| Austin
Dispatches |
No.
130 |
Feb. 17, 2010 |
Still nobody believes me when I tell them I’ve just turned
40. Everyone guesses I'm younger than am, often by a decade. Dad thinks
it might be that I'm graying very slowly with a full head of hair. Or
it could be that I'm just immature.1
People formerly guessed I was older, until Miss KT and I attended a B.B. King concert wherein King became background accompaniment instead of the main attraction.2 He’d’ve smiled wryly had he known. I said something in passing, and she exclaimed, "You graduated high school in 1988? I thought you were older!"3
Throughout, I haven’t felt any different than I did at 25. Although I’m becoming so reactionary with age it’s a wonder I haven’t decried the unfashionability of powdered wigs as an indicator of cultural decline.
Based on past conversations, I’ve lived more in 40 years than many other people. But against my own expectations and ambitions, I’ve hardly done anything at all. (Even a comprehensive list of the best cultural artifacts of 1969 will have to wait.) For example, I’ve yet to write an issue with prose and content simultaneously so dense, extreme, and obscurely allusive that the very act of reading it induces a vortex that consumes the universe, thereby ending existence itself. In the end was the word, and the word was hyperlinked to a media file.4 At least that way you atheist types get to skip the Parousia.5
Why'd I ever decide to become a writer, anyway? I should've pursued a more meaningful career … like corporate lobbyist.6
The milestone has been an unwelcome occasion, because it’s encouraged more introspection about my life and achievements, such as they are, than I care to indulge nowadays. My life now certainly isn’t what I expected back when I was 18. Then again, maybe I’ve kept my hair color because I’m not supporting a family and a mortgage.
Such was my mindset as I prepared to endure yet another bleak, disconnected season of the “togetherness holidays,” which run from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day. They share the assumption, understandably, that you’ll celebrate them with your loved ones, of one category or another, and there’s something wrong with you if you don’t.7 As though personal flaws are the source of one’s wintertime woes, rather than work schedules, transit timetables, weather conditions,8 garrison state security gauntlets,9 and contemporary counterproductive social mores that will gradually destroy our entangled civilization from within.10
To my pleasant surprise, the season didn’t quite happen that way. Christmas, friends and relatives, including my sole surviving grandparent, called throughout the day to wish me well.11 It was something nice in the holiday spirit. My sister’s kids were ecstatic at my gifts. I took care to nail down what they wanted; they’d been vague a couple of months earlier, which I still don’t understand. When Sis and I were their ages, we’d perused the Sears, JC Penny and Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs like Talmudic scholars, written long, detailed wish lists, and negotiated for the maximum.12
Otherwise, I consumed 36 CDs, 19 books, and three holiday TV specials posted on YouTube. (Last year I saw as many movies online as I did in the theater.) But the EPA declared the partridge in a pear tree an endangered species.13 In between, I went dancing a lot.
For my birthday, I dined at a bistro in midtown Austin heretofore unfamiliar to me. But the real fun was the day after, at a little birthday soiree for “Melanie Ordones Welker.” Inexplicably, she’s become one of the salseras who has an unforced rapport with me off the dance floor.14 Throughout, I danced and shamelessly flirted with her, in front of her boyfriend. I didn’t care. I don’t think she did, either. “Enjoy your thirties while you still have them,” I whispered cheek to cheek.
Prom of the Dead, and Other Excursions
The rest of my socializing during this period wasn’t quite as satisfactory. There was a stretch during the holidays when the only social listings in the Chronicle appeared to be for homosexuals. They come out of the closet and next thing you know they’re out on the town.15
Nov. 7: My dance partners all complained about the DJ’s song selection at the weekly Austin Ballroom Dancers’ social at Uptown Dance Studio. I didn’t recognize a lot of the particular tunes, but they sounded like they were recorded in the ‘80s. That gave us too much a sense of our mortality.
Nov. 11: I had a very Mr. Fusion day. I kept finding quarters on the ground.16
Nov. 13: The headliner at the Jazz at St. James concert demonstrated why New York City is still the world’s jazz capital. The local Jeff Lofton Quartet, which just released a fine CD, opened. That band sounded like it was sticking to familiar patterns. Then the group settled in the front row and intently observed an ad hoc quartet fronted by former Jazz Messenger Javon Jackson. He said his day started with a flight from Portugal and looked dead tired. However, the inventiveness and energy Jackson and his band mates displayed was of a magnitude greater than the previous quartet.17
Nov. 19: Dweezil Zappa performed his dad’s music at Stubb’s. Local guitar slinger Eric Johnson showed up to jam, but he just ran through his pet licks regardless of whether it fit the music. Clearly, Johnson was shredding instead of listening to the other musicians. Otherwise, I had no complaints about the music – but the audience! The smoke – semi-legal and otherwise – kept wafting into my face. Ironic, given Frank Zappa’s consistent opposition to recreational drugs, and given his death from cancer after a lifetime of chain-smoking tobacco cigarettes. So I left after the first set.18
Dec. 5: The Chronicle reported the owner of Evitas Botanitas, an independent Mexican restaurant in South Austin, was closing the restaurant that month because of health problems. I was inspired to travel there for lunch. It was worth the trip to a neighborhood that’s still largely terra incognita after all these years.19
Dec. 15: Welker told me about the Austin Social Club’s Christmas mixer at the venerable Driskill Hotel downtown. We didn’t connect there, but thanks to multiple mistakes, I attended, ate and drank for free. I may have been the only one there who actually had a good time.20 While everyone else was sore at the short-handed staff, I spent much of my time chatting up a math teacher. Teachers nowadays have sure improved from my time in school. I’d’ve pursued my studies further at Red Fez, but I had to get up and go to work the next morning.
