Never Forget...Pay It Forward

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

The tenth anniversary of the horrific mass murder of students at a high school campus in Colorado was marked by memorial services that were highly publicized by the media. There was footage of the memorial services but there were also images of that horrible day on April 20, 1999...a replay of the event that many of us are trying to forget.

I have mixed emotions about this.

One part of me wants to remember these events so we never forget to take steps that will keep this from happening again. The other part of me...the cynical part...tells me that the media shows replays these horrible events to capture better ratings.

There's one huge reason that I really don't want to see replays of these events on television. I remember clearly that in this event, and events like it, that the killers left notes and video to the effect that they would be famous for this. It seems like they got their wish.

The names of the killers seem to be as prominent as the victims and that's very wrong. Every year on this date their heinous crime is drudged back up and their notoriety as one of the biggest mass murderers in history is confirmed. They got their wish. Their famous.

While it certainly is appropriate to have private memorial services for the victims so their families remember their loved ones... I wish the constant replay of the tragedy would stop. Because you know that somewhere some people are getting ideas that, in a perverse way, they can be famous too and their name will be remembered forever.

As an alternative each of us on an individual level need to make it our resolve to be more inclusive and tolerant of other people to make sure these events don't happen again. In other words, treat people like you would want to be treated. It's a simple concept, I know. But it works.

Flipper To The Rescue

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

When I was a kid one of my favorite television shows was Flipper. Every Saturday night my brother and I would gather around our TV with some half burnt Jiffy Pop and watch the adventures of Flipper. Flipper was like Lassie except he wasn't a dog and he didn't have to fetch Timmy out of the well every week.

Flipper was a dolphin who always seemed to have this perpetual grin on his face. Not like a happy grin...it was more like a sarcastic "I'm more smarter and developed than you humans" grin.

And Flipper was always into way more cool stuff than Lassie. Like thwarting drug or gun running smugglers off the Florida keys and he would always wear these pink and teal clothes. Oh wait, that was the other show from Florida..Miami Vice.

I was thinking about Flipper this weekend because I read this story about thousands of dolphins blocking suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden.

The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of the water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China boats.

The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. They had no choice. The spectacular scene continued for a while.

China initiated its three-ship escort task force on Dec. 26 last year after the United Nations Security Council called on countries to patrol gulf and waters off Somalia, one of the world's busiest marine routes, where surging piracy endangered intercontinental shipping.

China's first fleet has escorted 206 vessels, including 29 foreign merchant vessels, and successfully rescued three foreign merchant ships from pirate attacks. About 20 percent of Chinese merchant ships passing through the waters off Somalia were attacked by pirates from January to November in 2008, before the task force was deployed. A total of seven ships, either owned by China or carrying Chinese cargo and crew, were hijacked.

Of course, this whole incident with the dolphins got my wheels to turning. You just know that some Hollywood executive is pitching a new Flipper movie this morning about the dolphin and his friends standing down a crew of Somalia Pirates lead by Johnny Depp.

Or better yet somebody at the Defense Department is putting together a team of dolphins to run interference for our cargo ships...It could happen.

Another Misuse of Taxpayers Money

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

I read this week in my local paper, The Los Angeles Register of Orange County, that the Orange County Transportation Authority spent $95,802 on travel and conference expenses for its board members over the past three years, according to agency documents - including $300-a-night hotel rooms in New York City and $975-per-person conference fees to join a group of Southern California officials trying to secure transportation spending in Washington, D.C.

One board member spent $24,017. taking 14 trips requiring air travel to places like New York, Miami, Washington D.C., Toronto, Portland and Sacramento. While in New York this board member stayed at the Le Parker Meridien hotel for $300 a night.

Another board member took seven trips requiring air travel - including Washington D.C. and New York - with bills totaling $16,575. On one of those rating-agency trips, he stayed at the five-star, $300-a night New York Palace hotel, which bills itself “An icon of Manhattan splendor, The New York Palace seamlessly blends old world elegance with new world opulence…. known for its luxurious hotel accommodations, spectacular views, spacious rooms, and unparalleled service.” This member also traveled to Washington with the Orange County Business Council to lobby for better transportation funding and planning; registration fees alone were $975 in 2007 and $700 in 2008.

Another board member made 14 trips requiring air travel and expenses of $13,997. She too went on rating agency trips to New York and advocacy trips to Washington D.C., as well as many runs to Sacramento for hearings and meetings with legislators. (She was chair and vice-chair at the time.)

OCTA is the transportation czar for Orange County, CA overseeing billions in highway, road and rail projects. It recently increased bus fares and cut bus routes to deal with budget problems, and plans to cut its travel and conference budget by 10 percent next year.

Art Brown is on the Metrolink advisory board, and is the board’s authority person on rail issues. He defended his excessive traveling expense by saying It’s extremely important for him to stay current on the latest developments and update his colleagues. “The board relies on me to give explanations on how it’s going to fit in the grand scheme for rail safety and better service,” Brown said. “It’s important to make decisions based on fact.”

Most of the trips are probably necessary to secure funds for the Transportation District. But is it really necessary to spend taxpayers money on five star hotels and first class travel accomodations?

I feel it would be more fitting, since they are spending taxpayers money, to take the most economical way of getting to their destination. When they get to their destination they should be staying at the most economical motel like a Motel 6 or a relatives house. And whenever possible they need to take public transportation to their meeting.

When traveling in state to places like Los Angeles or Sacramento...the board members need to take a train. When going to and from their living accomodations they need to take public transportation. They are afterall making recommendations on a transportation system. What better way to get ideas for recommendations than by actually riding a bus or light rail or train.

Also, many of these seminars these board members go to probably do not require traveling anyway. I attend several "webinars" a year from my laptop. And I'm sure there is a way to access most of these meetings without actually being there.

Let's call this what it is. It's an abuse and misappropriation of taxpayers money and it needs to stop now.

The Bird Was The Word

Mark Fidrych, whose aw-shucks charm and colorful on-the-mound antics helped make him a national phenomenon with the Detroit Tigers in 1976, was killed in an accident while working on his dump truck at his Northborough farm. He was 54.

