February Ramblin'

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Roger Ebert's Last Words, con't, commenting on the Esquire article (linked) and photo of him. "Resentment is allowing someone to live rent-free in a room in your head."

How the Somaly Mam Foundation is trying to help end human trafficking

Wayne John tells about the time when a Burger King employee threw a double cheeseburger at him. Lousy aim, too.

Gordon reveals Dymowski and DeNiro - together.

Lady Gaga or Johnny Weir? "Can you tell the difference between the pop princess’ outrageous outfits and the Olympic skating star’s flamboyant costumes without seeing their poker faces?" You Olympics watchers who see figure skating only once every four years have no idea...

Springsteen covers.

And SamuraiFrog has three recent pieces worthy of mention, about Kermit the Frog and friend,Christina Hendricks - no, I've never seen Mad Men, either - and a particular Super Bowl ad which also annoyed me. (Should note that, on the latter two pieces, his language is coarser than mine.)

This next section is graphic.

Western New York Legacy web site, www.wnylegacy.org, is freely available online, and contains thousands of digital images, documents, letters, maps, books, slides, and other items reflecting the rich cultural heritage of Western New York

Print & Photographs (P&P) online catalog: Some photos copyright free (and some not).

Rose DesRochers – World Outside my Window: Free Cartoons for Your Blog, two examples of which appear in this very post.




Courtesy of Past Expiry Cartoon

ROG

The Award-Winning...

Jaquandor was kind enough to bestow upon me a "Kreative Blogger" award of some sort.

I feel a certain obligation to pass these kinds of things along, based on the theory that, back in the olden days when I started blogging, some 4.7 years ago, it made the blogisphere - dare I say it? - FUN. Blogging should be fun, even if one's venting one's spleen to do so.

You're supposed to reveal seven things about yourself. Of course, the problem with that I'm almost out of stuff to "reveal" that 1) I didn't reveal before, 2) require more than a line or two, or 3) I'm not planning to reveal at this point, or quite possibly, ever. No guarantees that the list below might not have bumped into the first category:

1. I receive an irrational amount of pleasure when I delete one piece of spam in Gmail and it says I'll be deleting "the one conversation", or "both conversations" when I delete two, as opposed to those programs that will delete "all 1 conversations", or some such.

2. I once got a B in art in 7th grade. My parents were at a loss as to how I did so well. This explains almost everything you need to know about me and doing art.

3. I once almost flew with someone who was traveling on someone else's ticket. He got detained by airport security and the police for about seven hours until he showed his security clearance. This, BTW, was before 9/11.

4. I have no tattoos. I'm not opposed at this point, but 1) it would keep me from donating blood for a while and 2) my wife would hate it. Then there's the pain and permanence thing, but those are secondary.

5. At least twice, I took jobs because of affairs of the heart. Neither was worth it; the jobs weren't, that is, but the affairs of the heart were.

6. I tape sporting events then watch them later, going through lots of machinations (no news watching/reading or e-mail/Facebook/Twitter). Sometimes it works (Jets/Bengals, Eagles/Cowboys Saturday games I watched on Sunday; Packers/Cardinals Sunday game I finished Tuesday morning); sometimes not (the Patriots loss on the front cover of Monday's Wall Street Journal).

7. I'm allergic to penicillin and Naprocyn, have been for years, yet I'm too lazy to get one of those tags. But we have one for my daughter with her peanut allergy.

Then I'm supposed to pass the award along. That's a bit tougher. I'd have considered Jaquandor's Byzantium Shores. I'd also have picked SamuraiFrog's Electronic Cerebrectomy, except he gave the award to Jaquandor and that's a bit too circular for me. Then there are the bums gentlemen who stopped blogging in the last year, who I used to follow.

Still, there's:

1. Arthur @AmeriNZ - your usual, everyday blog of a gay man from Illinois who moved to New Zealand for love. OK, there's a LOT more to it: talk about politics, comparative US/NZ culture and whatever enters his fertile mind. He also has a couple podcasts, one on politics, the other, more general.

2. Coverville - the blog is primarily a support mechanism for Brian Ibbott's great podcast "featuring unusual covers of pop, rock and country songs by new and established performers." But in the last year or so, he's added a song rating system to the site. Also, he and his listeners have found some nifty videos of covers that he's posted.

3. Progressive Ruin: Unfortunately, I gotta give props to Mike Sterling, even though he's a cheater pants, not just for his persistence - I think he posted 364 days last year - but for some of his regular features, such as his deconstruction of the absurd items Diamond comics catalog, and especially Sluggo Saturdays. Still his obsession with the comic creature Swamp Thing is...disturbing.

4. And speaking of Swamp Thing, its best renderer, IMHO, my buddy Steve Bissette posts his Myrant, a mix of digital comics, comics & film history, political tirades and more.

5. Scott's Scooter Chronicles is about music, books, beer, and hockey. Truth is that I'm not a big fan of the latter two, but he even makes those interesting. It's also about his two young sons and being unemployed in America. SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN A JOB!

6. Anthony Velez's The Dark Glass is a series of theological musings. Sometimes I don't understand, but he always explains it, or tries to.

7. Gordon at Blog This, Pal! is mostly a pop culture (comics/TV/movies) blog. He knows more about Doctor Who and Kids in the Hall than anyone has a right to. I happen to particularly enjoy those too-rare glimpses of his personal side (his mom, St. Louis vs. Chicago). He also has a podcast that he's rethinking. He knows I'd always vote for keeping the music, but really, he should do what brings him joy.

ROG

The Rod Serling Holiday

Near twin Gordon has decreed, and I have capitulated, to try to make both Bogie Day and Serling Day the holidays of choice in the blogosphere. Why? "Because both men were born on December 25th, and both encapsulate the ultimate in pop culture coolness."

But I just don't have enough to say about Humphrey Bogart, though I did see The African Queen, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and one of my favorite films in the whole world, Casablanca. One of the times I saw Casablanca was in Rochester, NY outdoors in a park with my old neighbor from New Paltz, Debi. How I came to even be in Rochester involves lost brain cells. Oh, yeah, and I have a recording where expounds on the value of baseball.

