Missouri

When I was invited to meet Norm Macdonald last weekend at Donnie B’s Funny Bone in Bloomington, Ill., I’m not quite sure what I expected.

It was after Friday’s early show, the first of four sold-out performances.

Macdonald had been funny, beginning with fresh material on the economic downturn.

After riffing on how little he knew about politics and current events, Macdonald, 45, said he was watching the news recently when he heard the words “Great Depression.”

“That I understood,” he said. “Because my dad — he was 50 when he had me — he was telling me about the Great Depression, and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

(Read the full post about ‘Brian Mackey: A weekend update on Norm Macdonald’…)

With a new Guy Ritchie movie coming out ("RocknRolla"), it seems only appropriate to do a review of a British hip-hop record.

Where fellow London native The Streets has been taking hip-hop in new and different directions with his most recent work, Skrein and Dr.

(Read the full post about ‘Album review: ‘Scene Stealers,’ by Skreintax’…)

In much the same way that Solange Knowles has the advantage of being Beyoncé’s little sister, it’s good being the little brother of deceased underground überproducer J. Dilla. The proof of this? I have never, ever heard of Illa J before.

That doesn’t stop him from assembling a decent record of street-leaning R&B, using scrapped beats from his late brother, supposedly stuff from the cutting-room floor of albums like Pharcydes "Labcabincalifornia" and other albums Dilla worked on during that mid-to-late-‘90s period.

Dilla’s crisp-but-rough drums and a melancholy piano loop power the opener, “Timeless” and “We Here” kicks things into high gear with a bouncy beat and warm synth lines.

"Yancey Boys" isn’t perfect, by any means.

(Read the full post about ‘Album review: ‘Yancey Boys,’ by Illa J’…)

For the political-comedy singing troupe The Capitol Steps, the week before an election is kind of like the second week in April for accountants.

Elaina Newport, who co-founded the group in 1981, said she has been writing furiously to keep up with events.

“We try to predict who’s going to win and what the show looks like the day after the election. I remember in 2000, I was so proud of myself because — it was such a close election — I had written one version if Bush won and one version if Gore won,” Newport said in a recent telephone interview.

“And of course, we couldn’t do either one, because the day after the election we didn’t know who’d won.

(Read the full post about ‘Capitol Steps specialize in Washington funny business’…)

“The Bootleg Series Volume 8: Tell Tale Signs,” Bob Dylan, Columbia Records.

OK, I’ll say it: Bob Dylan, while he may not have what you’d call a traditionally great voice (duh), is one of the best singers of the rock era, and even beyond. His phrasing, his intonation, the character with which he imbues the words he’s singing — these are the things that make his songs brilliant musically and not just lyrically.

(Read the full post about ‘Album review: Dylan’s latest outtakes offer a tale worth telling’…)

UK Telegraph:  Senior black Republican warns party could lose power until 2020

He’s not the “senior black Republican,” he’s the black Republican.  Or, as Oprah might call him, the (only) one.

KSDK/AP:  Obama’s prime-time ad skips over budget realities

What?  Did the AP defect from the Obama campaign?

Malkin:  How some Philadelphians celebrate victory: Riot!

Don’t wear yourself out, Philly.  The election is next week.

AP:  Mayor wants good behavior at World Series parade

If he has that much power, he should ask for good behavior all year long.

CNS:  Government Can Influence Banks with $250 Billion Stock-Buy, Say Economists

Anyone looking to give away a quarter of a trillion dollars has a lot of influence.

CNS:  Heritage Says Obama Ad ‘Falsely’ Portrays Conservative Group’s Position on Tax Plan

We’re bickering over someone’s campaign promises, which are written on disappearing ink that is programmed to fade away on a certain Wednesday?

CNS:  PETA Wants Proposed Homosexual High School to Have ‘Vegan’ Cafeteria

Even if this happens, the students will still be able to have many servings of meat.

Time:  Science Says We Really Are What We Drink

Well, I am not Samuel Adams.

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The riverboat that hosted the first iteration of East St. Louis’s Casino Queen has been sold to a Branson entertainment group.  The current Queen is hosted on a building that floats on the river. Riverboat gambling started in Illinois in 1991, and in Missouri in 1994.  During the debates in both states leading up to the adoption of riverboat gaming, by legislation in Illinois, and by a plebiscite in Missouri (which, in 1994, was the second such attempt, it failed a year earlier), we were told that the gambling was merely incidental, to the fact that these boats would be attractions for the fact that they would go on cruises.  In Missouri, a $500-per-two-hour loss limit was part of the original deal, to promulgate the gambling-as-incidental notion. (Read the full post about ‘Bye Bye Queeny, We Hardly Knew Ye’…)

Diane Meyer:  Turkey’s back

A month before Thanksgiving, no turkey in its right mind should be coming out in public.

Michael Savage:  Newspapers in free-fall — they still print Sunday comics!

Hey, don’t be hatin’ on the strips:  They’re probably the only reason the papers haven’t totally gone bankrupt.

USNAWR:  Can Ted Stevens Win Re-election as a Felon?

Before you laugh at Alaska, Missourian, need I remind you about Mel Carnahan.

Time:  Is the Taliban Stockpiling Opium?

(Read the full post about ‘Fun With Turkeys’…)

Fran:

Spreading Distrust About Our Neighbors

Colin Powell did two things last week with which I strongly agree. He called Senator Barack Obama “a transformational figure” and endorsed his candidacy for the presidency. And he answered an emphatic “NO!” to a TV moderator’s question about whether there was something intrinsically un-American about being Muslim.

There is no doubt that some political partisans are desperately attempting to link the two things – Obama and Islam — hoping to discourage the election of the one by spreading lies about the other.

One element of this cynical effort is an anti-Muslim movie being distributed by newsletter, newspaper, and direct mail in swing states, including Missouri.

(Read the full post about ‘Mayor Slay Supports Terrorism’…)

AP:  Detroit’s ex-Mayor Kilpatrick jailed for 4 months

Mark your calendars — Kwame Kilpatrick’s political comeback will begin on Feburary 28, 2009.

KSDK:  East St.

(Read the full post about ‘Fun With Mayors’…)