If all goes well, I should be signing the final papers on my first new car purchase in six years tonight. On top of that, it's Friday, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat pizza for the third straight day. Delicious.
NEWS
The JFK Pipeline "Plot": Another "Chilling" Example of Political and Media Hyperbole
by Arianna Huffington
The JFK pipeline plot appears to be the work of yet another gang that couldn't jihad straight.
Its ring leader made a living exporting broken air-conditioner parts to Guyana. Talk about your boom market! Where can I buy stock?
There was no set plan. There was no financing. They didn't have any explosives -- and yet government officials were quoted calling the amorphous plot "one of the most chilling plots imaginable" that almost "resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths, and destruction." And people wonder why the public has become cynical about how the war on terror is being used for political purposes.
What's more, the wave of red alert press coverage turns out to have been based on a misunderstanding of how jet fuel pipelines work. "Such an attack would have crippled America's economy," wailed AP's Adam Goldman. And people wonder why the public has become cynical about how the media uses the war on terror to boost their ratings and circulation.
We've been down this road before, with the Fort Dix Six. We are told again and again that if we don't fight "them" over there, we'll have to fight "them" over here -- perhaps at Circuit City, where all new jihadists take their holy war recruitment tapes to be burned onto a DVD.
And we traveled a similar path with that supposedly terrifying plot to bring down the Sears Tower that was hatched by the "Seas of David" nut jobs down in Liberty City, Florida and egged on by the FBI. These things always seem to follow a pattern: Start with a big media splash: "We got the bad guys! We saved the country!" Then it slowly comes out that the terrorists might not have been so terrifying. Indeed, they are boobs that go to Circuit City to get their jihadist recruitment video burned onto DVD, or they are low-level criminals with delusions of grandeur, goaded into grander fantasies and bigger targets by informants who are getting paid or getting their sentences reduced by the FBI if they deliver.
Then we have fear-mongering presidential candidates like Rudy Giuliani wasting no time laying the JFK plot and the Fort Dix plot at the feet of "Islamic terrorists" -- raising the specter of Osama bin Laden.
It's almost comical how Giuliani keeps trying to present himself as a national security expert. Let's not forget: this is the guy who strongly backed the scandal-plagued Bernie Kerik to be in charge of Homeland Security. Is that the kind of appointment we can expect from President Giuliani (even saying the words makes me feel less safe)?
Michael Bloomberg, Giuliani's replacement as mayor of New York, took a rightly dismissive approach to the JFK plot hype: "You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life. You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist."
Especially a terrorist like the ones lusting after JFK.
JOURNALISM
Voice From the Slums That Refused to Be Silenced
THE guest of honor on the college campus — the author for whom the punch and pastries were prepared and the ordinary commerce of literature would be conducted — could have been excused if she wondered whether this book signing was fictional.
Certainly, Cindy Brown Austin wished that parts of her life had been so. At 19, living a few miles from Saint Joseph College in a Hartford slum, holding her third baby girl at her breast and swatting away roaches in the dresser drawer that served as a crib, she wondered aloud, “Oh, Lord, is there no place on earth for me?”
Ms. Austin herself had been a child of Charter Oak Terrace, the public housing project where renegades became villains and mothers worried that their sons wouldn’t live through the night. Her mother insisted on strict rules of conduct that Ms. Austin sometimes ignored.
Self-esteem was an issue. A “bastard child” was how she referred to herself — a daughter of strictly divided cultures. Her mother, African-American, and her father, from Jamaica, led separate lives. That Ms. Austin emerged with any hope was because of her mother’s persistent love and the enduring devotion of the man she married at 17, David Austin, the father of the children — four girls in all.
In 1991, without credential except a high school diploma and courage, she sent an essay to Northeast, The Hartford Courant’s Sunday magazine, which I edited at the time. It sat on the slush pile until a staff member said, “Boss, you should read this.” [READ FULL ARTICLE]
MONEY
What I learned from 'The Price Is Right'
Thirty-five years of lessons on economics and class from retiring host Bob Barker.
EARLY IN 1998, I flew to Las Vegas to watch the Super Bowl at the Stardust for Esquire magazine. We had a swanky room, plenty of cool free passes and carte blanche in the sports book. But the instant the game ended, my wife and I sped across the desert to Los Angeles with only one goal in mind: to get to a taping of "The Price is Right." I wanted to see Plinko up close. I wanted to touch the wheel that contestants spin to advance to the Showcase Showdown. Most of all, I wanted to shake the hand of the vegetarian, karate-kicking television host from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
Bob Barker, who is taping his final "Price" episode today for broadcast June 15 on CBS, was one of my childhood idols. He was impeccably tailored, and he genuinely engaged the contestants, even when the outrageously T-shirted hoi polloi didn't match the effortless grace of the host.
