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Please Help Manhattan Lullaby, a Worthy Documentary About Colony Records (Brill Building), to Raise Funds on Kickstarter

. . The words, Brill Building, are synonymous with songwriting in the way Hollywood is equated with movies or Detroit used to be associated with cars. I received a message yesterday from LA-DSH urging assistance for an upcoming documentary about Colony Records, a unique music store located in that iconic building which was the site …

Barbara Trentalange’s “Napping Series” of Musicians a Beauty to Behold – Seattle Scenesters Painted to Perfection

Within the last year or so, multimedia artist, Barbara Trentalange, had a baby. Balancing motherhood with creative expression, she completed a series of paintings titled, “Baby Napping Series.” “I started the series because I needed to be quiet around the house while my daughter napped,” says Trentalange. “Since I couldn’t write and play music (which …

Don’t Be Co-opted by the Naive, Even Dangerous, Viewpoint that Obama’s Tax Cuts/Unemployment Deal is Not Good for Democrats, by Lawrence Spaulding

. Please, please, please tell me that you are not ready to be co-opted by the naive and even dangerous view that is being adopted by too many already that the tax cuts/unemployment benefits deal that Pres. Obama just worked out with Republican leaders is somehow a bad deal, that he got rolled, or that …

Deck the Halls with Advertising: Stan Freberg Skewers Christmas Commercialism, by Randy Rendfeld, Guest Blogger

This 1958 Stan Freberg audio file satirizes the overcommercialism of Christmas. It begins with Mr. Scrooge calling a meeting of important “advertising people” to find new ways to tie products to Christmas. One advertiser talks of depicting a more rugged Santa smoking a preferred brand of cigarette. In the ad, Santa has “both sleeves rolled …

Real Housewives, Zombies: “Being a [tv] housewife is more like being a CEO of a small corporation. A CEO that is hardly ever around,” by Karla Chase

The following article can be found at Salon.com: Are “The Real Housewives” really flesh-eating zombies? Why do Bravo’s trussed-up middle-aged stars have so much in common with “The Walking Dead’s” rotting corpses? Click Here. Funny, how true the comparison of zombies to Real Housewives is. The “Real” word in the title is like a joke. …

Q: WHAT ARE PARIS HILTON, OPRAH, JESSE JAMES, AND OTHER TOP CELEBS DOING IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE? A: BEN GREENMAN PUT ‘EM THERE. (Greenman to appear in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago.)

Ben Greenman, a very smart, witty, great guy and editor of the New Yorker appears in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Chicago very soon. (Schedule is below). Q: WHAT ARE PARIS HILTON, OPRAH, JESSE JAMES, AND OTHER TOP CELEBS DOING IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE? A: BEN GREENMAN PUT ‘EM THERE This summer, the Brooklyn author and …

Bottomless Pit’s Tim Midgett launches plan to pay off Electrical Audio’s (Steve Albini’s Chicago recording studio) mortgage

Things are tough all over. Even legendary recordist Steve Albini, the famed audio technician behind classic releases from Nirvana, Liz Phair, Bush, Bedhead, Built to Spill, Bottomless Pit, Cheap Trick and dozens of others is having trouble paying the mortgage on Electrical Audio, his impeccably designed analog studio. Tim Midgett, guitarist, bassist and songwriter for …

Obama and Palin Share a Milkshake, but why not an energy drink, or at least a Jamba Smoothie with Immunity boost?

Thanks to Colette Moran for the link. The improvised comic prose is East Portland’s alone (Colette would never jest about energy drinks.): . “In Archie, Obama v. Palin – PATRICK GAVIN | POLITICO CLICK Obama is dubbed “The Chicago Kid” while Palin gets named “The Thrilla from Wasilla” on the new Archie covers.” Complete story …

The Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids

The Gift-Giving Season is upon us, and here’s a classic stockingstuffer. Thanks to Kristen Anderson for this Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa gifting suggestion… ‘The Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids’ “The Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids,” published by Really Big Coloring Books of St. Louis, purports to be a “teaching and learning tool.” But many of the …

PIRANHA 3D’s Mark Canton to James Cameron: “Shame on you…,” “Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis…”

. “Jim, are you kidding or what? First of all, let’s start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of PIRANHA 2 and you were fired. Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in …