Dave Koz’s Bummer of the Summer
“Strange. The longer I play the smaller this saxophone gets.”
The idea of a quartet of top smooth jazz saxophonists gathering for a super-session must have seemed like a great idea to Dave Koz. Why not invite Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair and Richard Elliot to join him for a sax summit? Hang out, play some together, have some laughs. It’ll be fun. What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a bit actually. The biggest problem with Summer Horns is it suffers from the mistaken assumption that if some is good, then more must be better. But more isn’t always better. Sometimes more is just more than what is necessary and that is why Summer Horns doesn’t work.
There will be a some folks mad at Koz about this album. Namely, every smooth jazz saxophonist who wasn’t invited to play.
Yet even swapping out Koz, Albright, Abair and Elliot for Euge Groove, Eric Darius, Walter Beasley and Jessy J., probably doesn’t change much. The songs would probably stay pretty much the same as the horn arrangements by Greg Adams, Tom Scott, Gordon Goodwin, Marco Basci and Albright achieve competency without ever being impressive.
Discerning fans will notice the songs chosen for the album are crossover jazz (Ronnie Laws’ “Always There” and “Rise” by Herb Alpert), rock and soul bands that featured horns, (Chicago, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Stevie Wonder) and a few standards for good measure.
The all-covers concept may have been driven by the desire to dress up familiar favorites in new technology or maybe it was a matter of the various artists not having the time to compose and learn all-new, original material. Since there is a follow-up tour scheduled what’s more likely to please a crowd: a bunch of new and unfamiliar tunes or moldy oldies they know by heart?
There is a vague whiff of calculation to this approach because even though Koz, Abair, Albright and Elliot’s interpretations pale in comparison to the originals the chance to see all four sharing the one stage will be an irresistible hook for both promoters and concertgoers.
As a Doobie Brother and as a solo act Michael McDonald was the epitome of blue-eyed soul, but that was a long time ago. Tower of Power’s “So Very Hard to Go” sinks as McDonald strains for the soul that used to come easily. Jeffrey Osbourne is a veteran crooner who does a little better with “God Bless the Child” but not much better. He doesn’t have much of an affinity for Billie Holiday’s definitive classic and Koz and company fare little better.
More successful and Jonathan Butler and Osbourne’s backing vocals for “Hot Fun In the Summertime” and if there weren’t enough horns already Brian Culbertson drops in to add a trombone solo. The horns-and-bass version of “Take Five” is sincere in its wish to pay respects to Dave Brubeck, but hasn’t Paul Desmond’s classic been overdone by now? A persistent criticism leveled at smooth jazz artists is they take the path of least resistance and here the charge sticks.
The lone original moment comes at the end with “Summer Horns” but by then it’s only a teaser of what this grand collaboration might have been if Koz and company hadn’t chosen to play things both straight and safe.
The urgency to please instead of intrigue the listener is what makes Summer Horns a frustrating affair. It’s akin to a summer blockbuster movie with a star-studded cast, eye-popping special effects that kills an hour or two and leaves no lasting, long-term impression. The talent of the stars is undisputed, but nobody seems on the verge of breaking a sweat.
This is an album that will sell big, but aims small.
This review originally appeared at All About Jazz.
This part didn’t.
There was more I wanted to say about Dave Koz and Friends and the Summer Horns album that I could not say in the All About Jazz review. Here on my personal blog I say what I want.
And what I want to say is how much I could not stand this record.
I like smooth jazz, but boy, does it wear me out trying to defend it from those who call it unlistenable pabulum. It’s not, but albums like Summer Horns are impossible to defend. Everything you hate about smooth jazz is here in big heaping helping of different ways to SUCK.
How much sax is too much sax?
I find what a lot musicians are doing to be completely uninteresting to my ears and jazz is certainly no exception. Nothing bugs me more than guys like Koz whom seem capable of more, but settle on uninspired and unachieving crap like his Summer Horns project which relies on a gimmick of pulling together four smooth jazz sax players, going through the motions on some lame cover version of someone else’s hit songs and then just noodle until it sells like crazy (or what passes for crazy in an age where nobody buys albums anymore).
It’s a sin and a shame to make music this dull. It’s not a crime, but it should be. This is not the worst album I’ve heard from a major act in ten years of reviewing recordings, but it could be the most lethargic. Playing loud and piling on some lame solos doesn’t mean you’re kicking ass. Simply calling Summer Horns a “bad” album doesn’t get close to summing up my feelings. Bad is the wrong word. Dreary is the word. This is the kind of record that people who love jazz hate with a passion because it isn’t jazz. It’s instrumental music. Which ain’t necessarily jazz.
Too many musicians learn a trick and then they repeat that trick if it proves to be successful. “They liked that one so I’ll give them another one just like it.” This is a trap and artists big and small have walked into it. I know this to be true. Jazz is too much of a limited niche market for anybody to deliberately make lousy music and I truly believe nobody makes a bad album on purpose.
But lazy, half-ass, going through the motions albums that nothing but product like a bad of McDonald’s fries? Yes. That absolutely happens all the time.
My father always said bad music will drive out good. He wasn’t entirely right about that. Boring music drives out both.
