EVENT # 264: CATHEDRAL OF WORDS

The Trouble with Men

"Papou, what are you thinking about today?" his grandson, now grown, a father himself, asked of the bent old man sitting in the faded pink wooden chair in the deep shade under the old, gnarled fig tree.

"Yia-yia. I'm thinking of my wife, your grandmother, God rest her soul," he smiled toothlessly, nodding his head and looking up, with sightless eyes, to the cloudless summer-blue sky.

"And what thoughts of her do you have of Yia-yia, Papou?", the grandson, who was named after this old man, asked, sitting on the low, white plaster wall around the garden, feeling the stone coolness under his hands... More


HOLLYWOOD & VINES:

Too Many Writers

I got into trouble the other day in a radio interview. There are several reasons I got into trouble. Reason one, it was 10 a.m. A freakish hour for me to attempt coherent speech. (Night is when phones do not ring, that is when I write.) Reason two, the alarm went off late so I had rough choices before the interview hour struck: dogs, cigarettes, or Diet Coke? (Caffeine free is not the best way for me to operate at midnight. It is lethal at 10 a.m. And nicotine free is worse.) Reason three, the interviewer opened with a bad question. "Why are movies so bad?" That was his first question. Right out of the gate. And like the sleep-deprived caffeine-deprived cigarette-deprived moron I was, I stumbled right into it. Which means I tried to answer the question... More


POWERSSOUND:

lowsunday: cool rockers

Pittsburgh's City Paper labels lowsunday as a "shimmer pop"  band. They should know, because this new group calls the Steel City its home. The band receives its big break with Projekt Records' recent release of the group's 1999 self-release, "Elesgiem."

Singer/guitarist Shane Sahene calls lowsunday "a dream unification of four artists with nearly limitless creative boundaries and respect for each other.".. More



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The Etireno

During the weekend of the Easter Festival the not-so-good ship Etireno -- which means, ironically, "end of story" -- plied its way across the Gulf of Guinea. We may never arrive at a complete narrative of the dreadful, if not abnormal events. It is clear, however, that children from the age of four are being trafficked from rural villages in Benin, Mali and Burkina Fasso to the villas and cocoa plantations of Gabon and the Ivory Coast. This ship was supposed to be carrying some 250 such child slaves but when the passengers disembarked there were only a 10th that number and they were all, apparently, accompanied by adults. .. More

COMING MONDAY

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RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT: : A danged big part of life here in the trailer park is watching TV. Ever'body does it and then ever'body talks about it. Besides Sports, which is broadcast on TV, if you don't know what's goin' on in the world of TV, you got nuthin' to talk about in Amurrica. Ya'll know that as well as I do, but I thought I'd come out and say it anyways. We are a TV nation.

Well, with all this talk about poverty and its impact that's been goin' on at the G21 lately, I was set to thinkin' about how TV must be very different for po' folks than it is for the rest of us. Let me give ya'll what I came up with so far:

• NUMERO UNO: Po' folks more'n likely don't have cable. That means they prob'bly feel pretty left out when we's talkin' about "The Sopranos" or Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" or kids imitating some of the danged weird stunts that get pulled on "Jackass" on MTV. They never seen these shows, so's even though they smile kindah sheepishly when we talks about them, po' folks don't have a clue what we really mean.
  
  
• NUMERO DUO: If you step back from what's on "regular" network TV that poor folks can get the local affiliates of wit'out having cable. It's like one long commercial, 24 and 7. Even the shows are commercials for kinds of clothes and a certain kind of way of livin'. Now get this, ya'll: a lot of it is a way of showing po' folks --- danged near non-stop --- all the stuff they cain't have. Think about it....

"Krystal in the Backyard with a Poker" THOMAS HART More

RDR 05.01.01: RAHEEM is back with a lamentation. "Dumb America"

RDR 04.23.01: ROD AMIS takes a walk with the Prejudice Institute's Howard Ehrlich and speaks on "Lessons from the Anarchists"

RDR 04.18.01: KEVIN CAREY says US Attorney General Ashcroft is setting a bad precedent. "Death TV"


MY GLASS HOUSE: : 3 May, 2001 - As you must have noted from our cover this week, I'm extremely proud to feature the excellent work of MAX ADAMS in our HOLLYWOOD & VINES column this and that of ELIZABETH ENGLISH in G21 EUROPE. If you only have time to feast on two morsels from our plate this edition, I recommend that you consider those two. They made my week..."Cathedral of Words" ROD AMISMore


VOX POPULI:

From Paul K., (No City Provided,) USA:

SUBJECT: Dogs Across America

Rod, I've always enjoyed reading Ron Diener's very real take on life in America, but had to write this time because "Dogs" was exceptionally good. Thanks for allowing him the extended space to tell this story.

Is there a book in the works from this?

Keep up the great work!

Paul K....More


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