Re-Defeat Bush is an activist group's weblog. They also have condoms that say "Re-defeat Bush - Don't Get Screwed Again". What if more businesses had their own condoms? McCondoms - You deserve a d*ck today!

Nice vintage posters [via: growabrain]

Artist did a portrait using only candy hearts. Pretty impressive.

Edited @ 2:30 pm - **Click Here to listen to Air America LIVE online. Al Franken's O'Franken Factor premiere show was great. Al Gore called in to wish him well. Michael Moore was a guest and the running gag was that Ann Coulter's screaming from the back room where they'd locked her in and just generally raising all sorts of hell. Hillary Clinton will be on tomorrow and Richard Clarke on Friday. Randi Rhodes show's up after Al's; and she's explaining Bush as the Fredo of the family. And Janeane Garofalo is up from 8:00pm - 11:00pm est.

{local} Local clothing designer is well on her way. Brooke Priddy, 26, has been making her own clothes since the age of 10. She once twisted a Twister mat into a skirt, exhibiting a creativity that in her teens morphed into a "Mad Max" look - leathers and boots, ripped and frayed. "Amazon goddess" is her self-described current phase - "super-empowered, sexual, flowing, beautiful, straight out of the sky like an angel." After getting her Fine Arts degree, she settled in Asheville. I wish her much success. [link]

I still miss my ex-husband. Will my aim ever improve?

Orlando's Hard Rock Cafe's Vault is a museum. Collectibles include a snakeskin coat from Keith Richards; a purple suit from Jimi Hendrix; John Bonham's (Led Zeppelin) drums, and Bob Dylan's typewritten lyric sheets for "I Want You," "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," songs from his landmark Blonde on Blonde album, in the Vault. There's also a wall-sized quilt depicting Frank Zappa as a playing card constructed from ladies' underwear thrown on stage during some long-ago tour. [link] [see gallery]

{local}
Web site picks top 100 places to live. Top 10 communities, which received the most nominations, were, in order: Venice, Fla.; Paragould, Ark.; Edmond, Okla.; Bonita Springs, Fla.; Asheville, N.C.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Bartlesville, Okla.; Carlsbad, N.M.; Huntington Woods, Mich.; and Madison, Wis. [link]

{film news}
How could a film that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro get any cooler? How about by adding Johnny Depp? AND Christopher Walken? AND Steve Buscemi?! That's not cool enough for ya? How about if Quentin Tarantino directs a portion of it? Well that's precisely what's happening with Robert Rodriguez and his SIN CITY. [link]

As you were. Nothing more to see here.

{Politics} Bush Dominatrix, Karen Hughes, has been summoned back from domesticity to the White House to whip the troops back into submission, while peddling her new book. "Jeez, this place has gone to shit without me. "Get over here, George, and lick my boots....NOW! Then we'll go over the 9-11 Commission interview scenarios for Condy. Fuckin' Dems are squealing for her head. If absolutely necessary, we'll prop her up and send her back out for public scrutiny." "Now, who wants to take Mama to lunch?"

Veep Stakes - Pick the Vice-President candidate you'd like to see with Kerry. [via: celestial offerings]


{The Final Four} - Duke, Oklahoma State, U-Conn, and Georgia Tech, I bet The Varsity was hopping Sunday night. (two ACC teams-- GA Tech & Duke). Three out of four's not bad. I guessed all but OK State and for March Madness, that's pretty good, she says patting herself on the back. But how many more nail-biting, lead-changing, down-to-the-wire games are we supposed to endure? Every. damn. one. of. them.

{Films} I finally got to see The Salton Sea, starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio, on IFC this weekend. It was a pretty good mystery with a few major plot twists which may require repeat viewing.

The movie, Ned Kelly, is now remade with Heath Ledger in the Mick Jagger role. But... why? Also stars Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts, and Geoffrey Rush.

{Quote For Today} Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children. - Kenyan proverb

Bush: I'm not a war hero; but I play one on TV.

