SamPratt.com

June 13, 2011

LeBronfreude

Rarely has not winning been so thoroughly relished by so many, as the Miami Heat blow a 2-1 lead in losing to the Dallas Mavericks in six games. For those (e.g. embittered Celtics fans like myself) who just can’t get enough Big Three schadenfreude, some recommended links:

A droll play-play-play by The Wall Street Journal’s liveblogging team (scribes Kevin Clark and Jason Gay with actress Mindy Kaling) from Sunday night’s Game 6;

Steve Rosenberg of The Chicago Tribune: “Say this for the Miami Hate: Nobody is better at celebrating when nothing has been accomplished.”

Unloveable Dallas owner Mark Cuban erasing the goodwill earned by his classy deferral of the trophy (to original Mavs owner Don Carter) by unleashing gleeful H-bombs and S-bombs in later interviews;

Lebron James showing off his inner elitist in a postgame interview, in response to a provocative question about fans who enjoy seeing the mighty crestfallen: “At the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today.”

And here, a Miami columnist responds: “Thousands of Ramons will cook and serve meals, one of which Lebron James might eat and leave a measly tip, and some Cristobal might be doing a little upgrade to Lebron's big ’ole mansion so he can make the rent, and just maybe he’ll be listening to the radio and humming along, before sharing a laugh with the maid who took the bus to clean up after King James.”

The end of Game 6 here, for the moment, on YouTube... Unfortunately this does not include the shot of unctuous ex-coach Jeff Van Gundy and the rest of the ESPN color commentators (with their annoying habit of layering irrelevant, extended anecdotes over the action) looking totally deflated as the Mavs clinched—and the NBA’s Heat hypemachine ground to a halt.

And a corny NBA highlight mini-movie for the truly obsessed.

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June 6, 2011

Quotable Lorre

Time... Time... What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook.

—PETER LORRE AS JULIUS O’HARA IN BEAT THE DEVIL (1953-1954); ATTRIBUTED TO TRUMAN CAPOTE

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June 2, 2011

Anti-Semitism, Midwestern-style

Taghkanic assessor Art Griffith, who unapologetically uttered the phrase “we jewed them down” at a Town Board meeting this winter, now has company... in Sauk County, Wisconsin.

According to reports in The Baraboo News and elsewhere, LaValle Supervisor Virgil Hartje described how in negotiations with a County vendor, they had “jewed down” the price. Hartje, the manager of a lumber yard and construction firm, initially refused to retract his remark, characterizing it as “more a business word” than a slur.

Griffith similarly shrugged off the incident, calling his term “common” and one that’s “used all the time.” Like Griffith, Hartje’s words inspired public and media outrage, along with a stern letter from his region’s chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

But unlike Griffith, Hartje did finally apologize—albeit two months after the fact. And the Sauk County Board began to consider adopting a stronger code of conduct for its members.

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May 31, 2011

Summertime

Homemade strawberry-banana smoothie. (Cache of Christian Lacroix Evian found, improbably, at Big Lots.)

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Tu(n)esday: Close Listening with the Clash

Recorded in November 1979 and originally released as a B-side to the single version of London Calling, the Clash song Armagideon Time was a loose cover of Willi Williams’ 1978 Jamaican hit of the same name—which in turn made use of Sound Dimension’s well-worn 1967 instrumental Real Rock.

The liberties Joe Strummer took with Williams’ lyrics in many ways encapsulate The Clash’s simultaneous influence by and punk ambivalence about aspects of reggae culture. Take, for example, this verse’s alterations:

WILLIAMS

Remember to praise Jehovah
And He will guide you
In Armagideon

CLASH

Remember to kick it over
No one will guide you
Armagideon time

Williams’ version offers the consolation of faith to temper the absence of fairness in the world and its inhabitants’ impending judgement at the moment of Armageddon. Strummer retains Williams’ focus on social justice, but strips out the religious optimism: praise Jehovah (“Jah-hovah”) becomes kick it over, while He will guide you is supplanted by the nihilistic no one will guide you.

It was hardly the first time The Clash had tweaked their Jamaican idols. In 1978’s White Man in Hammersmith Palais, the band—touted by Lester Bangs as arguably the greatest live act ever—raised hackles when they savaged the performances of several reggae greats and impressarios during a much-anticipated U.K. tour:

But it was Four Tops all night
with encores from stage right
[...]
Onstage they ain’t got no roots-rock-rebel

Being equal-opportunity offenders, The Clash in Palais also cast a gimlet eye on many of their own fans, promoters and peers who were “turning rebellion into money.” Much like John Lennon in his pointed lyrics for the Beatles’ Revolution, which took fellow hippies to task for faddism and ideological superficiality (check out the sardonic shoo-be-doo-wops accompanied by unusually hard George Harrison licks in this live TV version), Strummer and to a lesser extent Jones were stiff critics not just of society at large, but of their own close circles.