Related articles
- Dave Koz and Friends Deliver The Heat on ‘Summer Horns’ (gojimmygo.net)
- Dave Koz And Friends – Got To Get You Into My Life (smoothjazztherapy.typepad.com)
- WAVE Exclusive: Sneak Preview Of ‘Dave Koz & Friends: Summer Horns’ Album & Tour (947thewave.cbslocal.com)
Zimmerman Family Values
If the colors were changed Zimmerman would already be in prison for life.
It’s Father’s Day, a time sons and dads get together and reminiscence fondly of their good times together. Or if you’re Robert Zimmerman Sr. whose son George faces second-degree murder charges for the killing of Trayvon Martin last February and you think he got a raw deal, what you do is dash off a $3.99 e-book on Amazon and you lay fault for all the woes of your family squarely on nearly every prominent Black politician and organization for being “the true racists.”
Who is it that has that knives out for George? Daddy Zimmerman has it all figured out and naming names:
- Congressional Black Caucus. “[A] pathetic, self-serving group of racists… advancing their purely racist agenda.” He later adds that “all members of Congress should be ashamed of the Congressional Black Caucus, as should be their constituents.” And finally: “They are truly a disgrace to all Americans.”
- The NAACP. “[S]imply promotes racism and hatred for their own, primarily financial, interests” and “without prejudice and racial divide, the NAACP would simply cease to exist.”
- NAACP President Benjamin Jealous. “[W]hat I would expect of a racist.”
- Trayvon Martin’s funeral director. A “racial activist and former head of the local NAACP.”
- Benjamin Crump, Natalie Jackson and Daryl Parks, attorneys for Travyon Martin’s family. “The scheme team.”
- The National Basketball Players Association.
- Black Chamber of Commerce.
- National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers.
- National Black United Fund.
- United Negro College Fund.
Robert Zimmerman Sr. sees conspiracies against his son and the face of the conspiracy is a Black one.
Pretty much everybody but The Harlem Globetrotters is gunning for Boy George Zimmerman. The old man also claims the Boston bombings could have been averted if the FBI wasn’t busy investigating the Martin murder.
The positive reviews on Amazon praising Zimmerman Sr., are just as eye-opening.
This book gives you a glimpse into what actually happened in February of 2012, without the lies and politics. Don’t be put off by other people who disparage this man and his family without bothering to find out what actually happened. The truth will come out during the trial, and the Zimmermans will be vindicated.
I have believed all along that this case was a travesty propelled by financial and personal gain by those whose interest is benefited from this being a criminal & race issue…Those of you that think this isn’t financially motivated read the book and then ask Trayvons grieving mother when & where she got those huge multi carat diamond earrings she was sporting on her media campaign?
To the Zimmerman family, I support your family, and I wish the Martin family would have recognized the signs for their son to get help. It’s a tragedy, and I wish we could bring Trayvon back, and have given him some guidance before he decided not to stop beating your son’s head into the pavement. A couple more poundings, and George would possibly have brain damage, and been a vegetable. If Trayvon would have kept his hands to himself, he still would be here for his family.
Okay, you get the picture. There’s a lot of sick, twisted bastards and far too many of them have computer access.
Too bad you can’t train a puppy on an e-book.
In the foreword of “Florida v. Zimmerman: Uncovering the Malicious Prosecution of my Son, George” Daddy Z declares, “Everything stated in this book is true to the best of my knowledge and my belief (You really believe that?). However, given the media’s egregious and misleading reporting (Because I certainly couldn’t be biased in favor of my son), I would certainly encourage readers research any and all information they may question (And if you’re expecting an impartial account to come from the father of a guy facing hard time behind bars you’re out of your mind).”
The only ones who could be interested in slanted, self-serving trash like this are the same fools who are making contributions to George Zimmerman’s defense fund. It’s a neat little Jedi mind trick Daddy Z has pulled off here. He appeals to racists by denouncing every African-American who has chosen justice for Trayvon over freedom for George as the real racists.
This strategy should do well with morons and Stormfront members.
Zimmerman, Sr.is engaged in two of the oldest defenses in the world: deflection and projection. Blaming others for the sins of racism that he and his family perpetuates continually and repeatedly.
Can I say with 100 percent certainty George Zimmerman was motivated by racism when he murdered Trayvon Martin? No. But what I can say is if he is he got it honestly.
Today is Father’s Day and there is no doubt Robert Zimmerman Sr., loves his son George very much . He loves him so much he would lie for him. He loves him so much he would spread his race-baiting venom to others to feed the seething racial resentment his son started with his reckless and criminal behavior . George is a killer and that reflects poorly upon how the elder Zimmerman raised him. His love is no excuse for being a lousy parent. The stupid and selfish actions of George took Trayvon away from his father and that’s why he’s on trial for murder, not because of anything the NAACP or the NBA did.
Today is Father’s Day and Robert Zimmerman Sr. shows his love by spewing hate.
This is the face of a good boy. Not a boy killer.
Related articles
- The Nerve of This Man (thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com)
- George Zimmerman’s Father Says African-American’s Are The ‘True Racists’ (djsdoingwork.com)
- George Zimmerman’s Father Says The ‘True Racists’ Are African-American (soulbrotherspeaks.com)
- George Zimmerman’s dad lashes out at ‘racist’ Black community in e-book (rawstory.com)
No, I’m Not Nostalgic For Dubya
Presendentin’ be hard work.