Beautiful art;especially the Tarot deck. link seen @ sugar 'n' spicy. Ilana always has great artsy links and blogs from Israel.

Fun Cigar Box handbags; $55 - $70; Art Deco, Marilyn Monroe, the usual kitschy stuff.

"I may believe in the things he has to say, but voting for Nader just isn't realistic."
"A vote for Nader is a vote FOR Bush."
"It's really down to voting for a lesser of two evils."
These were some of the responses of those attending the Nader rally at the UNC-Asheville campus yesterday I heard on local news. I was suprised there wasn't anyone quoted saying something more positive. Unless no one did. Hmmm. Nader's flying under the radar making stops along the campus circuit courting the younger voter.

Go Duke? They squeaked by another win last night over Illinois, 72 - 62. GA Tech also won.

saturday morning me//
outta espresso/so moving slow/regular java/
wheat bagel with brie/oj/yeah duke!/
burgundy long gown/black shawl/sox & sandals/
hair ala fright wig/two by two cigs/
have the morning all to myself/
listening to wfmu radio/
so how about you?/

Lenny Bruce's pardon revoked.

:: Bhagavan Das is in town for a few days. A Night of Chanting, Chakra Workshop & Vedic Readings~March 26th-30th at the Namaste Yoga & Healing Center. We may be able to attend one of the events.

:: One of my favorite sites on the www, Orisinal, has a new Bird and the Sea game. Oops. I seem to have misplaced my coordination. Check his wallpapers.

:: Make your site look wavy, embossed, engraved, inverted, etc. [link]

:: Go Duke! Their game with Illinois just started and with Duke's injuries and Illinois' good team, it may be the end for Duke tonight.

50 Immortals of Rock
Good feature in latest Rolling Stone magazine of the greatest artists of all time.

Make your personalized signs here. Dozens of motifs to choose from. [via...presurfer]

Nicole Kidman is starring as Grace Margaret Mulligan in Lars von Trier's upcoming Dogville. Seen earlier at film festivals, it's getting great reviews especially on originality, as did his Dancer in the Dark with Bjork. [nyt review & set pic]

*FYI - my hiatal hernia is healing nicely. Pepcid and Nexium have me back to normal. Husband has finally got his diabetes under control after moving from just diabetic pills to also adding the insulin shots. And my sister, Robin continues to heal and get stronger by the day. Normalcy is underrated.

The Bush Dog & Pony Show brought to you by the letters "F" and "U" and the number "1".

{Recycled Link}
Need a spiky bra to lift up your spirits? Trying to figure out just how you'd wear that black bra. As a swim suit top? Over something else? Or just flat out by itself?

Speaking of clothes, I saw where some high school in Canada is telling the girls to stop wearing pajama pants to school. My daughter and her friends have been wearing them here to school for a few years now. Like plaid flannel or with ducks or cartoon characters on them. They're comfortable and baggy, so what's the bfd?

If I drink one of my favorite Herbal Dr Enuf's (cherry flavored with ginseng) and my ass is still dragging, I'm in trouble. Normally, one of these drinks and a cup of espresso will start my day off fine. There's also the Original Dr Enuf (lemon-lime soda). It's always been considered a hangover remedy with many B vitamins, minerals and potassium as many area people will attest to, and is bottled in Tennessee. Try one if you get the chance. [Review]

{Local Links}
Asheville to Play San Francisco in Film which will tell the story of the guitarist for the group Moby Grape, which had a brief moment of fame.

WPVM, Progressive Voice of the Mountains, 103.5, is a brand new radio station here in Asheville, NC. There're currently a 100-watt station with endless possibilities and have been extremely supportive of area musicians, and also feature the Democracy Now! program, and all the good indie stuff. Wish they included a playlist on their site. This morning I heard a nice celtic tune, followed by a sitar-based melody, and then a alt-rock compilation. Sure wish I knew who I was listening to; I'm sure they announced later after a 5-song or so block. I long for someone to announce before AND after a song what it is.

