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Tuesday, March 01, 2005
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Wow! At San Francisco State in March a celebration of Bob Wills at 100. I'm gonna miss 'em all, alas. The movies tonight look especially good.
(Via .)
3:20:55 PM 
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Good Ole Boys: " Here's an incredibly disturbing episode from Jerry Falwell's autobiography (via Bob) : There were times that Dad’s pranks bordered on cruelty. One of his oil-company workers, a one-legged man he nicknamed ‘Crip’ Smith, complained about everything. Dad and Crip’s co-workers got tired of the old man’s bellyaching and decided to take revenge. One morning Crip called in sick and Dad volunteered to send by lunch to his grateful but suspicious employee. Dad and his chums caught Crip’s old black tomcat, killed it, skinned it, and cooked it in the kitchen of one of Dad’s little restaurants. They called it squirrel meat and delivered it to Crip on a linen-covered tray. When Crip returned to work the next morning, Dad and his co-conspirators asked him how he liked his meal. They knew he would complain even about a free home-cooked lunch, and when Crip called it ‘the toughest squirrel meat’ he had ever eaten, they were glad to tell him why. Before you get too shocked, keep in mind that this is from the same guy who lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. "
(Via The Talent Show.)
2:34:55 PM
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To listen to California's governor talk (very difficult to do), you'd think that all business cares about in this country today is that it not pay taxes; business doesn't care about good health care for its employees or whether they can hire employees who have a good education. I don't know if I buy all of what Bill Gates says here, but it is refreshing to get a different slant. But what does Gates know?
2:25:34 PM
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New Legislation Would Ban Urban Legends: "
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/02/ban_urban_legends.html
By Brian Briggs
Washington D.C. – A new law proposed by a bipartisan group of Representatives would outlaw the spread of 'urban legends.'
Representative Simon Heedsmore of West Virginia said, 'We cannot allow these frauds to be perpetrated on the American public. If the right urban legend were to be created it could cause a panic which could have dangerous consequences to national security.'
Kevin Sikes, staffer for Representative Lewis of South Carolina said, 'It's ridiculous how many questions about the e-mail tax we get. There ought to be a law to stop that sort of thing, and soon there will be.'
Publicly, Representatives are touting 'national security' on the urban legend issue, but privately they say the real reason is preventing embarrassment. In January, a bill almost made it out of committee that would've forced Starbucks to sell coffee to the armed forces in Iraq. The bill was in response to a hoax circulating in e-mail that Starbucks was refusing to provide coffee to the army, because it did not support the war. Fortunately, a staffer found the hoax debunked on a web site, before the bill made it to the floor for a vote.
'It was embarrassing for the Representatives and they didn't want to go through that again,' said one staffer who wished to remain anonymous.
The bill would punish individuals who create or spread this type of information. Penalties range from fines of $500 for sending an urban legend e-mail to 90 days in jail for creating and publishing one.
The ACLU contends that this law would violate free speech rights. 'Congress cannot limit constitutionally guaranteed rights, just because they are too dumb to realize something is a piece of fiction. We are confident the law will be overturned,' said Chief Counsel Elliott Spence.
An urban legend or urban myth is usually apocryphal story involving incidents of the recent past, often including elements of humor and horror, which spreads quickly and is popularly believed to be true.
"
(Via Science And Politics.)
Wait a minute! The entire Bush campaign last year was based on urban legends!
11:45:41 AM
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I haven't seen the print edition of the latest Bay Guardian yet, but here's a link to the online version of their article on San Francisco Brewery Tours. Note to self and others: must go! I've done the Pyramid and Scharffen Berger tours, but the Anchor tour looks really enticing, as do Speakeasy and Bison.
10:33:44 AM
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Last night I related this anecdote to my daughter and her friend. They didn't appreciate it. I know Flann O'Brien is not for everyone, but I've always loved the Keats and Chapman stories:
Keats and Chapman were entrusted by the British Government with a secret mission which involved a trip to India. A man-of-war awaited them at a British port. Leaving their lodgings at dawn, they were driven at a furious pace to the point of embarkation. When about to rush on board, they encountered at the dockside a mutual friend, one Mr Childs, who chanced to be there on business connected with his calling of wine-importer. Perfunctory and very hasty courtesies were exchanged; Keats and Chapman then rushed on board the man-of-war, which instantly weighed anchor. The trip to India was made in the fastest time then heard of, and as soon as the ship had come in to anchor in Bombay harbour, the two friends were whisked to land in a wherry. Knowing that time was of the essence of their mission, they hastened from the docks into the neighbouring streets and on turning a corner, whom should they see only ---
Mr Childs? No.
Just a lot of Indians, complete strangers.
'Big world,' Keats remarked.
Copied from things move around because I'm too lazy to retype it from the book.
8:56:13 AM
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Mixed bag of news on the Dylan front today.
First, according to Expecting Rain, and following rumors that have been developing for the past couple weeks, it looks like there's quite a bit of shuffling in Bob's band. Larry Campbell is, alas, gone. In his place (or maybe this was in the works anyway), we'll get Denny Freeman, Elana Fremerman and Don Herron -- see ExpectingRain's Who's Who. On the one hand, it'll be nice to see if a big shakeup means a shakeup in the songs performed and Bob's approach to them; maybe the new band members will have their own favorites, and, say, having a violinist would mean that Bob would play stuff he hasn't played in a while such as songs from Desire. On the other, and more likely, it may mean that the setlists will be less adventurous and lean more towards greatest hits material, especially early in the tour when I'll be seeing two or three shows. In any case, it is exciting, lending an air of unpredictability and anticipation we don't always get.
The other news is that apparently Sony will be producing a new set of the Bootleg Series, this time plumbing (again) material from 1961-66. I guess this is to come out in August, and coincide with the Martin Scorcese documentary. If true, it's something of a disappointment. I yield to no one in my feelings about Dylan's 60's work output, but given that Bob rarely releases more than one product in a single year, this does seem to indicate we won't get a new album this year, and I'd much rather have new stuff than old stuff (much of which we probably already have in bootleg form already).
8:46:27 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Steve Michel.
Last update: 4/19/2005; 3:44:50 PM.
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