As for Rod Serling, what more can I say that I didn't already say here or here, where I discuss meeting him or any number of other posts about episodes and whatnot.

It occurred to me, though, that I may never have mentioned the fact that I attended the world premiere(!) of Twilight Zone: The Movie, 13 days before it officially opened. The event took place, naturally, in Binghamton, NY, my hometown, on June 11, 1983 at the Crest Theater on Main Street, which had a seating capacity of approximately 800. I saw lots of movies at the Crest growing up. Hmm, I wonder if Serling saw any movies there growing up? It was a walkable, certainly a bikeable distance from his house on Bennett Avenue.

Some of the details have faded to memory, such as how I got tickets. I DO recall that it was very hot outside, waiting there for the dignitaries to come in. Of course, Rod was not one of them, having died eight years earlier from smoking cigarettes.

And I DO recall that this was a Very Big Deal for this small city where Rod Serling's family moved to from Syracuse before he turned two. One of the dignitaries was Helen Foley, Serling's beloved high school English teacher. Another was Richard Deacon (pictured below with Betty White, circa 1983) who was on Leave It To Beaver, but was best known as the put-upon producer Mel Cooley on The Dick van Dyke Show. Deacon, who died in 1984, was born in Philadelphia in 1921 but also grew up in Binghamton.

As for the movie itself, well, I'd have to see it again. I did think the first segment, a vague remake of A Quality of Mercy (Season 3, episode 80), was almost unrecognizable from the original. The filming of that segment led to the accidental deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors. Whereas the remake of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Season 5, episode 123) felt pretty much like the William Shatner version, at least in my memory.

The movie segment It's a Good Life, featured a character named Helen Foley (played by Kathleen Quinlan), which got a big laugh from the audience; oddly, "Helen Foley" was not the name of a character in the original episode, but rather in the Nightmare as a Child television version.

*An episode guide of the television series can be found here.*


Pictures of Rod Serling c. 1955; all photos from LIFE.com.
ROG

Information QUESTION

I was reading the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago, and they reported that betting line and most of the "experts" predicted that Chicago would get the 2016 Olympics; you know how THAT worked out.

My question, then, is: What are your sources of information that you most trust? It might well be different sources for different info.

For instance, I find Advertising Age to be a remarkably good gauge of the fall television season, not so much what will be good as much as what the advertisers will be likely to buy into, which may have to quality. the shows they picked to click (Glee, Modern Family, The Good Wife) showed up on many lists as did their losers (Brothers, the already canceled The Beautiful Life). The point is that, year in and year out, they've been reliable.

Bill Flanagan of MTV has an occasional segment on CBS Sunday Morning where he recommends albums. There hasn't been one I have purchased that I did not enjoy. This includes albums by Lizz Wright, Randy Newman, Mudcrutch, and Levon Helm, plus an album of Nashville blues.

I used to love to watch Roger Ebert with Richard Roeper or the late Gene Siskel, and he, interacting with his cohort, always gave me a good gauge as to whether I would like a movie. I didn't always like what he liked - he had his blind spots - but I always knew WHY he liked it and it informed my viewing. Actually, now I am more affected by Ebert's pronouncements on non-movie topics such as alcoholism, death and racism.

When Chicago was up for the Olympics, I had had my doubts about it. So I was happy that Gordon confirmed my feelings; all things Chicago, I tend to listen to Gordon. Likewise, the American expat Arthur's insights, especially on New Zealand politics, are generally my gauge. And there are a bunch more: Johnny Bacardi on Elton John music, Jaquandor on movie music, etc., etc.

Who are your guides?
***
My reaction to Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize was epitomized in the title of something on saw at Common Dreams: now earn it!
ROG

That Equinox Tradition! Ask Roger Anything!

Ask Roger Anything comes at a really opportune time. Answering your questions really revs up the batteries. Leave your questions in the comment section, or if you're really shy, e-mail them to me.

I don't know about other bloggers, but I need the relationship that blogging can provide. Often, and this is both counter-intuitive and slightly nerve wracking, I'll go look at other blogs when I "should" be working on my own. This is not so I can steal from them, though a meme or six has come that way, but because I need the electronic esprit de corps.

A little bit ago, I noted that I don't really write this blog and that I often have the content of a piece go in a different direction than I had initially planned. Likewise, I learn a lot from commenting elsewhere, including about me.

From Gordon's noting the passing of a friend, I learned how much I regretted dropping - 20 years ago! -a methodology that I used to use to keep up with friends. From ADD's piece on creator rights, I realized that there is a parallel between those who want to protect the status quo ("they signed the damn contract; it's their own fault") and some forms of Christianity, which I will call fundamentalism (not a great word, really, but understood - or misunderstood well enough for this purpose). Whereas trying to create a more equitable distribution of wealth fits into (my) loosey-goosey "liberal" theology that suggests that getting to the right end is more important than the literal reading of "the law".

So back to the issue at hand, just about anything goes. I do not recall a question yet that I did not answer, and answer with the truth; the whole truth and nothing but the truth will cost extra.
***
Brian at Coverville played my John Hiatt-Elvis Costello request, the lowest rated song on the show, alas!
***
Also Musical: Jaquandor's ten film scores, or filmscores.
ROG

20 Questions

An old quiz I got from Ken Levine:

1. What newspapers do you read?
The Times Union (Albany), the Wall Street Journal, a couple business weeklies, occasionally the New York Times on Sunday if I'm caught up, which I never am. But I'm often checking the Times and the TU when I get a bulletin, such as last night when I read that Tom Watson blew the British Open and Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, died. (Never read that book, BTW, though I did read his followup book about being a teacher. I DID see the Angela's Ashes movie and found it amazingly bleak.)

2. Which ones do you move your lips to while reading?
One of my racquetball buddies reads the New York Post; that'd be it.