{Quote Today}
Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
~Walt Whitman


One nation under surveillance.

Go, Al, Go! Much anticipated Air America, the new radio station, will begin airing soon. The O'Franken Factor debuts in the Noon to 3:00 time slot, opposite Sir Limbaugh's radio show, on March 31. And Franken will be doing it drug-free. Air America will also feature Randi Rhodes, Chuck D, Robert Kennedy, Jr, and Janeane Garofalo in the 8:00 to 11:00 slot with her Majority Report.

March 24 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poet/painter/beat/publisher/anarchist & founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco Lawrence Ferlinghetti born, Yonkers, New York.

Kane has a photo posted today that sums up our two presidential candidates quite nicely. [link]

Iraq. The 51st state.

:: While Dick Clark (Richard Clarke) Rocks The Truth Around The Clock, it's interesting to watch Condaleeza Rice try to maintain her composure as she refutes Clarke's every syllable. Clarke sounded so credible that I'm sure the VRWC could snap broomsticks with their sphincters this morning. Iraq-gate? Camel, straw...boom! [link]

:: Opening The Gates Of Hell
Announcing Yassin's death over mosque loudspeakers, the Hamas leadership said: "Prime Minister Sharon has opened the gates of hell – and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head." And you thought the Palestinians were pissed before... [link]

:: Local folk and peace troubador, David LaMotte, is back home from a recent New Zealand tour. [link]

:: Interesting 10-page Al Franken piece in NYT Sunday and his upcoming 3-hr format on Air American Radio. [link]

:: Joan Baez, political folk singer for 45 years and counting, has a new cd of songs written by Steve Earle and Natalie Merchant. and other songwriters. I've always been a big admirer of hers. [link]

:: {Haiku For You}
The battery's dead
I thank you for jumping me
Fixing the car, too

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Enjoy Your Monday! (I'm getting over a pesky spasmodic (?) hiatal hernia episode.)

One year ago today the night skies over Baghdad lit up the city streets below while we watched a mile of large, lumbering tanks bully their way through the dusty arteries of Iraq. There was no turning back. The land, sea, and air assault on Iraq had begun.

People against the war are rising up in small and large towns throughout the country in a coordinated effort to make the scope of their resistance to this war visible. We still wish for Peace.

**UPDATE: UNC-Asheville was one of several groups demonstrating Saturday against the US involvement in the Iraq war. 7 people were arrested and later released. [photo]

saturday morning me//
shermans-no filter #2/espresso #1/oatmeal & oj/
indian print long skirt/black t/black tights/
ballet flats/old black shawl/dog at my heel/
listening: schlomo picking out a tune/sky cutting zzzzs/
planning: to attend bonfire/vigil @ Pritchard Park/
so, tell me all about you?/

Insert pretentious website quote here.

Create your own banner at this site. Thanks, I just did. Looking forward to the End Of An Error in November.

[via: chapel-perilous]

Reefer Madness, The Musical
Casting has been announced for Showtime's small-screen version of the Off-Broadway musical marijuana satire Reefer Madness.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Tony Award winner Alan Cumming will join former Producers star Steven Weber, Roulette's Ana Gasteyer and Neve Campbell for the movie musical. Cumming will star as the film's narrator, the Lecturer; Weber will play pot dealer Jack; Campbell will portray Miss Poppy; and Gasteyer will be the hostess of the Reefer Den, Mae. [link] Did anyone see this in school? We saw part of it in the auditorium when I was a freshman in high school and the other students began to stomp their feet and clap their hands and raise so much hell that they just stopped the movie. But this new version may be worth watching.

