Jump In The Econoline

Atlanta's Stomp and Stammer is streaming the entire new Neil Young album, "Living With War." The record's not out for another two weeks.

Listen here. Keep on rockin' in the free blogosphere, folks.

tag: Neil Young

Governor's Race Goes To Code "Criminal"

This is wild stuff, folks! The Georgia '06 political landscape is just crazy -- already. Indeed, a new columnist with the Georgia Political Digest (disclosure -- I'm a columnist there too) is calling the whole GA gubernatorial race "criminal."

This is gettin' juicy I tell 'ya. First there was the Wikipedia Resignation on Wednesday. Now the "extortion" word is being slung about. Get the whole enchilada here.

tags: Georgia politics, Georgia governor, Cathy Cox, Mark Taylor, Governor, Wikipedia

River Revival Party -- May 3

Order tickets online now, before the price goes up on Sunday! (From $35 to $45) The River Revival party on May 3 at 6:30pm promises to be a hoot! Dames A'Flame will be there, and bluegrass pickin' and dancin' and an auction and tons of amazing food and booze courtesy of Park Tavern on gorgeous, happenin' Piedmont Park. All for a terrific cause too. Come on out for what promises to be a gorgeous spring night on the town, and you don't even need to dress-up as it's an all-denim soiree.

Sure hope to see you there! Click here to order tickets online.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid

Then get a grip and do something when you have the opportunity -- chiefly VOTE Religious Right toadies out of office and out of our personal lives, because the fallout from conservative "values" filtering into our once-credible information pipelines is getting to a critical, dangerous level.

From a Glamour article:

"Young women now read false data on government websites, learn bogus information in federally funded sex-education programs and struggle to get safe, legal contraceptives—all of which, critics argue, may put them at greater risk for unplanned pregnancies and STDs."

Full story here. (Tip of the hat to Being Amber Rhea for that one.) And one must assume that when not busy shoving false information and religious rheotoric into our faces, the Fundys are hard at work helping curb the scourge of child prostitution infecting Atlanta. Yeah. Sure. Right. And I'm Teri Hatcher.

Ooops. Now that I think about it, my love life is almost as pathetic as hers. So... lemme back up... Sure. Yeah. Right. And I'm Evita Peron.

tags: women's health, religious right, Politics, Teri Hatcher, child prostitution, Atlanta

Get Serious - About Net Neutrality

You heart the Internet. I heart the Internet. We all heart the Internet. It's kinda now, kinda wow -- and it's all about us all the time. Well, there are many dark forces at work in the land who wish to curtail all the fun, games and wonderful openness we currently enjoy as free Americans on the Internets right now.

There are pages upon pages of deadly boring URLs I could link you to, but I like you way too much to do that. To find out more about why the "Net Neutrality" issue is so critical to the way we all enjoy going about our business these days, click to a cool short video here. And take nothing for granted. Nothing.

And if you know where I can get a nice lady's tee shirt with the above borrowed symbol on it, please lemme know.

tags: net neutrality, ISP, Internet, Internet access, give internet access a chance, all we are saying

Pauline Ashley-Wilkes

Coming soon to a URL near you!

Watch this space for more info.

OK... more info. As usual, The Economist misses the big picture. And where is The Big Picture these days? Down South, hon! Where else? Pauline Ashley-Wilkes and co. will be bringing it all back home. Soon, real soon.

You're Gonna Make It After All

Oh wow! This is so cool. I'm about to burst with pride; one of my oldest, dearest friends, the incomparable Queen Catherine S. The First, formerly of the ATL, is now head of marketing for Linden Lab/Second Life.

WTF is Second Life you ask? Whatever it is, and there are many answers to that timely question, it is featured on this week's cover of Business Week.

And regardless that Cath is there in San Fran and I'm here in the ATL, I've gotta break out the bubbly in her honor tonight. You go on with your bad self, hon!

tag: Second Life

So Long Fly Boy

Aviation and Right Stuff legend Scott Crossfield died here in N. Georgia doing what he did best - flying planes. What a way to live a life.

tag: Scott Crossfield

Don't "Believe" In Abortion? Don't Have One.

... then shut the fuck up.

Show the women of South Dakota and the world that you DO give a damn about them and their right to safe and legal abortion. Add to this photo petition here.

