Bob Dylan Is 83
Today is Bob Dylan’s eighty third birthday. This tribute is composed primarily of two previously published pieces of work. Some people think Bob Dylan is a piece of work. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
Hibbing MN is a cold place. At least it can claim to be the birthplace of Robert Allen Zimmerman. That’s Allen, with an e, and double L, just like hell. The original initials were RAZ, which might be a good trivia question, or, with a silent W in front, radio station call letters. The problem is, he legally changed his name to Bob Dylan, with no known middle name. Those initial are BD.
On May 24, 1941, the curly haired wonder boi arrived. The world was a different place. Europe was in flames, and eyeing the young men of America as fresh cannon fodder. This was twelve years, eleven months, and eighteen days before I graced the planet. A twelve year old in Hibbing MN would have no reason to think of a newborn baby in Atlanta GA.
The first time I heard of Bob Dylan was probably at the record rack of Zippy’s dime store in Cherokee Plaza. There was an album of his greatest hits, and it came with a poster. The poster had a drawing of the man, with psychedelic waves of hair cascading in multi colored glory to the edges.
As I got older and stupider, I heard more and more Bob Dylan music. At the start of 1974, a tour was announced. The Band was to be the backing group. The circus came to the Omni, and was nothing special. Bob Dylan excels at writing, is ok in the studio, and blah on stage. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was at the show, and was said to look bored. Mr. Dylan was invited to the Governor’s mansion after the show, and talked to the Governor. A lot of people in Georgia were surprised that Jimmy would want to run for President.
As the Seventies went me-me-me-ing into sex and drugs oblivion, Bob Dylan regained both his writing touch, and love of the spotlight. The Rolling Thunder tour happened, he got back together with Joan Baez, divorced his wife, became born again, became more Jewish, counted money, and generally lived the life. I did my version of all that, without Joan Baez.
In the winter of 1991, America was consumed by war fever. Saddam Hussein had been elevated to next Hitler status, and had to be taught a lesson. One night, Bob Dylan played on a music awards show, and performed “Masters of War”. He played a discordant version of that ditty, with the result that few understood what he had said. By this time, Mr. Dylan had assembled a band, and gone out on the “Never Ending Tour”. A Bob Dylan concert had gone from being a special event, to being another name on the festival roster. Overexposure will do that.
On the last night of the Olympics in 1996, Bob Dylan played the House of Blues downtown. I won a pair of tickets in a radio station contest. The show was competent…they impressed me as being like a bar band that did a lot of Dylan songs, with a strangely authentic lead vocalist. The only song I recognized was “All along the Watchtower”, the Jimi Hendrix classic. Mr. Dylan got a cheer when he put his harmonica appliance on.
The aptly named dangerousminds has a link to a story about the recording of Blonde on Blonde. Bob Dylan was 24 years old, newly married, and had “sold out” i.e. started to play electric guitar. A bunch of Canadians known as The Hawks (later The Band) was touring with him. Barely a month after the release of “Highway 61 Revisited”, sessions started at a New York studio.
The New York sessions did not work, so a decision was made to go to Nashville. Al Kooper played organ, and served as a music director. A crew of Nashville players was recruited. A bass player named Joseph Souter, Jr. would become famous a few years later using the name Joe South. Kris Kristofferson was the janitor at the studio.
Most studios have bafflers, or sound proof room dividers, splitting the studio into cubicles. For these sessions, the bafflers were taken down, and the band played together as a unit.
The second session in Nashville started at 6pm and lasted until 530 the next morning. Mr. Dylan was working on the lyrics to “Sad eyed lady of the lowlands”, and the recording could not start until he was ready. The musicians played ping pong and waited. At 4am, the song was ready, and the record was finished in two takes.
I had marginal encounters with two of the players on this album. He met a lady once, who worked in an insurance office. One of the customers was Joe South. His driving record file was an inch thick.
Al Kooper had a prosperous career after his association with Bob Dylan. The former Alan Peter Kuperschmidt produced the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums, sold that contract for a nice piece of change, and lived happily ever after.
One night, Mr. Kooper was playing a show at the Great Southeast Music Hall, and PG sat in front of the stage. During a break between songs, PG asked his friend “what time is it?”. Mr. Kooper heard him on stage, and said it was 11:30.
Why The War Between The States Was Fought
This was a repost from 2017. … Recently, Mr. Trump said something stupid about the War Between the States. After his comments began to filter into the marketplace of ideas, people began to react. There was a good bit of self righteous talk about how bad the Confederacy was. Maybe it is time for another point of view. This feature will have minimal research. Mistakes will be made. The reader is encouraged to do their own research.
When the colonies declared independence in 1776, nobody knew how things would turn out. First, Great Britain needed to be defeated. After that, the Articles of Confederation went into effect. “Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. However, the central government lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce…”
This arrangement was not working, and the Constitutional Convention was called. Originally, the CC was going to revise the Articles of Confederation, but wound up throwing the whole thing out, and creating the Constitution. This document called for greater federal authority. The issue of what powers to give to the states, and what powers to give to the central government, was contentious. It remains controversial to this day.
Had any group of autonomous states formed a federal union before? Usually, such a union is the result of a conquest, with one of the states ruling the others. It is unclear whether such a union had been attempted before, or how successful it was. When the “founding fathers” created the constitution, they probably did not foresee how it would play out. The current system, with a massive central government cat-herding the 50 states, would have been laughed off as a dangerous fantasy.