But the balance and incisiveness of the message in many of the Clash’s best-known songs often went overlooked, infamously so with White Riot—typically misheard by both punks and its critics as a skinhead incitement, when it was intended to castigate the apolitical posturing and mindless “punk” violence which the band clearheadedly saw as spoiling the late ’70s movement they’d helped popularize: the shift from ideology to posture to fashion.

Anyway, here’s another track from the same era as Real Rock, Soul Vendours’ Swing Easy:

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May 30, 2011

Now that's big news

The Columbia Paper reports that AM radio station WCKL is going back on the air next month, but buries the lede: namely, that it’ll be carrying WEEI’s Red Sox broadcasts. (There are more BoSox fans in these parts than one might expect.) WCKL is at 560 on the “dial.”

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May 28, 2011

Can’t keep a good town down

In spite of high taxes and hostile politicians, new business owners keep flocking to Hudson. Tonight marks the opening of Sherry Jo Williams’ new venture at 428 Warren Street, culture+commerce project (5-9 pm), along with the official opening of 3FortySeven at 347 Warren (natch, from 7-10 pm) with music by DJ Gio.

Also debuting on Memorial Day weekend is Red Chair on Warren at #606 (formerly of Peterborough, New Hampshire) featuring French and Belgian housewares and antiques. Meanwhile, Chris Lehrecke has expanded his shop across the street in a larger space at #415, Tortillaville is back open for the summer, and there are two new B&Bs on Front Street.

“This town is hopping,” said my friend Norma Ramos (a former administrative law judge specializing in environmental justice* issues) on Friday at Baba Louie’s, which was packed to the gills with organic pizza fans and their beaming kids. But what’s particularly striking is not just the quantity of new businesses, but the quality. For the most part, the additions to Hudson’s deep roster of attractions are not lame and pedestrian, but unique and intelligent. More on that topic to come soon.

* We had an interesting talk about EJ and how its is appropriated and misused for “old boy” purposes, for example in the cynical misuse of the concept in regards to the City of Hudson Waterfront.

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Art Saturday: Sling

Graffiti by Sling, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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May 27, 2011

Old stomping grounds: still there

Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Moved out in 1993.)

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May 26, 2011

Keeler, Koweek likely Dem nominees

The County Democrats are caucusing right now at Space 360 in Hudson. Advance word is that Mark Portin of Ghent withdrew his name from consideration for D.A. after failing to secure anticipated support from the Conservative Party, and citing a lack of time for an intense campaign. That leaves former D.A. Gene Keeler as the likely Democratic nominee, running against Paul Czajka. Meanwhile, the Dems are also expected to nominate Richard Koweek for the judge position vacated by Czajka, to run against outgoing D.A. Beth Cozzolino.

in Politics | Columbia County | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Quotable Delillo

Driver’s having a cup of coffee over at Iggy’s. He’s a good boy, friend of mine. ... It pays to have friends in low places. I find they do more for me in the long haul than the average maker and shaker.

—DON DELILLO, GREAT JONES STREET (1973)

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May 25, 2011

She’s not a resident, either

The underdog victory of Democrat Kathy Hochul in New York’s 26th Congressional District is making headlines all over the country, as many interpret it as a referendum on the Republican assault on Medicare.

Only occasionally mentioned in the coverage: Hochul does not live in the 26th CD. Nor (as noted here previously in another context) did she have to to run for U.S. rep there, so long as she moves in before taking office. And Tuesday night’s tallies proved that the voters didn’t care.

Hochul said on election day, in response to GOP attempts to make this a campaign issue:

“I’ve just been ignoring that all along... Not one person in this district has ever mentioned that. They know I’m going to plan to move into this district, hopefully very soon.”

One wonders if Democratic Alderman Geeta Cheddie, who has attempted to make residency an issue in this year’s 1st Ward race, would have voted for Hochul... Residency may become a moot issue (as again noted here last week), as her feared opponent may not actually run after all. But it would be nice to see a little consistency in the political posturing that goes on.

N O T E : Personally, I think parties would be smarter to nominate existing residents for everything from Common Councils to Congress, as there’s little sense handing the other side an easy issue. But in Hochul’s case, it didn’t matter—and as a matter of law, she (like Tim Rodgers) was entitled to run.