LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

President-elect Barack Obama introduced the new national security team Monday, and then took a much-needed break. Dude has been busy, yo. The order of the day? Shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture. Hey ya!

No big surprises at Monday's press conference, but Obama officially announced that former campaign rival Hillary Clinton will be the new secretary of state. Not that it matters, but bellowing gas bag Rush Limbaugh called the selection "brilliant."

But who cares what he says?

Obama also announced that Bush's Pentagon chief Robert Gates will stay on as defense secretary for continuity sake--we're fighting two wars, after all. In related news, Obama is ousting top Bush Pentagon officials, including many of Gates's top deputies. More from the Washington Post, HERE.

Other picks: Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, and Susan Rice as UN Ambassador.


Meanwhile, in another part of town, outgoing President George W. Bush told ABC News' Charlie Gibson "I was unprepared for war," and "I'm sorry" for the economic crisis.

Bush expressed remorse that the financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts. "I'm sorry it's happening, of course," he said. "Obviously I don't like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s."

Bush pointed to incorrect intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as "the biggest regret of all the presidency."

"I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess." When pressed by Gibson, Bush was clear. "That is a do-over that I can't do."

This ABC interview raises many questions, the most salient being: "Can Barack Obama start early?"


The ABC News interview with outgoing president, George W. Bush, 12/01/08

WHAT'S SO FUNNY 'BOUT PEACE, LOVE & UNDERSTANDING?

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Peace, Love and Understanding

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Here's a sneak peek at Stephen Colbert's upcoming Christmas special. Andy Williams, eat your heart out. In this clip, Stephen and a friendly bear ask the musical question, "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?"

Isn't that nice? The man in the bear suit, Elvis Costello, originally tossed off the song as a B-side, but it became a hit so he hastily slapped it onto the U.S. edition of Armed Forces. People think he wrote it, but the song was actually written by Nick Lowe, the British pub-rocker, New Waver, and all around nice guy. Good job, guys.

And what a good question!



Declan McManus, otherwise known as Elvis Costello, the man in the bear suit

Here Elvis Costello plays guest host and sings a rocking "Peace, Love and Understanding" for a whole new generation.

THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Roberto Bolaño wrote "2666," which was named Time Magazine's Best Book of 2008. Difficult, cranky, opinionated--and dead--he is finally catching on in the English-speaking world. It's about time. For more on Bolaño, click here.
Read the NYRB review of "2666" is here. Read an insightful piece on "2666" by Marcela Valdes in the Nation here.


Christmas shopping for books?

This year, my favorites were "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz; "Tree of Smoke," by Denis Johnson; "The Midnight Disease," by Alice Flaherty, "How Fiction Works," by James Wood, "The Savage Detectives," by Roberto Bolaño, "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, and "Lush Life," by Richard Price. (I just started the last book, and I can already tell you it will make my list.) That's four fiction, and two non-fiction, if anyone is counting.

For more Best Books of 2008, check out these lists:

New York Times Best Books of 2008

Michiko Kakutani, NYTimes

Janet Maslin, NYTimes

Publisher's Weekly

2008 National Book Award Winners--listen to them read HERE.

PAST POSTS ON WRITERS AND WRITING
Since we started this blog, a good deal of space has been devoted to writers and writing. The list below will help you look up past stories and interviews.

Jorge Luis Borges is HERE

Thomas Pynchon is HERE

Cormac McCarthy, Ken Kesey, Jonathan Lethem, & Jonathan Franzen are HERE.

Denis Johnson and David Foster Wallace are HERE

Colson Whitehead, & Tin House Writers Conference is HERE

David Foster Wallace is HERE

Roberto Bolano is HERE

Tim O'Brien and Amy Hempel are HERE

Tim O'Brien on War Stories are HERE

Junot Diaz is HERE

Henry Miller is HERE

Charles d'Ambrosio is HERE

Norman Mailer chats with Martin Amis HERE

Norman Mailer's obituary is HERE

Ray Bradbury is HERE

"Great Short Stories" are HERE

"Reading Books" is HERE

Michael Chabon and Oakley Hall are HERE

"Every Day I Write the Book" is HERE

BLACK FRIDAY

I read the news today, oh boy...