Feb. 10: Salsa dancing drew me to The HighBall, a new retro-décor combination bowling alley/restaurant/bar/ballroom in the Lamar Plaza Shopping Center off South Lamar Boulevard. The food is just average for the prices, unfortunately contemporary. Of course, most of the customers, being Austinites, couldn’t bother to look elegant, from 1960 or any era.21 The dancing was great, particularly with Welker, and I liked the hardwood floor and ambiance better than Ruta Maya, but the latter venue starts an hour earlier.22
Feb. 13: After several hours at Go Dance, I swung by Gloria’s, the newly opened Salvadoran restaurant at The Domain. The latter combined the drawbacks of other places: The sound system was loud; the waiters and barbacks were moving around the edges of the crowded non-wood dance floor. Worst of all, the women were undercutting their own prospects by standing around, drinks and cell phones in hand, avoiding eye contact and chatting with each other incessantly. It really was like being downtown.23 However, the food is good.24
Neighborhood News
Jan. 5, the cold killed my car battery.25 I was two hours late for work awaiting the AAA-approved service's replacement. I thought I was having a bad morning until I saw what happened to my neighbors in the next building. A vehicle from adjoining Gracy Farms Lane veered off-road, plowed through the property fence into the mailboxes on the side of a detached garage, and damaged their cars parked on the other side. It's the second time I can recall that fence has been damaged.26
A new business is moving to The Domain, but the Austin City Council had to OK a half-million dollars in incentives – on top of the state’s $1.5 million – for it to relocate from Maryland.27 Four other new businesses have opened at The Domain, including Gloria’s.28 A trendy new watering hole has opened in the Aloft hotel at The Domain. I give the WXYZ Lounge a B-.29
Early winter thunderstorms revealed a leak somewhere outside my living room window that dripped onto the windowsill. The landlord also re-roofed the buildings on the southeast side of the apartment complex mid-November and repaired a water valve for them mid-December.30 On Dec. 5, I discovered my building’s laundry room ceiling lampshade had shattered on the floor.
On Nov. 8, I witnessed the aftermath of a collision between an SUV and the end of an overpass guardrail along northbound MoPac Expressway. Based on what little I saw, the guardrail lost. On Dec. 1, I witnessed the aftermath of a smash-up on MoPac near the Duval Road overpass. On Dec. 2 and Jan. 18, I witnessed the aftermath of collisions at the northbound frontage road of MoPac and Parmer Lane. On Dec. 7, I witnessed the aftermath of a multi-car pileup on Gracy Farms just east of the railroad tracks. On Jan. 25, KHHL-FM reported a collision at Metric Boulevard and Cedar Bend Drive.
The Blockbuster video store at the McNeil Crossing Shopping Center closed in December.31 Pizza Paradise has replaced La Mamma Pizza at the Metric Place strip mall. Weirdo’s has replaced Tut’s Bar & Grill.
Austin Death Watch
The Austin City Council has approved the Heritage Tree Ordinance, which ostensibly “aims to tighten restrictions on the cutting of very large, mature trees,” but actually is a further infringement on private property rights.32
Earlier, we learned the drought endangered the salamanders at Barton Springs.33 Now, the Daily Texan reports that recent flooding endangers them, too.34 Why are we expected to care about an amphibian that can’t even survive in its own natural habitat no matter what? The Save Our Springs Alliance doesn’t have an answer to my question, because it’s busy being ground up in bankruptcy legalities.35 Wipe ‘em out and let’s be done with it. I mean the salamanders. Although the other interpretation sounds pretty good, too.
The latter might stop the City Council from further considering a new ordinance on energy inspections for new houses – a new ordinance the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin says will add nearly a dollar per square foot to the cost.36 This is the same Council that downsized the annual Zilker Park Trail of Lights because of cost ($1 million) and took flak. My favorite comment comes from a guest columnist in the Austin Community College paper who writes, “The Council is completely at fault for ruining the Trail of Lights simply because they took too long to find a private vendor to run the site.... In order to keep the Trail of Lights an Austin tradition, the Council needs to make smarter decisions in a timely manner.”37 If the Council could do that, Austin Death Watch wouldn’t be a regular feature in this Web zine.
Austin Death Watch also relies heavily on the antics of Capital Metro to remain a recurring feature. This issue, Cap Metro fired Veolia, the rail contractor it hired to actually run the prolifigate, oft-delayed commuter rail. Cap Metro also stopped paying on $51.1 million it owes the City. Lawyers for all sides are hard at work.38
Dell, which started in Austin but moved to Round Rock for a better business climate, has relocated its annual trade show to Las Vegas because Austin doesn’t have the capacity to handle the event.39 I’ve been pointing this out for a while: Austin’s power elite fancies itself as presiding over a world-class city, and tries to shoehorn these events into downtown with less than stellar results, because the same elite also doesn’t want to be like such world-class rivals as Houston, Dallas or Los Angeles, which at least have been consistent in their willingness to bulldoze and pave their way to greatness, or least making matters easier for event organizers.
In a related vein, the September GQ declared the University of Texas to be among the 25 douchiest colleges in the country.40 Still, it does have a decent library selection.41
Two Austin cops have been arrested in two separate incidents by their brothers in blue in Williamson County for drinking and drugging.42 Better them seeing the business end of a nightstick away from us instead of being around to man a fusion center or shutting down a gun show.43
Political Follies
Texas for Accountable Government endorsed for the Libertarian gubernatorial nominee the worst candidate of the four who appeared at TAG’s monthly meeting at Bagpipes Pub on Jan. 25. She was some yokel-sounding shyster broad from Houston who made Sarah Palin sound like a Mises Institute scholar. Because of her ignorance, she managed to botch even an easy issue like immigration, partly by speaking English worse than a Oxacan-born motel maid. If I were forced to use her as a lawyer, I'd throw myself on the mercy of the court.44
Except for Jeff Daiell, the others weren’t much better, and Daiell’s hobbled by pinkoish views on the social issues and his disappointing results as the 2002 nominee. Fortunately for me, I attended for the Menckenian spectacle of an ideological organization, now bereft of its ideology, attempting to posture as a viable alternative to the statist quo. In that, at least, I wasn’t disappointed. I’d tell these guys to go fuck themselves, but they’ve already been doing that for the last four years. The only thing they’ve done successfully in that time. They could teach NBC a few lessons.45
A month earlier, TAG meeting attendees kept trying to persuade me to join them in taking over the Texas Republican Party with gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina.46 The TAGers seem determined to repeat every mistake and erroneous assumption about politics as the Freepers. In fact, they reminded me why I dropped the GOP before I was 21. But what do I know? I've only studied, observed or participated in politics since the late '70s, not memorized Rush Limbaugh's catchphrases.47
Medina has the problem of being an outsider in the same party as the establishment, country club apparatchiks, who can sabotage her, her campaign, or her agenda at any point between now and the last day of her governorship.48 Unless she cooperates with them, thereby compromising with the beneficiaries of the status quo.49 It's a lot of extra fighting, hassle and expense for those of us wanting to roll back the size and scope of the State. I suggested her partisans take over the Texas LP's husk, use that party's ballot access, and avoid an early battle with the Perrys and Bushes. Naturally, they listened about well as Eric Johnson.
