May 2003

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Mennonite Surf Party at Famous Dave's

Filed under: Imported

I just realized that the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is at Famous Dave's on Saturday night. I didn't think they let the man travel above the Mason-Dixon Line.

The cross-dressing, keyboard-pounding head of the First House of Polyester Worship is kind of like Jeff Foxworthy crossed with Mark Mallman. He writes songs about trailer park encounters with aliens and honky tonk hermaphrodites. My personal favorites are "Mennonite Surf Party," "The Girl on Page 63," and "Get off My Lawn!" 

Wirtz's schtick can get tiresome on albums, but live he whips up some inspired lunacy. My pal David Pulizzi penned an excellent Wirtz profile a few years back.

Wirtz on his early days:

"Ya know, there was just a need at the time for a six-foot-five, heavily tattooed guy in a nurse's dress to sing songs about surfing Mennonites and mentally masturbating while watching Marcia Brady."

Read the rest here.  

Posted by Paul Demko at May 30, 2003 3:07 PM

 

Tragedy Narrowly Averted in Blaine

Filed under: Imported

I attended the Minnesota Thunder's first-ever "school-day game" this morning. Roughly 3000 hellions were terrorizing the stands.

Lord knows why I drove to Blaine to take in this match. The Thunder were playing the Sioux Falls Spitfire, a team that is only nominally professional and, literally, not in the same league as their Minnesota counterparts. The game meant nothing. But it was a gorgeous day.

I departed around the 70th minute, with the Thunder leading 2-0, when the kids began a dangerous stampede while attempting to secure t-shirts from Thor. It was on the verge of disintegrating into a Hillsborough- or Heysel-like situation. The chaperones and security guards seemed oblivious to the danger.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 29, 2003 1:57 PM

 

Monkey Man

Filed under: Imported

Personally I've always assumed that there's a guy in a brown monkey suit around town who swoops in to rescue people in their hour of need. (Scroll down to April 24th and start reading.)

Perhaps "Tigerbeard Matt" is really Jayson Blair.

Cribbed from Radosh.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 28, 2003 4:05 PM

 

DBT's Kick Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ass

Filed under: Imported

How do you follow up a two-hour, two-disc Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute/opera?

That's the inevitable question I was contemplating before listening to the new Drive-By Truckers album, Decoration Day. After all, 2001's Southern Rock Opera, propelled them from anonymous road dogs to semi-stardom, drew raves in the press, and was picked up by Lost Highway, home to the first couple of alt-country. It was also, by my estimation, a freakin' masterpiece. A tough act to follow. 

Decoration Day opens with a beautiful song about incest. I'm not sure which is more unlikely to be associated with beauty: incest or the Drive-By Truckers. Bombast is more their style. "By the time you were born there were four other siblings, with your mamma awaiting your daddy in jail,"  Patterson Hood croons. "Your oldest brother was away at a home, and you didn't meet him 'till you were 19 years old." The song's based on a true story about a girl who falls in love with her much older brother. They hit the road, have four kids-- and get seven years in jail for their purported sins. Hood's voice is so raspy that it sounds like he massaged his vocal chords with sand paper. It has a Waits-ian beauty, though, and is oddly affecting.

The second tune, "Sink Hole," is also based on a true story, about a farmer who dispenses shotgun justice after the bank forecloses on his land, but I want to talk about the drumming. Somebody should check Brad Morgan's sticks for cork! The guy's crashing the skins with such force and swagger that it sounds like he's trying to break into heaven. (Huh?) I felt like I was 14-years-old again hearing John Bonham rip into "Rock and Roll" for the first time. Then there's the bass line on "Sinkhole." It's so relentlessly funky and propulsive that it could make John Frusciante's socks roll up and down. 

I single out the drums and the bass because they're surrounded by so much guitar firepower that they often get overlooked. Okay, that statement's true of every band on the planet, but the Truckers' three-guitar attack is particularly riff-a-licious. (Granderson's threatened in the past to start a guitar-less Van Halen tribute band, one of the most inspired drunken brain farts of all time.)

