The Long Road Out

We were eating dinner at Bespoke, a fun tapas restaurant on Rue Oberkampf in the 11eme in Paris, the night of November 13th.  We crossed Richard Lenoir and walked down Oberkampf at 9:51 that evening--past the corner of the Bataclan.  We didn't notice anything unusual--nor did any one else on the street that we noticed.   The first we heard of the "hostage situation" was a text we received from a friend in New York City at 10:52. We then had our own drama, not knowing much, but knowing from international messages that something was happening around the corner on our block.  The steel gates of the restaurant were closed (causing a Canadian woman next to us to start smoking--really woman?   We're all locked in a space under police alert and you light up a cigarette?).   Soon the blue lights of riot and rescue vehicles were bathing the empty street outside us, and then riot police...singly and in jogging formations--started to pass. We assumed we were locke...

I won't try to explain the science of love, or interpret the oft-sited understanding that love in temporary insanity separating us from the reality of loneliness and less impassioned emotions. But thanks to the French relator of fables old and new Jean de la Fontaine , I can at least explain why Love is never seen (at least not by my friends) without the companionship of Folly. As La Fontaine explains: Love and Folly are gods, and they often played together.   During one such game, a dispute arose.   Love suggested that a panel of the gods be called, but Folly, being impatient, disagreed.   Instead Folly hit Love in the head so forcefully that Love lost his sight forever. The gods then did, in fact, meet, to determine what the punishment should be.   They were very upset.  Of course, Venus, who you might recall is Love's mother, was the most vocal and angry about the need for justice because she knew her son would never walk again without a stick.  ...

I have no idea what the litmus test is on love.  81%?   91%?   31?   More? First, let's exclude the short honeymoon period of new lovers.   That's delusional.    But, back in reality, assume you love another person 99.9%.   How would you feel?  Are you able to  shut down the borderline-bipolar sense of hope and desperation?   Would you be less exhausted because you had ceased clawing yourself toward the remaining right-of-the-decimal-point completion? It’s what rock n roll is all about--reread Mystery Train  and you'll see it's the primary point of the book.   And so we know what the answer is.   Sadly... 

The rest of the world, other than the isolated US, understands that FIFA are crooks.   It's a running joke--even when lives are at stake. So now the U.S. enacts the questionable set of racketeering laws it uses whenever it feels like stripping non-U.S. citizens living outside of the country of their civil and legal rights. The result:  FIFA leaders are in some jail in the US, apparently in Brooklyn where there's a reasonable smattering of soccer, but none at the professional level.  My guess is that the rest of the world is now rooting for FIFA over our justice system.   FIFA 14, US nil. Good news--the 14 are (probably) not in Guantanamo. Bad news, three of the four top execs in jail are--surprise--black (the fourth is Ecuadorian).  We love to jail black people here. These FIFA extraditions take the eyes of the Justice Department off the battle on police behavior including the new very-fragile Cleveland police ruling. I'm appalled.  Here's why: ...

Vermont Public Radio announced today that Bernie's running for 2016. There's no question that he'll win. Why?   It's a clear shot to Pennsylvania Avenue unless Dennis Kucinich reappears via some form of miracle.   The reason is because if you take the 26 Republicans and Hilary and put their positions into a scatter diagram, the concentration is so tight you can't fit in another dot.  Some of the fat white guys on the Republican Circuit, in fact, may have to drop out. There's Bernie out there by himself.   The X axis on his candidacy is "correct points of view" and the Y axis is "morality." Every one else is in a tight squeeze aligned with "the same old shit" and "sleazy." Go Bernie, Go!!!

The directors and publicity staff of PBS's new television series Wolf Hall , which debuted this weekend, are at a loss to explain how John Bates, the valet played by Brendan Coyle in PBS' other smash historical drama Downton Abbey , managed to appear in every scene in the first episode. Coyle's character is noteworthy in that he never actually says anything in Downton Abbey .  Coyle has been quoted as noting that "I have very clear instructions to do nothing on the show except smile and make doe-eyes." "It's not as easy has it looks," Coyle continued defensively.  "You try doing that thing with your eyes when you're standing behind bars or while you slowly deduce that your wife has been raped." Mark Rylance, who plays Thomas Cromwell in the new Wolf Hall , was particularly nonplussed by the surprise cast member.  "It's really difficult to overcome, frankly," he told us.  "We're having enough trouble pretendi...

This pyrrhic category requires that the entire album have a common purpose and excellence--and not necessarily that any particular song carries the day (though there are some spectacular songs included of course!). And of course, now the idea of the album is more or less commercially and artistically outdated.   It's much harder to add some of the current great work in rock and pop...you don't have to look very far to find wonderful music these days on the alt channels. A starting list and order: Graceland , Paul Simon Physical Graffiti , Led Zeppelin Tea for the Tillerman, Cat Stevens Various Indigo Girls albums Peter Gabriel Shaking the Tree Brothers in Arms , Dire Straits Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon