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February 20, 2006

Behind the 'Cheney's Got a Gun' 'toon parody; R.I. blogs eye poetry, saving Cranston's Horton school; principled dumpster-diving

12:14 p.m.
"When the Vice President shoots a man, it's news." -- Helen Thomas

Dick Cheney's in cultural trouble. 'Cheney's Got a Gun' is a really good song. The 'toon is funny-scary. (The quail keeps it safe for work.) T-shirts and mugs are for sale at two online stores.

Here are links to stream the video or audio (mp3) and to download the files in a variety of sizes and formats.

This buffoonery is what the Vice President may be remembered for, at least by those with lighter tastes.

The source is The Bob Rivers Show at classic rock station KZOK in Seattle, which leads the morning-drive slot; the singer, Rivers' sidekick Spike O'Neill, at right, actually fronts a band, Spike and the Impalers, which does cover tunes. The song is a parody of Aerosmith's Janie's Got A Gun (realaudio clip) .

As it turns out, Aerosmith played Tacoma Wednesday night. The Seattle P-I had freelancer Shawn Telford cover it, and he reports,

Between songs, (Steven) Tyler asked "Does anyone read the papers?" He then snatched a sign from the audience and held it up for all to see. It read: "Cheney got a gun." Tyler then dedicated "Janie's Got a Gun" to the vice president.

The song is so well-known that there's a CD called Janie's Got a Gun: A Tribute to Aerosmith, full of bands that cover the song.

The Flash cartoon comes from Seattle's Tooned In animators. (They're hiring, but I can't link directly to that section.)

CBS has a story and the song's lyrics.

Fringe link: Editor & Publisher finds Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding involved in this spiraling event that's overtaken the less musically adept JibJab parodies.

The cosmic joke: The last Veep to be a laughingstock was... Dan Quayle.

9:55 a.m.
New R.I. blogs: Poetry, save a school. I'm going to be updating the Greater R.I. Blogs list, and here are some bloggers who've written to ask to be added to it:

Curt Stump of Smithfield writes,

I moved to RI because of the chance to write and work in the arts. I’m now living out that dream at the Stone and Plank in Smithfield.

Writers and part-time artists Stump and Caroline Brown live in the 1813 house -- pictured in summer at right -- and host a gallery, poetry center there, a gallery, and now the site includes a poetry blog.

As lofts go, this one looks very special.

Later, in response to a question, Curt adds,

I moved here from California, where I enjoyed living very much but couldn’t afford to buy a house (San Francisco Bay Area) without working a high-tech job for the rest of my life. Moving to Rhode Island afforded me the chance to buy a house (The Stone and Plank) and devote more free time to writing and the arts. The choice to move here was not that hard because there are actually so few places in the United States that are affordable, liberal, and creative at the same time. We moved here at the end of 2002. My wife and I found Providence to not only be “arts friendly” but a town that really loves the arts and wants to foster that. That was a huge part of our decision to move here. We ended up in Smithfield simply because of the artistic appeal of the stone house. After we bought the place, it wasn’t long until I had the idea to turn it into a part-time gallery and poetry center. My wife agreed and we were on our way. So far, we’ve had some great artists and poets show their work here and we hope to continue that.

'Save our school': Save Horton is an ad hoc, one-issue Cranston blog:

We the parents and students of Horton Elementary School need your help today!

The Cranston School Department has proposed
closing our award-winning school.

They believe that by closing our school,
they can save money.

They think that it might save less than 1% of the
budget - but we can't be sure because a detailed
cost analysis has not been made available to the
public.

We parents know that our students' continued
academic success is worth millions more, and
Horton has proven itself to be a High
Performing school worthy of saving.

Help us fight to keep Horton open!

Contact Meg Lucas of the Horton PTO
(275-0686) for more information. Thank you!

Its links list leads with A Horton Closure "Fact Sheet" (pdf) and ends with links to two other Cranston blogs -- kmareka.com and Cranston, RI Politics -- and, for good measure, two high-profile Rhode Island political blogs, R.I.'s Future from the left and Anchor Rising on the right.

kmareka explains it name: "Sounds like America but less repressive — a place where social workers and citizens speak out."

Principled dumpster-diving: Freegans: The bin scavengers finds an Independent (U.K.) reporter meeting up with Freegans -- the moniker a combination of "free" and "vegans" -- and trying out the scavenging lifestyle.

Dining on food from a dustbin may have once been the preserve of tramps, but for many it is now becoming a lifestyle choice. Freeganism - a combination of the words "free" and "vegan"- is a movement whose devotees take responsibility for the impact of their consumer choices and find alternative ways of meeting their everyday needs. This includes housing, clothing and, most surprisingly, food. Around 17 million tons of food are buried in British landfill sites every year, four million of which are edible. Sometimes, disposal is the cheapest option available to the food industry....

...Eventually, we find the Co-op rubbish and... bingo! There's a plastic bag full of vegetables, but it's right at the bottom. So, while Dave holds the lid open, I climb up, balance on the side and reach in. A couple of passers-by throw us pitying looks. I feel mortified. But the sealed bag is full of leeks, potatoes, apples and carrots, and there is nothing wrong with them. As we triumphantly bag our free-food booty, we discuss potential menus and decide on soup. Now, we just need to find some bread....

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 12:14 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: tao on January 17, 2008 9:20 PM