Billmon: Moon of Alabama
A big THANKS to Billmon for promoting this site with his piece: Moon of Alabama
A warm WELCOME to everyone who passes by for the first time. Feel free to poke around and to comment. Bookmark the site and come back.
You may want to check some recent posts here like Jérôme's Energy Return On Energy Invested, Condoleezza's Evidence by Bernhard or some great artwork by commentator anna missed.
There is also always an Open Thread around for otherwise off topic comments and -most important- there are threads for all Billmon posts.
Now why the f... IS this place named Moon of Alabama? Check here.
Posted by b on April 14, 2005 at 17:17 UTC | Permalink
Will this be a new trend, and what should we call it ?
Blogging-by-proxy ?
Comment outsourcing ?
Blog code-sharing ?
Props to Bernhard, Jerome and Billmon.
Posted by: ch2 | Apr 14 2005 18:18 utc | 3
Well, there goes the neighbourhood!
No, welcome, really. If the trolls could just gather under the bridge there, some goats will be along in a little while.
Kudos to Bernhard and Jerome.
Now some really cheap but aromatic cognac please; hate to drink it but love the aroma.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Apr 14 2005 18:29 utc | 5
How did I not know about this until now...thought Jerome was just a moonbat like me that lurks around Kos and a few other corners of the internets. :-)
Well, anyway Moon Alabama is officially bookmarked.
Billmon's latest post simply confirms what I think the rest of us have come to realize -- that far from being just a place to put comments on Whiskey Bar (although that is an important function) Moon of Alabama has become a spectacular meeting place in its own right. Thank you, Bernhard and Jerome, for giving us the opportunity to imbibe of your wisdom, and to occasionally share our own demented musings as well. Tequila and Gray Haze all 'round!
Posted by: Aigin | Apr 14 2005 18:42 utc | 7
Billmon is just such a nice barkeep, sniff, I was really sad when he left. And I remember him sayin somethin about you guys as the doors were swinging shut behind him, but all I heard was "Moon Alabama" which sounded kinda odd, and if Ida had a map on the wall I woulda, or if Ida been drivin by I woulda, but I didn't, and I wasn't, but no that he's remembered you to us, well, I just want to say, sniffflle, thanks barkeep, I love you man!
Now pass me some more of that french stuff please.
Posted by: Duckman GR | Apr 14 2005 18:44 utc | 8
I have also put an announcement over at Kos.
You can go recommend if you want to give our Barkeep maximum exposure. The poster anxiously awaits your tips....
Posted by: Jérôme | Apr 14 2005 18:48 utc | 9
Now pass me some more of that french stuff please.Absinthe or cognac? It's really important to be specific in this bar...
Aaahh, the best of both worlds! We get Billmon and the super intelligent euro brains all linked together. Almost makes it tooo...easy, kinda like one stop shopping. Keep up the good work all youse guys. We love you lots.
Posted by: SME in Seattle | Apr 14 2005 19:10 utc | 13
So here you guys are. I've been looking and looking everywhere.
Posted by: CK Dexter haven | Apr 14 2005 19:15 utc | 14
Been away for awhile, but when Hunter Thompson killed himself I somehow knew Whisky Bar would be Open. I'm glad to see Billmon tipping the hat your way. I saw he'd linked to your site, but I was there when he pulled the plug on comments, and for some reason thought he had shunned the whole schmear.
Apparently not.
Kudos, all.
Peace out.
Posted by: thepuffin | Apr 14 2005 19:30 utc | 15
And you'll still find some of the gang over there, slumped face down on their tables like the characters in The Iceman Cometh, waiting for Hickey to come and buy them a round of drinks.
Hey!! I resemble that remark!!
Seriously, I've been too busy to comment intelligently on much of anything lately, but I have been lurking here.
Kudos to Jérôme and Bernard for keeping a watering hole open for the barflies.
Now, where's ma drinkee..... slurp.....
Posted by: four legs good | Apr 14 2005 20:11 utc | 16
I always thought that was a Doors song. I always learn something here.
