Yes, I am an elitist. I do not own a car, yet am comfortably nestled in the lower upper-income brackets. I live within walking distance of three live theaters, an internationally recognized art collection (the Phillips), and numerous jazz clubs, not to mention a Whole Foods and more Starbucks than I can count. I don’t…
Hey, Netflix! “The Crown” sucks!
Is there anyone in the world so pathetic as Elizabeth II? Aside from us 300 million-odd schmucks who will soon be under the thumb of El Hugo Chávez del Norte. But, seriously, one has to feel sympathy for a ninety-year-old broad condemned to wander the earth pretending that she’s important. It wasn’t always that way,…
Cyrille Aimée—“Well, You Needn’t”
Adrien Moignard and Michael Valeanu – guitars; Sam Anning – bass; Rajiv Jayaweera – drums. Smalls Jazz Club, June 11th of 2013. Posted by Cyrille
Hey, Kevin D. Williamson! You’re a total idiot!
Almost exactly a year ago, I riffed on the idiocy of National Review “roving correspondent” Kevin D. Williamson, who was moaning and groaning about New York “sliding back into pre-Giuliani chaos”—pointing out how Kevie D’s “analysis” got the facts so wrong in so many ways. Well, another year has passed, under Kevin’s least favorite mayor…
Why Donald Trump will be our very worst president, by a very wide margin
Donald Trump will be our very worst president, by a very wide margin, because Donald Trump is the apotheosis of the Tea Party, the culmination of Republican lawlessness—that is to say, an impatience and contempt for “rules” that eventually transforms itself into a delight in their violation—that has been growing stronger and stronger since the…
Vanneman praises Friedman; Heavens sway, just a little
Yes, it’s true. Thomas Friedman—the guy who said we should invade Iraq “because we can”—has written a brilliant column, “Bibi Netanyahu Makes Trump His Chump”, whose first two paragraphs read as follows: “For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it…
Thelonious Monk & Charlie Parker—“Well, You Needn’t”
This is not a video, but it is essential, a live recording of Charlie Parker playing “Well, You Needn’t” with Monk as accompanist. This is one of the “famous” Dean Benedetti recordings. Benedetti was a passionate fan of Parker and surreptitiously recorded many of Bird’s nightclub performances. To save tape (or “wire”—the earliest taping machines…
Celebrities die, Geezers laugh
The deaths of Prince and Carrie Fisher: what lessons can these icons teach us? How about “Don’t do drugs”? Okay, the only thing tackier than maudlin tributes to dead celebrities is dead celebrity jokes, but we geezers have a special reason to crack wise. I was 31—31!—when the original Star Wars came out, so, no,…
Captain Kangaroo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brCNJHFdYFI This is “Geezer Memories Week” at Literature R Us. I was actually a little old for Captain Kangaroo (aka Bob Keeshan), which didn’t premiere until I was 10, and a great deal of the time I “watched” it only because my little sisters were watching as I got ready for school. Still, I appreciated…
Suzy Snowflake
Suzy Snowflake was always paired with Hard Rock, Coco, & Joe. Revisiting her is a bit of a disappointment. I never liked her as much as HRC&J—she was a girl, after all—but viewing her today, apart from her gender, the animation isn’t as much fun, probably because she’s moving through space instead of just sitting…