<newNew Nation Column: David Brooks Shows His Hand on ‘Inequality’ (The conservative New York Times columnist steers the conversation away from economics and toward “behavioral” terrain.)</new

Remember Lt. Colonel Bob? Well Pierce has got him but I think you’ll want to read him here on the politics of rape in the military.

Alter-reviews:

1) The great Benny Golson with Mike LeDonne, Buster Williams and Carl Allen at Dizzy’s.

Sax man Benny Golson is one of those walking manifestations of jazz history. He has played with Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey, and together with the late Art Farmer co-led the great The Jazztet. He wrote the beautiful “I Remember Clifford” and a number other standards. This band was awesome—as you can imagine if you know the above names—and because his wife was not there, he talked a lot as well as played with charm, dignity and chops. Dizzy’s is always a beautiful place to see music but everything about this was right. More gigs there here.

2) Teddy Thompson's Phil Everly tribute concert at City Winery

Last night at City Winery, Teddy Thompson got together a gazillion of his friends to play and sing songs in honor of Phil Everly. My favorites were Tift Merrit, Jenni Muldaur, and Nicole Atkins, but there was much, much more and none of it sucked. Teddy also has an incredible, Roy Orbison-like voice and enjoys a remarkably charismatic dreamboaty-like stage presence. The show was sold out and a splendid time was had by all. More about Teddy, here. Future shows at City Winery, here.

3) The Grammys

Things that were better than expected:

-Chicago & Robin Thicke—“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”/”Only the Beginning”/”Saturday in the Park”/”Blurred Lines” -Keith Urban and Gary Clark Jr.—“Cop Car” -Kacey Musgraves—“Follow Your Arrow”

Things that were disappointing:

-Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr—“Queenie Eye” -Miranda Lambert and Billie Joe Armstrong—“When Will I Be Loved”

Things that were generally wonderful:

-Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, and Stevie Wonder—“Get Lucky” -Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, and Blake Shelton—“Highwayman,” “Okie From Muskogee,” & “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”

Things were pretty good:

-Ringo Starr—“Photograph” -Sara Bareillies and Carole King—“Beautiful/Brave”

Things I did not appreciate as the father of a 15-year-old female Jay-Z/Beyonce Fan:

-Beyonce and Jay-Z

Things through which I fast-forwarded:

-Everything else…

Place you can see these videos, here.

Reed’s away (and so we’ll take next week off) but he left the below:

The Mail

Prof. Robert Brulle Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science Drexel University Philadelphia, PA

Reed: 
Great story on the dearth of media coverage. I really criticized Obama and his silence during the election campaign. I don’t know if you saw the paper I did on the press coverage. I’m redoing this paper. But the lack of coverage is clear.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Bob

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