Energy is Life
THE MORNING BRIEF, Vol. IV, #19 (May 7, 2001) -- And other equations.
CONTENTS
Bush Says No
E-Mail
Lieberman Says Democrats Censor, Too
Pay the Teachers
---
The Economy is a State of Mind
Sloppy Seconds
Head Fake
Make 'Em Laugh
---
FLICKAGE: "Oleanna"
TOOBAGE: "Witchblade"
TOONAGE: Wagonchrist @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
TOP 10 DJS
---
SIX DISK CHANGER
---
UPCOMING
CONCERTS
---
CONTRIBUTIONS
GENIUS TECHNOCRAT >>> That he is, America's President recommends we send less e-mail to save energy. Evidently forgetting the part about how e-mail is the greatest productivity enhancer of the post-industrial age. Productivity not really a high priority for the Son of Privilege. But it is fun to watch him try to speak while no one else is moving their lips.
EQUAL TIME >>> Of all the causes Senator Joe Lieberman could be fighting for, he's going after Hollywood marketing questionable content to teens? Is that the biggest problem he's got on his plate? C'mon! Where's the education plan? Where's the alternative to Bush's tax plan? Where's the leadership? Lieberman's $300 for Everyone! program was D.O.A..
The Dems are in a shambles; they've pandered for too long -- back-pedaling to defend Clinton and camouflage the fact that they have no guiding ideology -- losing any semblance of a voice to lead a nation. Heaven help us, they make the Republicans seem organized. Sen. Lieberman doing "Big Brother" thing. Brutality.
EDUTORIAL >>> It's time we elevated teachers in status so their social utility (great) is matched by their financial compensation (today, small). We need to make teaching a lucrative choice to draw the most talented minds. Our government is very efficient at monitoring and prohibiting. You gotta have vision to expand and grow. And there's no vision there at all.
BUBBLE OR PREVIEW? >>> With the economy and stock market apparently capable of bouncing back with nothing more than a few interest rate cuts, wonder why no one made any moves while the tech biz went into the crapper in Y2K. The underlying productivity and profitability of many companies keeps on rising. The stock market has no where to go but up. And a few (Lucent) bad weeds got rounded up. I'm bullish, but there was no reason not to be in 2000. Unless you wanted the Clinton economy to not seem so great.
HUNGRY HEFFER >>> Why did it not whet my appetite to learn that the newly crowned Playmate of the Year had a relationship with Hef?
ALL OF A SUDDEN >>> Everyone kept saying if there was going to be a strike it was going to be the writers. Maybe it was the actors hoping they could get the writers to do it for them. Guess someone realized that nothing gets done without the writers, so they worked it out. Bravo! Now let's get the actors' deal settled so there can be a "Freddy Got Fingered, II."
SPIKE THROUGH YA >>> Those Mike's Hard Lemonade ads leaped from my unconscious the other day, imploring me to buy. I made a bee-line to the refrigerator section in time to grab the last sixer. Advertising 101 - Make 'em laugh, and people will remember when it's time to buy.
FLICKAGE: "Oleanna" >>> Original play by Mamet, the filmed version stars William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt as distracted professor and failing student in a claustrophobic power struggle. Challenging, infuriating, ultimately riveting and enlightening (the 4 ings!) as a dialectic between authority and self-interest. Relevant on so many levels, with riveting performances. Well worth a rent.
TOOBAGE: "Witchblade" >>> She's a Witch (babe) who carries a Blade!!! Neat-o!
TOONAGE: Wagonchrist @ Knitting Factory Hollywood >>> DJ set by French auteur Luke Vibert (aka Wagonchrist, aka Plug) began . Music was understated, quirky, ultimately building to highly kinetic. A good workout - mind first, body following. Heady stuff.
The Knitting Factory Hollywood, by the way, is a great, new venue. Modern in every way, with a sense of classic simplicity in its well-equipped music spaces. The Alter-Knit Lounge is for more intimate acts, and the Main Room for bigger ticket items. Very user-friendly. The reservation hot line is convenient, tickets priced reasonably with nominal surcharge. There's parking on the premises, and even in and out privilege. We like that. :)
FAVORITE DJS >>> Personal Top 10.