Posted by: merlallen | Apr 14 2005 20:14 utc | 17
'nother round, barkeep - pierre or whatever your name is (hic).
but seriously folks, what is happening to billmon? is he following tom turtle's example and loosening his grip? i hope he's ok.
anyway, hi to the regulars and welcome to all the newbies - sometimes this place feels like a grateful dead song - we may be going to hell in a bucket, but it's a heck of a ride
may the creative forces of the universe have mercy on our souls, if any
Posted by: mistah charley | Apr 14 2005 20:53 utc | 18
"Alabama Song" was cowritten by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, for the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). The show is set on a mythical American "gold coast" subject to hurricanes (Florida?), and populated with gangsters and whores. Mahagonny, founded by a group of gangsters whose car breaks down, is a city with only one law: "You can do anything you want, as long as you can pay for it."
The 1930 premiere in Leipzig was accompanied by brownshirted protesters denouncing the show, as was the 1931 Berlin performance. Riots ensued. Weill and Brecht left Germany early in 1933.
Posted by: catlady | Apr 14 2005 20:56 utc | 19
that was a nice tip of the cap. Bernhard and Jerome, you do great work here. glad to see it all coming together. cheers!
Posted by: cali_ | Apr 14 2005 21:59 utc | 20
That song reminds me of this:
welcome to the jungle/we got what you need/you can have anything you want/but you don't get nothin for free/in the jungle.... etc
Not that I'm a GnR fan at all (in fact, fuck those guys) but I thought the similarity was funny....
Anyway I seem to remember this place opening and I guess I never bookmarked it. I'll be sure to come back in the future.
And speaking of drinking....the rum + coke is my favorite (legal) vice. Though if we want to get truly righteous, then tequila is the only solution.
Posted by: nota bene | Apr 14 2005 22:12 utc | 21
Mates
This is sooooo cool. When the bar closed I had DT's for weeks. When he opened again sans comments, it was like not being able to pay for your drinks! Thanks for your great work.
Maybe we could have a competition to match all the neo cons with animals. Wolfowitz is the Snake.
Nah, a snake is the symbol of wisdom.
He's one of those annoying but scrappy yappy little dogs.
Posted by: floopmeister | Apr 15 2005 0:18 utc | 23
Who would have guessed that comments on Billmon's Moore piece was the "tipping point?" (The cost of bandwidth and the degree of derangement expressed by some of those who were commenting by that time would not be unreasonable reasons for shutting down the comments.) But criticism? As someone who has applauded everything Billmon's written since he first appeared at dKos (except the Moore piece), including the LATimes Op-Ed, and defended his decision to stop blogging while others were flogging him and whining about how he owed them something, it's a tad disappointing that he took enough offense at the criticism to one piece that he cites it as a reason for shutting down the comments.
My only real criticism of the Moore piece was that he hadn't seen "F- 9/11" and seemed more offended by Moore's personality and personal style than his movie making. Not unlike all those who have called Dworkin some truly disgusting names in the past few days because she tried to take away their precious porn. Not unlike a friend who fancied himself an amateur actor refused to see movies Vanessa Redgrave appeared in because he didn't like her politics. Or another friend who "can't stand Woody Allen" -- who said, "No" when I asked if she had seen "Annie Hall" or several other Woody movies -- then after laughing all the way through "Bullets over Broadway" and "Annie Hall," repeated, "I still don't like Woody Allen." As far as I'm concerned, artists should be appreciated primarily for the art they produce, and even though they may appear to be loathesome in other aspects of their lives, they might not have produced the art if they had been better adjusted, nicer, more attractive etc.
I'm not even a huge Moore fan because too much of his works seems slap dash. But who knows, maybe that sloppiness is what gives it a vitality and energy that would be lost without it. Mostly he goes where nobody else is willing to go; and therefore, the lack of competition makes his work incomparable. Nice work if you can get it.
Billmon, if perchance you're reading the comments (or didn't stop reading this one after the first sentence), welcome back. Not that I doubted much that you would return. You're still setting the bar so high for both on-line and print "journalism" that you too are in a class of your own. A class that is daunting for the depth and breadth of it as well as the very best writing.
Posted by: Marie | Apr 15 2005 0:24 utc | 24
pity we can't post images. seen a wolfowitz front-on with an amazing resemblance to a hyenna. maybe it's the ears.
Posted by: DM | Apr 15 2005 0:50 utc | 25
I still have great fondness for Billmon's old jukebox, the slightly dented coffee pot and sawdust on the Times. I miss the place.
