enough to kill something this craven. It's hard to justify to your constituency why you think the gumment should be able to listen to your phone calls whenever they feel like it....


Here's a list of what the ACLU objects to.
I know, it seems boring, but seriously - read it, know what you're talking about, and then tell everyone who will listen. You know what kills shit like this? People knowing about it. You say "FISA amendment", people's eyes glaze over. You say "How would you like the CIA to be able to listen to any phone conversation in the US with no supervision?", they pay attention.

More Celebrity Mixing


It occurred to me the other day that Pixar's latest lovable whatnot WALL-E bears a shocking resemblance to Billy Weinberg.

please discuss

Celebrity Mix Daily Double, Triple Even



Its been well documented in the past that Sloan bassist/drummer/frontman Chris (center) figures prominently in Bice's celebrity mix. The new development is that Quickdraw added guitarist Patrick Pentland (far right) to Bianchi's CM while at the show this past Monday. Not as strong as Bice/Chris, but its there!

The show, by the way, was astoundingly good. I know I'm prone to hyperbole, but they really are one of the top live bands playing today. Its hard to understand why they're not HUGE in this country. Double Door was half full. Sure, it was a Monday, but if Cheap Trick played DD on a Monday it would sell out instantly.

While I'm at it, I'm going to go ahead and throw in a 1% mini-Riff CM for the other guitarist, far left

Great Moments In Headlines



They are ALL funny
.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Women's Issues De-Mystified






Sarah Haskins is really funny. She is also the daughter of my high school soccer coach. So there!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Summer Songs



Some of us Lake Effecters used to rent a house in Saugatuck for a week every summer. We'd lie around on the beach during the day and sit on the porch at night, eating multicolored licorice and playing cards or chess or charades. The common thread was the amazing local radio station that seemed to have the perfect playlist for those endless, lovely evenings. The best DJ was Pat Farnak, and I'm sure we all remember her signature tag - "Hi, I'm Pat Farnak. Do I Look Okay?"

I've tried to re-create some of the magic for you here (in 2 parts - just make it one long mix). This mix is heavy on the 70s end of the spectrum - the 80s one to follow soon. Enjoy.

Summer Jams pt. 1

Summer Jams pt. 2

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Friday, June 20, 2008

Around The World in Three Weeks



Thats right Lake Effectors, its that time again. In just three weeks we depart on that musical journey across the globe. Get your ukes out and lets start brainstorming! All are welcome to join the cabaret house band, a potential new element of the show to keep things upbeat and interesting throughout.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Facebook In Reality



Amazing.

You Wouldn't Like the Gute When He's Angry


I can't help but love him still. Remember that movie he did with Jamie Gertz called Boyfriend School where he played a cancer survivor and went from bald and fat to tan and hot in like three sessions of jogging in the sun? No? Netflix that shit you guys.


Anyway, why are the paparinos after HIM of all people and, more importantly, why is he so very angry? Only God and Jamie Gertz know.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

WTF?



Kevin Garnett is a werido. And a total phony. And I'm pretty sure he drooled on Michelle Tafoya.

I am NOT a fan.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Friday, June 13, 2008

Soul Brothers?


Tim Russert Dead!

I hope my making fun of his on air fart didn't play a part in his demise.

Tim Russert dead from heart attack
June 13, 2008

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Tim Russert, host of NBC's ''Meet the Press'' and its Washington bureau chief collapsed and died at work Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 58.
Russert, of Buffalo, N.Y., took the helm of the Sunday news show in December 1991 and turned it into the most widely watched program of its type in the nation. His signature trait there was an unrelenting style of questioning.
Washingtonian magazine once dubbed Russert the best journalist in town, and described ''Meet the Press'' as ''the most interesting and important hour on television.
He also wrote best-selling books, ''Big Russ and Me,'' in 2004, and ''Wisdom of our Fathers,'' in 2006.
This year, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Toe Jam



The Brighton Port Authority - "Toe Jam".

David Byrne, Dizzee Rascal, and Fatboy Slim. I dig the song AND the video.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Face on Me

From Salon.com, "Does Anyone But Me Care About The Tonys?"

"Do they even still have the Tonys?" my friend asked the other day. It's a fair question.