3. Which Web sites are on your favorites bookmark?
Tends to be libraries (Albany Public Library, State Library).

4. Where do you get your car washed?
Hoffman's. They're all over Albany.

5. Do you know your dentist's first name?
Yes: Michael.

6. Do you believe newspapers are going to die? If so, when?
Not entirely, but there will be many more corpses before some agreeable fiscal model settles in. There's an article I read in print recently I found interesting:
Why 'Going Galt' Isn't the Solution for Newspapers
by Nat Ives
Published: June 22, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- What if every newspaper gated off all their content tomorrow? What if newspapers embraced the idea of "going Galt"? Well, it would be suicide.
[Galt refers to an Ayn Rand character.]

7. What was the last book you read?
The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg

8. What's the last book you say you read?
I have no need want to impress people with how hip I am.

9. If you got a unicorn what would you name it?
Maize.

10. What does your TiVo think about you?
In my case, DVR - You are a news nerd.

11. Character of fiction you most resemble?
Radar O'Reilly

12. Who plays you in your bio-pic?
Charles Dutton.

13. Do you floss?
Yes. Actually that was one of the things I never even knew about until I was an adult, somehow. But it's supposed to extend one's life.

14. Did you ever believe your toys come alive when you leave the room?
Of course.

Do you still?
Sure, why not?

15. How many old cell phones do you own?
One that I'm going to give to a local women's shelter. They refurbish and give to women avoiding abusive situations.

16. Best show legendary biz/movie star encounter.
Since Rod Serling is my ONLY Hollywood biz encounter... Well, there was the time that I met Anita Baker at a concert and Mike Tyson and Jack Nicholson were backstage.

17. Do you get satellite radio?
No.

18. And as a follow do you "get" satellite radio?
Sure. No commercials, 170 music channels.

19. Do you read the Enquirer/InTouch/US/People?
Only in supermarket lines.

20. Do you lie about it?
No. I had a subscription to People for several years in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now, I only see it in the lunch room and I wonder "who ARE these people?" more often as not. For every Brad and Angelina, there are are people who must have devolved from some reality show.
***
Ah, the moon landing 40 years ago today; Gordon muses on it. Too bad Cronkite didn't quite make it to the anniversary.
ROG

Mother's Day

My mom is a good woman. She's not particularly flashy; whereas my father would dominate a room, my mom would work quietly in the background. If they were casting The Hare and the Tortoise, my father would be the Hare, running off in all directions , not necessarily along the designated path. My mother would plug along unobtrusively. And you know how that story turned out.

At my father's funeral, my sister sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" to my mother on behalf of my father. No, my father never sang that, probably seldom said it. (And yes, it's a treacly song, but one gets a pass when dealing with grief.)

There were lots of adults in my mother's early life, including at least one uncle, one aunt, and a very domineering maternal grandmother. Then she married this multitalented singer-painter-bunch of other hyphenates. Perhaps this explains that at some level, she's still finding herself.

I haven't seen my mom in over a year, though we talk on the phone regularly, but I'll see her next month, ironically around Father's Day.

Happy Mother's day, Mom.

Carol's a good mom. Lydia and I almost certainly wouldn't get out the door in time every weekday to catch the bus if not for her. While I dress the child, Carol does her hair and makes sure I have the right accouterments, whether it be blankets for nap time or her swimsuit. At night, she picks her up from daycare, makes us dinner, makes sure she has clean clothes. I usually give the medicines and get her into the pajamas, but Carol makes sure Lydia's teeth are brushed and flossed before I read stories and sing songs. And on Thursday nights, when I have church choir rehearsal, Carol does all of the tasks above.

It's not just the functions, though. Lydia feels safe and secure with her mommy, and that makes me very happy.

I'm sure Lydia has made something for her award-winning mom so she can wish her a Happy Mother's Day as well.
***
Best wishes to Gordon's mom re: her liver transplant. And to Gordon as well.
***
Jaquandor's loving tribute to his late mother-in-law.


ROG

Blogiversary Numero Quatro

When I say that I have posted every day for four years, and I say, "I don't believe it," I'm not being rhetorical. Given the whimsical way I started this blog, AND my notorious lack of discipline, I figured it'd last a month or two, maybe until the JEOPARDY! saga was finished, or after I made some observations about the daughter until she hit those early milestones.

Yet here I am. I've really tried NOT to write more than once a day. I don't have time. How did I do THIS year?
2008: May, September, November, December; 2009: January, February reached goal
2008: June, October; 2009: March one extra post
2008: July, August; 2009: April three extra posts
So that's 374 posts in the past year, not to mention my other blogs here and here and here and my work blog here.

One of the things about blogging, of course, is that one doesn't do it in isolation. I don't think some people realizes that blogging is more than the writing. Near-twin Gordon talks about the 70/30 rule - I don't know if it's original with him, but it doesn't matter - which is that 70% of the time you blog, but the other 30% of the time you spend reading and commenting on other blogs.

This has gotten more tricky this year by two factors:
1) my wife's internship, which has made use of our single computer more difficult. Perfect example happened yesterday, when I got up at 4:35 a.m. to work on this post, but my wife ALSO got up at the same time to do school work until 5:55; given the fact that I have to wake the child at 6:30 and leave at 7...
2) my embrace of Twitter and, to a lesser extent, Facebook. I was reading the March 2009 Ladies Home Journal this week - it was left in the lunchroom - and someone wrote that Facebook is "a big time suck."

That "other" time is important; it keeps me informed, even if it's about weird stuff. But also one starts to actually care about those other people. When Tom the Dog tweets: "Today was a good day. Tomorrow will be better. I feel like I've turned a corner. About time." a few days ago, I hope that means he'll start blogging again. When Scott gets laid off from his job, I feel the need to commiserate. Yet I've met neither of them.

The great thing about this busyness is that I stopped worrying about the number of hits I get on a given day, or my Technorati score, or any of that. I AM happy that this blog is still in the top three or four when one Googles Roger Green.