It’s Old Presidents Week here at The Domino Theory. It be that way sometimes and especially when they are making news.
Facts are stupid things. Ronnie Reagan said that. He was right about facts occasionally being stupid. Facts are also subject to being manipulated, misleading and meaningless.
The disaster movie that was George W. Bush’s presidency has been ripe for a rehabbing and with President Obama’s recent spate of dilemmas, diversions and drama it’s getting one.
Gallup pollsters announced Tuesday that the last Bush in office is more popular than our sitting president. Forty-nine percent of Americans now see Bush in favorable terms, compared to 47 percent for President Barack Obama.
Bush’s 49/45 approval-to-disapproval rating split in the new poll also is the first time since 2005 – not-so-coincidentally the same year as Hurricane Katrina – that more Americans say they approve of his presidency than don’t. It’s also a major uptick from his favorability rating low of 35 percent in March 2009. (His high: 87% two months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001).
No, I don’t know WTF he’s doing either.
Before you could say, “Holy Revisionism, Batman” a colored conservative was all up in my Facebook news feed proudly proclaiming, “If you take off your Obama blinders you can see why life was better under Bush.”
Really?
The economy collapsed under Bush. The bank bail-out was introduced and signed into law by Bush. Bush burned through Bill Clinton’s surplus like a horny sailor in a whorehouse. Bush dragged the country into one war in Afghanistan and left it unfinished and then into another with Iraq based upon cooked “intelligence” of Weapons of Mass Destruction” that weren’t there because they didn’t exist. Bush ignored the poor and the Black drowning like rats in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina but rammed through a tax cut that redistributed the wealth into the pockets of the One Percent.
Oh, and the worst terrorist attack ever occurred while George W. Bush sat on his ass reading “My Pet Goat.”
To sum up, if you were Black after Hurricane Katrina, or in the World Trade Center on 9/11 or one of the over 4,000 soldiers whose lives were wasted in Iraq, your life wasn’t better under Bush. Your life was OVER because of Bush. Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days of Dubya and Evil Dick Cheney coming from a Black person is like an ex-slave reminiscing for the cotton fields.
Yes, Barack Obama is having a series of rotten days and weeks. The afterglow of his reelection has faded and the grind of governing has knocked him from his once lofty poll numbers. No surprise there. They only place they could go was down. But polls don’t decide whether a presidency is a success or failure. History does that and in my history George W. Bush is still the all-time, undisputed, winner and still champion Worst President Ever.
So I really don’t give a damn what a Gallup poll of 1,529 morons with short-term memories and no sense of history says. A majority of people thought slavery was a great idea once upon a time.
“Better off under Bush?”
Only if you’re a damn fool or a crazy Republican. But I repeat myself.
Related articles
- People who don’t know how to read polls falsely claim that Bush is now popular than Obama (blogs.e-rockford.com)
- Poll: More Americans view George W. Bush positively than negatively for first time in 8 years (trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com)
- No, Bush Is Not More Popular Than Obama (mediaite.com)
- Melissa Harris-Perry Tears Into Bush Over Presidential Library’s Katrina Exhibit: ‘Heckuva Job, Dubya’ (mediaite.com)
The Return of Backstabbing Bill
You’ll never need an enemy when Bill Clinton is your friend.
Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only member in her family whose reputation received a boost by agreeing to be the Secretary of State for the man who beat her, Barack Obama. Bill Clinton fell out of favor with a lot of core Democratic voters for his shabby, and occasionally race-baiting attacks against Obama during the hotly contested 2008 election.
Obama and his Democratic predecessor were not close in the aftermath, but in the 2012 campaign, one president reached out to the other and Bill Clinton became one of Obama’s most effective supporters and delivered a stirring speech at last year’s convention that easily surpassed Obama’s own address.
If the two men aren’t exactly friends, they learned they needed each other and both benefited from striking a truce and setting aside their differences.
Here’s one way to know the election is over and the next one is already well under way. Bill Clinton is through making nice with Barack Obama and he’s back to showing him up and cutting him down.
In remarks at the McCain Institute (that’s John McCain, the guy Obama beat in 2008) that weren’t open to the press, but Politico and The Daily Beast got the juicy parts anyway of,the 42nd President of the United States ripping the 44th for failing to act in Syria.
—”You just think how lame you’d be… suppose I had let a million people, two million people be refugees out of Kosovo, a couple hundred thousand people die, and they say, ‘You could have stopped this by dropping a few bombs. Why didn’t you do it?’ And I say, ‘because the House of Representatives voted 75% against it?’” Clinton said. “You look like a total wuss, and you would be.” (via DB)
—”If you refuse to act and you cause a calamity, the one thing you cannot say when all the eggs have been broken is, ‘Oh my god, two years ago there was a poll that said 80 percent of you were against it.’ You look like a total fool,” Clinton said. (DB)
—”Nobody is asking for American soldiers in Syria,” Clinton said. “The only question is now that the Russians, the Iranians and the Hezbollah are in there head over heels, 90 miles to nothing, should we try to do something to try to slow their gains and rebalance the power so that these rebel groups have a decent chance, if they’re supported by a majority of the people, to prevail?” (via Politico)
The missing and the dead. The byproducts of President Clinton’s disinterest.
