THE MORNING BRIEF, Vol. IV, #39 (September 24, 2001) --- A pause for a cause.

CONTENTS

PEOPLE FIRST
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MONEY
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MEDIA & ARTS
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SIX DISK CHANGER
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UPCOMING CONCERTS

LIFE'S RIDE >>> There's been a lot to think about in the last two weeks. I'm trying not to dive into it all at once. The immensity of what happened, the causes, the implications, simply dwarf my tiny mind. Sure, I'd like all of the answers. Today. How nice that would be. Everything tied up in a neat, little bow so I wouldn't have to think quite so much about all of this stuff. It can really wear you out.

Overall, I'm cheered by the general state of thoughtfulness prevailing around the world. We've all been given a chance, in a way, by our fortune of surviving the mayhem. Our world awakens to its mortality, and that's bracing, frightening, and empowering all at the same time. We are considering the unthinkable, not because we want to or because it's interesting, but because we have to. And it's clearly time that we did.

Privacy. Security. Offense. Defense. Stereotyping. Understanding. Patriotism. Religion. Fanatacism. Freedom. Equality. Strength. Balance. Priorities. Trade-offs.

Great topics for discussion. But not everything right now. There must be some time to reflect. To pause and to grieve, to hug one another and get outside of our finite, mortal selves. I find such strength and comfort in focusing on people. Listening carefully and connecting with those I know, and meet. What they're saying about what they feel. Sharing a laugh. Appreciating everyone.

Through people I will know whatever's worth knowing, along with a few things that aren't. In time, I'll get to everything I need to figure out. For now, I'm going to thoughtfully, patiently, quietly reflect; taking time out to enjoy life's ride.

THE ECONOMY >>> If watching the stock market tank day after day is making you sick, try doing this: don't watch it. The Stock Market isn't the only indicator of the health of our country, or even our economy. It's a barometer of money moving through the world markets. And it says a lot. But most of us don't need it to live, get by, or even prosper. Unless you've got money in there that you need to pay the rent, you might do well to skip the averages. Focus instead on something that really matters to you. Like shopping.

DOING MY PART >>> Spent lunch time on Friday at Fred Segal's. Twas the pre-opening of their brilliant, storewide, yearly sale. Yummy. And, of course, made me feel like a good American. :)

THE AIRLINES >>> Here's hoping that however we decide to do it, we get our heads around airport security right away. How about visible cameras at the security gates, taking pictures of everyone to go through, and keeping track of the x-rayed carry-ons? People are willing to give up some privacy to increase security. And while the risk of being found out later may not stop a suicidal zealot, the threat of added scrutiny - perhaps via personnel in a control room viewing the footage as they do in Vegas - could be a deterrent. It won't be easy, or fun, but commercial travel as we know it is really going to change.

QUIZ SHOW QUIZZED >>> The entire, living cast of the original Brady Bunch - even the little guy who played Oliver - reunite to play "The Weakest Link" tonight. Shouldn't they be doing "Hollywood Squares"?

COMING AROUND >>> Great perspective: Joe Theismann, former Washington Redskins' quarterback whose career was brutally ended on Monday Night Football, the play shown over and over ad nauseum, is now the Color Man for ESPN's Sunday night broadcast.

NEXT TREND >>> Celebrity tributes to the Attacks. I didn't see the Telethon on Friday, but heard it was appropriately restrained. Now a plethora of "We Are The World" tributes are set to rain down on us, beginning with an All-Star (Britney, Christina, Bono, NSYNC, BSB) rendition of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On," and a Where-Are-They-Now? (Pointer Sisters, Seal, David Hasselhoff) version of "We Are Family." Soon, a Michael Jackson original will presumably be sung by a cast of his Favorite Pop Freaks to help us make some sense of it all.

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS >>> Those Mitsubishi commercials were fun when they had cool people car-dancing and lip-synching to an out of the mainstream song ("Start the Commotion," by The Wiseguys). Now they're using this oldish pop hit with too many lyrics and all of these young hipsters are trying to lip-synch like it's a Gap Commercial and it's so self-conscious and just bad. Do they not get what made them good in the first place?

CITIZEN KANE ON DVD >>> This Tuesday, Orson Welles' masterpiece "Citizen Kane" will finally be released on DVD. It's Special Collector's Edition, Gold Series I think. I'm going to buy it and enjoy every amazing shot. A timeless work of art.