Fidrych, who won 19 games as a rookie in ’76 but had his pitching career abbreviated by injuries, was found dead by his friend Joseph Amorello beneath his 10-wheel truck at about 2:30 p.m. State police detectives are investigating the circumstances of the accident, said Worcester Country District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Fidrych, who worked in trucking and construction since his baseball career ended in 1983, had a job scheduled for this morning, but the site wasn’t ready, so he returned home. Later in the day, Amorello, the owner of the A.F. Amorello & Sons construction company for which Fidrych often worked, stopped by Fidrych’s home to say hello and discuss an upcoming job, only to encounter a gruesome scene.

Neither the district attorney’s office nor the Northborough Police Department would confirm further details of the accident. Reached via cell phone tonight, Amorello said, ‘‘It was obvious there was nothing I could do at that time.’’

Fidrych’s baseball legacy is as one of its more memorable and enjoyable shooting stars in the sport’s history. In 1976 -- less than two full years after the Tigers selected the lanky righthander in the 10th round of the 1974 amateur draft out of Worcester Academy -- Fidrych made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster out of spring training as a non-roster invitee.

With his out-of-nowhere success, affable grin and unkempt curls -- he was nicknamed ‘‘The Bird,’’ after the Sesame Street character to whom he bore a resemblance -- it wasn’t long before the 21-year-old had an enormous following.

Fidrych’s starts soon became must-see events -- he appeared on the covers of ‘‘Sports Illustrated’’ (once with Big Bird) and ‘‘Rolling Stone,’’ among others. But his newfound celebrity did not hinder him on the mound.

He went 19-7 as a rookie, leading the league in earned-run average (2.34) and complete games (24). He was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game, won the AL Rookie of the Year Award, and finished second to the Orioles’ Jim Palmer in the AL Cy Young voting.

Fidrych’s star-making moment came June 28 against the New York Yankees. In a nationally televised game on ABC’s ‘‘Monday Night Baseball’’ and in front of a crowd of 47,855 at Tiger Stadium, Fidrych pitched a complete-game seven-hitter, allowing just one run in the Tigers’ 5-1 victory. Strutting around the mound, talking to the baseball, and always engaging the crowd, he received a prolonged ovation after the final out, eventually returning to the field to acknowledge the raucous cheers.

But his success in the majors was fleeting. He tore knee cartilage while chasing fly balls in the outfield during spring training in 1977 and was placed on the disabled list. While compensating for the knee problem, he sustained a serious shoulder injury in July that season and never fully recovered. He won just 10 big league games after his rookie year.

Fidrych attempted a comeback in 1983 with the Red Sox, pitching for Triple A Pawtucket. He retired at age 29 following the season with a 29-19 record and a 3.10 ERA in parts of five major league seasons.

He settled in Northborough, marrying his wife, Ann, in 1986. He lived on a 107-acre farm, and owned his own trucking company for a time. Friends say he remained as beloved in his hometown as he was in Detroit during the heady summer of ’76.

‘‘Mark was still very popular everywhere,’’ Amorello said. ‘‘We rented his truck from time to time, and he would work on our crews [at our contruction] company. People would still stop him all the time asking for an autograph or picture, and he was always patient, nice and humble.

‘‘You’d never have known he was an ex-ballplayer by the way he carried himself. The guy had a million friends.’’

Sometimes, Amorello said, his past profession would have an impact on his present one.
‘‘He did a ton of charity work. Every once in a while he’d have to ask for day off to go to some event, always for some good cause here or there. We’d give him a hard time about him losing his spot [on the work crew], that we were putting him at the bottom of the pecking order, but it was all in good fun.’’

Sometimes the fun was at Fidrych’s expense -- particularly when he was on the dance floor. Amorello and his wife, Nancy, both laughed at the recollection of their friend doing what they dubbed ‘‘The Fidrych Dance’’ at a wedding.

‘‘Oh, he thought he was dancing, but it was horrible,’’ said Nancy Amorello recalled. ‘‘He’d be flailing his legs, limbs flying everywhere, leaving five or six people with a bruise.

‘‘That was Mark Fidrych, though. The life of the party. A hell of a guy.’’

Chad Finn wrote this article for the Boston Globe.

Baseball Loses It's Voice

By Michael Hiestand and Mel Antonen

Harry Kalas, an iconic Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster and NFL Films narrator, died Monday after collapsing in the broadcast booth before the Phillies game in Washington. He was 73.

Harry Kalas was one of a kind: A famous local broadcaster in one sport even as his voice starred in another.

Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, hired Kalas in 1975 after hearing his baritone Philadelphia Phillies calls. "People back then would ask, 'Why is the NFL using someone who does baseball?' But he was only known for baseball in Philly. Now he's known for football narration all over the world."

Kalas, says Sabol, was meant to counterbalance NFL Films narrator John Facenda who was "the voice of God while Harry was the voice of the people" but also had unusual "resonance and crisp articulation." Sabol recalls Kalas, on an early NFL Films syndicated show, reading a tricky plug from the show's first sponsor, Red Devil Caulking. "It was, say, 175 words in 15 seconds. What could have been a jumbled mess came out perfect."

Kalas, who voiced highlights for Inside the NFL since 1977, also lent his gifted pipes to TV ads. "He could sell anything with that voice," Sabol said. "But he never sold himself. He was always very modest."

Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer, who grew up listening to Kalas, asked, "When you think of NFL Films, whose voice do you think of? When you think of the Phillies, whose voice do you think of? It's sad."

Added Phillies manager Charlie Manuel: "I loved listening to Harry."

"We lost our voice today," team President David Montgomery said.

Kalas, who had surgery in February for an undisclosed ailment, had been a team announcer since 1971. Known for his "Outta here!" home run call, he also had done NFL Films' voiceovers since 1975. NFL Films President Steve Sabol called Kalas "the narrator of our memories."

A moment of silence was held before the game, which the Phillies decided to play. "We know how our man would have voted," Montgomery said. "Harry would have wanted us to play."

