Name change desperately needed!!

Via The Presurfer

This has been a tough month. Ray Charles, a musical giant, died today at age 73.

I have no words to describe the musical gear that this man packed. Nobody, noBODY could consistently and successfully put his unique stamp on so many different kinds of music. After having “invented” soul music and having been one of the preeminent singers of jazz, pop, and big band music, he decided that he wanted to try his hand at “Country and Western” music. Many people in the music business thought he had lost his mind, and yet, his foray into “Country and Western” brought us “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and what is perhaps my favorite, “Born to Lose,” which just might be the best Cry-in-Your-Beer song ever.

He was the seminal singer of “soul” music, and no one could phrase a lyric better than Ray Charles. In addition, he was known in the music business as “One Take Ray,” because he was known to show up at a recording session and get it exactly right the first time. He was, however, according to an interview I heard of one of regular sidemen, tough as hell on drummers. His fellow musician said, “Ray would drive drummers crazy, because some of his songs are so slow.” Drummers never seemed to be able to play slow enough for Ray Charles. I can completely relate. Ray Charles never needed a drummer to keep the beat; he had an internal metronome that was flawless. A good drummer didn’t lead Ray Charles. A good drummer followed Ray Charles.

Man, he was great. What a loss.

Well, this gives me a case of the hot squirts.

Thanks (I think) to Roberto at DynamoBuzz.

Dear hrie@yahoo.com:

I most certainly could not help but notice that you, via your seemingly inexhaustible supply of IP addresses, have been sending SPAM to my comments. I suspect that you have been sending similar fecal matter to thousands, if not millions, of others. Further, I have to assume that you know that bloggers own their domains and either host their blogs or pay a third party to host them. In either case, bloggers own and pay for their spots on the Internet. I assume you know this, because you are obviously sophisticated enough to command a pitiful operation that electronically fouls these sites, including mine.

I see that you do this on behalf of various entities, including finance companies and companies offering satellite television services. I frankly do not recall whether you also hawk pornography for a buck, because, by now, as soon as I see your hateful name, I go through the annoying and time-consuming process of deleting the barf that you leave on my site and ban yet another of your many IP addresses. My guess is, however, that you do hawk porn and that you would hawk child porn if the price were right.

Can you really make any serious money doing this? I know that there are lots of knuckle-walking, mouth breathers logging on to the web, but I honestly wonder how many of them read blog comments. Even assuming for a moment that there are a reasonable number of such pathetic souls reading blog comments, can it be that there are enough of them willing to actually click on one of your loathsome links to earn you enough money to keep you in beer, grass, kiddy porn, or whatever it is that makes your sorry ass happy?

You are lower than the lowest microscopic creature that can manage to live in a pile of steaming dog shit. I can think of absolutely nothing good to wish for you. To the contrary, I would not lose a second’s sleep were I to learn that you found your way to Rahway prison to spend the next few years “tossing the salad” of some of the human refuse who will be spending the rest of their lives locked up and who would just love to get their hands on the likes of you.

You miserable lowlife, how does it feel to know that there are thousands, if not millions, of people who feel about you exactly as I do?

Today is primary day in New Jersey for both parties. Hang on to your hats. Here are the winners (as fearlessly predicted by the New Jersey Network News Team):

Candidates for President:

Democrat: John Kerry
Republican: George W. Bush

Take a few cleansing breaths, because I know that was a shocker.

George Bush ran unopposed, but John Kerry (at last count with 92% of the vote) withstood a withering challenge from Dennis Kuchinich, who at last count had a couple hundred votes, Lyndon La Rouche (a well-known madman), and some guy from Newark named George Ballard, whose family and friends (some of them, anyway) turned out.

In fact, in my district, the ONLY candidate that was “opposed” for any office was John Kerry.

It was comical watching the New Jersey Network News Team try to turn this into something other than a huge yawn.

I had planned to write something about last night’s Deadwood episode, but I could not possibly have said it better than LeeAnn did.

