Monthly Archives: February 2011

I haven't been watching Lawrence O'Donnell, the gent who now has Keith Olbermann's time slot on MSNBC. I actually haven't been watching MSNBC much, if at all lately. I often agree with the politics of its prime-time commentators but that's not enough to get me to tune in.

I'm increasingly aware that a key selling point for that kind of programming — and for talk radio and certain websites — is reinforcement. It's like: Give us your business and we'll endorse every political prejudice you have and shield you from facts that conflict, plus we'll give you more reasons to hate the people you hate, even if we have to make them up. I don't want that and if you don't, good for you. There are way too many people out there, Liberal or Conservative, who do.

Olbermann did some of that but not enough to lose my business. I felt I got something out of watching his show, including a presentation of some issues that was complete enough that I sometimes came to different conclusions than the host's. I like some of Rachel Maddow's show but can only abide her for an hour when I'm in the mood to be lectured, which is almost never. Chris Matthews seems to enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing…and O'Donnell and Ed Schultz are trying too hard to work the Fox News model in a left-wing context. If I were right of center, I'd like to think I had too much respect for facts and mature discussion to watch much of Hannity or Beck. Being generally left of center, I'm not going to avidly tune in to their Liberal knock-offs.

So I missed it yesterday when O'Donnell went after two friends of mine, James Hudnall and Batton Lash, for a recent cartoon they did which depicted the Obamas in a manner he decried as racist and disgusting. Even if he'd been right about that, I thought O'Donnell's segment was overkill and needlessly personal. But I also don't think the cartoon was racist or disgusting, especially compared to a lot of what's said about the Obamas on the web these days. What set O'Donnell off was probably not so much what Jim and Bat said but where they said it…that particular website.

There's loads of stuff there that is racist, hysterical and constructed of outright lies about the Obamas and Democrats. Its operator recently got up at CPAC and said of Liberals, "They're not Americans, they're animals" and he has often said how much he hates and wants to destroy them. This is Andrew Breitbart we're talking about…he of the deceptively-edited videotapes and other smears that responsible Conservatives disavow or at least distance themselves from. In his silly scolding of Jim and Bat, O'Donnell went after what may be the least offensive thing on that site and one that clearly falls within this nation's tradition of political commentary by cartoon. He oughta be ashamed of that.

He wanted the friends and acquaintances of Hudnall and Lash to perform an intervention and get them to stop doing their cartoons. I sure won't do that. If they want to keep doing them, they should keep doing them. What I will suggest to them is that they're doing it on a website that frequently engages in the kind of attacks O'Donnell made (including bogus accusations of racism) and therefore invites them in return. I think Breitbart deliberately provokes that sort of thing. I mean, you don't call people "animals" unless you want them to bark at you. Jim and Batton may well feel that it's worth occasionally wandering into the line of fire in order to reach that site's large readership…but Breitbart's site does throw mud. Hudnall and Lash shouldn't be surprised when others throw it back and some of it, however unfairly, splatters on the political cartoonists.

Gigi was the Best Picture of 1958…or so said the Motion Picture Academy which gave it that award and nine others. I'm not sure why. There were some great songs and Maurice Chevalier was wickedly charming…but ten Oscars? My problem with it was that I could never summon up any interest in the story of a bored rich guy who decides to brighten his life by buying himself a mistress.

In 1973, reversing the usual process, it was adapted for a stage musical. Nowadays, people often turn movie musicals into theatrical productions but back then, it was something new…and unsuccessful. It only ran a few months on Broadway. I guess audiences then couldn't summon up any interest in the story of a bored rich guy who decides to brighten his life by buying himself a mistress.

The Reprise! group which does fine limited-run musicals up at UCLA is currently offering a revival of the stage version and I am just back from Opening Night. The cast is strong (especially Lisa O'Hare in the title role) and the sets and costumes and orchestrations are splendid. Director David Lee has done a terrific job of delivering Broadway quality on a low budget and short-term rehearsals schedule. I'm very glad I saw it but I still can't summon up any interest in the story of a bored rich guy who decides to brighten his life by buying himself a mistress.

This production of Gigi runs through 2/27. If you order tickets here, try entering the word "LOVE" in the coupon code box. I think it'll get you ten bucks off each ticket.

By the way: Betty White was in the audience. Then again, she's in everything.

Another poll — this one a Harris Poll — yields the same conclusion; that while people might say, "We want massive cuts in government spending," when you ask them what they'd cut, they can only point to Foreign Aid and a few trivial nuggets of saving, nothing substantial. In fact, if this poll is correct, America is less willing to do without things we expect from the government than it has been in a long time.

