Homage to the Cutest Puppeh in Sydney, Australia

I love this little doggy. Please meet Zouzou - A total honey and occasional troublemaker.


Actually it's a tie for first in the Cutest Puppeh category with her brother Argi and sister Kim, but don't tell them (or Zouzou) that.

Love. This.

Here's a delightful photomontage of Miss McConnell (and a doppelganger), courtesy of Anthony De Rosa's Soup at tumblr via Chris Bodenner at Mr. Sullivan's place.


What is it with that perpetually cowed affect??

Blub

Joy wrote about the death of Dominick Dunne on Wednesday. I am a big fan. As I said in my comment on Joy's post, I loved Another City, Not My Own.

Hanna Rosin, guest/co-blogging at Mr. Sullivan's place, led me to what she accurately describes as Dunne's "amazing account in Vanity Fair of his daughter's murder trial." It is a must-read. I was blubbing by page 2 (of the online version):

A nurse appeared and told us that after we had seen Dominique the doctors would want to talk with us. She said that no one but immediate family would be allowed in, and asked us to show identification. They were afraid the press would try to pass themselves off as members of the family. She warned us that it would be a shock to look at her, that we should be prepared.

I worried about Lenny and looked over at her. She closed her eyes, bowed her head, and took a deep breath. I watched her will strength into herself, through some inner spiritual force, in a moment so intensely private that I dared not, even later, question her about it. Of the four of us, she was the strongest when we entered the room.

Not Worthy of a Title

My existence on this Earth is so much worse for having been made aware of Tucker Max.

Words fail. Fortunately, words did not fail Ms. McEwan:

Under the awesome headline, "Tucker Max's Movie: Poop," Gawker's Hamilton Nolan reviews I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, the trailer for which we previously discussed here. And the film is so unconscionably horrible that HamNo can't/won't/doesn't even try to make his review funny.

It's just. that. grim.

Honestly, if someone challenged you to come up with a more douchebaggy name, could you possibly top Tucker Max?? [Huh-huh, I said "top Tucker Max"!! Yes I did.]

If you've got "Max" as a surname, just go with Brock or Adam or Steve or Mike or, for maximum excellence, Marc or Mark in order to max out the last name Max.

OK This Sucks

Via JMG:

Doug Murphy, 41, the owner of the venerable Castro gay bar Moby Dick, died of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus while visiting Palm Springs on Friday.

This just sucks on so many levels:

- Of course, any premature death sucks. Some would argue that any death sucks, but not necessarily.

Now venturing into "It's My Blog" territory . . .

- I'm only a year older than Murphy. Not immunocompromised from chemo or other factors. [ONLY mentioning that for risk assessment reasons!!!!] I really don't like the dynamics of this flu strain and the way it elicits what seems to me (and my admittedly incomplete understanding of virology) to be an overwhelming (not in a good way) immunologic response - in effect, tricking the body's intact immune system into overreacting.

- Damn. The guy was an entrepreneur. (I have entrepreneurial envy.) Successful, growing business. All of a sudden, swine flu. Damn. Or, as my dad says, damn, damn, damn.

Argh

During my 90 minute, 17 mile drive this AM, I ventured back into ChicagoPublicRadio-land.

It's only 11:22AM, but if I hear "Lion of the Senate" on more time I may hurl.

Digby's post is much less cranky.

UPDATE 11:19PM

. . . and this one is most excellent.

If you don't visit Digby's blog every day, you should. You absolutely must.

In addition, do read the entire piece by the great Charles P. Pierce (I'll second that - I'm currently reading his book Idiot America) from 2003 that she quotes. Veering off topic, I'll point out that it contains this ghastly tidbit from the ghastly Clarence Thomas affair:

He developed a thick skin and learned to leave the heat of the argument on the Senate floor. That's how Kennedy learned to move past that day in 1991 when, during the debate over the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, his good friend Orrin Hatch appeared to summon up the Great Unmentionable. "Anybody who believes that," said Hatch, "I know a bridge up in Massachusetts that I'll be happy to sell to them."

To this day, Hatch maintains that any connection between his wisecrack and Chappaquiddick was unintentional. "I was really mortified," says Hatch. "A lot of my supporters loved it, and when I said I hadn't meant it, it drained some of the charm, some of the glory, out of it."