This coming year, I've decided that I need to do a few specific things:
I'm going to continue to do ABC Wednesday because it forces me to stretch.
I need to do my long-promised list of Beatles songs in order of what I'd want on to hear on a desert island; some of the biggies will not fare well.
I need to continue my year-by-year analysis of Oscar-worthy movies so I can finally make my list of my favorite movies (though one on my list is certainly NOT Oscar-worthy).
And of course, my once-a-month Lydia piece.

I MAY miss a day or two. It's much more likely given the fact that I'll be away for a couple weeks this summer without computer access. Or maybe I'll just post YouTube videos like Eddie does when he's stressed. I will likely, in the words of Alan David Doane, reposition some stuff for sure.

Thank you all for coming by. Comments are always welcome.
ROG

April Ramblin'

I briefly attended that vigil for Binghamton yesterday. Would have stayed longer but for the fact that it was cold, occasionally rainy, and I had the child, who has been sick recently, in tow. She may not have understood the point of the gathering, attended by about 45, including Albany's mayor (who, not incidentally is, running for re-election), but I still wanted her to be there. That event, along with the story in question, probably prompted this response from me.

THE best television newsperson to come out of the Capital District of New York State, Ed Dague, is in chronic pain. Touching story. I met him at least twice, which I should write about sometime, I reckon.

Greg finds legislation he just can't get behind.

Gordon touts Robert Johnson, as well he should.

They are remastering the whole Beatles catalog. Given the fact that I've already bought it all about thrice (US LP, UK LP, CD), do I want to buy this AGAIN? No, yet the Past Masters package sounds annoyingly intriguing.

Ken Levine talks about Point of View, one of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H. Did the TV show House steal it? Didn't see the House ep, but I have my doubts.

15 free downloads to pep up your old PC, which I haven't tried yet, but I figure if I post it, it'll remind me.

I'm getting fairly obsessed with getting the Denver mint state quarters. All I need are Hawaii, Washington state, Missouri and, most problematic, Pennsylvania, the eldest. Oh, and the District of Columbia; just got the Philly mint version this week. Haven't seen the Puerto Rico quarter yet.

My good buddy Steve Bissette discusses, in great deal, including 27 8 by 10 color glossies, Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, the transitional first issue by Alan Moore, John Totleman, and himself that starts off the neat book I just received.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Speaking of Swamp Thing, the co-creator of, and later Steve's editor on, the title, coping as well as one can, given the circumstances, but there's a movement afoot to replace the comics he wrote or edited and, to that end, for people to contribute to a Len Wein comics checklist. I always liked his work during my days of reading Marvel Comics.

So THAT'S what happened at the Albany Comic Show Sunday, before I got there.

ADD's Eisner picks. I'll take his word for it, since the only thing on the list I own is Mark Evanier's Kirby book, though Coraline has been on back order for about a month.

Evanier tells A Story You Won't Believe about Spike Jones.

I'm so pleased: Two weekends ago, we went to the in-laws for their 50th wedding anniversary. Last weekend was Lydia's 5th birthday party at the State Museum. Next weekend is something else again. This coming weekend, Easter, the wife and her mother were trying to come up with a plan to get together. The final resolution - we're all staying in our respective homes and resting; I mean we'll go to church and all, but no travel. I for one am exhausted, and so is my wife, so this is a good thing.

Nik from Spatula Forum celebrates five years of blogging by talking about...

Arthur from AmeriNZ celebrates both his 100th blogpost and two years of podcasting.

ROG

Roger Answers Your Questions, Scott and Gordon

Our first contestant is soon-to-be-daddy again Scott from Scooter Chronicles:

1. In a previous post, you predicted the winners of each MLB division. Who do you think wins the league pennants, and who wins the World Series?

Once you get to a short series, there are so many variables so it's hard to say. It wouldn't surprise me if it's a wild card like the Boston Red Sox. And, shades, of 1986, I'm going to pick the Mets to beat them.

By the way, Scott - you NEED this: a free, 586-page PDF of the Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009.

2. What is your take on the AIG bonuses? Where do you think the government needs to take this?

First, those noting that the bonuses were a small percentage of the bailout are correct. Second, the first point is totally irrelevant; AIG is totally tone deaf. I've been REALLY uncomfortable with this "too big to fail" label; gives these companies a feeling of entitlement. Given the fact that the average American didn't even know what AIG WAS a year ago, it's unsurprising. The only time I ever saw them was on advertisements on Sunday morning talk shows. So their audience was never the average American, it was the DC movers and shakers.

At this point, with over a sixth of a TRILLION dollars already in, the government isn't going to say to AIG, "Go ahead, go bankrupt," though those bonuses could have been voided if it had. Some of the bonus monies are going to be given back - or deducted from the next check. But if the government is going to nationalize these companies, and they have all but done so - whatever you want to call it - they damn well better job of setting the rules of engagement for giving away lending OUR money. Politically, if not economically, I think the administration needs to try the "clawback" of AIG bonuses; I know that New York State's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has been looking at the contracts as well. Here's an interesting article about other money our government might try to recover.

3. Who is your favorite musician? Could be a member of a band, or a solo artist, or whomever. But specifically, a musician.

This is probably influenced somewhat by my birthday present, the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD, but I guess I'll pick Eric Clapton. The stuff on the Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominoes, Blind Faith, his early solo stuff, and especially Cream moved me greatly, and that concert showed that sometimes, he's still got it.

4. What is your favorite season of the year?

Spring, beginning of new life. It gets warmer. Oddly, it's also still in Lent, so I get to sing the more mournful stuff in church.

5. Did you read "Watchmen"? If so, what did you think of it? Have any interest in seeing the movie?

I read Watchmen when it came out, and I liked it a lot at the time. I feel as though I should read it again either before or after I see the movie.

Next up, social network maven Gordon from Blog THIS, Pal!

1. Taking a quick business trip to NY City, I want to visit again...but I also want to do more out-of-the-way, quirky places as well as the usual tourist-y stuff. Any suggestions?

The Queens Public Library. Serving the most diverse county in the country, it has a wide variety of collections.

