Last Ten CDs We've Listened To.....before the last ten cds we've listened to......Debuts from Talking Heads, The Cars and Blur

Greetings to our blog readers in Canada, Poland and Sweden.

Since the cds we mention here include a recording by Turkish instrumentalist Mercan Dede called "Su," the Turkish word for water, we have an image of the Manavgat Waterfalls near Antalya, Turkey.

Also, our good friend Bruce Piephoff from Greensboro, NC, ha a catchy song about another Tar Heel town called "I Remember Asheville" on his record "Sogni d'Oro," so we have an image of the Biltmore House, which is located in Asheville, NC.

Lastly, indy folk singer Michelle Shocked had a song about Anchorage, Alaska, simply called "Anchorage" on of her early albums which is among the last ten before the last ten.......

Here is the list:

1) Bruce Piephoff. Sogni d'Oro. 2007. Folk

2) Mercan Dede. Su/Water. 2004. World.

3) Billy Bragg. Tooth and Nail. 2013. Folk

4) Michelle Shocked. Short, Sharp, Shocked. 1988. Indy/folk

5) Talking Heads. Talking Heads:77. 1977 (Featuring "Psycho Killer," band's first record)

6) Psychedlic Furs. Mirror Mirror. 1984.

7) Simple Minds. Street Fighting Years. 1989.

8) Blue. Leisure. 1991 (band's first record)

9) The Cars.The Cars. 1978. (band's first record)

10) The Replacements. Let It Be. 1984.

http://thereplacementsofficial.com/pages/home

http://www.reverbnation.com/brucepiephoff

http://michelleshocked.com/


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Quote of the Day- James Baldwin

During this month of August, we will be quoting from famous literary and creative radicals on Mondays, or whenever we can.

Today, we start with the late great poet/novelist/playwright James Baldwin who was also a civil rights activist for blacks and gays.

The liberal journal "The Nation" recently published quotes from famous people who have contributed articles and columns to the magazine over its long history. And, it was from a July 11th, 1966 issue of "The Nation" in which Baldwin made this provocative comment:

"The law is meant to be my servant and not my master, still less my torturer and my murderer."

SIDEBAR: We want to wish our Muslim friends a happy Ramadan season, an occasion which is alas soiled because of the political unrest in Syria which once again escalated on Monday. Many groups, such as the Divan Cultural Center, in Cary (Raleigh), NC, are holding special iftar dinners for the holiday.

If you are a Muslim living in the Washington, DC, area, (or just enjoy mutton) and you happen to have lots of capital wealth and enjoy very fine dinning, then we can recommend the Poste Brassiere at the Hotel Monaco on Eight Street, NW. According to "The Washingtonian" magazine, the restaurant offers roast lamb for $70. The restaurant also apparently requires a one-week in advance reservation.

We are Postponing Our Scheduled Entry, but.....

....In the meantime, we are going to recommend that you read Gunter Grass' classic German novel "The Tin Drum" over the weekend. The 1959 novel was made into a vintage 1978 German film that was banned in Oklahoma!

One might be able to find the novel at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville, NC. Should they NOT have it, you can ask for "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., instead of blaming us!

By the way, we are planning on posting an entry dedicated to the 10 Craziest People in America. The Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., who is apparently hoping to start World War III, and the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., who probably disdains Muslims, gays and people who don't go to his church just as much, are likely to make the cut!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Bill Murray

We thought we'd feature an image of a famous Irish-American for St. Patrick's Day. When my mom told me she was going to go to Dublin a few years ago, I thought she meant Dublin, Va., where Pulaski County High School is, as opposed to Dublin, Ireland!

One of Murray's most famous films "Ghostbusters" will be on Nick-TV tommorow night at 9 p.m., New York time.

We had initially hoped to see how far apart Lexington, Ky., where the University of Kentucky is, from Priceton, NJ, where Princeton University is, were. But, yesterday's blog entries were quite time-consuming! We assume if they weren't playing at a neutral site that the respective team bus drivers would know the way. That game is currently underway, and at last report (well, it was about 30 minutes ago) Kentucky was winning 11-4.