Oh, right, you vile prick, of course you hadn't meant it. Gawd. His "good friend"?? Such a good friend. Fucking liar.

How can the Senate maintain this pathetic pantomime of courtly good manners and constant references to "good friends" and "my friend across the aisle" when approximately half of its membership is evidently batshit crazy (or at least pretending to be) in a craven attempt to appease its unappeaseable base of not Greatest Generation, mean-spirited, spiteful old coots? Just wondering.

Venturing further off-topic (but not really, 'cuz it's related to health care), this post at Wonkette is beyond. As if the title weren't enough:

A Children’s Treasury Of Insane Old People That Zeke Emanuel Should Euthanize, In Dallas

the photos and Wonkette's delicious (in this case) snark will make you want to serve on a Death Panel ASAP.

License Plate Snark of the Day

In Southfield, Michigan, on a 3-series (2002? 2003?) BMW:

A4 HAHA

Oooh, snap.

Earlier this year I was having delusions of replacing the 9 year-old and showing-her-age Sister Girl Jetta. BTW I totally stole that from Angry Black Bitch. I researched and drove an Audi A4, my current car crush. Those things are pretty sweet, especially the 2009s. (And don't get me started on the A5s - swoon.)

However, Sister Girl Jetta is fully paid for - sadly, I don't have $30,000+ just sitting around for a new car, and who needs a friggin' car payment these days?? As they say, I did the math . . .

But getting back to Mr. A4 HAHA - that may or may not have made sense he got those plates, but now? Hrmmm . . .

Brain. Hurts. Slightly Less

The Town Hell idiots sink to new levels of depravity.

Most of the traditional corporate media yawn, call it a debate, and fit it all neatly into their tired left vs. right template . . . again.

And Glenn Greenwald is brilliant:

The Washington Post today quotes an "anonymous White House official" excoriating what he condescendingly calls "the left of the left" for petulantly demanding a "public option." That article notes that the Obama White House is surprised by the intensity of progressives' insistence that the bill include a "public option," and who can blame them for being surprised? Ordinarily, progressives are told that they cannot have what they want because Blue Dogs and Republicans (on behalf of the industries that own them) must get what they want, and progressives meekly accept that because it's "better than nothing" (don't let the Perfect be the Enemy of the Good, they are lectured). More than anything else, it's vital that this dynamic change. Such a change -- a shift in Beltway power dynamics -- would be far more consequential even than the specific health care policy issues at stake in this debate.

On that note, let this be the zillionth blog to celebrate Barney Frank's delicious smackdown and pwnage of a simpering WingnutBot who asked him why he continued to support a "Nazi policy".


Dare we hope that this may be the "Have you no shame" moment that heralds our return to sanity? Probably not, since, as always, the massive stupidity of so many of the 'murcan people stands ready to tell me otherwise.

Guest Blogger: Jim on the Whole Foods Boycott

I admit it: I love Whole Foods.

I have loved it since I first visited its "Lincoln Park" location (not in Lincoln Park) back in 1994 when my dear friend MaryAnn worked there. [I remember with great fondness a legendary (to me) Sunday evening in May of that year that began at the store after-hours with Mary Ann and a couple of her club kid co-workers en route to GLEE Club at Crobar, just down the street. le Sigh! Thanks to Rich for letting me borrow your Nirvana shirt that night, Big Love to (now PhD) Mary Ann, and a "special" hello to Peter from Crobar in May 1994.]

Where was I??

Oh yeah - I love the gigantic new "Lincoln Park" store (that is so not in Lincoln Park), and the oh-so-convenient Lakeview location. As a non-cook, I love the prepared foods, and the salad bar, and the deli, and the bakery, and the many flavors of sparkling water, etc, etc . . . (could there be any more love in this post?)

All of this led to acute disappointment last week when I learned (via the incomparable JMG) of CEO John Mackey's (Mr. Mackey, mmm-kay?) OpEd in the dreaded WSJ. I shan't excerpt the post here (too lazy), but do read it yourself if you have not already.

So yes, I immediately joined the Boycott Whole Foods group on Facebook, put up an indignant Facebook blurb about how I was taking my $100/week (guestimate) elsewhere (that'll show 'em), and went to Trader Joe's on Friday morning instead of Whole Foods.