10. Luke Vibert
9. Paul Oakenfold
8. Marques Wyatt
7. Harry the Bastard
6. Kruder & Dorfmeister
5. Digweed/Sasha
4. Dimitri of Paris
3. Circulation
2. Deep Dish
1. Fila Brazillia
@ @ @
SIX DISK CHANGER >>> For the long ride to and from the desert:
1. Wagonchrist, "Musipal"
2. Dimitri of Paris, "ICU"
3. Groove Armada, "Remixes"
4. Minutemen, "Double Nickels on the Dime"
5. Calexico, "Even My Sure Things Don't Come Through"
6. Simply Red, "Picture Book"
7. House Mix, "Tingling Ganglion, Vol. I"
@ @ @
Remembering to breathe.
Your pal,
David.
_____________
Namistay.
_____________
The Morning Brief can be read each wwweek @ www.smmirror.com -- in the Web Stuff section.
You can also find prior Briefs at www.morningbrief.net if you've got the time. Or load it up from www.avantgo.com and take your Briefs to go.
====
DISCLAIMAGE >>> Please feel free to forward The Morning Brief to whomever you like. If you do, in part or in segments, or if you'd like to re-publish, please copy me or just let me know. Thanks for reading!
====
Notable shows in and around Southern
California.
Highly
recommended shows this color.
Red
alert; must see!
5.09.01 - Jah Wobble & Deep
Space @ Conga Room
5.10.01 - Papa Roach @ Hollywood Palladium
5.11.01 - Etta James @ House of Blues
5.12.01 - Stanley Jordan @ The Key Club
---
5.16.01 - G Love and Special Sauce @ House of Blues
5.16.01 - Stereophonics @ The Palace
5.17.01 - G Love and Special Sauce @ House of Blues
5.17.01 -
Deep Dish @ The Mayan (Liquified)
5.18.01 -
David Gray @ Universal Amphitheatre
5.18.01 - Blues Traveller
w/Pete Yorn @ John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
5.19.01 -
Autechre @ El Rey Theatre
5.19.01 - Hothouse Flowers @
Knitting Factory Hollywood
5.20.01 -
Mark Knopfler @ The Greek Theatre
5.20.01 - Blues Traveller w/
Pete Yorn @ John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
5.20.01 - Badly Drawn Boy @ El Rey Theatre
---
5.21.01 - Badly Drawn Boy @ El Rey Theatre
5.22.01 - Dave Matthews Band w/Macy Gray @ Dodger Stadium
5.22.01 - The Blind Boys of Alabama @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
5.23.01 -
Mahotella Queens @ Conga Room
5.24.01 - Frank Black &
the Catholics @ The Troubadour
5.24.01 - Queens of the Stone Age @ El Rey Theatre
5.25.01 - The Residents @ Royce Hall
5.25.01 - Frank Black & the Catholics @ The Troubadour
---
5.30.01 -
Calexico @ El Rey Theatre
6.02.01 - Les Paul & His
Trio @ House of Blues
6.02.01 - James Brown w/Tower of Power @ Greek Theatre
---
6.08.01 -
Kristin Hersh @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
6.08.01 -
Tortoise @ Royce Hall
6.10.01 -
Mogwai @ El Rey Theatre
---
6.11.01 -
Mogwai @ El Rey Theatre
6.12.01 - Paul Simon and
Brian Wilson @ Greek Theatre
6.13.01 - Paul Simon and Brian Wilson @ Greek Theatre
6.14.01 - Doves @ The Palace
6.15.01 -
Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
6.16.01 - Dido w/Travis @
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
6.16.01 -
Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
6.17.01 - Widespread Panic @ Wiltern Theatre
---
6.19.01 - Stereo MCs @ The Palace
6.21.01 - Robert Earl Keene @ The Roxy Theatre
6.22.01 -
Mark Eitzel @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
---
6.27.01 - Phil Lesh @ Greek Theatre
7.01.01 - Ani
DiFranco @ Universal Amphitheatre
7.01.01 - Cesaria Evora &
Bebel Gilberto @ Hollywood Bowl
---
7.22.01 - Youssou N'Dour, Rachid Taha @ Hollywood Bowl
7.23.01 - Sade @ Hollywood Bowl
7.30.01 - Yes @ Hollywood Bowl
8.01.01 - The String Cheese Incident @ The Greek Theatre
8.03.01 - War @ The Greek Theatre
8.06.01 -
Roxy Music @ The Greek Theatre
8.12.01 -
Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo @ Hollywood Bowl
8.14.01 - Depeche Mode @
Staples Center
8.17.01 - Eric Clapton @ Staples Center
8.18.01 - Eric Clapton @ Staples Center
10.16.01 - James Taylor @ Hollywood Bowl
_________________________________
HAVE YOU ever reconsidered? HAVE YOU done something on the spur of a moment? HAVE YOU eaten anything extra yummy? HAVE YOU found a haven? HAVE YOU considered moving to a new climate? HAVE YOU got an axe to grind? HAVE YOU taken a deep breath lately?
