E. Michael Harrington

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THIS MORNING AT 5:30 AM, JOE GOUCHE, an Iranian-born taxi driver in New Orleans, my new friend with maybe the best hybrid Iranian-Cajun accent I ever heard, picked me up at the Inn On Bourbon and began my drive to MSY, the Louis Armstrong International Airport.

I was in New Orleans from 11:00 AM Friday until 7:30 AM Tuesday. That says it all - life is great, and these past days were among the best. I was in New Orleans to be interviewed by Artists House Music and to speak to Loyola University Law students, faculty and the community. The interview went very well and my talk last night was well received. I had old friends and new friends show up at my presentation.

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But back to Joe. He has been in the U. S. for 37 years, has a 27 year old son and a 17 year old son. His unique accent was fun enough but his soul was really lovely. We immediately started to talk as if we knew each other, or only had twenty minutes left on Earth to communicate. Joe & I talked about the Voodoo Music Fest from this weekend (Rage Against the Machine, not a Clear Channel favorite) played an "epic" set, as my friend CH described it.

We talked about the wild crowds, the good and bad behavior of that crowd (I'm delighted the bedroom was a balcony room on the swimming pool and courtyard and not Bourbon Street - the view from the hotel - AKA Gomorrah)

ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT JOE WAS that even though he had lost his house in Hurricane Katrina, he said that all he lost were "material things - no big deal." This was said with the typical Iranian Cajun accent at 5:40 AM. Joe felt that the wild fires that happened this month in Southern California were much worse than Katrina. Joe felt that so many beautiful houses were destroyed, and so much history was destroyed and that this was worse than what happened to him and other Orleanians with Katrina. He was extremely concerned for other people and those in California.

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As one who has visited NOLA and Southern California many times, I was amazed and quite impacted - may I never use that verb again! - by Joe's sincerity, love and compassion for those who, at this moment, has less than those from NOLA. Joe was a combination of amazing compassion, kindness, insight, wisdom, edginess, and good driving skills.

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Joe also was concerned about me as he saw me walking slowly and limping as I brought my luggage and body to the cab. I twisted my ankle Sunday walking on Sgt. Charles, with its beautiful gigantic trees-that-don't-tell but push the sidewalks up and down ragged walkways. I twisted my left ankle which caused me to fall hard and land on my right knee, bled well and stayed on the sidewalk not capable of getting up form the sidewalk. For a few minutes all I could do was feel pain and stay on the ground. Damn it - there are better things to do than lie around in pain on a sidewalk on a beautiful day in the Garden District of New Orleans feeling stupid. Eventually I got up, got a cab and went back to the French Quarter (how can stay one away from such immorality especially when in pain?). And then, that led to BASEBALL and THE BOSTON RED SOX (out of complete and total respect for superstition, I've been staying away from writing/e-diarizing about my passionate feelings for my Boston Red Sox - this past week should become a book of mine).

I am leaving out some wonderful details but the innocent, beautiful and female must be protected, don't you think?

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NOW I am in Nashville. A lot of things are going on - way too many - and I need to upload this to In-Ter-Tube 46 and be done with it.

A few closing thoughts......

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I hope the pregnant woman across from me on the Southwest flight this morning can smile more and become happier.

I am sad that A-Rod has opted out of the New York Yankees baseball team (I've never been so mild and gentle - like special dishwashing liquid - in describing the New York Yankees). If A-Rod leaves a team, the team improves and I surely do not want to see the NY Yankees improve.

I am exercising a good degree of good sportsmanship by not "GOING OFF ON" just how great the Red Sox and their 2007 World Series victory/sweep is! Although I am wearing one of my two BOSTON RED SOX MARDI GRAS BEADS things around my neck. I won't take them off anytime soon. I am wearing this sacred necklace, like a woman, and being proud of the Red Sox.

In NOLA, we ate at Crescent City, Cuvee (the best of them), Antoine's, Napleon House, Cafe du Monde, St. James Cheese House, Mr. B's, and more.

Mitt Romney is still being whatever is convenient. I gather so much joy from Mitt Romney being slippery, Rudy Guiliani being the mean little squirrely man he is, and politicians adopting whatever seems timely.

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Wonderful times.... but time to go back to all of those damn distracting things......

Love,

A Guy Who Won't Vote For Dick Eagle Eye Cheney If He Ever Runs For Something

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Posted by EMH at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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THIS HAS BEEN A PERFECT YEAR (OK, nearly perfect) because:

1. The New York Yankees did not even come close to being in the World Series. For the third (3rd) straight year, they failed to make it out of the first round.

2. The RED SOX WILL BE IN THE WORLD SERIES and we did it in the strangest storied kind of way - being down 3 games to 1 and then coming back to beat a great Cleveland Indians team in 3 straight games by enormous margins.

3. The New England Patriots are 7-0 and Tom Brady threw 6 touchdown passes today. The Patriots are....... fill in the blank.