But it wasn't easy to play, outfielder Shane Victorino and pitcher Jamie Moyer said.

When Victorino homered in the Phillies' 9-8 victory against the Nationals, he pointed to the booth where Kalas would have been.

Moyer, who grew up listening to Kalas, said, "Harry was legendary. ... I have a lot of memories of Harry."

Ex-Phillies star Mike Schmidt, who got his "Michael Jack" nickname from Kalas' call of his 500th homer in 1987, said, "He'll go down as one of the top two or three ever to grace a microphone."

Kalas, the son of a Methodist minister, threw out the first pitch at the Phillies' opener. But ex-MLB star Jim Kaat was "not surprised" at his friend Kalas' death: "He was not in good health."

Kalas was discovered by the Phillies director of broadcasting about 12:30 p.m. and taken to a local hospital, Montgomery said.

There was a moment of silence for the Hall of Famer before the game, which the Phillies decided to play and won 9-8 against the Washington Nationals.

"We know how our man would have voted," Montgomery said. "Harry would have wanted us to play."

Kalas joined the Phillies in 1971. Before that, he was a member of the Houston Astros' broadcast team from 1965-70. In 2002, he received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for his contributions to the game.

"Players come and go, but 'Outta here!' — that's forever," said Scott Franzke, a Phillies radio broadcaster.

"He passed away in the place he loved the most – the broadcast booth. I hope he's in a better place," siad Phillies pitcher Brett Myers.

Kalas lent his sonorous voice to everything from puppies to soup. He was the voice for Chunky Soup commercials and Animal Planet's annual tongue-in-cheek Super Bowl competitor, the Puppy Bowl.

Kalas joined the Phillies radio and TV broadcast team the year the club moved into its former home, Veterans Stadium, replacing fan favorite Bill Campbell.

"Major League Baseball has lost one of the great voices of our generation," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "Baseball announcers have a special bond with their audience, and Harry represented the best of baseball not only to the fans of the Phillies, but to fans everywhere."

The Naperville, Ill., native graduated from the University of Iowa in 1959 with a degree in speech, radio and television. He was drafted into the Army soon after he graduated.

In 1961, he became sports director at Hawaii radio station KGU and also broadcast games for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League and the University of Hawaii.

A statement was issued by the family: "The Kalas family is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection from all of Harry's fans and friends cross America. Especially the Phillies fans whom he loved as much as the game of baseball itself."

Piracy And Failed States

Somali piracy has raised a troubling question: can a Superpower cope with the consequences of states that fail? Tuesday, on the To the Point radio show, the pirates have promised to fight fire with fire. Would depriving them of on-shore sanctuaries lead to another Blackhawk Down? Are terrorists reaping the profits of asymmetrical warfare?

Hosted by news veteran Warren Olney, To the Point is a fast-paced, news based one-hour daily national program that focuses on the hot-button issues of the day, co-produced by KCRW radio in Los Angeles and Public Radio International.

Listen and participate live daily at www.kcrw.com or via Bosco Radio News and Information. The link is in the sidebar. The program starts at 12 Noon PST/3 PM EST

Still Sounding and Looking Sharp

Joe Jackson
Live At The BBC
Universal Music
Five Tablespoons of Bosco

Reviewed by Eddie Thomas

Probably the most successful and certainly talented pop star to have used the surname Jackson without being related to Michael (as far as I’m aware anyway!), Joe Jackson was one of the most notable figures in the New Wave scene which swept all before it in the wake of punk rock.

It is in fact rather unfortunate that most people remember him primarily for his enormous hit single “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” which took radio by storm on both sides of the Atlantic, as the two records he issued in 1979, “Look Sharp” and “I’m The Man” contain about twenty of the finest rock compositions of the era.

This double CD retrospective covers his appearances on various live BBC shows and sessions, and reinforces what fans will already be aware of; that in terms of both his own virtuosity and that of his band, he was miles apart from the rest of the music scene at the time. Really it was only The Police who could come close to Joe and co’s talents.

This is certainly reflected on the performances here; the live readings of the songs are note-perfect from the album versions and beautifully rendered. Fans will revel in the 32 tracks on here; for me, though, the really exciting stuff is the four tracks from 1979, his vintage year, which reminded me just how special Jackson was. Absolutely excellent stuff!

English-born Joe Jackson grew up in the South Coast naval port city of Portsmouth . A skinny, asthmatic kid, he loved books and originally wanted to be a writer. At age 11, he joined a school violin class and found himself fascinated by music. Jackson soon switched to piano in order to compose, and within a few years, he was writing songs and leaning towards pop.

At 18, Jackson earned a scholarship to study composition, piano, and percussion at London ’s Royal Academy of Music. By the time he left the Academy, Jackson was the co-leader and songwriter of Arms and Legs, a proto-punk outfit which released two singles on the MAM label before disbanding around 1976.

By 1978, Joe was living in London and hawking an album-length demo titled Look Sharp. David Kershenbaum, American producer and talent scout for A&M Records, signed Jackson immediately and re-recorded the album for release in January 1979. The album was followed within a year by the very similar I’m the Man, and in 1980, by the darker, more reggae-influenced Beat Crazy. At the end of 1980, Jackson decided to dissolve the band and try something new.

In 1981, Jackson recorded Jumpin’ Jive, a “musical vacation” paying tribute to swing and jump blues artists such as Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway.

Returning to songwriting, Joe spent a large chunk of 1982 in New York City . The result was Night and Day, a more sophisticated and melodic record built around keyboards and Latin percussion. With a new guitar-less band, Jackson hit the road for a year and the album became his biggest success, going platinum in the US . During the tour, Jackson also wrote his first film score for James Bridges’ Mike’s Murder.

Remaining in NYC, Jackson ’s next album, Body and Soul (1984), featured a horn section. For Big World (1986), Jackson stripped everything down to a 4-piece again, and recorded live direct to 2-track master. In 1989, he went in the opposite direction with the majestic, semi-autobiographical Blaze of Glory, and toured with an 11-piece band. Laughter and Lust (1991) was more of a mainstream rock record.

