Alexander

Here are some good collections of country blues, that also contain some good country (and even some jazz sometimes)... Pick up "Chasin' That Devil Music" by Gayle Dean Wardlow, btw. It's a great book and it contains an excellent CD with some great early blues tracks: Now, I realize that there are overlaps between some of these sets, but that doesn't bother me, personally. These are all amazing sets with some great pre-war country, blues and occasional jazz...

I can't upload it because the file is too big, but I have this great ad for Pears Soap in a book. It depicts two children: One white and one black (the black child has buckwheat-style hair and giant pop-eyes). In the first of the two images, the black child is climbing into a bathtub where he is to be washed by the white child with Pears Soap. In the second panel, the black child is now white from the neck down. Attached is an image I found online. It's not as good as the scan I made from my book, but it will give you an idea of what the ad looks like. Isn't that awesome?!

Well, I landed a part-time job at Borders, so it looks like I'm back doing book-retail for the time being. I've had a few interviews for teaching positions, and there's one job I have a good feeling about so hopefully I'll hear something this coming week. I also have another teaching interview on Wednesday, so hopefully I'll be teaching again in the fall...

I didn't know that they put the extra material from "The Procrastinator" on "Sonic Boom"! I still have the Japanese CD of "Sonic Boom." Now I'll have to find the US reissue (grumble, grumble)....

I'd like to find both of these someday. I wasn't that into Wayne when they were readily available, and once I got into him, they were gone.

Just read it this moment (a friend sent me the link). It is truly amazing how much these guys are willing to pay for one of these records. The 78 collectors of today (at least the ones who collect blues and country) are a completely different breed from the ones who went house to house buying 78s for a dollar during the 50s and 60s. Those who collect 78s of international music tend to pay less than these guys, because they are not seen as being as valuable (although they are certainly as rare, in most cases).

I've seen some hair-raising stuff, man...You definitely don't want to go there...

Yeah, Sasha's stuff is very hard core. Not my cup of tea at all. Apparently, she got noticed in her very first scene ever by loudly demanding that the male co-star punch her in the stomach (he didn't do it). However, I respect the fact that SHE is the one who has made the choice to do this stuff. She started out at 18 with a written mission statement and a clear goal to make it to the top of her industry, which she has done all by herself. She's not controlled by a Svengali. She's not doing it because she's hooked on drugs. She does it because she wants to, which makes her an interesting kind of Feminist (the kind many other Feminists don't want to have around). She has made her body a commodity, but SHE'S doing the selling. The Rolling Stone piece a couple of months back on her was very interesting. She's a fascinating young woman.

I believe she was Tilly's "stunt butt."

She's not really my physical type, but she's certainly very cute and (from what I've read) also VERY bright... Not that being in porn precludes intelligence. Asia Carrera is in Mensa...

Wow! Is it possible to download just the audio from a YouTube clip? I'd love to have this in my collection!

How could I forget Nina Hartley, who appeared in "Boogie Nights" as William H. Macy's straying wife?

Ashlyn Gere was one of the few female porn stars who not only has some acting chops, but worked in mainstream film and TV at the same time she was doing porn. She had roles on "The X-Files" and "Millennium," as well as a recurring role on "Space: Above and Beyond." Although she's not as well remembered as some, 80s and 90s porn star Madison Stone had a mainstream film career in B-grade horror flicks (like "Evil Toons", which co-starred Arte Johnson, David Carradine, and fellow porn star Barbara Dare). Madison is now a fairly well-known tattoo artist. Then there's the infamous Traci Lords who turned out to have been underage while making all but one of her 100+ porn films and tried to spin her notoriety into a mainstream acting career. The last film I saw her in was, appropriately enough, "Zack and Miri make a Porno." She was pretty good, too. Also appearing in "Zack and Miri" was another real life porn star, Katie Morgan, although I don't think this was a "career move" so much as a "star turn." She didn't exactly have a mainstream film career per se, but Asia Carerra (now retired) did appear in "The Big Lebowski" as well as doing quite a bit of body double work in Hollywood (she doubled for Jennifer Tilly in Tilly's nude scenes). Nowadays there's Sasha Grey, a hardcore porn star who recently did a Steven Soderberg film ("The Girlfriend Experience," for those who care)... And yes...I know FAR too much about this...I'ma go lie down now...

So I got it and I read it. It's fascinating and extremely well written. Makes some darn good points too. I was particularly interested in some of the lawsuits that were filed during the 1940s to prevent music from being disseminated for "free" via the radio. Sounds an awful lot like the industry's hand wringing over file sharing...

You know, if you'd grow up and get over this "I'm so much hipper than these dumb yokels" schtick, you'd get along in life a lot better. I hate to break it too you, but the vast majority of those blue collar workers got the joke,just as the vast majority of people who watch wrestling really know it's fake. You're not as 'above the masses' as you think you are, you're just young. Wait... Wrestling is FAKE?!

Not funny or weird, but I thought it was cute or mildly amusing when Bobby Hutcherson (saw him with McCoy Tyner) was pretending to bop a little kid on the head with his mallets during a show in Boston in the early '90s...

Oh, I knew it was lowbrow crap. Never had any question about that. The "masquerading as middlebrow" part came from the fact that it was shown on PBS in the US and was therefore watched by tons of people who think that British TV is - by definition - more "cultural" than American TV (personally, I don't watch ANY TV these days). The kind of people who disdained "Rosanne" (which actually had an almost identical cultural POV) in favor of "Served." Wow! Man, did you buy a wide enough brush to spread your assumptions? So, you're telling us (coming from a guy who doesn't "watch ANY TV these days"), that all people who watch a British comedy on PBS are, by your description, snobs that define all (or even most) British programming as refined, cultural erudition? ...and you're trying to tell us that "Rosanne" - the show that was to represent the problems of the American working class - is somehow culturally similar with "Are You Being Served?" You really don't "watch ANY TV these days" do you? Sigh. Do I really need to point out that "Rosanne" served TWO different viewerships? There were the blue collar workers to saw the show as representative of their day to day lives, and then there was a hip, urban viewership who watched the show in an ironic manner. Just like "Are You Being Served."

All great movies, though I've never seen Ed Wood. "Ed Wood" is a great film...probably Burton's overall best...

Oh, I knew it was lowbrow crap. Never had any question about that. The "masquerading as middlebrow" part came from the fact that it was shown on PBS in the US and was therefore watched by tons of people who think that British TV is - by definition - more "cultural" than American TV (personally, I don't watch ANY TV these days). The kind of people who disdained "Rosanne" (which actually had an almost identical cultural POV) in favor of "Served."

I'm sure that everyone on "Served" was very talented, but I've always thought that show was the worst low-brow-crap masquerading as middle-brow-crap that I've ever seen.

So you're saying you don't like funk.

Except for perhaps the most critical - audience sympathy. YMMV, as the man says. Kaufman certainly didn't care about gaining audience sympathy when he was reading them "The Great Gatsby," wrestling women, or performing as Tony Clifton.

He was brilliant. Certainly one of my all time favorites. I see Sacha Baron Cohen as Kaufman's heir, in many ways...

Eh. I've seen better (and I say this as someone who does impressions). Growing up, my biggest influence was Rich Little, followed in the 80s by Kevin Pollack. Fred was okay, but some of his voices were...shaky at best. Maybe he was better when he was younger, I don't know.