arblogger.com

         See, e.g., DetNews, Evel Knievel dies at 69,

         “Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho’s Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
         Knievel’s death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel [!!!]. …
         His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel’s trademarked image in a popular West music video. …
Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he was again seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater. He continued to do smaller exhibitions around the country with his son, Robbie. …
         Knievel lived with his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel [!!! !! !!!], splitting his time between their Clearwater condo and Butte. They married in 1999 and divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.”

         So Knievel kicked Kanye’s keester, kinda (heh). –RIP EK.

         See my diary on Daily Kos about that, re an on-the-edge (or over-the-edge) diary of DK frontpager Hunter, No drunken bear rape jokes please Hunter.
         Comments there (or here) welcome!

         Donn “the Monn” Fresard hasn’t blogged for over two months now at his eponymous, though maybe not epic, blog. (Cf. our earlier post on his AWOL bloggy status).

         I’m calling the Internets police! Rrrrrr siren, rrrrrr…..

         Speaking of rock stuff: see CNN, Janet Reno’s ‘Song of America’,

         “Though Janet Reno is credited as the executive producer of “Song of America,” a three-disc boxed set that chronicles the history of the United States in song, she is quick to downplay her role. …”

         File this in the “life imitates art” bin, re Saturday Night Live and “Janet Reno’s Dance Party”.
         You couldn’t make it u…

         See, e.g., CNN, Quiet Riot singer dies at 52,

         “Kevin DuBrow, the lead singer of the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot, has died, CNN has confirmed. He was 52.
         DuBrow died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to TMZ.com. The Clark County coroner’s office was examining the body to determine the cause of death, according to TMZ.
         “I’m at a loss for words. I’ve just lost my best friend,” Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali [!!] told CNN. …
         Quiet Riot hit the top of the charts with its 1983 album, “Metal Health,” considered by some sources as the first heavy metal album to hit No. 1 [??]. The album was driven by the group’s cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize,” which hit the Top 40.
         The band’s other hits included “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)” and another Slade cover, “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.”
         …After several years, during which time the band disbanded, regrouped and built an audience, everything came together for “Metal Health,” which put Quiet Riot in the vanguard of the Los Angeles heavy metal movement.
         But the band’s rushed follow-up, “Condition Critical, [!!!]” didn’t do as well, and DuBrow started taking shots at other L.A. bands, such as Motley Crue and Ratt, according to Allmusic.com. Within a few years, the band had mutinied (leaving DuBrow at a hotel in Hawaii while other members returned to California, Allmusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia observes) and taken on a new lead singer. The bad blood prompted a lawsuit from DuBrow.
         By the 1990s tempers had calmed and the band got together again, putting out a live album in 1999 and a new studio set, “Guilty Pleasures,” in 2001. According to Allmusic, the band broke up once more after its release.”

         Even if you thought him “low brow”, please spare a prayer.
         Rock on in the sky, heavy metal crazee homie. RIP KDB.

         See, e.g., the Sydney Morning Herald (one of the many fine papers on the Arblogger blogroll), Rudd triumphs as Howard cast aside,

         “JOHN HOWARD led his Government to a humiliating defeat last night and was poised to lose his own seat as Kevin Rudd became Australia’s 26th Prime Minister. …
         Accepting victory just after 11pm, Mr Rudd told a cheering crowd of Labor faithful in Brisbane he would be Prime Minister “for all Australia”.
         “Today Australia has looked to the future. Today the people of Australia have decided that we move forward,” the Labor Prime Minister-elect proclaimed. …”

         And see the Guardian, Howard’s reign in Australia ends, for some more info re Howard’s buddy-buddying with Bush,

         “…Rudd said he would withdraw Australia’s 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed. …
         But one of the biggest changes will be in Australia’s approach to climate change. Rudd has nominated the issue as his top priority, and promises to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
         When he does so, the United States will stand alone as the only industrialised country not to have signed the pact.
         Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd’s team - including him - has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star - Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett - and a swag of former union officials. …”

         Ah Midnight Oil. –Go Rudd!!

         (UPDATE: the London Guardian borrows my title, see Australia hails Rudd as it finally votes for Howard’s end–shortened to simply “Howard’s end” on the front page–, from today’s Guardian…)

         King Tut,
         Buried with a donkey.
         Funky Tut,
         He’s my favorite honky.

              (Steve Martin, “King Tut”)     

(Courtesy of the late great Charles M. Schulz)

         I didn’t know there was such a thing as turkey-flavored popcorn.

         Wanted to put in 4 k’s, not 3, since 3 k’s has bad symboli…

         Anyway, Wash County Clerk and frequent blogger Larry Kestenbaum made the front page of Daily Kos today re the Mich Supreme Court giveaway of lucrative voter lists to the big political parties, see the MissLaura post Musical Primaries, or link directly to Larry’s original post Michigan Jan 15 pres primary REVIVED by State Supreme Court.

         Congrats Larry!!

         Yet mo on the “ho” tip: see newsday.com (from a NOW link in current, 11/15/07 NOW e-newsletter), Magazine to drop sex ads; feminist group applauds,

         “New York magazine agreed yesterday to stop accepting sex ads after the local chapter of the National Organization for Women threatened protests outside the popular weekly publication.
         The women’s rights group had accused the magazine of being a “marketing arm of the organized crime world of prostitution and human trafficking” because of classified ads with tag lines such as “Asians Gone Wild” and “Asian Dreamgirls.” Sonia Ossorio, president of the city’s NOW chapter, said she was “delighted” by the magazine’s decision. …
         Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of Equality Now, an international women’s rights organization, said her group has joined NOW’s campaign.
         “What we believe and know is that a lot of these advertisements are covers for what can be dens for human trafficking,” she said. “Turning a blind eye to that is a danger, and a reputable corporation should not be part of illegal enterprises.”"

         Go NOW! No mo ho’s! …Now if the Michigan Daily could stop taking nudie ads (”unclothed coed photography” or whatever they call it) and the Deja Vu ads I’ve seen in the Daily sports section, that would be right. Keep an eye on those shifty Daily mother–ckers before they pull any other dirty nonsense, yo.