2. Your preliminary thoughts on these early days of the Obama presidency - is he doing right? Way off course?

I have some reservations, but I'm more pleased than displeased. The stuff on Iraq, stem cell research, Gitmo, and much of the stimulus I'm for, especially the emphasis on GREEN jobs and the part about health care, in part because of this story, something Scott has blogged about recently. I loved his apology over the Daschle nomination.

But I'm still not convinced that we're not going into a quagmire in Afghanistan, as the Soviet Union did, if we're not already, and more troops might not help. Also, there were a LOT of vacancies in the Treasury Department with a lot to do. I know he inherited TARP, but it rather stinks.

The other question I'll hold in abeyance.

Still taking more questions!

ROG

Fair use

If you follow the comic book blogs, there's been a war of words over whether the demise of Scans Daily, which showed some comic book pages and commented on them, is a defeat for the comic book consumer or a victory for the comic book creator. (You can read about it lots of places - I'm picking the narrative by Gordon because his narrative is short, concise, not vitriolic - and because today is his birthday.)

All of the articles I've seen make use of the term "fair use". Ive copied the copyright page brochure on fair use, which I'm going to use in its entirety without concern, because it's a federal government website and stuff produced by the federal government, with rare exceptions, cannot be copyrighted. The Boston Globe famously published the Declaration of Independence on July 4 a few years back and slapped on a (c) Boston Globe; nice try, that.

But, first, here's the core paragraph:
The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

"Not easily defined." That means that, short of taking a recent book, pulling off the cover, and re-covering it as one's own, it just ain't that easy.

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of "fair use." Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered "fair," such as criticism, which is what Scans Daily was claiming to do, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
In other words, if I use your copyrighted item, will I be profiting from it financially?
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
Here's an example. If I find a photograph of a cover of a record album and use it, there's enough law out there that says that I'm PROBABLY safe. That is UNLESS that photo is "transformative" and captures the album cover in a new and artistic way.
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
As librarians, we struggle with this all the time. A couple pages is OK; a whole chapter? Well, how many chapters ARE there?
and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
In other words, if I use your copyrighted item, will you be suffering from it financially? It seems that the courts have leaned heavily on this fourth point in determining whether it's "fair use".

The distinction between "fair use" and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
In my first year doing this blog, I did a series of pieces about a book by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon in which comic strips were done with a supposed African-American perspective. It was difficult to explain without showing specific examples. So I ended up actually showing about one panel in four. I felt a bit wasier about this because, as far as I can ascerttain, the book is out of print; certainly, I've never seen it on Amazon. Did I make the "right" decision concerning copyright? I dunno.

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied;
Parody, the stock in trade of MAD magazine, e.g., is a huge one, not previously mentioned.
summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy;
As a matter of fact, our library HAS done this, rarely.
reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;
Elsewhere in copyright law, there's the mention of "spontaneity". Let's say you're a teacher and you happen across an article in a magazine you thought would illustrate the lesson plan. You might make the case for making 20 copies of the article. Say, though, it's next semester; deciding to copy that same article would hardly be considered spontaneous.
reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported."

Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself; it does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work.
So a second book on the same historical event as the first is not in violation of copyright, unless the second book substantially lifts the WORDS used to describe the event.

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.
I was surprised to get in a discussion with a librarian about the AP copyright infringement case over Obama's image. She thought Shepard Fairey should have sought permission from the AP to use the picture. I, having worked with artists, tend to see the work as transformative, tend to side with Fairey. (She also thinks Fairey is arrogant, which is probably true, but irrelevant.) I suspect it would be less of an issue had Fairey not been making lots of money from the image.

When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of "fair use" would clearly apply to the situation.
Except that this document has already stated that when fair use would "clearly apply" does not exist.
The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered "fair" nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.
Thus keeping attorneys employed for another generation.
ROG

Last year's blog

I think it was Gordon Dymowski - or was it Shecky Greene? - who first informed me of a meme where you randomly select a line from your blog - one post per month for the past year - and then post the lines (and links) publicly. So let's review what's happened on the blog over the past month, and please enjoy this small sampling of the blog.

(Not only did I steal the idea from Gordon, I stole the entire paragraph above, save for two words.)

January: Anthony makes the correct theological point that Christmas is not over. And he is still right.

February: A look at the women--some celebrated, some forgotten--who influenced the lives of the Fab Four and were often the muses behind some of the Beatles' greatest songs. No, I didn't buy Patti Boyd's book.

March: We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact. - Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980) Philosophy at no charge.

April: I ended up picking Joan Baez, who my father admired as far back as 1959, when he brought home the oddly-named The Best of Joan Baez; and John Mellencamp, probably in part because of the love Tosy had given him after his recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tunes!

May: If you were to tell me I'd be blogging for nearly 1100 straight days 1200 days ago, I'd say you were nuts. And add another 240 to that.

June: OK, so there are one hundred things that annoy me. But I really, really had to work at it.

July: I noticed that one child of about eight whacked her head on a wooden crossbeam of the slide/climbing contraption. Did you ever wince in pain when someone else gets hurt? I do.

August: Who does Obama pick to be his Vice-Presidential running mate? How did I do? Oh, and a mention of Sarah Palin BEFORE the GOP convention; just sayin'.

September: I am certain life's questions can be answered by sleeping on hard things and chanting. As though you had any doubt.

October: With the Mets eliminated, I still need to come up with a priority list of teams to root for. And I came up with them?!

November: Finally, I wrote: "To quote Sylvester Stewart: 'Different strokes for different folks And so on, and so on and scooby-dooby-doo.'" Quoting Sly Stone is almost always appropriate.

December: Listening to boring debates about how "they" have taken the Christ out of Christmas. Didn't hear it as much this year, or maybe I was in the wrong places.