I won't subject you to a song-by-song dissection of the album, but I do want to point out one more aspect of the Truckers' genius. These boys toss off some of the best rock n' roll one-liners of all time. They should be teaching Rock n' Roll Philosophy 101 at some technical college. Here's a couple:

"Well, my daddy didn't pull out, but he never apologized. Rock and roll means well, but it can't help telllin' young boys lies." -- from "Marry Me"

"Sick, tired, pissed and wired, you never thought about anyone else. You tried in vain to find something to kill you. In the end you had to do it yourself." -- from "Do it Yourself"

Buy this album now! Oh shit: it's not available until June 17th. Sorry.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 5:23 PM

 

David Holthouse

Filed under: Imported

Every once in awhile you read an article that serves to highlight exactly how banal and shallow your own work as a journalist is by comparison. On many occassions I have had this insight after reading the work of David Holthouse. For those not familiar with his work, Holthouse is a long time New Times staff writer, first in Phoenix, now in Denver. Here's the first sentence of his most recent gem.

Somewhere at the bottom of Grasmere Lake is an Egyptian-made assault rifle with an empty clip.

Who the hell is not going to read that story?

While I'm on the topic I might as well point out that Holthouse wrote the definitive chronicle of Meat Puppet Cris Kirkwood's tortured descent into druggie hell. Here's an exerpt:

Regardless, according to his brother and close friends in the Valley, Cris Kirkwood is lurching pell-mell toward the reaper, track-marked arms open for the embrace. He's smoking cocaine and shooting heroin in death-wish quantities. Overweight from binging on Ben & Jerry's ice cream, he's pocked with the sores and boils that result when a junkie misses a vein and shoots impure, infectious heroin directly into muscle tissue.

Now I will stop writing because having my prose stacked up against Holthouse's is depressing.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 2:46 PM

 

Final Table is About to Start at the WSOP

Filed under: Imported

If that headline doesn't make any sense to you stop reading now. For the rest of you poker geeks: If you just can't wait for the ESPN rebroadcast, for a mere $29.95 you can watch the final nine players butt heads at the World Series of Poker live from Binion's Horseshoe via webcast. The cards start flying at 2 p.m. CST.

The appropriately named Chris Moneymaker is the chip leader with $2,344,000.  

I'm going all in (bad poker pun!) for a DVD player and will have to wait for the rebroadcast. Don't tell me who won.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 1:48 PM

 

How to Increase the Popularity of Soccer in the United States

Filed under: Imported

More Veronica Paysse:

 

All you new soccer enthusiasts can catch the Minnesota Thunder at home this weekend against defending A League champs Milwaukee. (Using the words "Milwaukee" and "champs" in the same sentence is a bit disorienting.) 7 p.m. Saturday at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Still not converted? These teams hate each other. Sometimes they fight. You can pretend it's hockey.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 12:04 PM

 

Nude Lynyrd Skynyrd

Filed under: Imported

Cecile "Blue Oyster Cult" Cloutier points out that Deep Discount DVD is selling the Homicide DVD for just $37.21. (That's $15 cheaper than Amazon.)

Granderson says the key to successful blogging is random Lynyrd Skynyrd references.

And the cherry vodka and champagne cocktail at Moscow on the Hill makes life tolerable--at least temporarily.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 11:29 AM

 

Miners Protest "Real Beverly Hillbillies"

Filed under: Imported

Apparently this is how the United Mine Workers of America spends its time now that all the minining jobs have been eliminated.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 23, 2003 10:26 AM

 

Why I Will Soon Be Purchasing a DVD Player

Filed under: Imported

One of the great tragedies of recent memory was the cancellation of Homicide: Life on the Streets. I'm not even talking about the cessation of new episodes but rather the foolhardy decision to stop broadcasting reruns on Court TV.

I used to have three opportunities daily to catch episodes of, by my estimation, the greatest television program ever. (Hailing from Maryland, I may be biased: I also believe Eddie Murray is the greatest baseball player of all time and that the anniversary of Len Bias's death should be a national holiday.) I would estimate that I've seen each episode, on average, roughly 2.3 times.

