I say Hola Hola Ay! Rollin, rollin, roll with Baratunde!
Free t-shirt to whoever writes back first explaining the reference in the greeting above. What's up my people? It's good to be back in touch with you. I'm writing this from a NYC-bound train, and we've got some cool things to discuss.
First up. My show in New York tonight
Ivy League Comedy Showcase:
Thursday April 26th 7 PM
Gotham Comedy Club
208 West 23rd Street NYC
(212) 367-9000 for reservations
$20 cover charge, two drink minimum
with Shaun Eli (MC), Karen Bergreen, Reece Waters, Me, Luke Cunningham and Dan Naturman
Next, Iowa redux.
My trip to Iowa last week was incredible. I spoke to high school students about the first amendment, sat on a panel about talk radio and American political discourse, received a Champion of the First Amendment Award from Iowa State University, learned about interesting black history in Iowa, performed in front of 2,000 lunatical (pronounced like fanatical) college students and got to hang out with one of my political satire heroes: Barry Crimmins who said the following about me:
Baratunde Thurston is a gracious and humble man. The grace comes naturally but the humility has got to be difficult for someone of his enormous talents. A sharp, insightful and important performer and writer, Baratunde has exactly the kind of curiosity, energy and wit that makes great political satirists.
Wow.
You can get more from my Iowa State experience and hear my show for the 2,000 in the latest episode of goodCRIMETHINKcast which is now even easier to play from my site. I spent the rest of the weekend in Chicago where a story in the Chicago Reader had me in tears and a roundtable discussion on the future of Black America had me inspired (this discussion will be aired in future podcasts. So subscribe).
Last week, you guys were among the first to read my thoughts on the Imus thing. Now read what I wrote in my dig column that came out yesterday in "Are you shocked?" Heads up: it's not about race!
I'm proud to be working with some cool Boston comics as part of A Tribe Called Sketch. We have a show in Cambridge this Sunday night featuring some of my writing and ... (pause for dramatic effect) ... acting.
Finally, some MoJos for ya:
Gunmen shot and killed 27 members of a religious sect in Iraq. The country is blaming America's culture of violence for the massacre.
Turnout in the French presidential elections reached 85 percent. The 15 percent that didn't vote were actually Americans on vacation in France.
DNA evidence has now freed 200 wrongfully-imprisoned Americans. To make sure this doesn't happen again, police will be collecting DNA samples from all citizens to plant at crime scenes.
Critics of Mayor Bloomberg's proposed Manhattan driving tax say it will hurt the working poor. Wrong. Everybody knows the working poor don't commute to Manhattan by car. They take the train from Philly like everybody else.
The White House says Attorney General Alberto Gonzales continues to have the president's full confidence. Let's hope this is the same confidence he had in Don Rumsfeld the week before he fired the man.
The Denver airport will be installing technology to detect deceptive behavior among passengers. This may force candidates attending the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver to travel by train.
AT&T and Microsoft say Google's purchase of online ad giant DoubleClick could violate anti-trust law. It will be hard to find criticism of their arguments online though. It seems they've used their monopoly powers to remove it.
Mexico city officials have legalized abortion within the first trimester. This creates a dilemna for American conservatives. On the one hand, they are upset because they hate abortion. On the other hand they are happy for anything that reduces the number of Mexican immigrants. Que lastima!