From 2001 to 2004, the show lost 30 percent of its viewership, and the audience keeps skewing older. With so many channels on cable, so many exciting things to do on a Sunday -- laundry, for instance -- it's hard to believe that anyone outside the chattering classes of the New York theater world cares too much about another black-tie circle jerk. Is anyone really tuning in to see what the cast of "August: Osage County" is going to wear?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

You Still Can't Fight It Can You


Online Videos by Veoh.com

More proof that Italy is magic

Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer is found in Italy
By MARTA FALCONI Associated Press Writer

Jun 11th, 2008 | ROME -- A deer with a single horn in the center of its head — much like the fabled, mythical unicorn — has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

"This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."

The 1-year-old Roe Deer — nicknamed "Unicorn" — was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.

He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

Calling it the first time he has seen such a case, Tozzi said such anomalies among deer may have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter.

"This shows that even in past times, there could have been animals with this anomaly," he said by telephone. "It's not like they dreamed it up."

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of — but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said.

"Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case," said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome's zoo. He said the position of the horn could also be the result of a trauma early in the animal's life.

Other mammals are believed to contribute to the myth of the unicorn, including the narwhal, a whale with a long, spiraling tusk.

Made In America



An interesting analysis of the final Sopranos episode.

Prediction: only Paul and I care.

Party Like a Rock Star!

Fuller Park Band "Rich Kids" rocked it instrumental last night for the Hendricks, Graham, & Parkman Elementary Graduation Dance.



Introducing:

Jermaine on Bass, age 10
Jada on Tambo, age 4
Diallo on guitar, age 10
Malik on the keys Age 5
Asiah on the drums, age 10

Randy the guitar guru on ghost guitar back right...ageless

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Album Titles of the Year





I thought Atmosphere had the title of the year with "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold", but Supergrass' new album "Diamond Hoo-Ha" is giving it a run for its money.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Hallelujah Reclaimed



This past Saturday, QD and I headed to Canadia to see one of my all time idols, Leonard Cohen, play a concert in his native land. Throughout the weeks preceding the show I worked hard to keep my expectations in check...as the circumstances had conspired to build them to epic proportions... flying to another city to see an icon and personal hero play live for the first time, he himself having been absent from the stage for 15 years. Who knew what to expect from the 73 year old bard who had just spent several years in a monastary and was rumored to have come down from Mt. Baldy to go out on the road due to financial woes? Though deep down I had high hopes, I was resigned in the worst case to just being in the same room with LC for a couple of hours.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried, LC delivered majestically on every count during the nearly three hour performance. Leonard was in command and fully present at every moment. He was funny, sweet and unassumingly hip. He was gracious and eloquent throughout, offering humble thanks to his terrific band and appreciative audience after every song, taking off his fedora each time.



The nine-piece band was exceptional, playing the intricate arrangements in a full but relaxed way, while keeping the music at a volume that allowed the focus to be where where it should be...on that voice (in fine form), those lyrics, and their nuanced delivery.

The song selection was fully satisfying for the first two sets, with early favorites scattered among the greater bulk of mid-career songs from two albums in particular -I'm Your Man and The Future. A pair of songs each from Recent Songs and Various Positions too. Though newer songs like In My Secret Life and A Thousand Kisses Deep (recited as poetry) faired well in the set, I would have gladly traded others verging on maudlin( Boogie Street and That Don't Make It Junk) for a couple more nuggets like So Long Marianne, Famous Blue Raincoat or Tonight Will Be Fine.

The undeniable high point of the show was Hallelujah, which brought both Heather and I to tears and to our feet by the end of the first chorus. Another high point was Tower of Song, which LC played solo on a casio (like the record) to start the second set.

Rumor is that he's going to be on the road for quite a while and will most likely hit the states sometime after the Summer.

Heres the set list:

First Set

Dance Me To The End Of Love
The Future
Ain't No Cure For Love
Bird On The Wire
Everybody Knows
In My Secret Life
Who By Fire
Anthem

Second Set

Tower Of Song
Suzanne
Gypsy Wife
Boogie Street
Hallelujah
Democracy
I'm Your Man
A Thousand Kisses Deep (recitation)
Take This Waltz

First Encore

Waiting For The Miracle
First We Take Manhattan

Second Encore

That Don't Make It Junk
If It Be Your Will
Closing Time

Final Encore

I Tried to Leave You
Wither Thou Goest

They Aren't Your Real Friends



Check out this sorta old New York magazine article on the contestants from Project Runway and Top Chef.