:: It was like one big superstar family, with everybody home for the holidays. If Norman Rockwell had ever painted covers for Rolling Stone, it is what he might have rendered. [link]

On this day, March 18, 1970 -- F***?: Country Joe McDonald is convicted for obscenity & find $500 for leading a crowd in his infamous Fish Cheer ("Gimmie an F..!") at a concert in Massachusetts. [via: daily bleed]

{Her First Bomb Threat}
Like a daughter's first steps, and baby's first words, today Sky's high school just had a bomb threat called in. So school is letting out early and I'm hoping it was just a stupid prank. I remember them at my school and we all went outside until the bomb-sniffing dogs went through, then carried on to the next class. But that was BC. Before Columbine.

**UPDATE: Someone's leaving notes saying "The school's going to rock at 3:00" and things like that. Someone did that in 1999 and was caught through handwriting analysis.

How About Some Good News Today?
One boy walks four miles every day after school just to get to that patch of green grass and play soccer. And most likely get his only meal of the day.

The class lines in Haiti are clearly divided, but Bobby Duval, one very privileged man, had a dream of helping all the people of Haiti unite through soccer. The way they did in 1974 when Haiti went to the Olympics.

He witnessed the young and old; the haves and have nots all come together during that brief time and he wanted to reclaim that spirit. So he built a soccer field and club for the underprivileged youth, provides meals, medical check-ups, running water and mentorship. Paid for out of his pocket and donations.

There are over 650 kids who currently benefit from Athletic Of Haiti, and some are in training in hopes to go to the World Cup in 2006. Hopes. Something some children were in short supply of until Duval's soccer program came along. (The center survived the recent turmoil; seen on hbo's real sports) [link]

Happy Saint Patrick's Day
To my Irish friends. Have yourself a blast. Another excuse for me to brag about my sobriety; a proud feat in itself. {following meg's advice, I used the color name (darkgreen) instead of numbers that should work in all browsers. There are sixteen different colors you can code with their color name instead of numbers. }

:: Wanna listen to RadioBlog? Might be fun. [via: mac's]
:: Strangers With Candy Movie? Don't toy with me, you know I'm supid for SWC.
:: Robert Altman (the photographer who became famous from his early Rolling Stone magazine photos, not the movie guy) Photos
:: Mark Cuban, Dallas mavericks owner does the blog thing. Kinda blows the whole 'I don't have time to blog' if he can find the time. [via: boingboing]

Will Duke go all the way? You can fill out your NCAA Basketball tourney bracket at Yahoo! And just for the hell of it, my Final Four picks today are:


(#1) Duke (ranked #1 in their division)
(#3) Georgia Tech
(#4) Connecticutt
(#1) St Joe's

Tomorrow, I may change my mind.


Practice Safe Sex. Go Fuck Yourself.

Are we overlooking the obvious? Is it possible that terrorists may back off the US if someone other than Bush is in power? Can we learn something from the recent events in Spain? Didn't they oust their pro-war leader after being attacked by those who resent it most? Survival for America couldn't be more of a priority. There is nothing else that matters if we are done in. Just ask the Spanish.

It may not be that simple, but it's worthy of consideration, pondering and gnashing of teeth.

* Deal Breakers, Deal Sealers?
What's a dating or relationship deal breaker for you? On tv last night, Larry David, met a lady backstage in hopes of hooking up. Until he noticed she had a framed picture of George W Bush on her table. Soon after admitting she was a Republican he hit the breeze. It's a shallow practice and seems like a petty way to eliminate people, but I suspect we all do it to some degree. I know I have.

Pulling up in a gas-guzzler with a loaded gun rack, smelling of Brut, and wearing a belt buckle with "SEXY" on it wrapped around a pair of acid washed jeans and taking me to the local Shooting Range on a date might do me in, but hopefully I'd know this person not only leaned to the right, but was permamently bent, before getting this far. I know what works better than what doesn't.

