The American Spectator : Bad Day in Rancho Mirage

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Bad Day in Rancho Mirage

By Ben Stein on 5.2.12 @ 6:45AM

An extremely bad day, and not just there.

Tuesday
I awakened to hear my wife walking around the house at about eight in the morning. This is extremely early for her and I mean EXTREMELY. I asked her what the matter was and she said, as expected, that it was G., a very close family member who is suffering from a serious mental illness. This is someone who was always problematic, but has now gotten what his doctors describe as a paranoid psychosis of the schizophrenic variety. This is a matter of his suspecting that his food is poisoned, that his meds are poisoned, that snipers are setting up perches to kill him near his home, that cars filled with assassins are circling him in his car. He is really, really sick.

God bless Big Pharma. They have drugs that could straighten him out but he won’t take them, and the reason that my wife is up so early is that she’s getting called by another family member about how oddly G. is acting. Genuinely scary stuff. Threatening stuff.

We made a flurry of calls to the doctors who attend G., but while they are eager to help they can do nothing if G. never shows up for his appointments. So, my wife and I are frantic.

I swam for a long time, then worked on some bills, then took my wife out for lunch at our golf club, Morningside. There was only one other person at lunch, a distinguished-looking older woman. She shared with us that she had just lost her husband of forty years. What a blow that is. How does a mate go on living after that? I don’t even have any idea. It must be harrowing.

Back at home, I had a blizzard of texts from a dear friend in New York who is having a wild fight with her husband, or maybe it’s her ex-husband, about their children. She called for me to help her get a hotel room in Manhattan so she could go there and cry all night. This woman is in her late 30s and has no credit card. How is that possible? Anyway, I arranged it, and off she went to cry.

Then more calls from a family member about G not showing up for doctors’ appointments, and then time for a long nap in my guest room, where I feel fairly protected. It’s the shadiest room in the house and neat as a pin. I slept for two hours and then went outside to say farewell to a crew who had been putting in a new, incredibly pricey air conditioning unit in a wing of the house.

“Are you sure it works?” I asked them.

“Oh, yes, it works great,” they said and it seemed to be keeping my bedroom cool. I lay down and in half an hour, the darned thing simply stopped working altogether.

Many calls to the a/c man later, he showed up and said the problem had been some small part and I never needed that whole unit after all. Of course, he has to charge me for it anyway. Meanwhile, the unit is still not working.

Then, a call from a lawyer in a case in which I am a plaintiff, or The Plaintiff. We have a ruling against us on an issue so insane that only a trial lawyer could have thought of it. I can easily appeal, but I am sick of the whole thing. Litigation is a pure nightmare.

I really feel sad for people who do it for a living. Painful.

More texts about G., more texts from the friend in New York whose husband or ex-husband is mistreating her, and new texts from a woman whom I help to hide from her anxieties, and then a text from a woman I met at an airport in Miami ten years ago who saw me on TV and wants to marry me. She wants me to take her away from her fears about money. Ha! Little does she know.

Alex and I took the dogs for a walk. Above us, jet planes crossed the sky high above the oleander and the palm trees. “I wish we could ride away on a contrail,” my wife said.

My life is filled with other people’s problems. Russ Ferguson said that about me and it’s true.

I need yet another nap and I need to change my focus.

Page: 1 2 >

About the Author

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (96) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

oldfart| 5.2.12 @ 7:30AM

Ben - the current President is a parrot. All he can do is chatter with no understanding of what comes out of his mouth.