A lengthy world tour left Jackson exhausted and at a creative dead end. His workaholic phase-which included endless touring, several film scores, a live album (Live 1980-86), an instrumental album (Will Power, 1987), guest appearances with Suzanne Vega, Ruben Blades, and Joan Armatrading-was over.

Jackson’s work during the 1990s was his most challenging and eclectic-the gentle, soul-searching Night Music (1994), the innovative song-cycle based on the Seven Deadly Sins in Heaven and Hell (1997), and the album Jackson considers his best, Night and Day II (2000). The turn of the century saw a burst of creativity. Jackson earned his first Grammy Award in the category of Best Pop Instrumental Album and published his book, A Cure for Gravity, which he describes as “a book about music thinly disguised as a memoir.”

In 2003, Jackson astonished everyone by re-forming his original band to record and tour for the album, Volume 4. The reunion was always intended as a one-album effort, but also produced a live album, Afterlife, in 2004.

In the last few years, Jackson has been awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Academy of Music, and an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Portsmouth . He currently lives in London , and has been working on Stoker, a theatre project about Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula.

In January 2008, Jackson released Rain, which features ten new songs performed on his last two tours. As on those tours, Jackson plays piano and sings lead vocals with the rhythm section of his original band.

Eddie Thomas is a writer for Subba-Culture.com and wrote the review. Bio from Joejackson.com

The Age of Too Much Stuff

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

I was having lunch with a friend this week and the subject came up about our kids and how they tend to forget stuff. Like leaving their skateboard helmets or Cel Phones places. My friend asked me if I had that problem when I was a kid.

My first reaction was no...I was very responsible. I never left or forgot stuff. Then I quickly caught myself. I didn't have that much stuff to carry or lose when I was young. Not like today's average tween.

Life was much simpler when I was a youngster. If I was going skateboarding...all I had to remember to take with me was one thing...my skateboard. We didn't have cel phones so I didn't have to take and remember that. When I got thirsty, I drank water out of a water fountain at the school...so I didn't need to take a water bottle. There were no rules about wearing helmets...so I didn't have to take or remember that. Heck we didn't even wear pads...so we didn't have to remember that either. Didn't need a bag to carry my skateboard and gear so didn't have to remember that. Didn't have video cameras to record our skateboarding adventures so didn't have to remember to bring one back.

And that's just for skateboarding...Don't even get me started on a bicycle trip to the beach.

This is not to say that all this stuff we ask our kids to take and bring back with them isn't cool. I would have loved to have these things when I was young. All I am is saying is maybe parents need to be a little more patient if a skateboard pad or a cel phone gets left behind every once in awhile. It's a lot of stuff to remember for a kid. It's a lot of stuff to remember for an adult.

The most important things about responsibility...like checking in from time to time to let us know they are ok or if they are going to be a little late...don't have stuff attached to it.

That is unless they lose their cel phone and can't make that phone call.

When Tragedy Hits Close To Home

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

I've been thinking a lot about Nick Adenhart this week.

Nick Adenhart, 22, was killed earlier this week in my hometown of Fullerton, CA when a drunk driver ran a red light and plowed into a car with the Los Angeles Angel Pitcher and three of his friends. Two of Nick's friends died in the accident and one is hanging on to his life. The drunk driver tried to run away from the scene but was eventually caught and arrested.

This effected a lot of people on many different levels.

I personally flashed back to 30 years ago when I was a little younger than Nick and ironically coming back from an Angel Baseball game. I found myself at the same intersection. Orangethorpe and Lemon...where Nick and his friends died. I got the green light and I was instinctively going to go across the intersection when out of the corner of my eye I saw a big Buick going around 60 miles an hour with no intentions of stopping...as it went through the intersection. My life could have been cut short on that April night in 1979 if I had not been alert.

The age of 22 is way too young to exit this life. I think of all the wonderful experiences and friendships and places I've been in the past 30 years. Nick and his friends are not going to be able to experience and enjoy any of those things. All because some guy took one too many drinks and thought he could drive a car...or nobody was there to stop the drunken guy from getting into the car...or nobody wanted to take the keys away from this killer.

My son is the same age as Nick. I cannot even imagine the feeling of loss and emptiness that Nick's family is feeling right now. Our sons are still babies...they're too young. These things should never happen. It is totally preventable.

I want to urge everyone that reads this to be proactive. If you have a friend or acquaintence that you see has had too much to drink....take their keys and get them a cab. If you're out with a group of your friends having drinks...offer to be the designated driver. If you are a bartender or a bar owner and you see somebody leaving your establishment by themselves that's been drinking stop them from getting in the car. Anything. The life you save may be your own.

For more information on how you can become proactive when it comes to drinking and driving and how you can save lives...go to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving website at www.madd.org

Elvis Costello Gets Back To The Country

By Lisa McKay

Elvis Costello, as musically restless as he's ever been, is set to launch a new album on June 2. Titled Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, the album is produced by T-Bone Burnett, whose relationship with Costello goes back some way, Burnett having produced 1986's King of America and 1989's Spike. Costello is joined on the new album by "some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, bluegrass and beyond," according to his official website.

Having established his credentials early on with his debut album, My Aim Is True (1977), Costello remains one of the most persistently adventurous musicians on the modern scene. Not content to rest on his reputation, recent years have seen the chameleon-like Costello record an album of jazz ballads (North), continue in a more "traditional" rock vein with his regular band, The Imposters (The Delivery Man, Momofuku), compose a classical orchestral work (Il Sogno) based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and launch a cable TV talk show. He maintains a heavy touring schedule (including appearing with the Police on the final leg of their 2007/2008 reunion tour) and will launch a tour to support Secret, Profane & Sugarcane in June.

Ten of the 13 songs on the new album are previously unrecorded. Two of them ("Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line") were co-written with Burnett and one ("I Felt The Chill") was co-written with Loretta Lynn. This album is the first since King of America to be rooted primarily in acoustic music, although it's not Costello's first involvement with American country music, the influence of which can be heard in a good deal of his other work (not to mention his album of country covers, Almost Blue).