It’s hard to know exactly what Clinton wants the president to do about Syria. He was a little skimpy on the details but makes it pretty clear somebody needs to “do something.”
Mostly its about Clinton reviving a theme began by his wife five years ago: Obama isn’t ready to sit in the Big Chair and make the tough calls. Bill knows he could and wants everyone to know Hillary could too.
Except when he didn’t and allowed almost a million people to lose their lives. Perhaps while he sucking on the unlit cigar soaked with Monica Lewinsky’s sex sauce, Bubba forgot how in 1994 he allowed the Hutus to slaughter the Tutsis in the Rwandan Genocide.
The only thing more disgusting than Clinton’s craven opportunism is his lousy memory. There was a time when he was the one who was the “wuss” and the “fool” and he was definitely looking at the polling numbers before coming to a decision.
What’s funny only it’s not is here’s the guy who sat on his thumbs when he wasn’t getting blow jobs from chubby interns and let the slaughter in Rwanda go down and he did NOTHING. The “first Black president” knew of the plans for genocide when the Hutus massacred over 800,000 Tutsis in 100 day. Clinton chose not to get involved.
President Bill Clinton’s administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time.
No use crying kids. Bill Clinton can’t hear you.
Senior officials privately used the word genocide within 16 days of the start of the killings, but chose not to do so publicly because the president had already decided not to intervene.
Intelligence reports obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act show the cabinet and almost certainly the president had been told of a planned “final solution to eliminate all Tutsis” before the slaughter reached its peak.
The documents undermine claims by Mr Clinton and his senior officials that they did not fully appreciate the scale and speed of the killings.
“It’s powerful proof that they knew,” said Alison des Forges, a Human Rights Watch researcher and authority on the genocide.
The National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute based in Washington DC, went to court to obtain the material.
It discovered that the CIA’s national intelligence daily, a secret briefing circulated to Mr Clinton, the then vice-president, Al Gore, and hundreds of senior officials, included almost daily reports on Rwanda. One, dated April 23, said rebels would continue fighting to “stop the genocide, which … is spreading south”.
Three days later the state department’s intelligence briefing for former secretary of state Warren Christopher and other officials noted “genocide and partition” and reported declarations of a “final solution to eliminate all Tutsis”.
However, the administration did not publicly use the word genocide until May 25 and even then diluted its impact by saying “acts of genocide”.
Ms Des Forges said: “They feared this word would generate public opinion which would demand some sort of action and they didn’t want to act. It was a very pragmatic determination.”
The administration did not want to repeat the fiasco of US intervention in Somalia, where US troops became sucked into fighting. It also felt the US had no interests in Rwanda, a small central African country with no minerals or strategic value.
William Ferroggiaro, of the National Security Archive, said the system had worked. “Diplomats, intelligence agencies, defence and military officials – even aid workers – provided timely information up the chain,” he said.
“That the Clinton administration decided against intervention at any level was not for lack of knowledge of what was happening in Rwanda.”
Clinton cared more about his blow jobs than innocents being massacred. At least when it came to Black innocents. But in Kosovo, Clinton didn’t dawdle at all. He moved quickly to intervene and save the Croats. Being born with White skin still has its privileges and one is the U.S. doesn’t dick around when it comes to saving the lives of those it considers worth it.
“It may seem strange to you here, especially the many of you who lost members of your family, but all over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror,” Clinton said during a trip to Africa in 1998 as the Lewinsky scandal was eating his presidency alive.
When Clinton said those words it was a lie. He knew what was going on in Rwanda. He didn’t care.
I respect Clinton. I even like Clinton. But his failure to act during the Rwanda genocide will never be forgiven or forgotten by me. He was a coward then, he’s a coward now and he has no right to criticize Obama for not interceding in Syria while he was unwilling to do likewise in Rwanda.
Oh well, the campaign’s over. Hillary’s out of the Cabinet. Time for Big Bill to do what he does best: steal the spotlight and undercut Obama. The next presidential election is right around the corner and there isn’t an inch of daylight between Hill and Bill in their plans to put her in the Oval Office. He owes her big-time for not divorcing his cheating ass while he was still in the White House and she WILL collect.
You expect this kind of behavior from Bill Clinton. He doesn’t mean to be so bombastic. He just is. He does mean to be duplicitous, deceptive and devious. Clinton has always been a guy who after he shakes your hand, you want to count and see how many fingers you still have.
In politics, they smile in your face while they pat you on the back. That’s because they’re looking for the best place to stick the knife. Maybe Clinton is coming down so hard on Obama to prod him into taking action in Syria in a way he failed to do so in Rwanda. Maybe, but I don’t think Clinton allocates that much thought to his past mistakes. His eyes on on the future and triumphant return to the White House and this time as The First Husband.
That’s a dream for Clinton well worth the risk of pissing off Obama. However he might want to consider Obama can ether be a big help or a big hindrance to Hill and Bill in 2016.
Throwing Obama under the bus and backing it up just to be sure isn’t anything new for anybody as ambitious as The Clintons. There’s been a few bodies stacked up under wheels of the Clintoncruiser over the years and there’s always room for two more.