RE: CIVIL LIBERTIES >>> Why a Mom's Fate Should Worry Us All (written by Sandy Banks).
It is hard not to side with Gail Atwater, the Texas soccer mom who was hauled off to jail by a bullheaded, small-town cop because her two kids were not wearing seat belts.
She'd unbuckled them for just a moment, she said, so they could poke their heads out the window to look for a toy that had fallen from their pickup truck onto the street. They were on her way home from soccer practice, moving slowly along a deserted road, when a Lago Vista patrolman pulled her over, began berating her, handcuffed and hauled her off to jail.
Atwater paid $310 bail to be released from jail and $110 in towing fees to recover her truck--for an offense whose maximum penalty was a $50 fine. Later, she sued the city, contending that the officer's behavior violated the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by subjecting her to an unreasonable arrest.
Virtually everyone agreed the police officer's judgment was bad. Some suspected he was acting on a vendetta. He had pulled Atwater over a few months before because he suspected a seat belt violation but had to let her go because he was wrong. Even the mayor took him to task. "He's like a lot of small-town police officers," former Mayor Glen Hartman told reporters. "His gun and his badge give him a sense of imagined importance."
The city defended the arrest on the grounds that the officer broke no law, because police in Texas have the power to arrest for almost any traffic violation. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the cop. Five of the court's nine justices agreed that even the most minor criminal offense can justify a trip to jail without anyone's rights being violated.
You have to read deep into the 59-page opinion--past the history of English common law and the pronouncements of 17th century judges--to get to the part about why the Atwater case matters to all of us.
The new standard set by the ruling creates "potentially serious consequences for the everyday lives of Americans," writes Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, for the four justices in dissent. "Such unbounded discretion carries with it grave potential for abuse."
* * *
Two weeks ago, I wrote about a black physician from Miami who was arrested recently by LAPD because he was driving an auto that had mistakenly been reported stolen. He is suing the department for racial profiling, contending that he was treated brutally because he was black.
The column generated e-mails from dozens of people recounting similar treatment at the hands of police. But many were surprisingly forgiving, and few chalked it up to racial profiling. In fact, most who had horror stories to tell were white. I found it oddly comforting to realize that harsh treatment by police doesn't always depend on the color of your skin.
I heard from a Marine Corps officer who was "chained up next to crack addicts" for four hours in a San Francisco jail because of an outdated report that the rental car he was driving had been stolen.
From a West Los Angeles woman who was followed home by six LAPD officers and threatened with arrest, after an off-duty "cop in gym clothes" stopped her and "called for backup" because she was driving in the wrong direction in the parking garage of a Bally's gym.
From a San Diego couple who'd been en route to Las Vegas when they were ordered out of their Lexus at gunpoint by "two police cars, two motorcycle police and a helicopter" because an anonymous motorist had reported to police that the husband resembled someone he'd seen on "America's Most Wanted" on TV. "We were handcuffed and the highway was closed" for more than hour, the woman said, until the FBI arrived, fingerprinted the husband and cleared them.
Heavy-handed tactics by police, but not technically wrong. "We talked to lawyers and they all said the same thing," the San Diego woman said. "There weren't any damages. I guess not unless you count fear and humiliation."
In the Texas case, Gail Atwater decided to do just that--to count fear and humiliation. When she failed to get an apology from police, she took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, contending that her constitutional right to protection against unwarranted search and seizure had been violated when she was hauled off to jail.
The circumstances of her case and the others may be different, but the essential issue is the same: how to balance citizens' right to be free from harassment and governmental intrusion against restrictions that might unduly hamstring the police.
In this case, the five justices decreed that the larger danger is in interfering with police procedures, "lest every discretionary judgment in the field be converted into an occasion for constitutional review."
Atwater suffered "pointless indignity," wrote Justice David Souter for the majority, characterizing her arrest as a series of "gratuitous humiliations, imposed by a police officer who was (at best) exercising extremely poor judgment." But her arrest was "not so extraordinary as to violate the Fourth Amendment."