Neo-Noir Meets Christian Reconstructionism, and Other Cultural Canapés
Theologian Gary North writes that actor Dennis Quaid is planning a biopic of Spade Cooley, Western Swing bandleader and drunken white-trash lowlife who served eight years in California prison for beating his wife to death, then died of a heart attack.50 North apparently thinks Cooley is more obscure than he is, because James Ellroy has referenced Cooley in his oeuvre numerous times.51 However, Ain’t It Cool News reported the same project in 2004, so the Parousia may happen before this film.52
A co-worker asked if I'd seen the disaster movie "2012." I said since John Cusack stars in it, I knew it'd be a disaster flick no matter what the subject. To make it realistically terrifying, you'd have Americans enduring the abolition of the incandescent light bulb; the start of ObamaCare; President Obama’s re-election over some statist Republican flunky and Wayne Allyn Schmuck; Olympics hype; and the inability of tourists to visit the Yucatan Peninsula to get away from all of the above because the locals are too spooked about the end of the world to book reservations. And it would star John Cusack (“I graduated high school for this?”) and feature a wall-to-wall pop soundtrack that teen-age girls like.53
However, I did finally see the movie “2010,” on YouTube, 26 years after I ignored its theatrical release. Naturally, the 2010 as imagined in 1984 is considerably off. Watching it, I came up with a superior film premise: "2010: The Jupiter Connection." Roy Scheider is narcotics agent Jacky Falcone, who uncovers a Soviet-run drug network operating near Jupiter, partly to distribute drugs and undermine America under the guise of alien visitors, and partly because commies don’t understand the economics of matters like supply chain management or overhead costs. They could’ve used the airport at Mena, Ark., if they were smarter. Falcone fakes a public break with his agency, writes a couple of exposés, and enters the seedy world of anti-American, pro-Soviet publications in New York City. Falcone pitches his own investigation as a story debunking said Soviet project as CIA propaganda to Nation editor Alexander Cockburn (Richard Harris), which gets him entrée to the Soviet space program, infiltrated by Air Force Capt. Joe Kuykendall (Jan-Michael Vincent), and ultimately, the drug-lab spacecraft orbiting Jupiter overseen by KGB Col. Rudolph Nicolevich Kiersky (Dolph Lundgren). Also aboard the spacecraft is drug kingpin Ernesto Armendariz (Paul Calderon), motivated by money and disillusioned by his Soviet partners, their attitudes, and the working conditions in space. Coincidentally, Falcone busted Armendariz years ago, when he was smaller fry in the illegal drug trade. Through a high-ranking, pro-détente faction within the American establishment, the Soviets uncover Falcone and Kuykendall’s real identities. In exchange for immunity, Armendariz and his drug crew side with Falcone and Kuykendall as they best the Soviets, out of their minds on drugs and vodka. The outer space suspense climaxes as Falcone chases Kiersky into an airlock, snears, “From my ability to what you need,” and flushes the villain out the airlock toward the volcanic wastes of Io. Kuykendall maneuvers the Soviet spacecraft back to Earth, where they dodge Soviet laser-armed attack satellites in Earth orbit, missiles during re-entry, and MiGs during splashdown. Meanwhile, despite the best efforts of the vice president (Donald Moffett) and the pro-détente globalist business interests he fronts for (Robert Vaughan, Martin Balsam), Falcone’s story has leaked and attracted the media, plus the interest of the president (Glenn Ford) and the U.S. military. A Pacific-based carrier group finds Falcone and Armendariz, thwarts the MiGs, and brings the plucky team aboard the carrier to a triumphant and nationalist freeze-frame tableau.54
On Jan. 27, I attended the world premiere of “Viva the ‘Nam,” a feature-length Vietnam War flick using stop-motion action figures in someone’s garage. Well worth seeing – if you can.55
Obama attended the Kennedy Center honors awarding Robert De Niro. In other words, Obama honored an actor most famous for playing a would-be presidential assassin, and a thug paid to beat on blacks.56 Maybe Obama is more irony-deficient than I credited someone of our generation, and thus politically tone deaf.57
Media Indigest
The Austin American-Statesman redesigned its Web site. This means I spend even less time reading its content. Another such redesign and I’ll cease reading it altogether. The Statesman also seems to have clamped down on the comments with each article, which were increasingly pointing out the flaws in the reporting and often better than the original story. Local FM stations are dropping Spanish-language formats for sports and news talk. In English.58
NOTES
1 AD No. 129n1 (Dec. 10, 2009).
2 AD No. 22n2 (Nov. 16, 2000).
3 Eisler, Dan. “Re: Swine Flu.” E-mail to KT Hernandez Woods, 28 Apr. 2009.
4 John 1:1 NRSV.
5 Chilton, David. Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation. Fort Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987; Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1970; Lindsey. The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. King of Prussia, Pa.: Westgate Press, 1980.
6 AD No. 84n32 (Oct. 10, 2005); AD No. 118n5 (Oct. 27, 2008).
7 AD No. 60 (Dec. 20, 2003); AD No. 61 (Jan. 28, 2004); AD No. 101 (Oct. 7, 2007); The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays. Ed. Michele Clarke and Taylor Plimpton. New York City: Abrams Image, 2009.
8 Dorell, Oren. “Fierce Snowstorm Barrels Across Northern States.” USAT 10 Dec. 2009: 3A.
9 Luttwak, Edward N. “The Body Scanner Scam.” WSJ 19 Jan. 2010, Eastern ed.: A25.
10 Kitahara, Michio. The Entangled Civilization: Democracy, Equality and Freedom at a Loss. Lanham, Md.: UP of America, 1995.
11 AD No. 114 (July 27, 2008); AD No. 124 (May 12, 2009).
12 Eisler. Letter to Mary Ruth Kiser, 6 Jan. 2010.
13 The Endangered Species Act of 1973. P.L. 93-205; 7 U.S.C. §136, 16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq.; “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” c. 1780. The Nursery Rhymes of England. Ed. J.O. Halliwell. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford UP, 1846: 121-122.