Now that "Kane", "Jaws", "Spinal Tap", and "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" have received their due, here's a revised Top 10 Wish List of films I'd like to see on DVD some day soon.

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. E.T.
3. Star Wars Trilogy
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Miller's Crossing
6. Wings of Desire (German)
7. Barton Fink
8. Beauty and the Beast (animated)
9. Aladdin (animated)
10. Repentance (Russia)

@ @ @

SIX-DISK CHANGER >>> Six disks for a thoughtful time...

1. Orbital, "The Altogether"
2. Mercury Rev, "All is Dream"
3. Radiohead, "Amnesiac"
4. Zero 7, "Simple Things"
5. Crystal Method, "Tweekend"
6. Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon"

7. Southern Culture on the Skids, "Too Much Pork for Just One Fork"

@ @ @

Have a good week. Hope I see you soon. :)

Your pal,
David.
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We're still a bunch of people, on a planet, slowly orbitting the Sun.

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The Morning Brief can be read every 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 get your Briefs to go.

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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!

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Notable shows in and around Southern California.
Highly recommended shows this color.
Red alert; must see!

Monday
9.24.01 - Clare Muldaur @ Genghis Cohen

Tuesday
9.25.01 - James Taylor Quartet @ Temple Bar
9.25.01 - Cachiata (Buena Vista Social Club) @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
9.25.01 - Brassy @ The Troubadour

Wednesday
9.26.01 - Fleshtones @ The Viper Room
9.26.01 - Cachiata (Buena Vista Social Club) @ Knitting Factory Hollywood

Thursday
9.27.01 - Southern Culture on the Skids @ The Troubadour
9.27.01 - Elvis Costello and Charles Mingus Orchestra @ Royce Hall
9.27.01 - Rebirth Brass Band @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
9.27.01 - Brian Auger @ The Mint

Friday
9.28.01 - Elvis Costello and Charles Mingus Orchestra @ Royce Hall

Saturday
9.29.01 - Pete Tong / DJ Dan @ Spundae: Circus
9.29.01 - The New Deal (DJ Harry of String Cheese Incident) @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
9.29.01 - Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) @ McCabe's Guitar Shop

Sunday
9.30.01 - Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ Royce Hall
9.30.01 - Money Mark, DJ QBert @ El Rey Theatre
9.30.01 - Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) @ McCabe's Guitar Shop
9.30.01 - Ivy @ The Troubadour

The Future
10.02.01 - Basement Jaxx @ The Mayan
10.02.01 - Janet Jackson @ Staples Center
10.04.01 - Charlie Hunter @ Vynyl
10.04.01 - Suzanne Vega @ Royce Hall
10.05.01 - Sigur Ros @ Wilshire Theatre
10.05.01 - Watts Prophets @ Royce Hall
10.06.01 - Mercedes Sosa @ The Greek Theatre
10.06.01 - Sigur Ros @ Wilshire Theatre
10.06.01 - Thrill Kill Kult @ The Troubadour
10.06.01 - James Taylor @ Hollywood Bowl
10.07.01 - Lazy Dog (Ben Watt of EBTG) @ El Rey Theatre
10.07.01 - Moe @ John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
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10.09.01 - Midnight Oil @ House of Blues
10.10.01 - Los Straitjackets @ The Mint
10.10.01 - Midnight Oil @ House of Blues
10.11.01 - The Apples in Stereo @ The Troubadour
10.11.01 - Cesaria Evora @ Wiltern Theatre
10.11.01 - DJ Logic w/Kid Koala @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
10.12.01 - Goldfrapp @ John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
10.12.01 - Etta James @ House of Blues
10.13.01 - Lloyd's Blues Music Fest (BB. King, Buddy Guy, John Hiatt) @ Universal Amphitheatre
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10.15.01 - Ben Folds @ El Rey Theatre
10.17.01 - Ben Folds @ All Star Lanes
10.17.01 - The Waterboys @ El Rey Theatre
10.18.01 - The Breeders @ The Troubadour
10.19.01 - Bob Dylan @ Staples Center
10.19.01 - DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
10.19.01 - All Tomorrow's Parties (Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Melvins, Cat Power) @ UCLA
10.19.01 - The Breeders @ The Troubadour
10.20.01 - St. Germain @ Hollywood Palladium
10.20.01 - DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
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10.22.01 - Bjork @ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
10.22.01 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros @ The Troubadour
10.23.01 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros @ The Troubadour
10.23.01 - Travis w/Remy Zero @ Universal Amphitheatre
10.24.01 - Kings of Convenience @ Knitting Factory Hollywood
10.25.01 - Orbital @ Hollywood Palladium
10.25.01 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros @ The Troubadour
10.26.01 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros @ The Troubadour
10.27.01 - Oysterhead (Trey Anastasio, Stewart Copeland) @ Hollywood Palladium
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11.01.01 - Tool w/Tricky @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
11.06.01 - The Beta Band @ The Mayan
11.12.01 - U2 w/ No Doubt @ Staples Center
11.15.01 - Tori Amos w/Rufus Wainwright @ Wiltern Theatre
11.16.01 - Tori Amos w/Rufus Wainwright @ Wiltern Theatre
11.17.01 - Tori Amos w/Rufus Wainwright @ Wiltern Theatre

