https://youtu.be/RC8zcfWbkWQ “Raise Four” is one of the last of Thelonious Monk’s compositions to see the light of day, appearing on the “Underground” album for Columbia. Performed here by Chris Potter, piano, D Chŏkroun, bass, Don Fraser, drums, Vancouver, 2014.1 Posted by thesystemlovesit. I hope this is right. There seems to be more than one “Monk’s…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Jonathan Rauch has words of wisdom
A couple of weeks ago I waxed witty at the expense of Washington author Jonathan Rauch in a snappy piece titled “Jonathan Rauch has words of wisdom. Or not.”. Well, that was then, that is, that was before House Speaker John Boehner fell on his sword out of sheer frustration with the Tea Party’s incessant…
Barack Obama to Dick Cheney: “Hey, maybe we aren’t so different after all!”
Daniel Larison explains what a huge liar our president is here, pointing to the president’s pronounced regret that the U.S. and its allies didn’t do “more” in Libya after dislodging long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi: “In his U.N. speech, Obama lamely tried to spin the problems in post-intervention Libya as a result of not doing enough…
Hillary Clinton—She’s just like you!
“It was a design of my friend Donna Karan.”
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here “Yeah, I should be ashamed of myself. But I’m not.” “Quit your bitchin! This is what makes New York New York!” “The traffic? Well, for the Major Deegan, it’s fabulous!” “These days, I’m pretty much King of the Mountain around here.” “It’s the apotheosis of something. That’s the good part.” “Well, I…
Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd: The Monksiland Band does “Nutty”
Raucus, intriguing take, performed in 1986 by Steve Lacy, soprano sax, Roswell Rudd, trombone, Dave Douglas, trumpet, John Betsch, drums, and JJ Avenel, bass. Posted by Verna Gills/SOUNDSCAPE
Democrats actin’ more like Republicans every day
I recently made fun of the Republican presidential primary campaign tradition that I like to call “the freak o’ the week.” Well, Democrats can do that too, and right now we have two freaks, Bernie “Wild Man” Sanders and Joe “Gawd Help Us” Biden. Both are little more than surrogate candidates for the “real” “I’m…
Jeb Bush to Black Voters: “Under my Administration you’ll have to WORK for a living!”
No more free stuff for you guys!
Jonathan Rauch has words of wisdom. Or not.
Over at Reason, Nick Gillespie has a long interview with Brookings dude Jonathan Rauch, bearing the snappy title “The Case For Back-Room Deals, Party Hacks & Unlimited Money in Politics”, a thesis he spells out at greater length in his new book, bearing the somewhat less snappy title “Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money,…
Regressin’ to Jeb: the Renascence of the Republican Mean
The recent, entertaining demise of Scott Walker has caused many to embrace Marco Rubio as the once and future king of the Republican Party, something I’ve been known to do myself. Well, not so fast, conventional wisdom. Let’s step back and take a serious look at the tea leaves. It seems that Donald Trump, while…