14 AD No. 89 (Mar. 29, 2006); AD No. 122n30 (Feb. 8, 2009); Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
15 Renovitch, James. “Calendar.” AC 25 Dec. 2009: 54-56.
16 AD No. 84n37.
17 Hernandez, Raoul. “Aural History.” AC 12 Feb. 2010: 58+; “Music.” Ed. Audra Schroeder. AC 13 Nov. 2009: 88.
18 Miles, Barry. Frank Zappa. London: Atlantic Books, 2004: 122, 371; “Roadshows.” AC 20 Nov. 2009: 88; Zappa, Frank, and Peter Occhiogrosso. The Real Frank Zappa Book. New York City: Poseidon Press, 1989: 234-235.
19Wood, Virginia. “Food-o-File.” AC 4 Dec. 2009: 51.
20 Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
21 Sutter, Mike. “Keeping Score at the Highball.” AAS 31 Dec. 2009: T3.
22 AD No. 73n45 (Nov. 8, 2004).
23 AD No. 106n48 (Mar. 7, 2008).
24 AD No. 126n30 (Aug 10, 2009).
25 Whittaker, Richard. “Frozen Assets.” AC 15 Jan. 2010: 18.
26 AD No. 54n10 (Aug. 22, 2003); Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
27 Dunbar, Wells. “Anyone for Unemployment?” AC 29 Jan. 2010: 12; Dunbar. “Who’s Zommin’ Who?” AC 5 Feb. 2010: 17; King, Michael. “How Much for a Hanger?” AC 22 Jan. 2010: 10.
28 “Community Impact: Northwest Austin.” CIN Jan. 2010: 4.
29 Harrold, Carolyn. “Aloft Austin at the Domain.” Tribeza Nov. 2009: 108.
30 AMLI at Stonehollow. Letter to residents, 18 Dec. 2009.
31 “Community Impact: Northwest Austin,” op cit., 5.
32 Nichols, Lee. “Heritage Tree Ordinance Takes Root.” AC 12 Feb. 2010: 20.
33 AD No. 127n12 (Sep. 21, 2009).
34 Haeger, Jordan. “Barton Springs’ Flooding Endangers Salamanders.” DT 2 Nov. 2009: 5.
35 Price, Asher. “Appeals Panel Rouses SOS Financial Woes.” AAS 31 Oct. 2009: B1.
36 Dirr, Jacob. “Green-Building Codes to Change.” ABJ 13 Nov. 2009: A3+.
37 Rodriguez, Karissa. “Turn Off the Lights.” Accent 23 Nov. 2009: 2.
38 Nichols. “Railroaded? Cap Metro vs. Veolia.” AC 18 Dec. 2009: 21; Wear, Ben. “Cap Metro Stops Paying City Millions Owed in Deal.” AAS 28 Jan. 2010: A1.
39 Dirr. “Not Enough Room.” ABJ 13 Nov. 2009: A1+.
40 “America’s 25 Douchiest Colleges.” GQ Sep. 2009: 216.
41 Zelade, Richard. Austin, 3rd rev. ed. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., 1996: 27-30.
42 Nichols, and Jordan Smith. “Naked City.” 15 Jan. 2010: 13.
43 AD No. 127n23; Smith. “Guns, Property, and Public Nuisances: A North Austin Showdown.” AC 5 Feb. 2010: 20.
44 Eisler. “What You Missed Tonight.” E-mail to Steve Adams, 25 Jan. 2010.
45 Arango, Tim et al. “NBC’s Slide to Troubled Nightly Punch Line.” NYT 17 Jan. 2010, New York ed.: A1; Gillette, Amelie. “Cracking the Late-Night Code.” The Onion 21 Jan. 2010, Austin ed.: 12.
46 Price. “Debra Medina.” AAS 12 Feb. 2010: A1.
47 AD No. 39n10 (Aug. 1, 2002).
48 Eisler. “Re: FW: Debra Medina against all odds is quickly becoming a viable candidate the implications are enormous." E-mail to Adams, 30 Jan. 2010; Eisler. “Re: I RE: What you missed tonight.” " E-mail to Adams, 26 Jan. 2010; Karp, Walter. Indispensable Enemies: The Poltics of Misrule in America. New York City: Saturday Review Press, 1973.
49 Weaver, Paul H. The Suicidal Corporation: How Big Business Fails America. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 1988: Ch. 17.
50 North, Gary. “The Resurrection of Spade Cooley.” 9 Feb. 2010 Gary North’s Specific Answers 9 Feb. 2010 < http://www.garynorth.com/public/6080print.cfm>.
51 AD No. 28n54 (July 10, 2001).
52 “Elston Gunn’s Weekly Recap.” 15 Dec. 2004 Ain’t It Cool News <http://www.aintitcool.com/node/18994>.
53 AD No. 105n8 (Feb. 27, 2008); AD No. 116n15 (Sep. 7, 2008); Eisler. “Re: 2010: The Year the Way They Thought It Was Gonna Be.” E-mail to Bola Ijagbemi, 5 Feb. 2010; Henninger, Daniel. “Why ObamaCare Isn’t Flying.” WSJ 28 Jan. 2010, Eastern ed.: A17; Hume, Stephen. “Let’s Enjoy the Party While We Show Visitors Our Generous Spirit.” The Vancouver Sun 10 Feb. 2010, final ed.: A1; Wagner, Elizabeth. "Maya Creation Myths and Cosmography." Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Ed. in Nikolai Grube, Eva Eggebrecht, and Matthias Seidel. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 2006: 280–293.
54 Fontova, Humberto. Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2005: Ch. 4; Kwitny, Jonathan. Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World, corr. ed. New York City: Penguin Books, 1986: 26; Morris, Roger. Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America. New York City: John Macrae/Henry Holt and Co., 1996: 403; Sutton, Antony C. The Best Enemy Money Can Buy. Billings, Mont.: Liberty House Press, 1986.