Post for Gordon

Gordon offered to answer questions on his podcast but only if the questions were NOT e-mailed to him. One of the acceptable methods was to post something on one's blog. So here it is:

Seeing how it's the Great American SmokeOut as I post this, does your long-standing (and righteous) antipathy against smoking cigarettes come from your public policy background that shows the economic devastation of families having to deal with the results of lung cancer and the like? Or is it a function of fairness, that people ought not to deal with second-hand smoke? Or do you have personal experiences (friends, family, even yourself) that has informed your crusade against the "coffin nails"? And don't you think it's rather interesting that, long before the Surgeon General's warning in the 12960s, the term "coffin nails" was in regular use?

Hmm. I remember, as a kid, going to O'Leary's corner store and buying packs of cigarettes (Winstons) for my father. Later, it was cartons. I used to steal his cigarettes, not to smoke myself, but in hopes that the cost (35 to 50 cents a pack!) would serve as a deterrent; it did not. Eventually, he developed emphysema and did quit, but when his symptoms abated, his smoking returned. I was...unsubtle in my frustration with him over that. But then a few years later, he stopped smoking for good. He said he never said he quit; he just didn't have another one, and he was smoke-free for the last 25 years of his life.
***
Fewer U.S. adults smoke, but cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial health and financial costs on society, according to new data from CDC.

ROG

Follow the lead QUESTIONS

One of the things I learned as a librarian and as a citizen is that, much as it pains me, I can't know everything. So it's good to know people who you know and trust to vet things for you.

For instance, if I were suddenly to develop an interest in Doctor Who and wanted to know what book to read first, I wouldn't bother researching it,; I'd just ask Gordon.

So it is with local politics. There's coterie of people whose opinion I trust who I can usually count on for selecting candidates to support. In the last Democratic primary, most of them were supporting one particular candidate. But then another person, who is also a guidepost, not only backed another candidate, but noted some rather uncomplimentary things about the candidate my other friends backed.

Well, I've come to the same conundrum regarding some federal legislation concerning the copyright of "orphan works". On one side of the issue is Paul Rapp, an intellectual property lawyer around here, who supports the idea of the bill. In fact, I wrote about it, and Paul, a/k/a F. Lee Harvey Blotto, drummer of the legendary band Blotto, here. I've known Paul since the early 1980s and trust his judgment. Also on this side is the Special Libraries association, of which I am a member, which supported these modifications to the original legislation.

But on the other side is Steve Bissette, artist extraordinaire, who has a much more negative view, to say the least, as noted here and here. I knew Steve from the mid-1980s, when he produced work that was published by my publisher, FantaCo. We have re-bonded recently in our attempt to get the FantaCo Wikipedia spost corrected. He fears the artists being ripped off.

The topic came up at work when one client of the SBDC had a piece of artwork produced by a street artist and wanted to use the art as part of a logo for her new store. Whole the art belonged to the entrepreneur, the image was copyrighted by the creator. But who is he? Where is he? Is he still alive? Based on precedent established in the library community, our librarian recommended that the business make a "good faith effort" to find the copyright holder, through paid ads in the newspaper and art newsweekly in the city where the artist had been working, describing in detail the situation.

I looked at the material Steve provided, and while I understand that the creative community fears that the legislation will create a license to steal and that people will just pretend to look for an owner before using the image, it seems to me is that this is how it's currently working without legislation.

The bill appears to be dead this year - apparently some economic bailout seems to have been more important - but the issue will come up again.

So, my questions:

1. What topics, if any, do you tend to look to others to help inform you? Who are these information leaders?

2. What is your understanding of orphan works copyright legislation?

I'm so confused...

ROG

Did You Miss Me? Didn't Think So

One of the wonderful features about Blogger is that I can write posts and then have them publish on future dates. I was in Chicago from Tuesday through Saturday - more on that not just anon, but for a couple of weeks - and except for about an hour on Friday, when I could check my Gmail and AOL accounts and print my boarding ticket for my return flight, I had no access to the Internet, unless I wanted to spend 47 cents per minute. Note: I did not.

Writing ahead wasn't all that difficult. What IS hard is getting started again. For me, there's a blogging rhythm. If I'm posting every day, I'm probably writing at least every other day. When I came back from this trip, though, I needed to spend time with my wife and daughter, check my work e-mail (accessible from home, but not elsewhere remotely - 300 deleted on Sunday), mow the lawn (though I had mowed it Sunday or Monday before I left, the rain during the week, especially the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna, made it necessary again), church and other tasks precludes blogging. Here's something: my suitcase probably weighed 15 pounds on the way to the conference; it weighed 41.3 pounds on the way back, so I had to sort through all that conference swag, papers, and whatnot.

But it's more about the momentum. A blogger in motion tends to stay in motion; a blogger at rest tends to stay at rest. I have PLENTY to write about. (Rose, BTW, has some ideas about what to blog about if you don't.)

Oh, one thing about Chicago. I tend not to tell people I'm going away until I return. Since I changed my Blogger links, though, that was undermined. I knew in the first case it would be, so when it happened the second time, it was no big deal. Time #1 was when my colleague Amelia wrote: Blogging for Your SBDC - Roger and Amelia go to Chicago back on August 27, the cat was rather out of the bag. Then when Gordon mentions we went to a Cubs game together, well the jig was really up. As I tweeted (that's what you do on Twitter), someone tweeted about a session I attended in Chicago in real time; I'm still disinclined.

A couple things about the Cubs game: someone from the Astros, Ty Wiggington, hit a two-run homer; he used to be with the Mets . Meanwhile, a Cubs runner was thrown out at the plate; a MOST unpopular call, and at least one Cubs fan in our section was very loud and vocal in his "appreciation" of the ump's brain functions. But the very worst play: men on first and third for the Astros. Runner on first caught 30 feet from first base and caught in a pickle (rundown). So the runner at third heads for home. Instead of trying to tag the runner heading back to first, the middle infielder throws home, but muffs it. The one runner scores, and the other's safe at second; Little Leaguers would have done it better. I had the Cubs going to the World series from the beginning of the season - ouch.

ROG

Blogging about blogging can be habit-forming

We've gotta stop meeting like this.