* Need For Speed: An exposé of how the Pentagon has been issuing a concoction of mind-altering drugs to its soldiers and airmen, resulting in the deaths of allied forces, innocent civilians and, almost certainly, their own men. [link]

* THE WORLD STILL SAYS NO TO WAR
March 19 - Student Day Of Protest - Asheville
March 20 - First Anniversary Of Iraq War
March 20 - Peaceful Vigils

* Rolling Stone founder, Jann Wenner to receive award tonight at Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. [link]

Please excuse my typing. I'm reloading.

We came. We bombed. We fucked up. Top 30 Reasons to Vote Bush - Cheney '04. [found @ youliveyoulifeasifitsreal]

Anybody with a giant vagina tattooed on them and 4 spikes in their dick is extremely ballsy in my book. And speaking of balls, he just happens to have 3 of those. The shady life and uncertain future of a legendary roadie. [link]

Spain didn't waste time planning and organizing after their recent tragedy. Their leader encouraged them to show their solidarity and they hit the streets en mass. [photo] Bush sent regards to Spain about the tragedy: "If it makes you feel any better, we can attack a country that had nothing to do with it." [via: bill maher, hbo]

New Ronnie Wood Interview - After a physical, if he doesn't stop smoking now, he'll develop emphysema in a year. Also sets the record straight about recent claims of falling off the wagon. [link]

AIR AMERICA RADIO NETWORK (Liberal Radio) TO LAUNCH MARCH 31, 2004 - They've got a great line-up of on-air talent. Janeane Garofalo, Al Franken, and more.

Wanna Ride Naked? Bicyclists uniting worldwide to show their protest of oil dependency on June 12. Asheville's trying to organize a group. There are many bike riders, bike tours, bike races, and bike clubs in the Asheville, NC area.

If you can't laugh at yourself, allow me.

Bring Our Camel Fucking Troops Home! Well, as long as they're protesting against the war...
This and other T-shirts, guaran-damn-teed to piss somebody off.

Psliocybin Visions
via - burp
Retail Alphabet Game - Much harder than you'd think.
via - idletype

The 11th annual Music Midtown Festival, which takes over a 42-acre site between Midtown and downtown Atlanta, will sport a diverse lineup that includes the Foo Fighters, Story Of The Year, Wyclef Jean, Puddle of Mudd, The Offspring, Joss Stone over six stages. April 30 - May 2. Tickets on sale today. [link]

saturday morning me//
wheat bagel & warm brie/hot tea for me/
black velvet shirt/black jeans/black ballet flats/
black & white spotted glasses around my neck/
husband making quesadillas/
buddy (my dog) asleep by my feet/
sky sleeping off a late date/
so hows about you?/

Viagara to stop supersizing.

Sad time in Spain with Thursday's horrible terrorist attacks, and the weblog community weighs in as the world feels your pain.

As human beings, we share what is real. Joy, sorrow, care, courage, and tenderness are real. Tears are real, and so is laughter. These are the currency of the heart. They are meant to be exchanged. ~Unknown

How-To For Blogspot Feed
Go to "Settings", click on "Site Feed".
For "Publish Site Feed": check "yes".
For "Description": choice of: "Short" or "Full"
Then, "Save Changes" --that's it!

March 12, 1941 - Paul Kantner lives
March 12, 1948 - James Taylor lives

Styles Checks - Order checks with Ozzy, Rob Zombie, Hendrix, and more.

Kicking Ass and Leaking Gas.

Lars von Trier - fast becoming one of my favorite directors. He did The Kingdom, aka Riget & Riget II, on which Stephen King's current mini series (Wednesday nights, 9:00 pm), the Kingdom Hospital is based. This is a pretty good show and now I really must see von Trier's The Kingdom, parts I & II movies.

He also did Zentropa (Europa), and one of my all time favorite films, Dancer In The Dark starring Björk and Catherine Deneuve. How haunting is Björk and her music in this movie? It was also on tv again last night. I never cared for her one way or the other until I saw this movie and there's just magic all around.

Dubya, M.D.
Intelligence Doctor? Spin Doctor, Witch Doctor, Doc-in-a-Box Doctor, but Intelligence Doctor?