So the states start to have disagreements. One of the things they disagreed over was slavery. Yes, this was an important factor in the unpleasantness to come. Slavery also influenced a lot of the economic conflicts. The North wanted high tariffs to protect industry. The South wanted low tariffs, so they could sell cotton to Europe. There were many other ways for the states to not get along.
Finally, in 1861, the disagreements became too big to ignore. The south seceded, and the War Between The States began. The Confederate States of America was a looser union than the United States. The thought was that the states were more important than the federal union. Mr. Lincoln disagreed. (One popular name for the conflict was Mr. Lincoln’s war.) Many people say that Mr. Lincoln was not especially concerned about the slaves, but wanted to keep the union together.
How does slavery enter into this? Imagine the conflict over states rights vs federalism to be an open tank of gasoline. The lit match that was thrown into that tank was slavery. When the winners wrote the war history, it sounded better to say that the war was fought to free the slaves. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
There Is No I In Denial
There’s no I in denial. ~ What does a house wear? A dress.
What did the buffalo say to his son as he left for college? Bison.
I asked a Frenchman if he played video games. He said “wii”.
I ate a clock yesterday, it was so time consuming.
Why was Santa’s little helper feeling depressed? Because he has low Elf esteem
How many optometrists does it take to change a light bulb?… 1 or 2? 1… or 2?
Just read a few facts about frogs. They were ribbiting.
Want to hear a word I just made up? Plagiarism.
What did the hungry clock do? Went back four seconds!
Becoming a vegetarian is a huge missed steak.
Have you seen that new movie about trees in love? …Yeah, it’s pretty sappy…
I don’t like atoms, they’re liars. They make up everything.
I was thinking about moving to Moscow but there is no point Russian into things.
First rule of Thesaurus Club: You don’t talk, converse, discuss, speak, chat,
deliberate, confer, gab, gossip or natter about Thesaurus Club.
There is a new disease found in margarine… Apparently it spreading very easily.
People are making apocalypse jokes like there’s no tomorrow.
Need an ark to save two of every animal? I Noah guy.
What’s the advantage of living in Switzerland? Well, the flag is a big plus.
“I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!”
It’s so hard to think of another chemistry joke… All the good ones Argon.
Breaking news! Energizer Bunny arrested – charged with battery.
I’m off to Nairobi in the Summer. Kenya believe it?
A baker was caught bonking his bread loaves. They say he was inbread.
I enjoy using the comedy technique of self-deprecation – but I’m not very good at it.
This is a repost. Pictures are from “Special Collections, Georgia State University Library.”
Mark Twain Double Feature
One hundred and twenty five years ago, the United States was involved in a war, that did not want to end. This conflict was in the Philippines. Although there had been an official end to the war, guerrillas continued to fight the Americans. The war was a nasty affair, with many atrocities.
The War against the Philippine people was a souvenir of the Spanish American War. There had been a rebellion against Spanish rule in the islands. After the American forces routed the Spanish, the rebellion shifted to the American occupiers. It was a war stumbled into, and difficult to end.
Mark Twain was horrified. He wrote a story, The War Prayer. As Lew Rockwell tells the tale: “Twain wrote The War Prayer during the US war on the Philippines. It was submitted for publication, but on March 22, 1905, Harper’s Bazaar rejected it as “not quite suited to a woman’s magazine.” Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, to whom he had read the story, “I don’t think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.” Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish “The War Prayer” elsewhere and it remained unpublished until 1923.”
The story starts in a church. A war has started, and is popular. The troops leave for glory the next day. The preacher has an emotional prayer to send them on their way. Unknown to the minister, there is a visitor. “An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,” Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger motioned to the preacher to step aside. The stranger stepped into the pulpit, and claimed to have a message for the worshipers, sent directly from God. The preacher’s message was for support in time of war, and implied that God and the preacher support the same side in this conflict. There is an unspoken part to a prayer like this. This unspoken part was what the stranger was going to put into words.
“”O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-
for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
This is a double repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Mark Twain wrote a lot during the American Genocide in the Philippines. Many of his words could apply today. War has gotten more high tech…for our side…, but the bottom line is the same. No matter how fancy the weapons get, the casualties are just as dead. And the investors make money.
Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger’s wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps —
His night is marching on.
I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!”
We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our g-d is marching on!
In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom — and for others’ goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich —
Our g-d is marching on.
Academics Dislike Cops
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Mayor Sam Adams’ ex-lover takes his Star Turn. How it compares to those of Monica …
This quote is real, and comes from an essay, “In Search of a Majority.”