Frank Drackman| 5.2.12 @ 8:24AM

umm Ben, "Bad" day?? in Ranch Mirage
YOU LIVE IN AN EFFIN DESSERT!!!!!!!!!
MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey-Zeuss, wasn't the name a clue??"Mirage"???
sorry, something just made me chanel Sam Kinninson..
But.....regarding your Loony Tunes Relation.
3 Letters, E-C-T.
Which is short for "Electroconvulsive Therapy" which starts with P, which rhymes with Pool...
You Lay-People probably know it as "Shock therapy" like Jack Nicholson got in "Cucoos Nest".
The reality isn't as interesting, its done under Anesthesia, General Anesthesia, and your paralyzed, except for one hand, y'see they put a tourniquet on, so one hand can still move, cause thats how you tell if the power's turned up enough.
Takes just a few minutes, and Son-Of Sam's Cerebrum is good for another 30,000 miles.
Sure, it wears off, but it beats taking nasty medications with even nastier side-effects(google "Tardive Dyskinesia" sometime)

Might take some lookin to find a Shrink with the Nad's to do it, Psychiatry's not the giggle it used to be, too many foreigners, you say, "Hows it hangin Shrink?" they don't even know what the eff your talkin about..

Frank

SeymourGlass| 5.2.12 @ 10:32AM

Sorry, Frank. You DON'T "chanel".

You stink.

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:28PM

Frank:

TD (tardive Dyskinesia) risk minimal with the atypical antipsychotics; metabolic risk minimal with Lurasidone and Ziprasidone, and, for the most part, Aripiprazole. (Latuda, Geodon, Abilify---Fanapt takes too long to titrate.) Seroquel is also useful, metabolic risks, like Invega below, midline.

If one can get involuntary medication order, recommend Invega Sustenna or Prolixin Decanoate as the 1st line injectable antipsychotics, as you know. ECT much better for psychotic depression than schizophrenia. Exact choice requires proper evaluation, of course.

But Tardive Dyskinesia problems have been so well minimized with the newer antipsychotics that many Psychiatric Residents and early career Psychiatrists don't know what to look for anymore.

Funny thing is that Ben has been on a screaming jag against psychiatric medications for many years now, as his own experience at Yale was not good. It is useful to see him come around a bit.

However, all that being said, ECT is not first line treatment for schizophrenia.

The best psychiatrists in Southern California are to be found at UCLA, Westwood. In schizophrenia, recommend Stephen Marder, Ben. Good luck and G-d Bless.

Frank Drackman| 5.3.12 @ 7:17AM

(Dr. Evil Voice)
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggghhhhhhhhtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.....
Expecting someone who heres Martians in his TV to take expensive medications daily...
Its the same reason I stab my daughters with 50mg of Medroxyprogesterone every 3 months, they got enough trouble avoiding Peni withoug having to take a pill everyday.
And I know about Fluphenazine.
Not first hand.
But when I start arguing with Squirels, give me some good old fashioned Georgia Power AC to the Frontal Lobe...

Frank

PsychoDad| 5.6.12 @ 11:25AM

The very definition of "troll." Along with "psychopath" and "idiot."

Bobloblaw| 5.2.12 @ 8:33AM

boring.................

Martin| 5.2.12 @ 8:55AM

Ben-
Sincere sympathies- my mother, brother and I have been defendants in litigation brought by greedy, mean spirited family members for over a year. Horrible experience. I hope God will give you strength and understanding. Pray for love and compassion, pray for them that despitefully use you.
My son has schizophrenia, a horrible disease.
Peace to you! This life is but a small moment on our way to eternity.
You are an inspiration!

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:11PM

Well, Ben, it is good to see you change your mind about psychotropic medications. That's a good development; and my best to your relative. Fixing these hurting human beings is what I do each day.

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:17PM

By the way, thank the ACLU for the legal problem your relative is in; Riese versus St. Mary's, ACLU as the representative for the Plaintiff. This is a case that RCV and I agree on, absolute crap.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 9:04AM

If Bob Dylan is true to his youthful self, he either (1) won't show up for the award ceremony, or (2) will deliver a speech on the absurdity of it.

Herb| 5.2.12 @ 10:36AM

Hmm.....didn't Marlon Brando do the same thing back in '73?

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 10:53AM

Yeah, but he sent Sacheen Littlefeather to pick up the Oscar; he wasn't going to let that puppy pass him by!

