Story here. Saw him perform once, in 1980 or so at some theatre in New York — not even sure where, I was new to the city and just along for the ride with a girl who really, really wanted to see the show. It was completely sold out, but somehow through sheer determination, she convinced the guy at the door to let us watch from up in the rafters. “People Who Died” had recently become an unexpected radio hit, and I remember Carroll at one point talking about musicians who felt he hadn’t paid his dues — he begged to differ on that.
Reminder
I’ll be at the Brooklyn Book Festival Sunday morning at 11:30, reading from and signing copies of The Very Silly Mayor.
My morning prediction
Gail Collins opens her column with this observation:
Let me go out on a limb and say that it is not a good plan to heckle the president of the United States when he’s making a speech about replacing acrimony with civility.
Maybe. But I have this feeling that Rep. Wilson is about to join the ranks of Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber as the newest wingnut hero. You’d think that an elected representative heckling the President of the United States during a speech to Congress would be considered inappropriate, but as the summer’s town hall disruptions made clear, the right wing is operating under an entirely different set of assumptions than most, you know, sane people. Honestly, I think Wilson could have walked up to the front of the room, pulled down his pants, and taken a dump right on the podium, and he’d still be applauded by the wingnut media. Wilson may have just put himself on the short list of Republican presidential contenders for 2012.
(Saturday morning update: as I expected.)
Review of the Mayor
Undeterred by fawning TV announcers and newspaper headlines, he speaks truth to power. Sparky is an amenable, roll-up-your-sleeves rebel—he agrees to work for the mayor, in exchange for dialing back the harebrained schemes. When I asked my sons what they thought the story was about, they said, on cue, “how political people can be really, really wrong.†Indeed. With kid-friendly, eye-catching pictures.
Read the rest. (Full disclosure — the writer is a friend.)
… oh, and: you can buy it here.
It’s only rock and roll
From today’s Apple press event. Via.