TOM TOM CLUB ON THE ROAD

9.25.01 - Asheville, NC - Stella Blue
9.26.01 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theater
9.28.01 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
9.29.01 - St. Petersburg, FL - State Theater
9.30.01 - Orlando, FL - Sapphire Club
10.01.01 - Atlanta, GA - Cotton Club
10.04.01 - Baltimore, MD - Fletcher's
10.05.01 - Pittsburgh, PA - Benefit for The Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti

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HAVE YOU seen something amazing? HAVE YOU figured something out? HAVE YOU found a new haven? HAVE YOU changed your mind recently? HAVE YOU got a bug in your butt? HAVE YOU been remembering to breathe?

AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW >>> Israel's military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world's foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden.

The two men have not been seen for some time. Mughniyeh is probably the world's most wanted outlaw. Unconfirmed reports in Beirut say he has undergone plastic surgery and is unrecognisable. Zawahiri is thought to be based in Egypt. He could be Bin Laden's chief representative outside Afghanistan.

The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda. The Israeli sources claim that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers were shuttling between Baghdad and Afghanistan, meeting with Ayman Al Zawahiri. According to the sources, one of the Iraqi intelligence officers, Salah Suleiman, was captured last October by the Pakistanis near the border with Afghanistan. The Iraqis are also reported to have established strong ties with Imad Mughniyeh.

"We've only got scraps of information, not the full picture," admits one intelligence source, "but it was good enough for us to send a warning six weeks ago to our allies that an unprecedented massive terror attack was expected. One of our indications suggested that Imad Mughniyeh met with some of his dormant agents on secret trips to Germany. We believe that the operational brains behind the New-York attack were Mughniyeh and Zawahiri, who were probably financed and got some logistical support from the Iraqi Intelligence Service (SSO)."

Mughniyeh was the only one believed to have tried it before. On April 12th 1997, he was reported to be only two hours away from achieving the highest goal of any terrorist organisation (until last week): blowing up an Israeli El-Al airliner above Tel Aviv. A man carrying a forged British passport with the name Andrew Jonathan Neumann was in a Jerusalem hotel preparing a bomb he was supposed to take on board an El-Al flight leaving Israel, when it accidentally went off. Andrew Jonathan Neumann was very badly injured but strong enough to reveal later to the Israelis that he was not British but Lebanese, and that his operation was supposed to be a special "gift" to Israel from Imad Mughniyeh.

"Bin Laden is a schoolboy in comparison with Mughniyeh," says an Israeli who knows Mughniyeh . "The guy is a genius, someone who refined the art of terrorism to its utmost level. We studied him and reached the conclusion that he is a clinical psychopath motivated by uncontrollable psychological reasons, which we have given up trying to understand. The killing of his two brothers by the Americans only inflamed his strong motivation."

Experts on Iraq and Saddam Hussein also believe that Iraq was the state behind the two terror masterminds. "In recent months, there was a change, and Iraq decided to get into the terror business. On July 7th, they tried for the first time to send a suicide bomber, trained in Baghdad, to blow up Tel Aviv airport (Foreign Report No. 2651)."

Our sources believe that it will be very difficult to get to the bottom of this unprecedented terror operation. However, they believe the chief of the Iraqi SSO is Qusai Hussein, the dictator's son, and his organisation is the most likely to have been involved.

