So here we go. 😉 Erik Prince of Blackwater fame and sibling of Betsy DeVos is floating the idea of the ultimate outsource – turning over the prosecution of our longstanding war in Afghanistan to he and his merry contractor cabal. Says we’re spending $40 billion a year and he can do it for $10… Continue reading PRINCE
The One
TRUNG UY DAI
I’m smiling as I think about and remember my counterpart, T.U. Dai. Nguyen Van Dai… Americans will intuitively pronounce it correctly. Those literate in Vietnamese will miss a diacritical mark that makes this a hard D…rather than a soft Yieee. I’m about to purchase a t-shirt from a company that creates and sells to sentimental… Continue reading TRUNG UY DAI
BILL GUNN
It has been some 42 years since our encounter at Lincoln Center. I was hired to understudy Albert Hall and Bill Cobbs was the understudy for Dick Antony Williams in Bill’s play, BLACK PICTURE SHOW. A week before leaving for Vietnam in May 1969, a girlfriend had taken me to see a play in New… Continue reading BILL GUNN
STRIPPERS
I noticed on a porn site, a video by a model from the 70’s…someone I actually went to a club to see her “perform”. Her name was Traci Topps. And she was pretty and blonde and had uncommonly large breasts. In truth that constituted her entire career at that time, pretty much. Understand that then… Continue reading STRIPPERS
Klingon Assault Group, K.A.G. Global Zoom meeting with Tucker Smallwood
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
TIME TO CIRCLE YOUR DOUBLE-WIDES. Bread and circuses are successfully misdirecting your attention from the purposeful dismantling of banking, consumer, environmental, health and civil protections we have enjoyed in recent years. “They” HAVE “taken back their country!” If the cabinet appointments weren’t enough of a clue, you really shouldn’t look up when it rains…you might… Continue reading BREAD AND CIRCUSES
PAIN
“I ain’t afraid of dying. I already been there”, says Leonardo in The Revenant. And I can dig it. But pain now….pain is something else. Leo and that bear…well, he may not fear death but he damn sure remembers how much that bear made him hurt. And it sounds good. “I ain’t afraid of dyin”.… Continue reading PAIN
HiStory
HiStory Clearly ALL our passing events constitute American history. But most able to both walk and talk appreciate that our present reality will endure for decades, if not centuries to come. Much like JFK/ Nixon/ Clinton/ 911/ Obama, the next 48 hours will define the direction of both American politics and America itself. This is… Continue reading HiStory
NIGGER
OK, going into the deep end of the pool here. Got into this today with my therapist. I have NEVER had an appreciation for rap, hip-hop, what have you. I recorded a blues album back in ’82 with a producer who’d represented Curtis Blow, one of the early pioneers. Thru the decades I’ve encountered some… Continue reading NIGGER
SHOCK AND AWE
On the evening of March 22, 2003, I exited a theater in Westwood, having just watched THE PIANIST. I soon learned that Shock & Awe had commenced in Iraq. Today I exited The Encino Laemmle, having watched LITTLE WOMEN, to discover that our newest global misstep had commenced. To my sisters and brothers in arms… Continue reading SHOCK AND AWE