Ka-Boom

Today's Today

Happy 78th birthday, Linda Ronstadt.

This is pretty insightful… Linda Ronstadt called it almost 40 years ago.

pic.twitter.com/ZdknAioSkO

— Lennie Appelquist (@lenapple) July 12, 2022

"There's two kinds of people in the world - those who love Linda Ronstadt, and those who've never heard that voice." --Willie Nelson

Happy Birthday

John Astin

John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is a retired American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles, primarily in character roles. He is best known for starring in The Addams Family (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising the role in the television film Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977) and the animated series The Addams Family (1992–1993).

Astin starred in the TV film Evil Roy Slade (1972). Other notable film roles include West Side Story (1961), That Touch of Mink (1962), Move Over, Darling (1963), Freaky Friday (1976), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Teen Wolf Too (1987) and The Frighteners (1996). Astin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for his directorial debut, the comedic short Prelude (1968).

Astin has been married three times. His second wife was actress Patty Duke, and Astin is the adoptive father of Duke's son, actor Sean Astin.

Weird Lonely Insecure Men

Colin Cowherd on MAGA rubes losing their whole shit over Taylor Swift being on screen for maybe 30 seconds of a ball game that runs about 10,800 seconds.

Today's Birthday

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Stephen Ray Vaughan was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career only spanned seven years, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan. In 1972, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, where he began to gain a following after playing gigs on the local club circuit. Vaughan joined forces with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums as Double Trouble in 1978 and established it as part of the Austin music scene; it soon became one of the most popular acts in Texas. He performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982, where David Bowie saw him play. Bowie contacted him for a studio gig which resulted in Vaughan playing blues guitar on the album Let's Dance (1983), before being discovered by John Hammond who interested major label Epic Records in signing Vaughan and his band to a record deal. Within months, they achieved mainstream success for the critically acclaimed debut album Texas Flood. With a series of successful network television appearances and extensive concert tours, Vaughan became the leading figure in the blues revival of the 1980s. Playing his guitar behind his back or plucking the strings with his teeth as Jimi Hendrix did, he earned fame in Europe, which later resulted in breakthroughs for guitar players like Robert Cray, Jeff Healey, Robben Ford, and Walter Trout, amongst others.

During the majority of his life, Vaughan struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. He also struggled with the personal and professional pressures of fame and his marriage to Lenora "Lenny" Bailey. He successfully completed rehabilitation and began touring again with Double Trouble in November 1986. His fourth and final studio album In Step reached number 33 in the United States in 1989; it was one of Vaughan's most critically and commercially successful releases and included his only number-one hit, "Crossfire". He became one of the world's most highly demanded blues performers, and he headlined Madison Square Garden in 1989 and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990.

On August 27, 1990, Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, after performing with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. An investigation concluded that the cause of the accident was pilot error and Vaughan's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Omniflight Helicopters which was settled out of court. Vaughan's music continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases and has sold over 15 million albums in the United States alone. In 2003, David Fricke of Rolling Stone ranked him the seventh greatest guitarist of all time. Vaughan was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, along with Double Trouble bandmates Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, and Reese Wynans.

I'm Cryin'

I Get It

He wanted to make the announcement himself, and not let some little prick like Adam Schefter get the scoop. but when he says, in effect, "No, I'm not retiring" over the week end, and then Tuesday comes around and he says, "I'm retiring" - it just points up the perfect ending to Tom Brady's perfectly prima donna career. What a great footballing asshole that guy is.

Reuters:

Brady announces retirement from NFL after record-setting career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, widely considered the greatest player in NFL history, announced his retirement on Tuesday after a career during which he won a record seven Super Bowl championships.

The 44-year-old Brady spent 20 seasons with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowl titles, before relocating to Tampa Bay and leading the Bucs to a championship last season.

"I have always believed the sport of football is an 'all-in' proposition - if a 100% competitive commitment isn't there, you won't succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game," Brady wrote on Twitter.

"There is a physical, mental, and emotional challenge EVERY single day that has allowed me to maximize my highest potential. And I have tried my very best these past 22 years. There are no shortcuts to success on the field or in life.

