How long can a piece live?

I've been a subscriber to Harper's Magazine for years. Every so often I get tired of it and let the subscription lapse. Then I notice that I'm buying it on the newsstand again, so I subscribe one more time.

At least a decade ago, I was about to let my subscription lapse -- when I got a piece of direct mail that was so good, it convinced me to resubscribe. It was ostensibly written by Lewis Lapham, and said that it is unusual for the editor of a magazine to make a plea to subscribers, but that was exactly what he was doing.

The solicitation was well-written, and it gave me a chuckle. I sent in my cheque.

I've received that same letter every year or two ever since. It no longer gives me a chuckle. It's even less effective now that Lapham is no longer the editor. I guess the letter must still work. If it stopped pulling, it would itself be pulled. But right now it's having the opposite effect on me -- I'm tempted to not subscribe again, maybe out of spite at having my intelligence insulted.

Leap of faith

OK, so I'm a bit behind the times -- but I just learned that Steve Earle has tied the knot for the seventh time (the lucky lady this time around is Alison Moorer).

What kind of faith would it take to want to embark on a seventh marriage? What kind of faith would you need to marry someone who's been married six times before? Just as long as she's not thinking she can change him.

Musical bits

#1: Saw Black Sabbath in Munich once. Can't remember the name of the opening act. A German metal band I had heard of at the time. One of the first songs, a line ended with the word "fire." I thought, "please don't let them rhyme it with "desire." Of course, they did.

I always appreciate an original rhyme. Here are two, neither one new:

I keep thinkin' 'bout that night in Memphis,
I thought I was in Heaven.
But I was stumblin' thru the parking lot
Of an invisible 7-11. (ZZ Top: "My Head's in Mississippi")

Fire in the disco
Fire in the Taco Bell
Fire in the disco
Fire in the Gates of Hell (Electric Six: "Danger! High Voltage!"

Even if they were to never write anything else, rhyming Taco Bell with Gates of Hell should earn them some kind of place in rock n' roll history.

#2: Got the new Tom Petty album (thank you Fiona and Paul). For me, the stand-out track is "Down South." Music reminiscent of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" -- and you can't go wrong with a song that starts "Headed back down South / To see my daddy's mistress."

World o'crime

Local radio newscast this morning had word of a "crime spree" in the usually quiet town of Mahone Bay, on Nova Scotia's South Shore.

Apparently over the last seven days, a fur coat, a lawnmower, and a weed whacker have been stolen. Not only that, but several cars have been broken into as well.

Crime spree!

That'll show those young 'uns

Bob Dylan's latest, Modern Times, is sitting at number 1 on the album charts. Number 1 -- ahead of Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. A tip o' the hat to Mr. Zimmerman.

Sudden sensitivity

The Nova Scotia International Air Show, coming up this weekend, has pulled the A-10 Thunderbolt II from the show. The reason? It's the same kind of plane whose pilots fired on Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan earlier in the week, killing one soldier and wounding 30 others.

Apparently, it would have been insensitive to display the plane here so soon after the incident. Instead, it's being replaced by an F-15E Eagle. These planes are heavily in use in Iraq, and have killed lots and lots of people. But they are far away, so we don't need to feel sensitive about them.

Must be exciting dads

So the Maine National Guard is providing "Flat Mommy" and "Flat Daddy" cutouts to families whose loved ones are serving overseas. You can get a life-size foam board standee of your parent or child and sit it at the dinner table with you, or take it riding in the car. Like this:




"It makes you feel like he's right there," says Mary Holbrook, in a story from the Associated Press. (Link here.) Must be an exciting guy to have around in the flesh.

Meanwhile, God forbid, what happens if real daddy comes to a nasty end in Iraq. How long will you really want to have Flat Daddy around smiling his vacant smile?

24-hour party people

Michael Ignatieff's troubles of the past week (will he run again if he loses the leadership? Won't he?) got me thinking again about why I'm not a party person.

Let's face it, Iggy didn't really say anything all that terrible, did he? Why would he want to look forward to four years in opposition instead of a tenured job?

The whole thing reminded me of my brief experience as a volunteer in the most recent Nova Scotia election. I was down at my local candidate's campaign office to make some calls (never again!) and got into a conversation with one of her organizers. I said we lived in an interesting riding, and began to sing the praises of our local MP (who belongs to a different party). Sure, I said, I'd rather that he be defeated because I'm not crazy about his party, but on the whole he's a good guy, and a solid local MP who cares about his constituents.

Judging by the silent stone-faced look that greeted me, this was clearly not the right thing to say. My party right or wrong, etc.