I’ve mentioned the celestial switch that heralds summer heat in New Orleans. It switched on this week. Yowza. We’ve had record heat almost every day, followed by torrential rain yesterday. Yowza. We’ve even had the odd afternoon brown-out as the utility company struggles to keep up with demand or so they say. Entergy doesn’t have a lot of credibility after they astroturfed a meeting at which the city council voted on a new power plant for the company. In short, they padded the room with paid actors. They blamed a sub-contractor but nobody’s buying it.
In other local news, two of my friends, Will Samuels, and blog pun consultant, James Karst, had parts on the season finale of NCIS: New Orleans. In honor of their appearance on this fakakta show, we have pictures.
Will is the gent in the shades. He usually wears Hawaiian shirts so I almost didn’t recognize him.
They actually let Karst hold a prop gun. I gotta say he looks like a proper Feeb, skinny tie and all. He’s even in a scene with series regular CCH Pounder best known to me as Claudette on The Shield.
This week’s theme song, One Week, was a monster hit for Barenaked Ladies in 1998. We have two versions for your consideration. The original video followed by a clip wherein the band reunited with former co-lead singer, Steven Page earlier this year. BNL performed a medley of One Week and If I Had A Million Dollars.
It’s time to count this week’s receipts while we jump to the break. They’re considerably less than a million dollars.
We begin our second act with a political story. Rumor has it that it’s a political blog.
Trumpy & Hannity: A Phone Bromance- New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi has a way of coming up with scoops This one may not be Ronan Farrow caliber, but she learned that the president* and Fox News meathead, Sean Hannity, chat every evening after Hannity’s fakakta show. Fakakta seems to be the word of the day. It has the virtue of rhyming with malaka.
Cue Groucho and the You Bet Your Life duck puppet:
It’s time to get serious and tackle a difficult subject: the NFL’s concussion settlement program.
Headlong Collision With The NFL; There’s a fabulous piece at Deadspin by Dom Cosentino about Mary Brooks’ effort to navigate the NFL concussion settlement hellscape on behalf of her father, George Andrie.
Andrie, 78, played defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys from 1962 to 1972. A member of the original Doomsday Defense, he played in five Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro once—an all-timer for the franchise that proudly sells itself as America’s Team. Andrie recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the legendary Ice Bowl game against the Green Bay Packers. He won a ring in Super Bowl 6. He knocked Johnny Unitas, the Hall of Fame quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, out of the game with a hit in Super Bowl 5.
“Which used to be awesome,” Brooks said of her dad’s knockout of Unitas, who broke his ribs on the play. “Not anymore.”
Andrie has lived long and prospered so he doesn’t need the money as badly as many other former players. BUT his daughter is eager to help *other* retired players and their families cope with the NFL’s arbitrary and whimsical system. Mary Andrie Brooks has a new fan: me.
Buzzfeed is an odd online publication. They’re known for their goofy pop culture quizzes but they also do some solid reporting. The next piece is one of their gems.
The Death Of A Former Child Star: I’ve long been interested in child stars. The media loves to play up the train wrecks even though for every Erin Moran there’s a Ron Howard or Jodie Foster. Buzzfeed’s piece about Brad Renfro fits neatly into the train wreck category. I probably shouldn’t use the word neatly: everything about Brad Renfro was messy. Adam B. Vary has the details in this must-read story. Holy cautionary tale, Batman.
Now that I’ve been a Gloomy Gus, it’s time to lighten up and visit a mental institution in Oregon. You’re probably asking yourself: how is that lighter? We get to see Jack Nicholson, that’s why. And the Lakers aren’t even in the playoffs.
Saturday GIF Horse: I had Ken Kesey on my mind this week because of Tom Wolfe’s passing. That’s why I’m posting this clip of Jack and crew in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. McMurphy was *definitely* the bull goose loony in that ward.
The Weekly Benign Earworm: Ever since I saw this week’s episode of The Goldbergs, I’ve had a Bostonian earworm:
One might even say that it’s more than an earworm.
Let’s shut this joint down with some music.
Saturday Classic: Eponymous albums are typically a band’s debut record. That was not the case with Traffic by Traffic. It was their second album and it was Traffic jammed down the public’s throats in 1968. It was the last full album Dave Mason recorded with the band. He and his mustache went solo in 1970.
That’s it for this week. Anyone remember when Tom Wolfe was on The Simpsons with some other scribblers in 2006? I’d forgotten all about it, which is bad because my main man Gore Vidal was featured in the same episode. Here are Gore and Tom along with Jonathan Franzen, and Michael Chabon.
