Patti Smith in Hiroshima, John Cale in LaLa Land

Plus today's cartoons!

Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl.” Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. At Blue Sky and Twitter: as @gregmitch. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.

Special treat last night on John Mulaney’s live Netflix show with the great John Cale and Maggie Rogers sitting on the couch and chatting a bit, then performing John’s recent “Shark Shark” which not only recalls the Velvet Underground in music but with a video display behind them harkening back to the VU shows of, say, 1967. The clip has not been posted yet (I’m sure we’ll have it tomorrow) but here they were on the couch.

Now today’s fun headlines, cartoons down below:

Tesla Board Opened Search for a CEO to Succeed Elon Musk

White House Launches Its Own Drudge Report, Prompting Slap Back From Drudge

Last night’s Colbert monologue:

Joke going around: “William Henry Harrison had a better first 100 days than Trump, and he spent 70 of them dead.”

Given my focus on the atomic bombings for, oh, decades, I was happy to see that Cale’s old pal, Patti Smith, got to Hiroshima this week and appeared with an aged survivor of the bombing and even recited her “People Have the Power.” Here’s an excerpt from coverage and then her recitation there:

Smith, 78, shared memories of her deceased father, who served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, and was sent to the Philippines and New Guinea. "When the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, my father cried. When I was little, he explained to me about the bomb and the terrible destruction. I wanted to come here and ask for forgiveness, on behalf of my father," Smith said.

After the talk, Smith recited "People Have the Power," which has become an anthem for democratic movements around the world. During a Q&A session, an audience member, who said they had been joining nightly protests before the Atomic Bomb Dome in the peace park to show solidarity with Palestinians, asked what people can do to take action toward a better world.

Referring to the Israeli military's invasion into Gaza, Smith said, "This is not war, but destruction on people.

As for me, I first uncovered the story of the U.S. suppressing the most important footage of the aftermath of the atomic bombings in 1982 and wrote numerous articles, and a U.S. book about it much later. Then directed a multi-award winning film with same title three years ago. And this week received in the mail copies of the book now at last in a Japan hardback edition.

Thursday’s Cartoons

For May Day today: