Keeper of the Clown Bell

In 1975, nostalgia was a powerful cultural force in the Techno-Fascist Imperium, with movies and TV shows tapping into America’s longing for a time before the JFK coup d'état, Great Society Cultural Revolution and Watergate-era bloodless coup. Though the KOTCB pegs the year 1973 as the start of 50 years of failure (see disposable butane lighter) there is a strong argument that '75 was the cultural nadir of America and we've been climbing our way out of the psychological abyss for the past 18,250 days. The 50's were very popular in the mid-70's zeitgeist with ShaNaNa on the radio, "Grease" on Broadway and "Happy Days" on TV painting an idealized picture of All-American innocence. As for the cinema, which is the primary focus of this blog bost, the output from Hollywood was very au courant. The Oscar best picture contenders were "One Flew Over The Coockoo's Nest" (winner), "Barry Lyndon," "Dog Day Afternoon," ...

The long MAGA march through American history began on January 22, 2015 when JEB! travelled to Mitt Romney's Salt Lake City home for  a cordial discussion  about the 2016 presidential campaign and Willard was told to back off and wrap his mind around the VP slot ( maybe ). Imagine how Mittens felt during the summer and fall of that year watching John Ellis Bush ("please clap") screw the GOP primary pooch so awkwardly that even with his daddy's Deep State operatives running the campaign the Yankee Floridian could not close on the nomination. With $100 Million in his chinos pocket to squander on advertising by political consultants and endorsements from a long list of politicians and military leaders JEB! was the anointed Republican "leader" and his other primary opponents (except for one) were auditioning for a cabinet secretary role. Poor Mittens watched from the sidelines, swallowing his Mormon pride, while the neocon DEI loving hire got his ever-loving pans...

There are three meta totems that serve as recurring symbols of the modernist ethos projected by the Techno-Fascist Imperium which I have contemplated my entire adult life. They are as follows: Disposable lighters  - released on the world in 1973 these little Promethean wonder sticks brought fire to everyman at almost no cost in a valueless plastic container which could be tossed or lost without consequence. In a post titled  July 5th - Disposable Culture  the KOTCB marked '73 as year zero of America's  50 Years Of Failure  in large measure because of the irony of these butane lighters and the impact they had on global human consciousness. Jell-O  - It is a food product that requires refrigeration but provides no nutritional value to the grinning Deeble who spoons the colored cubes of reconstituted cow bones(?) into his gaping mouth. I put the (?) behind the possible ingredient of Jell-O because... little known fact... only a handful of people, by which I me...

In the spring of 2021 I had a near death experience when my Chevy Silverado loaded with 30 cases of wine was rear-ended at 50mph  by a young lady who was texting-while-driving at 9:30 AM. Her Mercedes sedan flashed in my driver side mirror a moment before impact and that microsecond of awareness gave me just enough time to pull my foot off the break and jam the gas so when she plowed into my trailer hitch the impact met no resistance and launched my truck across the road and into the woods. I had stopped in the road, left blinker signaling, waiting for an oncoming pickup truck to pass and, by the grace of God, it did pass me just as the distracted driver in the mirror slammed into my flashing taillight. Everyone walked away from the crash with no serious injury but if the impact had transpired 2 seconds earlier it would have been a “Road Warrior” bloodbath of terror and death. When I stepped out of my vehicle and looked through the roadside trees I had miraculously missed hitting i...

Driving down Commonwealth Ave. in my '79 Caprice Classic while listening to late night alt-rock on WERS 88.9 FM broadcasting from Emerson College and spinning tunes from Mission of Burma, O Positive and Christmas into the aether via electromagnetic radiation. The brown 4 door sedan was affectionately named "the mud shark" at that time (1986) - later, after a Trompe L'oeil Marbling by my sister it would be called "the slab" - and it drifted atop the bumpy Back Bay streets as a reckless predator searching for a parking spot. The DJ was jabbering between songs about new music, upcoming shows and whatnot before wrapping with the admonition, "If these guys ever come to town be sure and find yourself ticket because their drummer Roland is amazing" and then he put the needle down on  Big Black's "Bazooka Joe." Steve Albini starts barking about some guy named Joe, Roland (the drum machine) jumps in with an uptempo beat and after a good long w...