We also wish the University of Asheville (NC) Bulldogs well as they face the top seed Pitt Panthers today as well. If they win, perhaps that means that one day, I might just be able to go on a Starbucks coffee date with Uma Thurman.

Lastly, we want to make readers that many NPR stations are having fund-drives. We are especially concerned about the plight of excellent small market stations like WMRA in Harrisonburg, Va., and KUNC in Greeley, Col.

That Colorado town is also home to the 'other UNC,' the University of Northern California Bears who are in this year's NCAA field. They will play the two-seed San Diego State Aztecs in the opening round.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today: Japanese Man Builds Tiny House

According to a tweet from "The Huffington Post," Fuychito Moriya of Tokyo, Japan,(we hope we spelled his name right) has built a house the size of a parking plae that is just adjacent to his mother's home. The house pictured here is actually in Arkansas.

We wish Moriya well, and hope his mom doesn't drive him zany.

There is also buzz on Twitter today concerning Julian Assange, the infamous Australian man who founded Wikileaks who is also wanted in Sweden on sex charges. Apparently, backers of Assange have hacked into the Swedish prosecutor's web site.

"The Onion" is having fun with the whole Wikileaks mess as they 'reported' today that: "Julian Assange has been fired from his IT job at The Pentagon." (this is a fake news story).

Another thing which caught my eye on Twitter was that apparently Christine O'Donnell, the 'I'm not a witch' political candidate who was not able to gain a U.S. Senate seat in Delaware is reportedly starting her own political action committee! Maybe, she will be a lobbyist for residents of Salem, Mass.

And, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of "Eat, Pray, Love," will be stopping at Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, NC, on Feb. 4.

Trending topics on Twitter for the day include Elizabeth Edwards, Grinch, Rubin, Yoko Ono, Birthday Ian and Pearl Harbor. We were surprised that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the most progressive member in the Senate who is planning to filibuster in the Senate over a dispute regarding tax cuts for the rich, was not among the trendy ones!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Darth Vader Dogs

We thought we'd post an entry with this vintage photo of a dog dressed like Darth Vader. Some friends and co-workers are urging to keep my promise of dressing up like the Star Wars for Halloween as I jokingly promised a few weeks ago, but costumes are going for (yikes!) $90 online. My friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, might be inclined to buy it though since he loves Star Wars, so much so that he once used in a local political campaign when he ran for school board offie in 2006.

The Asheville Humane Society in Asheville, NC, is sponsoring a special event aimed at increasing adoptions over the upcoming Halloween weekend. The event called The Halloween Dog Festival will be held on Sat. from 1-5 p.m., and it will include costume categories for both large and small dogs.

Among the mutts that are up for adoption in Asheville are Cassandara, an 11-month-old spayed retriever lab, Anchoive, a five-year-old terrier/chihuahua and Honeycomb, a nine-month-old female lab beagle.

For more info, one can call 828-761-2001.

Things We Learned from Twitter This P.M.- It was 145 Years Ago Today....

....That John Wilkes Booth, the theatrical actor who assasinated President Abraham Lincoln at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, was himself shot to death by Boston Corbett (1832-1888?-death date can not be confirmed, read on!).

An interesting detail about the shooting of Booth is that Corbett was actually arrested for the incident for a brief while before he was given $1,600 in reward money.

Corbett was an evangelical Christian who tried to immitate Jesus Christ to far extremes. He even referred to the shooting of Booth as something which 'God delivered upon him to carry out.'

Sometime before joining the Union Army, Corbett castraited himself with a pair of scissors.

In 1865, a short time after Lincoln's assasination, Corbett was asked to join a group of Union soldiers who would try to find Booth. They found him in a Virginia farm. Corbett shot Booth with a Colt revolver at a distance of no more than 12 feet.

After the incident, Corbett went crazy and moved to Kansas. He escaped from the Topeka Asylum on horseback in 1888 reportedly on his way to Mexico. Pardon the cliche---he was never seen or heard from again.

As for the Ford's Theatre, they will produce the famed musical "Little Shop of Horrors" starting on May 22 with Christopher Kale Jones starring as Seymour.

