standing pat

with p. p always says that his aide is a black guy, even though his aide is white. so far today, his aide has been leadbelly, robert johnson, sly stone, danny glover, and mos def. two days ago, p randomly mentioned scott joplin. in awe, i uttered "the old piano player?" i went to google images, and got a picture of him. he too became p's aide. to be fair, the aide has also been osama bin laden, ho chi minh, and saddam hussein.

picked up a tom jones dvd from the library. what a laugh! the guy had monster pipes, but there is perhaps no greater waste of a voice in the history of pop music. in any case, he had his own tv show for a few years in the late 60's-early 70's. every body was on it apparently. the dvd has peter sellers, richard pryor, the who janis joplin, aretha franklin, stevie wonder, moody blues, pat paulson, and little richard. jones is a character, a cross between a vegas act, an r and b shouter, and overflowing with an operatic register. his dancing is absolutely horrendous, as is his vocal taste, but there is no denying his presence, charisma, and vocal power. in the end, it is terribly campy and entertaining at the same time.

a word about a young aretha franklin. at her best, she was tough to beat. she wasn't always the lady with four breasts who gets out of breath every time she bends over to tie her shoes. she sang with power, range, and a gospel sensibility that captured the essence of the black musical tradition. she was also a pretty good piano player. her sin? longevity. we remember sam cooke for "a change is gonna come" and aretha as the lady that doesn't fit onto our tv screens. but man, in her day? wow.

peter sellers? a funny man, even though they say he was a real prick. "i suspect everyone, and i suspect no one."

speaking of comedy, carlin's you are all diseased from 99 ranks up there as one of his great performances. i love how he mentions the willy nelson classic "i should have never played the game, i should have fucked oh what's her name." he also reminds us that "colin powell is not openly black. colin powell is openly white. he just happens to be black." great stuff from george. in any case, just remember that he loves you. he loves you and he needs money!!!

does colin powell have the jones to tom, or will he cry uncle before he spots a ray of sunshine?

mos def people didn't hear the dialogue in "be kind rewind." and when jack told me the screen went black, i realized they couldn't see it either.

opening today in theaters nation wide is pinko's debut film. i, ron man, based on the filipino-american comic book character of the same name, is sure to pacquio them in, with manny people expected to attend over the weekend. the film is a marvel with several comic moments of high quality. it is expected to do very well in dc, where i, ron man became famous for protesting the i, mother fucker gatherings in 99. he then boasted "i shook up the world bank, i shook up the world bank!," but sonny, nobody would liston to him. now, he is back. once again, i, ron man has demonstrated his medal