tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58731832008-11-13T10:26:21.909-05:00Mainer, New Yawka, Beijinger, Californian, points between. News, views and ballyhoos that piqued my interest and caused me to sigh, cry, chuckle, groan or throw something.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comBlogger438125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-57632216083516695032008-11-04T14:32:00.007-05:002008-11-04T19:55:09.003-05:00

Democratic Party HQ on Election Day, Belfast, Maine. Unity Free coffee for voters Have you voted yet today? The way things should be

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-70808320014399398732008-11-01T17:00:00.002-04:002008-11-01T17:02:54.059-04:00

Just heard on CNN (David Brody): "When my toilet was running today, I actually called Sarah Palin to get Joe's cell number." I got another hateful robocall from the Republicans today. They are truly twisting in the wind. I'll be working the phones at Democratic HQ on Tuesday getting out the vote.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-83837197030850852642008-10-16T14:38:00.003-04:002008-10-16T19:28:22.142-04:00

I have been spending my blogging time remodeling Crackpot Chronicles' design. I hope you like it! The new Mediaista sidebar is a notion in development; stay tuned. The home website is also going to get some long overdue maintenance as well. In passing, I'd like to note that I got a recorded phone call from the Republicans (huh?) today citing Obama's "close ties" to domestic terrorism -- it's

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-43514274343969683542008-10-02T14:55:00.010-04:002008-10-16T14:23:14.729-04:00

This is my comment on Huffington Post in response to an anti-Palin screed by Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood (and daughter of the late Ann Richards, whom I love). A link to the offending post appears below mine. You can read it if you like, I won't propagate it here. With liberals like Cecile Richards who needs Republicans? @Huffington Post This column is a disgrace. Richards is the kind

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-37798890801143489472008-10-01T09:44:00.021-04:002008-10-17T23:36:44.329-04:00

Mooshead Lake is the largest lake in New England and a place dear to Henry David Thoreau, who came there in the mid 1850s to retreat and explore. He wrote "A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." Thoreau crossed the lake in a birch bark canoe with a native guide and explored

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-56197736003343694872008-09-29T16:25:00.000-04:002008-09-29T16:26:42.013-04:00

Shana Tova! The Days of Awe begin.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-43395713329120979122008-09-29T15:46:00.005-04:002008-09-29T19:21:42.616-04:00

Channel surfing late night Sundays is practically always futile, if you're not following football. It's a TV dead zone. So I am as amazed as I am delighted to report the discovery of a new show, Huckabee on Fox. Yes, that Huckabee, the former Governer of Arkansas, ordained Baptist Minister and former Republican presidential candidate. It's scheduled for primetime Saturday and Sunday and they

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-13797490592745345042008-09-28T08:57:00.006-04:002008-10-16T14:15:57.145-04:00

UPDATE: Kyle hung a right, softened up and missed the midcoast, dropping a bit of rain, but that's all. Coastal Maine is under the first hurricane watch in 17 years. I'm battening down the hatches. EASTPORT, Maine (AP) - A rare tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were posted for parts of the Maine coast on Saturday as Hurricane Kyle roared north toward the region with a threat of

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-77920646164079212802008-09-24T22:12:00.005-04:002008-09-28T09:37:02.725-04:00

Livin' in the USA sure ain't dull these days. On the home stretch of the most vivid Presidential campaign ever, Wall Street has a long overdue meltdown. Republican candidate McCain tries to weasel out of a scheduled debate with his opponent on Friday, seeing his poll numbers tend southward. He announces that he's suspending his campaign and invites his opponent to do likewise; he's rebuffed.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-44053223539659405452008-09-24T20:02:00.003-04:002008-09-24T20:08:55.795-04:00

Thanks to Richard (Peking Duck) for bringing this to our attention on Facebook. It is fantastic. Representative Marcey Kaptur, D, Ohio. If it doesn't play on here, you can play it directly on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmvyjkQ-rQ&feature=related

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-32523560146198503062008-09-11T00:01:00.009-04:002008-10-14T12:49:33.537-04:00

My home town, my birthplace. You taught me the grit and the grandeur of life. You taught me passion. And what greatness really means. Your streets, the aroma of pretzels and mustard, the brownstones and the skyscrapers, the art, the style, the street life, the pizza and the penthouses. And after the worst man-made hit in the history of this great nation, how you stood back up

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-60850261727113818852008-08-29T12:50:00.002-04:002008-08-29T12:55:53.630-04:00

Wouldn't it be ironic if Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who was just picked as John McCain's running mate, was the first to walk through one of those eighteen million cracks in the glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton broke in? She even just made a complimentary reference to Sen. Clinton in her first speech as candidate, in front of a Republican audience, who cheered heartily. The Republicans are

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-51025771266023011602008-08-28T19:47:00.004-04:002008-08-28T20:32:32.680-04:00

I'm not voting for you, but you do have (and always have had) my respect. The Democratic Party convention, which started as a complete yawn, has definitely gained momentum. It's a monument to American diversity. Today, the invocation prayer was led by a rabbi, the pledge of allegiance was led by Shawn Johnson, the gold medaled gymnast sweetie pie of the Olympics and the Star Spangled Banner

