Let’s launch an open thread with this gem:
So what off-coloratura* ripostes do y’all go going tonight?
[Signed]Yr. Bargain Counter Tenor*
*stolen, brazenly, from the great Herr Doktor Peter Schickele/PDQ Bach, and the cast list from his half-act opera, The Stoned Guest.
Wormtown
Excellent
James Gary
FYI: I think the “bargain counter-tenor” credit actually first appeared on “Iphigenia In Brooklyn,” from the “Evening With PDQ Bach” album.
In any case, God bless PDQ Bach and his sole discoverer, Prof. Peter Schickele. They don’t get one-tenth the props they deserve for their lasting contributions to the field of Deep Nerd Humor.
Gex
She impressed me with the bass line. Then she whips out the voice. Awesome.
I love her. She is hilarious on Twitter.
Tom Levenson
@James Gary: Thanks for the deepening of my/the blog’s nerd cred here.
As it happens, my sister nearly killed Peter S. once. But that’s another story.
Punchy
John Oliver just used “eat a bag of dicks” in his opening monny. Cole should be SO proud.
fka AWS
OK, this fits more here than in the previous shit-flinging thread.
This is a nice, long elegy for race driver Dick Trickle, who committed suicide at 71 earlier this year.
Roy G.
Tom, are you going to weigh in with a post on the MIT report about Aaron Swartz? I know it hits close to home, but i’d appreciate your take on it, after you’ve had a chance to digest.
Tom Levenson
@Roy G.: Yes I am, probably tomorrow (though it’s a very busy day, so it might slip another day). I’ve only read about one fifth of the very long document so far.
Paddy
Somedays this is how I envision Cole-
Video Overnight Thread- Hillbilly Dancing With a Raccoon
Mandalay
@Tom Levenson:
Well Anthony Weiner’s communications director, Barbara Morgan, had a pretty interesting riposte to an intern, Olivia Nuzzi, who just resigned….
With her potty mouth I think she could teach Anthony Weiner a few things about talking dirty.
But for a campaign which already has a problem with respect for women, having your communications director call an intern a “fucking slutbag” and a “little cunt” is probably not helping Weiner’s cause.
catclub
Laudamus Te, B minor Mass, I think.
I really wish that Schickele Mix was available as podcasts. Only a few episodes – on 8 track pirated copies.
NotMax
Loves me some Peter Schickele.
The short films he made along with astronomy professor Peter van de Kamp while Schickele was a student at Swarthmore in the 1950s are priceless.
spudvol
pbs.twimg.com/media/BQeMcOLCcAAmqAt.jpg:large
Punchy
@Mandalay: that reads like an Onion article. That many hardcore no-no words in one rant would seem impossible.
SiubhanDuinne
@James Gary:
Recitative: “And in a vision Iphigenia saw her brother Orestes, who was being chased by the Amenities; and he cried out in anguish: ‘Oh ye gods, who knows what it is to be running? Only he who is running knows’.”
Aria: “Running knows.”
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
Not Bach. Vivaldi Gloria.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: Right you are. Glad I put that ‘I think’.
Roy G.
@Tom Levenson: Thanks, i’m looking forward to your usual thoughtfulness and insight. Obviously, you’re no Graham Spanier, and that is refreshing these days.
trollhattan
@Paddy:
Holy crap, that’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. WTFingF?
Mandalay
@Punchy:
Right. Awful as her meltdown was, it is kind of refreshing to hear some straight talking in a political campaign, without any filtering. For all her swearing, I thought the worst thing Morgan said was “see if you ever get a job in this town again”.
She has since apologized, which presumably means that Weiner has decided not to fire her. The new headlines write themselves: “Weiner supports his director of communications calling an intern a ‘slutbag’!“.
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
Sorely disappointed she didn’t work “c*nt punt” into it, but otherwise a nice rant and instructive on the composition of Team Weiner.
And to think “Weiner” is technically someone who lives in Vienna.
trollhattan
@catclub:
Saw Schickele conduct the local symphony many years ago and it was simply a great evening. He managed to stitch the whole program together with a series of violist jokes. (You kind of had to be there.)
ETA when a kid I was the parents took us to see Victor Borge. Every bit as fun as Schickele.
Burnspbesq
R.I.P., Maxwell’s, which is closing for good tomorrow night.
For 30 years it was the best live rock venue in NYC–even if it was actually in Hoboken, a ten-block walk from the PATH station that could be a cold, wet, wind-blown ordeal in bad weather.
Tomorrow, I’m listening to a steady diet of “Maxwell’s bands:” Marshall Crenshaw, the Bongos, the Feelis, Yo La Tengo, Fountains of Wayne
Mandalay
@trollhattan: Well the good news for Weiner is that this will be old news tomorrow. The bad news for Weiner is that the new news is even worse….
Sydney Leathers To Do Porn Video After Anthony Weiner Affair
Weiner’s campaign is the gift that keeps on giving. Kinda like herpes.
FlipYrWhig
@Burnspbesq: don’t forget Spiral Jetty!
Warren
It’s hilarious that the intern says in the Daily News story that the Weiner staff is incompetent and unprofessional…which the communications director promptly proves. The best part is that she then claimed that she thught the interview was off the record. Because yeah, that makes it okay.
Man…Retta Can Get It.
daverave
@Punchy:
Where’s the salt?
PurpleGirl
@Tom Levenson: True story. I had a bunch of people together for a PDQ concert at Avery Fisher Hall. I had to leave a ticket at the box office for one last participant. I’m running up the staircase to the dress circle, I see a pair of feet (in work boots) running down the stairs. I turn. It’s the Professor. I shout out “It’s You” and wave frantically at him at the bottom of the staircase (I’m at the top). He waves back. We both continued on our ways. I got to the dress circle box and told my friends, “He’ll be coming through the doors any moment.” So I told them the story about our “meeting”. Yes, I did shout out “It’s you.”
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Vienna’s name in German is Wien, so Wiener in English is the adjective “Viennese”, which of course includes the meaning “resident of Vienna”. A Weiner, from the verb weinen (to weep), is a crybaby.
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
However, Anthony Weiner does complicate the issue by pronouncing his surname like “Wiener”.
PurpleGirl
@Amir Khalid: Most Americans do not know how to properly pronounce German names. Indeed, some do not like how the German would sound and they mispronounce it on purpose. Current example is John Boener who doesn’t like “boner” so he says it as “bay”. (We, though, of Austrian/Germanic ancestry know what he’s doing…)
A Humble Lurker
@Mandalay:
Original scandal is still not important.
Paul in KY
@Burnspbesq: Saw Yo La Tengo at Bunbury a couple of weeks ago. All 3 members are great musicians. Not to many rockstar trappings with that bunch. The female member was dressed like she was going to Krogers. Liked that.
Musically, they sorta reminded me of Phish, except with a little harder edge to them. The lead guitarist can really play the hell out of that instrument.
Comrade Mary
@Paul in KY: Do you listen to their annual murderizing of the classics on WFMU? Here’s the playlist from 2013.
Paul in KY
@Comrade Mary: Do not listen to it. Checked out link & that’s pretty cool. Would think Yo La Tengo could play about any song & make it sound good.
Xenos
@trollhattan:
Or a ‘Vienna’ sausage. You know, weiners.
jwalden91lx
@Punchy:
I used this at work today. It was glorious.