Herb| 5.2.12 @ 2:12PM

Yeah, she gave a speech about the plight of American Indians (while clutching that Oscar) and later we learned that she was as much an Indian as Princess Summerfall Winterspring.

albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 9:49PM

After all, isn't the Oscar ceremony an award reception for excellence in "make believe"? Michael Moore's winning Best Documentary for "Bowlin for Columbine" more or less proved that.

Seek| 5.3.12 @ 2:57PM

Documentaries aren't feature films. It's comparing apples and oranges.

Cobalt| 5.2.12 @ 9:05AM

No is a perfectly good word, which can even be used with kindness. Sometimes, using no as an answer to a request for help, can be a great reliever of stress for the person using it.

Stormzeye| 5.2.12 @ 9:07AM

Dylan is the greatest troubadour this country has ever produced. His longevity can only be attributed to his connection to and ability to convey the most basic elements of the American condition. Too bad that the jug-eared Marxist currently occupying the White House will be the one to honor him. Bush should have done him the honor.

gearjammer| 5.2.12 @ 9:21AM

Dylan gets the cynical America and the mean and foolish America-but is that really all their is about America ? I guess he also gets some of the lying America. But, hell, he misses alot.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 10:56AM

Dylan is passing. Once he was celebrated as a great poet. It turns out that he wrote a few odd pieces that have some staying power, but most of his work has already been forgotten. The rest of it will pass with the Boomers or the generation that followed. A hundred years from now he'll be a footnote in some Norton college textbook on American literature, and the subject of many a master's thesis on popular music of the rock 'n' roll era.

Seek| 5.2.12 @ 11:52AM

Bob Dylan's poetry always was secondary to his music, and Dylan himself many times has affirmed this. As for him being destined for the dustbin of history, let time show the wiser. The contempt that Dylan-haters show toward the man is exceeded only by their ignorance. If Bob Dylan is to be forgotten, then who, may I ask, will be remembered? Pat Boone?

scotchieguy| 5.2.12 @ 11:54AM

You are nuts. A 100 years from now he will be considered the greatest songwriter in history. The 1960's would not have happened without him. He literally taught Lennon how to write GOOD songs, not the silly "I want to Hold Your Hand" crap they were writing prior to 1966.

For some reason, people who are too lazy to study his lyrics think he is some freak who can't sing.

cuban pete| 5.2.12 @ 2:22PM

"the greatest songwriter in history...."
That would surprise the hell out of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, the Gershwin brothers, Hammerstein, Sondheim, andPaul Simon.

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:12PM

Not to mention PG Wodehouse.

SusieQ| 5.3.12 @ 11:03AM

Hank Williams, anyone?

PsychoDad| 5.6.12 @ 11:27AM

Try Irving Berlin.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:42PM

I always liked his singing, at least most of the time.

Rock music is pop music. Folk/rock and folk music of the type Bob Dylan sang is pop music. It's like the pop music that people listened to between the Civil War and about 1954. Some of that music has lived, most of it is forgotten.

Bob Dylan in music is a bit like Jenny Lind or Sarah Bernhardt or Lillie Langtry. We remember their names, but it's all a bit hazy.

Pop music is pop music; it lives for a while, some of it is catchy enough to live longer than other stuff, but eventually it all joins the great muscial grist mill. Bob Dylan will be remembered to musical scholars and no one else in a hundred years.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:54PM

On John Lennon and the Beatles. In 1979, I worked with a girl in her early 20s and mentioned Paul McCartney, what was then the new Wings album, and the Beatles, and she looked at me and said with all seriousness "I didn't know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings."

Pop music. Everything passes, everything changes, just do what you think you must do, and someday maybe, who knows baby, I'll come and be crawling to you...