You'll Never Blog Alone

Feeling a little down? A quickie over to Wonkette will always set 'ya right. See what I mean.

tag: Wonkette

Something's Not Right

There's real sicko Fundy stuff going on out there. Read about the latest trend here. Or here. Creepy, weird and just plain icky.

tags: purity balls, religion

Great Party! Great Cause! May 3

10th Annual River Revival
Wednesday - May 3, 2006

Park Tavern at Piedmont Park

6:30pm

Dress up in your funkiest jeans and party to help keep our drinking water safe. Admission ($35. It is a fundraiser, folks) includes complimentary beer, wine, great food and a years membership to Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

Entertainment from Kingsized, Apostles of Bluegrass, and The Dames Aflame. Plus auction, prize drawings and great folks.

Order tickets here. I'm on the host committee, so be sure to put my name (Grayson not Spacey Gracey) in the appropriate space. Thanks.

Come ready to have a whole lot of fun. And remember, the Chattahoochee is our only water source for 3.6 mm folks here in the ATL. See you there!

tags: Chattahoochee River, conservation, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, environment

Atlanta Media Bloggers Tent Revival

We're all gettin' together for a covered-dish gatherin' in Fellowship Hall of First Atlanta Church of Net Neutrality this Wednesday April 19. Fry up a mess 'a catfish fer sure.

Don't mean to scare 'ya kiddies, but Atlanta Media Bloggers will be gathering, as we do every third Wednesday of the month, at The Loop Pizza Grill in Buckhead at 7pm. And this meeting's topic is Net Neutrality.

Some required reading is my recent op/ed piece about BellSouth for the Georgia Political Digest, of course. Other recent excellent items here and here.

Note the glaring absence of a very cool AMB logo for this posting. So any graphically-inclined blogger who would like to help us out there, please have at it. I cain't draw; just babble.

See ya'll there!

tags: net neutrality, Atlanta Media Bloggers, BellSouth, Earthlink

Welcome To The Show Brother

Look! See Monica Run. Run Monica Run. WSB-TV here in the ATL is now pimping their online offerings/website with glaring new promos. I couldn't help but notice 'em yesterday with the TV blaring in the background.

That is most contrary to what the News Director at WSB-TV looked me in the eye and told me, about a year ago, in response to a question (from me) at an Atlanta Press Club function where I asked him, "Do you have plans to incorporate 'new media' into the local news environment?"

The (then) clueless exec replied, "We have no plans to do A THING different with the way we deliver the news." And he was a proud mother f-er too when he made that backassward statement! Wonder if they fired his lame-butt and now have someone in there with half-a-clue?

Man, the way things are hoppin' around here, the Press Club might even think to invite Jeff Jarvis to speak by '08. Wow.

tags: WSB, Jeff Jarvis, media, local news

Caption Oh Caption

Have at it...

tag: Rumsfeld

Less Rant, More Human

I've been on a bit of a rant-roll of late. And been reminded in at least one prominent blog about useage of bad words, as I tend to head to the gutter cursing when in full rant mode.

But as a writer and frequent blogger, I do get caught up in absurd mommy-war issues when I least expect, and I always feel bad afterwards as the discussion never fails to deteriorate to some shouted playout of our cheapest emotional responses. (See below entry and you'll understand what I'm talking about.) Why this happens is beyond me. Is it a Mean Girl thing? An Alpha Mom thing? Low-self esteem left dormant from teen years? BTFOM!

Instead, it really is best to look at the many issues of modern day motherhood not as who's issues are better, or have more validity, credibility, etc., but as an adventure with universality galore: a colicky baby in Liberia is moreorless the same as a colicky baby in Lithonia, and any mom prays and strives for the same outcome -- for her baby to feel better.

Still, I would urge any woman pondering the murky waters of mommyhood to read not just all the usual pregnancy books, particularly Marg Stark's What No One Tells The Mom, but also An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths.

Now I'm a hard-core fiction kinda gal. I can get quite elitist when it comes to reading materials; I read literature, the more epic-y, tedious, lengthy and drawing room-ridden the better. Some of my favorites are Ian McEwan, Anita Brookner, Austen, Thackery, Tolstoy and now Dickens after seeing the astonishing Bleak House on Masterpiece Theater recently. That Gillian Anderson was absolutely transcendental and luminescent, in a character that was not particularly transcendental or luminescent at all. I hope she gets a really big fat award of the highest kind for her portrayal of the tormented Lady Dedlock.