55 Savlov, Marc. “Plastic Platoon.” 22 Jan. 2010: 44-45.
56 AP “Kennedy Center Honors Artists.” DT 7 Dec. 2009: 3.
57 AD No. 119n10 (Dec. 7, 2009).
58 Brass, Kevin. “Sammy Allred Back on the Air.” AC 6 Nov. 2009: 15.
People formerly guessed I was older, until Miss KT and I attended a B.B. King concert wherein King became background accompaniment instead of the main attraction.2 He’d’ve smiled wryly had he known. I said something in passing, and she exclaimed, "You graduated high school in 1988? I thought you were older!"3
Throughout, I haven’t felt any different than I did at 25. Although I’m becoming so reactionary with age it’s a wonder I haven’t decried the unfashionability of powdered wigs as an indicator of cultural decline.
Based on past conversations, I’ve lived more in 40 years than many other people. But against my own expectations and ambitions, I’ve hardly done anything at all. (Even a comprehensive list of the best cultural artifacts of 1969 will have to wait.) For example, I’ve yet to write an issue with prose and content simultaneously so dense, extreme, and obscurely allusive that the very act of reading it induces a vortex that consumes the universe, thereby ending existence itself. In the end was the word, and the word was hyperlinked to a media file.4 At least that way you atheist types get to skip the Parousia.5
Why'd I ever decide to become a writer, anyway? I should've pursued a more meaningful career … like corporate lobbyist.6
The milestone has been an unwelcome occasion, because it’s encouraged more introspection about my life and achievements, such as they are, than I care to indulge nowadays. My life now certainly isn’t what I expected back when I was 18. Then again, maybe I’ve kept my hair color because I’m not supporting a family and a mortgage.
Such was my mindset as I prepared to endure yet another bleak, disconnected season of the “togetherness holidays,” which run from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day. They share the assumption, understandably, that you’ll celebrate them with your loved ones, of one category or another, and there’s something wrong with you if you don’t.7 As though personal flaws are the source of one’s wintertime woes, rather than work schedules, transit timetables, weather conditions,8 garrison state security gauntlets,9 and contemporary counterproductive social mores that will gradually destroy our entangled civilization from within.10
To my pleasant surprise, the season didn’t quite happen that way. Christmas, friends and relatives, including my sole surviving grandparent, called throughout the day to wish me well.11 It was something nice in the holiday spirit. My sister’s kids were ecstatic at my gifts. I took care to nail down what they wanted; they’d been vague a couple of months earlier, which I still don’t understand. When Sis and I were their ages, we’d perused the Sears, JC Penny and Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs like Talmudic scholars, written long, detailed wish lists, and negotiated for the maximum.12
Otherwise, I consumed 36 CDs, 19 books, and three holiday TV specials posted on YouTube. (Last year I saw as many movies online as I did in the theater.) But the EPA declared the partridge in a pear tree an endangered species.13 In between, I went dancing a lot.
For my birthday, I dined at a bistro in midtown Austin heretofore unfamiliar to me. But the real fun was the day after, at a little birthday soiree for “Melanie Ordones Welker.” Inexplicably, she’s become one of the salseras who has an unforced rapport with me off the dance floor.14 Throughout, I danced and shamelessly flirted with her, in front of her boyfriend. I didn’t care. I don’t think she did, either. “Enjoy your thirties while you still have them,” I whispered cheek to cheek.
Prom of the Dead, and Other Excursions
The rest of my socializing during this period wasn’t quite as satisfactory. There was a stretch during the holidays when the only social listings in the Chronicle appeared to be for homosexuals. They come out of the closet and next thing you know they’re out on the town.15
Nov. 7: My dance partners all complained about the DJ’s song selection at the weekly Austin Ballroom Dancers’ social at Uptown Dance Studio. I didn’t recognize a lot of the particular tunes, but they sounded like they were recorded in the ‘80s. That gave us too much a sense of our mortality.
Nov. 11: I had a very Mr. Fusion day. I kept finding quarters on the ground.16
Nov. 13: The headliner at the Jazz at St. James concert demonstrated why New York City is still the world’s jazz capital. The local Jeff Lofton Quartet, which just released a fine CD, opened. That band sounded like it was sticking to familiar patterns. Then the group settled in the front row and intently observed an ad hoc quartet fronted by former Jazz Messenger Javon Jackson. He said his day started with a flight from Portugal and looked dead tired. However, the inventiveness and energy Jackson and his band mates displayed was of a magnitude greater than the previous quartet.17
Nov. 19: Dweezil Zappa performed his dad’s music at Stubb’s. Local guitar slinger Eric Johnson showed up to jam, but he just ran through his pet licks regardless of whether it fit the music. Clearly, Johnson was shredding instead of listening to the other musicians. Otherwise, I had no complaints about the music – but the audience! The smoke – semi-legal and otherwise – kept wafting into my face. Ironic, given Frank Zappa’s consistent opposition to recreational drugs, and given his death from cancer after a lifetime of chain-smoking tobacco cigarettes. So I left after the first set.18
Dec. 5: The Chronicle reported the owner of Evitas Botanitas, an independent Mexican restaurant in South Austin, was closing the restaurant that month because of health problems. I was inspired to travel there for lunch. It was worth the trip to a neighborhood that’s still largely terra incognita after all these years.19
Dec. 15: Welker told me about the Austin Social Club’s Christmas mixer at the venerable Driskill Hotel downtown. We didn’t connect there, but thanks to multiple mistakes, I attended, ate and drank for free. I may have been the only one there who actually had a good time.20 While everyone else was sore at the short-handed staff, I spent much of my time chatting up a math teacher. Teachers nowadays have sure improved from my time in school. I’d’ve pursued my studies further at Red Fez, but I had to get up and go to work the next morning.