America’s dime-store Nietzscheans What unmasking of an anonymous publisher …
Bill Simon Embarrasses Himself, Should Correct the Record, and Apologize
At 70, Ron Howard FINALLY Admits How Much He Truly Hated Him
maturity rat eat artist much to gain from sullied vision child
Glenn Loury: an intellectual force of nature Late Admissions is an unflinching …
Congestion Pricing Making sense of the huge change about to come to Manhattan’s streets
Why Do Academics Dislike Cops? Police officers represent what many on campuses …
Gaza Solidarity Encampment defies UNM’s ultimatum for 12 hours before Police arrive
hedonism thing scientific not social healthy doctrines try
All Hell Breaks Loose When Marjorie Taylor Greene Directly Insults Jasmine Crockett
Jasmine Crockett Fires Back At Marjorie Taylor Greene And Chaos Erupts
medical stud hum other species comprising sex mad creation
Anti-Israel uprisings hit dangerous new extreme in Michigan Brad Polumbo
I’m the new Oppenheimer!’: soul-destroying day at Palantir’s first-ever AI warfare conference
slaughter glorify family rat vanity Robert Kennedy
‘Mask-off’: Max Blumenthal discusses nationwide protests …history of Israel-Gaza war …
butker ~ glenn & john ~ jim goad ~ potus ~ dekalb
eli lake ~ trump ~ baldwin ~ son of bukowski ~ son of bukowski
grumpy old gay ~ emmet rensin ~ alice stewart ~ fund me ~ tom smothers
jim goad ~ Earthjustice, ~ jamie mortara ~ @michael_bezalel ~ jamie mortara
adroit journal ~ john mortara ~ babylon ~ repost ~ escaping flatland
trace ~ quoteporn ~ quote ~ afghanistan ~ dzgrizzle
atl night market ~ clearview ai ~ brenda ~ comedy ~ southern baptist sissies
brenda’s beaver ~ hey hamad ~ congestion pricing ~ rick barnes ~ reflector
reflector ~ reflector ~ c54 ~ israel eurovision ~ comedy
@wildethingy Me: Do you like it when I put my penis in your ear? Her: What? Me: oh sorry *takes my penis out of her ear* ~ Remarkably, Tom Dispatch is still publishing content. ~ this post was originally published in 2010. The last line is more true today than ever. “When Israel makes noise about Iran, it takes attention away from the Palestinian tragedy. ~ Gandhi’s Wikiquote has this quote: “Quoted by Pyarelal Nayyar in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (Volume 10), page 552 (1958)” We do not know the source. In Mr. Gandhi’s writing, there is usually context. He will often contradict himself. This quote should be used with caution. ~ I went to the doctor and he said I have to stop masturbating ~ I said why ~ He said I’m trying to examine you ~ “I don’t think these protests are antiwar these protests are anti-Israel it’s a different thing they’re for the war as long as Hamas is doing it ” ~ This is a repost from 2019. In 2021, Donald J. Trump gave election denial a bad reputation. Stacey pioneered the concept after the 2018 election. In 2022, Stacey was defeated in her second run for Governor. She did concede defeat. … ~ this post is a rerun from 2019, when Stacey Abrams was in her glory. She mentions “eligible voters who exercised their First Amendment right to abstain from voting.” The Democratic candidate for Governor is defending the right of people to not vote. ~ I regret having violating your boundaries to the point that you felt the need to block me on X. When you engage in commentary on touchy issues, one can cross a boundary without realizing it. I enjoyed seeing your posts and drawings, and would like to see them again. However, this is your choice. If you feel that you would be better off without my seeing your product, then by all means block me. In any event, it has been nice “knowing” you. Luther Mckinnon/@chamblee54 ~ Did you see my response about people changing my art? That’s the issue. ~ i did not see anything like that …. when did you make it? ~ If I thought that was a problem for you, it would not have happened … this came out of no where ~ did you not take one of my cartoons and alter it? maybe i’m mistaken. ~ where did i block you? ~ I did alter a cartoon, but you never expressed any displeaure. If you had, I would not have done it. I got a like on a comment this morning, and the originating comment was not available to me. I soon learned that I had been blocked. Blocking people is hurtful, and seldom necessary. You can mute, or unfollow a person, and have the same effect. Blocking someone is a slap in the face, and should only be done as a last resort … which this was not. ~ I wasn’t trying to protect your feelings… as you didn’t seem to care about mine or the integrity of my work. When someone obviously doesn’t care for my work, there’s no need to be delicate. anyway if you promise to not alter my art i will unblock you. ~ Ok. This is getting nasty. As I said, I will not alter your images, if that is a problem. ~ I don’t care about being delicate. But I do expect the same decency I would give to another human being. To offer a warning, or take a mild course of action, instead of going for the strongest weapon at your disposal … blocking … and then coming back with “I wasn’t trying to protect your feelings… as you didn’t seem to care about mine or the integrity of my work” when I show you the courtesy of sending a polite note when I cross your invisable boundary. If you want to unblock, that is up to you. ~ We just have a different value when it comes to blocking. I get blocked and unfollowed all the time. Anyway I can’t see where to unblock you but I’ll try to figure it out. ~ haywardart@gmail.com ~ i conceive of god as a means of liberation and not a means to control others ~ So, I found the file, and listened to the show. 1- I already knew that Katie is a dangerous lunatic. 2- Recovery stories can be tough to listen to. It is good to make it something that you are hearing because you made the choice to listen. Many of us have our own stories, and it can be tough to turn the memory/thinking valve off, and just listen. 3- The production quality of the show is excellent. Bad sound can get in the way of hearing the story. 