Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

No one could have predicted…

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Giving up is unforgivable.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

This really is a full service blog.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  2. 2.

    geg6

    Jennifer Hudson did a great rendition of Purple Rain for “The Color Purple”‘s tribute at the end of last night’s show. That girl has some pipes.

  3. 3.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    Hey, would someone please tell me how to search Balloon Juice by a specific date? I saw it recently and can’t remember or figure it out on my own. Thanks in advance.

  8. 8.

    oldster

    Yeah, for me it’s been “Raspberry Beret” on a mental loop. What a feel, what a groove.

    Gonna miss that kid.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    I thought I was the only “Hamilton” hater here! Actually, I don’t hate “Hamilton” any more than I hate Justin Bieber or One Direction or whomever the kiddies are squeeing over these days — I’m just sick of hearing about it. But if there are others out there, let’s band together to counter the influence of this insidious cult!

  13. 13.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mary: Don’t know enough about Hamilton to either love him or hate him. I do think the deification of the so-called Founding Fathers borders on idolatry. Now Hamilton has joined the pantheon. YMMV.

  20. 20.

    Miss Bianca

    I begin to perceive why Mnem has such a crush on this show…

    In honor of someone’s suggestion yesterday, I am wearing my mourning for Prince: Raspberry beret, paisley turtleneck, fringed jacket, high-heeled boots. Yeah, it may get me some weird looks in the hardware store, but feckit.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    He’s more Genius-y than they are. ;-)

    Really, though, it’s kind of like Cole complaining about all of the Prince love on his Facebook. LMM created a piece of art that speaks to a lot of people on multiple levels. If you don’t enjoy that piece of art, you’re not going to get why people love it so much.

  24. 24.

    gogol's wife

    Don’t knock Hamilton until you’ve listened to the cast album.

    But I have had people tell me they walked out of it in the middle. I don’t get it. I think it’s brilliant from beginning to end.

    I guess I have to admit that although I love music of all kinds, I have completely missed the whole phenomenon of Prince. I don’t recognize a single one of his songs. I had no idea he was important enough to be in the middle of the top of the front page of the New York Times.

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    I’ll also register a contrarian opinion that that kind of melismatic, overwrought singing Jennifer Hudson does leaves me completely cold. The other woman is good, though, I guess it’s Cynthia Erivo.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    Interesting, today’s Uber settlement. I suspect the employee vs. independent contractor issue will eventually bite the bidnez model in the ass, but not if the union-haters have any say about it.

  28. 28.

    gogol's wife

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Completely and utterly missed it, as a musical experience. I remember the title but never heard the song.

    And when I do hear snippets of his music, as in the two Broadway tributes here referenced, I don’t hear anything that I could recognize if I heard it again.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    @Miss Bianca:

    I am a little sorry that I’m almost certainly never going to see it with the original cast, because they all seem to really like each other and like working together.

    When it comes to the performing arts, what makes someone a true genius is not just the part or parts they did, but their ability to gather really talented people around them and inspire those people to perform at the top of their game. It’s the whole “A level people hire A+ people” mentality, and I think that’s another thing at play in the ongoing Hamimania. Even the chorus is made up of people who have been featured players in other shows.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gogol’s wife:

    I had no idea he was important enough to be in the middle of the top of the front page of the New York Times.

    You are not alone in that. I heard someone on NPR yesterday stating that Prince was bigger than Mozart. All I could think was, “Oh fer crying out loud…”

  36. 36.

    FlipYrWhig

    @gogol’s wife: Were you alive in 1984? I’m 44 and the _Purple Rain_ album from that year was one of the biggest things of my youth. And it’s full of very strange, distinctive sounds.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    As I alluded to above, it’s gospel-style singing and fits in really well with that specific Prince song, which has a lot of gospel influences. But the style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, for sure, especially when singers try to cram it into everything they sing whether it fits or not.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @gogol’s wife:
    What she did was unique at the time and at least in sync with her considerable talent. Her imitators, not so much (looking at you, Mariah). Just hit the note and move along.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @gogol’s wife: I gave “Hamilton” a listen and was profoundly underwhelmed. Just a matter of taste, I guess. I loved Prince, though — the soundtrack of my youth! ;)

  48. 48.

    FlipYrWhig

    @gogol’s wife: I would guess that the biggest things in recorded popular music (for white people) in that stretch were Thriller, Born in the USA, and Purple Rain. Maybe Van Halen’s _1984_.

  49. 49.

    Eric U.

