Please change your blogrolls, bookmarks and feeds.

http://virgotex.net

http://virgotex.net

The new blog is up, albeit a bit sparse yet. But come on over, and please update your blogrolls.

I decided against wholesale integration of the old with the new, though I will be moving over the Barbara Jordan material, and possibly other posts as well.

Cheap n’ easy

As satisfying as a trip to Wal-Mart, but with less substance.

We can do better.

Sattiday juke: it wouldn’t be so bad if I was not so wide awake

You know I honestly do not know how many live concerts I’ve seen, between all my time in Austin and my NY years, but I never did see the Flatlanders live during their first legendary years. I did have the album — I don’t think I knew anyone that didn’t have that album.

But, anyway, I did finally see them-once- when they reunited a few years back. That was a great show, midwinter in Gruene Hall, a bitter cold night.  Well worth the wait.

I love these guys. Individually and and as a group. Poets all three. And they play them geetars pretty well too, I reckon.

Outside the cone of uncertainty – you CAN do something NOW.

Jeff Masters

If you’re in the cone of uncertainty, you’re at risk. Hurricane forecasts are uncertain, and this uncertainty is graphically represented by the cone of uncertainty around the central “best guess” forecast positions.

Our friends and neighbors in NOLA, and residents all over the entire Gulf Coast are in that cone right now, and I know from experience what that’s like. Trust me, it’s not comfortable, to say the very least.  Watching, waiting, wondering when and if you should act, wondering if you can afford the expense, trying to play it safe and not get caught in the last minute frenzy but also not wanting to spend money and resources you probably can’t afford if you don’t have to.

So, if you’re not in that place, if you have the luxury of having being able to think about something else, what can you do?

For one thing, if you have room in your house and you live close to the Gulf Coast, call your friends in the strike zone and let them know you’ve got room for them if they need it.

But no matter where you live, realize this much is certain:

Realize that someone, whether they are your friends or not, is going to get hit. Realize that Jamaica and the surrounding islands are being torn up by Gustav as you read this, realize especially that Cuba is almost sure to suffer a devastating storm surge, no matter what. Realize that after that, Gustav will sit and recover, then keep on coming and wreak more damage, closer to home.

Realize that right now is the time to make your online donations, buy groceries for the food bank shipment, look up who in your community is putting together the truckloads of clothing and food and water, and if no one is, then maybe you could start.

Just do it.  Because it’s certain that people, whether it’s your friends and neighbors or not, need that help as soon as it’s humanly possible to get it to them.

Red Cross

Humane Society

Noah’s Wish Animal Disaster Relief

Salvation Army Disaster Relief

Mennonite Disaster Relief

UCC Disaster Relief

Ded from teh squee. Rachel says hi to me on video!

Millennia ago, back before the Interwebz, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was a particular classified ad in the Austin Chronicle miscellaneous section, the heading of which was I Danced on Stage with Bono! The person who had run the ad, and who had danced on stage with His Eminence, was desperately seeking photographs of this singular event in her life from anyone that might have been there.  It ran for, possibly, years. I remember my cronies in the back of the Half-Price Books on Guadalupe (for the uninitiated, the store that served as the backdrop for the scene with the Kennedy assassination buff in Slacker ) reading the classifieds and joking about it.

She still hasn’t found what she’s lookin’ for, heh.

yup

Can’t she just go to another concert, like, with a camera this time?

yeah, for real.

I mean, man, I hope this chick has, like, other interests in life, ya know?

Dude. Word.

So, anyway, for most likely entirely unrelated reasons,  I thought of that when Athenae sent me this.

RIP, Del Martin

Del Martin, a pioneering lesbian rights activist who married her lifelong partner on the first day same-sex couples could legally wed in California, has died. She was 87.

Pulling teeth

Finally got a post up about Episode 6 of Generation Kill.  And only a half-hour after Episode 7 started!  Loved the book and love this show but will not miss writing about it.

Sunday morning coming down juke: And one for Mahler!

For Liprap.

Take 1:

Take 2 (and 3):

Don’t make me put my foot in your ass!

Welly, well well.

Kick. Ass!

Blogger, non-fiction essayist, comedy writer, feminist, soon-to-be-published author, and jewgirl Katie Schwartz has called me a lot of things but this one is a nice thing!  She gave me a big wet Kick Ass Blogger smack on the lips!

¡Muchas gracias, pequeña reina, muchas gracias!

Guess that means rumors of this blog’s death have been exaggerated. By me. Dammit, that also means I can’t quit yet!  How fiendishly clever of you, Schwartz…

So, apparently I gotta now bestow the honor on more peeps.  Not to worry, I got that covered. Seriously, I picked these folks for one reason.  They all make a difference in the blogosphere. I’ve seen it.

1.  Liprap’s Lament: Fighter of good fights. Organizer of this year’s Rising Tide conference. Parent. Member of the New Orleans blogpucheh. Muppet pimp. Lover of show tunes (everybody riiiiiiiiiiise).  And, wicked funny.

2.  ThePoliticalCat:  Turning out post after well-researched post pretty much every freakin’ day. Even when I was getting paid for writing, I couldn’t write this much, this good, every day, but PoliticalCat plays real good for free.

3.  PlushLife:  Do not let the cat pictures fool you, people. A blogger I’m happy to have met in real life, 4LG is a stealth operator and will, literally, kick your ass. Oh, you don’t think so?

4.  The Other Mother:  Not only is she a poet and director of the Writers in School Project in Houston, she’s a lesbian mom-in Houston. Also deadly evil genius player of Facebook word games. Plus, her great grandparents gave Louis Armstrong money for his first cornet!

5.  Spocko:  There are few people on the planet I admire more.  Mr. Spocko is the man that made Mickey Mouse himself cease and desist. He also keeps trying to show us all how we all can be heroes. Without cursing!  I have repeatedly volunteered for a janitorship if the much-anticipated Spocko Think Tank ever becomes a reality.

STRINGS ATTACHED, aka The Rules:

* Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
* Let ’em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they’ve received an award
* Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to http://www.mammadawg.com
* Hop on back to the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!