Feb. 10: Salsa dancing drew me to The HighBall, a new retro-décor combination bowling alley/restaurant/bar/ballroom in the Lamar Plaza Shopping Center off South Lamar Boulevard. The food is just average for the prices, unfortunately contemporary. Of course, most of the customers, being Austinites, couldn’t bother to look elegant, from 1960 or any era.21 The dancing was great, particularly with Welker, and I liked the hardwood floor and ambiance better than Ruta Maya, but the latter venue starts an hour earlier.22
Feb. 13: After several hours at Go Dance, I swung by Gloria’s, the newly opened Salvadoran restaurant at The Domain. The latter combined the drawbacks of other places: The sound system was loud; the waiters and barbacks were moving around the edges of the crowded non-wood dance floor. Worst of all, the women were undercutting their own prospects by standing around, drinks and cell phones in hand, avoiding eye contact and chatting with each other incessantly. It really was like being downtown.23 However, the food is good.24
Neighborhood News
Jan. 5, the cold killed my car battery.25 I was two hours late for work awaiting the AAA-approved service's replacement. I thought I was having a bad morning until I saw what happened to my neighbors in the next building. A vehicle from adjoining Gracy Farms Lane veered off-road, plowed through the property fence into the mailboxes on the side of a detached garage, and damaged their cars parked on the other side. It's the second time I can recall that fence has been damaged.26
A new business is moving to The Domain, but the Austin City Council had to OK a half-million dollars in incentives – on top of the state’s $1.5 million – for it to relocate from Maryland.27 Four other new businesses have opened at The Domain, including Gloria’s.28 A trendy new watering hole has opened in the Aloft hotel at The Domain. I give the WXYZ Lounge a B-.29
Early winter thunderstorms revealed a leak somewhere outside my living room window that dripped onto the windowsill. The landlord also re-roofed the buildings on the southeast side of the apartment complex mid-November and repaired a water valve for them mid-December.30 On Dec. 5, I discovered my building’s laundry room ceiling lampshade had shattered on the floor.
On Nov. 8, I witnessed the aftermath of a collision between an SUV and the end of an overpass guardrail along northbound MoPac Expressway. Based on what little I saw, the guardrail lost. On Dec. 1, I witnessed the aftermath of a smash-up on MoPac near the Duval Road overpass. On Dec. 2 and Jan. 18, I witnessed the aftermath of collisions at the northbound frontage road of MoPac and Parmer Lane. On Dec. 7, I witnessed the aftermath of a multi-car pileup on Gracy Farms just east of the railroad tracks. On Jan. 25, KHHL-FM reported a collision at Metric Boulevard and Cedar Bend Drive.
The Blockbuster video store at the McNeil Crossing Shopping Center closed in December.31 Pizza Paradise has replaced La Mamma Pizza at the Metric Place strip mall. Weirdo’s has replaced Tut’s Bar & Grill.
Austin Death Watch
The Austin City Council has approved the Heritage Tree Ordinance, which ostensibly “aims to tighten restrictions on the cutting of very large, mature trees,” but actually is a further infringement on private property rights.32
Earlier, we learned the drought endangered the salamanders at Barton Springs.33 Now, the Daily Texan reports that recent flooding endangers them, too.34 Why are we expected to care about an amphibian that can’t even survive in its own natural habitat no matter what? The Save Our Springs Alliance doesn’t have an answer to my question, because it’s busy being ground up in bankruptcy legalities.35 Wipe ‘em out and let’s be done with it. I mean the salamanders. Although the other interpretation sounds pretty good, too.
The latter might stop the City Council from further considering a new ordinance on energy inspections for new houses – a new ordinance the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin says will add nearly a dollar per square foot to the cost.36 This is the same Council that downsized the annual Zilker Park Trail of Lights because of cost ($1 million) and took flak. My favorite comment comes from a guest columnist in the Austin Community College paper who writes, “The Council is completely at fault for ruining the Trail of Lights simply because they took too long to find a private vendor to run the site.... In order to keep the Trail of Lights an Austin tradition, the Council needs to make smarter decisions in a timely manner.”37 If the Council could do that, Austin Death Watch wouldn’t be a regular feature in this Web zine.
Austin Death Watch also relies heavily on the antics of Capital Metro to remain a recurring feature. This issue, Cap Metro fired Veolia, the rail contractor it hired to actually run the prolifigate, oft-delayed commuter rail. Cap Metro also stopped paying on $51.1 million it owes the City. Lawyers for all sides are hard at work.38
Dell, which started in Austin but moved to Round Rock for a better business climate, has relocated its annual trade show to Las Vegas because Austin doesn’t have the capacity to handle the event.39 I’ve been pointing this out for a while: Austin’s power elite fancies itself as presiding over a world-class city, and tries to shoehorn these events into downtown with less than stellar results, because the same elite also doesn’t want to be like such world-class rivals as Houston, Dallas or Los Angeles, which at least have been consistent in their willingness to bulldoze and pave their way to greatness, or least making matters easier for event organizers.
In a related vein, the September GQ declared the University of Texas to be among the 25 douchiest colleges in the country.40 Still, it does have a decent library selection.41
Two Austin cops have been arrested in two separate incidents by their brothers in blue in Williamson County for drinking and drugging.42 Better them seeing the business end of a nightstick away from us instead of being around to man a fusion center or shutting down a gun show.43
Political Follies
Texas for Accountable Government endorsed for the Libertarian gubernatorial nominee the worst candidate of the four who appeared at TAG’s monthly meeting at Bagpipes Pub on Jan. 25. She was some yokel-sounding shyster broad from Houston who made Sarah Palin sound like a Mises Institute scholar. Because of her ignorance, she managed to botch even an easy issue like immigration, partly by speaking English worse than a Oxacan-born motel maid. If I were forced to use her as a lawyer, I'd throw myself on the mercy of the court.44
Except for Jeff Daiell, the others weren’t much better, and Daiell’s hobbled by pinkoish views on the social issues and his disappointing results as the 2002 nominee. Fortunately for me, I attended for the Menckenian spectacle of an ideological organization, now bereft of its ideology, attempting to posture as a viable alternative to the statist quo. In that, at least, I wasn’t disappointed. I’d tell these guys to go fuck themselves, but they’ve already been doing that for the last four years. The only thing they’ve done successfully in that time. They could teach NBC a few lessons.45
A month earlier, TAG meeting attendees kept trying to persuade me to join them in taking over the Texas Republican Party with gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina.46 The TAGers seem determined to repeat every mistake and erroneous assumption about politics as the Freepers. In fact, they reminded me why I dropped the GOP before I was 21. But what do I know? I've only studied, observed or participated in politics since the late '70s, not memorized Rush Limbaugh's catchphrases.47
Medina has the problem of being an outsider in the same party as the establishment, country club apparatchiks, who can sabotage her, her campaign, or her agenda at any point between now and the last day of her governorship.48 Unless she cooperates with them, thereby compromising with the beneficiaries of the status quo.49 It's a lot of extra fighting, hassle and expense for those of us wanting to roll back the size and scope of the State. I suggested her partisans take over the Texas LP's husk, use that party's ballot access, and avoid an early battle with the Perrys and Bushes. Naturally, they listened about well as Eric Johnson.
