Playlist of the Week

"17 Days" by Prince & the Revolution. B-Side of "When Doves Cry."
"Let Down" by Christopher O' Riley. From True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead.
"How Do You Keep Love Alive" by Ryan Adams & the Cardinals. From Cold Roses.
"Pig" by Weezer. From Weezer (The Red Album): Deluxe Edition.
"Elephant" by Damien Rice. From 9.
"When You Were Mine" by Prince. From Dirty Mind.
"Dead Flowers" by the Rolling Stones. From Sticky Fingers.
"Please Do Not Let Me Go" by Ryan Adams. From Love is Hell.
"Dakota" by Stereophonics. From Language. Sex. Violence. Other.
"I Remember You" by Steve Earle. From Jerusalem.
"Fall to Pieces" by Velvet Revolver. From Contraband.
"She Wants to Play Hearts" by Ryan Adams. From Demolition.

Leave Ms. Logan Alone

Two or three years ago on Classic Rock 93 KZLE's website, I posted a tongue and cheek request to have CBS News reporter and sometime 60 Minutes contributor, Lara Logan, move to Batesville and become KZLE's new news director. (This was back when CR93 was known as The Max 93One FM.)

About a week later, I received an e-mail from someone claiming to be Logan, telling me how flattered she was by my post. Thinking it was a joke with a fake CBS e-mail address, I nevertheless replied with a skeptical bent believing I'd receive a note saying the address was invalid. Besides, why in the world would a CBS News reporter based in Iraq waste time cruising the net, happen upon a small town Arkansas radio station's website and then shoot off an e-mail of gratitude?

Surprisingly, Ms. Logan replied, told me her appreciation was sincere and gave me a few details that, without a doubt, confirmed it really was her. She happened to be in Washington on a break, and a friend had apparently forwarded the website posting to her.

(Now, before I go further, it should be noted that it took all I had to NOT send her a picture of me along with my cell number because we ALL know where that would've led -- right, ladies? Yep. After she would've laid eyes on my phenomenal good looks (think of a more manly Shaun Cassidy mixed with the sultry magnetism of Marty Allen), she likely would have DEMANDED a romantic rendezvous in Paris the next day. Yet, because I believe in America and the need for journalistic oversight, particularly in times of war, I felt it would be in our country's best interest, as well as in the best interest of CBS News, that I not go down that route.)

Now, where was I?

Oh, yeah. Her second e-mail. So, I humbly replied, told her I was sorry I doubted her and since I had a morning radio show at the time on KZLE, I asked if she would tape a phone interview with me. She gladly said yes, told me she would contact Kevin Tedesco -- the publicist for 60 Minutes -- to set it up, and a couple of days later she called for the chat.

She was gracious, sharp, funny and even put up with my mispronunciation of her first name (it's not pronounced "Laura") as well as my pedestrian questions about the Iraqi situation.

Now, with her star rising at CBS News and a promotion to the Washington, D.C. bureau, Ms. Logan is falling into the unfortunate realm of tabloid attention. I'm wary of even linking to this article from the Los Angeles Times website, but I just did. Sorry. (However, they share the same view as I do, so I suppose it doesn't matter.)

The bottom line is none of this is any of our business, but unfortunately, there is an innate thirst for gossip in our genes. The trials and tribulations of others, whether they be a celebrity or Joe Bob down the street, can give us a superior, snotty attitude. "Well, if Lara Logan is having romance issues with different men, then she must be a bit on the unsavory side -- unlike me," someone will likely think.

Of course, that's bullshit. We all have our own issues, but knowing Kirstie Alley is approaching 300 lbs. keeps some of us "above" her.

So, cheers to Lara Logan for her success and integrity. I don't care about her personal life; I just know she's a top notch journalist.

Now excuse me while I make a stop at TMZ before I leave my computer.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

This is my column for next week's "All Over the Map" in Arkansas Weekly. (Beware of errors -- it's an uncorrected proof, so to speak.)

