BET Tribute to Michael last night -- Can't anybody carry a tune?

What a letdown! I was hoping for magic, for passion, for talented performers doin' their thang, so to speak.

What I got was a bunch of folks who, mostly, cannot fucking sing.

Sure, Jamie Foxx tried very hard to hold things together.

But really, did Soulja Boy's falling down jeans have to be the highlight/lowlight of the evening? Hilarious. The dude cannot sing a note and looked like a fool wish his drawers out. Or am I just an old fart? Probably both.

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Bottom Line: Hip Hop has destroyed the entertainment industry as surely as illegal downloading has/did.

Remember Marvin Gaye? Lionel Richie (yes, Lionel Richie)? Kool and the Gang?

Folks who could actually sing a song?

Whatever happened to having some damn talent besides being good at taking a bullet?

Nineteen eighties, I miss you...

June 28 -- 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots in NYC

Wikipedia entry on Stonewall.

Someday, and it may not come in my lifetime, gay and lesbian Americans will have full and equal rights. Equal rights to marry, to have children, to receive health care and legal benefits for their chosen partners, etc. That day seems to be a long ways off, though significant progress has been made in the four decades since the Stonewall riots.

The most significant social issue of our day is, in my opinion, gay and lesbian rights.

Michael Jackson passes away at 50: How will you remember the icon?

This is how I will remember the man.

And this.

That is all I want to recall about one of the saddest stories of our times. The man was an astonishing performer, but one who was raised by a man who was, by many accounts, brutal to his children.

No doubt that had a major effect on the strangeness of the man's last 25 years.

Thanks for the memories, Michael.

More Bible Study May Be Needed: Sanford and Hon(ey)

NY Times article on the wacky Governor of SC and his way out Father's Day weekend in South America.

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Does it get any weirder for Republicans than the shattering news of the last week, in which two stalwarts of the party have been outed as cheating on their wives? If it gets any weirder, then HBO has a new series.

Do we need any more evidence that those in society who are obsessed with sex and others sex lives are the true freaks? Get real.

Can the GOP lose any more moral authority? Is that even possible? No and no.

Could I have laughed any harder when I read this story today? Nope.

Something that made me laugh today

Scroll down to "Sports Video of the Day" and play the music video.

Funny stuff.

The Boston Globe lists the most important 100 New England related books

See here from Boston.com

I have read only 23 of the 100. Not too impressive, but then I'm only 43. Plenty of time to knock the rest off the list.

How did you do?

Stephen Colbert visits Iraq this week on Comedy Central

NYTimes article from today's online version.

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are, to put it simply, required viewing. Thank goodness for them and their schtick; it helps keep me sane.

Thanks, Stephen!!

The face of evil in the US

See here in NYTimes

What a bunch of immoral nuts the anti-abortion movement collects. Why would any thinking person want to live in such a backward area of the country? Me, I think I'll stay in New England, where gay marraige is largely legal and you don't get shot too often for practicing health care.

The Globe's Bob Ryan remembers the C's/Fakers Series of '84

His column

Thanks for sending a chill up my spine, Bob: Bird was unforgettable that night in the pivotal Game Five.

The seamy underbelly of professional sports

See here for SI.com story

Once they leave the national stage many pro athletes, both famous and obscure, run into financial and personal problems because they have, up to the point of their retirement, been pampered and coddled by teammates, coaches, media, friends and family and oh so many hangers on. Once the big money stops coming in, these athletes can often times have an extremely difficult time coping with paying their mortgages, raising their children, and a host of other concerns that other men in their age group long ago came to grips with.

The SI.com story linked to above is a great example of how professional leagues players unions let down their members by not teaching them skills such as financial management, life skills, parenting, and many others. These men are in many cases overgrown children who need direction and tough love, which so few receive as to boggle the mind.

If you ever think that professional athletes have it made, keep in mind that for most of them their careers will end far short of what is known as "legacy money" (ie enough money to pass down generations) and the bills pile up once the paychecks stop. Though the NFLPA is the worst example of a players union not taking care of its members, we all share in the guilt in my opinion.