"This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention."

No hat tip to the hundreds of guys who fought and bled - and were likely crippled in some way - so he could do what he did. No thought for coaching. None for trainers or staff (or ballboys, ahem), or even for the fans who paid him the millions that line his fucking pockets.

Just Brady - always and only Brady.

Can I Just Say

I've been boycotting Ted Nugent since about 1977.

Not because I think he's politically and personally reprehensible,

but because I know his music sucks.

Another Eric Clapton Thing

A while back, Eric Clapton took some well-deserved heat for some pretty fucked up racist shit he spouted in the press.

Then, Clapton went public with his Anti-Vaxxer bullshit.

Ed Note: Rolling Stone did their typical thing - pumping thousands of words into a 700-word story.

So anyway I'm pretty well inclined to shit on Eric Clapton at every opportunity, and this latest thing is no exception.

That said, I'll never deviate from my position that the creators of the content deserve to benefit from their efforts above all others.

And that said: Give it a fuckin' rest, Eric. You can stop the bootleggers from skimming your profits while not being a complete dick about it.

WaPo: (pay wall)

Eric Clapton sued a woman who listed a bootleg CD on eBay for $11. She now owes thousands.

When a German woman listed an Eric Clapton CD on eBay over the summer, she thought the rock music purchased by her late husband decades earlier could fetch her around $11 in the online marketplace if she was lucky.

Instead, it somehow got the attention of Clapton, who sued the woman for copyright infringement and accused her of selling a bootleg CD of one of his live shows from the 1980s. Now, the 55-year-old widow, who did not sell the CD and claimed she did not know it was a bootleg, owes thousands of dollars in court fees.

A German judge on Wednesday sided with Clapton in his lawsuit, ordering that the woman known only as “Gabriele P.” pay nearly $4,000 in court costs for copyright infringement, according to the German news outlet DW.

The woman, who lives in Ratingen, a small German town about an hour outside Cologne, claimed her late husband bought the CD, “Eric Clapton — Live USA,” at a department store in 1987, DW reported. She told the court she did not know she was infringing copyright when she listed the bootleg recording of one of Clapton’s concerts on eBay for 9.95 euros, or about $11.20. The CD was listed for one day before it was removed.

But a judge with the Düsseldorf regional court rejected the woman’s appeal this week, saying it did not matter that she did not purchase the CD or know it was an illegal recording, reported the German newspaper Bild.

The court also ruled that if she tried to sell the Clapton bootleg again, she could face up to six years in prison or a fine of nearly $282,000.

Klaus Günther, the woman’s attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday. He told Bild that she planned to “appeal again.”

A spokesperson for Clapton did not immediately return a request for comment. Michael Eaton, Clapton’s business manager, told The Washington Post last month that “given the depressingly bad standard of journalism reflected in certain recent articles, Eric Clapton has no desire at the moment to engage with the US Press.” Eaton told the Guardian that “Germany is a country where sales of bootleg and counterfeit CDs are rife.”

“Along with a number of other major artists and record companies, over a number of years Eric Clapton has, through German lawyers, successfully pursued hundreds of bootleg cases in the German courts under routine German copyright procedures,” Eaton said.

The legal win for the musician comes at a time when Clapton has become one of the most vocal critics of coronavirus safety precautions in the entertainment world. During the course of the pandemic, Clapton has released multiple songs criticizing lockdowns, conducted a lengthy interview with vaccine skeptics and pledged to perform only where fans would not be required to be vaccinated.

Clapton’s turn against vaccination and covid-19 restrictions has left many friends and fans puzzled and frustrated.

“Nobody I’ve talked to that knows Eric has an answer,” drummer Jim Keltner, who has known Clapton for 51 years, told The Post last month. “We’re all in the same boat. We’re all going, ‘I can’t figure it out.’ ”

It’s unclear how Clapton, who has sold millions of records during his decorated career, was made aware of a bootleg CD being sold online in Germany in July. Attorneys for the 76-year-old musician sent an affidavit to the Düsseldorf regional court, saying that the illegal recordings featured on the CD were made without Clapton’s consent.

