Master of Disaster Meets Stoney End

Today's hot news and politics takes, plus new memoirs and music from Richard Thompson and Brandi Carlile. Linda Ronstadt does Laura Nyro as John Hiatt gets tangled in his Telecaster.

Sad to say, different people, at different stages of my life, have been known to inevitably call me “Mitch.” Enjoy what’s below anyway, then subscribe (it’s still free), comment or share.

News & Politics

Double jeopardy: Pair of AP headlines at same time last night. “Cuomo aide says he slammed door shut before groping her.” “Embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz to speak before pro-Trump women's group as scandal widens.”

The Onion: “17-Year-Old Asks Friend What It Means When Guy You Like Wants Blanket Pardon.” Stephen Colbert: “Gaetz asked for a blanket pardon. Oh, I don’t think the blanket wants a pardon, I think it wants to be burned — it’s seen too much.” Jimmy Kimmel: “The pardon request was reportedly seen as a nonstarter at the White House, which is saying a lot—considering Donald Trump once wanted to nuke a hurricane.”

Hundreds of sellers are offering false and stolen vaccine cards on Etsy, eBay, Facebook and Twitter, the NY Times reports. Sellers are asking "$20 to $60 each, with a discount on bundles of three or more. Laminated ones cost extra."

Amanda Gorman beciomes first poet on cover of Vogue this month—photographed by Annie Leibovitz, no less.

Good news: Biden will nominate David Chipman, an adviser to the gun control organization founded by Gabby Giffords, to lead the ATF. Also: Biden will direct the Justice Department today to tighten regulations on “ghost guns" — untraceable firearms assembled from kits — in a series of gun-violence actions in the Rose Garden in late morning.

L.A. Times: “Former Rep. Katie Hill loses first round in her lawsuit alleging revenge porn.”

The Daily Mail’s news gathering and publication of images depicting a nude Hill brushing another woman’s hair and holding a bong are protected by the 1st Amendment, and the content of the pictures was in the public interest because of Hill’s position as an elected official, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Orozco wrote in a decision that dismissed Hill’s case.

Mike Pence has signed a two-book deal, with a likely 7-figure advance, emphasizing his faith.

Nada to NARA: Twitter will not allow the National Archives to make Trump’s past tweets available on the social media platform.

From the great Steve Brodner at his Substack site:

Fun fact: Kentucky just became the only red state to expand voting rights in the wake of the 2020 election.

Today’s guest rant from Charlie Pierce over at Esquire, on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reported massive war chest for her no-contest 2022 campaign:

It’s a sign of a serious infection in the body politic that so many people are willing to send so much money to support the political career of a rattle-brained, backbench flibbertigibbet who most recently was raving about how "vaccine passports" were the president’s Mark of the Beast.

To use this to imply some political superpower is to write a serious music review of the drunk bellowing "Danny Boy" down by the docks. MTG is a charlatan and a nut, and she will be a charlatan and a nut no matter how much she can raise for her campaign, and how many people are willing to contribute to it. That the rubes in her district may re-elect her, and that rubes around the country love her act, is proof of nothing except that parts of the electorate have a limitless appetite for political geek shows. As the late Guy Clark put it, Lord, you’d think there’s less fools in this world.

CNN’s Oliver Darcy cites data: “Trump's statements simply fail to drive the narrative nowadays Even when he phones up his favorite propaganda channels, no one seems to pay attention. On Tuesday, he called into Newsmax. Most people probably have no idea that he did so….When he calls into Fox shows, the programs barely see a ratings bump the next day. No one seems to really care about what he has to say.”

Music

Died on this day in 1997: Singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, at age 50, from ovarian cancer. Here, above, is her “Stoney End” via Linda Ronstadt.

Books

Nice review of the Richard Thompson memoir (which I previewed a couple of times here) in today’s NY Times. What a week—with Brandi Carlile’s book also dropping. I should note that the RT song that gives this book its title, Beeswing, was inspired partly or largely by wild and amazing Brit folk singer Annie Briggs (more on her in a coming newsletter). From review below and then RT live doing the title track:

His early work — four years with Fairport Convention; 10 years with his first wife, Linda — has been gone over obsessively….The writing of this memoir was interrupted by the suicide of his co-author, Scott Timberg, in 2019. Yet Beeswing is wry, un-ponderous, anti-obligatory. Because the sound Thompson created with Fairport was rooted in centuries-old songs, he isn’t captive to ’60s clichés; and because British electric folk is off the classic-rock grid — as he ruefully observes, “The niche remained a niche” — the book’s period accent makes it feel fresh and exploratory.

And here’s Brandi with Colbert on Tuesday, below, when he convinced her to sing a bit of Joni’s “A Case of You.” Earlier she had revealed that on the morning of her baptism ceremony in local Baptist Church at age 16 the minister told her it was off—after he learned she was gay.

Film/TV

Wow, surprise news that Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson have been been cast in long-awaited Martin Scorsese film based on bestselling book Killers of the Flower Moon, along with couple other upstarts named DiCaprio and DeNiro. Isbell will play Bill Smith, the white husband of an Osage woman who is one of those murdered, while Simpson will play rodeo champion and bootlegger Henry Grammer.

Jon Stewart's show for Apple TV+ will debut in the fall, titled The Problem with Jon Stewart. Apple describes it as a "multiple season, one-hour, single-issue series which will explore topics that are currently part of the national conversation and his advocacy work." And with “a companion podcast to continue the discussion."

Song Pick of the Day

John Hiatt, “Master of Disaster,” enough said.

“Essential daily newsletter.” — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony