It's not very far from sulphur to sugarcane

This song really grows on me. Elvis with killer band including Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan (the world's most underrated fiddler) and Mike Compton. At Merlefest last year.

Ralph and Carter with Reno and Smiley!

Here's a great old clip of the Stanley Brothers singing and playing with Reno and Smiley!

Two of my favorite banjo players doing a punchy double-banjo break. What's not to like?

Why I play music

So I can make posters, of course. I really enjoy making music posters. It gives me a chance to experiment with different techniques and try new stuff. Sometimes it works pretty well as in the first one below. And sometimes not so well as in the one below that. It came out kind of Hallmarky. I think it's partly that font I used. Plus the washed-out colors. I was trying for a light, springtime sort of effect. Oh, well. There's always next month.

Oliphant on PBS

I'll be going in to KMUW at 4:00 today to record my commentary for this week. I'm going to look around while I'm there for one of those unicycle-generator thing-ies like Oliphant drew in this toon.

All us cartooners really miss Jesse Helms...

Oliphant on Europe

Luckovich on the Newtster

Everybody talks about how brilliant the Newtist is. Sometimes even people who are opposed to him talk about what a great mind he has. He's supposed to be so smart? Then why does he have a history of thinking with his d*#@???

Just can't tie us down!

I love, no make that loooooooooooooooooooooove Richard Thompson's work. Here's one of his Cul de Sac toons that sort of hits home, since I sometimes play the banjo in classrooms. The way the kids can just run with an idea and take over is so true to life. You never know what they're going to say. That's part of what makes it fun.

Faux voter fraud

Al

Yeah. That'll revive 'em.

Al

Phred Phelps

Today's commentary on KMUW is here or read it below.

Whenever I feel a little bit down about this old world of ours, about the direction things seem to be going in, I turn my thoughts to Fred Phelps and, by golly, I see the beautiful side of life again. His skeletal facial features are hardened by decades of wallowing in the odious, putrid mud of hate and self-loathing. Yet that face always serves as a reminder to me of our society’s amazing ability to resist the pull to meet violence with violence. The emotional and psychological violence inflicted by the Phelps clan has not been successful in eliciting a physically violent response from us. Remarkably he and the other members of Westboro Baptist Church are all able to walk around physically unscathed.

Considering how frequently and how long these people have been thrusting themselves at the rest of us, the fact that they are all apparently unbruised and physically healthy is nothing short of a miracle. To the Phelps family Americans have demonstrated nothing less than Christ-like behavior. We have turned the other cheek time and time again against the battering of Phelps’ fetishistic signage. Just this week the United States Supreme Court found yet another cheek to turn toward the Westboro-ites’ tightly fisted picket signs. The spirits of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Patriot Guard and others who will not be moved to violence against these hate-fueled people who try so hard to chide and goad us down to their level.

So whenever you find yourself thinking we’re all going to hell in a handcart, consider that this handcart may also have u-turning capabilities. We choose not to sink into Fred Phelps’ hell with its’ lake of fiery hatred, brimstone violence and flaming prejudice.

Thanks, Fred. For showing us how not to behave!

For KMUW I’m Richard Crowson.

Keeper of the Planes

Pothole