Apparently Homicide can still be seen on TV in Canada. This fact is of little consolation to me.

Finally, some good news. Next Tuesday, A & E Home Video will release the first 13 episodes of Homicide on DVD. These shows feature arguably the best cast ever assembled on Homicide, with mainstays Yaphet Kotto (certainly the darkest-skinned Sicilian in the history of network television), Andre Braugher, and Richard Belzer, along with short-timer Ned Beatty. It's also the time period that I'm least familiar with: for whatever reason, the Court TV reruns tended to focus on the later years.

Until Tuesday, devotees of the show can satiate themselves by checking out this insanely obsessive glossary of all things Homicide. Unfortunately, it's missing an entry for my friend Quinn Hanchette, so I'll write it myself.

Hanchette, Quinn. Episode 108. Played seedy motel clerk in episode that featured a teenage couple who murdered their unwanted baby behind the motel.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at May 22, 2003 6:03 PM

 

Rare Win for Workers

Filed under: Imported

Earlier this week roughly 5900 workers at Twin Cities medical facilities ratified a new three-year contract. The pact was endorsed by 79 percent of the members of Service Employees International Union, Local 113, whose ranks include cafeteria workers, nurse's aides, housekeepers, and x-ray technicians.

The settlement follows months of increasingly contentious negotiations. (Read my story on the labor dispute here.) In recent weeks Local 113 had staged a series of one-day strikes. The union also held protests outside hospitals and staged a sit-in at Allina's board meeting. (Allina owns five of the impacted facilities.) Yesterday 3000 workers were slated to stay home from work.

In March, the hospitals claimed that their "final offer" was on the table, but last week they backed down. The new contract provides for 12 percent raises over the next three years and an almost 50 percent increase in employer pension contributions.

Most significantly, the hospitals made substantial concessions on health-insurance premiums, the issue that SEIU had rallied its members around. Under the new contract, employees will pay no more than 30 percent of the cost for family coverage, compared to as much as 73 percent previously. Single workers will be responsible for just 15 percent of the cost of their health insurance, down from 20 percent.

Maybe now people who work at hospitals will actually be able to afford medical care.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 21, 2003 5:47 PM

 

Drink My Piss You Creepy, Balloon-Twisting Motherfucker!

Filed under: Imported

Mr. Wiggles Summer of Full Release

Posted by Paul Demko at May 20, 2003 2:10 PM

 

Our Man at Ewood Park

Filed under: Imported

It's gone unnoticed for the most part in the American press, but goalkeeper Brad Friedel has just completed a remarkable twelve months.

Last summer, the Ohio native and UCLA alum led the United States National Team to a surprisingly successful run in the World Cup. Starting every game between the pipes, Friedel allowed a stingy 1.4 goals per game, despite playing behind a slow-footed defense that was consistently outclassed. The U.S. finally bowed out in the quarterfinals, 1-0, to eventual runner-up Germany.

Last week Friedel completed his season with Blackburn Rovers in the English Premiere League, arguably the toughest league in the world. He led the team to a 16-10-12 record, good enough for sixth place and a spot in the UEFA Cup. Friedel allowed just 1.1 goals per game, led the league in saves and save percentage, and was named to the Professional Footballers Association Team of the Season--the first American ever to earn such an honor.

The accolades continued yesterday, with the Guardian unanimously endorsing Friedel as the season's top 'keeper. Only three other players--Thierry Henry, Paul Scholes, and Ruud van Nistelrooy--were consensus choices.

England's two most prestigious clubs, Arsenal and Manchester United, have expressed interest in acquiring Friedel.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 19, 2003 3:42 PM

 

Scabs on My Butt and I'm Losing My Mind

Filed under: Imported

In October City Pages published part of a list that I'd picked up from the nurses at Room 111, a public-health clinic in St. Paul that treats people with sexually transmitted diseases. Over two decades the nurses--blessed with a healthy dose of black humor required by anyone who spends their days scrutinizing diseased genitalia--had compiled a list of quotes from patients.

