05.30.10
Posted in Colorful people, Culture at 1:33 pm by Administrator
Roger Simon’s Pajamas Media essay about Dennis Hopper posits that there was a consistency to the man throughout his life and career, even after what looked like a major shift from radicalism to conservatism in the 1980s. His was a quintessentially American spirit and outlook.
One can see antecedents such as the stirring patriotic verse of the prototypical open-road-explore-the-continent’s-vast-expanse spokesman, Walt Whitman. There is, of course, the example of Jack Kerouac, whom subsequent generation remember for his love of the road-trip epiphany, but who, it must be noted, neatly folded an American flag that had been dropped to the floor at the conclusion of a Merry Prankster happening. There is Jimi Hendrix, who was proud of his service with the 101st Airborne to the end of his days and felt that his Woodstock rendition of the national anthem was as patriotic as anybody else’s version.
The river still flows, Billy.
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05.29.10
Posted in Arts & Culture, Colorful people, Culture at 10:58 pm by Administrator
Age 74. We’re going to hear terms like “Hollywood wild man” and “bad boy” ad nauseum as this gets the kind of media treatment we all know it will.
I don’t begrudge an artist some craziness and rebellion if he or she demonstrates some evolving over the course of his or her life, and if he or she is a real artist and not a hack or a fraud. Dennis Hopper was dedicated to the crafts of acting, painting and photography from an early age, and employed a discipline in pursuit of them that gave depth to his work from his earliest efforts. At the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses for chaotic lives, I know for a fact that there is a turbulence that stirs in the core of many creative personalities that is not easily tamed.
I’m even willing to cut him some slack for the fact that, even though he’d been a conservative Republican since becoming clean and sober in the mid-1980s, he found Sarah Palin problematic enough that he felt the need to vote for TCM. I rather doubt that he was pleased with developments that resulted from his candidate having been elected.
Nobody else could turn a squint into a harbinger of dark entropy like Dennis Hopper.
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Posted in Colorful people, Culture, Culture war heroes at 10:45 pm by Administrator
Age 97. Again, one of those departures that serves as a metaphor for the disappearance of a cohesive Anerican culture based on decency, dignity, gentle humor, common sense, and a wholesome curiosity about the world and the poeple who inhabit it. Married to his wife, who survives him, for 74 years. Friends with the likes of Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney.
What would it take in terms of cultural conditions to bring about the likes of him in this age?
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05.28.10
Posted in Colorful people, Eye-opening developments at 5:55 pm by Administrator
The talk titan is set to wed his longtime girlfriend Kathryn Rogers at his Palm Beach home.
As the post title says, I wish them the best, but there’s no denying that the stats in the matter – a 59-year-old guy whose weight yo-yos yearly or more frequently, a blonde babe 26 years his junior, his fourth go-round at this – don’t offer maximum encouragement.
Maybe she’s a conservative with intellectual horsepower that would knock your socks off. I did read she’s directly descended from John Adams. Then again, they didn’t meet at a pow-wow of wonks or anything like that. She was helping to run a charity golf tournament he was in.
What’s her background? Maybe the new Zev Chavets bio of Rush, An Army of One, will offer some insight.
Because he’s a great man in so many ways, we have to hope this is the most fulfilling thing either of them have ever entered into.
Just sayin’ . . .
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03.04.10
Posted in Colorful people at 1:41 am by Administrator
What a natural. I have no idea whether she’ll be the Pub prez candidate in 2012 or whether she has any other high-office aspirations. But if you can’t love her for her uniqueness as a person (looks, smarts, core principles and values, experience in everything from political leadership to hunting and fishing to building a family) as well as her understanding of and devotion to human freedom, human dignity and common sense, you’re some kind of weirdo.
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12.21.08
Posted in Colorful people, Radicalism in high places at 6:33 pm by Administrator
I’ve had something confirmed for me that’s rather a drag to fully let in: I’ve become allergic to dogs.
I love dogs. Had dogs all through my growing-up years, and two of my most beloved family members in my adult years have been dogs. Since the last one passed on, we’ve been a cat household, but I’d figured someday I’d get another canine companion. I guess that won’t be.
Over the past year, I’ve had three or four episodes in which dramatic upheavals of my physical condition were clearly attributable to my having palled around with pooches. About a year ago, Mrs. BN and I went to my sister’s house for a dinner / holiday get-together. My nephew and his wife brought their little terrier, Oscar. We frolicked as we usually do. On the drive home, my eyes swelled nearly shut and tears cascaded down my puffy, blotchy cheeks. In the spring, I dog-sat for a family that went on vacation to Florida. The first day, I went to their house for a get-acquainted session, which involved much climbing on the couch, paws in the lap, licking and such. Within five minutes of leaving, I got the balloon-face syndrome again, this time with a little difficulty in breathing. Got some benadryl at the store and that’s how I made it through the week.
Last night, Mrs. BN and I attended a Christmas party. Great folks, great chow. good drinks, and two black labs with whom I engaged in human-canine fellowship. There was another guitarist there, and we played some music – carols, plus some blues and folk music. While we were playing, I noticed I couldn’t draw a decent breath. Also, again, my face felt all hot and itchy. Not wishing to appear melodramatic, I didn’t say anything at the time, but as we left and walked to our car, I mentioned it to Mrs. BN, told her I could feel my bronchial tubes swelling shut. I let her drive home. She seriously considered taking me to the ER, but I convinced her just to go on home. She let me puff on an inhaler she keps handy for her occasional bouts of athsma, and the relief was instant. I took two benadryls and went to bed.
This morning, while WS was out, she ran into a physician friend of ours and told him of my experience. He told her to have me get to a heallth-care provider first thing tomorrow morning and get tested. He said I’d probably given something I’ll need to keep with me at all times. He firmly told her to convey his admonishment to me that I must do this. He said that otherwise the next encounter could kill me.
Man, if anything can be filed under the category “aw, dang,” it’s the prospect of not making any more dog friends the rest of my life.
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