Sigh.

The prices were a bit lower. It was a much more manageable (aka smaller) space. The grilled chicken/grilled veggie salad that I bought for lunch was delish. The cashier thanked me for shopping at their store. I do want to go back there.

Sigh.

But it wasn't the same.

On Saturday at 4:28PM, at the Whole Foods Market at 3640 N. Halsted Street, my boycott ended with a (delicious and nutritious) purchase from the salad bar.

It pains me to defer to Megan McArdle, but I shall:

The CEO of Whole Foods is not allowed to have a different opinion from you on a national domestic policy issue? Rilly?

. . .

Here's why boycotts don't work: the vast majority of customers don't care. And yes, that includes the vast majority of Whole Foods customers, a surprising number of whom drive SUVs and even--I swear!--occasionally vote Republican. Now consider the demographic that cares enough about health care to actually boycott a company over it. Most of them are a) wonks or b) political activists. The latter group is disproportionately young and does not spend a great deal of money on groceries. The former group is tiny.

You may get a large number of people who say they'll boycott Whole Foods. But then when they're out of extra-virgin olive oil and the Safeway doesn't have organic, and the nearest Trader Joes is a twenty-five minute drive away through traffic--they'll shop at Whole Foods. Three weeks later, they'll have managed to forget that they ever intended to stop shopping at Whole Foods.

(Did she just say/write "Rilly"?!? Maybe it's generational, but I find myself reacting negatively to hating the whole "Rilly?" thing . . . and now even more so.) All that said . . . isn't she right??

Anyway . . . As above, I did read the WSJ piece, and I found myself questioning my "boycott Whole Foods" fervor that burned so brightly on Thursday night. Guest blogger Jim read the OpEd as well, and he had this to say:

I’ve heard that some are boycotting Whole Foods in response to a Wall Street Journal opinion article wherein John Mackey suggested alternatives to President Obama’s proposed healthcare overhaul.

Let me say that although I don’t agree with all that Mr. Mackey proposes and I do take umbrage with his use of Margaret Thatcher’s quote about “socialism” as if what is being proposed is analogous to that that, I think a boycott is neither warranted nor justified.

Despite my disagreement with most of his alternatives, he is a self-avowed libertarian and therefore none of what he suggests should be surprising. In fact, some of his ideas do have merit.

I agree that health savings accounts (HSAs) could be expanded and that restrictions on the interstate sale of insurance stifles competition and could create greater competition if removed. I also believe transparency is important and all of these things should be given consideration.

However, I believe he misses the mark on most accounts because he lacks an understanding of the breadth of the problem that MOST Americans face and he has blind faith in market forces to solve every problem that plagues our society. It’s for that reason I disagree with his one sided approach.

I’m a firm believer in government of the people, by the people and for the people. When Barack Obama was elected and majorities were won in both the Congress and Senate, my will was expressed and so was the will of a majority of Americans. I believe that government has a role in securing our rights, freedoms and security which includes to “promote the general welfare”’.

When market forces do not or cannot accomplish this, government should play a role in ensuring the welfare of its citizens.

As FDR famously articulated in 1941 in his Four Freedoms speech, “freedom from fear” should be regarded as a fundamental right of all free people and yet, there are few greater fears in life than those posed by the lack of health care and illness, unaddressed. The intensity of that fear can be seen in the faces of our citizenry as it is stoked by conservatives who themselves fear a loss of an America that no longer looks like them and that can no longer guarantees privilege based upon that difference.

So, let’s understand that there is a great deal of fear and a great deal at stake for all of us in this debate. But let’s also agree that civil discourse is preferred and perfectly attuned with another of FDR’s four freedoms, the “freedom of speech”.

Though I may disagree with Mr. Mackey and I may be compelled to tune him out or shun him personally, I am not inclined to boycott his business. That seems to me to be akin to attempts at shutting down dialog and threatening those with whom we disagree. This sounds too similar to the uncivil tactics we’ve seen of late.

So, I share with Mr. Mackey the freedom to hold and express his opinion. In fact, I welcome it. Unlike much we have heard of late, at least it is reasoned, even though it is incorrect.