Related articles
- Former Pres. Bill Clinton Said Obama is Being a “Wuss” and a “Fool” About Syria. No Sh*t, Sherlock. (shepherdspiehole.typepad.com)
- Obama You look like a “Wuss” – Bill Clinton on Obama’s Syria Policy (ozhassan.wordpress.com)
- Clinton Urges Syria Intervention, Regrets Not Being More of a Warmonger (comehomeamerica.wordpress.com)
The Slightly Slutty (Vintage) Vanessa Del Rio Interview
“Why, yes I would like a back rub.”
As a principle, I don’t particularly enjoy revisiting my old articles and interviews. It’s much more interesting to me to look forward than back, Still, I get asked, “What was your favorite story?” or “Who was your most memorable interview?”
Oh, that’s easy. It was Vanessa Del Rio. That wasn’t just informative. It was flat-out fun. Here’s a woman who got naked on film and had sex with many men, women and categories in between and has never expressed a single regret or recrimination about any of it. It wasn’t like I was going to ask her anything that would shock or embarrass her.
I conducted that one way back in 1999 for a website called Generator 21 that went on extended hiatus after its creative vision and editor passed away in 2010. Some writers enjoy what we’ve written more than the writing. That’s not me. I go back and revisit my “greatest hits” and all I see are the misses, the mistakes and the questions I should have asked but didn’t. There are certainly parts that are dated, but hell it is 14 flipping’ years old. So to those who asked me to repost this on my blog it turns out Mick Jagger was wrong. Sometimes you can get what you want. .
Jeff Winbush: Hi Vanessa. You sound out of breath.
Vanessa Del Rio: (slight panting) I just got back in the house and remembered I was doing this interview. I’ve been out spending money. Shopping does wonders for a girl (laughs).
JW: Well let’s get to it. When you retired from adult movies in 1986 one of the things you said you were going to do is write your biography. It’s 1999‹where’s the book?
Vanessa: Still writing it.
No, actually I’m waiting for the person I want to collaborate with to become available. She worked with LL Cool J and Queen Latifah on their books, so I’m waiting my turn.
JW: Thought of a title for it yet?
Vanessa: I had a couple that weren’t printable, but I’m thinking about “The Complete, Uncensored, Biography of Vanessa Del Rio: Porn Queen.”
“Just say “AHHH!.”
JW: That about covers it I think.
Speaking of rappers, you’ve become a popular name for rappers to drop. Ice Cube, Chubb Rock are among the rappers who’ve turned your name into a verb. “She Vanessa Del Rio’ed me.”
Vanessa: Right. I’ve been in some rap videos though I don’t really listen to much rap. “Get Money” by Junior M..A.F.I.A. crossed over to MTV. That was fun. Clicking the channels and there I am on “Yo MTV Raps.”
JW: You’ve definitely been rediscovered. I read the article that VIBE did on you generated two thousand letters! Then, of course, you played yourself on “NYPD Blue.”
Vanessa: That was fun. I was nervous as hell! I played a legendary porn star who gets harassed by a fan and Nicholas Turturro‘s character (Detective Martinez) comes to the rescue. I had one scene with Jimmy Smits. My one line was, “Excuse me.” (loud laughter).
JW: Why do you think you’ve become so popular again?
Vanessa: I don’t have any idea. Whenever I meet people they tell me how much they love me and my movies. The men are usually really shy and don’t know what to say, but the women are always nice and supportive. Especially Black women. They’re the first one to say, “You go, girl!”
JW: You were one of the few women of color to make it big in porn. Did you ever experience any sort of discrimination in terms of roles you didn’t get or being paid as much as the White women in the business?
Vanessa: Hmmm, I really can’t say I remember any racism. My audience is across the board and I have a huge Black following. I won a lifetime achievement award at the Black Adult Entertainment Awards from De’Unique magazine. I don’t consider myself a pioneer. I was just someone in the business.
JW: You say men don’t know how to approach you. They’ve seen you in films and on stage when you were dancing. Why are they afraid to approach you?
Vanessa: They’re intimidated by my reputation. Men always seemed to want to impress Vanessa Del Rio, the image instead of the person. Does that make sense? It’s tough being in the sex business and meeting someone. They often have their own agenda of what to expect, so it’s not a pure connection.
JW: Are men put off by your past in porn movies?
Vanessa: For some it’s an attraction. They think that all it’s gonna be is sex, sex, sex. If I meet someone who doesn’t know who I am they’re going to find out. It’s part of the deal and some men can’t deal with it.
JW: I’m certain there are some people who want to condemn you for your past.
Vanessa: I went to Catholic school for eight years. We had a priest try to explain the birds and bees to a classroom of little girls. We learned that if you kissed with a table between you it was a venal sin. If you kiss and there’s no table and your bodies touched it was a mortal sin. Who knows what would happen if you crawled on top of the table and got busy. The point is the more hold something as a taboo the more human nature makes you curious.
JW: I see your point.
Vanessa: This society and country is so much like that and they want to tell you what to do. From that stems fetishes and perversions. Personally, I like the word “perverse.” It means I’m not going straight the way you want me to go. Does sex mean procreation and that’s it?