More important, watching "The Price Is Right" taught me an enormous amount about money. [READ FULL ARTICLE]
MUSIC
Featured Artist: Princeton
Charming acoustic folk trio featuring twins Jesse and Matt Kivel craft heartbreakingly perfect rhythms that make you want to reach for the tambourine and lemonade time after time.
The three boys had spent the past five years honing their musical craft amongst a constantly revolving cast of musicians in their native city of Los Angeles. They never had much interest in playing other peoples songs, and took to songwriting almost immediately after learning their instruments. The twins, Matt and Jesse Kivel, were known to be voracious readers, and could often be found embroiled in academic debates; much to the dismay of their friend and musical cohort, Ben Usen. Years of recording and live concerts were put on hold in 2003, when all three boys left Los Angeles in pursuit of college degrees.
2005 found the boys together again. All three had elected to spend a year studying at various universities in London. They performed prolifically, electing to earn their chops with an old fashioned sense of hard work. No venue was too small, and no performance requirement was too demanding. Some shows lasted as long as two hours with the boys plowing through all of their material, nursing their exhaustion with heavy doses of beer and caffeine. The live shows earned Princeton a loyal following in the UK indie scene, and lead to a couple of radio appearances (Radio Star Fleet London, Smoke Radio).
Princeton - "Blackbeard"
Princeton - "The Indifference Curve"
Princeton - "Tokyo, Japan"
Princeton - "Careless Boy"
Princeton at Myspace
Purchase "A Case of the Emperor's Clothes"
Featured Artist: Bowerbirds
Ryan from North Carolina wrote me to introduce me to the Bowerbirds. An acoustic, southern rock trio who hail from Raleigh, NC, Bowerbirds sound like "tiny pebbles being dropped into a fish tank" according to their Myspace page. I'll eschew my review in favor of these kind words below by John Darnielle, (Mountain Goats) who had some nice things to say about the band on his blog:
Dude from Ticonderoga, who were pretty awesome, has a new band called the Bowerbirds*, who're straight-up great. I saw them at Bull City Records last week; their three-part harmonies were the sweetest singing I have heard from an indie band maybe ever. Their recordings to date are quite good, though they don't quite do full justice to just how gorgeous their voices are when experienced all in the same space. The melodies, though, could have been recorded on a dictaphone and it wouldn't matter: dude has got the goods. The lyrics, the singing both solo and in magnificent unbelievable nobody's-doing-stuff-this-cool trio unison, the wistul groove. The letter-perfect choruses. They are my favorite new band in forever. They have a Myspace here, which has the entire EP on it; I shudder when I think of people hearing great music through Myspace pages rather than in person or on a decent stereo, but then again, I shudder for the sheer glee of it sometimes. Should you be short on time, the songs to go for first are "My Oldest Memory" (which reminds me of a more earthbound Sea & Cake) and "In Our Talons" (which is too good to describe in any way, except to say that the chorus will make the sentimental among you cry). New York residents should not miss these guys at Pete's Candy Store on the 12th, anyhow. Given a quiet warm room and your attention, they can do simply amazing things.
Bowerbirds - "In Our Talons"
Bowerbirds - "Dark Horse"
Bowerbirds at Myspace
Featured Artist: Abra Moore
Founding member of Poi Dog Pondering creates her own soul satisfying sweet folk pop sounds on her newest release, On the Way.
Abra Moore has learned a few things about music, life and the intrinsic value of happiness and balance. The quiet confidence she’s found seeps through every element of On The Way, the new record she’s made with long-time collaborator and producer Mitch Watkins. The new collection is subtle, seductive and assured. In her own words, it’s a “gentle sway” of an album. It recaptures the organic, intuitive style that led to a GRAMMYTM nomination and worldwide acclaim for her breakthrough album, Strangest Places. “It’s not ego-based; it’s not about making a stand,” says Moore. “It’s about flowing through and capturing exactly where I was in life when I wrote these songs.” It’s been an interesting journey that brought Moore to where she is today—one that includes the tropical wilds of Hawaii, a modeling career (put away and unexpectedly revived), flirting with major label stardom and ultimately settling into a productive and satisfying life in Austin, Texas. Read more at her Myspace site...
Madisonites can catch Abra on Jun 19 at Cafe Montemarte in Madison, WI.
Abra Moore - "After All These Years"
Abra Moore website
Purchase Abra Moore music