4- I *know* Katie through BARpod. This show was not mentioned here, along with her podcast buddy Jesse Singal. Perhaps Katie could do an episode somewhere filling in the blanks here, about how the recovery from alcohol interacted with her addiction to podcasting. ~ Zig Zag Zell was an opportunist. When a Republican senator died, the Democrat governor appointed him to the seat. ZZZ later spoke at the Republican Convention. In 2003, I wrote to my representatives, opposing the invasion of Iraq. ZZZ never replied. ~ @ZaidJilani I was actually in a room with Roy Barnes and Barnes said when he appointed Zell he was worried he would be too liberal to be Georgia’s Senator. I think Zell got a bit of PTSD from 9/11 and went to the right after that, it wasn’t actually opportunism @ZaidJilani I’m talking about Zell Miller, who established free college for anyone in the state who kept a B average, and you’re telling me I’m talking about dismantling public education? You need to keep up with what I’m saying. ~ The hope scholarships were funded by a state lottery, which had long been controversial. The lottery is a big $$$ operation. I would be interested in the financial connection between Scientific Games and ZZZ. ~ I put up an image, “Jesus Cuss” I looked at the rules when I posted it, and did not think it was a violation. Here is the image onX, for reference. You have the right to interpret the rules as you see fit. I disagree with this decision. ~ Hi. Thanks for the link, and thanks for reaching out. Looking at the user’s other posts, this does not appear to be an image created by a religious fruitcake from their point of view. It’s therefore not a good fit for this sub, per Rule 7. ~ The base image was posted on X. Whether or not it was made by an RF is a judgment call. I *edited* this image into a haiku, from my point of view. Again, it is a judgment call whether I am an RF, or a pagan pizza. It is a judgement call, and you made one. Thank you for the reply, and thank you for the work you do to keep r/religiousfruitcake going. ~ Sic utere tuo alienum non laedas? … Use your own property in such a way that you do not injure other people’s ~ @peachpundit The thing about false attacks in politics is that a lot of people, maybe even most, don’t have the time to fact check the claims. We did. @chamblee54 When you hit “continue” you get a sleazy popup ad. @peachpundit You are free to stop using the site any time, as you have complained about Google’s ad placement already. And you do know Google serves ads to you that it thinks you like based on your activity. So if it’s sleazy… @chamblee54 I do not like using shady anti-virus software. I don’t know who your provider is, but it is not serving you well. When a customer lets you know there is a problem, they are doing you a favor. @peachpundit Let us know when you buy something from us. Then you are a customer. Until then, enjoy the ad supported content. And if you don’t like the ads, they are served by Google. ~ Gentiles have to “understand” a LOT these days. It is tough work, especially with all the ugly talk by Jews “explaining” the ugly behavior of Jews. Someone said that Hasbara is a Hebrew word meaning “explaining” That is more condescending and insulting than propaganda. ~ UPDATE 2024 Jamie Mortara, formerly John, is a “Data Services Associate at Earthjustice” in Oakland CA. The host of the event, Michael Hessel-Mail, is an English Instructor at Southeast Community College Lincoln NE. On May 6, I was the feature at the Little 5 Poetry Bash. ~ This is a repost from 2015. ~ @UncleHotep I for one like congress to get ghetto I want to see people getting slapped, 🥊, 🦷 knocked out and all that. Fight for my vote dammit ~ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) ~ The Library of Congress ~ selah
Witch
This is a repost from 2015. … A podcast, read poetry and eventually die, featured a poet named John Mortara. I became interested when the poet was a queer witch, or was it witchy queer. Never mind that the poet writes more about prozac than black magic. Just because poets take prozac, that doesn’t mean that prose writers take poetryzac.
It turns out there was an Atlanta stop on a tour. I drove through Dickhater, past the Donald Trimble Mortuary, until a string of red brick houses appeared. I looked at the mailbox of the first one. The mailbox fell off the pole. That was not the correct house.
I got there twenty minutes early, and drove around the neighborhood until nine pm. In a few minutes, the hostess announced that the event was taking place in the basement. There was a half hour before the event started. Not all poetry events are created equal.
The basement had atmosphere. Literally. At one point, the host announced that cigarette smoking was acceptable inside. Holy 1958. It had been years since people smoked indoors, and here was a crowd of young, young people… one poet read a piece about the one hair on his chest, which he names after either republicans, or democrats, depending on how bad it smells. He read the poem from his phone.
The host and hostess did double duty as the master, and mistress, of ceremonies. They wore bathrobes, that were supposed to be lab coats. They were auditioning people to take on a trip to Mars. There must be a shortage of poets, comedians, and tweeters on the red planet.
For a while they alternated poets and comedians. A lady said she could choose from playing fake blackjack with geriatric queers at the Hideaway, or going to Lithonia to have sex for ten minutes. A man made murder Kroger jokes. I crouched on a wooden shelf thing in the corner of the basement, with an exposed light bulb shining in my face.
After a few performers, there was an intermission. I went back to my vehicle, which was not broken into. I got a baseball cap, to block the light bulb.. At this point the hostess made the glorious announcement that smoking was not allowed in the basement. The air conditioning brought the aroma upstairs. The back yard kudzu approved.
During the intermission, the sound system was tweaked to allow two ladies to perform. The tweaking did not take, and they shouted “stay off my snapchat you piece of shit homie” over the recorded music. For faux microphones, the ladies used a mountain dew bottle, and a comb.