Naturally, this dubious slice of cultural detritus generated more response than any piece of journalism that I've ever written. So bowing to reader demand (and in a shameless attempt to generate traffic) here is the unabridged list:

"Everything was fine. I was at SuperAmerica and then the next thing I know this yellow pus shit is coming out of my thing."

"I got a discharge after I had Anglo sex."

"Stuck that stuff up my dick hole and it worked real good" (referring to antibiotics one should take by mouth)

"Got that shittin' trickamortis from my husband again."

"I got a white discharge but am peeing green."

"I smell putrid down there."

"I was poked in the rectum with the infected finger of a 70-year-old man."

"I gotta sick dick."

"I have a bump like a popcorn kernel down there."

"This drippin' shit is messin' up my Fruit of the Looms."

"Tried to make love to the old lady and the thing wouldn't get hard and she smells and it feels slushy in there."

"I have an infection. It doesn't smell or taste."

"Itching dick."

"Jello pus-like discharge."

"Seems my partner failed here gonnorhea test."

"Pee be lookin' like old beer."

"My penis has a disease."

"If a guy licks his finger and sticks it in my vagina, can i get chlamydia that way?"

"I got a divorce two years ago and since then haven't been able to find any women, but there are plenty of men around." (80 year old man)

"Last time I had sex my face changed color from green to yellow. Also I'm tired in the morning and my wiener is getting smaller."

"My cervix hurts when I jiggle."

"My last period looked like meat."

"Pee be coming out sideways again."

"My new girlfriend's ex-boyfriend left her some luggage."

"Pee be shootin' out two ways."

"I be messin' with my ex-wife and my girlfriend and I don't trust either of them."

"Had sex with someone who didn't look too good afterward."

"My boyfriend's baby's mama has some sort of bacteria."

"Need you to check some bumps down there. I showed them to my mom and she thinks they are herpes or warts."

"My crotch reeks to high heaven."

"My girlfriend ran off with my sister's husband and this is how I found out."

"My ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend has chlamydia and I still sleep with him."

"My occassional lady friend has that tricky thing."

"My whole body smells like a menstruating woman, especially my armpits."

"My pee pee is sleeping. Should I wake it up?"

"I have reason to believe my penis was exposed to LSD. When I ejaculate I have flashbacks."

"From the looks of my penis, I believe they are sucking the adrenaline out of me."

"I live at the VA and my roommate has his girlfriend from Minneapolis over. They throw ticks at me that bite my neck and when I pop the sores, they smell like vagina juice."

"Can't you put the swab in further?"

"I be messin' with these nasty women from Minnesota and they don't tell you they got something unless they mad at you."

"My nut be thicker now."

"Sex with over 600 women, but it's not my fault." (21 year old boy)

"I used to have a trophy doc. Now I can't even look at it."

"I sprung a leak."

"I have a discharge like skim milk."

"Feels like my penis is clogged."

"My penis stinks."

"How am I supposed to do lap dances smelling like a dead fish?"

"I got the dripper."

"My boyfriend was down. He has a trace of VD."

"Did you find a little gonorrhea or not?"

"Test me because they piss and shit all over at May Hall."

"The other night my boyfriend and i were fooling around and when he pulled out he was red and puffy with welts. Some pus came out and he said it felt like he was screwing battery acid."

"I have food chunks in my urine."

"My cock stinks and itches."

"I have a tender penis."

"Zipper-like marks on my intestines."

""I ain't been pissin' right."

"Had sex with my daughter's fiancee and then douched with Lysol. Feelin' a little raw down there."

"Scabs on my butt and I'm losing my mind."

"I'm getting too many hard-ons."

"Balls be hurtin.'"

"Burnin' when I urine."

"This guy I had sex with--his penis looked funny, kinda like a little pickle."

"My diaphragm smells bad. I brought it with me so you could smell it too."

"The seem in my circumcision split open."

"I found a pair of pink panties in my boyfriend's living room and they are not mine."

"My penis sticks to my shorts."

"Drippin' all day that's fuckin' up my job."