Then I might as well be a plant.
Can I have a lick of your sucker?
The human mind is so vast in its thinking and its quirks that just being human is perverse. Society wants to keep a lid on it. That’s when it comes out sideways and that’s where you get the real perversion‚the harmful type.
JW: What’s your take on all the drama about the President and Monica Lewinsky?
Vanessa: It’s so amusing. Why is this the most important story in the world? Why don’t they just write, “The president gets a blow job.”
It all comes down to the media and money.
Don’t treat us like we’re stupid. We know there’s more important things to do than worry about Clinton’s sex life.
JW: Speaking of sex lives, how did you become a columnist on sex advice?
Vanessa: I write a column for Belle magazine on love and sex advice. It’s fun. I did an interview for the magazine and the response they got from women was very open and supportive. They came back and asked me if I would do a column. I call myself an “intellectual feminist bimbo” (laughs), not necessarily in that order.
Being a sexual woman and not afraid to exploit my sexuality is what feminism is really all about. It’s not about hating men and hating sex.
JW: How did the website come about? If you go to a search engine and put in “Vanessa Del Rio” you’re going to be there for a while. Wasn’t there an earlier web site?
Vanessa: Yeah, but that one was where I was just lending my name to it. I decided that I wanted to do my own web site where I could sell movies and tell stories or whatever else I thought would be interesting. I taught myself how to set up a web page, reading about HTML and Java and all.
I just decided: fuck it, I’m diving in.
JW: Well, I’m impressed.
But I have to admit that I’m bothered by something on your site: You call yourself a “slut” over and over.
Okay, you had sex on film, but as I talk to you I hear a woman who’s intelligent, who has opinions.
Calling yourself a slut seems like a put-down.
There certainly is no shortage of people who will pass judgment on how you’ve lived your life. Why do it yourself?
Vanessa: My boyfriend had the same problem. I did do things that people consider what a slut would do.
“You were Catholic. You did things against society. You had sex with all those men. You’re doing all these nasty things.”
It’s true. I did do all those things.
But meanwhile while people are telling me that they’re titillated in some way.
You can’t tell me that by looking at a picture of a genital, a pussy, a dick, a tit, that it does not in someway titillate.
If you somehow feel there’s something wrong with that then you feel something’s wrong with you.
I like to use the term “slut.”
If you notice I use the dictionary definition of the word on my site. If slut means a “wanton, horny, nasty woman” then how can I deny that? Every piece of mail I get tells me that they love me for it. That’s why I call myself a “slut goddess.”
JW: I can understand that. It’s the same philosophy that rappers apply when they take a negative word like “nigger” and change it to “nigga” and use it as a term of endearment.
Vanessa: Right.
I have to deal with what I’ve done because I was raised Catholic. I have the stigma on myself because society has instilled in me what I did was slutty or I was a whore.
There’s a part of me that says, “Oh my God” and a part of me that says, “You go girl, I like it.”
Because I did it. And I can’t deny it and I will not deny it. I will not try to repent for something I found pleasurable and still do.
JW: What’s the biggest misconception about Vanessa Del Rio?
Vanessa: That I swing from the rafters having sex 24 hours a day. I’m still looking to roll in some dough and still have fun. I’m a businesswoman and I love every aspect of it.
It would exaggerating to claim Vanessa and I are BFF’s or anything, but we both had a lot of fun with this interview and on the tenth year anniversary we discussed about doing another but it never came together. Her biography never got written, but what did was Vanessa Del Rio: 50 Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior, an oversized (and expensive as the $1000 limited edition of the book comes with an original Robert Crumb cover illustration and signed by Del Rio) coffee table book for , that goes deep into the legendary icon’s life and times.
Retired from skin flicks, the 61-year-old Del Rio maintains her website and occasionally shows up in movies like 2008′s “Soul Men” as the “Full-Figured Neighbor” who humps the late Bernie Mac’s brains out. At least he probably died happy. Next up Del Rio is a feature biopic in the way of the upcoming Linda Lovelace film.
When it comes to being a sexual superstar, Vanessa Del Rio blows Linda Lovelace and unlike Lovelace, the Latin from Manhattan has no regrets about it.
Barack Obama Into Darkness?
When the “news” broke last week that the National Security Agency under the Obama Administration was harvesting telephone records made within the United States the reaction was as predictable as it was swift. One big, huge WTF????
Those of us who did not choose to tear out our hair, rend our garments and demand Barack Obama be frog-walked out of the Oval Office in chains were exorcised as fools for surrendering our liberties without a peep of protest.
This conclusion is as fallacious as it is ridiculous and some of you really need both a laxative and a good night’s sleep. Not necessarily in that order.
I never said the government gathering information on the public was “OK.” But I’m not going to lose it now when I didn’t see all you outraged civil libertarians demanding George Bush’s impeachment when he did THE EXACT SAME THING without Congressional oversight or judicial warrant.
Sure we do. I do. You do too. Everyone does and yes, I am including all of you who couldn’t wait to crow “See! I toldja the government was listenin! I toldja Obama is no different from Bush. I toldja.”
Correct me if I got it wrong, but how did you get here? Was it via the Internets? Do you have an Internet Service Provider? Did you post on your laptop, smart phone or I-Pad?
