Room Eight | The Gateway (Jimmy Witherspoon Anecdote Edition)

I know it's supposed to be night music, but it just seems like a Doc Pomus morning.

Playlist:

BB King: There Must Be a Better World Somewhere

ELVIS PRESLEY Sings Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus

Jimmy Witherspoon: Midnight Lady Called the Blues

I saw Spoon on New Year's Eve at Tramp's Cafe the New Year’s Eve 93 turned in 94 (Giuliani was being inaugurated the next day and I was being transferred from the Mayor’s Community Assistance Unit to the (I kid you not) whorehouse patrol.

I asked Spoon why, since he was in NYC, he hadn't done a great Pomus-Rebennack tune from the last album above called "New York City Blues.” Spoon looked at me and said, "Son, that song has a lot of words."

Sully's readers dissent from Sully's strong anti-prosecution rants in the matter of Swartz.

Funny, all this passion from a guy who just went announced he was going behind a paywall.

Excessive threats of punishment aside, I must opine that a society which refuses to protect the value of its intellectual property sends out a message about the value it puts on the intellect. http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2013/01/dissents-of-the-day-2.html

I really don't care what drugs cyclists take, as long as they respect stop signs and red lights. http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2013/01/lancing-lance.html

Vallone defends the footballer who made up a fake girlfriend.

I hear John Liu's going to go one further, and offer the guy a job as a fundraiser. http://politicker.com/2013/01/city-councilman-stands-up-for-manti-teo/

Gotta hand it to Liu, his staffers meet the first qualification for employment in the Comptroller’s Office; they real know where the money is. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/members-john-liu-staff-raised-lots-cash-behalf-eyebrows-article-1.1242250

This self styled "reformer" who somehow managed to endorse Nydia Velazquez's opponent, now proposes to create an Assembly vacancy which will, for all intents and purposes, be filled by the Democratic County Committee.

Of course, that's how he got elected in the first place. http://politicker.com/2013/01/micah-kellner-announces-candidacy-for-city-council/

David Storobin loses part of his footnote to history, as someone serves in the Senate an even shorter time than he.

Real winners: the Klein Klowns, who now have become indispensible to Dean Skelos. http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/176331/tkaczyk-wins-after-picking-up-tk-votes-in-ulster-count/

Jimmy McMillan’s will make the GOP Mayoral ballot provided no one cares enough to scrutinize his petitions, which, in the past, have consisted almost entirely of forgeries and blank pages. http://de.scribd.com/doc/121011609/Jimmy-Rent-is-Too-Damn-High-McMillan-for-mayor-of-NYC

If Mark Sanford can win after “Hiking the Appalachian Trail,” will Weiner think that “Cruising the Information Superhighway” can be forgiven as well? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/17/mark-sanford-on-run-for-congress-a-second-chance-at-politics.html

I hear John Stewart's sister is coming in to help her with the Jewish vote (which is at least a minyan and possibly a few more). http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/01/18/elizabeth_colbert_busch_stephen_colbert_s_sister_to_run_for_congr.html

I could put everyone surprised by this in a phone booth (if I could still find one) and still have room for the entire Black Caucus of the Brooklyn Young Republicans http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/01/17/1460601/republicans-claim-mental-health-gun-violence-solution/

Retreat (noun):

1) Where the House Republicans are going.

Retreat (verb):

1) What the House Republican just did on the debt ceiling. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/debt-ceiling-hostage-crisis-over.html

George Will's call for Hagel's confirmation comes with a list of tough questions he'd still like to see asked at the confirmation hearing.

While some are Hagel specific, most are pretty applicable to any nominee and seem to imply support for a thoughtful downward modification of our defense obligations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-some-questions-for-hagel/2013/01/16/d7c016b8-5f41-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html

"Out of Context" is always the first refuge of a bigot.

After Farrakhan complained that his comments about Judaism being a “gutter religion” taken “out of context,” I tried to come up with a “context” where such words might be OK:

“Well, in my childhood memories, the gutter was a fun place; it was where we played ‘curve ball’ and ‘Johnny on a Pony’—those in Philly call it ‘buck buck’, it had great resonance upon my formative years, much as Judaism has had such resonance upon Islam, in other words, getting to it’s very gut…hence the term ‘gutter’ religion.”

But, unless you are an Orangutan or Schnauzer, it is hard to put a good face on Morsi’s calling Jews (why is it always the Jews taking the words of real and quasi Muslims “out of context” anyway?) the descendant of apes or dogs.

I'm not saying there aren't good prudential reasons to deal with Morsi. There were good prudential reasons to deal with Stalin too (not to mention Mubarak). I'm just sayin’ we shouldn't delude ourselves about what we are dealing with.

Paul Newell: Strictly speaking, we are descendants of apes. But yeah, the "out of context" thing is tough to buy here. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/world/middleeast/egypts-morsi-says-slurs-of-jews-were-taken-out-of-context.html?_r=1&

Fox finds the exact person it wants to portray as the face of liberalism.

Charlie Hall: Even Jerry Springer might be a better choice. http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/01/dennis-kucinich-debuts-as-a-fox-news-contributor-154519.html

At least momentarily, The Daily Gotham is back. This time I hope for a little longer than last. The voluntary NYC political blogging scene has been getting pretty lonely lately, and I can use some company. http://www.dailygotham.com/mole333/blog/progressivechangecampaigncommitteeendorsesyettakurlandforcitycouncil

Please stop asking me why I'm not on NY-1. I don't know (perhaps it was something I said). http://www.ny1.com/content/politics/road_to_city_hall/175612/ny1-online–panel-discusses-top-issues-in-brooklyn

Strange discovery: There is a Gatemouth's Blog YouTube Page. http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCMxyLNsuajmM

Somebody complained to me yesterday about a continuity gap in the climatic portion of my holiday story, and sure nuff, there was some text missing, so I fixed it (and added a little more dialogue for DP, who is far funnier than I am) http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/der_katz_who_came_for_chanukah.html_0