Rasterbator - a web service which creates huge rasterized pictures out of relatively small image files. Will have to try this out. [via - waxy]

Caffeine patches - Get it in a mug, slap a patch on your shoulder, but I'm looking for a caffeine IV so I can really amp up. [via - bestweekever]

Sluggers Path - Sobriety simplified. A snapshot of recovery that you will remember and use. A tool that may be helpful to alcoholics.

Blog Of Death - Hmmm.

March 11, 1955 - Nina Hagen's birthday. On the cusp of 50 and looking fine.

Is Pillow Drooling an Olympic sport?

I surf for 15-20 minutes, and my fucking mouse freezes. It's happened 5 x's in the past two hours. And if I can't CAD, I have to power off. wtf gives? Yes, I've defragged, deloused, and debitchslapped.

Why is everyone interviewing Jayson Blair? I want to see him fall flat on his lying plagiarist ass.

Alright. Who's next on my hit list today?

A Butterfly On A Wheel
The drugs bust of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1967 and the subsequent trial is to be turned into a TV drama. They were given heavy fines and prison sentences which were later quashed on appeal. (A Butterfly On A Wheel is the name of the drama)

Parents, Teachers, Students Nationwide Petition Bush
Education Secretary, Dr. Roderick Paige, called millions of teachers part of a "terrorist" group. and there's a major online petition drive to have him fired. [more] via - common dreams

Think you know who Incubus' Megalomaniac is about? (Hint: 'Three Amigos'.)

{blog envy} - Notes From The Dovecote - what my site wants to look like when it grows up.

I'm trying out the shadowed boxes per meg's tutorial at Mandarin Design. I like it. Loads. It only shows up on IE, which is what-- 90% of the browsers?

Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated.

{time wasters}
* Choose the bubble that appeals to you and see what it reveals about your inner self.

* Typographic Illustrations click on site and turn up the volume. messing around with ev'ry guy in town; putting me down for thinking of someone new...[via - sweet anne]

* Whichbook gives readers an enjoyable and intuitive way to find books to match their mood.

* Time to pull out the Mondrian link from my archives in celebration of Piet Mondrian's birthday, March 7. Click on the picture. Susan Sez, "This is guaranteed fun time wasting material."

* Bush Parody site deserves another look.

{Faces Of The Fallen} - Casualties of War.

I feel a sin coming on.

Today's links taken from my 2003 archives, except when noted.

Anti-Gay Marriage Rally in Asheville clashes with Gay Marriage Supporters Saturday

I thought it was quite odd that there were no publicly announced counter-protests for the Anti-Gay Rally the area churches had in Asheville today, since Asheville is nationally known to have quite a large gay population as well as many protesters. Until I saw this.....Police, gay rights advocates clash at rally sponsored by local churches. And saw the local news coverage. They came. They saw. They raised a little hell. Photo Gallery taken from the rally.

"A fracas erupted Saturday on City-County Plaza as a line of police officers attempted to separate gay protesters from a rally in support of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages."

"Several hundred people converged on the plaza to make their views known. Some came from area churches to hear ministers proclaim marriage to be a sacred bond between a man and woman, while others said homosexuals should have the same rights."

{local news}
* TC Roberson High School closer to drug testing for students. If approved, Roberson would join a small number of North Carolina school districts that test some students for drug use. When the program began in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, 5 percent of the district's randomly drug-tested students failed. Last year, that decreased to 4 percent. President Bush has proposed giving an additional $23 million to schools for drug testing next year although recent studies have proved it's not working. I think this is the responsibility of the parents, not the school system. Another brilliant project suckling at the governmnet teat.

* Anti-Gay Marriage Rally in Asheville today. (Saturday) - Of course, local and regional legislators are hopping on this rally hoping to feed on the growing paranoia. Over 50 churches will be represented. Local groups supportive of gays and lesbians said they had not heard of any organized effort to hold counterdemonstrations. Come on, Asheville. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a group of demonstraters in Asheville and no one's going out to protest?