Locked-in syndrome is a rare condition that occurs when one’s brain stem is massively damaged and causes complete paralysis. Unlike a person in a vegetative state, victims with locked-in syndrome are mentally coherent, yet they are “locked in” their body. They perceive, think and experience things as they did before, but they cannot move.

The damage to the stem can come from severe head trauma, a medical overdose, or in the case of the late French journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby, a massive stroke.

As the jet-setting editor of the French fashion magazine, Elle, Bauby was at the top of his game when he suffered his stroke in his early 40s. After waking from a coma, Bauby found himself at a rehabilitation center on the shores of the English Channel. His mind still vital and alive, Bauby could not speak or swallow, and a ventilator pumped air in and out of his lungs. His right eye lid, working improperly, had to be sewn shut, leaving only his left eye and his hearing as narrow strands to the outside world.

Miraculously, Bauby’s speech therapists taught him a method of communication through the blinking of his working eye. In time, Bauby had written a memoir of his experiences as a victim of locked-in syndrome entitled The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Transcribed entirely through Bauby’s communicative blinks, he detailed the horror of being trapped in a motionless body, comparing it to the old clunky diving gear where the diver is encased in a cumbersome suit and a large metal helmet, as the air supply flowing through a long tube from the suit to the surface provided the only conduit to breathe.

But Bauby held a secret weapon to battle his unbearable misery: his mind and spirit -- tools that freed him from his oppressive cocoon. Through memory and imagination, Bauby tells of fantasy feasts to placate his inability to eat; the memories of times with his children and his father; and the ability to place himself in any portion of the world where beautiful vistas reign.

About 10 days after Bauby’s book was published to great acclaim, he passed away. Last year, the American artist and film director, Julian Schnabel, released his cinematic adaptation of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and I recently caught up with it on DVD.

The first 20 or so minutes of TDBATB are told entirely through the eye(s) of Bauby, portrayed by the excellent French actor Mathieu Amalric (he’s the new Bond villain in the upcoming 007 flick), and then gradually reverts from his view to a combination of glimpses inside his memories, and the people and places around him, as well as moving back to his point of view from time to time.

What makes this film so engrossing is not only the obvious human drama of a man living life to its fullest and suddenly being cut down to a vibrant soul trapped in a lifeless shell, but also the drama concerning the bittersweet and lingering melancholy of his anguish over the (pre-stroke) breakup with his children’s mother; the cherished flashbacks and fantasies he calls upon to relieve his spirits; the ambiguous and eventual revelation (to us) of a mystery love that haunts his memory; and the beautiful dream states that envelop him, vividly brought to life by the gorgeous and quirky eye of Schnabel.

It’s probably too simplistic to take TDBATB as a call to live each day of life to its fullest because deep tragedy can come in an instant to whisk it all away. It is that, but it’s also a spectacularly moving testament to an immaculate spirit that can overcome the limits and pain of a devastating situation.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was nominated for four Academy Awards last year, is available now on DVD, and those wary of subtitled films should get over such silly aversions and experience a gorgeous movie.

Playlist of the Week

"On Up the Mountain" by Jakob Dylan from Seeing Things
"Country Feedback" by R.E.M. from Out of Time
"Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" by Coldplay from Viva la Vida
"Gone" by The Black Crowes from Amorica
"Shot Down in Flames" by AC/DC from Highway to Hell
"Troublemaker" by Weezer from Weezer (The Red Album)
"The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice from O
"Lord, I'm Discouraged" by The Hold Steady from Stay Positive
"Make You Feel My Love" by Joan Osborne from Righteous Love
"Meadowlake Street" by Ryan Adams & the Cardinals from Cold Roses

The Final Sopranos Scene Explained

This youtube video regarding the final scene of The Sopranos makes perfect sense.

The cut to black, like I always thought, was IT.

After you watch that clip, then watch the final scene again as it aired on HBO here.

Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Jessica Simpson, and Willie Nelson Rolling on Bad Boys

I never had a chance to see this video from Willie Nelson that prominently features celebrities tooling around on Batesville, Arkansas' own Bad Boy Mowers. Heard all about the shoot and the fun had in Texas from some in the Bad Boy crew, but never came across the video until now.

Click here to view.