"I been seein' the same girl for a long time now, 'bout 18 days."

"My sperm looks like jelly."

"I have herpes warts on my peter."

"Gots the gonga."

"My hair is falling out and the sun hurts my crotch."

"Discharge that smells like cat food."

"My boyfriend has a penis infection."

"I'm releasing semen when i take a crap."

"I'm wet all the time."

"Last time I had sex I passed something that looked like cream of wheat before it's cooked."

"I have a lot of horny, but I do jackoff very often."

"Some guy butt-fuckin' me, can you get AIDS that way?"

"Can I get more condoms? They work really good for masturbation ejaculation."

"I think they hypnotize me and put implants and poltergeists in my brain and have sex with me."

"I got a bump on my little pearl."

"I think my boyfriend knows what's going on. He's been calling me a 'chlamydiawhoris.'"

"My pee smells like ham."

Posted by Paul Demko at May 15, 2003 5:12 PM

 

Indian Justice

Filed under: Imported

Correction from today's Wall Street Journal:

Warren Anderson, chairman of Union Carbide during the deadly Bhopal chemical disaster in 1984, faces charges of "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" in an Indian court. An article Thursday incorrectly said the charges were reduced to "a rash and negligent act."

Huh?

Posted by Paul Demko at May 13, 2003 5:09 PM

 

Joe Blow(hard), Part II

Filed under: Imported

Of all the pontificating about The New York Times' voluminous post-mortem on the reporting sins of Jayson Blair, none was more asinine and inaccurate than the critique offered by Joe Soucheray.

The Garage Logic host spent the bulk of his radio show this afternoon lecturing the Gray Lady on proper journalistic practices. At one moment of particular rhetorical eloquence he referred to the paper's staff as "hand-wringing wienies."

Getting any kind of lecture from Soucheray about journalism is by its nature ridiculous. After all this is a man who once estimated, charitably no doubt, that he spends an average of 70 minutes on each of his Pioneer Press columns. Every time Souch picks up a telephone he feels the need to explain the process to his readers in agonizing detail--even if he doesn't reach anyone. He has to be among the laziest dolts ever to call himself a reporter.

Leaving aside for a moment Soucheray's qualifications as journalistic scourge, let's consider part of his beef with the Blair piece. At on point during the radio show Soucheray excoriated the Times' reporters for failing to explain to their readers what had happened to the plane tickets that Blair purchased and the company credit card bills that he'd run up. A perfectly logical question--and one that is answered in the Times's story.

First of all, Blair was never even given a company credit card. Secondly, he didn't report any travel expenses--not even for plane tickets--in the four months prior to his resignation, even though he was supposedly traversing the country to cover stories. This was one of the obvious red flags that Times' editors missed.

Apparently Souch missed it as well.

By way of comparison, let's consider for a moment what Soucheray contributed to the world of journalism on Sunday: his umpteenth meditation on the Minnesota Wild. What insight did he come up with this time?

"The Wild are truly a team."

Somebody alert The New York Times!

 

H.L. Mencken would not be proud. My favorite passage in the Blair piece was this:

Charles Strum, his editor at the time, encouraged Mr. Blair to pace himself and take time off. "I told him that he needed to find a different way to nourish himself than drinking scotch, smoking cigarettes and buying Cheez Doodles from the vending machines," Mr. Strum said.

Sorry, but what exactly was the problem?

Posted by Paul Demko at May 12, 2003 5:32 PM

 

Emus, Milo Yellow Hair and Me

Filed under: Imported

My first job out of college was at a newspaper called the The Chronicle of Philanthropy. For those not familiar with the "newspaper of the nonprofit world," it's essentially a trade publication for fundraisers.

It was a decent place to land after graduation (especially since nobody else would have me). A lot of smart middle-aged reporters who have been stripped of any illusions of landing a spot at The New York Times end up there. The pay is excellent, everyone gets five weeks of vacation, and the profit sharing plan is extremely generous. It's a velvet coffin.

