Where is Bill Hicks when you need him? Oh, well – Jimmy Kimmel will have to do. Humor, sarcasm and outright mockery are effective ways to deal with dictators, especially those as loathsome and corrupt as the amateurs who currently run our country. Tyrants despise humor, and their sense of humor rarely rises above the […]
Tearing down and setting up. That’s the worst thing about playing drums in a classic rock band. Especially at my age. Tearing them down, packing them in the van; taking them out of the van; setting them up; tearing them down again, cramming them in the van and hauling them back again. Doing all of […]
I’m having politics fatigue. I haven’t exactly run out of evidence to support my position, but there is a particular stumbling block I keep running into when I try to reach across the proverbial aisle to have one of those “difficult conversations” with Trumpanzees such as my asshole brother. I don’t understand why I have […]
America’s public school system has been a failure because of a successful 30-year GOP effort to de-fund the system in favor of private and charter schools. The purpose of this policy was always to destroy the learning environment of the students, and extinguish the average child’s innate desire to explore and learn. This indoctrination – […]
No matter how many times I return to Los Angeles, I always make a point of visiting Venice Beach. The nearly two-mile beachfront walk is the quintessential L.A. experience, and it‘s usually the highlight of my trip. If you’ve never been there I will take you. Venice Beach is the biggest open-air freak-show on the […]
In his seminal book Amusing Ourselves to Death [1985], Neil Postman wrote, “[George] Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in [Aldous] Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, […]
[The scene takes place inside the plush offices of IMAGEMAKERS, a major New York PR firm. A kindly old black man with white hair [Mr. Jones] is led into the inner sanctum. He shuffles quietly to one of the big leather chairs at the foot of the enormous desk of Carl Anderson, one of the […]
Jason Darensburg's Blog-o-rama 