Bob Dylan to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

"Nearly 50 years after he sounded “Chimes of Freedom” on one of his earliest folk-rock albums, Bob Dylan, the mercurial pop troubadour, will be rewarded with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the United States, alongside such noteworthy figures as Toni Morrison, Madeleine Albright, John Glenn and John Paul Stevens.

The White House said in a statement that President Obama had named 13 recipients of the medal, which is granted to “individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
Mr. Dylan, a former winner of the National Medal of Arts, was praised in the White House’s statement as being among “the most influential American musicians of the 20th century,” for “his rich and poetic lyrics” and for work that has “had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decade.”

NY Times

A gorgeous horror movie about a pen trying to murder the letter "D"

"This is D, a truly bizarre vignette from the Venezuelan studio Chiguire Animation and Closed Eye Visuals. In this wonderful little animation, a pen with sinister inclinations wants to connect a dot labeled with the letter "D." The letter has no desire to be stabbed by ink, so it attempts to escape off the page."

Lakshmi Pratury on letter-writing

"Lakshmi Pratury remembers the lost art of letter-writing and shares a series of notes her father wrote to her before he died. Her short but heartfelt talk may inspire you to set pen to paper, too."

Early Dick Clark

With Dick Clark's recent passing, here he is with a 15 year old Bobby Fischer!

Linda Schurman -- astrologer

My old friend Linda Schurman is on the 'Coast-to-CoastAM' radio program this morning, from 2-3 AM EST. Linda has been a professional astrologer for close to forty years (although she still looks like she's in her 30's -- how did that happen?) and the only errant prediction she's had is that I would turn out 'ok'. :-)

She always does a great job on Coast!

Linda's website can be accessed here.

In response to Levon’s passing

April 19, 2012

"He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I'm going to miss him, as I'm sure a whole lot of others will too."

 Bob Dylan

9 Chains (Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia)

"9 Chains (Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia) is a film with live music directed and composed by Gene Coleman with cinematography and editing by Nick Lerman. This work will have its premiere on April 28th, 2012 at International House Philadelphia, with subsequent presentations in the USA and Europe later this year and in 2013. We have had considerable success with support for this project (see below) and now we turn to you to help us fully realize our goal! We need to raise an additional $8,000 to cover the final film production costs, plus travel and accommodations costs for our international guest musicians.
Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, architect and "futurist" who made a very large impact on American culture and technology in the 20th century. The first in a series of works by Gene Coleman about Fuller, “9 Chains” explores his presence in the city of Philadelphia between 1973-1980. Moving between documentary style presentation of the facts and pure abstraction, this work focuses on two projects Fuller worked on while in Philadelphia: the lecture series "Everything I Know" and the development of the World Game Institute. In both cases, Coleman uses the concepts behind these endeavors to create a work that moves fluidly from documentary to abstraction, weaving together the past, present and future."

You can contribute to the Kickstarter project here.

Food Network Star -- Justin Warner

I now have a reason to watch a reality TV show! My cousin Justin Warner is a 'Food Network Star' finalist! If he ever loses interest in the restaurant business, he has a career as a rapper!