Southpaw Jones

CRUELTY is now available!
Order the CD now at southpawjones.com.
Purchase MP3s at cdbaby.com or .
Grab a copy in real time at Waterloo Records or End of an Ear in Austin.
Or buy one from me any Thursday at Flipnotics @ the Triangle.

I realize I’m a little late in acknowledging the death of Mr. Bernie Mac at the young age of 50. He died almost two weeks ago, and I just assumed I would see a great deal of coverage and tributes and footage. I figured if I wrote about the man here, I’d just be echoing the shallow mourning of the national media.

Now I realize that Bernie Mac’s death is not going to be overexposed. It is decidedly under-covered.

Why is that? Sure, the Olympics and the presidential election are taking up a lot of media attention, but they always seem to find room in the line-up for stupid Britney comeback rumors or crazy windsurfing footage.

Where’s the love for Bernie Mac?

He may not have been as influential and legendary as George Carlin, but George Carlin died at the ripe old age of 75!

I don’t want to accuse the media of racism, but Bernie Mac was a top notch comedian, movie star, and television star who suddenly died at age 50, just when he was about to slow down after decades of hard, hard work and enjoy his success. This is a shocking, sad story, so why must I scour the internet for coverage?

Ok, I’m done ranting.

Stand-up comedy is a wonderful, stripped down, decidedly human art form, and Bernie Mac was a master of it. He grabbed the stage with both hands, and you could not deny him. The Original Kings of Comedy is one of the greatest comedy films ever, and of course, Mr. Mac was the headliner. The Bernie Mac Show was not as fun as the man onstage with a microphone, but it was still one of the smartest, funniest sitcoms in the post-Seinfeld, post-Cosby Show century.

Bernie Mac was an irreplaceable force in pop culture, and I miss him already.

Here are his friends and colleagues, the remaining Kings of Comedy, speaking at his funeral in their own touching and hilarious ways:

as reported in The New York Times

August 22, 1908
HAWKS ATTACKED SWIMMER.
Prell Got in School of Fish the Birds Were After.

One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:

She didn’t actually die for the sake of principle or to inspire her followers. She faked her awful, public death! Now she’s living well on an island somewhere. Now that’s what I call a…

Highlight here for answer: [smarter martyr]


Popcorn Cat

It became apparent to me, as a capitalist, that if I lent myself to this sort of action [by his fellow businessmen] and resisted any change designed to benefit all the people, I could be consumed by the poisons of social lag I had helped to create.
Marriner Eccles, on The Great Depression

EVERY DANG THURSDAY
8:00 PM
Flipnotics at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 380-0097
www.flipnotics.com
________________________________________________________________

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2008
Matt the Electrician & Southpaw Jones
8:00 pm
Wyldwood House Concert
4205 Wyldwood Road
AUSTIN, TX
wyldwood.startlogic.com
________________________________________________________________

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
Celebrating the lyrics of CRUELTY!
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 472-5050
www.bookpeople.com