The final performer was John Mortara. (spell check suggestions: Mortal, Mortar) The poet had purple hair, a wool hat, and a sleeveless shirt saying “I am a unicorn.” The first piece was recited from memory, with no need for a microphone. There was a piece about tweets written on prozac … all that twitters is not gold. Soon the show was over. The last line: “Told my dad I’m a fricken witch.” Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
UPDATE This comment appeared on facebook. John Mortara “i am frequently misgendered throughout this article and it makes me angry.” An attempt at correcting this has been made. UPDATE TWO Here is the story of what happened later. UPDATE THREE Read Poetry and Eventually Die was hacked by by Mr.dexter.305. This attack from Saudi Arabia. UPDATE 2024 Jamie Mortara, formerly John, is a Data Services Associate at Earthjustice, Oakland CA. The host of the event, Michael Hessel-Mail, is an English Instructor at Southeast Community College, Lincoln NE. On May 6, I was the feature at the Little 5 Poetry Bash.
I Used To Be Charming Part Three
This is the latest edition of the chamblee54 book report on I Used to Be Charming, by Eve Babitz. This feature is a bit different. Instead of focusing on IUTBC, we will look at some of the key players in the story. A catalyst for today is a 2019 episode of the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. The guest is Lili Anolik, promoting a book, Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. This is a repost.
One important name is Earl McGrath. Bret had never heard of him. A friend of many influential people, McGrath had many careers. Apparently, his main skill was a talent for being fabulous. As David Bowie said, “It’s not really work, it’s just the power to charm.”
“McGrath’s story began in Superior WI. The son of an itinerant short-order cook, it wasn’t long before the teenage Earl began to display a wanderlust of his own, dropping out of high school and leaving home, ‘hanging out with Aldous Huxley in Los Angeles and going to see Henry Miller in Big Sur’, according to Vanity Fair. In the late 1950s he served with the Merchant Marine in Africa and the Middle East, and in Italy, in 1958, he met the woman he would later marry, Camilla Pecci-Blunt — a glamorous countess, and a descendant of Pope Leo XIII … McGrath was working for 20th Century Fox in the early 1960s when he met perhaps the other most influential person in his life, the legendary co-founder and president of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun.”
“Maybe that’s why Eve fell in “friend love” with a gay man, the cattiest breed of all, if we want to be cuntily honest as well. Specifically, Earl McGrath … As any gay man not fully out would be, McGrath was married to an Italian countess. He never had an official title, per se, though, in death, he would be credited as a “writer, music executive, art collector, and gallery owner.” In short, a jack-of-no-trades. Other than knowing how to be at the right place at the right time, and network with the right people. This is how he came into Eve’s orbit in the late 60s. The two grew Siamese twin close until McGrath’s venom reared its ugly head with the line … “Is that the blue you’re using?” As Anolik interprets the phrase, it’s an easy way to make an artist (of any kind) doubt themselves and their vision.”
Eve met Earl McGrath when Eve, and possibly McGrath, was dating Peter Pilafian, the electric violin player with The Mamas and The Papas. Peter Pilafian is one of those players that is unknown today. He does not have a wikipedia page, and we do not know if he is alive. Apparently, Eve would spend the night with Pilafian, and McGrath would show up at 7am the next day.
Somehow, Eve and McGrath connected. McGrath makes a spectacle of himself in Slow Days Fast Company. McGrath also gets credit/blame for the line you always seem to hear about Eve. “In every young man’s life, there is an Eve Babitz. It is usually Eve Babitz.”
lilianolikwriter has a tasteful picture, with this caption: “Eve Babitz with frenemy, Earl McGrath, at the opening of the Black Rabbit restaurant on Melrose, at the tail-end of the 60s. Earl is in the cowboy mustache, Eve in the glasses, which she was normally too vain to wear in photographs. The brunette with the pixie hair is Diane Gardiner, Doors publicist and long-time squeeze of Chuck Berry. (Says Eve, “Diane was a mean monster but everything she said was funny so I forgave her.”) … The woman in the floppy hat and sunglasses, says Eve, doesn’t ring a bell, not even a faint one.”
Allegedly, the Eve-McGrath falling out came when Eve was dating Harrison Ford, who also caught McGrath’s eye. A posthumous article about McGrath mentions “His great friend Harrison Ford — three of whose children were among McGrath’s two-dozen godchildren — saluted him as, ‘The last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.’”
Lili Anolik tells an amusing story about Mr. Ford. “I remember one of our first conversations Eve told me about Harrison Ford dealing dope out of a bass fiddle at Barney’s Beanery”…. Michelle Phillips talks about seeing Star Wars when it first came out. When Harrison Ford appeared on the screen, Michelle said “whats he doing there, that’s my dope dealer.” A less reliable source chimes in: “Harrison Ford was her weed dealer, and, briefly, her lover: “The thing about Harrison was, Harrison could fuck. Nine people a day. It’s a talent, loving nine different people in one day. Warren [Beatty] could only do six.”