    @Betty Cracker: I tried to watch the Hamilton video with Obama, and lost interest quickly. I probably would enjoy going to it, but so far I haven’t been able to make myself share the excitement.

  50. 50.

    Miss Bianca

    @LAO: To you as well!

    @Mnemosyne: Kinda like Prince, eh? He had an amazing capacity not only for putting together crack bands, but nurturing and inspiring talent.

  51. 51.

    gene108

    Found out via Facebook one of my high school classmates has cancer and another died last month.

    Plus a co-workers father and another’s father-in-law both passed away in the last couple of weeks; heart attacks in both cases, I believe.

    It’s not anyone I’m really close to, but that’s a lot of premature deaths on the periphery of people I’m acquainted with.

    Crazy how fleeting life can be.

  52. 52.

    Emma

    @schrodinger’s cat: Actually, no. The whole point about Hamilton is that it doesn’t deify Hamilton. It’s warts and all. They don’t pull punches about his temper or his inability to keep ye trousers buttoned. He’s not a Godling in this play, which is why I like it.

  56. 56.

    gogol's wife

    @Shana:

    My poor husband has to decipher my constant quoting. There really is a phrase for all occasions. Mnemosyne’s been using it to reply to trolls.

  57. 57.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @LAO: I stand with you and Betty. While respecting the rights of others to join the borg of their preference, and of course recognizing and admiring the immense talent involved, etc.

  62. 62.

    ruemara

    I spent last night doing Prince tribute karaoke and falling into the beautiful pit called love. Some of the versions were… unique, to say it nicely. Many of the locals were amazing though. Amazing how many dumpy schlub guys can sing the hell out of some Filter and other tunes. And my favourite probable mistake was the best over all, but I have real bias.

  68. 68.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @jeffreyw: Bad, but hilarious.

    I opened my email to a message from an old pal reminding me that we’d both missed a stealth public ($5 ticket) rehearsal for the Purple Rain tour. It was the kind of thing we’d both (along with others& he’s a guitar player) gotten in to had we not all managed to somehow get crosswise with some powers that be. A late friend asked me at the time – WTF? Why weren’t you there?

    In front of me there were these two young women, early 20s,” he [Bogart’s owner] said. One turned to the other and said,

    ‘Look at that guy trying to be Prince.

    ’ And the other one said, ‘

    You idiot. That is Prince.

    ’

    nested quote test

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    Well, as long as you accept that you are wrong wrong WRONG!

    Kidding! I think I feel the same way about Stanley Kubrick that you guys do about Hamilton. I can watch his movies and recognize that there’s an immense talent at work there, but they just leave me cold, for the most part. (Weirdly, I like his comedies, but not his dramas.)

  73. 73.

    raven

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well here you go.\”

    “he most hurtful thing of all is to see an officer of the US Marine Corps, sworn to protect The Republic, stoop to lie to us from Baghdad in the service of WH talking points. Ah, but perhaps he believes the BS. When you are part of the Borg you eventually come to believe that the talking points are the only reality and that defeat is evidence of impending victory.

    Locutas said that resistance is futile. Perhaps it is. “

  76. 76.

    Emma

    @schrodinger’s cat: I got interested in the play because I had read parts of the biography and after spending a year and a half many, many years ago at Mr. Jefferson’s University, and knowing Hamilton pretty much as the writer of most of the good Federalist Papers and the object of John and Abigail Adams’ oddly poisonous hatred, I wanted to see what I could glean. I was amazed to see that it did in fact apply a corrective without going overboard in the other direction.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    ELECTIONS.HAVE.CONSEQUENCES.

    The New York TimesVerified account
    ‏@nytimes
    Breaking News: Virginia’s governor will restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons

  79. 79.

    Shana

    And to tie two threads of the comments together: a couple of rabbinical students have made a Hamilton Haggadah. I don’t know how to link, but it’s a google doc called, wait for it, Hamilton Haggadah. Home recorded songs included. You’re welcome.

  80. 80.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @raven: I’ll never use it again – I was responding…
    OT – I’m curious if you know anything about the breeding of your buddy’s brother’s (now W. Gates’s) jumper? Even sireline would be interesting to me. I gotta admit that it’s a little weird to wander up to the in gate with a handful of ribbons, where assorted riders’ connections (trainers, friends, family, etc) are grouped during a class, and have the Boss smile and nod at you. That only happened to me a couple of times, but it happened.

  81. 81.

    Jon Marcus

    @Amaranthine RBG: Can you explain what you mean by minstrelsy? ‘Cause that’s a pretty damn loaded term to casually toss around describing a Black/Hispanic cast.