Seek| 5.2.12 @ 7:23PM

Funny, but most people today would associate Paul McCartney with the Beatles more than Wings. You think? And the Beatles began their recording career 50 years ago in 1962. We're already halfway to "oblivion." One anecdote does not a thesis make.

albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 9:55PM

In the mid-80's , a recall a spoof in National Lampoon regarding the yet un-christened Gen Xers asking in reference to Dylan :"Isn't he that old guy who sounds like the dude from Dire Straits?"

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.3.12 @ 9:14AM

: D

BodieInSD| 5.2.12 @ 6:16PM

A duo you might have heard of blows him out of the water as the best of the 60s, to say nothing of all time, Lennon and McCartney.
Q: If the 60s "would not have happened", would the 70s have followed the 50s?

albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 9:57PM

...and who gets the blame for Barry Manilow?

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.3.12 @ 9:15AM

The Beach Boys had as much to do with the 60s in America as the Beatles did.

Seek| 5.2.12 @ 7:20PM

You nailed it. Even the Weekly Standard is down with Dylan; a decade ago, it published a long, admiring retrospective of his career.

Bob K.| 5.2.12 @ 9:17AM

"........... . No singer that I am aware of ever hit the notes of what life really is, what humans really are, better than Dylan. I have spent more hours listening to him than all other human beings on the planet and it will never be enough. Well done Mr. President. Well done Bob. I have not spoken to Marvin in forty years. I don't know why."

Ben,
You are either pulling our legs here, or you are off your own medications!

Alex Bensky| 5.2.12 @ 9:50AM

With respect, Mr. Stein (and by "with respect" I actually mean "with respect), that was the first time you'd ever heard a popular singer express deep anger? I assume, just to pick one name at random, that you had never heard Billie Holiday sing "Strange Fruit."

As to the genius, well, I never cared for the way he sang but that may just be a matter of taste. Do any of his lyrics, on paper and without the music, bear re-reading or even exposition? Again, just to pick a name out of a hat, I can't believe anyone who reads Phillip Levine and then Dylan's lyrics see much of any equation of the two?

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 11:25AM

I'd say that "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" stands up without the music, although it's a lyrical work and is far better sung than merely read. Another one that works well enough if read without the music is "Desolation Row."

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 11:27AM

Another one is "Visions of Johanna." To me, that song contains the best literary line in all of rock 'n' roll: "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face..."

rightasrain| 5.2.12 @ 1:00PM

Right song, wrong line. "Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet" is the right line.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:50PM

Uh-huh.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 11:34AM

There's no doubt that most of his songs are doggerel, deliberately obscure, and obscure largely because Dylan was honest early in his career to admit that he wrote his lyrics in many instances right before he was scheduled to record, and he wrote a lot of crap. Still, much of his crap was superior to the earnest attempts of such contemporaries as Mimi and Richard Farina and Phil Ochs. Nevertheless, crap is crap and that will eventually become apparent.

The American Hitman| 5.2.12 @ 8:18PM

Eventually? He's been cranking out great songs for 50 years. When does "eventually" kick in?

scotchieguy| 5.2.12 @ 11:56AM

You have obviously never heard the song Positively 4th Street. Utube it. Then, maybe utube Idiot Wind, or Dirge. You can't get anymore pissed.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:44PM

When I was down you just stood there grinning...

Frank Drackman| 5.2.12 @ 10:06AM

Bob Dylan couldn't carry Stevie Nicks...
I was gonna say "ball sack"...

Frank

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 11:01AM

Good point; Dylan could never do a releasable version of Landslide or Gold Dust Woman.

On the other hand, Stevie Nicks probably couldn't do Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 or Subterranean Homesick Blues very well either.

