In The Summertime

Ah, yes. In the Summertime. I think I speak for most everybody when I say that we are all so very fortunate that Mungo Jerry was a one hit wonder. Thank God he (or they) never had another song beyond that most irritating of all summer songs. It's too bad this one survived the seventies.

Whew! Hot isn't it? Damn hot! It's all Al Gore's fault, you know. We didn't have a real problem with global warming until he started talking about it. He's still angry about the election-and the fact that no one gives him enough credit for inventing the Internet. At least he made the cover of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY a couple of weeks back. The funny thing is he looked like the villain in the new Bond movie. Now he'll really be pissed! So long Antarctica!

It wouldn't summer without another Hollywood star going nuts. Yes, Mel Gibson, I'm talking about you, just like everyone else is at the moment. I knew he was going to snap. All that drunken anti-Semitic rambling...What's wrong with you? I guess that explains the Bin Laden beard he was wearing there for awhile. Will he recover? Well, there'll always be a spot open for him on Fox News. The guy I feel sorry for is the director of the documentary WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? which contains an interview with Mel. I'm sure that good liberals out there are booing his segment as soon as it appears. "Why...that's the Jew hater! C'mon, Saffron, we're going back to see AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH again!" The wagons are circling fast. All Mel's breaking loose! He's being attacked from within and without. Why, even Rob Schneider posted a letter in VARIETY, proclaiming that he's never EVER work with that Jew hater Mel Gibson. I guess that shoots down plans for DEUCE BIGELOW: ARAMAIC GIGOLO. Wow, Rob.Way to take a stand. Carrotop could not be reached for comment. As for Gibson's defenders, it looks like Jodie Foster has risen to his defense. Where's Richard Donner and Joel Silver, director and producer of the LETHAL WEAPON series? What about Danny Glover? Most of all, where's the one guy who Mel rescued from himself...Robert Downey, Jr.?

The high point of my summer had to be last week when I got to see the guy I am honored to call a friend, Mr. Grant Lee Phillips, here in Portland, Oregon. He is currently on tour promoting his latest album nineteeneighties. (Fo' mo' info, y'all can visit his website at grantleephillips.com or just click on the title of this blog to link right to it. Ain't that neat? Thank you, Mr. Gore!)

I've known Grant since 1979, which dates the both of us, but la-de-dah. Even then, back when he was the tender age of 16, I knew, as did just about everyone else at the time, Grant had so much talent that he almost couldn't contain it all. But he did. Grant has shown us all what he could do and continues to do so. I couldn't help but sit there in a combination of awe and pride for being able to see him perform live. As time has passed, Grant's grown even more comfortable with his audience, establishing a familiarity that draws them in while at the same time blows them away. If ever there is anyone that deserves his success, it's my friend Grant .He never fails to inspire and to impress. Keep flying high, my friend.

So...how is YOUR summer?