    As far as I’m aware, minstrelsy was whites in black-face making fun of how stupid n*****s were. So…are you saying the cast of LMM & the cast Hamilton are somehow whites (oreos?) in black-face mocking blacks? Or that they’re stupid n*****s? Or something less offensive that I’m just not getting?

  84. 84.

    schrodinger's cat

    @raven: What’s his point? Is he trying to be funny or ironic? I found it to be neither funny nor insightful. Star Trek Borg were truly chilling till someone decided they should add a Borg Queen and give her a speaking part, that and 7 of 9.

  86. 86.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: I’m like this about a lot things. I’m going to check out Hamilton at some point to see if I care.

    @Jon Marcus: I think it is throwing loaded terms around for the attention.

  88. 88.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Jon Marcus: If I had to guess, it’s an ignorant attempt to say “musical theater,” while being as offensive in the context of this particular show as I can imagine possible.

    Words have meaning, people – as well as connotations that can be nasty. Please learn these before using. Thank you.

  90. 90.

    Miss Bianca

    @Icedfire: Awww…and thanks for turning us on to “The Current”. Listening now, what a great find! Suddenly nostalgic for the midwest, particularly Madison and Minneapolis, such great energy in those towns. Might be time for a visit this summer…

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I think the offensiveness was intentional, alas.

  91. 91.

    raven

    The second time I’ve posted the Dave Chappell -Eddie Murphy-Prince sketch and not a peep.

  94. 94.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @raven: Thanks; I’ll do that. Next Thursday night, will you at least point in the direction of the Georgia Theatre and think of what fine playing you’re missing? I like to think they played Miss Ohio in Louisville for me, LOL. They also did that happy GW piece April the 14th Part 1/Ruination Day.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    I thought I was the only “Hamilton” hater here! Actually, I don’t hate “Hamilton” any more than I hate Justin Bieber or One Direction or whomever the kiddies are squeeing over these days

    Kiddies?

    Here are some elders reacting to Hamilton. Some alter kockers are still rockers! Instead of kvetching, their minds still stretching!

  101. 101.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @raven: It is hilarious, and I meant to thank you but I’ve been distracted getting all teary eyed going down my personal memory lane. Only Jumpers moves some very high end stock; I don’t know them since I’ve been away from the ring for so long (see above). And most of the jumper trainers I know also have connections, though they probably have gotten something there – it’s often a giant circle that way.
    My closest world class jumper rider/trainer pal retired a mare named Happy Z ($1M of her own prize earnings) a couple of seasons ago and when I saw him he said, “Bella, you were one of the few people who didn’t think I was nuts when I started with Happy.” It was actually true, and quite a compliment. Needless to say, he’s got plenty of money – an immigrant who made his way in the US. Of course he wasn’t exactly poor when he arrived.

    There I go down a road again. Sorry folks, I’ll quit talking about myself now.

  102. 102.

    Betty Cracker

    @Brachiator: I wasn’t claiming only kiddies like “Hamilton,” as the show’s decidedly middle-aged fan base here makes perfectly obvious. I was comparing the nature of the “Hamilton” fandom to that of the teen pop star groupie set, i.e., unable to stop gushing about their idols, etc.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Interesting, today’s Uber settlement. I suspect the employee vs. independent contractor issue will eventually bite the bidnez model in the ass, but not if the union-haters have any say about it.

    I used Uber for the first time earlier this week, and was surprised at how frictionless and pleasant the experience was compared to a conventional cab.

    Talked to the driver. He wasn’t making a ton of money, but he needed the Uber job because he was unable to find work in his main field (scientific research).

    I don’t know that the independent contractor vs employee issue has been finally resolved at all. In the meantime, I was surprised to see how Uber and similar services are disrupting another aspect of transportation services: car rentals.

    More business travelers are hopping rides with ride-hailing services such as Uber or Lyft — taking more business away from car rental agencies and the taxi industry, according to a new report.

    The number of trips taken with the ride share services by corporate trekkers nearly doubled in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2015, according to expense management company Certify, which reviewed more than 9 million receipts and expenses. At the same time, there were 10% fewer trips taken in car rentals than in the first three months of 2015. And the number of taxicab rides fell compared with a year ago. From 37% share for taxis at the start of 2014, it fell to 25% last year and now has hit 14%.

  105. 105.

    Shell

    Its been a while since Ive been in a Broadway theater, but do they really let audience members do that much recording? Or was it only for this tribute?

