1.
I subscribed to the Village Voice in the mid 70s. I loved that rag. It was my pre-internet link to the arts from my little apartment in Lawrence, Kansas; a way to read up on films, see who was doing what in music, who was on the art scene, Sylvia Plachy’s weekly photo. And the writers! Michael Musto, Nat Hentoff, J. Hoberman, Harvey Pekar, Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, Chuck Eddy, Michael Feingold, Guy Trebay, Jules Feiffer, Jon Pareles, Molly Haskell…sheesh.
I really miss getting it in the mail every week, the feel of it, the smell of it, and how I could peruse it all week long. I cut out many articles that I took down to Kinkos to preserve in folders for future reference; the self-serve machines down on Vermont Street. My friends Rick Henderson worked there early on and Robin Ashook held court there for a few years as well.
One of my favorite cartoonists was Mark Alan Stamaty who had a fairly short run from 1978-1980 with MacDoodle St. His drawings overflowed with NYC life and the excess of it.
You can snag your own book of his strips from that time period with a bonus introduction by Jules Fieffer!
2.
In case you haven’t seen where the money will go for Biden’s $2 trillion on infrastructure and jobs, here’s a handy guide. This article breaks it down to four categories; transportation infrastructure, quality of life at home, caregivers for elderly and people with disabilities, and research, development and manufacturing.
Your average Republican American is foaming at the mouth that corporations will foot the bill. How dare the socialists raise the corporate tax rate to 28% even though it’s still lower than when the pussy grabber took office. Even more egregious is an increase of the minimum tax on U.S. multinational corporations to 21%. Out and out robbery!
The White House projects the spending would be fully paid in 15 years and reduce deficits in the following years. Outrageous. There otter be a law!
My very astute and witty friend (ex-pat Kansan now LA) Gary Durrett wrote, ‘Biden extends olive branch to GOP leadership to look for common ground on infrastructure. Charlie McCarthy, Trumps new #1 nazi dummy uses the opportunity to shit on the rug and wipe his ass on the drapes: And in a campaign text to supporters shortly after the meeting, Mr. McCarthy sought to raise money by saying, “I just met with Corrupt Joe Biden and he’s STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people.”
I'm beginning to understand more and more each day how 650,000 Americans killed one another between 1861 and 1865.’
3.
Many voting eligible Americans still swallow the Big Lie and think the nasty orange man is still the president. But gadzooks, the shenanigans and tomfoolery going on in Phoenix with the Audit even has some Republicans gasping for breath. Betsey Bayless, the former Republican secretary of state, said “I just want it over. I think Arizona needs to move on and not be the center of more of this political gossip.” Even Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl weighed in saying that “I think the divisions within the Republican Party will not reflect well on the party's chances of success in the next election. That's pretty obvious.”
For a voice of sanity, read Maricopa County (Phoenix) Sheriff Paul Penzone’s statement regarding this mess.
And, along those lines, House Republicans ousted Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from their leadership ranks on Wednesday as expected. I can’t have too much sympathy for her as her response to Biden’s speech to Congress the week before, she called his plans "dangerous" and "heartless" and that "the far-left is now in control of the Democrat Party." And she voted for the orange nutsack’s agenda 92.9 percent of the time.
But she did have this to say: “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,” she said. “I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”
4.
5.
My friend Pat Tomek in Kansas City posted this from George Takei and thought it screamed to be shared:
Guy who invented the clock: there will be 12 numbers on it
Friend: so the day will be divided into 12 segments?
Inventor: no, 24
Friend: so will the day start at 1
Inventor: the day will start at the 12, which is at night
Friend:
Inventor: the 6 means 30
6.
Closing out today with the work of Ron Isaacs, who lives and works in Lexington, Kentucky.
"My three primary recurring subjects are vintage clothing (for the way it continues the life of the past into the present, for its rich structures and colors and shapes, and for its anthropomorphic presence as a stand-in for the figure); plant materials in the form of sticks, leaves, flowers; and found objects. My work evolves slowly, mostly as a matter of increased and prolonged stages of refinement, and perhaps of concept. The passage of time continues as an undercurrent to the work; as I am now seventy-nine, I have to consider things like what constitutes a life-time supply of plywood and paint—and that I have to make proverbial hay while the proverbial sun shines.”
I’m not 79 yet but I get the concept of making proverbial hay while the proverbial sun shines.
OK, I’ve got four gigs in the next four days and an overnight out-of-town-guest on Saturday which should about do it until the fall…
And now, this about that…
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