Mughniyeh, 48, is a "sick man", says an intelligence officer who was in charge of his file. He is considered by Western intelligence agencies as the most dangerous active terrorist today. He is wanted by several governments and the Americans have put a $2m reward on his head.

It was the assassination of one man in March 1984 that is said to have made Mughniyeh the CIA's most wanted terrorist. Mughniyeh allegedly kidnapped the head of the CIA station in Beirut, William Buckley. The kidnapping triggered what later became known as 'Irangate', when the Americans tried to exchange Buckley (and others) with arms for Iran. However, the attempt ended in a fiasco. By one unconfirmed account, Mughniyeh tortured and killed Buckley with his own hands.

A year later, in a combined CIA/Mossad operation, a powerful car bomb went off at the entrance to the house of Hizbullah's spiritual leader, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. Seventy-five people were killed. One of them was his brother. Hunted by the CIA and the Mossad, Mughniyeh hid in Iran.

In February 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships attacked the convoy of the then head of Hizbullah, Sheikh Abas Musawi, in South Lebanon. Musawi, his wife and children were killed and the revenge attack followed a month later. According to press reports, Mughniyeh was called back into action and, in a well-planned and devastating attack, his people blew up the Israeli embassy in Argentina. The building was demolished and 92 were killed. Only last year, after a long investigation, did Argentina issue a warrant for Mughniyeh's arrest.

The reprisal for the attack in Argentina came in December 1994, when a car bomb went off in a southern Shi'ite suburb of Beirut. Four people were killed. One of them was called Mughniyeh, but to the deep disappointment of those Israelis who planted the bomb it was the wrong one. Mughniyeh's life was saved, but his other brother Fuad was killed. Mughniyeh waited for his opportunity for revenge.

Our Israeli sources claim to see Mughniyeh's signature on the wreckage in New York and Washington. How to counter this kind of terrorism? "To fight these bastards you don't need a military attack," said an experienced Israeli commando officer. "You only need to adopt Israel's assassination policy."

-- from www.janes.com (original url: http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml).

WHAT ELSE CAN I GIVE? >>> September 17, 2001

Seven days have passed since terrorists demonstrated their hatred for Americans and an abhorrent disregard for human life. Seven days since our world was shattered and our lives forever changed. Seven days and I've gone through the proper motions I've been somber, wiped away tears, gone to candlelight vigils, and said my prayers.

Seven days and although I've watched more hours of television in this time than I do in a year, and have seen vivid images of the violent attack and its aftermath, I still walk as if in a dream.

I cannot comprehend the evil it would take to plan such an attack or the hatred it would take to carry it out. My heart cannot bear the magnitude of such loss. And so I exist, like this, living my life but feeling, that's just it, feeling nothing. I am numb.

Numb but not indifferent.

The stories of unselfish heroism and abundant generosity make my eyes tear as I wonder "what have I ever done to help mankind?"

I've already made donations to help the victims and rescuers but feel guilt I cannot do more. Anything other than digging up the rubble to find survivors or working with authorities to capture the terrorists just won't be enough.

What else can I give other than my money and my blood? My thoughts and my example. So I write this with the hope I can influence others with these words:

The lives we lost in NYC, DC, and PA will not go unforgotten. We will mourn the loss for a long, long time. We will honor their lives as those taken too early in the name of the United States and all that we stand for. But we can do more than that.

Let's honor their lives by being examples of peace in our everyday lives. Let's shun violence and prevent acts of retribution against others simply because of their race or religion. Let's encourage tolerance of those we view as different.

We can live as examples for our youth, the ones who have never lived through a war, the ones accused of being apathetic. Maybe now they will listen when we teach them that cruelty and hate can only lead to destruction and unforgivable loss of life. Maybe now they will see school is no place for weapons. Maybe now they will realize the importance of their own lives and the impact they have on our future. Maybe they will now feel a responsibility to their nation.

This act of terrorism has given us hope in the face of such evil. In the last week we have witnessed people set aside differences to work together towards one goal. We have watched the world unite against terrorism and stand with US. Foreign countries are flying our American flag, singing our American anthem and holding candlelight vigils. We have been reminded that civilization, mankind, all over the world is innately good.

The lives lost on September 11 do not have to be in vain. They can be our inspiration to do our best in changing our world for the better. An idealist view maybe, but my hope. My hope from the depths of my heart.

-- Jennifer Ayala.

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