As a result of a difficulty I had with one of my other blogs on Blogger - this weird bX error that others suffered through too - I copied this blog (and that one) in its entirety to WordPress this past month. I’m not that familiar with WordPress, though my Times Union blog appears on it, so I will play with that at some point. But this Blogger blog will still be my primary blogging outlet until further notice, if only because whatever minimal promotion I’ve done has been to the Blogspot address. Also, I haven't followed up to post the subsequent items on WordPress, so that is a factor.

I added a couple of bloggers to my sidebar. One is Gary who describes himself as the "old dude". He’s only 16 years older than I am, so I wouldn’t call him old at all; gotta be at least 25 years older than I am to be old. He's, er, more politically conservative than I am, but he can tolerate me, then I can tolerate him. In fact, it was Gary's sidebar that inspired me to START to tweak mine, so that at least I can see when at least some of the bloggers listed they last posted. (Yeah, Yeah, I can do the RSS feed thing; I just haven't.)

I also added Demeur from Gary's sidebar, just for some political balance. (Did I mention that Gary's rather conservative?) Also, WayneJohn seems more comprehensible than the so-called "blogger help".

Another is yet another damn blog from Alan David Doane, who currently kvetches a lot about his dental work. See, I do all my kvetching right here. And speaking of ADD, I liked this link he found about what makes a good blog.

My near-twin Gordon had a post about all the cool things he’s doing on his blog. I must admit I didn’t understand about 70 percent of it.

One of my blog posts was linked to the Comic Reporter this past month with this single sentence: "One retailer recalls the 1987 Comic-Con." No mention of my name; no mention, even, of FantaCo. Talk about being damned with faint praise.

I came across a blogpost that read as follows: "A friend of mine, Roger Green, often reminds me that the enemy of excellence is not the pitiful or horrible, but rather just the good." No, it was not me. I found the post and replied: "It seems also true the perfect can drive out the good; if I can't be perfect in my relationship with God, I might as well give up."

Another blog post about face transplants cites "Roger Green, president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, said: "This particular surgery is a way of giving back a life to a patient who has been horribly scarred by burns, trauma or a tumour."
***
In other news, my HP printer died, quite a few months ago, actually, and I was forced to go out and buy a new one. It’s a Brother, which not only prints but copies, scans, and if I had a phone line for it, faxes. It only cost $70, but after you add in the USB port cable and various ink cartridges, it was closer to $200. Still, once I’ve mastered the scanning technique - assuming I master the scanning technique - you’ll be able to see some of the results on this blog.
ROG

Interconnectedness

I got one of those invitations to be LinkedIn to a social networking page. I recognized the person, so I said yes. Later that morning, that same guy, who is a sales rep for a database service we use at work called to see how we were doing with the service. (I had previously spoken to him and complained about the interface of the database.) This led me to ask him, "what's the benefit of the social network?" I can if he can just call me up, I don't need to be "connected" to him. He explained that people that one of us is linked to is vetted, in a way. I scratched my head, knowing some people with hundreds of MySpace "friends",e.g., are no more connected than people one night see at a bus stop.

I've gone to parties, and because I tend to be the one who tends more to Lydia than her mother on those occasions, I'll not have a substantial conversation with anyone. I've gone to these father/child breakfast things at Lydia's day care, and except for a couple dads I'd talk with previously, I didn't really get to know any of them. We are in the same room, but there's no real connection.

So how does one get to "know" people? I'm on a couple listservs at work, and just by people asking questions and answering them, I get a feel for the way their minds work. Certainly, I've got a sense for people via their blogs, but especially when I've exchanged music with them. I was reorganizing my music over the weekend - using drawers I bought at a library auction - and the mixed CDs of Green and Dymowski and Burgas and Brown (come back, Kelly!) and Brown and Bacardi all show up in the same drawer. I've never met any of them (well, except for Green), but I feel that I know them better than people I've seen face to face recently. That's both kinda weird and kinda nice.
***
I'm enjoying listening to discs from Thom (two discs) and Tosy. ROG

Take a stroll through my mind

From time to time I read these blog improvement posts such as the best time of the year to post to your blog and This is the MOST IMPORTANT BLOG POST of 2008, so READ IT!
This is the easiest thing you can do to attract clients on the web, and it's free, and fast. I think these have value, and sometimes I even do them, though not always.

The harder thing is to find the balance. Mr. Dymowski wrote about some of this in his 10 things he's learned about blogging, such as the balance between doing the blog and networking, or avoiding the blank page. Well, sometime during the month, I got unbalanced, maybe literally. I was away for three days at a work conference and I decided to write nothing. The upside is that I didn't have to haul the laptop - which is REALLY slow - or go bother people to borrow their computers. And since I had content written for the days I was away, it didn't have an immediate effect on the output.

So much of the time when I'm blogging, I write about what strikes the muse. So I might write a post about Flag Day - indeed, I already have, and you won't see it until June 14. I've also finished my post for June 20 and August 10. Really. But without writing regularly, I found writing to suddenly become onerous.

Think about an exercise routine. You do it every day, or three times a week, and you take off a few days. If you're like some people, it's hard to get back into the groove. In fact, because I've missed riding my bike when I was away in April and again in May for the conference, and I didn't feel well a couple of days, and it was cold and/or rainy a couple days, and Lydia was running late a couple days, I've ridden my bicycle far less at this point in the year than I have in previous years. Once I get derailed, it can be very difficult to get back on track.

Well, the same thing was true for blogging. I'm usually working at least a little bit ahead - I'm writing this on Friday morning before Lydia wakes up - but for the three days of the Memorial Day weekend, I had to get up and write something for the blog. What I realized: I HATE GETTING UP AND WRITING FOR THE BLOG. And, stupidly - you might think - I was writing at least some of those nights before, for a future post, because that's where the muse took me.

Now, you might say, "Well, just pass on that day." The trouble is that, to quote Billy Joel, "I go to extremes". It was more like, "I think I'll just quit blogging. Forever. Period."