Thanks for sharing with the the National Security Agency (which has only been around for 60 fucking years so I really don’t get why everyone is acting like they were just dreamed up by Dubya and now operate with the blessings of Barry).
Nobody is stealing your information about your next booty call, idea for the Great American Novel or your favorite porn bookmarks. You gave that information away. Yep. You left the door unlocked and now that it’s your shit getting peeped and not just some Muslim taxi driver in New Jersey you want to get all bent out of shape?
It is to laugh.
Let’s not do this dance. There is NO privacy on the Internet and there certainly is none on Facebook, or Word Press. Unless you believe founder Matt Mullenweg has 1000 lawyers on retainer ready to spring into action to quash any government subpoena from the Obama Administration for my complete posting history. I can assure you he does not.
There is no “right to privacy.” It is a fantasy and was bought by Disney and will be part of the next expansion of Mickey’s Toontown.
There is only the illusion of privacy. Your internet provider has your ISP. Your credit cards have your information. You use a loyalty card at the grocery store to get 25 cents off a loaf of bread and you’re handing over more information. You lose your shit when a phone call drops because you’re out of range of a cell tower.
When Verizon asked, “Can you hear me now?” didn’t you know it was a purely rhetorical question? Of course they can hear you now. They have always been able to hear you.
It’s not just Big Brother watching. Little Brother and Sister are too and we gave them permission to do so a looonnnnng time ago. Am I happy to have confirmed what I already suspected, that President Obama is continuing what President Bush started? Not really, but I never assumed any differently because I knew when giving a choice between protecting privacy rights and the nation from another 9/11 event, security is probably going to trump privacy.
This does not make be a blind Obamabot. I simply don’t see the reason I’m supposed to be freaking out.
I know it’s the default position for many of us on the Left side of the aisle to lose our shit and start dust off 1984 when this kind of story jumps off, but the reality about American life is unless you’re living in a cabin in the woods with no electricity, running water and totally cut off from civilization and living completely off the grid you give away your personal information and privacy EVERY DAMN DAY.
But now y’all want a cop an attitude and act like the piano player in the cathouse who claims he didn’t know there was fornicating going on upstairs? Please stop and look at the facts.
- The government is not listening to your phone calls.
- This is a program implemented with Congressional oversight and with judicial review.
- It is neither unlimited in what information can be data mined or extended into perpetuity.
You didn’t care when it was happening to Muhammad and Ahmed. Why so serious now? Because your boring little phone conversations flying through the air are being intercepted?
…a computer will sort through the millions of calls and isolate a very small number for further scrutiny. Perhaps one of the numbers was called by one of the Tsarnaev brothers before the Boston Marathon bombings. Or perhaps a call was placed by a Verizon customer to a known operative of Al Qaeda. The Supreme Court long ago authorized law enforcement agencies to obtain call logs — albeit on paper rather than from a computer database — without full probable cause to believe a crime had been committed.
Civil liberties are not something easily retrieved once given away, but little-by-little, bit-by-bit, Americans have surrendered their liberties and frankly, I find the hand-wringing and caterwauling both too little and too late. When you cede your power to politicians and bureaucrats you can’t come back later and shriek, “This isn’t what I wanted.”
If you want to maintain your taste for sausage you probably don’t want to see how the sausage gets made.
Related articles
- Obama strongly defends phone and Internet surveillance (latimes.com)
- Mr. Obama, meet Benjamin Franklin (scholarsandrogues.com)
- Chris Hayes/Jeremy Scahill Nail the Bush-Obama Relationship (crooksandliars.com)
- Obama on Phone Data Collection: ‘Can’t Have’ Security and Complete Privacy (theepochtimes.com)
It’s 30 Days in the Hole for Mr. Marcus
Allow me to give you a DOSE of this black diesel.
The enjoyment and consumption of pornography is still a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation where nobody talks about it openly, but it seems like almost everyone indulges in privately. Yet if porn isn’t as dirty as it used to be, it occasionally reminds polite society why it still deserves its sleaze ball reputation.
The man widely believed to be behind the porn industry‘s syphilis scare last year, adult performer Mr. Marcus, was sentenced today to 30 days behind bars for “knowingly exposing at least two co-stars to syphilis after testing positive for the disease days earlier,” the L.A. City Attorney’s office announced this afternoon:
The 42-year-old porn star, whose real name is Jesse Spencer, pleaded no contest to exposing someone to a communicable disease, the office said.
His case rocked the porn world and sparked a short moratorium on production at a time when the industry was being pressured to adopt mandatory condom use, something that is now law in most of L.A. county.
Mr. Marcus will also see 36 months probation and 15 days of community labor, prosecutors said.
Four words of advice, Mr. Marcus. Don’t. Drop. The. Soap. A fellow inmate might want to show they’re ready to break into the jizz biz. By way of your rectum.
Porn may have become more mainstream in how the larger society views it and how it runs as a business, but it is still a business that traffics in flesh for fantasy and as such draws like moths to a flame some of the most desperate, damaged, depraved and unethical people in the world.
Some get out of it with body and soul intact. Others are left scarred for life based on their experiences. Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV are part of the risk of having sex with strangers all the time. There has to be a system in place to where the performers are being tested regularly and all it takes is one egotistical asshole to do what no law has done; shut the porn industry down.