 

The chief problem is the actual journalism that ends up appearing in the paper. Every piece is sent through the Chronicle meat grinder until it takes on a banal institutional sameness guaranteed to inspire not a whit of passion, laughter, or debate. Some of the articles could put Brad Zellar to sleep.

 

But the paper had a lot of money. Its sister publication is The Chronicle of Higher Education, an excellent weekly newspaper that covers the world of academia--and a cash cow. (I've never understood why there was--and remains--such a chasm of quality separating the two publications.)

 

My first Chronicle-financed road trip was a two-day jaunt to Memphis to report on Elvis Presley fan clubs raising money for charity. I was still an $8-an-hour intern at that point. Consequently I held the false belief that it actually mattered how much money I spent on travel. I ended up taking a ValuJet flight that stranded me in the Atlanta airport until 4 a.m. It was a decent trip anyway. I toured Graceland, ate ribs at the Rendezvous, and tooled around Memphis with Mike Freeman and Cindy Hazen, authors of The Best of Elvis, a detailed history of the King's philanthropic activities. 

 

It was the start of a nice little franchise. I became the go-to reporter for bizarre fundraising stories. I traveled to South Dakota to write about the Crazy Horse Memorial and interviewed Milo Yellow Hair, vice president of the Oglala Sioux tribe. He spent the entire time laughing hysterically and screaming "You mean the George C. Scott Memorial?" (A week later he was in Washington and called up to see if I wanted to "hang out." Unfortunately I was busy.) 

 

I ate emu in Lubbock, Texas for a story about a food bank that was trying to take advantage of the Great Emu Bust of the early 90s by foisting the meat on poor people. (This plan—like everything having to do with emus--failed miserably.)

 

I got extremely drunk with bikers in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin who were raising money to fund breast cancer research. My favorite trip was a three-day stay in beautiful Port Angeles, Washington. The assignment: to cover a rubber duck race being held to benefit a local hospital.

 

Unfortunately, all of these stories were systematically scrubbed of any detail that might have revealed that I'd ever stepped out of the office. My final Chronicle trip was to Minneapolis. I spent a day flying around the state in a tiny four-seater plane with then-McKnight Foundation president Michael O'Keefe in order to write about the grantmaker's efforts to keep welfare reform from becoming an unmitigated disaster. For reasons that aren't worth detailing, the piece itself became an unmitigated disaster.

 

I left the Chronicle a few months later--scuttling plans for a profile of renowned philanthropist Wavy Gravy.

 

The whole point of this little story was to provide an excuse to post this picture:

 

Posted by Paul Demko at May 9, 2003 9:08 PM

 

Other Demko Stories

Filed under: Stories

From New Times Broward/Palm Beach

Declarations of Independents
Forget strip malls, condos, and highways. Loxahatchee Groves is a place of dirt roads, wild pets, and eccentric residents.
By Paul Demko
Published March 30, 2000  

That's Condo-tainment!
The stars of South Florida's condo circuit may not be the most youthful performers, but oy can they sing
By Paul Demko
Published March 2, 2000  

The Real Sugar Bowl
That would be Glades Central versus Pahokee, a fierce high-school rivalry that's become a bigtime game
By Paul Demko
Published November 18, 1999  

No Bird Is an Island
Conservationist Paul Reillo has waged a one-man campaign to save Dominica's parrots from extinction
By Paul Demko
Published November 11, 1999  

How to Become Homeless
Develop heart problems and a fondness for drink. Have your trailer condemned and hit the street. Nothing to it.
By Paul Demko
Published October 28, 1999  

 Padre Pio's Big Adventure
A little piece of a bleeding Italian priest has traveled here to help in the healing
By Paul Demko
Published August 12, 1999  

Total ConFusion
In barely two seasons, the management has run the Miami Fusion into the ground. The fans are not pleased.
By Paul Demko
Published June 24, 1999  

One Last Shot
At age 64, pool hustler Danny DiLiberto is one of a dying breed. He's not ready, however, to hang up his stick.
By Paul Demko
Published April 8, 1999  

Dead Man Waiting
Billy Elledge brutally raped and murdered a woman in Hollywood 25 years ago. He has sat in prison since then, evidence that Florida's death penalty isn't working.
By Paul Demko
Published February 11, 1999  

Posted by Paul Demko at May 8, 2003 3:38 PM

 

Lower Half of Mannequin--Anal Opening in Back

Filed under: Imported

Last week John R. Tomars, Jr., was arrested by the Minneapolis police and charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct. The former high school literature teacher and cross country coach is accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his former students that began when the pupil was in eighth grade. Tomars supposedly used "black magic" and "witchcraft" to transform the student into his sex slave. To read the Star Tribune's story about the case go here.