Neo-Noir Meets Christian Reconstructionism, and Other Cultural Canapés
Theologian Gary North writes that actor Dennis Quaid is planning a biopic of Spade Cooley, Western Swing bandleader and drunken white-trash lowlife who served eight years in California prison for beating his wife to death, then died of a heart attack.50 North apparently thinks Cooley is more obscure than he is, because James Ellroy has referenced Cooley in his oeuvre numerous times.51 However, Ain’t It Cool News reported the same project in 2004, so the Parousia may happen before this film.52
A co-worker asked if I'd seen the disaster movie "2012." I said since John Cusack stars in it, I knew it'd be a disaster flick no matter what the subject. To make it realistically terrifying, you'd have Americans enduring the abolition of the incandescent light bulb; the start of ObamaCare; President Obama’s re-election over some statist Republican flunky and Wayne Allyn Schmuck; Olympics hype; and the inability of tourists to visit the Yucatan Peninsula to get away from all of the above because the locals are too spooked about the end of the world to book reservations. And it would star John Cusack (“I graduated high school for this?”) and feature a wall-to-wall pop soundtrack that teen-age girls like.53
However, I did finally see the movie “2010,” on YouTube, 26 years after I ignored its theatrical release. Naturally, the 2010 as imagined in 1984 is considerably off. Watching it, I came up with a superior film premise: "2010: The Jupiter Connection." Roy Scheider is narcotics agent Jacky Falcone, who uncovers a Soviet-run drug network operating near Jupiter, partly to distribute drugs and undermine America under the guise of alien visitors, and partly because commies don’t understand the economics of matters like supply chain management or overhead costs. They could’ve used the airport at Mena, Ark., if they were smarter. Falcone fakes a public break with his agency, writes a couple of exposés, and enters the seedy world of anti-American, pro-Soviet publications in New York City. Falcone pitches his own investigation as a story debunking said Soviet project as CIA propaganda to Nation editor Alexander Cockburn (Richard Harris), which gets him entrée to the Soviet space program, infiltrated by Air Force Capt. Joe Kuykendall (Jan-Michael Vincent), and ultimately, the drug-lab spacecraft orbiting Jupiter overseen by KGB Col. Rudolph Nicolevich Kiersky (Dolph Lundgren). Also aboard the spacecraft is drug kingpin Ernesto Armendariz (Paul Calderon), motivated by money and disillusioned by his Soviet partners, their attitudes, and the working conditions in space. Coincidentally, Falcone busted Armendariz years ago, when he was smaller fry in the illegal drug trade. Through a high-ranking, pro-détente faction within the American establishment, the Soviets uncover Falcone and Kuykendall’s real identities. In exchange for immunity, Armendariz and his drug crew side with Falcone and Kuykendall as they best the Soviets, out of their minds on drugs and vodka. The outer space suspense climaxes as Falcone chases Kiersky into an airlock, snears, “From my ability to what you need,” and flushes the villain out the airlock toward the volcanic wastes of Io. Kuykendall maneuvers the Soviet spacecraft back to Earth, where they dodge Soviet laser-armed attack satellites in Earth orbit, missiles during re-entry, and MiGs during splashdown. Meanwhile, despite the best efforts of the vice president (Donald Moffett) and the pro-détente globalist business interests he fronts for (Robert Vaughan, Martin Balsam), Falcone’s story has leaked and attracted the media, plus the interest of the president (Glenn Ford) and the U.S. military. A Pacific-based carrier group finds Falcone and Armendariz, thwarts the MiGs, and brings the plucky team aboard the carrier to a triumphant and nationalist freeze-frame tableau.54
On Jan. 27, I attended the world premiere of “Viva the ‘Nam,” a feature-length Vietnam War flick using stop-motion action figures in someone’s garage. Well worth seeing – if you can.55
Obama attended the Kennedy Center honors awarding Robert De Niro. In other words, Obama honored an actor most famous for playing a would-be presidential assassin, and a thug paid to beat on blacks.56 Maybe Obama is more irony-deficient than I credited someone of our generation, and thus politically tone deaf.57
Media Indigest
The Austin American-Statesman redesigned its Web site. This means I spend even less time reading its content. Another such redesign and I’ll cease reading it altogether. The Statesman also seems to have clamped down on the comments with each article, which were increasingly pointing out the flaws in the reporting and often better than the original story. Local FM stations are dropping Spanish-language formats for sports and news talk. In English.58
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NOTES
1 AD No. 129n1 (Dec. 10, 2009).
2 AD No. 22n2 (Nov. 16, 2000).
3 Eisler, Dan. “Re: Swine Flu.” E-mail to KT Hernandez Woods, 28 Apr. 2009.
4 John 1:1 NRSV.
5 Chilton, David. Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation. Fort Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987; Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1970; Lindsey. The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. King of Prussia, Pa.: Westgate Press, 1980.
6 AD No. 84n32 (Oct. 10, 2005); AD No. 118n5 (Oct. 27, 2008).
7 AD No. 60 (Dec. 20, 2003); AD No. 61 (Jan. 28, 2004); AD No. 101 (Oct. 7, 2007); The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays. Ed. Michele Clarke and Taylor Plimpton. New York City: Abrams Image, 2009.
8 Dorell, Oren. “Fierce Snowstorm Barrels Across Northern States.” USAT 10 Dec. 2009: 3A.
9 Luttwak, Edward N. “The Body Scanner Scam.” WSJ 19 Jan. 2010, Eastern ed.: A25.
10 Kitahara, Michio. The Entangled Civilization: Democracy, Equality and Freedom at a Loss. Lanham, Md.: UP of America, 1995.
11 AD No. 114 (July 27, 2008); AD No. 124 (May 12, 2009).
12 Eisler. Letter to Mary Ruth Kiser, 6 Jan. 2010.
13 The Endangered Species Act of 1973. P.L. 93-205; 7 U.S.C. §136, 16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq.; “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” c. 1780. The Nursery Rhymes of England. Ed. J.O. Halliwell. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford UP, 1846: 121-122.