The musicians on the album, dubbed "The Sugarcanes", will be joining Costello on the tour. Preliminary dates can be found on the official website.

Lisa McKay is a writer for Blog Critics Magazine. More reviews and previews at blogcritics.org

Q&A: The Science of Being Michel Gondry

Film Director Michel Gondry will be Guest DJ on Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning playing music that inspire his filmmaking. The show starts at 9 AM PST/Noon EST and can be heard live on kcrw.com or via Bosco Radio Music in our sidebar.

By Keith Phipps

Michel Gondry started his career making handmade fantasies for popular performers: As an in-demand video director, he worked with everyone from Björk to The White Stripes to Beck to The Rolling Stones. He made the move to features in 2001 with the underrated, barely released Human Nature, scripted by Charlie Kaufman. They collaborated again, to wider acclaim, on 2004's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, which won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their script with Pierre Bismuth. In 2006, two very different Gondry films offered further proof that his sensibility could work at feature-length: the dreamy, melancholy romantic fantasy The Science Of Sleep and the exuberant concert film Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

Chappelle was originally attached to Gondry's latest film, Be Kind Rewind, but he stepped away from the project. Like Block Party, it settles mostly on a single city block. There, Danny Glover runs a video/thrift store/Fats Waller museum, which the city is threatening to close. While Glover is away, the store's all-VHS film collection is accidentally erased, leaving manager Mos Def and local character Jack Black to keep the store afloat by remaking all the films with themselves as the stars. When The A.V. Club spoke to Gondry during a Chicago stop, he made it clear that he thought self-produced entertainment would be a fine idea.

Q: This film largely takes place in a video store. Do you have a history with video-store culture?

Michel Gondry: No, not at all. In fact, it's more about… Of course it talks about that, but I don't want to get into a specific relationship. I have a video store next to my apartment in Paris, and they still have most of their videos on VHS. A lot of people think Be Kind Rewind is set in the past because they just wipe this reality out of their head, but it is true that there are a lot of movies that don't exist on DVD. But I'm not like a big movie buff. I like more the idea of… It's not a mere video store, it's a sort of a thrift store. In fact, he just collects his videos from the garbage. That's how Danny Glover's character made his collection. But it's more about the life of a little town, and its different communities.

Q: Was this inspired by directing Dave Chappelle's Block Party?

MG: Yeah, completely. I had this concept for years, this kid who would remake these movies. It sort of fuses this idea I've had for years, believing that people could create their own entertainment and they would enjoy it better, because they are in it. And the film would not have to be technically achieved, because it's like watching a home movie. You don't watch it for the technique, you watch because it's reminiscing on good moments you spent with your friends. It reflects you. It belongs to you. So I was thinking people could, instead of spending their money to go and see a blockbuster, make their own movies. Collect the money and make a new one every week. I thought it would be nice to create a world that makes this construct possible.

And the thing about Dave Chappelle, Chappelle was intrigued, interested in this project for a while, and he mentioned a couple of films that we did remake: Driving Miss Daisy, Rush Hour 2, that was his idea… Boyz N The Hood as well. Which made me feel legitimate talking about some issues. I would be a little shy bringing up racial issues. But having worked with him and having him on my side made me feel, "Okay, I could talk about that. It's fine." I met Mos Def through him. I started to be more socially interested, and [interested] in using film to be a little more aware of the world. It's the first time I'm talking about something outside of the brain.

Q: There's a line there about people becoming "stockholders of their own happiness," and it seems like ultimately people in this world will get that from making their own entertainment. At the same time, it's at least partially about people forming emotional connections to big Hollywood blockbusters. Is that just a stepping-stone for these characters to making their own film?

MG: Yes, you're right, I'm not judging the films. People make these connections through a film, or because they know them. But the fact that they erase them and have to start from scratch, I think that's an important point. A lot of kids, when they have a camera, have tended to do remakes of existing films. You have a lot of kids that make Star Wars. And I think that's creativity, but not as much creativity as starting from scratch.

It's important in the story that there's a parallel between what's happening in the film and what happened in the past with rent parties, which were very real. Fats Waller became the great musician he was through those parties. When someone could not afford the rent for one month, they'd make a party. You'd bring a dollar, and there would be a piano contest all night long. People making their own entertainment, that's exactly what it is.

Q: When you were doing your versions of films, did you have to resist making them too inventive, or something these characters couldn't realistically create?

MG: Well, a little bit, but I pretty much indulged myself. There are a couple of scenes involving cars and big photocopies… Even to do the black and white: The camera we built that you see in the film was a VHS camera with the strings. [Black and Def make a camera that simulates scratched-up film stock. —ed.] That's the camera we used to do all the Fats Waller scenes, but it's pretty unrealistic that somebody would do that. It ended up being heavier than the film camera.

But I kind of like the idea of taking a concept and going all the way with it, even if it's not completely plausible. It's something that I like about making movies. You have a concept that maybe would not work in real life, but you can make it work in the world you're creating.

Q: Eternal Sunshine is at least partly concerned with who controls a personal past, and how we interpret it. Is it fair to say that this explores some of the same themes on a cultural level?

MG: Maybe, but I was not really aware of it. Some people make connections between things getting erased in each film, but that's just one action that's similar. To me, it's really about people creating their own entertainment. It's more about people coming out of their home and doing something together. That was what important.

Of course, it is a comment on the idea that people fabricate what you are supposed to like, and to spend your spare time [caring about]. I find it particularly shocking that people work all week long, and then on the weekend they give their money to another big corporation. I remember reading an interview with Walt Disney, and he said how he got the idea to create Disney World. He saw his grandson playing in the sand in a little park, and he assumed he was bored. And he said he could provide him a better alternative. But what you get is, you go in this park and you spend time to queue, you have a little bit of entertainment, and then basically they try to get your money. And I truly believe his grandson was having a great time when he was playing with the sand.

