Caught in the Carousel

Letter from the Editor - August 2009

**The once mighty David Letterman withered under pressure and apologized for his joke about Sarah Palin's daughter. Letterman said the joke was in poor taste and also that it wasn't well written. A comedian should never apologize for a joke or the quality of it. By doing this, Letterman not only sold out on comedy itself, he shamelessly sold out his writers, who, from what an inside source reports, give him hundreds of jokes to choose from every night.

**Oddly, Alex Rodriguez who was part of the joke, had no comment. I'd be more worried about meeting him in a dark alley than Sarah and Todd Palin. After all, you can hear them coming a mile away on their snowmobiles.

**Lauren Conrad is writing books now. As libraries across the globe make room in their C Sections to accommodate what will most likely be a prolific output of literary profundity, one wonders if her work will be taken as seriously as her great grandfather Joseph's. Perhaps I can suggest a title: Halter Top Of Darkness.

**Explaining her decision to step down from her gubernatorial duties in a natural, non-gotcha-media setting, Sarah Palin was interviewed while fishing in Alaska. It was absolutely ludicrous—she's inarticulate, dumb and.lying. A rash of ethics violations that would cost the state of Alaska millions made her graciously step aside? Fat chance. Networks to be named later are rumored to be warming up potential slots for what very well may be a reality show, a talk show, a shooting wolves from planes show... Either way, it's a move that will ultimately end in failure. My prediction? She'll end up on QVC pushing a hunting jacket that doesn't get stained when one is gutting an animal with a buck knife.

**After Michael Jackson's tragic and untimely death, MTV got their posthumous pit crew together, wheeled out the well-preserved Kurt Loder and dusted off the highlight tribute machine. The last time a musician of this magnitude died it was Kurt Cobain and MTV did an absolutely ace job on that assignment. For a network now known for shows like "Beat Up My Dad" or "Go Down On My Boyfriend" instead of actual music videos, their footing here looked a little unsure and more than slightly disingenuous.

**Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester has an album coming out. Apology to Sarah Palin forthcoming.

**As much of a bummer as it was to hear the news of Michael Jackson's death, it served as a reminder to MTV that they're supposed to be covering and playing music. Their coverage proved to be the longest grid of music programming they'd aired in years.

**Days after Jackson's death, news stations were airing exclusive footage from the singer's rehearsal the night before he died. If you haven't seen it, here's the spoiler: nothing happens. He dances and stuff. But the media was stunned by the minute-and-a- half clip, stupefied by his ability to dance only hours before his demise. I guess we still can't get over how alive someone looks before they die...

**Unless there was a chance he was going to climb out of the coffin, it seemed excessive to broadcast Jackson's funeral on television all day.

**Kaya Oakes' reading for her new book Slanted and Enchanted at Pegasus in Berkeley was not only well-attended, the reading itself was terrific, with Oakes in fine form—witty and sharp as ever. One of the subjects she covered dealt with musicians who sell their songs for car commercials. Oddly, when I got home I saw an insurance commercial that used Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble" and a deeply worried dog to great and oddly moving effect.

**In the wake of the success of Twilight, I just read that in 2010 there will be countless television shows, books and movies about vampires. I guess that's cool, but be forewarned, bandwagon vampires are the first to go.

**In Rolling Stone, Jenny Eliscu profiles The Jonas Brothers. An excerpt from a bit with Nick, 16, who signed his first solo deal with Columbia in 2004: "'For a very long time, I was frustrated with songwriting formulas,' he says." At eleven? When I was eleven I was frustrated that I couldn't get better at Pac-Man. Why this kid was struggling with the parameters of the pop paradigm at that age is beyond me. And it sure doesn't seem to be a puzzle he's solved...

What gets me through the night?
Yvonne Prinz's The Vinyl Princess
Scott Warren—"Before You Said Goodbye"
Old Californio—"From The Mouths Of Babes"
Hoots And Hellmouth—The Holy Open Secret Moon

Write, call, stop by with muffins...

Love and Rockets,
Alex Green
Editor, Caught In The Carousel
Alex670@earthlink.net