Part of the Eve legend is the photograph of Eve playing chess with Marcel Duchamp. “What happened was, my boyfriend at the time, Walter Hopps [director of the Pasadena Art Museum, 31, married], had scored this great coup. He’d convinced Duchamp, who’d given up art for chess back in the 1920s, to do a retrospective with him. He threw a party for the private opening, and L.A. had never seen anything like it. Everyone, everyone, was there—Duchamp, naturally, and Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg and Dennis Hopper and, oh, just everyone. I wasn’t, though, because I wasn’t invited. I guess Walter was afraid I’d make a scene in front of his wife. I was mad, which is why when Julian asked me at the public opening to take off my clothes and pose for him, I said sure. I mean, my breasts were normally something to behold, but birth control had made them even bigger, so they were really something to behold at that particular moment. …”
The photographer, Julian Wasser, was dating Eve’s sister Mirandi. Wasser had an exhibit in 2019, so apparently he was alive 3 years ago. Wasser took his most famous picture a few years later.“One August day in 1969, I was listening to a police radio when I heard all this strange talk about something going on in this residential area next to Beverly Hills. It was the kind of neighbourhood where people would … put pillows over their heads if murders were going on.”
“That was how I first heard that Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, had been killed, along with four others. When I went up there shortly afterwards for Life magazine, Roman asked me to take Polaroid shots of the scene as well – and give them to a psychic who could study them and find out who the killers were. You can see my Polaroid on the chair beside Roman. …”
“When I was 14, I used to steal my dad’s car and drive all over Washington listening to police radio. There was segregation then and all the best murders, robberies and bloody events were in the black part of town. I’d photograph them and give the shots to the Washington Post. I was so naïve. Of course they wouldn’t run them – it was black people. … It’s a rough world now. I think Manson started it and 9/11 finished it. Reality has fallen on us like a ton of bricks.”
Ed Ruscha and brother Paul Ruscha were longtime *friends* of Eve. After Eve died, they had a paywall protected chat. Ed Ruscha: “Oh, it was the early ’60s, but she was a great part of my growing up. I know I was with her when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. I was in bed with Eve and we were watching this on live TV, a little black-and-white set. … she lived in this house behind her parents’ house. She kept a sloppy quarters because she had a lot of cats who had their way. Her parents lived up at the front house on Bronson near Franklin. And I knew her parents well. Mae was a beautiful, sweet Texan who was an artist, and she drew pictures of the gingerbread houses on Bunker Hill. And Sol was the musician, violinist. They were very sweet people.”
Paul Ruscha: “I came to L.A. in 1973. We met at Jack’s Catch All; it was this great thrift store. I was a veteran thrift shopper and so was Danna [Ed Ruscha’s wife]. She introduced me to Eve, who said, “I’d like to have you over for dinner.” Danna said, “I think she likes you.” Eve knew that Ed and I were friends with [fashion model] Leon Bing. So she called Leon, who told Eve, “Well, no matter what you make for him, be sure that it’s loaded with cilantro because he’s just crazy about cilantro.” Eve put it in the salad and the soup, and I hate cilantro and I couldn’t eat it. All I could do is laugh. … If I spent the night with her, she’d wake up before I did and then want me to leave. So she’d throw coffee into a pot of boiling water and bang on it to make the grounds go down and to wake me up and say, “OK, here’s your coffee. Now get out of here.” And I’d laugh and then she’d say, “I think I’ve got something I’d like you to read.” Then I’d read whatever she’d written the day before. I gave her my critique, and if she liked it, she let me stay, and if she didn’t, she’d throw me out. … She just couldn’t go anywhere without ruining something. She’d knock something over or break something, and the same thing at her house. I remember a couple of fur coats I gave her, and one of them she threw over this little space heater that she had. It caught on fire and it burned up her garage.”
Since this is Hollywood, a certain amount of skepticism is appropriate. Lili says in the BEE appearance “the modern way of being objective is a kind of hyper objectivity, it’s a reconstituted objectivity, is objectivity that acknowledges the inevitability of subjectivity.” Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.” More episodes of this series are available. one two four five
POTUS Jokes
After a ADHD WHCD, the Washington Post published The single best joke told by every president, from Obama to Washington. It was easier than finding anything funny said by Larry Wilmore Michelle Wolf. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
The pickins are surprisingly slim, especially for the modern era. When everything you do is recorded, something has to be funny. Three recent Republicans show a liberal capacity for humor.
George H.W. Bush, 1989 Gridiron Club: “People say I’m indecisive, but I don’t know about that.”
Richard Nixon, in Ms. magazine, 1971: “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I wouldn’t want to wake up next to a lady pipefitter.”
Herbert Hoover “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”
Warren Harding was a dog. … “referring to his penis, which he named Jerry, in a 1915 love letter to his mistress Carrie Fulton Phillips: “Jerry — you recall Jerry, whose cards I once sent you to Europe — came in while I was pondering your notes in glad reflection, and we talked about it.”
You have to go back over a hundred fifty years to get a serious laugh.
Andrew Johnson “Washington, D.C., is twelve square miles bordered by reality.”
Abraham Lincoln “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Franklin Pierce about duties after leaving office: “There’s nothing left. . . but to get drunk.”
Zachary Taylor when suggested that he run: “Stop your nonsense and drink your whiskey!”
John Tyler on his death bed: “Doctor, I am going. Perhaps it is best.”
James Madison on his death bed: “I always talk better lying down.”