After Clapton’s legal team reached out to the woman, she replied, “I object and ask you not to harass or contact me any further,” according to the Guardian. She also allegedly told Clapton’s legal team that they should “feel free to file a lawsuit if you insist on the demands.”

“They told me Eric Clapton had complained,” she told Bild in November. “My husband bought the CD in a department store, not somewhere under the counter.”

Yet the judge ruled this week that she will need to pay about $3,800 in legal costs for her and Clapton.

“Costs are usually minimal unless the case is argued in court, which is what happened here as the lady instructed her own lawyers,” Eaton said to the Guardian. “Now that the full facts of this particular case have come to light, the intention is that the formal German proceedings will not be pursued any further.”

Gunther, the woman’s lawyer, has vowed to take the copyright infringement case to the European Court of Justice, the European Union’s top court.

Because

...a Twitter spat is just one of the bullshit things we have to put up with now, here in USAmerica Inc.

VICE:

President Donald Trump sparked a Twitter beef Sunday with celebrity couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. Such fights are pretty normal for Trump. But Teigen’s response was perhaps a bit more profane than he’s used to: she tweeted the president was “a pussy ass bitch.”

The whole thing began on Sunday, with an MSNBC special about criminal justice reform. Legend — who has an organization that aims to end mass incarceration — was a guest. Trump apparently tuned in and felt like he didn’t get enough credit for the First Step Act he signed in December, which reduced some federal drug sentences and looked to reduce recidivism.

I don't know if it's at all worth looking into - I'm going to leave it here in the large and growing pile of shit I wish I was making up.

Today's Tweet

The guy had a heart valve replaced recently, and he's turning 76 in a coupla months.

pic.twitter.com/nx5JFB2ZuJ

— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) May 15, 2019

Today's Tweet

Show up or shut up.

America is calling YOU. To Register, To Vote. Turnout! Hanx🇺🇸 https://t.co/I6BptOBGsj pic.twitter.com/zgWu2O4AH9

— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) August 22, 2018

And I'm not interested in hearing your whiny-butt bullshit about how you hate all of them and so you're going to pick up your jacks or your marbles or whatever and go play where nobody's being mean to each other.

You're a fucking grownup now. You can't hide from the fact that you're supposed to have come to some understanding of how things are interconnected - the ripple effect - how everything you do has some effect on everything everybody else does.

You choose not to do something, and you've created a vacuum, and somebody else is only too glad to step in and exercise your power for you - almost always not to your benefit.

When you have the opportunity to vote against the greater of two evils, what the fuck are doing sitting on your ass?

The LeBron Thing

“The climate is hot,” James said. “The No. 1 job in America, the appointed person is someone who doesn’t understand the people. And really don’t give a fuck about the people. When I was growing up, there was like three jobs that you looked (to) for inspiration. It was the president of the United States, it was whoever was the best in sports and then it was like the greatest musician at the time. You never thought you could be them, but you can grab inspiration from them.”

“It’s at a bad time. While we cannot change what comes out of that man’s mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us, ‘This is not the way,’” James said. “It’s not even a surprise when he says something. It’s like laughable. It’s laughable and it’s scary.”

--LeBron James

Here's the whole video:

Today's Bit O' Satire

The fucked-up-edness really kicked into high gear when we (ie: conservatives) became convinced that the whole thing should be demystified because all you really needed was some common sense and a regular guy's outlook.

Jonathan Pie

"I went to the best doctor's on the planet, and the cancer came back - twice.  And now it's back again. This time I think I'll hire a plumber instead."

Yeah But No

The Hill:

A firestorm over former chief strategist Stephen Bannon is consuming the White House with the new year only days old.

It comes even while the president’s latest controversial tweets are still reverberating and the stubborn cloud of investigations into collusion with Russia remains.