Skippy| 5.2.12 @ 2:14PM

The mid-70's Fleetwood Mac was not a bad band...except for the totally unlistenable Stevie Nicks.
A 3-note range and a warble that would rival any electroshock patient getting their treatment.
Chewing gravel while standing next to a woodchipper is preferable to hearing her try to carry a melody.
As far as Dylan, he is among our best songwriters.
Like many authors, a lot of his stuff stinks on ice, but many are timeless and brilliant.
Long have I threatened to assemble a CD titled Boblessness.
It would have Chris Hillman singing
"To Ramona", The Quinaimes Band's "Visions of Johanna", Hendrix' "All along the Watchtower", etc.
Dylan's only listenable LP was Nashville skyline, where actual killer pickers apparently would not tolerate his squawking and insisted he sing instead.

rightasrain| 5.2.12 @ 2:30PM

...Richie Havens's version of Just Like A Woman.

Seek| 5.3.12 @ 2:58PM

Skippy, I'll make a wild guess: You didn't like "Edge of Seventeen."

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:14PM

"All Along the Watchtower"---written by Dylan and actually performed by him. But nobody remembers the Dylan version of his own song; it belongs, and always will belong, to Jimi.

skip| 5.2.12 @ 6:53PM

Not true. Dylan's, the Dead's, Dylan and the Dead's, and Clapton's versions all four beat Jimi's (excellent) verson, with serious competition from Neil Young, Dave Mason, Pearl Jam, and dark horse Jeff Healy, among others.

Shame on you, Doc, what with practically living in Mister Zimmerman's native neck of the woods and all.

Occam's Tool| 12.28.12 @ 7:45PM

I'm sorry, but I've listened to Bob and Jimi's "Watchtowers," and Hendrix is just better. Here's another point: which "Watchtower" gets played the most on radio stations, skip?

Great debate, though. Thanks.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 11:22AM

My favorite Bob Dylan quote is from the early to mid 60s, when he was asked what his songs were about, he replied, "Some of them are about five minutes, some are about fifteen minutes."

shipley130| 5.2.12 @ 11:23AM

Why is it that we always talk about about what white people do to blacks, but never the reverse? We need a television station that reports on every incident of white victims of black aggression.

cicero| 5.2.12 @ 11:38AM

Sounds to me like Ben has too much free time on his hands.

Paul McGrath| 5.2.12 @ 11:41AM

I believe "Like a Rolling Stone" is about an oblivious rich girl who fell on hard times and now has to hang around with the riff-raff.

Seek| 5.2.12 @ 11:53AM

Like Edie Sedgwick?

scotchieguy| 5.2.12 @ 12:01PM

That is too obvious. He is deeper. I think it is a Fu-k You to the folk music he used and was about to toss into the garbage. Or, it could be a warning to the young people--you rich snobs don't know what it is like to live out on the streets. Good luck.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:47PM

Well you've gone to the finest school all right Miss Lonely but you know you only used to get juiced in it.

Just like a woman| 5.2.12 @ 11:00PM

"You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat.
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at.."

After he took from you everything he could steal ?

Love the music.
Love the voice.
Love the lyrics.
Always will.

Just like a woman| 5.2.12 @ 11:02PM

Dern screwed up on the quotation marks there.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.3.12 @ 9:16AM

Stee-yul.

Petronius| 5.2.12 @ 11:44AM

Lunch at the country club. Ben: If you want yours to remain standing next year then invite the President to play a round next week.

Paul McGrath| 5.2.12 @ 11:51AM

Tangled up in Blue is my favorite Dylan song. I used to be frustrated by that fact that it didn't make any sense. Is it past tense, present tense, or future tense. Did he leave her, or did she leave him? Was she married before or after she met him or was she even married at all? When he met her at the strip club, was this their first meeting?

But in the end it doesn't matter. All of us have been through the pain and joy and uncertainty and hope of affairs of the heart, and Tangled up in Blue always awakens those feelings in us.

It also has one of my favorite lines:

"I got a job in the great north woods,
working as a cook for a spell;
But I never did like it all that much,
and one day the axe just fell."

killerman| 5.2.12 @ 3:38PM

Ahhh..... Dylan's lyrics ... Isis

Blinded by sleep and in need of a bed,
I came in from the East with the sun in my eyes
Cursed her one time then I rode on ahead.