On April 28th, a search warrant was executed at Tomars's house on the 2600 block of Aldrich Avenue South. Among the items seized from the premises were three Burmese pythons, a six-foot alligator, and a four-foot iguana.

I picked up a copy of the search warrant last week and have finally managed to scan it in.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 8, 2003 2:42 PM

 

John Robert Tomars Search Warrant

Filed under: Stories

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

Posted by Paul Demko at May 8, 2003 2:19 PM

 

Give Him a Hug Rick Santorum

Filed under: Imported

Congressman Mark Foley, a Florida Republican who is running for the senate, has been unceremoniously booted out of the closet. Foley's sexual orientation had occassionally been discussed in the gay press. Bob Norman writes:

Foley, a deputy whip under rabid right-winger Rep. Tom Delay, is now campaigning across the state in many traditional, rural, Christian strongholds. His pro-gun, anti-immigrant, pro-war, and pro-George W. Bush record is a dream come true for them and stands in contrast to his sharp left turn on gay rights.

Read the rest here.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 8, 2003 11:33 AM

 

InRadio

Filed under: Imported

My favorite current Drive 105 promo spot has the format-hopping Twin Cities radio station boasting that it's not owned by Clear Channel Communications. While this is undoubtedly a positive attribute (Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays recently declared, "We're not in the business of providing well-researched music"), the hubris is just slightly misleading. Drive 105 is, of course, owned by ABC Radio, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, one of the largest corporations on the planet.

In case you've been in a coma for the last decade: independent, locally owned radio stations are pretty much an extinct species. Corporate-dictated playlists based on extensive listener research, and formats narrowly tailored to fit a demographic niche rule the airwaves.

A fledgling Twin Cities-based company, InRadio, is hoping to provide a new outlet for quality music that can't get air time on commercial radio. The project is a collaboration between local music fans Dan Carroll and Ben Goldfarb, and Utne magazine. The premise is simple: in return for $19.99 annually, InRadio will mail you a new compilation of music every two months.

Local music maven Mei Young serves as tour guide on the debut disc. Among its diverse offerings are tracks from Norwegian beatmasters Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band, the cabaret-country of Andrew Bird, and French globalists Lo'Jo. Mark Mallman and Low represent for Minnesota. And the fabulous Jim Roll contributes "Desperado in the Parking Lot," an eerie, banjo-fueled tune about a hitman in love. 

The music gives way mid-disc to several documentary vignettes. The most interesting piece is Scott Carrier's travelogue meditation on the state of America. At one point he interviews a homeless woman who claims to be unaware of the 9/11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan, and the (then looming) invasion of Iraq.

Frankly, whatever its merits, I could do without the non-musical portion of the disc.

Less talk, more rock!

Subscribe to InRadio here.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 7, 2003 8:22 PM

 

Good Luck Indiana!

Filed under: Imported

I've been wondering all day why the media continues to insist that departing White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels is a deficit hawk despite all evidence to the contrary. Daniell Gross does a better job dissecting this myth than I ever could.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 6, 2003 7:37 PM

 

LBJ & HHH

Filed under: Imported

The relationship between Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson was a bit nauseating. Humphrey's sycophancy in the face of the redoubtable Texan was at times completely lacking in dignity.

Historian Michael Beschloss published the transcripts of conversations between the two men in his 1997 book, Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964. The subject in this snippet from the summer of 1964 is the possibility of Humphrey running for vice president:

Humphrey: And I want to come right to the point with you. If your judgment leads you to select me, I can assure - unqualifiedly, personally, and with all sincerity in my heart - complete loyalty.