Mr. Marcus is Absolutely Syphilicious
”A lot of people in this industry didn’t know, were totally unaware how syphilis works. How this test reads it. I tried to cover it up. I didn’t want to have to share that part. Because I said it was like the scarlet letter. It’s the word. Syphilis, whoa. Mr. Marcus, syphilis? Mr. Marcus, the one I worked with? The one that everybody works with? The one that’s been in this industry forever?”
While others are probably culpable in allowing Mr. Marcus to perpetuate his dangerous deceit (and he may have contracted it from another porn star), the primary person responsible is Mr. Marcus. Remember: he deliberately altered his test results to indicate he didn’t have syphilis. That is stupid, selfish and high-risk behavior that justifies spending a little time in the slammer to think about his thoughtless behavior.
This isn’t about porn as much as it is about one extremely reckless, selfish and flat-out stupid “actor” who exposed women to a STD he knew he had, but kept working anyway. He knew what he was doing was wrong and putting others at risk. He simply didn’t care. These women were NOBODY to him.
Porn endures because it caters to fantasies of high-risk, yet risk-free sex, sex, sex. That’s one reason the industry is fighting legal initiatives to make condom usage mandatory. The pornographers claim it’s freedom of speech issue. It also interferes with the fantasy and the cash flow and that can’t be allowed.
Then along comes a 19-year veteran of porn who instead of wrapping that rascal or shutting it down until his infection cleared up goes full stroke ahead and screws up the screwing. Shit just got real.
30 days? The bastard got off easy.
“Please allow me to give you a hand, miss. Or two.”
Related articles
- Porn Star Mr. Marcus To Do Jail Time #STD (blogboyz.com)
- Hats Off To You: Mr. Marcus Sentenced To Jail For Exposing Female Co-Stars To Syphilis (crunktastical.net)
- Nasty Mr. Marcus Gets Sentenced for Spreading Syphilis (thegrid6.com)
Gee, E. Gordon Is Gonzo
“This is how many Catholic friends I have.”
It was one thing for E. Gordon Gee, the now ex-president of the Ohio State University to make dumb remarks insulting the Southeastern Conference (dumb, but not a firing offense), Arkansas coach Brett Bilema (dumber, but still not a firing offense) a couple of potshots at other colleges. This wasn’t the first time Gee’s mouth had outrun his brain, but this time it turned out to be the last.
What were the magic words that led to a warning from OSU trustees and finally Gee’s sudden itch to go fishing?
“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week,” Gee said at a Dec. 5 meeting attended by Athletic Director Gene Smith along with other staff, faculty and students. “You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that.”
Oh, Elwood, you’ve done it again! Now you’re slamming an entire religion? Now that’s a firing offense!
When you’re saying things that are true, others are free to object, but they can’t correct because it is true. But who you are saying these horrible but true, things makes a big difference. It’s one thing for a football coach to take swipes at a rival and quite another when you’re the president of a prominent university.
Gee’s run as the head honcho at OSU was long and distinguished. He’s an accomplished educator who has brought considerable riches and clout to the school and I’ve been to the dude’s house. Gee is a charming guy. He’s also an old man and like many old men with a habit of saying what he thinks he lets fly at targets that tick him off. Gee is almost 70 years old. He’s earned the right to speak his mind.
But along with the right comes the consequences of doing so. No one knows with completely certainty that Gee, who is a Mormon, has a real religious-based bias against Catholics, but it doesn’t matter. When Gee speaks he’s speaking as the head man of Ohio State and is held to a higher standard than any coach, professor or employee.
There are still certain things you can’t say. You can’t rant against Blacks and Latinos without being called a racist. You can’t rip women without being branded a sexist pig. Go ahead and blast lesbians or gays as offensive to God and find out how many you’ve offended by doing so. Gee’s distaste for Catholics would have gotten him removed immediately if he derided Jews in the same way. He tried to apologize, but it was far too late to backtrack. The odor of bigotry hung over Gee’s head and for that he jumped before he was pushed.
Across the country the Ohio State haters will be short-stroking this story. Oh, look. Ohio State is in the news again yet again for all the wrong reasons What the hell is going on there?
Those that already despised Gee and OSU only have another reason to. Goody for them and let them enjoy their laughs. It doesn’t matter. The haters are just as far off the mark as the ones who bleed scarlet and grey who are upset Gee is gonzo.
Whether Gee retired of his own volition or it was strongly suggested he should doesn’t matter either. Sooner or later he was going to leave anyway. When I met him at a gathering at his home he was frail and a bit shaky and I doubt I was the only one that noticed. Maybe he was already starting to lose it a bit. He certainly lost it enough to be eased into retirement.
You can only keep cutting your throat so long and so deep until you finally run out of blood. Or chances to cut your throat. Enjoy your retirement, E. Gordon. I’m sure it came a bit earlier than expected.
No more pretty girls for you, bud.
Related articles
- Gordon Gee to Retire From Ohio State Presidency (insidehighered.com)
- Controversial Ohio State president Gordon Gee to retire July 1 (gantdaily.com)
- OSU prez quitting after belittling jokes (wcpo.com)
