One Month To Summer

We have one month to go to the official start of summer. Soon we will be able to see the conga line at Golden Gardens just down the hill from my house, shorts will be the norm, and most concerts will be outdoors. . .
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Woman accused of exposing herself to 13-year-old

Jacylyn O'Malley writes in yesterday's RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL that a 33-year-old woman has been jailed because she exposed herself to her 13-year-old neighbor and made him touch her, police said. Michelle Seddon, unemployed and disabled, was booked into Thursday on suspicion of lewdness with a child, according to the police.

According to a police report, the charge stems from incidents in March that occurred in her Booth Street apartment where she lived with her girlfriend. A 13-year-old middle school student neighbor told police that he visited Seddon at her apartment one day where she stripped and asked him to touch her. O'Malley's girlfriend was not home.

Police became involved after the boy told his mother, who called officers. On at least one occasion, the boy and his friend had spent the night at the women's apartment where the friend later reported Seddon inappropriately touching the boy while he slept, police said.

In 2003, Seddon's girlfriend filed a restraining order against her after Seddon was arrested for battering her. Yeah, this chick looks like she could do some serious damage.

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Elvis Costello And The Attractions Play "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea (lyrics included"

Elvis and The Attractions play one of Elvis's finest early songs in an old school music video.



I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea
by Elvis Costello

Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he's going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there's no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she's last year's model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don't want to go to Chelsea

Oh no it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea

Everybody's got new orders
Be a nice girl and kiss the warders
Now the teacher is away
All the kids begin to play

Men come screaming, dressed in white coats
Shake you very gently by the throat
One's named Gus, one's named Alfie
I don't want to go to Chelsea

Oh no it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea

Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he's going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there's no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she's last year's model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don't want to go to Chelsea

Oh no it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea
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A strange video: What, what (in the butt)

I don't know if this music video is totally gay (literally, not in the ironic sense), or homophobic. Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

"What What (In the Butt)" is a viral video for the song of the same name by Samwell (Sam Norman), a singer, songwriter, and actor.[1] The video contains numerous camp references to homosexuality and anal sex.[2] The lyrics of the song mostly revolve around the title.[2]

The song was produced by Giorgio (Mike Stasny)[3] and the video was produced by Brownmark Films.[4] The video was uploaded on Valentine's Day 2007 to YouTube and Google Video.[4]

The video lasts 3 minutes and 47 seconds, was made in widescreen format, and appears to have been produced entirely with a green screen.

Samwell said in an interview with KROQ-FM that the opening image is "not a cross, but a flaming symbol that [he] just happened to use,"[5] but according to Giorgio, "[Samwell] wanted it because he's a Christian but he doesn't do Christian morality. For him having a burning cross is a way to pay respect to his beliefs."[3] It is followed by a sighing lips superimposed on a chocolate heart.[3] The purpose of the glossy mouth is to attract attention.[5] Both asscheeks of Samwell's pants are decorated with the word "what."[6]

On April 8, 2007, Brownmark Films released an interview with Samwell.[7]


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Happy Birthday Joey Ramone, Nora Ephron, Grace Jones, Pete Townsend, Malcolm X, and Ho Chi Min

Happy Birthday to Grace Jones (54), Nora Ephron (65), and Pete Townsend (61); as well as to the departed Malcom X (would have been 81); Ho Chi Min (whb 116), and Joey Ramone (whb 55).

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The Divorce throws in the towel

The Seattle rock band, The Divorce, is throwing in the towel after two CDs, seven years, and hundreds of shows. I have their two CDs (there will be blood tonight, and The Gifted Program) and an EP. I have seen them play at least six times over the last few years (Crocodile 2x, Capitol Hill street party, Easy Street, Mars Hill, Sonic Boom). They will have two final shows on June 30th, at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. From The Divorce website:

Friday, May 04, 2007

the final countdown



Friends,


After nearly seven years of glorious ups and grievous downs, we have decided to lay The Divorce to rest. We cannot thank all of you enough for the years of support and encouragement and we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. Of course, each of us have plans for subsequent projects, so do keep an ear peeled for those as they are sure to be entertaining and thought-provoking. In the meantime, it would behoove you to mark your calendars for June 30th, as we will be playing two final shows that day at the Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle; one will be all-ages and the other, 21+. It goes without saying that these are Not To Be Missed! We sincerely hope you can join is in this terminal blowout celebration of life, and the future. Until then...

