COOKING WITH ABBIE

"We are here to make a better world. No amount of rationalization or blaming can preempt the moment of choice each of us brings to our situation here on this planet. The lesson of the '60s is that people who cared enough to do right could change history. We didn't end racism but we ended legal segregation. We ended the idea that you could send half-a-million soldiers around the world to fight a war that people do not support. We ended the idea that women are second-class citizens. We made the environment an issue that couldn't be avoided. The big battles that we won cannot be reversed. We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical, brave, silly, headstrong and scared half to death. And we were right."
-- Abbie Hoffman



Celebrity chef Abbie Hoffman prepares his famous Gefilte fish. You won't see this on the Food Network.

"Steal this Book" online:
http://www.pieman.org/stealthisbook.html#0.00.0

CROCODILE TEARS

The Crocodile Cafe, famous Seattle music venue since 1991, is finally calling it quits. The tiny Belltown club was at the epicenter of the 1990s Seattle music scene. Nirvana, Sunny Day Real Estate, Band of Horses, played here before going on to international fame. Owner Stephanie Dorgan, who divorced Peter Buck of REM last year, wasn't answering calls from the press, but the doors were padlocked today, and employees had been told to stay home.

to catch a whif of the Croc, click button:

PERRY COMO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

This is an actual Perry Como Christmas Special, from 1958. The picture quality isn't great, but neither were television sets back then. This is probably what it looked like on your TV. Suspend your disbelief and pretend it's 1958: Sputnik has just been launched by the Russians, Nabokov is causing a stir with "Lolita," and Elvis has just gone into the army. Listen to this and you'll wish Elvis had never left.

THE CHRISTMAS SONG

The great Nat King Cole.

DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS TREATS

The nicest gifts under the tree are the ones you make yourself. Especially the ones you make with these industrial food products. Of course, no holiday is complete without some of these delicious treats, and no television holiday Christmas special is complete without these weird commercials. Believe it or not, the holiday tradition of prominent product placement may go all the way back to the first Christmas, when the Magi, also known as the three wise men, are said to have traveled from afar with gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and Kraft miniature marshmallows.

THIS MONKEY'S GONE TO HEAVEN

"Congo" the chimpanzee recently sold three paintings at a London auction house for more than $25,000. Howard Hong, an American collector, bought the paintings at Bonhams' auction house. The chimp art, painted when the animal was three, was included in a 1957 chimp art exhibition curated by famous zoologist Desmond Morris. Morris, author of The Naked Ape, had attempted to understand "chimpanzees' ability to create order and symmetry as well as to explore, at a more primeval level, the impetus behind our own desires for artistic creativity," auction house Bonhams said. The directory of modern and contemporary art at Bonhams added "We had no idea what these things were worth. We just put them in for our own amusement."


Pablo Picasso, noted human artist, is said to have had a painting by "Congo" hanging in his studio. The painting had been a gift.

To hear "This Monkey's Gone to Heaven," by the Pixies, please click button.

PUNK ROCK IN REAL TIME

The Jam exploded in the first wave of punk in 1977. They were angry but also very clever, and when they took on the British class system and the conformity of their peers they did so with a particular éclat. They were punk, for sure, but also Mod revivalists and snappy dressers. With tight guitars, and brilliant lyrics by singer Paul Weller, they held their own against the angry young men of their day, namely the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Buzzcocks. In spite of their considerable talent, and some underground hits in England, they barely got noticed in the states. It's a shame.

Check out this live clip from back in the day, "Eaton Rifles." The song was inspired by an unemployed demonstrators 'Right to Work' march being heckled by what Weller described as "a bunch of tossers" from the prestigious Eaton College.

Thought you were smart when you took them on,
But you didn't take a peep in their artillery room,
All that rugby puts hairs on your chest,
What chance have you got against a tie and a crest.

Hello-hurray - what a nice day - for the Eton rifles!
Hello-hurray - I hope rain stops play - with the Eton rifles!

Thought you were clever when you lit the fuse,
Tore down the house of commons in your brand new shoes,
Compose a revolutionary symphony,
Then went to bed with a charming young thing.