PS_I must profess that I did contemplate not posting this piece because of the incident in Asheville, NC, yesterday in which a disturbed man apparently brought a gun to the Asheville Airport where President Barack Obama was preparing to head back to the White House after a weekend vacation. But, both the history and the novelty of the Booth shooting were too interesting to me. We are certainly glad no one was succesful at hurting President Obama or his family, especially since I live in North Carolina.

SIDEBAR_In something I also learned through Twitter, Joe Rubino of "The Colorado Daily News" in Boulder, Colo., is reporting that suicide rates at Colorado University are at a four-year low. According to the article, there have only been two suicides on the campus of the Boulder university this school year. The story comes just a few weeks after NPR reported that Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, was seeing a major increase in campus suicides."From a suicide prevention standpoint we've been very succesful," Deb Coffin, CU's dean of students, told "The Colorado Daily."

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Angora Cat

A Turkish Angora Cat (pictured here) was among those I saw at a cat show in Roanoke, Va., over the weekend. The cat's owner told me that there is a specialized zoo for these cats in Ankara, Turkey. My late uncle Ilhan Gokbudak, a Turkish diplomat who gave me the autograph of Chilean dictator Pinochet (!) actually lived in Ankara. Alas, he is dead now, so I can't ask him to verify this for me.

But, I can say that there are many cats out there who need a home (Alas, I already have a tuxedo cat named Gizmo- and, he is quit a handful!).

There are several animal shelters in North Carolina with pet adoption services.

These include the Orange County Animal Shelter which has a main branch in Hillsborough, NC, (they have two other shelters in the county including one in Chapel Hill) which currently has a tuxedo cat named Missy, a black cat named Mungo and another black cat named Crumper. They can be reached at 919-732-8181.

Another animal shelter in the Triad (Greensboro) area is the Rockingham County Animal Shelter in Reidsville, NC, which is currently offering several cats for adoption. Among them are a tabby named Houdini, a tuxedo cat named Gene Kelly and another tuxedo cat named Fred Astaire.

My good friend Moviezzz can probably name every Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movie off the top of his head, but the only I can come up with are "Top Hat" and "Singing in the Rain," respectively!

In Case You Missed It- I Performed Karaoke to....

...........the 1983 smash hit song "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads at Izzy's Coffee Den in Asheville, NC*, on Monday night.

The reaction of the crowd was well stunned?!

I am an unabashed huge fan of Talking Heads. I recently finished reading the lead singer David Byrne's book "Bicycling Diaries" in which he described how surreal it was to witness a Filipino man karaoking "Burning..." at a bar in Manila. One can only image what he would think of my 'rendition.'

*-Not the actual coffeehouse where I sang karaoke, but if you are a friend of mine I might tell you the actual place!

Winter Break from Blogging

I was going to use the sixties Hanna Barbera cartoon Wally Gator (see a trend here?) for this entry as a joke that I was going to visit my aunt and uncle in West Palm Beach, Fla., this weekend but I think it might confuse my sister in Provo, Utah, who knows I am not going to Florida this weekend. And, that we don't have an uncle in West Palm Beach, but another part of the Sunshine State. I guess I should add that my sister does not live in Provo or Utah. She would probably also want me to mention that she is not a Mormon either. Not that I have anything against Mormons. But, I can't say the same for Mitt Romney or the Osmond family.

Anyway, I promised myself I would go out to have a coffee at the local Starbucks here in Winston-Salem, NC. Ok, I'm not in Winston-Salem or North Carolina at the moment, but I could really go for a pumpkin latte right now as it is freezing outside. The family cat Gizmo is resting under the bed. He hasn't come out from under there in hours!

We will return some time in the middle of next week with our usual nonsense!


SIDEBAR: Today, there was a letter-to-the-editor to "The News and Record" in Greensboro, NC, written by an apparent Christian fundamentalist who emphatically stated that "God is NOT a socialist." (How would she know?) Such sentiments are fairly common in the Tarheel State, so it's not surprising that newly elected city councilman Cecil Bothwell, 59, of Asheville, NC, is getting flack for the fact that he is openly agnostic. His opponents, who are of course conservatives, are trying to enforce an 1868 statute disqualifying anyone who doesn't believe in God from serving public office. I suppose these people are not going to become Facebook friends with Sam Adams, who is the openly gay mayor of Portland, Ore., anytime soon!