Love Always,

The Divorce
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The Elvis Costello Benefit—Seattle Does Elvis For David Egger's 826 Seattle

It's taken me two weeks to get around to writing about this benefit. On May 4th, we went to the Sunset Tavern—a few blocks from where I live--to see an Elvis Costello tribute/benefit for the 826 Seattle.

Seattle loves Elvis (and why wouldn't we?). Now that he is a northwesterner (Vancouver division), I was secretly hoping he might actually show up! But no. . .

However, about 19 bands did show up and play. Every band was supposed to play two songs, although a few snuck in an extra song. It was great! If a band sucked, you knew it would only be six or seven minutes until the next one came on. It made it hard to leave, because you suspected the mother lode was just minutes away. It was a lot of fun, and once again drove home the reality that most bands play their instruments better than they sing.

The benefit was held for 826 Seattle, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

The lineup included the Dept. of Energy, Downpilot, Graig Markel, Shorthand for Epic, Red Jacket Mine, Zera Marvel, Whiting Tennis, Levi Fuller... and a bunch more bands and solo acts. The poster to your right lists some of the other bands.

I only regret the lineup did not include my personal five favorite friends'/local bands: The Divorce, Down With People, The Posies, The Drunks of Hazzard, and The Greenwood All-Stars.
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Jesus's thoughts on the passing of Jerry Falwell

You may not have known it until now, but Jesus also has a blog here on Blogspot. He recently expressed his thoughts on the passing of the Reverend Jerry Falwell here.
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Mercer's Maidens, Or, How Seattle Imported Women For The Lonely Pioneers And Sourdoughs

In the 1860's Seattle was between a hard place and a rock. Women here were outnumbered by males ten to one). A Seattle founder, Asa Mercer, went back to Boston and convince some of the "surplus" females there to come west, with their journey to be paid for by subscribers in Seattle who hoped to become their husbands. He met with opposition in Boston (duh!), but found more willing pickings in Lowell (Jack Kerouac's hometown), where many of Mercer's Maidens came from.

After a long long journey that included crossing the Panama isthmus, and a rest stop in San Francisco, they arrived on Seattle's waterfront on May 16, 1864. All of the girls, except one (who got sick and died), rapidly found husbands (although nowhere near all of the men who financed the adventure actually snagged a wife). A television show, Here Come The Brides, based on the story aired in 1968, starring teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman, and David Soul, among others. The show was a megahit in French Canada...and did OK here.

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From the with endorsements like this, who needs opponents department: Porn Star Jenna Jameson Endorses Hillary Clinton For President

From the "with endorsements like this, who needs opponents?" Department comes news from PR.com that Jenna Jameson, a famous porn star and author of the bestseller "How To Make Love Like a Porn Star," talked about Hillary Clinton in an interview with PR.com....

PR.com: "Who's your favorite Democratic front runner for 2008? Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John Edwards?"

Jenna Jameson: "I love Hillary. I think that in some ways she's pretty conservative for a Democrat, but I would love to have a woman in office. I think that it would be a step in the right direction for our country, and there would be less focus on war and more focus on bettering society."

PR.com: "Do you find that the climate of the adult industry changes when there is a Republican administration versus Democratic?"

Jenna Jameson: "Absolutely. The Clinton administration was the best years for the adult industry and I wish that Clinton would run again. I would love to have him back in office. I would love to have Al Gore in office.

