Both regular readers of BTC News know that of late I’ve been putting together some more or less thematic rock/pop compilations assembled of necessity from albums acquired at the Santa Monica library. This is because my laptop with all of my music-by-choice was stolen. I learn daily some new thing that’s missing because of the [...]

Despite running the worst GOP campaign since Bob Dole’s in 1996 — most people don’t remember that Dole even ran — John McCain managed to confound my expectations and crack 46%, by quite a bit, in the popular vote. This should be instructive for anyone who genuinely believes a new day is dawning in America, [...]

This series of CD compilations started with an encounter with the Los Angeles Junior League and has since Frankensteined its way into an independent being from another planet. The first and the second CDs consisted entirely (I think) of music acquired through the good offices of the Santa Monica Library and its music buyer, about [...]

Not.
George W. Bush bristles at any attempt to assess his presidency while he’s still alive, never mind in office. By the time history has judged him, he says, we’ll all be dead. But everyone who judged his presidency a disaster before it began — for me the clincher was his disappearance and ashen-faced return [...]

The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson
Since Weldon just mentioned Hunter Thompson, it looks like I’d better act quickly. This month’s book review features the man’s opus, which I’ve casually paired against one of the novels of an earlier, and equally famous, seeker of refuge (and, [...]