Trouble, man. You wake up the day after Thanksgiving with a food and drink hangover. You can't make a fist, but you somehow manage to make coffee. Everything's too bright, too loud. You stagger to your chair with a cup of joe, and your head feels like a blimp from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that has torn loose from its guy-lines and bashed into a few skyscrapers.

You sit down and open the morning newpaper. Shit oh dear! The world is going to hell in a gravy boat. The headlines scream bloody murder. Maybe this is just a bad dream. Maybe Scrooge was right--the senses are cheats; a slight disorder of the stomach affects them. You pray these headlines are just an undigested bit of turkey, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of pecan pie.

MUMBAI

Members of the Indian security forces taking up firing positions between fire trucks and ambulances on the grounds of the Taj Hotel on Friday. (Ruth Fremson/ The New York Times )

I know you've been following the news from Mumbai. More than 150 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks Wednesday. By Friday, nine gunmen had been killed by Indian commandos. Hostages were found dead. The fighting continues, and they say it's down to one luxury hotel, the Oberoi Trident.

In this clip, a CNN anchor Sara Sidner is threatened by an angry mob outside the Taj Mahal.




BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING DEATHS
So far, only three people were killed in shopping accidents: A Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death by eager shoppers in Valley Stream, New York, and two people were shot to death in a crowded Toy 'R' Us in Palm Desert, California.

Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

According to the LA Times, "the [Toys 'R' Us] shooting, apparently sparked by a personal dispute between two groups of shoppers, occurred on Black Friday, traditionally one of the year's busiest shopping days, and when the store was crowded with families and children."

To hear "Black Friday" by Steely Dan, please click button:


When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul

YESTERDAY'S PAPERS:

A shout out to the rabble-rousers in the TDA who occupied the Trojan nuclear plant 31 years ago in an act of peaceful civil disobedience. Read a "trespasser's notebook" here.

NOW BE THANKFUL

When the stone is grown too cold to kneel
In crystal waters I'll be bound
Cold as stone, weary to the sounds upon the wheel

Now be thankful for good things below
Now be thankful to your maker
For the rose, the red rose blooms for all to know


"Now Be Thankful" performed by Fairport Convention, 1970


Fairport Convention, motley troubadours and the best of the British folk-rock scene of the 60s, played beautiful and dark Olde English folk music, jigs, and reels. Teenage guitar genius Richard Thompson stands at top right.



The King sits in Dunfirmline town, drinking of the blood-red wine
"Where can I get a steely skipper to sail this mighty boat of mine?"

So begins "Sir Patrick Spens," a popular Child Ballad (#58), probably of Scottish origin, sung for centuries. The King calls for the greatest sailor to run a royal errand--though it's the middle of winter and the sea is treacherous. Sir Patrick is named, and he comes forth, for he cannot refuse his King, though he knows it will mean his death. At sea, a "mermaiden" warns Sir Patrick of his fate.

Forty miles off Aberdeen, the waters fifty fathoms deep
There lies good Sir Patrick Spens with the Scots lords at his feet

Fairport singer Sandy Denny died in 1978

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" by Fairport Convention, written and sung by Sandy Denny. Please click button to listen:



No longer the teenage guitar genius from Fairport (and missing the ringlets) guitar virtuoso Richard Thompson still plays and writes the most amazing songs. Here he plays an original ballad,"1952 Vincent Black Lightning." Although the song is about a motorcycle--and a biker and redheaded girl--it clearly reflects traditional English balladry. In olden times, the motorcycle might have been a beloved steed. The love story would remain the same. Listen, and watch the fingers.

SURVIVING THANKSGIVING

Wild Indians and the Guests Who Wouldn't Leave

Since the first Thanksgiving, Americans have celebrated with turkey and stuffing and goodhearted bickering. And booze. Traditionally, women and indentured servants prepared the bird while men drank like fish and watched football on television. Occasionally, a vegan was burned at the stake, usually after bringing a tofurkey, something that looks like a turkey and tastes like a football thereby combining both major elements of Thanksgiving.