Anyways, back to the point... I've never read a self-help or motivational book in my life. I just don't waste precious book reading time on non-fiction, unless you count the gripping, beautiful story by Mariane Pearl about the life of her murdered husband Danny Pearl, or that Neil Young biography given to me by a music writer. So when I refer you to a piece of non-fiction and say it changed my life, you'd better believe it had a significant impact.

If you don't have kids already, you don't really know what you don't know. It's hard to "feel" how the biology of the whole business will overcome your entire being, presumably, until you're in deep.

So to best prepare to accomodate that primal urge to "stay home" to care for your wee one (they ARE so tiny and helpless at birth, and boy will that mother tiger instinct just rock your world when you hold your baby for the first time), think about preparing to flex your schedule and your considerable skills by working from home and around your baby's schedule. Trust me, a flexible schedule makes for a happy mom. And when mom's happy, good things happen.

A great way to give yourself the confidence to begin to wean yourself from the corporate, brink-n-mortar tit/schedule is to read a mind-blowing book by the father of the blogosphere, the Instapundit dude (and dad) himself, Glenn Reynold's An Army of Davids. I'd say again that this book changed my life, but rather... this book IS my life.

Whatever you do, go forth and prosper all you amazing moms and moms-to-be!

tags: motherhood, Gillian Anderson, Bleak House, Instapundit, Blogging, Glenn Reynolds, Daniel Pearl

Is That Caitlin Singing In The Abby?

So much for the information age! Why am I just now hearing about arch anti-feminist writer, the ultra-fem Caitlin Flanagan? Maybe because I'm on a 3-month backlog of New Yorkers right now. Still, this woman is intriguing, although I gotta hate her, not because she's so icky-retro and loves marriage and suburbs and kittens and stuff. I just hate her already because she once tried to write a novel set in the Deep South. That from a woman who grew up in Berkley. Sacre Bleu! Or maybe I love her because at least she gave up that foolish sacriledge and went for non-fiction instead. Whew.

Whatever she does, she sounds like your basic hypocrite -- praising the at-home environment as a womanly ideal, yet really spending as much time cashing-in while out of it on book tours and cushy assignments.

Listen you elitist piece of shit... I don't know one mom out there who would NOT stay home with their (tiny, helpless) ones if their families could afford to do so, or if an asshole-jerk of an unsupportive spouse wasn't pressuring them to keep working, working, working until they dropped like flies.

That's what happened in my case, and yes, I got depressed and bitter too -- up until the point when I divorced his sorry ass. Bye bye blues then! And yes, Ann Coulter and your "Godless" BS, I go to church every Sunday, get on my knees and thank God I'm no longer married. Take that you barren-mind (uteri too it seems) opportunists.

From today's LA Times:

"She (Flanagan) calls herself an "at-home mom" who would "sooner miss a blood transfusion than an open house" at her sons' school. Yet she acknowledges that she qualifies as a working mother, with gigs at the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker. And she has a second book in the works that will expand on her recent article on the "epidemic" of fellatio-obsessed adolescent girls. It's tentatively titled "On Their Knees."

OK... that's totally ick. Those kinda epidemics are for grownups only! And I'm blowin' (hee hee) off soccer practice and headed for the Rusty Nail for happy hour with my best feminista pal, Suzan, an indie filmmaker and mother of two. We'll be sure to knock a cold one back for priss-ass Ms. Flanagan here 'cause I doubt either one of us will be buying the junk she's pushin'. Nor that honky bleach-haired beast's either. (That trash-mouth's new book is out on 666 (6/06/06). I kid you not!)


tag: Caitlin Flanagan, motherhood

Invading Iran -- Now THAT'S Controversial

In fasten seat belts and return trays to upright position news...

Good Lord Awmighty... tell me these rumors that the Cheney Administration will be striking Iran are just very bad and disturbing chatter. If we invade Iran, we are so amazingly f-ed.

Besides setting off nuclear holocaust, it'll be a free-for-all for suicide bombers lurking here in the U.S. I'd bet a mall goes "kapowee" within days of such a Cheney fright-fest initiative.

And now the Saudis are begging the Russians to help save us from ourselves.

"Saudi Arabia, fearing that US military action against Iran would wreak further havoc in the region, has asked Russia to block any bid by Washington to secure UN cover for an attack, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

During a visit to Moscow last week, the head of the Saudi National Security Council “urged Russia to strive to prevent the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution which the United States could use as justification to launch a military assault to knock out Iran’s nuclear facilities,” the diplomat told AFP in Riyadh on condition of anonymity."