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-57095595164713850482008-08-23T04:49:00.006-04:002008-08-23T05:53:21.176-04:00

If you fanned Obama on FaceBoook you were promised a text message announcing the candidate's veep pick before the major media was informed. What a scam! The media announced that Obama picked Joe Biden around midnight and the FB announcement didn't appear until after 3am -- text messages were way behind media announcements. The Obama campaign data-mined 1.3 million Obamorons on FaceBook, and

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-12911156634638205072008-08-20T15:49:00.006-04:002008-08-22T10:02:22.917-04:00

I got out of the car in the supermarket parking lot, habitually clipped my key-ring to my fashion backpack and breezed through the sunshine toward the doors. All of a sudden, I felt a curious little tap on my derriere and turned around. On the ground was my key-ring; I hadn't snapped it properly on. As I picked it up, I thought how nice it was for my keys to potch me on their way down, I

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-49912550788253295352008-08-15T15:10:00.002-04:002008-08-15T15:14:42.823-04:00

Jerry Wexler, friend, inspiration, mentor, music man. I will miss him dearly. The world is a poorer place today in his absence. He leaves a body of music production that will nourish generations to come, as it nourished, informed and enthralled mine. Jerry Wexler

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-90408152129573078572008-08-03T11:57:00.006-04:002008-08-05T06:35:10.030-04:00

The 2008 Summer Games will begin in Beijing this week with an opening ceremony of unprecedented spectacle and showmanship. It will be the most auspicious and thrilling opening in the history of the Games. If it is one thing that China excels at (even more than economic development and cuisine) it's spectacle and showmanship. They've been at it longer than anyone else and take it from me, they

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-40537423292822660682008-08-01T09:31:00.006-04:002008-08-05T18:58:44.717-04:00

So while refraining from posting here on the presidential campaign, I have slipped and posted a short sweet and irate comment on a NYT Opinion piece The Power of the Protest Vote. Scroll down to comment #98 to read it. I've been nurturing my campaign abstinence by watching Lou Dobbs (CNN) with guilty pleasure (diminishing guilt as time goes by). He's currently my favorite curmudgeon. He's

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-84513816698639552922008-07-30T14:38:00.003-04:002008-07-30T14:52:21.030-04:00

Yesterday, Memphis Music Confidential blogged my coverage of Elvis Presley's re-emergence concert at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in July, 1969. You can see it at http://www.memphismc.com/2008/07/29/39-years-ago-today/ And from there you can click through to the full story on my main website (to which this blog is an appendage).

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-20886798311519979532008-07-30T07:27:00.004-04:002008-07-30T07:47:52.234-04:00

University of Antwerp/Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Researchers used X-rays from a particle accelerator to reconstruct the portrait of a woman Vincent van Gogh had painted over before composing his landscape "Patch of Grass," completed in 1887. Conventional X-rays used in previous analyses had produced only rough outlines of the portrait. The image, unveiled in a scientific

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-9821181988112467522008-07-12T03:42:00.008-04:002008-07-12T04:12:58.000-04:00

[click pic to enlarge] The sun over the yardarm in Belfast Harbor July 11 2008

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-60872329101654693652008-07-07T07:53:00.004-04:002008-07-07T13:27:55.881-04:00

Some years ago, Rod Stryker, who was my yoga and meditation teacher in Santa Monica, told us that there is a space of pure peace between breaths in that moment between an inhale and an exhale. Peace is a natural mind-state in every one of us. Peace has been there since the day we were born and it is going to be there till the day we die. It is our greatest gift; so why do we think we have no

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-27203769895758489702008-07-06T13:31:00.014-04:002008-07-12T05:11:30.520-04:00

Despite firestorms in California, the aftermath of floods in the Midwest, the 4th of July weekend is one of spirit and celebration this year. Here, we have sunshine and moderate breezes, softshell lobster, mounds of wildflowers, schooners in the sunset. On the Fourth of July, we had an unusually big farmers market and bike races in town, which closed off most of the main street loop. The tide

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-56626033609838901512008-06-27T07:29:00.007-04:002008-06-27T17:33:13.284-04:00

At 6 AM we boarded the Cornish gig Belle Fast for a row on Penobscot Bay. A gig is a "pilot boat," so named because it was the type of craft used to row a pilot out to a larger craft coming into a harbor to dock. They became racing boats because the first boat to reach the incoming craft got the job, the gig. A cox called the strokes and 6 oar-persons, 3 each side, synchronously pulled a 12

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-34601218405606235422008-06-26T19:56:00.004-04:002008-06-27T09:59:58.281-04:00

That must be it. From my last post to this, I've had few thoughts and nil passion for anything to do with the presidential election. Right now I feel like I'll wait till the campaign starts in earnest, after the conventions, in August, to pay major attention again. Or maybe that'll pass. The campaign is no less exciting. I'm just less excited. I'm not disinterested in the candidates. I

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.com