tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54692242009-05-29T23:17:55.814-07:00Money for dope. Money for rope.John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comBlogger361125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-14145583094542193862009-05-29T22:01:00.000-07:002009-05-29T23:17:55.823-07:00

Here's what Keith had to say about me a couple years ago. Here's what he had to say today:Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-54154305366361649342009-05-25T19:32:00.000-07:002009-05-25T21:29:46.594-07:00

I've written a book. Co-written it, actually, with Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance--the co-founders of Merge Records and one half of Superchunk. It's an oral history of the best American rock band since the Replacements and the record label that has, over the past 20 years, defined indie rock by helping to make Neutral Milk Hotel, Spoon, the Magnetic Fields, and the Arcade Fire happen. It's the

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-72908509563522956672009-03-17T21:20:00.000-07:002009-03-17T21:22:09.269-07:00

"There was no word for this in Somali. We've seen Down syndrome and schizophrenia, but loosely termed--our word is more like 'crazy.' People are calling it 'otismo' or 'the American disease.'"

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-84455499495463065992009-03-17T21:16:00.000-07:002009-03-18T17:59:11.060-07:00

"From an acoustical perspective, music is an overstructured language, which the brain invented and which the brain loves to hear."

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-26910986025529862202009-03-17T20:09:00.000-07:002009-03-17T20:28:33.577-07:00

Sample clue: "Across, 2: You can't use ________ information to further your own private interest or that of another."The whole thing is here [pdf] at Government Attic. God love the Freedom of Information Act.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-79005226772585370402007-03-06T09:20:00.000-08:002007-03-06T09:25:02.794-08:00

I know, this thing has basically devolved into a self-glorifying archive of my occasional media appearances. So I was on Talk of the Nation yesterday talking about the Prisoners of YouTube. Aren't I awesome? Listen here.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-24640006951390018652007-01-12T12:29:00.000-08:002007-01-12T12:32:41.366-08:00

Sneaky Pete Kleinow, who played pedal steel for the Flying Burrito Brothers and basically defined the band's sound, has died. Also, he was a creator of Gumby. Seriously.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-37620286809107081642006-11-29T13:10:00.000-08:002006-11-29T17:49:57.979-08:00

The High-Pitched Tone has been getting a lot of press as of late. We will all be working for her one day.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-40794864244286061522006-11-15T09:59:00.001-08:002006-11-15T10:08:32.663-08:00

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1162918010364914812006-11-07T08:39:00.000-08:002006-11-15T09:56:38.183-08:00

My name is all over this GOP press release on the evils of exit-polling, from a story I did for the Chicago Tribune after the '04 elections. Mom and Dad must be so proud.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1159460381107713742006-09-28T09:12:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.850-08:00

Wolf Blitzer on last night's Situation Report, discussing about Bush's summit with Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf:You know, John Roberts, I was expecting, fully expecting President Bush to do what President Clinton did when he had Rabin and Arafat on the South Lawn of the White House, sort of force them to come together and shake hands, clasp hands, do a three-way, if you will.Funny thing is,

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1158344152403894232006-09-15T10:57:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.694-08:00

I won't call it a swan song, but it will certainly be the last Cooksie show in quite a while. I'm heading back to Chicago from New York next weekend for a special show at the Double Door on Saturday, September 23. It's special because we'll be sharing the stage with the Incredible Casuals, one of the great bar bands of all time.The Casuals have been rolling up and down the Atlantic seaboard for a

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1157932656940079862006-09-10T16:53:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.509-08:00

Katie Couric, in her "60 Minutes" debut, put the screws to Christine Todd Whitman tonight: "But with all due respect, your job as head of the EPA--the Environmental Protection Agency--is to protect people from the environment."Actually, it's more along the lines of protecting the environment from people, Katie. But we get the idea.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1157662814927725302006-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.354-08:00

My first piece for the newly revived Radar, on the incomparably angry and weird Xavier Von Erck and why Dateline NBC is bankrolling him, is up.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1156259573037713002006-08-22T08:05:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.161-08:00

10:23 EST:11:00 EST:The story, as you may have guessed, makes no mention of rape.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1156222263546569352006-08-21T21:45:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:37.004-08:00

NBC Universal honcho Jeff Zucker on "Deal or No Deal": "Look, I think the best ideas are the simplest ones. And Deal or No Deal, which Howie hosts and is a huge hit, is not complicated. It’s not hard to figure out. And it’s impossible to stop watching."Wikipedia on "Deal or No Deal": "To calculate the probability that the top prize will actually be reached, the following simplifying assumptions

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1155575581035362742006-08-14T10:02:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:36.829-08:00

Matador is releasing a Chavez box set, a kind of sad project considering they only produced two records and a handful of comp singles. But I'm going to buy it just for the tour DVD with commentary by... Gary Marshall. Also, they're going to reunite for some dates.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1154470503727331112006-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:36.656-08:00

"The implication ... that American Jews put the interests of Israel before those of America, raises the ugly specter of 'dual loyalty,' a canard that has haunted Diaspora Jews from time immemorial." --Alan Dershowitz, April 2006"One cannot discuss at any respectable dinner table what many respectable people are thinking themselves. This is the matter of where do Arab Americans really stand on

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1154457315711603612006-08-01T11:24:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:36.492-08:00

We're tooling around the eastern seaboard, waiting for the movers to catch up with us and meet us in Brooklyn. But two developments compel me to post: 1) My father has started a blog. If anyone is interested in starting a "When Dads Blog" support group, shoot me an e-mail. I can't do this alone. And 2) Avocet bass player Erik Trojner took the above Rock God photograph of Avocet guitar player Rob

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1151633923546510252006-06-29T19:16:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:36.177-08:00

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1150303001183638182006-06-14T09:31:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:35.987-08:00

"You know, the ultimate judge about whether this government is making a difference is going to be the Iraqi people, and these elected officials know that. That's the great thing about being elected; you get a sense if people don't kind of like what you're doing, or not. And democracy causes you to respond to the people's needs. Tyrants don't have to.... This elected government is going to

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1150292315093183672006-06-14T06:33:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:35.804-08:00

Well, it's nice to know they're still stabbing tourists on the subways in Ol' New York. This one is from Texas. He is a nerd. A geek. A dork. A dweeb. How badly does the New York Times want you to know this, short of coming out and saying, "The victim was a pasty, doughy, frightened nerd"? This bad:"He's a smart, very bright kid," his aunt said. "He's not violent. He's pretty passive." The attack

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1150132704441647972006-06-12T10:15:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:35.666-08:00

As has been noted elsewhere--we're gossip-fodder!--the High-Pitched Tone and I are lighting out for greener pastures. If you're curious as to why, this pretty much sums it up:Neal Zucker, CEO of Corporate Cleaning Services, a Chicago-based window-washing company that specializes in high-rise buildings, also pops up frequently in Chicago's gossip pages. His 40th birthday bash, Mr. Zwecker wrote in

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1149800296639002952006-06-08T13:42:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:35.526-08:00

"Let me -- I want to be careful. This is not PR. PR is selling soap. This is trying to build a basis for democracy." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, June 8, 2006, in answer to a question about the public relations implications of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." --Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card,

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469224.post-1149368779036672772006-06-03T14:04:00.000-07:002006-11-15T09:56:35.361-08:00

If you know of any 2BR dog-friendly apartments opening up in Brooklyn, N.Y., on or around August 1, be a mensch and shoot me an e-mail.

John Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383528777977835528noreply@blogger.com