HER BODY OF WORK
Cici James, founder of Science fiction bookstore Singularity and Co. in Brooklyn, poses for a body-painted portrait amongst her wares.
THE EARLY BLURBS
There is in publishing the fine old tradition of blurbing, in which the author of a book, and/or his agent and/or his editor, contact certain friends and associates who might be predisposed to like a new book, and to ask them to read the book and, if they like it, to write a short statement …
BELTRAN BELTS ONE!
Thanks to the largesse of my daughter Molly, our newest friend Shawn Kelly and I (that’s us below, flanking Mister Balloonhead) got to go to see the Yankees and Orioles on Friday, June 20th. Shawn, who is very knowledgeable about baseball (although this appears to be way down on the list of things he knows …
VICKI, 1998-2014
We said goodbye to our beloved Vicki today. In her 17th year, the chronic conditions of old age finally claimed her. A scourge to squirrels and large trucks, a connoisseur of pizza crusts and cereal milk, a boon companion, Vicki was one of those rare creatures whose pleasure, need and mission were all the same …
ROUND ROBIN DUETS
Thanks to a lucky drawing (and, I suspect, lousy ticket sales, ) Dave Jensen and I got to to go to Town Hall to see “A Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets,’part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. What we saw were 17 gifted musicians playing a series of duets. The music was mostly …
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!
Momentarily, anyway, after left-winger Carl Hagelin of the New York Rangers tied the score with a nice goal in the second period of Game 4 of the Rangers’ first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thanks to my friend Paul Lindstrom (yes, that’s us, silhouetted against the rink), we got to sit in his company’s …
THE IGNORANCE OF JIM DE MINT
Jim DeMint, the radical right-wing former senator from South Carolina and current Heritage Foundation head appeared on a program called “Vocal Point with Jerry Newcombe of Truth In Action Ministries” in early April, where he insisted that “no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves.” Instead, DeMint credited the …
THE STRANGE UGLY CASE OF DONALD STERLING
Just ten short days ago, lawyer/slumlord/billionaire racist Donald Sterling was heard on a covertly recorded tape saying that he didn’t want his mixed-race girlfriend to bring black athletes to L.A. Clippers basketball games. (Among other things: read the full transcript here.) Since then, volumes of outrage were expressed, much of it by NBA players; and …
RUSH RANTS
Last year I did some work for Marlo Thomas on a thoughtful, encouraging, positive book called It Ain’t Over. . . Till It’s Over about women reinventing themselves at mid-life. For some reason, the odious Rush Limbaugh decided to shit all over this book, somehow charging that when Thomas encourages the impulse to better oneself, …
GLORY LAND
On April 19th two years ago, Levon Helm passed away. Here is his final resting place, at the Woodstock Cemetery. Like almost all final resting places, there is something ineffable about his, an inadequate valediction that only goes to show how gloriously rich and complex life is. After all, what could you put here that …