By the end of an extraordinary day of news on Wednesday, Bannon’s enemies within the GOP were glorying in his apparently final demise from the Trump inner circle. His loyalists were complaining that the White House was being too easily spooked and had overreacted.
Never forget that this is a Reality TV Show - a years-long effort at Brand Visibility.

Take a look at the script of any "Unscripted Reality Series" - or listen to the instructions and suggestions of the show's producers - and you're going to find a pattern of deliberate mischief. The players make more money if they start a fight - especially the women, cuz hey - it could get physical, and everybody loves a girl fight, and we might get to see some boobage, and that'll be good for at least a few days of good buzz.

Nobody watches the typical family next door as they take out the trash and bring in the groceries, so nobody's going to buy advertising on a show like that.

I'm thinking Mueller and Schiff and Warner (maybe even Burr) are keeping their eyes on the ball while the rest of us get to spend a day or two indulging ourselves in some good ol' fashioned celebrity voyeurism.

Pro Wrestling meets The Kardashians - it's The Infomercial Presidency.

Unfortunately, it's being used as cover by the Kremlin, and by some very shady characters in and around Capitol Hill.

Could Be A Lot

I'm wondering how significant it is when the opening bit at CMA is a nice big slam on 45*.

Say What?

"Conservatives" are adamant about telling celebrities to stay outa politics after trying to name everything in sight for a B-Movie Actor over the last 30 years because they think he was the greatest POTUS ever.

And now they've spent 2 days going out of their way obsessively trying to convince us they don't care what Hollywood thinks about the Game Show Host who'll be inaugurated a week from this Friday.

It's almost like, fuck that death-of-democracy thing - we might stand a chance to get some of that back if we start caring about the death of irony.
...or shame
...or honor

Today's Tweet

My interview of the night ended with Bill Murray asking if I recycle. He handed me his champagne bottle. #WorldSeries #Cubs pic.twitter.com/66jzAshLL9

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) November 3, 2016

What He Said

(Ripped entirely from Mock Paper Scissors - because it's fucking brilliant)

Q: What do you think about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats?
“I fucking love them. I have always loved them. And let me just say this: If you’re a politician — not just in Washington but in business and industry, you have to be a politician — there are a lot of things that you have to do that you’re not proud of. There are a lot of compromises you have to make because it means that you can get this other thing over here. And if you think that you can go to fucking Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time, you’re living in a fucking fantasy world. So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: All of those compromises, all of that shit, double it by ten. And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she’s fucking awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You’ve got to dance with the devil. So which of the horrible people do you want? That’s more of the question. Do you want a pompous braggart who doesn’t know anything about diplomacy? Or do you want a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done? That’s really the question.”

The take-away here is that we have a lot of institutional sexism in our country—I think Scissorheads know that, we certainly laugh at it enough—The Skirts—and what RuPaul points out is that it puts an enormous burden-of-proof on women candidates. The late Ann Richards once said, “After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.
Ru-Paul is in many ways the epitome of badassery (a black gay man who has made a celebrity career of being a drag queen?! His drag show has been nominated for a freakin’ Emmy Award!), and if he sees a hero in Hillary Clinton then I can check my white male privilege at the door. His statement is remarkable.

Women politicians have to do everything male politicians do, but they get judged for doing it. From the clothes, to their voices, to just existing (the woman-card), they get scrutinized where men get a pass. Backwards and in high heels, indeed.

So as uncomfortable as I am (and I am very uncomfortable with political dynasties, and especially this dynasty because of the Clintons’ love of triangulation), I think it is absolutely remarkable that Hillary Clinton has not only won the nomination, but that she is winning the day-to-day battles.
She’s a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done. I can work with that.

Today's GIF

Muhammad Ali

Dead yesterday at 74

Once upon a time, there was a Meat Market type bar in southeast Denver called The Sports Page, and the gimmick was that they showed old movies of sporting events on a coupla big projection screens. My all-time fave was this fight between Ali and Cleveland Williams.  The first time I saw it, I was so mesmerized that I just sat there swilling beer and watching - I got drunk enough to fall asleep in my car out in the parking lot afterwards.

Here's what I posted on his birthday this year