PG found a quote once about Alexander Hamilton, by John Adams. “His ambition, his restlessness and all his grandiose schemes come, I’m convinced, from a superabundance of secretions, which he couldn’t find enough whores to absorb!” A google search for verification led to a reddit page, Fake Founder Quotes, starring John Adams. Apparently, Mr. Adams said something similar to that in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, sent January 25, 1806. According to this source, the letter was a satire of Jonathan Swift’s Tale of a Tub
George Washington in a 1788 letter congratulating the Marquis de Chastellux on his recent marriage: “Now you are well served for coming to fight in favour of the American Rebels, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible Contagion — domestic felicity — which like the small pox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life: because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in America — I don’t know how you manage these matters in France) for his whole life time.”
Stacey Does It Again
This is a repost from 2019. In 2021, Donald J. Trump gave election result denial a bad reputation. Stacey pioneered the concept after the 2018 election. In 2022, Stacey was defeated in her second run for Governor. She did concede defeat. … Stacey Abrams went hardcore bless-her-heart in the New York Times yesterday. The opening line was a doozy. “In the mid-1960s, when my father was a teenager, he was arrested. His crime? Registering black voters in Mississippi.”
This is news, to anyone who has been following Ms. Abrams. Her campaign bio does not mention this incident. Nor does at least one article from Mississippi. Google is little help. The arrest story may turn out to be true. Why it is only turning up six months after the election?
PG asked the readers at GeorgiaPol if they knew anything about an arrest. There was an illuminating response. “Being obsessed with Stacey Abrams, you might have missed some of these other Georgia stories: – Georgia governor postpones Los Angeles trip as film industry protests … ” The pundit listed seven more news items. None of the items concerned an arrest for voter registration.
The New York Times did not fact check the article. Ms. Abrams dropped a few more whoppers into the order, to go with the fries and Pepsi.
“Although “exact match” lacks the explicit racial animus of Jim Crow, its execution nonetheless betrayed its true purpose to disenfranchise voters of color. Georgia’s secretary of state held 53,000 voter registrations hostage under exact match last year, 70 percent of which came from black voters, who made up only around 30 percent of Georgia’s eligible voters.” (Voters are registered by the counties, not the state.)
“We demonstrated the immensity of the problem, yet opponents to voting rights responded with the specious claim that increased turnout was somehow proof that no suppression had occurred.” (No link was provided, to show who made this claim.)
“The state’s top elections official, former Secretary of State Brian Kemp himself — functioning simultaneously as the scorekeeper, referee and contestant in the gubernatorial election — was caught revealing to supporters that he was “concerned” about record absentee ballot requests from voters of color.” (Votes are counted by the counties, not the state.)
“Across the country, voter purges employ an easily manipulated “use it or lose it” rule, under which eligible voters who exercised their First Amendment right to abstain from voting in prior elections can be booted off the rolls.”
The last item was a spectacular show of sophistry. The First Amendment mentions religion, press, speech, assembly, and petitioning the government. Yesterday, logicians at GeorgiaPol and facebook contend that not voting, and keeping your registration, is covered by the right to free speech. If Stacey says so, it must be so. This is what some people like to argue about.
The uncritical adoration of Stacey Abrams by the press is part of the problem. She receives little of the scrutiny that most politicians face. If Ms. Abrams is going to grow as a leader, she needs to be taken seriously. This includes questioning her rhetoric. Don’t expect The New York Times to cast the first stone. The yankee media adores poor widdle Stacey, and her sad tale of having the election stolen through “malfeasance, misfeasance and mismanagement.” Will long suffering Georgia voters continue to feel the magic?
Chamblee54 has written about Stacey Abrams too many times. Pictures for this celebration are from your big government buddies at The Library of Congress.
Anglo Persian Oil Company
This is a repost from 2010. People are saying more and more about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. TomDispatch has a fascinating paragraph about one of the key players, British Petroleum (BP): “Originally known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, still later British Petroleum), BP got its start in southwestern Iran, where it once enjoyed a monopoly on the production of crude petroleum. In 1951, its Iranian holdings were nationalized by the government of Mohammed Mossadeq. The company returned to Iran in 1953, following a coup that put the Shah in power. It was finally expelled again in 1979, following the Islamic Revolution.”
If you look at the problems of the world in the last forty years, so many are affected by Iran. The 1953 revolution left great resentment, which became manifest in the 1979 revolution. Soon Iraq…whose border with Iran was clumsily drawn by the British…decides to attack Iran. A gruesome eight year war is the result, with the USA supporting both sides (as well as possibly encouraging Iraq to attack Iran). The idea was, if they are fighting each other, they will leave Israel alone.
After this war is over, Iraq has a problem with Kuwait over it’s war debt. Another war is the result, with the USA involved. Iraq is vanquished, but some in the USA are not satisfied, and after a few years the USA invades Iraq again. That war is still raging.
The biggest winner of the US-Iraq war (aka World War W) is Iran. This new influence in Persia is very troubling to Israel, which is loudly rattling it’s nuclear saber. When Israel makes noise about Iran, it takes attention away from the Palestinian tragedy.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Remarkably, Tom Dispatch is still publishing content. The situation with the countries-that-start-with-I is worse than ever.
Carolinian Manipulation
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
White Carolinian Manipulation of the Memory of the Hamburg Massacre of 1876
ANOTHER woke YouTuber makes a hate video about me! 😂 (Emma Thorne)
Could You Transform Your Yard into a Flourishing Wildlife Haven?