When I was young, I would stay in my backyard and I would create roads and tunnels and systems. My uncle had a sawmill, and we had all sorts of pieces of wood, and we'd create a city. I truly believe that kids enjoy the box better than the car or the toy that's inside. So many times during Christmas, watching a kid, or even myself… There is excitement toward your toy, but then you put the toy on the side and something is created with the package. It's a very American thing that everything has to be a business. Americans think… I like America, or I would not be here. There are great qualities to this country. But this sense that everything has to be a business is sometimes overwhelming.

Q: Are you heartened at all by YouTube? That would seem to connect with some of the themes of this film.

MG: A little bit. I think the tools were always available, for decades and decades, to make your own film and be creative. I don't think [people had] to wait for YouTube to do this type of small project. YouTube, I think it's great. And actually, I'm going to do something for them. They're going to give me a camera and I'm going to shoot Sundance. And I do post my stupid little things, my solving a Rubik's with my nose, or whatever. But it's very vain. Because I know if I do something smart, I'm going to have a lot of hits. And I have this idiotic satisfaction. And I think there's a bit of that in YouTube. You share, true, but it's centralized, and it's already sort of controlled. I'm more for something that's not a centralized medium. Like doing your own film and screening it yourself. You cannot control people doing that.

Q: People use the word "whimsical" a lot to describe your work. The last time you talked to us, you spoke of the negativity you shared with Charlie Kaufman. Do you find those sensibilities in conflict in your work?

MG: No, I am not as pessimistic as Charlie. We have this pessimism we share. I wanted to make a feel-good comedy. But not really like Frank Capra. More like the Italians, like Vittorio De Sica, the more socialist [filmmakers]. Some of the American comedies are very conservative. They feel good. And they're great. But if you look at what's being said, it's really very, very conservative. [De Sica's] Miracle In Milan is a great film about this community of homeless people that create their own system. And there is an angel that comes to help them. At heart, it's really about the people. It's not about the bank or some corporation. It's really about the people.

Q: This is your second film entirely from your own screenplay. Could you go back to collaborating with another writer?

MG: Yeah, I'm going to work with Dan Clowes. After Charlie Kaufman, it's hard to fill up the gap. It's hard to find somebody who… A lot of writers, I can clearly see the desire of succeeding before the desire of expressing themselves. Sometimes people get upset when you want to be different. You were talking about "whimsical," which is a nice word. But sometimes they use the word "quirky" in the pejorative sense. I get frustrated, because they feel like I'm doing whatever I want, and there is no ground, and I don't really care. They feel it's cynical. But I don't think I have any cynicism in me. And if I had some at some point… I hate cynicism. I wipe it from me. I don't like cynical people. I don't like cynical movies. Cynicism is very easy. You don't have to justify it. You don't have to fight for it.

This interview along with many other interviews with film directors is found at avclub.com

The Future of USA-Cuba Relations

President Obama’s unveiled his “new strategy” toward Fidel and Raul Castro’s Cuba, relaxing travel standards but maintaining the trade embargo. Wednesday, on the To the Point radio program, will direct talks be next? Are there divisions between Cuban-Americans with political influence in Florida?

Hosted by Warren Olney, To the Point is a fast-paced, news based one-hour daily national program that focuses on the hot-button issues of the day, co-produced by KCRW and Public Radio International.

The show can be heard daily on your favorite public radio program, www.kcrw.com or link throgh Bosco Radio News and Information starting at 12 PM PST/3 PM EST. The link is in the Daily Bosco sidebar.

The Pentagon And Cold War Arms

The Obama Administration wants to get past the Cold War. Will the Pentagon go along? Tuesday, on the To the Point radio program, the F-22 fighter costs $350 million a plane but has not flown a single mission in Iraq or Afghanistan. Will Congress insist that it and other systems be continued? Is this the wrong time to talk about job cuts?

To the Point hosted by news veteran Warren Olney can be heard daily on your favorite public radio station. Also link to the show via Bosco Radio News and Information beginning at 12 Noon PST/ 3 PM EST. The link is in our sidebar.

This show is now archived and can be heard at www.kcrw.com.

Photo: John Possino/Lockheed Martin

Closing The Clinic: A 60 Minute Report

The economic crisis is hurting society's most vulnerable. For some people these days - especially cancer patients - losing a job and health insurance could mean losing life-saving care as cash-strapped public hospitals are forced to cut critical charity care.

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley reports from Las Vegas, where cancer sufferers were recently told the county hospital would no longer provide outpatient cancer treatments, leaving uninsured patients searching for help.

Pelley's story will be broadcast tonight at 7 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.

Helen Sharp, 63, has been battling lymphoma for eight months. Her illness prevents her from working, she has no health insurance and she has relied on charity chemotherapy provided by the county hospital, University Medical Center in Las Vegas. She was one of 2,000 patients told recently that UMC’s outpatient chemotherapy was ending. "I don't want to die. I shouldn't have to die," she tells Pelley. "This is a county hospital…for people that, like me…have lost their insurance [and do not] have any other resources," says Sharp.

Sharp called private cancer treatment centers on a list provided by UMC to ask for help. "One drug is almost $50,000…Who can afford that?" she wonders. After weeks of uncertainty, Sharp was admitted to UMC and given chemotherapy under an exception for inpatients.

Roy Scales, a laid-off security guard, has spent months searching for treatment for his lung cancer. "Where am I going to find help? I am messing with a disease that will kill you." He called the private cancer centers on UMC's list and, of the 25 he estimated he called, none would accept payment from a county medical assistance program. Asked what he was going to do, Scales answers, "Die peacefully." After finally consulting a doctor, he has entered a hospice.

Sharp, Scales and others like them are the indirect victims of a slowdown in tourism revenues in Las Vegas that have greatly impacted Nevada's ability to fund programs like UMC's outpatient cancer clinic. UMC's budget lost $21 million overnight, says its CEO, Kathy Silver.

"The hardest hit area for us was the Medicaid budget. We were already…budgeted to lose $51 million….that brought our loss… to $72 million," she says. She has been forced to choose among programs, keeping the ones unique to her facility, like trauma care, and cutting others, such as the outpatient oncology clinic, that are duplicated at private hospitals.

