Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Okay, kids, today we are going to discuss the differences between being a shill and being a tool. Wikitionary has a couple of definitions for "shill" : A person paid to endorse a product favorably, while pretending to be impartial. An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game. I was in advertising for years -- I am (sad to say) well acquainted with the art and science of shilling. A classic example: back in the day, my then employer had as a client a very large brewery, which I shall call "A-B." When a proposal to require a 5 cent deposit on non-returnable bottles appeared as a referendum item on the Oregon ballot one election year, A-B took a very dim view, since they were a major producer of non-returnable bottles. Their response? They set up and bankrolled some phony grassroots committee ( "Citizens for Sensible Packaging" or some such bullshit) to oppose the measure. This is now referred to as "astro-turfing. A-...

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Jeff Beck proves he has no shame. And I mean that in the best possible way imaginable. His new album Rock 'n' Roll Party is subtitled "Honoring Les Paul," and it's like attending a freaking guitar seance.  I mean to say there are tracks that will give you chills. For starters, there's How High the Moon, a Les Paul / Mary Ford standard. The Mary Ford part is filled with scary enough accuracy by Imelda May but the signature guitar riff will have you convinced the Godfather of the Electric Guitar has come back from the dead. After listening to Jeff Beck's track, check out this live performance by the late Mr. Paul and tell me I'm wrong. And the Beck track, while dead on, is bursting with manic rockstar energy. There are other Paul standards also lovingly reconstructed with the aid of Imelda May. Even though most of the album is heavy on rockabilly vibe, the senses tingle when Beck's personalit...

Normally I don't care a fig about the Superbowl. Many's the time I don't actually know who's playing in it. Of late I'll learn just enough about the outcome to avoid appearing a complete dunce in post-game office discussions. This year is different the game will be played in Jerry Jones' new monstrosity in Arlington, Texas. By way of illustration of the afore-mentioned Mr. Jones' ego, he's charging people $200 to watch the game on monitors in the stadium parking lot, and calling it the "Superbowl Experience." He's also going to include these pathetic dupes in the headcount for attendance. This week, North Texas (as with much of the country) has been hit with crushing snow storms and low temperatures. The electric companies have dropped the ball and had to enforce rolling blackouts to households because demand exceeded capacity. Thursday night I flew in to DFW after a business trip and the pilot circled past Cowboy stadium -- all lit...

This just in from several sources: Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, failed vice-presidential candidate, political pundit and reality television star, is attempting to trademark herself . No, I am not kidding you. Reuters helpfully points out , "Legal experts said it is relatively unusual for politicians to formally trademark their names because they are generally not associated with commercially valuable products or services." That has to be the money quote for the day. Mainstream Republicans everywhere are probably heaving sighs of relief everywhere since this can be taken as a sign that Sarah Palin the former governor of Alaska has privately concluded she doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being the 2012 GOP presidential candidate, much less a shot at actually getting elected. Henceforth all speaking, campaigning, prophesying and general self-promotion should now be considered commercial activity, not political. While it's doubtful that S...