"When Republicans are in office, the problem is, a lot of times they try to put their crosshairs on the adult industry, to make a point. It's sad, when there are so many different things that are going on in the world: war, and people are dying of genocide...

"I look forward to another Democrat being in office. It just makes the climate so much better for us, and I know that once all our troops come home, things are going to be better and I think that getting Bush out of office is the most important thing right now."
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Gonzales & Bush Paying Their Respects To Old Glory

One of these two guys will be looking for work within ten days. I wish I could say it was both of them...

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Mario Cuomo's Speech Nominating Bill Clinton For President

Mario Cuomo, one of my political heroes, gave a masterful nominating speech for Bill Clinton at the Democratic Convention in 1992. The speech is captured in four YouTube videos, below. If you want to read, see, or hear Mario's greatest speech ever, made eight years earlier at the 1984 San Francisco convention, go back in All This is That to here.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4


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Alien Lore No. 107 - The French And British "X Files"

The British have joined the French in the rush to release information on aliens and UFOs. An article by James Randerson in The Guardian details how the British Ministry of Defence plans to open its "X-Files" on UFO sightings to the public for the first time. Officials haven't fixed a date for the reports' release, but it is may happen this month. The French national space agency okayed a similar release of its alien files a few months ago.



UFOlogists want to know what officials knew about Britain's most famous sightings and whether what the government did about the sightings. The Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk 1980 sighting has been called The British Roswell. At Rendlesham there were several witness reports of a UFO landing. The released files may answer the claims that radiation was found in The Rendlesham Forest at the site after the saucer crash.

The documents due for release are eyewitness reports of UFO sightings, incuding sightings by civil pilots and military personnel. Most were simply collected and filed by a small, secret unit within the defense intelligence group called DI55. A few incidents may have been investigated further by the military, but the details were never been made public. The 24 files due for release each contain 200-300 reports of sightings, along with Ministry of Defense briefings and memos and letters.

Before the files have even been released, the UFO community has lit up with various new conspiracy theories related to the release of these documents, as well as accusations of conspiracy because of the timing of the French and Brit releases. Will we learn of shocking new revelations? Unlikely. Will the UFOlogists debate, debunk, and exaggerate the release of this mother lode endlessly? Of course they will! Happy mining, folks.
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Paul Revere And The Raiders - northwest rock pioneers (with video goodness)

For a short moment, after the British/Liverpool invasion, northwest party band heroes Paul Revere and The Raiders were about the biggest rock band in America. They had a string of 24 hit singles, and various gold records with great pop/rock tunes (Hungry, Kicks, Steppin' Out, Him or Me?, Let Me, I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone, Good Thing, Ups and Downs, among others).

The Raiders had a ridiculously campy stage show (they still do), and absurd and flashy Revolutionary War–era stage costumes. They were all over the TV, and also hosted a daily show on ABC called Where the Action Is. The Raiders were probably the first television age rock band.

Being a northwest band, they played Louie Louie too (and released a single, but another local band, the Wailers made it a hit), as well as their own creation, Crisco Party.





I saw them two or three times at the Seattle Teen Fair and at one of the local battles of the bands. Mark Lindsay was always popular with the girls and women. Paul Revere could have been a baggy pants vaudeville comedian. The stageshow was a strange mixture of slapstick and garage.






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Senator Fred Thompson Responds To Michael Moore's Call For A Debate On Cuba

Senator Fred Thompson (and strong potential Republican Presidential candidate) put out this video in response to Michael Moore's call for a debate. Fred Thompson must have McCain and Giuliani quaking in their brogans. If I were to pick right now (I guess I am), this race will come down to Thompson v. Romney. While directly attacking Moore, but dodging his invite to debate, Thompson comes across as the sort of blunt speaking no-nonsense guy Republicans love. This, along with some other recent statements and actions, convince me that Thompson could conceivably whip McCain and Giuliani.

Fred -- I love the cigar!


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