It's bad news for all involved. "The financial situation that we find ourselves in caused us to make some decisions…all of us…would rather have not made," she tells Pelley. "I think this is happening to some degree, probably, in every public hospital across the country," says Silver.

Also on tonight's 60 Minutes will be an investigation into torture in Iran and an interview with Dolly Parton.

60 Minutes can be viewed on your local CBS affiliate on Sundays at 7 PM. Also link to the audio at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST on Bosco Radio News and Information in our sidebar.

This show can now be seen now on www.cbs.com

Wynton Marsalis On Prairie Home Companion

This weekend's Prairie Home Companion comes live from The Town Hall in New York City.

Special guests include jazz great Wynton Marsalis and his Quintet, and sensational singer Heather Masse. Also: The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and The News from Lake Wobegon. The host is Garrison Keillor.

Listen Live each Saturday to A Prairie Home Companion through your favorite public radio station beginning at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST. You can also link to the show live via Bosco Radio Nostalgia and Entertainment. The link is in the sidebar. A replay is scheduled for Sunday.

On Helms Bakery and Old Fashioned Service

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

Do you know what I miss? Helms Bakery.

When I was a kid, this guy that sort of resembled a cross between Sheriff John (you know, the host of the mid day show in Los Angeles back in the 60's for kids) and the Man In the Yellow Suit from Curious George would drive a cool yellow Chevy truck on to our street, ring his bell and we would all go out to greet him with a fist full of dollars and coin. Me, our neighbor Barbara with curlers in her hair and fuzzy slippers, my first crush and really cute neighbor with a Southern accent Tammy, Mrs. Leverich, Bob our neighbor with the beautiful afghan dog...and various others on Rosslyn Street. It was kind of like going to a portable Starbucks in the middle of the road. We would chat, hold up traffic, and get caught up.

And Sheriff John (actually I think this guy's name was really John) had this wonderful assortment of fresh donuts and pastries and coffee and milk and other goodies. Sort of like a Dunkin Donuts or Winchell Donuts on Wheels.

It seemed like such a great concept. I can't remember when or why it died out. Probably about the same time gas station attendants stopped full service and 7-11 personnel stopped serving Slurpees. Somewhere along the line great customer service became uncool all of a sudden.

I was thinking about this the other day. I was in a Starbucks. I was wondering why somebody like Starbucks or Panera Bread couldn't do the Helms Bakery thing and drive a truck into neighborhoods. Then I got to thinking...I really don't like Starbucks coffee. A coffee roaster once told me it was overroasted coffee and I went, oh yeah it is. But then I started looking around Starbucks and the next day Panera Bread.

It's really not about the product. It's about the socializing and community effect. In those two places and others, to be fair, there are great conversations going on at all the tables or somebodies writing something or somebody else is reading something. That's what it really is all about...human contact and sharpening our brains with stimulating conversation.

Just like standing in the middle of Rosslyn street in 1965 with the neighbors and the Helms Bakery Truck.

April Fools Editions Are Not Cool

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

Before today gets away from me, I wanted to get a rant off on something that has been building up inside for a while. I want to address the subject of April Fools Day Editions of newspapers.

My local paper, The Fullerton Observer, has done one for a few years now. Except I forgot this year. I wasted about 15 minutes reading the front page of the newspaper and thinking how interesting all the news was when I realized I was reading a bunch of fabricated nonsense.

This morning, I was reading an online trade publication which I think is the most informative. Fifteen minutes into my read I realized that I was also reading nonsense.

I don't mind a good Aprils Fools joke. My good friend Gina emailed me an Aprils Fool joke last year that was really funny...but I also knew right off the bat it was an April Fools joke and she had the good sense to keep it short and simple and not waste my time.

April Fools jokes in newspapers, however, are another story. First of all, editors, you are not doing anything novel or rare. The April Fools edition is old news. Secondly, if you want to be taken seriously as a publication...don't do it. Even as an editor of a high school newspaper...I had good sense not to do it. It's just tacky, unnecessary and annoying.

The New Face of Blue-Eyed Soul

James Morrison
Songs For You, Truths For Me
Interscope Records
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Stephen Thomas Erlewine

What separates James Morrison from fellow Brit singer/songwriters like James Blunt and Daniel Powter is his taste for soul. Sure, this may have been fostered in part by his fondness for Elton John -- whose presence is as inescapable in Morrison's music as it is in Blunt, Powter, or any number of modern-day pop troubadours -- but Morrison picks up on the splashy soul of John's middle-period, weaving in elements of Stevie Wonder and Van Morrison to create a retro-soul vibe that's more about the song than the groove.

This is more true on Songs for You, Truths for Me than it was on his 2007 debut Undiscovered, as he piles on horn sections, sings with a gruff studied soulfulness, and even cribs from Van's "Crazy Love" on his own "Precious Love."

All this soulman posturing can come across as a bit too earnest, but it does give Morrison a heft and measure of grit missing in the simpering Blunt, which lends Songs for You some pleasing sonic textures not all that dissimilar to John Mayer's Continuum, but Morrison isn't just about sound, he can construct good pop songs, especially when he goes for big, bright hooks, as he does on the '70s soul pastiche "Save Yourself" and "The Only Night," which recalls Elvis Costello in his Get Happy! phase.

These talents kind of contradict the soul-baring promise of the album's title, but Morrison kind of drags when he gets into ballad territory, like the Nelly Furtado duet "Broken Strings." He's better on easy rolling numbers like "Please Don't Stop the Rain" or when he puts a bit of a kick in the tempo, as the energy accentuates his popcraft, which is more energetic, forceful -- and, yes, soulful -- than his peers, something that comes into sharp relief on this solid sophomore affair.

