“Little Rootie Tootie,” to be precise SAX: Bob Sheppard, Jeff Driskill, Justo Almario, Tom Luer, Tommy Peterson TRUMPET: Bijon Watson, Willie Murillo, Ray Monterio, Brian Swartz, Gabe Johnson TROMBONE: Francisco Torres, Wendell Kelly, Steve Hughes, Ryan Dragon BASS: Rickey Minor DRUMS: Gary Novak KEYBOARDS/MELODICA: John Beasley Additional musicians: Dwight Trible, Nayanna Holley, Andy Martin, Tony…
“Hey! Hey! Read all about it! An Oklahoma Oilman’s Billion-Dollar Divorce! Harold Hamm to Pay One of the Biggest Divorce Settlements in History! Read all about it!”
Harold Hamm started up way the hard way—thirteenth child of a family of sharecroppers. Now he’s sitting on the oil rights to about a million acres of what geologists call the Bakken Formation, worth about $18 billion. Some folks might think that $18 billion should buy a man a little respect. But for the New…
The Mysterious Rand Paul: What is his secret?
How does Rand Paul do it? How does he say things that would sink any other politician and get away with it? Politico’s Sam Youngman is the latest intrepid journalist to explore this baffling mystery, ultimately confessing, like so many before him, that it’s just a damn enigma, but that, surely, surely, wise-guy Rand will…
Charlie Chaplin and the Mutuals: Third Time’s the Charm!
In 1914 Charlie Chaplin was hired by Mack Sennett to replace outgoing star Ford Sterling at Sennett’s Keystone Pictures for $7500 a year. Two years later, Charlie was making $600,000 a year at Mutual Pictures. The fruits of that $600,000—12 two-reel comedies traditionally known as “the Mutuals”—have been stunningly restored to what is probably “beyond…
Thunk!—“Off Minor”
https://youtu.be/ScyQ96TIcyU This thoroughly Monkish group features Stephen Gauci, tenor sax; Kenny Wessel, guitar; Michael Bisio, bass; and Jeremy Carlstedt, drums. Arranged, and posted, by Stephen Gauci.
Michiko Kakutani does the (almost) impossible; she makes me feel sorry for President Obama
After Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency, almost everyone who ever knew him lined up to say what a shit he was. Moaned Richard Cohen, “I hate Richard Nixon’s friends. They make me feel sorry for Richard Nixon.”1 Well, Barack Obama is no Richard Nixon, and I don’t hate him, but still. I don’t like…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. and here “Hell, yeah, I said it! ‘Who pays the rent around here?’ I said it! And, all of a sudden, I’m the bad guy!” “Like, I’m supposed to apologize for having opposable thumbs? Fuck that shit.” “All I get these days is ‘check your privilege, check your privilege.’…
Could global warming wreak havoc across the globe? Well, that depends on what you mean by “wreak”, and “havoc”, and, you know, “globe”
Brad Plumer, hysteric in chief for “Vox”, warns that a new report from the UN—well, I’ll let Brad tell it: “The new report includes a review of the evidence that carbon dioxide from burning coal, gas, and oil is heating the planet. It notes that some amount of “irreversible” climate disruption is already locked in,…
It’s all Obama’s fault!
Well, it isn’t, of course, but we have to blame someone. And, sadly, the Democrats have taken a pasting of historic proportions. For the past six years, the Republicans have been arguing about whether they need to undergo an agonizing reappraisal1 of what the Republican Party stands for. Now it’s the Democrats’ turn. It’s easy…
Das Wolfgang Schmidtke Trio im Bad Hersfelder Grebe-Keller
It don’t get no more German than this, does it? Wolfgang released a nice album, half Steve Lacy (with Steve himself soloing) and half Thelonious Monk, featuring Alex von Schlippenbach on piano. Alex is one of Monk’s premier modern interpreters, which I didn’t get around to telling you about last week. Since this clip is…