She said "Where you been?"
I said "No place special"
She said "You look different"
I said " Wellll, I guess"
She said " You been gone"
I said "That's only natural"
She said "You gonna stay?"
I said "If you want me to.... yes"

Isis, oh Isis, you're a mystical child,
What drives me to you is what drives me insane.
I still can remember the way that you smiled,
on the fifth day of May in the drizz-a-lin' rain.

Black Diamond Bay

As the island slowly sank,
the loser finally broke the bank
in the gambling room.
The dealer said, "Its too late now,
you can take your money but I don't know how
you'll spend it in the tomb...

killerman| 5.2.12 @ 3:41PM

Saw the old boy in concert in a few times in recent years and he, unfortunately, is becoming harder and harder to understand. I am never really sure what song he is singing.

Just like a woman| 5.2.12 @ 10:47PM

Saw him in '93 I think it was. Santana opened. What a fantastic concert. Dylan actually sang amazingly and I don't know who the musicians were that he had with him then but they were awesome.
Dylan wore tight black leather jeans.

And Santana? OMG they were unbelievable. I will never forget how great both of these guys were and all their musicians. Those congo or bongo players, were unreal. I'm an old fart and was on my feet boogying away.

It was marvelous, marvelous I tell you!

skip| 5.2.12 @ 6:34PM

An acquired taste. Once acquired there is much to savor.
Tasty lyrically. Tasty musically.
And tasty vocally too.

...if you don't believe there's a price
for this sweet paradise
just remind me to
show you the scars...

Kingofthenet| 5.2.12 @ 12:12PM

For a 'Happily' married man, Ben sure seems to 'know' a lot of women...interesting.

Pat Hickey | 5.2.12 @ 12:13PM

Shucks, Ben, ain't President Obama the limit?

Last night while watching him continue his year long Mexican hat dance around OBL's turban, I half expected this cracker-chested tub thumper to claim the 1943 kill on Yamamoto.
He is a caution.

Anthony| 5.2.12 @ 12:33PM

Litigation is exciting and exhilarating Ben, it's what real lawyers do.
You Yale lawyers should try it some time.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.2.12 @ 2:48PM

Thinking on your feet while somebody who's pretty smart is trying to trip you up. Can't beat it.

Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 6:33PM

I agree that Litigation is nauseating, but Ben, YOU ARE THE PLAINTIFF! YOU STARTED THE CASE!

By the way, why hasn't Obama released the film on shooting Osama if he's gonna brag all the time?

albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 10:03PM

He's saving it for October when the Hollywood release on the mission comes out.

PhilTheCapitalistPig| 5.2.12 @ 2:37PM

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Just when you thought listening to Ben Stein was boring, you read one of his diary entries...

Frank Drackman| 5.2.12 @ 3:05PM

Now don't be hatin' but......
whatever happened to that Edie Brickell chick???

Frank

rightasrain| 5.2.12 @ 3:27PM

She married Paul Simon and still records.

bobobson| 5.2.12 @ 5:35PM

In before neocon....

john| 5.2.12 @ 6:25PM

Ben Stein; Big Al Franken supporter, 'nuff said?

beebop2| 5.2.12 @ 7:16PM

It's all over now, baby blue. Sound familiar, Ben?

Betina| 5.2.12 @ 8:49PM

Ben? How can any day be a bad day in lala land? You. Sir. Are a dork. And most of your "musings" are infantile and so far removed from life as most of us know it. Bob Dylan is your hero? Seriously? You sound like the alta caca version of a Valley Girl. Positively cringeworthy. Ever listen to yourself?