Full horror story here.

And what about the "media industrial complex's" role in the matter? As The Whiskey Bar points out:

"I mean, what exactly does it take to get a rise out of the media industrial complex these days? A nuclear first strike against a major Middle Eastern oil producer doesn't ring the bell? Must every story have a missing white woman in it before the cable news guys will start taking it seriously?"

That full entree here. Jeez Us Christ, we are so f-ed.

tags: Iran, Cheney, Bush, Media Industrial Complex

If That's Controversial, Then I'm...

... uh... Barbara Walters. Click here to see an ad produced by the United Church of Christ that networks deemed "too controversial" to run.

Help An Iraqi. Read A Blog.

The BuzzMachine is asking for people to help Zeyad, the same blogger I brought your attention to in the last entry. Zeyad needs money to come here and study at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism. Says Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine:

"To get his (Zeyad's) student visa, he must show support for the year and a half that he will be here and that means raising at least $45,000. We are reaching out to foundations and individuals and working on scholarships and Zeyad is working to raise money. But that won’t do it all. We will."

All the details here.

And don't miss my first column for the Georgia Political Digest while you're busy clicking away your morning.

tags: Zeyad, Earthlink, WiFi, BuzzMachine

If MySpace Took Up Arms

What if you used your cell cam for everyday cutesy snippets of video like this?

I just viewed/read something on a blog that left me shaken and sickened. And no, it wasn't just the latest report about the ATL being the #1 tourist destination for sicko, sexually perverted men who want to harm our children. (That particular item was courtesy of Rusty at Radical Georgia Moderate.)

No, the horribly sickening stuff was within a post by an Iraqi citizen named Zeyad in his blog, Healing Iraq. I'll let his own words tell you what's happening there. (Attention to that blog courtesy of Jeff Jarvis at the always powerful, always righteous BuzzMachine.)

"Today it was all out war in Baghdad.

Please don’t ask me whether I believe Iraq is on the verge of civil war yet or not. I have never experienced a civil war before, only regular ones. All I see is that both sides are engaged in tit-for-tat lynchings and summary executions. I see governmental forces openly taking sides or stepping aside.

I see an occupation force that is clueless about what is going on in the country. I see politicians that distrust each other and continue to flame the situation for their own personal interests. I see Islamic clerics delivering fiery sermons against each other, then smile and hug each other at the end of the day in staged PR stunts.

I see the country breaking into pieces. The frontlines between different districts of Baghdad are already clearly demarked and ready for the battle. I was stopped in my own neighbourhood yesterday by a watch team and questioned where I live and what I was doing in that area.

I see other people curiously staring in each other’s faces on the street. I see hundreds of people disappearing in the middle of the night and their corpses surfacing next day with electric drill holes in them. I see people blown up to smithereens because a brainwashed virgin seeker targeted a crowded market or café. I see all that and more.

Don’t you dare chastise me for writing about what I see in my country."

Full post here. Some good news about the fate of that particular blogger here.


tags: Iraq, child prostitution, Atlanta, BuzzMachine, Media, Zeyad

Glimpse The Future

I know it's buried somewhere here in this chapati (huh?) from Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya, via Video Blogging Week. Wait until you smell the fried chicken and True-Gritz emanating from the web we got cookin' for you folks. Smack your lips, swing your partner, call Jethro in, put Granny out and stay tuned for more info real soon -- right here on this blog.

Dang. Now I've got a craving for Sri Pandi's and a cold one. Does Delta fly there? More importantly, if the pilots strike, would I get back in time for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper party on May 3? Save the date.

Coupla misc. notes... Dave over at Earthlink, thanks for that kind nod on the blog. Most cool. And everybody up for making Ray Davies an honorary Southerner? Seems he's seriously in the mood.

tags: videoblogging week, Ray Davies, Delta, Videoblogging Week

Rise Of The Emochor

"Emochor" = Opinionated (Emoting) Anchor. Like my new word? Those puppies are hot hot hot in cable news according to Michael Kinsley, one of the smartest yet slowest (in a good way) opinionists ever.

Kinsley writes/states-the-obvious in a Slate op-ed recently about the (premature) loss of objectivity in journalism:

"Journalists who claim to have developed no opinions about what they cover are either lying or deeply incurious and unreflective about the world around them. In either case, they might be happier in another line of work."