Echo Chamber thanks Jim for being its first Guest Blogger, and for his excellent contribution.

Brain. Hurts.

OK, these morans are making my brain hurt. The entire “death panel” crap is so absurd, but the traction it’s getting is even more absurd . . . and infuriating . . . and scary.

However, my brain hurts a little bit less after reading this:

The health care debate is now being driven by a perverse nonsense feedback loop in which the Palin/Limbaugh crowd says all sorts of completely insane lies, gets a lot of ... how shall we put it, impressionable people totally jacked up over a bunch of complete nonsense, and then Fox brings one of them, Mike Sola, on the air to basically lose his mind on camera.
. . .
I don't think the Democrats have lost the message war because I see no evidence that even close to a majority of Americans believe completely preposterous things like this. But journalists have no capacity to deal with this stuff. In any sane civic discourse Sarah Palin's comments about 'death panels' would have permanently written her out of any public debate about anything. But even though very few people actually believe this stuff, the entire debate gets knocked off the rails by this sort of freak show which allows the organized interests who want to prevent reform to gain the upper hand.

Not that I'm necessarily pessimistic. I see some signs that this latest outburst of freakery may be starting to backfire on the GOP. We'll have to watch and see.

I agree . . . I think. Does the latest infantile hissy fit by the birther/deather troglodytes represent a spectacular flame-out of crazy and the tiniest beginning of a renaissance of reason and reality-based thinking, or will the seemingly endless American capacity for sanctimonious stupidity prevail once again?

Yo, Librul Media, any time you want to step up and start calling lies lies instead of pretending there's a "debate" going on, please feel free. (Not holding breath.)

----------

OMG Rachel Maddow is going to be on Meet The “Press” this Sunday along with Rat Fucker-in-Chief Dick Armey?? Gosh, do you think he’ll spend all of his air time smirking and make sniggering, misogynist remarks? I hope she absolutely eviscerates that pig. Go Girl!

Disgusting

At Shakesville, Deeky asks: "Are you feeling post-racial yet?"


Some real 'murcans vandalized the sign at the Smyrna, GA office of Democratic Congressman David Scott.

It seems everyone in the reality-based community is saying this today, but where to start? I know that historical nuances are not the main story here, but honestly, how much does/do the moran(s) that did that know about the Nazis? What was it about David Scott that made him/her/them think that spray painting a swastika on Scott's office's sign made any sense at all?

Do you think it's actually an installation piece? Incisive commentary on how the troglodytes who are being manipulated and pushed ever closer towards violence are actually the tools, the puppets, the pawns* of what may very well be an actual fascist movement? Nah - I don't either.

(Silly me - ". . . made any sense". What am I saying?)

----------

UPDATE 8/12/2009 6:23AM

* - or, as Keith Olbermann called them, "real Americans too ignorant or scared to realize that they have let themselves become megaphones for lies that do not serve them, but serve only those who profit off of them."

Today's Reason That I No Longer Listen To NPR

From the 7AM headlines:

President Obama is traveling to New Hampshire today where he’s planning to hold a town hall meeting on health care. The meeting could be boisterous - members of Congress have been greeted with heated debates over the issue at their own town hall meetings.

Ah, yes, those “debates” have certainly gotten “boisterous”, haven’t they?

Hey, NPR, allow me to translate: Dumbshit thugs are being whipped into a mindless frenzy by conservative elites desperate to hold on to power, and they are disrupting the democratic process.

Heckuva job, Media!

UPDATE 9:40PM 8/11/2009

Here's digby, in radiant voice:

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that so many people think it's just dandy to carry weapons to these things, though. Apparently, it's a constitutional right to go to public political events, get red in the face and hysterically shout down everybody who doesn't agree with you while packing heat. From what I gather from all the apologists on TV, no American should be intimidated by this and there's no reason that anyone should feel this sort of thing keeps others from expressing their views.

. . . But be advised anyway that if someone shows up with a gun strapped to his leg like he's Wyatt Earp* with a sign talking about revolution, you shouldn't feel that it's a dangerous environment and be intimidated. He's just expressing his views --- emphatically. Nothing to worry about.

No, nothing at all. (Gawd, why are you libruls always so angry and shrill? It's just a boisterous debate, fercrissakes.) . . . and here's V, with the question of the day:

"Why did your Dumb Broke Ass Bring a Gun to the Meeting?"