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I did my best superstitious stuff - I wore the right Red Sox clothing at the right times. I saw the first game in Brooklyn and the last games here at my house. No bars - even Red Sox bars - for me as I need to be surrounded by my stuff and my closest friends. It's part of the superstition. Whenever I've seen the Red Sox in a public place in Nashville, they have lost and it is that fact that made them lose. Superstition is super real.

The Yankees lost. The Yankees lost. The Yankees lost. Oh, but that was awhile ago.

The Red Sox won and will be in the World Series. Back to my superstitions. They work. My logic usually prevails but this is baseball and the all-important World Series coming down. I'll wear the right Red Sox clothing everyday. I'll be in New Orleans for some of the games but mostly here in Tennessee.

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We don't need to attack Iran right now, and the Yankees need not let A-Rod and some of their other players leave their team and steal our headlines until this series is over. I don't want to have a World Series obfuscated by the antics of the Evil Empire. I'll always dislike Justin Timberlake (or was it Howard Dean?) for tearing off Janet Jackson's clothing and exposing her breast during the New England Patriots Super Bowl victory. The only thing worse was the self righteousness of the FCC and those who hate seeing women's breasts during family values-styled violent television, i.e., professional football.

In addition to wanting George Bush to not start a war against Iran - because it is damn immoral to attack a country that hasn't attacked you - it will also detract and distract from the World Series. I also hope that K-Fed's most recent ex-wife and Lindsay Lohan and Paris and the other distracting arrest-able young women can stay out of trouble. I also hope that O. J. Simpson's legal defense can also lay low for awhile as this World Series should be a great one.

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TO SUMMARIZE:

Game 1 Red Sox win 10-3
Game 2 Cleveland wins 13-6
Game 3 Cleveland wins 4-2
Game 4 Cleveland wins 7-3
Game 5 Red Sox win 7-1
Game 6 Red Sox win 12-2
Game 7 Red Sox win 11-2

The Yankees lost. The Yankees lost. The Yankees lost. The Evil Empire, with all of their money, LOST!

GOD IS GREAT.

Annuit Coeptis............

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Posted by EMH at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I FLY TO NEW YORK THIS MORNING (Thursday) and will speak at Cardozo Law School on Friday.

I've decided that publishing is really pimping a copyright and that publishers are exploiters and pimps. "Pimp" used to have negative connotations but just like "rock" and "rock and roll," those most obscene expressions of raucous sexual activity with someone who is not your spouse, changed in meaning, so too has pimp and pimping. Pimping can be manhandling, womanhandling, grrrlhandling, personhandling a copyright - doing it hard and doing it emphatically. Pimping a copyright is, then, to me, the lovely and heartfelt expression of what a publisher does with a copyright. Pimp pimp pimp. I rarely use that word but am now convinced that pimp is where it's at. Every good creative work of authorship deserves the most heartfelt and sincere pimping imaginable. Good pimping will result in good bling. Bling bling bling and pimp pimp pimp. My name will now surface in some searches for pimps and bling.

There are pimps but I don't think I'll ever find much use for the word, "ho" unless it's Santa who is pimping the copyright and ho is part of a longer Santa/Satan expression.

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I'm scheduled for seat 30 E (thankfully, seat 11 A on Monday). Damn it - I want to be the bread and not the meat in a row of three. I want a window. Give me an F or an A. A is better on flights from Nashville to NYC as Manhattan is to the left. I've got to try to change this or pray for skinny women on both sides of me at 7 AM.

Good night, Tube 7. 42 hours until Josh Beckett's first pitch.

EMH

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The New York Yankees
will enjoy quiet fam'ly
time this Fall season

No baseball no sports
no awards no compliments
no praise will they hear

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Posted by EMH at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I've been gone a long time from this space - TUBE 32 of Internet 7. My friends have called and emailed to ask what is wrong and where I am. I travel a lot and do too much. As an explanation and to rant freely in TUBE 32, here goes some of the fragments I have written for this Tubular Space and tiny segment of the Internet.

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AFTER THE FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION Policy Summit came this

I got back from Washington, DC happy and happy, spoke at a university in Nashville, got home, slept for a few hours, drove to Nashville at 830 AM, and then ran into a problem. I thought for a moment that I was dreaming, or perhaps that I was stuck in front of a bad television show, specifically, "Bad Boys Bad Boys whatch gonna do." Here's what happened.

Northbound traffic on I 65
Police cars driving north and south on I65 northbound at 840 AM
Finally, all traffic is stopped
Police cars 30 feet from me
Police officers get out with drawn guns

They walk BREAKING NEWS style towards a red pickup truck 30 feet from me. I should have been hearing vocal minor thirds - "Bad Boys Bad Boys watch gonna do," but I did not hear that song.