{blogger news}
* Are they really wearing see-through skirts in Japan? With this unique and fun fashion trend, it's hard to tell.
[via - esotericbowl]

**Edited to add (12:44 pm) : I just discovered that the above pictures were a hoax, but they're still a fun idea.

* Annmarie visited the David Letterman set in NYC last week and has nice pics. Her good friend is Sound Engineer at the show.

saturday morning me//
hot, green tea/brie & crackers/
evil cigarettes by the score/
green & navy batik dress/socks/
sneaking up on the mirror/
hair combed with egg beaters & glue?/
anticipating: an uneventful day/
forecast: rain & slovenly behaviour/
so how about you?/

Thanks for visiting Verbal Bitchslaps à go go.

* {blogging pays} - Did you get your big fat check for $13.86? It was a settlement payment on a class action suit about overcharging for music cd's. Thanks to our blogging community for initially talking it up last year, I got mine a few weeks ago.

* March For Women's Lives - April 25, 2004

* Linda Bucklin's Fractal Art. [via - burp]

* Miami Herald columnist and research editor, Liz Donovan, has spent some time in the NC mountains as well as in New York and London, and keeps a weblog at the paper slap full of bi-weekly link love. Research editor for a major paper? That would be a neat job.

* How long is your morning commute to work? New York is #1 with an average 38.4 minutes. See how your city ranks here.

Don't Be Sexist - Bitches Hate That.

THE UNDERGROUND PRESS

Did you ever read/see any of the great underground newspapers of the late 1960's - mid 1970's in the US? There was The East Village Other (NY), The Great Speckled Bird (ATL), Black Panther, Berkeley Barb (Berkeley, CA), LA Free Press, The Paper, of East Lansing, Michigan, and many more?

I was a faithful Speckled Bird reader. We bought these most of the time from people on street corners in Atlanta; on the corner of 14th St, where all the other freaks hung out. As surely as you'd see a Bird vendor around there, you'd also see someone selling flowers for a small fee to wear in your hair or wherever. And you knew who was selling "what" "where". And someone was in a doorway playing guitar; a few bumming spare change passing by. All waiting for the next musical, sexual, or pharmaceutical experience.

Receiving The Last Whole Earth Catalog was a spiritual experience. Sort of a hippie Sears catalog and was one of the very few books we had at Peace Tree (a lakeside commune in Tennessee) when we first began. It was all about survival, metaphysics, learning to grow organic, live natural, how to build a shelter-- how to build or make just about anything. Stewart Brand (Burning Man) was the founder. We've still got one around the house someplace.

Many college libraries have some of these newspapers on Microfilm. Some are for sale on Ebay. Why are there no equivalent newspapers/websites? "Where is that one great progressive balls to the wall website that has it all?" Music, protest and boycott info, in-depth interviews, sex (& relationships), drugs, literature? more»

from the archives

Sore Loser? Rumours are flying about Bill Murray's sour public response to Sean Penn's win in the best actor category. "If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have bothered coming."

Molly Ivins on the Haiti issue.

Excellent photos of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Iceland. Click on link for the thumbnails. [via email]

Rolling Stone, Ron Wood, off the wagon, again. Damn, at 60 years old when is he going to get it? So uncool.

Apathy, party of one? Edwards is out. Lurch vs the Cowboy. Guess I'll be voting for and supporting Kerry and I couldn't be more complacent about it.

{Quote For Today} (let's hear if for normal days...)
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."
~Mary Jean Iron

Moshes to Yanni.

thanks for all the healing vibes....my head is much better today.

The Girl Found To Be Alive story is such a great testament to Mother's love and intuition. I want to see this story play out and expect a made-for-television movie next year.

Forecast for today is light blogging. Migraine overcast with thunderous headache developing. Chance of misery... 100%.

Bush to stimulate economy with magic dildo.