May I suggest blogging? Lord knows what you'll birth in the blogosphere, other than the usual case of snarky ennui. Let's call that one "snarkui." Damn. A whole new language emerges in one blog entry, but I diverge...

Obvious or not, this Kinsley quote is pretty darn good: "Nothing human is alien to Anderson Cooper; nothing alien is human to Lou Dobbs."

Watching Lou Dobbs do Emochor Man is like watching a Cynthia McKinney press conference: you can puff it up with enough hot air to go around the world, it's still a butt-ugly sight. Anderson on the other hand, well he can blow/emote until he's blue in the face, he'll still be a pretty boy.

Full story here.

tags: Anderson Cooper, Michael Kinsley, journalism, media, CNN, Cynthia McKinney

Review The Review

...because that's what bloggers do best. This review of the new Neko Case CD is moreorless on the money, in a rather bumbling guy-like way, yet it misses the decayed poetic that simmers over and under this astonishing record. Regardless, I too have played it at least 27X.

It's just that Steve Dollar writing about Neko Case is like using an automatic weapon to go duck hunting. Don't we wish Jeff Clark had handled this one himself?

Neko Case plays The Variety April 14th. Better get tix soon as it's sure to be a sellout.

tag: Neko Case

One Decaf Latte And A Political Life Please

What if you walked into your favorite cafe (I'm loving the new Caffe Bar Centrale on Howell Mill right now. Tres Italiano), ordered your double shot of espresso, sat down to power up the laptop with the free Wi-Fi you always take for granted, but alas, your precious free Wi-Fi was... poof... gone forever.

Alas again, that day is moreorless here, in the South at least. In case you've been living under a mighty big rock, the big telcos are fighting free broadband access tooth and nail. Winning too, thanks to their inherent corporate mission (they'd call it "ethics") of greed, ludicrously deep pockets and enough lobbying manpower to give Jack Abramoff an eternal hard-on.

Yep, it's a pay-to-play culture and nobody is throwing down harder than the major telcos. A pay-to-regulate culture is thriving (again) in the world of politics, kiddies, because that's where it all goes down. Not in the street, not in the cafe, not in the nightclub, the neighborhood bar, the workplace or the blogosphere. Nope, it all goes down in state capitol buildings every legislative session.

Consider this one chilling statement: (And if you're reading this over the Internet, which you are, it should register something in even the most apathetic pulse.)

"State laws ban municipalities from giving away broadband services."

Now who do you think got "The State" (that's us, folks) to ban "municipalities" (us again) from giving away broadband if they need to, or even just feel like doing so that day? Answer is: lobbyists and legislators working for BellSouth. And what do we the people, by allowing such legislation to originally be passed, get for our efforts in the hardest of times? A big fat NOTHING from BellSouth.

You think it doesn't matter? BellSouth laid the original lines, right? So why should they allow anyone to just give the Internet away? But what if a municipality (remember, "the people" again) wanted to lay some of their own lines? Ha! Dream on people, dream on. You are not in control. They are.

One place you can go for temporary shelter from this storm is to Earthlink instead of BellSouth. Earthlink, bless their little ATL-based hearts, has risen to the occasion and stepped in to help the City of New Orleans in their time of need. Go Earthlink go!

One other cool note about Earthlink, it was the second company to advertise on Rocketboom, demonstrating that those Earthlink hep cats are hip to the scene. But Lordy Mercy, that gal cain't dance worth a toot!


Enjoying Amanda Congdon's boobs is one thing. No doubt all you techno-minded types are just as capable of staying, uh, abreast of the broadband issues going down in your state -- and doing something about it with your head, your plastic, your blogs and... your votes.


tags: Amanda Congdon, Earthlink, net neutrality, New Orleans, broadband, wifi, boobs

Beautiful Sight

What a wonderful ending to a twisted, terrifying situation. One I admit I didn't hold out a whole lotta hope of ending well. Let's raise a glass to the courage and bravery of this astonishing American journalist. May God grant us all such bravery, endurance, strength, grace and courage under fire if we ever need it like that.

I promise not to whine once, for a whole day even, that I don't have an iPod or a date for the Neko Case show on the 14th - just to practice my own inner fortitude skills.

But don't burn that burka right away, hon. You may need it before long here in the States. God grant us strength and courage and tons of organizational skills when we hit the streets, which is where the battle to fight back for abortion rights will play out -- if things keep backsliding the way they are now.