Speaking of Emmys (Topdawg was in LeeAnn’s comments to the above post), here are my Deadwood Emmy candidates:

Ian McShane as Al Swerengen
William Sanderson as E.B. Farnum “Your repast awaits your mouth.”
Ray McKinnon as Rev. H.W. Smith – His portrayal of the Rev with creeping madness and physical debilitation brought about a brain tumor makes me physically uncomfortable. Absolutely masterful work.

I think that David Milch, the creator, executive producer, and head writer, also should get an Emmy, as should whomever does the wonderfully grubby costumes.

The season finale, “Sold Under Sin,” will air next week.

June 6, 1944
The Longest Day

1911-2004
May this great American rest in peace.

I caught all but the final segment of Katie Couric’s interview with O.J. Simpson on Dateline. I don’t imagine that I missed much in the final segment, because, frankly, I had heard enough.

It appears that Mr. Simpson is doing quite well, thank you. In fact, if one is to believe him, he is warmly welcomed everywhere he goes (and he has been “traveling extensively). According to the former football player, he is greeted particularly enthusiastically in the “island countries,” where the people think that he “beat the system.”

Here are some of the things I recall from the interview:

He lives in Florida, where he owns a home and where the laws are particularly friendly to people seeking to avoid paying creditors, such as the Brown and Goldman families, who obtained a multi-million dollar award in the wrongful death civil action against Simpson. That would be the action in which a jury found that it was more probable than not that O.J. murdered Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. It would also be the trial that unearthed the photos of O.J. wearing the infamous Bruno Magli shoes that were tied to the murder and which he had denied ever owning in the earlier farce criminal trial.

He plays golf just about every day with “his buddies.”

He has a great relationship with his children, although they have never asked him what he thought happened to their mother. I would imagine that his children are aware that raising such a topic would not be a good idea in the O.J. house.

He maintains a cordial relationship with the parents of his slain wife, “for the sake of the kids.” Beyond that, he does not have much of a relationship with the Browns. Color me surprised.

He has no intention of paying any of the money awarded to the Brown and Goldman families, because “I didn’t commit that crime.” Interesting view of the law, that.

He lives off various pensions that he had created in some of his companies “for a rainy day.” It has been reported that these “pensions” that have been reported to be worth $4 million, all of which is beyond the reach of creditors.

In sum, he has a great life.

Sadly, one cannot say the same for Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. They will have been dead for ten years this June 12th, and they will remain dead, while O.J. continues to play golf with his “buddies,” travel extensively, and enjoy the good life in the Sunshine State.

Even if Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman could miraculously rise from the dead and point to O.J. as their killer, it would not matter, because the “Juice” has already gotten away with murder.

Update: Thanks to Azygos for catching my unintentional omission of the word “not” in my speculation about the reason why O.J.’s children have never asked him what he thinks happened to their mother.

Ladies Night, a popular institution in the Garden State, might well be history as a result of a recent decision by New Jersey’s Director or Civil Rights who ruled that Ladies Nights (i.e. the practice of bars and restaurants giving discounts only to women) violates New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. The issue arose as a result of a male patron of a saloon in South Jersey lodging a formal complaint with the State Division of Civil Rights about having to pay a cover charge to get into a bar, while women did not have to pay anything.

For many years, bar owners have bolstered their weeknight business by hosting Ladies Nights and offering free admission, drink discounts or free drinks to women. One needs not qualify for membership in Mensa to see that these kinds of events attract women, which, in turn, attract men, and which, in turn, make money for the saloon owner. It works like a charm, because it’s basically a “birds and bees” thing.

In his decision, J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, the Director of Civil Rights, stated, “To interpret (the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination) to permit such ‘minor’ acts of discrimination would be to disregard its intended goal, which is nothing less than the eradication of the cancer of discrimination.” The decision aligns New Jersey with states such as California (surprise, surprise), New York, and Florida (Who knew?), which have come to similar legal conclusions.

Obviously, the bar owners hate the decision, and even our embarrassment of a Governor called the ruling “bureaucratic nonsense.” My guess is that Jersey guys also won’t like the ruling very much.

Whether one likes it or not, the decision is probably a correct interpretation of the state’s Law Against Discrimination. I wonder about how the women who regularly took advantage of Ladies Nights feel about the decision.

It would appear that equality sometimes comes with a cover charge.