The late Harvey Pekar was drawn by a lot of great comic artists and portrayed by a couple of superb actors. Paul Giamatti played him in the movie, American Splendor. And Dan Castellaneta played him in an acclaimed stage play of American Splendor which was authored by my friend Vince Waldron. It opened in September of 1990 and played to capacity crowds for a year...and then a half-hour version was recorded as a radio play for KCRW in Santa Monica.
Tomorrow night, Friday the 16th, KCRW will rebroadcast that play in tribute to Harvey. It airs once (and only once) at 7:30 PM. If you're in Southern California, you can tune in to the station at 89.9 FM. Outside that area, you'll need to go to the station's website. It will not be available for download so if you want to hear it, tune in then. Dan is quite wonderful in the role.
Despite what they may tell you on Fox News, the scientific community in this country still believes that the Earth's temperature is increasing in a way that may cause many a disaster. Yeah, there are some experts who say otherwise but it's dishonest to portray it as one of those 50-50 balanced arguments. That's like saying, "Well, there are folks out there who believe Elvis is alive and was abducted by a U.F.O. so it's an open question." Jonathan Kay summarizes some of the deception in this area and says that Conservatives (he is one) should not be joining the Global Warming Deniers.
Our buddy Bob Elisberg discusses God's amazing endorsement of Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle. Sometimes, I think those who profess to love God the most love Him because it's handy to exploit Him for selfish reasons.
This runs close to an hour but, hey, if you're reading this website, you can't have that many better things to do. It's a press conference with many of the stars of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. I believe it was done in 1993 to promote the big reunion TV special that aired that year. The man presiding over the festivities is the show's Executive Producer, George Schlatter.
July 14, 2010
