Robert Rodi supplies lyrics to Monk’s tune, written in praise of the Bolivar Hotel, the sometime residence of the Jazz Baroness, Pannonica von Koenigswarter .With Matt Yeakley, guitar, and Bill Markus, bass. Performed at the Foundation Room in West Hollywood, CA, June 7, 20014. Posted by Robert Rodi.
The Mentalist, making me mental, or, “We don’t need no lousy, stinking Bill of Rights!”
Post-Thanksgiving ennui can make you do stupid things, like watching The Mentalist, a semi-Psych rip-off that is now thankfully in its final season. I always found the ads for The Mentalist—a smart-assed “genius” who makes the police look like chumps while solving all their toughest cases for them—distinctly off-putting, but, well, I guess it was…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “It’s the old ‘some pigs are more equal than others’ thing come back to bite us in the ass.” “He says he’s always depended on the kindness of strangers, but I’d say that ‘gullibility’ is more à propos.” “Don’t sweat it. We’ll get fat. He’ll get slaughtered. I’ve seen it a thousand…
Jan, Jan, & Maarten—“Misterioso”
From the “Bariton Festival” in Durgerdam, Holland, 7 Oktober 2012, featuring Jan Menu, baritonsaxofoon, Jan Voogd, contrabas, and Maarten van der Grinten, gitaar. The boys are a little slow off the mark, but eventually they make it work. Posted by jijimoso
Chuck Hagel—“Pour encourager les autres”*
One of the comparatively few attractive things about President Obama is his dislike of the “ritual dismissal”—the Washington practice of figuratively beheading a pre-eminent DC playa, not really because his departure will make a difference as much as the sheer pleasure involved in seeing an important somebody get his butt publicly kicked. Well, a foolish…
A tear, and a poem, for Marion Barry
I will shed a tear for Marian Barry, for, as a fellow human being, he deserves one on his death. But let it be remembered that Barry was a terrible mayor of Washington, DC, whose incompetence and greed made life for Washington’s poor far worse than it had been. Barry turned DC’s government into a…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “This way, we have the best of both worlds. I have what I want, and, well, frankly, that’s as far as I’ve gotten. But you know what? It feels good!” “‘I can’t turn my back on you for a minute, can I?’ You know something, hunbun? You didn’t know the half of…
Henry Kissinger’s World Order—the silk stocking full of shit at 90
Henry’s actually 91 rather than 90, but I doubt if he’ll miss the extra birthday. And, in any event, I always choose euphony over accuracy when given the choice. Since we’re talking accuracy, Napoleon was in fact talking about, and to, Talleyrand when he delivered the memorable insult given above, while Henry’s fave rave was…
“Science” Marches “On”
A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post served up, um, a “Whopper” of an article titled “How a national food policy could save millions of American lives,” an article so big that it required four authors, to wit: Mark Bittman, an opinion columnist and food writer for the New York Times; Michael Pollan, who…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “He said ‘Tell them that the last time you saw me, I was singing ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’.’ He appeared to find that quite amusing.” “I’m sorry, but every time you call, he just says ‘SHAZAM’ and takes off.” “You were right, Madge. They did give him a key to…