Plus, Salon has a good interview with noted homo icon Tom Colicchio.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Real or Fake? or Best Ep. of the Office EVER


http://view.break.com/513310 - Watch more free videos

These are Punny.


Lou Reed Gets Pissed



Last month Lou Reed became the latest rock icon to foray onto satellite radio when he launched "New York Shuffle," a weekly free-form show on Sirius co-hosted by producer Hal Willner (who also collaborated on Reed¹s new concert doc, Berlin). New York magazine spoke to Reed about the show, which broadcasts an eclectic mix of music from Animal Collective to Ornette Coleman to Solomon Burke to Peaches, and — less successfully — his financial stake in the struggling company.

How did this show come into being? Did Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin wine and dine you?
I've always wanted to do a radio show, and I was talking with Hal Willner about doing the kind of radio show that once was here in New York where the guys played whatever they really liked. You know, I did it when I was in college. I liked being a D.J. I think the radio is amazing — I learned to play from the radio. The Sound of the Hound, Magnificent Montague, Alan Freed, people like that.

What kind of audience do you envision when you're doing a show? The commuter from Staten Island?

You're joking, right?

Look, they have thousands of people who do things like that. We're just there playing music that we think is really great. I mean, I was just listening to some Theremin music that Moog puts out on a DVD sampler and I've got to play this, it's so astonishingly beautiful. I was listening to another group the other day called the Books that was pretty good. And then Willner played this amazing old Solomon Burke track. Ah, fantastic. Wouldn't it be great if there were like hundreds of people playing it like that, turning you on to some really good shit?

Your show is called the "New York Shuffle." As music has been migrating from local stores and radio stations to satellite radio and the Internet, do you think there's still such a thing as a New York sound?
I think these days it's more of a Brooklyn sound. It's not out of New York anymore; it's all out of Brooklyn. I go out there to listen to music. A lot of the stuff we played, when we checked out where it came from, it was from Brooklyn.

The music industry is going through a lot of turmoil, obviously, with labels closing and record stores shutting down all over the country. What role do you think radio plays today?

Stations should pay attention to what people really want to listen to and not have these restrictive playlists. That's what I think. I'm not usually the one someone turns to about advice on how to make money.

Sirius's impending merger with XM is anticipated to boost earnings. Do you own any stock in the company?

What are you, a fucking asshole? I'm here telling you the truth about music and you want to know if I have stock in the fucking radio? You fucking piece of shit. What did I do to deserve that?

Moving on. You've got a film out, you've got your radio show, you've got a new book of photography coming up — is there a new album in the works?
No. Nothing I feel like talking about. Good-bye.

Boardroom Strategies



It gets real good a few paragraphs in....

Former Chief of Broadcom Is Indicted
By LAURA M. HOLSON

Henry T. Nicholas III, the flamboyant co-founder and former chief executive of the chip maker Broadcom, was indicted Thursday in California on fraud, conspiracy and drug charges, including allegations that he spiked the drinks of other executives with ecstasy.

One indictment said he also maintained several residences that were used to distribute and sell drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, and threatened to kill people if they talked about his activities.

A second indictment filed in the Federal District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., and also unsealed Thursday, charged Mr. Nicholas and William Ruehle, the former chief financial officer of Broadcom, of improperly backdating stock options, forcing Broadcom to take a $2.2 billion write-down.

Lawyers for both men said they were innocent of all charges.

Mr. Nicholas, 48, is a colorful character who, along with his former college professor, Henry Samueli, became a billionaire when he smartly timed the industry’s need for silicon chips that send voice and data over cable lines.

Mr. Nicholas turned himself in to the F.B.I. on Thursday morning and appeared in federal court in Santa Ana Thursday afternoon. A federal magistrate, Arthur Nakazato, ordered both Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Ruehle released, said a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office.

Bond was set at $3.4 million for Mr. Nicholas, and he will be subject to home detention and required to complete a rehab program. Mr. Ruehle’s bond was set at $2.6 million.

Mr. Nicholas’s lawyer, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., declined to comment on the indictment, but said in a statement: “Dr. Nicholas will contest these charges vigorously. He is confident that he will be fully vindicated.”

In his early days running Broadcom at the height of the dot-com boom in the mid-1990s, Mr. Nicholas was nicknamed Darth Vader by rivals because he was so competitive. He was known for his outlandish stunts and spectacular outbursts.