Buy (and Read) This Book

I just finished (my autographed copy of) Bloggers on the Bus by Eric Boehlert (of Media Matters), and today Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny has a post about the book. Quelle coincidence.

Boehlert goes inside the liberal blogosphere and provides the most definitive and extensive look at the netroots movement to date. Using the historic 2008 White House campaign as a backdrop, Boehlert also details how bloggers helped set the agenda -- a role once considered to be the exclusive province of the establishment Beltway press corps.

Inspired by Timothy Crouse's landmark 1973 book, The Boys on the Bus, which unveiled modern campaign journalism at the time, Boehlert pulls back the online curtain and helps readers better understand the revolution that's taken place, as well as the unlikely participants who are leading it: students, housewives, attorneys, professors, musicians.

Bloggers on the Bus exposes the traditional press' outdated stereotypes about bloggers and leaves them by the roadside in order to paint a more complete portrait of this increasingly influential community.
(from Media Matters)

Highly recommended.

Humor/Snark Implosion

Via Mr. Sullivan, I learned of this harmonic convergence:

Meet America's New Celebrity 'It' Couple: Levi Johnston and Kathy Griffin

Well look who showed up holding hands on the red carpet at the Teen Choice Awards tonight! America's most ubiquitous fag-hag and the Alaskan cock-gangsta himself. It's love!

Of course, this is all just a publicity stunt. Griffin's a savvy, recently dumped publicity-whore and Levi's a painfully simple, recently-dumped publicity whore, so all of this makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, the pop culture awesomeness of Griffin's coup is tempered by Gawker's way-out-of-tune, over-the-top hateful snark on this one.

The League of Ordinary Gentlemen had an excellent piece about Gawker several months ago:

You really do have to wonder, at this point, if there’s ever a time when the average Gawker blogger says to himself, you know, I really am just a whiny, angry bitch, who just delights in inflicting verbal cruelty, and I appreciate the fun in being feted by other whiny, bitchy nothings who are so filled with bitterness over their utter failure to accomplish anything of meaning and value that they sit around and laugh along.

A good reminder for all of us - moi included.

Here's more:

Particularly pathetic about Gawker the last year or so is all the nods to the simple fact that whatever amount of humor and wit was once a part of Gawker was long ago bleached out by the white heat of the bloggers’ burning envy, resentment, sexual frustration and impotence. Guess what, guys? Just because you’re “knowing” about how shitty and empty your blog has been for ages doesn’t actually make it any cooler or more forgivable that your pathetic little theater of cruelty has lost anything resembling bite, honesty or intelligence. It’s pretty simple, at the end of the day: you’ve elevated a kind of put-upon, entitled bitchiness to the status of fetish, but secretly, you’re smart enough to know that you’re just like every other asshole on the bus. (Don’t tell the commenters, or there goes the business model.) There’s nothing special about you, just like there’s nothing special about 99% of us. Most of us deal with it and get with a program of trying to make things just a bit easier for one another. Some of us tell dick jokes and pretend to be Oscar Wilde when we’re actually the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

Dang.

But getting back to my Gawker experience, to make matters worse on this Monday morning, I happened upon this:

How do we cast that thing out from amongst our midst?? In this case, I'd say every molecule of Gawker snark is fully warranted.

The awfulness that is Perez Hilton should make every gay person with an ounce of self-awareness and concern for our "community" (if it can be called that) pause and ask ourselves how this ghastly spectacle could have been created.

A New Low

. . . and that’s pretty low.

One would think that by now the tragicomic reality of our nation's vast stupidity would at least not be a surprise . . . but that is not the case. I still cannot get my mind around the absolutely juvenile behavior of the hateful, small-minded real ‘murcan regular folks who’ve been duped into acting like complete foaming-at-the-mouth, spittle-flecked assholes at town hall meetings by their Republican overlords in government and the rat fuckers behind the scenes.

Would it make all of you in your American Legion/VFW hats (or Jewish War Veterans hats, if you're my dad . . . who knew there was a JWV?) happy if we closed all the Nazi-run*, socialist VA Hospitals?? If I shriek and cry about getting "my America" back and wave my little American flag on a stick hard enough, can we please shut down that hideous government-run Medicare RIGHT NOW?!?