14 AD No. 89 (Mar. 29, 2006); AD No. 122n30 (Feb. 8, 2009); Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
15 Renovitch, James. “Calendar.” AC 25 Dec. 2009: 54-56.
16 AD No. 84n37.
17 Hernandez, Raoul. “Aural History.” AC 12 Feb. 2010: 58+; “Music.” Ed. Audra Schroeder. AC 13 Nov. 2009: 88.
18 Miles, Barry. Frank Zappa. London: Atlantic Books, 2004: 122, 371; “Roadshows.” AC 20 Nov. 2009: 88; Zappa, Frank, and Peter Occhiogrosso. The Real Frank Zappa Book. New York City: Poseidon Press, 1989: 234-235.
19Wood, Virginia. “Food-o-File.” AC 4 Dec. 2009: 51.
20 Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
21 Sutter, Mike. “Keeping Score at the Highball.” AAS 31 Dec. 2009: T3.
22 AD No. 73n45 (Nov. 8, 2004).
23 AD No. 106n48 (Mar. 7, 2008).
24 AD No. 126n30 (Aug 10, 2009).
25 Whittaker, Richard. “Frozen Assets.” AC 15 Jan. 2010: 18.
26 AD No. 54n10 (Aug. 22, 2003); Eisler. Letter to Kiser, op. cit.
27 Dunbar, Wells. “Anyone for Unemployment?” AC 29 Jan. 2010: 12; Dunbar. “Who’s Zommin’ Who?” AC 5 Feb. 2010: 17; King, Michael. “How Much for a Hanger?” AC 22 Jan. 2010: 10.
28 “Community Impact: Northwest Austin.” CIN Jan. 2010: 4.
29 Harrold, Carolyn. “Aloft Austin at the Domain.” Tribeza Nov. 2009: 108.
30 AMLI at Stonehollow. Letter to residents, 18 Dec. 2009.
31 “Community Impact: Northwest Austin,” op cit., 5.
32 Nichols, Lee. “Heritage Tree Ordinance Takes Root.” AC 12 Feb. 2010: 20.
33 AD No. 127n12 (Sep. 21, 2009).
34 Haeger, Jordan. “Barton Springs’ Flooding Endangers Salamanders.” DT 2 Nov. 2009: 5.
35 Price, Asher. “Appeals Panel Rouses SOS Financial Woes.” AAS 31 Oct. 2009: B1.
36 Dirr, Jacob. “Green-Building Codes to Change.” ABJ 13 Nov. 2009: A3+.
37 Rodriguez, Karissa. “Turn Off the Lights.” Accent 23 Nov. 2009: 2.
38 Nichols. “Railroaded? Cap Metro vs. Veolia.” AC 18 Dec. 2009: 21; Wear, Ben. “Cap Metro Stops Paying City Millions Owed in Deal.” AAS 28 Jan. 2010: A1.
39 Dirr. “Not Enough Room.” ABJ 13 Nov. 2009: A1+.
40 “America’s 25 Douchiest Colleges.” GQ Sep. 2009: 216.
41 Zelade, Richard. Austin, 3rd rev. ed. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., 1996: 27-30.
42 Nichols, and Jordan Smith. “Naked City.” 15 Jan. 2010: 13.
43 AD No. 127n23; Smith. “Guns, Property, and Public Nuisances: A North Austin Showdown.” AC 5 Feb. 2010: 20.
44 Eisler. “What You Missed Tonight.” E-mail to Steve Adams, 25 Jan. 2010.
45 Arango, Tim et al. “NBC’s Slide to Troubled Nightly Punch Line.” NYT 17 Jan. 2010, New York ed.: A1; Gillette, Amelie. “Cracking the Late-Night Code.” The Onion 21 Jan. 2010, Austin ed.: 12.
46 Price. “Debra Medina.” AAS 12 Feb. 2010: A1.
47 AD No. 39n10 (Aug. 1, 2002).
48 Eisler. “Re: FW: Debra Medina against all odds is quickly becoming a viable candidate the implications are enormous." E-mail to Adams, 30 Jan. 2010; Eisler. “Re: I RE: What you missed tonight.” " E-mail to Adams, 26 Jan. 2010; Karp, Walter. Indispensable Enemies: The Poltics of Misrule in America. New York City: Saturday Review Press, 1973.
49 Weaver, Paul H. The Suicidal Corporation: How Big Business Fails America. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 1988: Ch. 17.
50 North, Gary. “The Resurrection of Spade Cooley.” 9 Feb. 2010 Gary North’s Specific Answers 9 Feb. 2010 < http://www.garynorth.com/public/6080print.cfm>.
51 AD No. 28n54 (July 10, 2001).
52 “Elston Gunn’s Weekly Recap.” 15 Dec. 2004 Ain’t It Cool News <http://www.aintitcool.com/node/18994>.
53 AD No. 105n8 (Feb. 27, 2008); AD No. 116n15 (Sep. 7, 2008); Eisler. “Re: 2010: The Year the Way They Thought It Was Gonna Be.” E-mail to Bola Ijagbemi, 5 Feb. 2010; Henninger, Daniel. “Why ObamaCare Isn’t Flying.” WSJ 28 Jan. 2010, Eastern ed.: A17; Hume, Stephen. “Let’s Enjoy the Party While We Show Visitors Our Generous Spirit.” The Vancouver Sun 10 Feb. 2010, final ed.: A1; Wagner, Elizabeth. "Maya Creation Myths and Cosmography." Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Ed. in Nikolai Grube, Eva Eggebrecht, and Matthias Seidel. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 2006: 280–293.
54 Fontova, Humberto. Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2005: Ch. 4; Kwitny, Jonathan. Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World, corr. ed. New York City: Penguin Books, 1986: 26; Morris, Roger. Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America. New York City: John Macrae/Henry Holt and Co., 1996: 403; Sutton, Antony C. The Best Enemy Money Can Buy. Billings, Mont.: Liberty House Press, 1986.
55 Savlov, Marc. “Plastic Platoon.” 22 Jan. 2010: 44-45.
56 AP “Kennedy Center Honors Artists.” DT 7 Dec. 2009: 3.
57 AD No. 119n10 (Dec. 7, 2009).
58 Brass, Kevin. “Sammy Allred Back on the Air.” AC 6 Nov. 2009: 15.