by Fred Gardner
In 1976 The Band staged a farewell-to-the-road concert, “The Last Waltz,” at Winterland in San Francisco. Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson played a dozen of their own great songs — starting with “Up on Cripple Creek” — and backed performances by Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, [...]
by Steve Heilig
Richard Brautigan once observed that “It’s really something to have fame put its feathery crowbar under your rock and then upward to the light to release you, along with seven grubs and a sow bug.” And he would know — Brautigan went from shy, impoverished, unknown struggling writer to world-renowned wealthy counter-cultural icon and back [...]
by Steve Heilig
Despite my better judgment and sometimes sensitive stomach, I caught a bit of the latest Republican candidate debate the other evening. The one benefit was that I finally figured out why an obscure old song by legendary British popsters The Kinks has been circling through my “jukebox head” – it’s the best theme song for [...]
NPR National Public Radio. National Pay or Play Radio. Spring Pledge Drive, 2012. Hosts beg and cajole on air hour after hour, day after day for money. They creatively and with cool music in the background alternately shame and praise listeners to pony up part of the paycheck. And promise membership cards, mugs, and messenger [...]
by Steve Heilig
Contraception exploded onto the front pages in February. That might seem strange to most people — what is controversial about contraception at this late date? One headline read “Changes to Contraceptive Coverage Rules Draw Mixed Reaction” and that one wins the ‘understatement’ award on this topic. “Conservatives” seized on the issue as a good wedge [...]
People’s paths cross endlessly as they make their brief journeys through this world, but only occasionally do eyes meet and sparks fly. Even less often, the two paths will course together for a distance, and more rarely still do they stick together and proceed forward evermore as one — a rough description of love and [...]
by The AVA
Appendix A — Understanding Securitization It is important to have a general familiarity with mortgage securitization in order to understand the foreclosure process. Securitization involves a series of conveyances of the note evidencing the residential loan and assignment of the mortgage or trust deed securing it. Therefore, chain of title and beneficial interest issues frequently [...]
We no longer see or hear the terms Jewess or Negress, which are insulting in that people are put on a level with animals (tigress, lioness). The suffix in general is old news. (Plus, no one knows Latin anymore, so Shelley Berman’s old “stewardi” joke is doubly obsolete). Politically correct language is not always what [...]
by Don Santina
The once-proud city of San Francisco is on the verge of turning its storied public waterfront into a west coast playground and cash cow for the idle rich, now more popularly known as the One Percent. America’s Cup is coming to town. “America’s Cup.” It has an odd ring to it. It’s not a familiar [...]
Super Bowl Sunday is over up, and I’ve been asking local pubs here on the South Island of New Zealand if they caught the world’s biggest game on television. But the national sport of New Zealand is rugby, and the Super Bowl is not an event that many locals make bowls of guacamole and invite [...]