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    I wasn’t claiming only kiddies like “Hamilton,”

    I know. But I thought the elder reaction to Hamilton was charming, and saw this as an easy way to insert the link and reference.

    Also, the show’s fan base is more than “decidedly middle-aged” (although this may be true of the people who can most likely afford tickets to the play).

    And by alter kocker, I am alluding as much to attitude as chronological age. The elders reacting to Hamilton all gave me vibes of people who have always been open to new experiences and perspectives.

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Apparently LMM made some rap mixtapes for Sheldon Harnick, the 91-year-old lyricist most famous for “Fiddler On The Roof,” at Harnick’s request.

    And I can’t help wondering if he actually calls Stephen Sondheim “Sondheezy” to his face like he does on Twitter. They’re pals, too — Sondheim helped with some of the workshopping late in the process.

  110. 110.

    raven

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Yea I’m not really sure wht the deal is. I know he sold some kind of tech company to Samsung and they moved him and the family (and horses) to NORCAL. I juts found out the other day that he didn’t like working for someone else so he moved it all to Florida.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    @Brachiator:

    Also, the show’s fan base is more than “decidedly middle-aged”…

    Hence the word “here,” as in “at Balloon Juice.” Jeebus. There’s no talking to you super-fans when you’re on a roll, but thanks for demonstrating the phenomenon to which I was alluding so comprehensively! ;-)

  114. 114.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think I feel the same way about Stanley Kubrick that you guys do about Hamilton. I can watch his movies and recognize that there’s an immense talent at work there, but they just leave me cold, for the most part.

    Yeah, I understand this reaction in some people who are totally wrong, wrong, wrong about Kubrick.

    Hitchcock gets this reaction sometimes as well.

  116. 116.

    The Golux

    @gogol’s wife:

    …that kind of melismatic, overwrought singing Jennifer Hudson does leaves me completely cold.

    One of the songs from “Spamalot” is a hilarious send-up of that type of singing, perfomed brilliantly by Sara Ramirez.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think “superfan” behavior is human behavior — Mozart and Beethoven really did have women throwing their panties (or the period equivalent) at them. It’s just that we old folks have developed better taste than the Bieber fans. It’s a process.

  122. 122.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mnemosyne: I am with you on Kubrick, although I have only seen 2001. I was like WTF at the end. These days, I am in love with Vishal Bharadwaj and his Shakespeare adaptations in the Indian context. He is brilliant, he directs his movies, writes them, composes their score and even sings. I have become a fan just after watching the songs.

  123. 123.

    Miss Bianca

    We interrupt this Prince and Hamilton thread with an important announcement: Today marks my first HUMMINGBIRD sighting of the year! And there’s still snow on the ground! This means I have to get cracking with the hummie chow when I get home! Yaaaayyyy! (imagine Kermit arms waving furiously).

  124. 124.

    gogol's wife

    So it’s okay to go on and on about sports teams many of us care nothing about and games that most of us didn’t see, but a few of us aren’t supposed to talk about Hamilton every once in a while? The scroll button doesn’t work?

  127. 127.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Apparently LMM made some rap mixtapes for Sheldon Harnick, the 91-year-old lyricist most famous for “Fiddler On The Roof,” at Harnick’s request.

    Very cool. I didn’t know much about LMM’s background, but one profile, maybe on 60 Minutes, noted how much he had been into musical theater growing up. It makes sense (and it’s a nice gesture) that he would reach out to other Broadway creative types.

    The Sonheim stuff is a hoot. I can’t imagine him getting away with the “Sondheezy” thing, but you never know.

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    I know! You’d think if there was one thread where we could play in our sandbox without interruption, it would be this one.

    I can’t remember, did you get your copy of the Hamiltome yet?

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    HItchcock’s movies are the best! I became a fan when I saw a retrospective of Hitchcock movies in the theaters when I was a teen. A lot of the magic is lost if you see them at home.

    I think that I have seen almost all of Hitchcock’s films. I agree that seeing them on the big screen is magical, but some of the early films, the silents and the early British films, are rarely shown anymore except on tv.

  135. 135.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think “superfan” behavior is human behavior — Mozart and Beethoven really did have women throwing their panties (or the period equivalent) at them

    Not too sure about Mozart, but Franz Liszt definitely had a Tom Jones thing working, with women going wild over his handkerchiefs and velvet gloves. Some may have thrown their panties back. And, oddly enough, some of the castrati drove admirers wild. And at least one, Caffarelli, had to escape a jealous husband.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    Apropos of nothing, LMM is so talented in so many arenas that it makes me feel a little better to know he’s kind of a goofy dancer.

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