My latest column for the Bayou Brief is online. There are a few more jokes in this pandemic edition, Hell Of A Spell. There’s also a helluva tagline if I do say so myself and I do: Peter Athas on … Continue reading Bayou Brief: Hell Of A Spell
This book only sounds ripped from the headlines, it was published in 1955. To lighten things up, the last word goes to Ella Fitzgerald with Manhattan by Rodgers and Hart: Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Nightmare In Manhattan
In this installment, Spring has sprung; it’s time for finals and Jazz Fest. Nicholas and Ian drink beer with bigoted prime suspect Guy Zeringue and another attack occurs. There’s an insulting letter from the killer addressed to Sergeant Doucet. There’s always a letter and it’s always insulting.
A reminder that you can read earlier chapters by clicking on this category/link thingamabob, Project Novel:TITM.
One song that’s name checked as the chapters progress is this progressive rock classic:
Our story resumes after the break.
Continue reading “Project Novel: Tongue In The Mail, Chapters 10 & 11”
Thomas Modly meets Eraserhead. Continue reading Only Trump Can Be Trump
Welcome To My Nightmare was Alice Cooper’s first solo album. It was a successful attempt to move Alice/Vincent Cooper/Furnier into the mainstream. In 1975, the mainstream included concept albums of which this was one. What’s not to love about a … Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Welcome To My Nightmare
#SomeGoodNews Garden staff cleared out the greenhouse & donated hundreds of indoor plants to the UW Hospital Department of Anesthesiology & Operating Room staff. The plants had been destined for a (now cancelled) plant sale & were suddenly in need of a new purpose @somegoodnews pic.twitter.com/EnSVxYn2N2 — Allen Centennial Garden (@AllenCentennial) April 6, 2020 People are just being so utterly phenomenal in the face of nonstop, unrelenting fuckery, I just can’t. A. Continue reading Not Everything Sucks
You’re gonna hold them to account, this time? Really? These thousands dead, you’ll fix in your mind forever? I’m glad to hear it. Glad on behalf of the friends who died of AIDS. Thrilled, really, that you’ll make space for them. Glad on behalf of the people chewed up and spit out by the war on drugs. Super helpful, their deaths. We won that war, right? Speaking of wars, incredibly grateful you’ll be remembering the bodies piled up in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since we’re talking about wars we’ve won. Glad on behalf of the drowned in Katrina. Do you even … Continue reading This Time
I’m not sure what Duke, Lester Hodges, and the gang would think of today’s selection but I like it. It’s downright tubular, dude. Don’t Touch Me There was written by Ron Nagle and Jane Dornacker and recorded by The Tubes … Continue reading Don’t Touch Me There
The present has been so relentlessly hellish that it’s been pleasant spending time in the 1990’s while processing Tongue In The Mail for publication. I had more hair and a smaller belly back then, but times are *always* tough. Something hellish is always going on somewhere in the world. The difference in 2020 is that the pandemic is everywhere. It gives new meaning to the term hell on wheels.
In this installment of my previously unpublished law school murder mystery, Carnival approaches and another body drops. Since our characters are incapable of silence, there’s much conversation about both.
The latest letter from the murderer mentions busy bodies but not this Elvis Costello song:
Our story resumes after the break. Continue reading “Project Novel: Tongue In The Mail, Chapters 8 & 9”
George Takei refutes the Surgeon General’s historical analogy. Continue reading Tweet Of The Day: Fog Of History Edition
OK, people – kinda been staying away from COVID-19 things, because:
(a) You’ve been bombarded from all sides with the horrors
(b) Shit ain’t really funny, yo.
OK – MOSTLY it’s not really funny.
But, unlike Diamond and Silk (Pete and Repeat) and their idle idol The Darnold, I can’t ignore the subject forever, so here goes – Trump has turned socialist!!
Anthony Fauci gets his own security detail following threats to his safety
NY Post ^ | April 1, 2020 | 9:26pm | Vincent Barone
Posted on 4/1/2020, 10:21:44 PM by conservative98
Sound reasonable to you, Freepers?
To: conservative98
Fauci reminds me of another backstabbing swamp weasel..Jeff sessions!!
4 posted on 4/1/2020, 10:25:22 PM by RoseofTexas
To: conservative98
Possible false flag by lefties to smear conservatives.
Actually, it is likely that is what this is.9 posted on 4/1/2020, 10:30:44 PM by TheConservativeParty (MAGA)
To: conservative98
So Dr Death Fauci gets security.
Who at DOJ authorized this.
An Obama holdover?31 posted on 4/2/2020, 6:06:12 AM by tennmountainman (eThe Liberals Are Baby Killers)
To: FlipWilson
Dr. Fascist is playing a dangerous game so this turn of events is not surprising.