Ideally, Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday--but as Plato told us wisely, the Ideal exists only in the mind. Expectations run high, and quarreling often bubbles just below the surface like the ptomaine in Aunt Anita's oyster stuffing that year everyone became so violently ill. When she slammed that terrified blancmange on the table, a long line of stomachs turned in unison. Just as you would avoid such poisonous stuffing, ignore the holiday boors who talk only of themselves and don't give a fig for others. Remember, some people may act strangely because they feel uncomfortable in a group, or because they lack basic social skills. Then again, they could simply hate you.



Surviving Thanksgiving, especially with the family, requires special skills. The pressure is on. You drive for hours in bumper to bumper traffic, and then--exhausted and irritable--you accidentally trip a half dozen landmines entering the parents' house. The dogs seethe with resentment. You drink to relax, and that helps up to a point, and then you flip on the game because it's Thanksgiving and you feel obligated to join the rest of your nation, but you quickly discover that football is just as boring as you remember it. You try. Giants on anabolic steroids collide in slow-mo, then again in instant replay, and you suddenly need another drink. Guests start arriving. Dogs are barking. Children are crying. The brothers-in-law are itching for trouble. Take a deep breath.


Perhaps you don't recognize yourself in these vignettes. Surely these are worst case scenarios. Then again, you may be in denial. Remember when all the relatives came over, the cousins and their significant others, who apparently hadn't eaten in weeks--how they ate you out of house and home, ransacked the liquor cabinet and the medicine chest, and then left with the pies? Remember when the kids gave each other black eyes, and their parents did the same? Remember when one brother-in-law said turkeys are the smartest animal on earth? When the other brother-in-law insisted you praise his new camera, and car, and selection of wine...that lyrical but not sarcastic Brunello di Montalcino? Remember when the drapes caught fire, and Dad ran off into the stormy night? Ah, Thanksgiving! It was like King Lear with leftovers.



Have a nice Thanksgiving! Good luck, too!

THANKSGIVING WITH THE BAND

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to bring out The Band. In spite of being 4/5ths Canadian, these brilliant musicians created a unique take on Americana, blending old time country, blues, gospel, and rock 'n' roll into a sound that was both timeless and resonant, a Memphis jukebox one moment, a tentshow revival the next, a killer bar band Saturday night, and when the smoke cleared Sunday morning, a motley crew of Civil War deserters playing tunes around a campfire. They told stories. They tended the still. They made great records, back when there was such a thing. They didn't warm to strangers right off, but once you got to know them they were right friendly folks. Now some of them are dead, and the rest are in rocking chairs. Drop by and say hello. Those rocking chairs won't go nowhere.

These clips are from The Last Waltz, a film of their final concert, Thanksgiving Day, 1976.



Starting out as the Hawks with Ronnie Hawkins, and later backing up Bob Dylan to jeering crowds on the 1966 tour (where the folkies were shocked by all the electricity), these scroungy old codgers holed up in Woodstock, New York, like the Dalton Gang. They licked their wounds and smoked their rope and practiced in the basement of a house in West Saugerties they called Big Pink, which would also be the title of their first album. These "basement tapes" were bootlegged, circulated, and discussed into the wee hours. Only a fraction were ever officially released (a double album in 1975) but the word was out; the rest of the rock world may have been plugging in to psychedelic paisley, but these boys were channeling the musical past--mining the ore of what rock critic Greil Marcus would call the "old, weird America."



Appropriately enough, their last official concert was Thanksgiving Day of the bicentennial year, 1976. As these clips show, The Band played their hearts out. Old friends showed up and played, too, including Dylan, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, The Staple Singers, Ringo and many others. Martin Scorsese filmed the night and turned it into a documentary called The Last Waltz. As I said, it was Thanksgiving, so along with brilliant musical performances guests were treated to a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Dylan brought a ton of salmon. Nobody left hungry.

The Band in "old, weird America"

Here's an added holiday treat--"All You Have to Do is Dream" (take 2), an unreleased "basement tape" with Dylan and the Band at Big Pink, 1967 (just click button):