Border Despair In Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre
Directed by Cary Fukunaga
In Spanish with English subtitles
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Mick LaSalle

The highest calling of movies is to show audiences - to show you - a world you never thought of, a way of thinking and a way of life you never imagined, and then, having shown it, to make you understand it in the common language of human emotion. This is what writer-director Cary Fukunaga accomplishes in Sin Nombre

Take his presentation of Lil Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), the leader of a street gang in southern Mexico. His face is covered in menacing black tattoos. He looks like a monster, and he is - as erratic and as sadistic as a psychotic Roman emperor. Even when doing good is teh times easier than doing evil, he summons the effort to do evil, just out of principle. Yet, while in no way softening the character, Fukunaga gives us enough information so that Mago is no cartoon. We understand the psychological underpinnings of the character, just as we understand why gang life could be perceived by his men - wrongly, insanely - as a ticket to autonomy and self-respect.

Willy (Edgar Flores) is a teenager in Mago's gang. Gradually, Willy goes from being a recruiter for the gang - he brings in a little boy (Kristyan Ferrer) with a talent for larceny - to realizing that gang life is far from a liberation, that it is, in fact, the enemy of every good thing worth having. This realization has life-changing consequences and brings him directly into the orbit of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a Honduran teenager trying to make it across Mexico to the Texas border.

Most Americans think of illegal immigration as something that happens along the California or Texas state lines. Fukunaga shows us the process of getting to the border, one that involves hopping freight trains and avoiding local authorities, who could be lurking at any given stop. These are people with no means, people who, if caught, might never make it home, much less into the United States. Meanwhile, the poverty as seen from the train is staggering, people in ragged clothes, living in shacks instead of houses.

Sin Nombre ("Without Name") is an escape saga and a romance in which a teenage girl, fleeing poverty, meets a boy who is running for his life, and the two find a common understanding. There are some brief minutes when the tension drops and the story starts to sag, but Fukunaga almost always fills the frame with something worth seeing, and the story has a built-in suspense.

Flores has the lived-in fatalism of a film noir hero, the look of someone who has lived too long and seen too much, which is disconcerting in someone who otherwise looks like a kid. Fukunaga has the emotional sophistication to show us why a teenage girl might find this quality romantic, while letting us know that, in reality, it's the furthest thing from it.

Mick LaSalle is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle where this review appears.

What I Learned From Flying Kites

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

It was a windy day in Southern California this past Friday. Not the evil and ferocious hot Santa Ana winds... the cool, gentler March winds. My mind went racing back to the time when I was a kid. March was always a time that brought a lot of joy for me. March was the best time to fly kites.

You can learn a lot about life from flying a kite.

The first lesson is: Respect Others Space. Sometimes I would get too close to my brother's kite while we were flying. This would result in a tangled mess of string, torn paper and broken wooden cross bows.

One time while I was in San Francisco I was out walking by the Golden Gate bridge when I noticed a man flying a kite. The kite was so high in the sky I couldn't see it. The kite was so high I'm sure he had to get clearance from SFO. I'm going "Wow, that must be a special kite...that's really far up there". To which he replied, "No I bought it for ten cents in China Town.." which reminded me that Sometimes the Best Things In Life Are The Things That Cost Little Money Or Are Free

I was in the park walking my dog the other day and I was observing a father flying a kite with his young son and it reminded me of the times when I used to do the same with my kids and how my dad used to teach me about life while flying kites. The little boy hadn't got the idea down quite yet of how to fly a kite properly...but his dad was teaching him. As the kite was in the air, the little boy ran toward the kite as fast as he could...making the kite dive down and crash with a thud into the ground. The dad was there to get the kite flying again and show his son that he needed to walk back letting the air lift the kite into the sky.

A lot of times it's good not to rush so fast into something. A lot of times it's better to step back, reflect and enjoy. And the other thing I couldn't help notice is that it's always nice to have a parent or a good friend to teach life's little lessons...no strings attached...so to speak.

It's strange how I never became a pilot or an astronaut because I really wanted that when I was a kid. When I was a child I used to secretly wish that I could shrink myself and get aboard the kite and soar above the earth....but of course my brother would actually have to fly the kite and that could be a disaster. As I got older my desire to be like the birds lessened. Maybe it was the fact that I was almost involved in two air crashes that kept me out of an airplane for almost 25 years...flight became less appealing to me.

Unless I am at the controls of a kite. Then the fascination all comes back.

This morning the wind is gently blowing again. It's a good day to fly a kite.

Gore Wants You To Do As I Say. Not As I Do

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

The publisher of Al Gore's new book...to be released this fall.. says they will be printing his book on 100% recycled paper. You would think that Al Gore is finally doing something that he is preaching. But not so fast.

Just because a paper is 100% recycled doesn't necessarily mean that it is the best paper for the environment or for the nation's economy for that matter. Many recycled papers are coming from overseas...not produced by American companies and not stimulating our economy. And often times, recycled papers use processes that are more wasteful and have more of a negative impact on the environment than if new paper was created.

There is a case being made for FSC certified paper. This is simply a verification process that ensures that for every tree used in the production of paper, at least two more are planted. Think about that...this would actually create more jobs from the forest to the mills to the paper plants to the people that sell the paper... stimulating the economy. Much better than the many paper plants closing across our country. And don't get me started on how paper is transported. That has an impact on the carbon footprint as well.

But this wouldn't be the first time that Al Gore hasn't thought things through or had a hard time practicing what he preaches.

In the year since he took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

In the past year, Gore’s home used 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

After becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.

“Actions speak louder than words, and Gore’s actions prove that he views climate change not as a serious problem, but as a money-making opportunity,” Johnson said. “Gore is exploiting the public’s concern about the environment to line his pockets and enhance his profile.”

According to Gore, "The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."

Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is in big trouble.

For someone who says the end is near, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality the film's distributor pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted , Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes.

Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC website applauded the fact that Gore had "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green.

Gore has held these views about the environment for some time. But that didn't stop Gore from dumping his family's large stock holdings in Occidental Petroleum. As executor of his family's trust, Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental stock. Occidental has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore received $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operated a zinc concession on his property until 2003. Tennessee cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

These issues here bring into question Al Gore's credibility. If he genuinely believes his vision of the future and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life?

The second half of this piece is from an article from Peter Schweitzer, USA Today