A guy in the truck had a gun on his wife or so I heard

Eventually they let a few of us drive north

Then, there were no guns near me and I was headed towards the Athens of the South, what some people call the college town known as Nashville. But this was a wild thing to experience with only Trader Joe's French Roast coffee in my stomach.

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THEN came this in Framingham

I SPENT QUALITY TIME WITH GENO TODAY. Geno cut my hair. Geno graduated from Framingham South High School three years before I did. That makes him old and it makes me a child. Geno did call me a baby today. Three years younger equals baby.

I worked at my first Social Security job at a place called The New York Store. Damn it everyone aspires to be New York, don't they? It was a womans dress store and I was a stock boy there. Geno's sister worked there. Geno also remembered me from having met twenty years ago when he cut my hair at another place. I had told him about my work in the music industry and his memory of our conversation, twenty years later, was vivid. How amazing, and here we were meeting up again twenty years later.

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AND THEN There was Rockport

I AM IN ROCKPORT in a beautiful house mansion bed and breakfast called The Seaward Inn. The four large windows are open, the wind is strong, and everything is perfect.

Other things that have happened to me, things that are odd include getting to help an unfortunate older heavier woman who was monstrously burdened with scuba gear, including weight belt, mask, tubes, stuff and more stuff. She fell as she was walking out to get into the ocean. Her friend was ahead of her in the water but unable to help her due to his excessive equipment. Having dived in the Key Largo area many years ago, I know something about diving. It is much easier to fall into the ocean from a boat than to waddle in from the beach.

The unfortunate woman had fallen onto the beach and could not get up and was struggling to keep her head and open mouth above the waves. I hustled it down to her, got in the water, and held her so that she would not keep swallowing water. Finally her friend was able to help me pull her out of the ocean. She was in a confused and scared state but otherwise OK. I was thanked for helping her and felt good that I could do something as easy as help her out.

The rest of the time in Rockport was perfect as is any Rockport vacation.

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TONIGHT THERE IS the Republican debate on the Economy

MITT ROMNEY IS TRULY THE MOST DISHONEST, and constantly dishonest politician ever. For any Republican reading this, please note that he was governor of MASSACHUSETTS, a REPUBLICAN and governor of Massachusetts. He out liberalled Ted Kennedy. But now his opportunity can only come from being more conservative - really reactionary and not truly conservative - so now he will be the most reactionary reactionary there is. Other reactionaries, stand back. Here comes Slick Mitt.

"My state" Romney said, "my state," but WOULD NOT SAY the really bad and somewhat obscene M Word

MASSACHUSETTS

Massachusetts

But he did call it HIS STATE. He did say MICHIGAN a lot and said that

"FOR ME, MICHIGAN IS PERSONAL."

AND now he has mentioned that most frightening fear of all God fearing Americans----------

HILLARY CLINTON and HILLARY CARE.

HILLARY, HILLARY CARE, volcanoes, earthquakes, terrorist bombings... YES, HILLARY IS THE WORST OF THESE PLAGUES.

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As always, I want Rudy Guiliani, the pro baby killing serial husband America's mayor New York Yankees fan, to be the Republican nominee. This certainly is the Democrats best hope to get back in the White House as this country does not like women or black men or women enough to vote for one. I write that sentence with a hell of a lot of sadness as this country is not the kind color blind place it should be. It is a sad fact that women, people of color and children are either disliked, hated, not valued or ignored by dozens of millions of people in the United States.

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FRED THOMPSON HAS INGESTED the equivalent of 4,000 cups of coffee tonight as he is talking fast for him. That means slower than the normal 80 year old speaks.

But he is good and inventive. He twice said that the Middle East has become

NUCLEAR-IZED.

They are, like us, NUCLEAR-IZED.
Fred Thompson is CAFFEIN-IZED
I am HAIKU-IZED
Britney Spears is MATERNAL-IZED and
Lindsay Lohan PROBATION-IZED.

GO Fred. Make Tennessee proud. Fred is one SWELL Republican Hollywood connection.

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And now the Republicans are falling over themselves to praise unions because of a question from Chris Mathews.

To quote Loretta Castorini's grandfather in MOONSTRUCK......

"I'M SO CONFUSED!"

I think these Republicans, after praising UNIONS, are next going to praise Fidel Castro, Harriet Miers and having the United Arab Emirates protect our ports!

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The New York Yankees comfort me again

THANK YOU, New York Yankees. You have made me look insightful again in 2007. I predicted that all of your millions of dollars would not buy you success or happiness and that you would not have a good year. I am most appreciative. Please don't ever think that your lack luster efforts go unappreciated. Thank you very much. May Joe Torre find employment, may Alex Rodriguez make $30 million per year and his wife be able to wear t-shirts that do not say "F*^$ You," and may George Steinbrenner continue to buy old tired superstar athletes and ignore young talent.

Your devoted friend,

Edward Michael Harrington

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Posted by EMH at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)