32 posted on 4/2/2020, 6:07:44 AM by central_va (I won’t be reconstructed and I do not give a damn….)
To: conservative98
Just saw a commercial from the White House that featured Fauci and Blix. We must all suffer like the old people in quarantine was the message. Everyone has to be in quarantine. Why can we just quarantine old people? The rest of us can work and make sure old people are taken care of.
Trump has turned socialist.
Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s obsession with the Freeperati – dangerous Trump virus edition”
If that ain’t the truth: “I’ve never seen this system used before. It would be okay if it was working. It’s not working…it’s like their making this stuff up on the way to the podium”: @ltgrusselhonore on the federal govt response to get supplies to states #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/x7u3qoQ0v6 — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) April 3, 2020 We are not short on stories, in the world, about unlikely heroics from feckless princelings. This is kind of our THING, humans: an ordinary person pulls a sword from a stone and rules all of Camelot. A youngster from nowhere becomes a mighty warrior. The … Continue reading ‘It Would Be Okay if It Was Working’
I’m trying something different this month. I’m pairing the artwork of Edward Hopper with the music of Richard Thompson. Each Saturday in April will feature a different EH image and RT tune. I think they work well together.
My oak pollen allergy has been bonkers this year. We’ve hit a prolonged dry patch: no rain since some time in February. We tend towards extremes in New Orleans. It either rains too much or not at all. The happy medium is unknown in our forecasting annals.
The worst thing about this allergy season during the pandemic is that it’s hard for me to go outside at all. The last time I took a walk, I had a pollen related sneezing jag, which led some fellow strollers to glare at me as if I were Typhoid Mary. So it goes.
This week’s theme song was written by Richard Thompson for the Pour Down Like Silver album. I have a soft spot for that album: it was the first RT album I ever purchased but not until 10 years after its release. I was a late RT bloomer.
We have three versions of For Shame Of Doing Wrong for your listening pleasure: the Richard and Linda studio original, a poppy version produced by Gerry Rafferty, and a cover by RT’s former Fairport band mate, Sandy Denny.
Is it shameful that I like the poppy version from Rafferty’s Folly? Hell, I like the song below too. It was inescapable in 1978:
As I hang my head for shame of doing wrong, let’s jump to the break in a shameless manner.
Continue reading “Saturday Odds & Sods: For Shame Of Doing Wrong”
It’s time for a new regular feature here at First Draft: Songs For The Pandemic. I’m not trying to make light of the situation but music can provide a much-needed light at the end of the tunnel. The featured image … Continue reading Songs For The Pandemic: Solitude
A friend who is reading this serialization asked me why all the characters are so talkative. That’s one of the most realistic parts of Tongue In The Mail. Law students never STFU. Some of them learn to bite their tongues but most continue to be as garrulous as hell.
In this installment, another body drops and a new suspect emerges. And the characters talk, gossip, and speculate but that’s a given.
A non-Crowded House song gets a shout-out this time around:
The plot thickens like a sticky pudding after the break.
Continue reading “Project Novel: Tongue In The Mail, Chapters 6 & 7”
In a time of tension and fear, Paul Drake can be counted on to relax: I’ve been known to sing to my cats. They’re particularly fond of Yes. I think they like Chris and Jon’s high harmonies. I tweeted about … Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Relaxed
I had a quiet meltdown last night. I felt alternately despairing and furious over all the death in the news. Music lovers had a grim day with the passing of Adam Schlesinger and Ellis Marsalis. Mr. Marsalis was an institution … Continue reading Together Alone
I’ve been keeping it light this week because we’re all in need of comic relief. This feature is uniquely suited to black humor, which is useful in times like these. If we can laugh at our deepest fears, we have … Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Dig That Crazy Grave
Life Imitates An Infomercial. Continue reading My Pillow Talk
The serialization continues. It makes me feel like a bargain basement Dickens.
In this installment we attend Sophia’s funeral and Edwin Edwards’ 1991 victory party. At the end of Chapter 4, a different Crowded House song is quoted:
I wrote the novel at the peak of my Crowdie fan boy period. I was an enthusiastic member of the Crowded House mailing list. It was called Tongue In The Mail. Everything is connected.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the link to Chapter 1, followed by the First Draft category thing, which will categorically take you where you want to go: Project Novel: TITM.
Our story resumes after the break.
Continue reading “Project Novel: Tongue In The Mail, Chapters 4 & 5”
Dr. A and I are watching the current season of Ozark on Netflix. There’s an REO Speedwagon sub-plot of all things. Wendy Byrd (Laura Linney) is told that her casino can secure a dental meeting if they hire “The Wagon” … Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Nine Lives