Tempted By The Fruit Of Another

Until Eurythmics came along, I am not sure if there was a band that had my attention in the 1980s more than Squeeze. Certainly from 1979-1984, they were my soundtrack for walking around Capitol Hill is Seattle in my cool new wave clothing with my new Walkman. Tempted is one of my top 10 songs of all time.


Paul Carrack possesses one of my favorite blue-eyed soul voices. I have his work with Roxy Music, Squeeze, & his solo albums. He has worked as a session musician with the bands: The Smiths, Mike & The Mechanics, The Pretenders, & Elton John.

He turns 59 today. I think he still looks dapper & sounds smashing.

Earth Day 2010

I figure that if I remain lucky & take care of myself, I might be on this planet for another 30 years. I will be celebrating by imbibing some free range vodka & instead of tossing them in the garbage, I will give my pizza crusts to my terriers ( the name terrier is derived from the French 'terre', meaning earth).


Today is the 40th annual EARTH DAY. I live in a city that puts sustainability issues in the forefront & I work for a company that is aggressively “Green”. I garden using no chemicals, pesticides or insecticides. I have no lawn & have designed my garden for low water use & to attract birds & butterflies. Every little effort contributes.

David Suzuki

One of my personal heroes in the environmental movement is University of British Columbia professor David Suzuki, Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. he is an award winning scientist, environmentalist & broadcaster. Suzuki is renowned for his radio & television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way. Things we can do or work towards:

Protecting the climate — doing our fair share to avoid dangerous climate change & be on track to achieve a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions.


Transforming the economy — make certain that we can maintain a high quality of life within the finite limits of nature through efficient resource use.


Protecting nature — work to protect the diversity & health of Canada's marine, freshwater, & terrestrial creatures & ecosystems.


Reconnecting with nature — learn about their dependence on a healthy environment through outdoor education.


Building community — live healthier, more fulfilled & just lives, building Earth friendly infrastructure, making smart energy choices, using efficient transportation, & being mindful of the products, food & water we use.

“Without Obsession, Life Is Nothing.”... Happy Birthday, John Waters!

“I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty.”

John Waters is one of my favorite people in this galaxy. It was from him that I first heard the term- Tea Bagging, & I am now furious that radical wingnuts have hijacked this perfectly lovely slang term for a sweet act of affection, & made it into something dirty & political?


My first John Waters film was Pink Flamingos in 1972, at a small revival house in Cambridge, Mass. I was so disgusted by this piece of trash that I couldn’t wait to come back for more. I have seen all of his films since then & I find them to be filthy & sweet, a combo that I really go for. My personal favorite is Pecker. The Husband has a soft spot for A Dirty Shame.


For more than 40 years, John Waters has gone from a Baltimore boy making cheap, underground movies to an international star & a maker of Hollywood comedies. But he is no snob & he is not a player. All of his films are shot on location in Baltimore with modest budgets. The star power of his films demonstrates his influence & clout.


John Waters writes all his own films, & his trademark stylistic elements of filth & debauchery are still a part of his more mainstream screenplays, made more palatable for the masses. In many of his films there is the mock sincerity & the forced innocence of late 1950's & early 1960's. Drugs, queers, abortion, & religion… nothing is sacred in his viewpoint. Waters: "Secretly I think that all my films are politically correct, though they appear not to be. That's because they're made with a sense of joy."


If the films were not enough, John Waters is also an accomplished writer & photographer. He has published 2 volumes of his journalism, 1 screenplay collection, & a great big book of pictures he took of his television. His artwork has been shown internationally in museums & galleries.


At 12 years old, John Waters subscribed to Variety, mastering the lexicon of show biz. He staged bizarre & hilarious puppet shows at children's' birthday parties. With an 8mm camera, Waters & his high school outcast friends formed a repertory company called the Dreamland Players, & they began filming the vilest filth Waters could imagine. He has said that his goal was to smash every middle-class value. His early works included Hag in a Black Leather Jacket & Eat Your Makeup, in which models are kidnapped &… & forced to eat their makeup.


John Waters was expelled from NYU for smoking marijuana. In the official letter of expulsion, Waters' parents were told that he needed extensive psychiatric therapy, but Waters made movies instead. In 1969, with $2,000 from his father, Waters made his first full length film- Mondo Trasho. In one memorable scene, his muse- Divine crawls through a pig sty wearing a gold lame dress, while pigs copulate on camera. It got Waters arrested for conspiracy to commit indecent exposure. His other early films include- Multiple Maniacs, in which Mink Stole gives "rosary jobs" to strangers in Catholic churches, & the scratch-and-sniff classic- Polyester.


In Pink Flamingos, in an effort to be the"filthiest person alive", Divine is asked to describe her political positions: "Kill everyone now. Condone first degree murder. Advocate cannibalism. Eat shit. Filth is my politics…filth is my life!" William S. Burroughs called Waters "the pope of trash". Hairspray, his 1988 rock n' roll comedy starring a fat Ricki Lake, was his first mainstream film, it became a successful Broadway musical in 2002, winning 8 Tony Awards& an enjoyable film version was released in 2007 starring John Travolta & Michele Pfeiffer.

Earlier this year he was granted a knighthood by HRH Elizabeth 2, so he is now Sir John Waters. He continues to reside in his beloved Baltimore, bust blocks from where he grew up.