I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ, how fucking selfish and stupid are you people?? Question for you: Don’t you realize that improving the health care situation in this country will:

a.) not negatively impact your (evidently perfect) health care situation
b.) lower costs for everyone
and
c.) not require mandatory sex change operations or kill grandma???

[Answer: No. Duh.]

Gawd! How paranoid and/or dumb do you have to be to believe that crap??? The fact that you morons do believe all the puked-up GOP bullshit makes me think you’re even stupider than I did before . . . and I already though you pig-eyed, flag-waving, racist assholes were pretty damn dumb. I guess that's what's so surprising and scary.

How long before all of your heads just explode because a black guy who was born in Kenya is President?? I hope it's soon so that the rest of us non-lizard people (copyright Bill Maher) can get back to trying to make it here in the reality-based universe without you fucking morons using up all that oxygen.

----------

* - Please see Spencer Ackerman's excellent post titled "Pill-Popping Goyische Radio Jockeys Need To Shut The Fuck Up About The Nazis" for more on the complete idiocy and utter wrongness (in every respect) of Rush & Co's constant Nazi references.

UPDATE 8/7/2009 12:02PM

Mr. Sullivan has this observation:

If that is what you really believe - that people in cities or suburbs, that minorities, that gays, that blacks and Hispanics are not part of "real America" - then of course, you are angry. You believe a fake America has taken over. You cannot understand this. So you start believing that we have a fascist/communist dictatorship, that there was some fraud allowing a non-citizen to become president, that the government is about to "take over" all healthcare provision ... and on and on. And no one is left in the GOP to challenge this, to calm it down, to present practical alternatives to the obvious crushing problems the country and the private sector have in paying for increasingly costly healthcare.

To me, this is a triumph of ideology. And conservatism is now an abstract anti-government ideology, fueled by cultural, racial and sexual resentment. This is a recipe for more violence, and more marginalization.

The Accidental North Halsted Market Days Enthusiast

I'm not sure how it happened, but it did and it was an unexpected delight.

The 28th Annual Northalsted Market Days concluded yesterday. (I'm not sure why they do that weird "Northalsted" thing, but I've opted not to in the title of this blog. Wevs.) It is, of course, the "largest two-day street fair in the Midwest", and in past years I've been decidedly underwhelmed. I did see Big Audio Dynamite perform there in 1995 on a "date" that was part of an ill-fated, short-lived attempt at romance in which I played the role of pathetic 28-year-old acting like a 16 year-old, but the less said about that the better. My last foray into Northalsted Market Days (NMD) was a few summers ago on a disgustingly hot and humid late Sunday afternoon. I vowed never to return to the miasma of overcrowded streets, drunk people stumbling into/onto you (at least I keep my distance when I do that! . . . usually), and the vile combination of greasy cooking smoke in already humidity-saturated air. At the time I said something bitter and bitchy like "How many stoned, shirtless zombies do you need in one afternoon?" (Nobody answer!!)

This year was entirely different. I was compelled to walk down from J's house to see the fabulous Eric Himan. After paying the ridiculous $7 "suggested donation" (OK, I guess it's not that much and it helps defray costs, blahblahblah . . . but no fucking way would I ever pay for a "VIP pass" . . . well, maybe if Miss Sandra showed up for Market Days), we made it down to the stage in the 7-11 parking lot - yes, I said 7-11 parking lot - at Halsted and Roscoe - a corner I used to refer to as "Ground Zero" before 9/11. Perhaps it's time to start re-claiming that term. Whiles the skies were cloudy and at times threatening, nothing but a few microscopic rain "drops" ever materialized--it was actually quite comfortable thanks to the clouds and a nice breeze.

Eric appeared with his new band, Eric and the Adams, which is Eric along with totes adorbs guiter dude Jimmy Adams on bass and the radiant Angel Adams on drums.

Here's Eric and the band in action:


They played a fabulous set. Eric is a phenomenal guitarist - he's endorsed by Fender. My favorite song, "White Horse", did not translate so well into a live, loud venue - I wonder what that would be like with Eric on the electric. I'm glad I saw it live, though. Eric and the Adams gave us an excellent cover of "Love Shack", and I adored his country medley that included "9 to 5" and "Fancy". (There's a clip of the band at Tulsa Pride performing the same song, but the Chicago version was 1000 times better.)

