Day: July 31, 2010

An Electronic Heart of Glass

A month ago I mentioned it was Debbie Harry’s 65th birthday, and played Hanging on the Telephone. A much more technically advanced recording from Blondie’s album Parallel Lines is Heart of Glass. Here’s an explanation of how it was put together. I don’t know know yet who made this video, but it seems to be from England, and it’s excellent. Thanks go to David Barsalou for pointing it out.

That’s a yacht to spend on a wedding

Chelsea Clinton is already 30? Well, nobody can say she’s rushing into getting married. The speculation that the wedding and reception would run into millions of dollars is way off target, apparently, but no matter what it’s costing it’ll be a lot more than what 99% of everybody else spends. Hey, the Clintons can afford it, and they’re not complaining about paying taxes.

John Kerry, on the other hand, continues to be a disappointment. As a Massachusetts taxpayer, I don’t believe his assertion that he always intended to pay Baystate taxes on his Ocean State yacht. Of course, what Kerry did was perfectly legal, so the only thing that’s wrong is the inherent duplicity.

I met Kerry only once, briefly, during my reporting days, and I can tell you the aloof thing is for real. Kerry couldn’t be bothered by a nobody kid reporter like me, and he wasn’t even a senator yet. Around that same period of time, when Ed Brooke was a senator, Ted Kennedy gave me his undivided attention for a 20-minute interview. For all of his personal failings, from that experience I realized Ted knew that loyalty was something he had to earn and couldn’t take for granted.