I see a couple of online pundits making a point lately that I think is probably valid. Republicans aren't really interested in deficit reduction. They've taken too many things (like anything resembling a tax hike on wealthier folks) off the table to do anything real about the imbalance. Saying we have a debt crisis is just their way of trying to force cuts in Liberal-type programs like NPR and certain regulatory agencies that they'd want eliminated even if we were flush with cash. And Democrats aren't all that interested in deficit reduction, either. They just say they are so they don't get blamed as much for the growing deficit. So we get a lot of posturing and very little cutting. And that's probably all we're going to get for quite some time.

New York Times obit for Joanne Siegel. I'm still not sure what I want to write about her.

Alfred Walker sent me a link to this article by Linda Holmes about Charlie Sheen and his problems. She's right. Sheen's self-destruction (and that seems to be a proper thing to call this) is no ordinary bout of substance abuse and bad behavior. He's at the core of a very profitable endeavor…one that earns zillions and provides the livelihoods for many. I don't have any answers for the questions she asks…and I'm afraid that may be because there aren't any answers.

The intelligence source codenamed "Curveball" has admitted that he fabricated stories about Saddam Hussein having Weapons of Mass Destruction. He wanted to see Saddam toppled and he thought the lie would cause someone to invade and take him out.

We can all argue about how smart or stupid it was to invade Iraq like that…and I assume that if they hadn't had this man's "intelligence," the Bush administration would have invaded anyway. What I want to know is why anyone believed someone named "Curveball."

The National Enquirer reported that O.J. Simpson had been brutally beaten in prison by a bunch of White Supremacists. The prison now says the story is utterly untrue and now most of the news sources that quoted the Enquirer piece are either retracting it or featuring the denial in such a way as to suggest they no longer believe the story.

That's good. For a minute there, I thought I might have to feel a bit sorry for O.J. Simpson.

Seth Christenfeld corrects me on the Broadway musical, The Life. I mistyped when I implied Ira Gasman was the sole author of the book. He collaborated on it with David Newman and Cy Coleman.

And I should have said The Life was Cy Coleman's last musical to reach Broadway (so far). He completed at least three others — Pamela's First Musical with David Zippel
and Wendy Wasserstein, Like Jazz with Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Larry Gelbart, and Grace with Seth Gaaikema. That last one was in Dutch, Seth says. There was also one in progress — N, which was all about Napoleon and Josephine. He was working on that with Zippel and Gelbart. Thanks, Seth.

Another follower of this site, Jim Van Dore, notes a bit of…I guess you'd call it irony on some level. The Life is basically about what Times Square was like before the massive cleanup (physically and morally) spearheaded by Disney. And then a number of the ladies who played hookers in The Life wound up voicing the Muses in Disney version of Hercules. It's true: Sooner or later, we all end up working for The Mouse.

I often nag you folks to go see my friend Frank Ferrante when he performs his uncanny Groucho impression around the country. I also nag you people to listen to my friend Stuart Shostak as he broadcasts (webcasts?) Stu's Show, his talk/interview program on Shokus Internet Radio. Well, tomorrow (Wednesday), Stu's in-studio guest is none other than Frank Ferrante!

Frank has spent a decade or two touring America with his one man (plus piano player) show. He comes out on stage as Frank Ferrante. He talks a little about how much he always loved and admired Groucho Marx. He sits down at a makeup table and begins greasepainting his upper lip…

…and then this Ferrante guy miraculously vanishes and who should appear in this place? Groucho Marx, that's who. It's really a grand, funny show. He sings. He tells stories. He interacts with the audience. He Grouchos all over the place.

Tomorrow, Stu will be interviewing him for two hours. You'll hear samples of Frank in performance. You'll hear him tell about how he got into the Marx Replicating business and you'll hear a lot of Groucho history…and also much about Frank's other endeavors, like his performances as Caesar, a frequent host at Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco and Seattle. (He's not at either now but will be back in Seattle in May.) Should be a fascinating time and while it repeats all week on Shokus Internet Radio, you'll enjoy it more if you listen to it live, which means getting there at 4 PM Pacific Time, which is 7 PM Eastern. If you're in neither zone, you're probably smart enough to figure out when you need to go to Stu's website and click…or you can get there through other means. (By the by: Shokus Internet Radio offers great shows all day and all night. You can click over there any time and give a listen. Why, I'll bet there's a great program on there right this minute.)

We recommend tuning in tomorrow. Consider this a two-for-one nag.