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  • michael penn - walter reed

    walter reed
    michael penn: Mr. Hollywood, Jr. 1947
    A return to form from one half of one of rock's greatest couples. This is the first song from an album of stunners, a song cycle every bit as brainy as Aimee's.

  • Hem - Redwing

    Redwing
    Hem: Eveningland
    I could have chosen any song by this wonderful new band. See my post over there on the right column about a recent enchanted evening for more about Hem.

  • Teenage Fanclub -

    Teenage Fanclub: Man Made
    Three great songwriters, a summery sound that sounds good all year --but especially now--sharp lyrics, juicy musicianship -- ladies and gentleman meet Teenage Fanclub from Glasgow one of the best bands you've never heard of. Also essential: Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds: A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub, and Grand Prix, Bandwagonesque....

  • Yo La Tengo -

    Yo La Tengo: Prisoners of Love
    Hoboken's indie rock heroes, three great hearts beating together as one... YLT's new affordably priced double, or for a few dollars more, triple album of hits, rarities and not any songs from Mel Brooks' "The Producers" is out now.

  • Shack - Comedy

    Comedy
    Shack: H.M.S. Fable

    "Well the awful title belies the quality Of this unusual comedy, It's the same for you and me." From this great beginning jangles an irresistably great song. I love this band so much I planned a trip to London just to see them, and wrote about it in this article for the Washington Post travel section.

  • Eddi Reader - Dolphins

    Dolphins
    Eddi Reader: Mirmama
    My favorite singer's version of the beautiful song by American folksinger Fred Neil. Her new album is a collection of Robert Burns songs. Eddi Reader is Scotland's greatest export since single malt.

  • Fried - When You Get Out of Jail

    When You Get Out of Jail
    Fried: Fried
    (Erratum: correct link) The bass player from Fine Young Cannibals and the English Beat spent two years searching the U.S. for a soul singer to produce. He found 25-year old Jonte Short in New Orleans, and the result is the best soul album since Al Green met Willie Mitchell. Only available as a U.K. import. For now.

Recommended Reading List

  • : The Vesuvius Club

    The Vesuvius Club
    A naughty pleasure, a James Bond movie written by Oscar Wilde, a shocking example of loose morals in Edwardian England. Lucifer Box is a painter/secret agent whose service to the Crown takes him on wild, pulse-quickening adventures. More please!

  • Tony Hawks: Round Ireland with a Fridge

    Tony Hawks: Round Ireland with a Fridge
    It's about just what the title says. A very funny man made a very drunk bet and found himself having to hitch-hike around Ireland with a (small) refrigerator. Mayhem ensues. All Ireland rallies to his cause, well, not all Ireland...

  • : Barometer's Shadow

    Barometer's Shadow
    This great novel is, in part, about one of my favorite subjects, crabs. It's also about a search for identity in the 1970s, and it's written by my cousin, OK? Buy this book and find out something you didn't know about Alaska.

  • Norman Lindsay: The Magic Pudding

    Norman Lindsay: The Magic Pudding
    Noman Lindsay was a great Australian artist, writer and free thinker. His children's classic is virtually unknown in the U.S. Fun fact: The movie Sirens with Elle McPherson is about Lindsay, and for a fleeting second a toy Puddin' appears on screen. I'm surely the only man in America who went to see that movie to catch a glimpse of a stuffed toy.

  • Kinky Friedman: A Case of Lone Star

    Kinky Friedman: A Case of Lone Star
    In his first career, Kinky Friedman led a band called the Texas Jewboys and recorded classics like "They don't make Jews like Jesus anymore." Much sex, drugs and rock and roll later, Kinky started writing comic detective novels starring himself and populated with real people and events. I'm stealing his formula for my novel, Murder in the Propaganda Factory, but my hat's off to the Kinkster. News Flash: Kinky's hat is finally in the ring --he's a candidate for Texas Governor. More at www.kinkyfriedman.com!!

  • Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair: A Novel

    Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair: A Novel
    In another 1985, in the London suburb of Croydon, lliterary detective Thursday Next is after arch-villain Archeron Hades, who's been kidnapping characters like Jane Eyre and threatening to undo great fiction. Are the (five so far) Thursday Next novels the funniest, most interesting and intelligent series of books now being written? With all apologies to Terry Pratchett (a close #2), I'd have to say yes.

September 2005

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Monday, 04 April 2024

The Pope

It seems like only yesterday that the new pope who was called John Paul died and the speculation was the next one would be named George Ringo. 

Now, according to Beliefnet's Steven Waldman, the successor to John Paul II might be black, Hispanic, Jewish or even an American. It reminds me of an old New York magazine competition, in which readers were invited to compose greeting cards for use in very special occasions, like this one for a cardinal who just got the Nod:  "Watched your smoke. Now you're Pope.  Congrats!"

(Aren't you glad Bush doesn't get to appoint this one?)