Or, as Justice Anthony Kennedy observed during oral arguments last fall: "It's not a constitutional violation for an officer to be a jerk."
* * *
Civil libertarians worry that the ruling will expand police powers, making them judge and jury, free to haul folks off to jail for the most benign violations. Advocates for minority groups say it will give carte blanche to racial profiling. Police now have, as one ACLU lawyer said, "a license to select anyone at all, wait for them to commit any one of thousands of possible infractions and then place their target under arrest."
Regular folks are worried as well. "Just shoot me now," one letter to the The Times said. "In what demented world is it reasonable for me to be [at the sole discretion of the police] arrested and possibly searched just because one of my taillights is out."
I refuse to believe that this will turn our nation's cops into a pack of thugs, bullying frightened soccer moms with guns and billy clubs.
The danger is not that police will run amok--the handcuffs now off, so to speak--but that they will believe they are no longer accountable to you and me, no longer required to adhere to reasonable standards of restraint in the streets.
We have more than crime to fear if we cease to consider the police our partners and regard them, instead, as some kind of occupying army. They may have been given broad rights with few limits, but it is our freedoms--not theirs--they must still take to heart.
-- forwarded by Shirley Dion.
RE: PARENT TEST >>> One of my friends in Maine, a fortysomething parent of two, added one more test --
Interrupted conversation practice. In the morning, begin to tell your spouse the two or three things you plan to do that day. Finish your sentence the next morning.
-- Lisa Helene Donovan.
RE: COACHELLA >>> I have to give my 2 cents on coachella's acts. here goes:
paul "trainwreck" oakenfold: bloody poser...yeh, the tracks are accessible, fun and light, but as probably the highest paid DJ today, one would think that skipping tracks and lousy transitions are beyond him. sure, it was windy up there, but please pay attention to your tables, and stop posing!
chemical brothers: professional all the way; no stupid posing, just lots of concentration on their part on a seamless, throbbing set.
uberzone: never heard them before, just great mix of live percussion and DJ mixing. lots of energy even for 515pm, when its bright and hot in that tent.
christopher lawrence: trainwrecking" towards the end, but otherwise excellent.
tricky: everyone was over at Fatboy Slim, so it wasn't as crazy at their set....big mistake! a mix of mellower sounds, acoustics, hard rocking guitar, angry lyrics, and tricky doing his stuff.
photek: blah...his latest CD Solaris is way better.
the orb: they started late, consequently, they got cut after 2 tracks. atmospheric, nice, but not really suited for being the last act.
jane's addiction: seriously, can you tolerate the "main" act coming on 40 minutes later, after the audience has been waiting/standing/dancing, etc. the last 8 hours? and then get squished and pushed around in the front? no apologies or acknowledgment from Mr. Farell either...not too professional...i have better things to do...got to catch the last bit of Roni Size Reprazent.
-- forwarded by Sue-Meng Lau.
RE: MISS(TER) UNIVERSE>>> Strangely enough David, nowhere have I seen the Miss France being a Mister story here in France!
-- Damase Tricart.
RE: ENVIRONMENT >>> CHENEY SAYS YES TO DIGGING FOR OIL IN THE ARCTIC
As you probably heard in today's news headlines, Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech yesterday reaffirming the Bush Administration's continued efforts to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling.
YOU HAVE SAID -- NO DRILLING!
You have already made your opposition to drilling in the Arctic Refuge heard. By joining people across the country who took action online, Environmental Defense's Action Network generated over 20,000 personal messages to Congress urging protection of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness before the Bush Administration gives it away to oil companies. Thank you for your tremendous support!
THERE'S MORE YOU CAN DO TODAY
Tell your friends now to join us in making this critical appeal. Spread the word today about the fight to save the Arctic Refuge from oil drilling. Visit: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/hdzKLMY1Npzt/foward. Together, we can help stop the drilling.
THE VP IS NOT FINISHED
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is expected to be the centerpiece of recommendations by the President's Energy Task Force, expected later in May. The Vice President's remarks demonstrate that despite strong public opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the Bush Administration will put oil companies ahead of polar bears, caribou, migratory birds, and strong environmental protection.
PLEASE HELP TODAY. Visit: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/hdzKLMY1Npzt/foward
-- forwarded by Shirley Dion.