I know this isn’t typical DG material, but wanted to give it up to one of the all-time greats. It’s hard to imagine how revolutionary this little routine was back in ‘72. Who gets arrested doing stand-up today?
Btw, is it just me or does he look a little bit like Russell Crowe in this video?
Turns out that spaceships stand in for slave ships:
Echoes of Sun Ra and NOI [Nation of Islam] are audible in the music of George Clinton, who must have had both in mind when he transformed Parliament from a doo-wop group into a mother-ship-worshipping acid-funk congregation in the 1970s. Clinton’s mother ship, of course, was likelier to drop megatons of booty and cocaine than warheads, but hedonism wasn’t the only goal. In the opening bars of “Mother Ship Connection,” Clinton announces, “We have returned to claim the pyramids”—a nod to paleocontact theories, which hypothesize that ancient astronauts shared technological secrets with North Africans. Perceptible in this ripple of the Afronaut impulse is the yearning for and fantastical reclamation of an ennobling African history: A trip to space doubles as a return to roots.
The Afronaut universe, of course, comprises more performers than those mentioned here and extends beyond music, from the hero of Brother From Another Planet to Astronaut Jones, Tracy Morgan’s ridiculous SNL creation. Where hip-hop is concerned, though, the first Afronaut to speak of is Afrika Bambaataa. A gang leader turned community activist and DJ, Bambaataa spun Parliament-Funkadelic records alongside reggae, techno, and rock vinyl and wore elaborate African-Samurai-Cherokee-cyborg costumes doubtless inspired by the Arkestra. In the burnt-out South Bronx of the early ’80s, Bambaataa’s Afronaut mythology—championing Zulu valor and an interstellar utopianism—offered both racial pride and an escapist-hatch out of the bleak, inner-city quotidian.
The article failed to mention my personal favorite megaton of booty: Galaxy.
The above image was taken from the web site of Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and sometimes mentioned as a future Supreme Court nominee. According to the LAT, he’s admitted to putting the images on his site (later suggesting his son may have uploaded the content) but defended some of it as “funny.”
Although the judge is a Republican, he’s a staunch First Amendment defender, which we here at DG welcome. A word of advice, your honor: Next time you want to put some weird pr0n on your site, let us do it for you … We’ll even make you a superfriend!
Entire contents of Kozinski’s site found at Patterico’s, including a transsexual powerpoint presentation and a decidedly unfunny Mastercard spoof involving defecation. Oh, and some priest/little boy jokes.
Some amazing pics from Brent Stirton, who documented the search party for four mountain gorillas killed in Eastern Congo last year. One of them was a silverback alpha male, the leader of the group, who was shot.
OBAMA/PRIME in ‘08? Hell yes! That’s a ticket I could vote for.
From a run-down of all Obamas’ options for a running mate at MightyGodKing.
Thanks to DG superfriend Zack Soto
The New York Times ponders whether Alex P. Keaton would be a Republican today and who would get his vote in the 2008 presidential election. The only thing that’s certain is that if Alex Keaton were around today, he’d have a blog.
Thanks to DG superfriend “Chocolate Bear” for the tip
“One is a supporter of Barack Obama, the other is a supporter of Hillary Clinton, and an argument of words turned bloody when one brother-in-law tried to choke the other and the victim then responded with a knife and stabbed his brother-in-law in the stomach.”
The newspaper delicately decided not the publish which brother was for whom. Painting by Titian.
Update: Just realized the Hispanic dude quien gusta stabbing people was for Hillary. Perhaps Barack isn’t doing so well with the Latino vote after all? Anyway, I knew Hillary’s people would pull knives when cornered.