After their show, Eric set up shop to hawk CDs and T-shirts:


Waiting in line behind two guys who cut in front of me and were evidently buying a car or refinancing their homes given the amount of Eric's time they took up, who do we run into but these two characters:




That is of course Dan on the left, and Jimbo on the right. I thought I needed to re-take the photo after Dan wasn't looking at the camera very slow first-generation iPhone for the first one, but I like both of them in both shots so there they are. Evidently great bloggers all like Eric Himan. As Dan said: "Love. Him." Dan also pointed out that we are well and truly overdue for a night of drinking and debauchery, and he is right.

It was most excellent to meet Eric and thank him for the fine show.

After a yummy din-din at the Chicago Diner, and En Vogue's first three songs - including "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)") - we were more than a bit tired by the time 10:30PM rolled around. However, J (the other one) had bought us all tickets to Blowoff, so we had to peel ourselves away from the sanitized Sex and the City rerun on WGN, don T-shirts and jeans, and walk over to Metro--a superb location for Blowoff.


So glad we made the "tremendous" effort!! Blowoff was once again truly fine. I could stand amidst the magnificent DJ sounds of Bob Mould and Richard Morel, the trippy videos, and the manly men forever . . . however, age, fatigue and booze combined to limit our endurance.

Our new BFF Eric Himan showed up at Blowoff! He was surrounded by some A-list handlers/other BFFs/starfuckers (hard to tell) the entire time, so that prevented us from being BFFs/starfuckers with Eric. No matter--that was so not the point.

Sunday's weather was perfection, and there we were, back at NMD. I had to make it down to the Hydrate Outdoor Dance Floor to catch the Chicago Spirit Brigade, who absolutely killed. I could not have loved them more. The bearded guy with the matching blue butterfly (I think) barrette was beyond, but they were all fabulous: the drill team (who knew??), the dance team, and the cheerleaders (or whatever the main group is called). I wonder if my color guard background would qualify me for the dance team . . . don't think it didn't cross my mind, bitchez!!!

We meandered up and down the strip saying hello (or not) to various friends, frenemies, etc, etc. Fortunately we made it to dinner at Ping Pong in time to beat the rush. Service was a bit frayed, but friendly, and they have a full bar now so WTF. On the way back through the increasingly frazzled, shirtless, and drunk crowd, we caught most of the dazzling Linda Clifford.


What a performer! Girl sounds as good as ever, and there was not a second of lip-synching on her stage. I should have, but didn't know (until now) that it was Linda doing the vocals on Romain & Danny Krivit's 2000 "Philly Groove", a track I discovered on Hed Kandi's Disco Kandi 3: "A glittering selection of the sexiest disco house & uplifting U.S. garage". For some reason I could not find Disco Kandi 3 on the new, not-the-same-as-it-used-to-be Hed Kandi website. Grumble. Glad I found it when I did. Those who attended the legendary Summer Chill party hosted by R. and me in 2004 will surely remember that "Philly Groove" was on my iPod playlist.

Truly a wonderful weekend.

----------

However . . . I was away from the blogosphere starting on Saturday afternoon, so I did not see the reports (go here, here, and here) of the disgusting, infuriating, heartbreaking shootings at a Tel Aviv center for gay youth. Eric Leven's short post features this particularly compelling quote:

Once a year, spokespersons on behalf of the gay community are requested to explain why we insist on the pride parade; so here is the answer. There are those who fan the flames of hatred and homophobia, and the outcome may lead to gunfire. Here is your answer, this is the reason: Because they shoot at us. At times they use words, and other times they use bullets.

That is by Shlomi Laufer, who continues:

Pride is not a grand street party for drag queens and guys wearing bathing suits; pride is a display of power by the community – it is a way to support teenagers and adults who feel the growing hatred on their flesh. The pride parade is a message to everyone who wishes to see us disappear that we are here and we are proud; we will support the victims of hatred, but we will not bow our heads. We will not hide.

No indeed, we will not hide, and we will not bow our heads before murderers and fanatics!