LBJ (speaking in a murmur): Yeah, I know that.

Humphrey: I just want you to know it.

LBJ: I know that.

Humphrey: And that goes for everything. All the way. The way you want it. Right to the end of the line.

LBJ: Fine. Well -

Humphrey: I know these are difficult days for you and as I said before, I don't want to cause you any trouble.

The audio of this conversation is even more excruciating. (I can't seem to find a link, unfortunately.) Anyway, my point ...

Earlier today Minnesota Public Radio rebroadcast LBJ biographer Robert Caro's Monday night speech at the Humphrey Institute. It's a fascinating dissection of their relationship. Listen here.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 6, 2003 6:33 PM

 

Working for Roundy's

Filed under: Imported

The news that Pewaukee, Wisconsin-based grocery chain Roundy's has negotiated a preliminary deal to purchase 31 Twin Cities-area Rainbow Foods supermarkets has been met with cautious optimism. Roundy's CEO Robert Mariano has promised to retain all employees and honor union contracts. The company has also pledged to pump money into the grocery stores, many of which are in poor physical shape.

 

Rainbow workers would be wise to look at Roundy's track record in Wisconsin before celebrating, however. Last February it was announced that Roundy's was taking over seven Madison-area Kohl's supermarkets. It plans to re-open six of the stores next month as Copps Food Centers.

 

Instead of offering existing employees jobs at the new stores, however, Roundy's forced everyone to reapply for their positions. According to Dan Welch, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1444, which represented most of the Kohl's workers, only 100 out of 373 employees have been offered positions in the new stores. The majority of the workers, roughly 200, didn't even bother to go through the process of re-applying for their old jobs.

 

"People just didn't want to put up with the baloney of what they were making them go through," says Welch. "There's a tremendous amount of indignity when people are told they have to go back and apply for their own jobs."

 

Those who did attempt to return to their jobs were forced to endure three-hour interviews and were encouraged to indicate that they would work for a lower wage. Because fewer than half of the employees stayed on, they will no longer be represented by the UFCW. Local 1444 has sought assurances from Roundy's that it will remain neutral in any union drive, but the company has refused to make such a pledge. Welch speculates that the hardball tactics are a result of Roundy's purchase last year by Willis Stein & Partners, a Chicago venture capital firm.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at May 6, 2003 3:40 PM

 

Shop at Borders (this weekend only)

Filed under: Imported

Employees at the Uptown Borders bookstore are imploring people to patronize the store this May Day weekend.

In October the Minneapolis workers voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 789. Since then, however, contract negotiations have gone nowhere. The notoriously anti-union corporation has refused to budge on any key issues. (For my previous stories on this labor dispute go here and here.)

The workers are hoping to prove a point this weekend: people will spend money to support union stores that pay living wages.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 2, 2003 4:11 PM

 

Bush Economy, II

Filed under: Imported

From Daniell Gross' piece in Slate:

By historical standards, when it comes to job creation, Bush is shaping up to be more like Herbert Hoover than Ronald Reagan. He stands to preside over the first presidency since Hoover's in which the American economy lost jobs.

Read the rest here.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 1, 2003 12:30 PM

 

Northland Poster Collective

Filed under: Imported

 

More here

Posted by Paul Demko at May 1, 2003 11:02 AM

 

Man U, Inc.

Filed under: Imported

The Washington Post examine's Manchester United's global reach in anticipation of a four-city U.S. summer tour. The author is more adept at writing about business than soccer.

United has virtually no debt, sells out every home game and owns its stadium. Unlike most U.S. pro sports facilities, which are built with massive taxpayer subsidies, United over the past decade has spent its own cash (nearly $300 million) on stadium improvements and training facilities. And unlike most U.S. teams, which are privately held by super-wealthy individuals who have made their fortunes elsewhere, United operates with a fiscal discipline that comes with being a publicly traded company that is answerable to shareholders.

What a concept!

Read the rest here.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 1, 2003 10:13 AM

 

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