Johnimo| 5.2.12 @ 9:48PM

While Rolling Stone is a fine, fine song, it's hard to argue with the many who believe "Mr. Tamborine Man" to be the greatest rock song of all time. It's got my vote. "Before the sky there are no fences facing" ... what could better sum up the essence of freedom, longing, and the spirit of wonder?

somnolence| 5.2.12 @ 10:09PM

Dylan could not have pulled off the songs "In A Metal Mood" as effectively as Pat "White Bucks" Boone(a far greater singer) did. So yes, Mr. White Bucks will be just as remembered 100 years from now as either Dylan or Elvis. Sometimes you people are just too much.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.3.12 @ 9:18AM

Yeah, well what about Ferlin Husky?

somnolence| 5.2.12 @ 10:14PM

BTW I do like Dylan's overall musical catalogue, and have over 9 hours of music by him. But if it hadn't been for Elvis or Pat Boone, Fats, Chuck, and Little Richard would not have made mainstream American radio, and all of them had a profound influence upon young Bobby Zimmerman, who played piano in Bobby Vee's band the night after Buddy, Ritchie, and Big Bopper flew into eternity.

Russell | 5.3.12 @ 12:20AM

Ben might persuade G of his doctors good intentions by partaking of their proffered medications himself, surely a win-win proposition for readers of his anodyne diary.

somnolence| 5.3.12 @ 9:55AM

Ferlin Husky sang better, truer ROCK AND ROLL(there IS a difference between R&B, Rock&Roll;, and ROCK, the latter of which Dylan IS a definite forerunner), so yes, ole Simon Crum along with Pat will be just as remembered as the Hibbing Schubert 100 years from now, lol.

Seek| 5.3.12 @ 11:30AM

For the best of modern country/rockabilly, I'll take brothers Dave and Phil Alvin.

somnolence| 5.3.12 @ 3:42PM

I'll go with High Noon, Asleep At The Wheel, or Marti Brom.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.3.12 @ 4:47PM

...And then there's Rancho Notorious: "hate, murder and REVENGE!"

Hugh Phillips| 5.3.12 @ 7:08PM

I'm sorry, Ben. You see, money just won't buy..........ad infinitum. But it does have it's perks. At least no one calls me for help and so I have peace of mind knowing I only have to worry about me and mine. And, of course, no, he can't. It's just that we're damned if he can and damned if he can't.

Colin Foy| 5.4.12 @ 11:35AM

Beverly Hills 9021 Oh, who gives a shit?

zamoracarl| 5.4.12 @ 7:52PM

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The Morrigan's Pet| 5.5.12 @ 12:09AM

Rhetorical question, eh? But is it ignorance or something less benign? Methinks we're dealing with a psychopath.

PsychoDad| 5.6.12 @ 11:32AM

I dunno, Dylan just doesn't do that much for me. Obscure lyrics are fine if they actually mean something somewhere - I don't believe most of his do. Well, "Everybody must get stoned," maybe. I can listen to a song or two and that's enough. Personally, I think The Band was far more compelling in every way. Hey, many songs of ANY kind commemorate the French & Indian/Seven Years War?

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Whither Suburbia?

Steven Greenhut|23 comments

The Woman Who Wrote Liberty Valance

Bill Croke|26 comments

Not Super, But Pretty Good

Aaron Goldstein|17 comments

The Loss of Trust

Thomas Sowell|30 comments

Foreign Policy as Farce

Jed Babbin|87 comments

The Spectacle Blog

Thank You, Bobby Jindal

Matt Purple | 6:01PM

Buzzfeed Faces $3.6 Million Lawsuit for Copyright Infringement

Kaylin Bugos | 4:55PM

Democrat Dan Maffei Blames Budget Cuts for Girl’s Rape, Mother’s Murder

Robert Stacy McCain | 4:12PM

Pro-Life is Smart Politics

Rich Lizardo | 4:01PM

Gerson, Wehner, and the Losing Old Ways Crowd

Jeffrey Lord | 2:46PM

Are Young People Souring on Obama?

Matt Purple | 2:24PM

Boehner to Enforce Hastert Rule with Immigration Reform

Jordan Gonzalez | 1:10PM

U.S. to Restart Negotiations with Taliban

Kaylin Bugos | 12:01PM

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?