Monday, 04 April 2024 in Current Affairs, Religion |

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Recent Posts

Published op-eds and articles

  • A Watergate Groupie's Dream Come True

    OK, so I'm obsessed with Richard Nixon.  Lots of people, well three at least, share my mania, and some of them are big time media stars.  (You know who you are, Al Franken and Harry Shearer).  This is about the night I had dinner with some of the team from the Senate Watergate committee. I brought some of my favorite artifacts, like my life size inflatable Nixon.  (What, you've never seen one?)

  • Annotated Archive
    My complete oeuvre. Moi, I prefer my oeuvres over easy...
  • Don't Listen to Consultants (like me)
    The Washington Post called it "career arson" when I wrote this expose of how political consultants can be bad for democracy. Bob Shrum still isn't talking to me. Well, to be perfectly truthful, that's probably because I've never met him.
  • Faking the voice of the people | csmonitor.com
    My most widely read column, according to Google. My views on "astroturf" letters to the editor have been reprinted in a textbook, mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and discussed in an online journalism review. That doesn't make me right, of course.
  • I Married a Witch
    Only now we're...well...I still believe what I wrote here about the good parts of a Pagan/Jewish household. Further details available on request.
  • Murder in the Propaganda Factory
    Read the first chapter of my novel in progress. Washingtonians will recognize the scenery.
  • Paul Simon went to Graceland. You Don't Have To
    I went to Graceland, was bored and alienated (what else is new) and wrote about it for the Christian Science Monitor. I got some lovely hate mail, the best of which I can't publish on my website, but if you write to me I'll share it on the q.t.
  • Shocked
    My first published punditry, in the Christian Science Monitor. Practically all the dialogue is quoted verbatim from a meeting I once attended. I made up the bit about Alec Baldwin.
  • Unpublished Punditry

Archives

Featured Links

  • Funny Times
    It's America's longest running, ad-free humor magazine. If you're coming to the march in DC look for the folks handing out Texas Homegrown Dope; full-color seed packs featuring the genius of Matt Wuerker.
  • urbanphotos
    I am not William Klein. I mean, of course, I am William Klein, but I'm not the William Klein more people have heard of, who is a famous photographer and film maker. What does this have to do with my friend Matt Weber? Well, he also has a unique eye and a great talent. Check out his new book of New York photos called the Urban Prisoner.
  • Inspector Collector
    Man of a milllion collections, from Mr. T memorablia to phonograph tone arms to a museum-quality archive of Chinese restaurant menus, Inspector Collector is on a mission to put paid to those silly antique roadshow clowns and explain to kids and adults why collecting is so cool.
  • The Christian Science Monitor | Daily Online Newspaper
    The Monitor sets the standard for independent, insightful reporting from Washington and around the world. Plus it's where I published my first punditry. Subscribe today.
  • Goddard College | Come to Goddard as you are. Leave the way you want to be.
    Believe it or not, I'm a member of the Board of Trustees of Goddard. A vi tal part of Vermont for two centuries, Goddard pioneered the concepts of external degrees and distance learning for working adults. And it has one of the best free-form radio stations in the country, WGDR.org.
  • Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate
    If I were a college professor, graduate student, or genuine intulekchewul, I would understand more of these articles. As it is, I'm grateful for these links and listings of other great publications.
  • Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting: The National Media Watch Group
    Of all the groups I've ever worked with, I think FAIR is the most on-target. Back in the days of the first Bush, we created a Media Bias Detector to give viewers a chance to take apart the news and see how the spin machinery worked. Sound familiar?
  • Guardian Unlimited
    I've been reading the New York Times and the Washington Post every day for thirty years, and those are good little papers. (A friend of mine once called the Post the "best college newspaper in the country.") But the Guardian from London is better. Great commentary, great cultural coverage, the best book supplement on Saturday. You can pay for the digital edition but it's all available for free here.
  • Roadfood.com
    The original Roadfood books were essential guides to the best regional food within driving distance of highway exits, so the serious eater need never go to a Howard Johnson's. So many of my greatest food "discoveries" really came from Jane and Michael Stern. Now they're sharing their delectable knowledge on the web, along with a busy community of acolytes eager to share the kind of news Calvin Trillin (another hero) would have put in his "tummy trilogy."
  • Dads & Daughters: resources & support for fathers of girls
    I'm a supporter of this great group for fathers, daughters and the people who care about them. If you've wanted to help girls grow up healthy, confident and able to stand up to pressure from advertisers, media and entertainers--like the messages even 8 year old girls get about being thin--DADs has some great news for you.
  • Robbie Conal's Art Attack!
    A great artist, activist and all around cool guy. Robbie's friends all over the country look forward to his visits to their city, when he leads us on midnight postering raids, armed with protest art, glue pots and speedy getaway cars. Some of the best fun you can have fully dressed, to paraphrase Woody Allen.

Political Links


  • p o l i t i c o s . c o . u k
    Now exclusively online, Politicos used to have a London store in the shadow of Parliament where I loved to stock up on Labour party memorabilia and refrigerator-sized diaries that only British politicians know how to churn out.
  • David Corn
    You read him in the Nation, you see hiim on TV. He blogs, he tells the truth, he's a witty writer and we used to share a laugh about my very left wing clients, the Christic Institute (oooo, scary).
  • Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
    If you can't read all the news about politics, you can find the day's most important links here.
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