In one incident described in the indictment, Mr. Nicholas and his guests are said to have inhaled so much marijuana on a flight to Las Vegas from Orange County, Calif., that clouds of smoke and fumes drifted into the cockpit of the private plane and the pilot was required to put on an oxygen mask.

Mr. Nicholas is also accused of hiring prostitutes not only for himself but also for customers and associates of Broadcom, and to have supplied them with drugs. And, according to the indictment, Mr. Nicholas “used threats of violence and death and payments of money to attempt to conceal his unlawful conduct.”

In one 2002 incident cited in the indictment, Mr. Nicholas is described as entering into a $1 million settlement agreement “with a Broadcom employee who had knowledge” of his boss’s drug activities.

Mr. Nicholas used several residences in Orange County and Las Vegas, as well as a commercial office space called the “warehouse,” to distribute and use drugs, according to the unsealed indictments. Various code words, including “supplies,” “party favors” and “refreshments,” were used to describe the various drugs, the indictment said. But ecstasy is described as a particular favorite. According to the indictment, Mr. Nicholas gave some to an executive without his knowledge in July 1999 at the Woodstock concert in Rome, N.Y.


In January 2003, Mr. Nicholas resigned from the company that he co-founded and that made him a billionaire many times over. He said he was going to focus on salvaging his marriage after his wife, Stacey, filed for divorce.

Mr. Ruehle, who faces conspiracy and securities fraud charges, is not charged with drug violations.

In the backdating indictment, the federal government said it was done to reward Broadcom employees, including Mr. Ruehle. It said that Mr. Nicholas concealed the backdating by signing false documents that stated the options had been approved as of earlier dates.

“Bill Ruehle is innocent of the charges in the indictment and he looks forward to the opportunity to clear his good name in a court of law,” Richard Marmaro, Mr. Ruehle’s lawyer, said in a statement. “Bill is a man of the highest integrity, and his reputation in the financial community has always been impeccable. At all times, Bill acted in good faith and believed Broadcom’s financial statements were accurate.”

Mr. Marmaro added: “Broadcom was by no means the only company to make this accounting mistake. At last count, nearly 250 companies have acknowledged internal stock options investigations, and approximately 130 of these companies have announced restatements relating to mistakes in their options accounting.”

Thursday, June 5, 2008

One More

For Liza's birthday....

You Are Allowed 20 Birthday Parties - Patton Oswalt

"Get Pissed" Hall of Fame





Alleged 9/11 plotter says artist made nose too big



Jun 5th, 2008 | GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- The confessed mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America said a courtroom artist at his arraignment Thursday made his nose look too big.

No photographers were allowed inside the courtroom for the first appearance of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged coconspirators on war crimes charges. So it fell to artist Janet Hamlin to provide the world with the first image of the al-Qaida kingpin since his capture in Pakistan in 2003.

Her rendering was reviewed to make sure it didn't include classified information, and wound up in Mohammed's hands when his defense team was given a look, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon.

Mohammed wasn't pleased.

"I heard he said I should compare it to the FBI photo of him," Hamlin said, clutching a copy of the much-publicized capture photo that showed Mohammed in a T-shirt looking disheveled and unshaven.

Asked if Mohammed had a point, Hamlin said: "I agree totally" before rushing back to the courtroom to downsize his nose.

Hamlin, who worked for The Associated Press before returning freelance work in New York, has made several trips to Guantanamo, and her sketches are being used in a media pool, with joint access.

Happy Birthday!!



Happy Birthday Lizo Dear Lizo! We love and miss you.....

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Consistently Coast




In the process of checking out the competition, I came across a company called Jam Productions (no, not that one) who do jingles for radio stations to use in between songs, commercials, etc. I downloaded one of their demo reels - one of about 50, fyi - and it is AMAZING. Please, please, please download this and listen to it. Think about the people in an industrial warehouse turning this shit out DAY after DAY after DAY. If we had played this shit from our Humvees in Waco, David Koresh would have surrendered in 10 minutes. Seriously, how long could you listen to this consecutively before you went insane? It's like waterboarding for your ears.


"Consistently Coast" - Jam Productions

Also check out the station's mindboggling playlist.

The Bike Whisperer



I was hoping for faded coveralls and one of those Cinzano caps with the bill flipped up, but otherwise, I am one satisfied customer. My Schwinn World is humming.....