But that didn't work, either. How do I explain this? All the things I used to sit around thinking about writing about, before I started blogging, would float in and out of my head, with no place to go. It was cacophonous, all the storylines in my brain. The GREAT thing about the blog is that it severely lessens the noise in my head. So, even if I don't post it - and there are failed posts, posts I've written, but for whatever reason I never published - I still need to WRITE about. The blog is the methodology of publishing it, as it were, but the actual writing, removing certain stories from my mind into the keyboard, is a grand psychological release.

I saw Iron Man last weekend. My brain has composed what I THINK is a different POV on the movie. But until I actually write it down, and a musical I saw, and something that happened at the Greek festival, and some amazingly stupid and costly thing I did, it remains as an out-of-tune symphony in my head.

Specific to Memorial Day weekend, while I could have blown off two of the days, I could not have blown off the third. For that was the 26th of the month, and I seem to have a "contact with God" to write about Lydia on that date. (Which reminds me, I have this Will Eisner thing to write about.)

So I hope this view of my pathology makes sense. I believe it was inspired, at least a little bit, by this post from Mr. Velez. Thank you, Anthony.

ROG

Autism Speaks and other charities

Friends of mine have a daughter who is autistic. They forwarded this e-mail:
I just got word that this band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks for *each time* the video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. It is a great heart tugging video.
They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.
Link to the site.

Immediately, my Spidey sense started tingling my investigative librarian nature kicked in, probably prompted by this story in the local paper about how poorly some veterans' charities are doing in delivering monies to actual veterans, as opposed to fundraising and overhead.

In any case, I couldn't find any "40 cents" reference on the What Kind Of World Do You Want? website that hosts the video, but I did discover that Five for Fighting IS involved in hosting videos on the What Kind... site, where people can donate money by watching said videos to the end.

There are five entities, including Autism Speaks, that will benefit from this program, and I wanted to know if they were legit. Gordon found me some info on Autism Speaks from the Better Business Bureau and Guidestar. (Thanks, Gordon!)

Ultimately, though, I decided to take the plunge and join the American Institute of Philanthropy, the national charity watchdog cited by the newspaper article about the vets' charities.

For the five entities on What Kind, here are the AIP results:

Augie's Quest (www.augiesquest.org) Not listed. This is a group dealing with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) named for a friend of John from Five for Fighting. It may be too new to be listed in the AIP's December 2007 booklet.

Autism Speaks (www.autismspeaks.org) GRADE: B-. About 62-74% of monies go to services; a document Gordon provided said 75%, which would have pushed them into the solid B range.

Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org) "Supporting America's military in their time of need, we provide 'a home away from home' that enables family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful time -- during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury." GRADE: A+.

Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org). GRADE: A.

United Service Organization (www.uso.org). Yes, THAT USO. GRADE: C+.

As one of my friends writes, "'Overhead' costs are what bugs me a lot with many charities. It is nice to see $$ go to those in need, and not administrative costs."

ROG

Buying New Music

It's been a while since I went out and bought new music, but the Barnes & Noble had sent me a coupon worth 40% off on all CDs, after whatever sale prices applied. Sunday, I took the bus to the ever-expanding Colonie Center. B&N used to be in a free-standing building on Wolf Road in Colonie across from the mall. But at some point in the past few months, it has moved to its new location across the street.

I went in figuring I'd buy some new music, the new k.d. lang, the new Herbie Hancock that won a Grammy for best album(!) or maybe its predecessor which featured Paul Simon and Sting. I was also looking for the soundtrack of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, either the Julie Andrews or the Lesley Ann Warren version. NONE of them were there. O.K., now what?

So, I just systematically started looking through the albums. I was trying not to buy on CD the exact same albums I already own on vinyl, because a friend of mine told me about her recent experience converting vinyl to CD. That eliminated greatest hits by Bob Dylan, Queen, the Guess Who, Hall & Oates (yes, shut up), The Association (YES, shut up), and a couple others.

First album picked, much to my surprise: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John. I have all of the other "classic" period EJ albums on vinyl, save for the early Empty Sky, but never got this one. At some level, the garish cover, and the fact that the album went to #1 in its first week, turned me off at the time. But it was Elton's 61st birthday recently, and the only CDs I had to play were various greatest hits collections, plus the later Made in England. I'm sure I was affected also by Johnny B.'s recent discussions of all things early Elton. What sealed the deal was one of the additional tracks. Along with Lucy in the Sky and Philly Freedom was One Day at a Time, which I assumed was not the theme song of the Bonnie Franklin TV show that debuted in 1975, but rather the John Lennon cut, and it was.

Second album: The Ramones Greatest Hits. I have a couple LPs, but have massive holes in the collection. Probably influenced by Gordon.

The third album: The Very Best of Todd Rundgren. I have various Nazz, Utopia and solo LPs, but still wanted this.

The fourth album: OK, no recent Herbie Hancock? How about some classic Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters, featuring the classic cut Watermelon Man? All right then.

These were all $12.99 each list price, so $7.80 after the coupon, and I might have quit there, but I discovered The Millennium rack. If you've been in a record store lately, you'd recognize these. Black and white picture, gray top. And there were several to choose from: the Platters, Tom Jones, the Allman Brothers were all considered. The cool thing about these is that they were $9.99 each, but three for $20 if I used my MasterCard. I ended up picking Joan Baez, who my father admired as far back as 1959, when he brought home the oddly-named The Best of Joan Baez; and John Mellencamp, probably in part because of the love Tosy had given him after his recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The final album was also on the Millennium rack, but was not a Millennium album. It was Lucinda Williams' 2003 album World Without Tears. $16.99 list, but still with the 3 for $20 sticker. I might have gotten this one anyway, but Lefty Brown's affection for her did not hurt. Also the fact that, because I had the 40% off coupon, 3 for $20 became 3 for $12, or $4 apiece. (BTW, there's a second version of World Without Tears with three extra songs available out there. Oh, and the three for $20 continues through May 5.)

Total price, less than $47, under my $50 mental budget. So thanks, guys, for going shopping with me.
***
Elton Joe Performs "Dogs in the Kitchen" , the never-completed song, the lyrics of which appear in Captain Fantastic.


ROG