Posted by: vachon | Apr 15 2005 2:53 utc | 26
The Moore piece is just a demonstrative anecdote. Over some few weeks a small community, adhering to standards of researched and thought out opinions, capable to show a limitid infux of stray and newbie visitors "the ropes", exploded into an anonymous monster, where quantity and not quality ruled.
These were the days before Kos' "Diaries".
Billmon's concept was not adaptable into Diaries.
It was originally just a bar full of disgruntled, hopeless and hopefull, seeking, intelligent left leaners.
We ALL knew Kurz's "horror", knew exactly where the ship was sailing, unable to affect the rudder, but joyous with tears to talk to likemindeds, just for the desperation of not knowing whether we were but all alone and lost in the universe.
Many, many a things have changed since then in society.
Blogs have exploded into news topics. We know now that we are not all alone. But, the Rovian minions are sharking with the swimmers.
For the sake to value what was precious, there was no choice for Bill but to end it on a good record.
Things end. Then new ones begin.
Here comes Hegel.
Posted by: Werner Dieter Thomas | Apr 15 2005 5:20 utc | 27
"My only real criticism of the Moore piece was that he hadn't seen "F- 9/11" and seemed more offended by Moore's personality and personal style than his movie making."
I went and saw it a couple days after I wrote the post. I loved the movie, but I wouldn't take back a word of what I said about it, or Moore -- except for comparing him to Anne Coulter. That was really over the top. I don't know what I was thinking: There hasn't been anyone like Anne Coulter in public life since April of 1945, or at least since Joe McCarthy died.
"it's a tad disappointing that he took enough offense at the criticism to one piece that he cites it as a reason for shutting down the comments"
It wasn't the content, but the repetition. Being told you're an elitist asshole 400 times gets real old real fast. In any case, it was just the tipping point, not the thing that tipped me that way.
Posted by: Billmon | Apr 15 2005 5:30 utc | 29
I wish I had bothered to read the post about this site opening up before. Its getting so hard to keep track of the quality blogs on the internet these days.
Thanks for coming back Billmon. The blogosphere just seemed like pointless partisian hackery while you were gone. You're still the best.
Posted by: still working it out | Apr 15 2005 6:37 utc | 31
Billmon - thanks for the clarification. Now I won't feel so bad for having contributed to that thread. Since you loved the movie and wouldn't take back a word of it, maybe I should read it again. There hasn't been anyone like Anne Coulter in public life since April of 1945, Krauthammer is even creepier, but I don't find Anne all that unique among the right-wing screeching bobble-heads.
Posted by: Marie | Apr 15 2005 8:29 utc | 32
People should mind.
But they shouldn't live in guilt.
George, lore has it, sleeps like a child.
:)
Posted by: Werner Dieter Thomas | Apr 15 2005 9:26 utc | 33
Just taking this first-ever chance to let Billmon know that I think the world of your writing and the thinking behind it.
Also pleased to see that two people I enjoy from Kos are on the site here.
Posted by: lightly | Apr 15 2005 17:02 utc | 34
Just taking this first-ever chance to let Billmon know that I think the world of your writing and the thinking behind it.
Also pleased to see that two people I enjoy from Kos are on the site here.
Posted by: lightly | Apr 15 2005 17:05 utc | 35
Ha, I was already a rabid poster back then, and weirdly I didn't even take part in the Moore's piece, notably because threads were becoming so long I hadn't time enough to read them all.
Whatever, it's good to see you blogging, Billmon. Do it your way, at your pace - which means, breaks if you fear some burn-out coming - and everything will be fine as far as I'm concerned.
And luckily Coulter has no kid so far, unlike some other guy who died just when May 1945 began (quite ironic that these guys offered such good reasons to celebrate May / Workers Day).
Posted by: CluelessJoe | Apr 15 2005 19:39 utc | 36
Thanks to Bernard ‘n Jerome for all their work. Without them. Nothing.
Flowers, confetti, chairs placed just so, cheap cognac, sangria, cookies - paper covered table next to the podium.
Trumpets blare out, spine chilling surprise, the sound soars to the skies.
The drummer tries to keep up, grins sweetly. Plays a little riff. A child comes on, Yes, we thank all.
To all, thanks.
Posted by: Blackie | Apr 15 2005 20:09 utc | 37
The comments to this entry are closed.
That's real nice. Thanks, Billmon (slump).
Posted by: beq | Apr 14 2005 18:01 utc | 1