10 rules for protesting respectfully – Here’s a guide for engaging in “legitimate” protest …
The Protest Derangement Class: A Response to John McWhorter Little Joel
Is Bari Weiss Embarrassed by the Intellectual Dark Web? 2018 “New York Times” profile …
Far Gone in 30 Seconds CNN Sentences Palestine To Death (September 2001)
‘not easy to see’ how Israeli offensive on Rafah could be compliant with international law …
Joke Origin: A Person Who Makes Puns Should Be Drawn and Quoted
Cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) is a collaborative drawing approach first used by …
It is never an enjoyable experience to expose dysfunctional leadership.
Black American culture is dying. Ghetto blacks are to blame. Zarria Simmons
Antisemitism and Free Speech | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom
1 arrested in Dunwoody High School student cardiac arrest death | FOX 5 News
There Is No Such Thing as a New Idea. We Simply Take a Lot of Old Ideas and Put Them …
Steve Albini Really Doesn’t Like Odd Future (and Possibly Black People In General)
SBC Pastor Believe That Sex Abuse in the SBC Is a Distraction From “Real Ministry.”
Rico Tice says Martyn Lloyd-Jones ‘was right’ about evangelicals separating from the CofE
vivek ~ “identitarian deference” ~ hamas covenent ~ wildcat ~ hulga hopewell ~ midtown art walk
Marc J. LaFountain ~ manifest ~ steve albini ~ jim goad ~ steve albini
steve albini ~ steve albini ~ repaving ~ bob halford ~ sankranti ~ Cadavre exquis
hasbara ~ gollum’s sister ~ Socrates ~ bill veeck ~ andy mills ~ blocked and reporting
Manley Pointer is a recovering bible salesman, and the son of Georgia Tech legend George P. Burdell. Very few people have seen Mr. Pointer in recent years. Since he could not be located, Luther Mckinnon has agreed to read at this feature. ~ The only time this feature mentions Israel or Hamas is the remark about Ben Shapiro. “As the right-wing’s angry motormouth one-time wunderkind, he’s remained somewhat consistent—having gone from saying things like, “Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue” to things like, “Hamas is running Columbia University.” Neither Gaza nor Palestine were mentioned. ~ I think of Jesus as being more of a spirit, than an actual historic person. If that this is true, then Jesus is an indivisible part of christianity. This is a deep subject, and di … ~ @IsraelHatzolah IDF commander reciting a prayer earlier today ahead of the ground mission in Rafah. ‘God will protect you in your departure and your coming, and will make your enemy fall at your feet and we will say Amen’. ~ Debbi דְבוֹרָה @RedeemedRags Hormel Foods made their first batch of Spam in 1937. They have announced they will be making their second batch later this week ~ @robertwrighter Anyone hoping to end the domestic unrest without ending the Gaza war should listen to this interview. The number of protesters at each campus is pretty small, but the commitment can still be intense. Protests may relocate after the semester ends, but they won’t stop. ~ @ZaidJilani This tells me Jonah and heck the whole NeverTrump Republican pundit class know next to no average voters. Their friend group are pundits, lobbyists, etc. I can drive five miles to a deep red county and 99 out of 100 people I’d ask would think Rafah is a new dish at Waffle House. @chamblee54 You can get Waffle House Rafah scattered, smothered, covered, and chunked. The Palestinian Rafah is currently having all those things done to it. ~ @chamblee54 You can get Waffle House Rafah scattered, smothered, covered, and chunked. The Palestinian Rafah is currently having all those things done to it. ~ @electricalWSOP I certainly have some ‘splainin to do, and am not shy about any of it. A lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them. It’s nobody’s obligation to overlook that, and I do feel an obligation to redeem myself… ~ Jewell Pathe’s Bathing Beauty Pirates Capture Vitagraph Ships For “Captain Blood” Balboa Beach, California June 15, 1924 ~ Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name. This account may have been banned or the username is incorrect. ~ Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. This took place while UNRWA and other UN Agencies’ staff were on the compound. While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas. The UNRWA headquarters has on its grounds a petrol and diesel station for the Agency’s fleet of cars. Our director with the help of other staff had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up. A crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting “Burn down the United Nations” (see video below 👇 from Israeli media). This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk. In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our coumpound until proper security is restored. Over the past two months, Israeli extremists have been staging protests outside the UNRWA compound in Jerusalem, called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality. This week, the protest became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound. Over the past months, UN staff have regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation. Our compound has been seriously vandalized and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns. It is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times. UN staff, premises and operations should be protected at all times in line with international law. I call on all those who have influence to put an end to these attacks and hold all those responsible accountable. The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable. Anything less will set a new dangerous standard. ~ @iowahawkblog Not bragging, but the worms in MY brain are very much alive, because my brain is both delicious and nutritious ~ here is the full episode of the notorious Ann Coulter- Vivek R. conversation. The soundbite is 7 minutes in. AC goes on to a monolog, before VR gets to answer. He sort of answers the slur … sort of. It is not a soundbite gotcha. ~ movie attitude, sometimes that seems impossible, popcorn for the win ~ babies get to live, palestine freedom sometimes, that seems impossible ~ My cat in a dog named Mike Hat, doggie flips wig as well over pushy cat, the cat strikes back with sharp claws, found purchase in the old laws, The lack of sun shuns my skin, I grow pale as a water-filled glass vase, The middle won’t hold, break the mould ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
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