there is a petition to bring lizz winstead back and we're on day 9 of air america held hostage

so what's a gal to do when she's feeling tired and blue?

when the morning's draggin' and and maddow's saggin

and bring you down

with that boring monotone, big brain sound?

why listen to stephanie miller of course. she's a delight. she's funny and smart and doesn't feel
the need to act superior to the audience as meg pointed out in an e-mail she sent.

so it's day 9 of air america held hostage by big brain.

and still they think they don't have to answer to their audience.

that's really sweet, don't you think?

"we don't have to answer!" that's a real progressive attitude, don't you think?

and a show called unfiltered shouldn't clamp down a filter.

i'm reading the common ills this afternoon and see that they've linked to a petition. then elaine's calling me and i find an e-mail from martha.

no worries because i will gladly note the petition. here's the text of the petition:

Bring back Lizz! Rachel and Lizz were great together and we got alot of friends listening to Air America because of THEIR show. Air America has lost more than a few listeners now. When the news is so grim, it certainly is nice to swallow it with some humor. The way Liz and Rachel played off each other was great and it kept us tuning in. Unfiltered had a brilliant formula,of sucking the listeners in with humor and getting in plenty of important information too. Lizz was the most fun person to listen to at Air America. The back and forth between Rachel and Liz was relaxed, playful, and entertaining. Unfiltered was fun. Was. Past tense. We the listeners demand: Bring Lizz Back NOW!
Sincerely,
The Undersigned

you can click on any of the above to sign or read or you can go here.

i signed it. i urge you to sign it as well.

martha writes 'isn't it funny how some blogs want to ask like nothing has happened. it's not just air america it's the people who are covering up for them. i'd be really interested in seeing who has the guts to stand up and be counted.'

good point, martha.

and no worries about me because i will be counted. i was not a lizz winstead fanatic. please, i'd dubbed her 'no name.' the show doesn't work without her. and the way she was 'disappeared' was shameful. no 1 should be treated that way.

so look at the petition and consider signing. if we don't stand up for each other i'm not sure what we will stand up for.

day 8 of air america held hostage by rachel maddow

so let's talk about the great american zero, rachel maddow as the host of unfiltered.

big brain isn't cutting it.

i've got a lot of e-mails coming in on this. i don't think i can read them all. i certainly can't reply to every 1.

but i will quote a line or two from some of them.

rhoda: big brain is a big bust. they're going to have to cancel this show if they don't bring lizz back.

marla: do not tell me that this has nothing to do with air america trying to suck up to the democrats senate campaign pac. they are pushing anti-choice candidates. lizz stood strong against that and was discussing that on air. air america couldn't take the heat from weak ass, bitch fucking cowardly democracts so they canned her.

laura: unfiltered is a joke. the show is filtered and now so is the blog. having tried to disappear lizz they now go through and take off posts they don't like. not because of cursing but for advocating for lizz. this show is full of shit.

stevie: rebecca, i listened to unfiltered. i listened to your comments on the show. both made me laugh and both had their points. i was not lizz winstead's biggest fan (though i could take her easier than self important rachel) but i agree with you that the way she was treated is disgusting.

kate: pull the fucking plug on the show already. it is faux npr now just like you said.

zack: rachel is so irritating. she's like your nightmare lab partner that can't shut the fuck up.

sandra: i laughed so hard at the person you quoted who said that rachel gives lesbians a bad name! too true. i didn't bust my ass fighting for my rights to have conventional, boring rachel stamp her ugly mug on my life with her squaresville lifestyle. she's an elitist prig who fancies herself as the next gertrude stein but she's just a gas bag bore that gives lesbians a bad name.
i am an out and proud dyke and if i met rachel i would just point and laugh at her.

albert: i have no sympathy for rachel. she's not just boring, she's a back stabber. in college i got a friend on at the resort i was working at. this rich bitch had a problem with me and complained and complained. i didn't do any thing wrong. she didn't like the way i talked, walked or breathed. i got fired finally. i went to my friend roger and said 'let's go.' he said 'well, i'm making good money in tips and i like the job . . .' that's a traitor and that's rachel maddow.

holly: corporate radio still sucks! unfiltered sucks now more than ever.

greg: you know when all the layoffs at my company started, they stopped that bullshit of 'we are all a part of a family.' and it's the same fucking thing with air america. they have marketed themselves as a family but they eject lizz and they won't even be honest about it.

jeff: they have to be reading your blog. today all the rachel pushers suddenly have hotmail addresses that they've just created that day. i think you're pointing out that they didn't have real addresses got to them. so they all go out and create e-mail addresses and then start posting. the show sucks. they can put idiots all over the blog all they want like the bitch terry who thinks it's okay for democrats to step away from the pro-choice position, it won't matter.
the show sucks and it will suck no matter how many ringers they send to the blog. this whole thing is about to blow up in their faces. the mainstream media is about to notice. when rush and all those jerks notice, you better believe air america is going to look like total soulless sell outs!

omni: guys, rachel is doing a really good job. not! she's a loser and she's boring. pull the plug on this show and make the bitch go bore some 1 else.

elizabeth: i want to correct something. rachel is not smart. she's like diane chambers on cheers trying to act smart. she's a stupid idiot. she needs to pack it in because without lizz sitting beside her she's just another boring talker with an irritating voice. and that voice is irritating, just the tone.

judy: lesbian here, out for 15 years now. and i gotta tell you rachel is working too hard to be 'normal.' she's so 'normal' that she's boring. and if no 1 else wants to go there, i will: she looks like lyndie england. that's not a compliment.

nancy: paint drying on walls has more personality than rachel maddow. she's like robin williams in that movie where he's a robot.

barbara: it's a sleeping pill. you end up nodding off as she yammers away.

adam: she's terry gross without the sparkle, without the talent, and without the ability to listen.

agnes: i gave up on monday. i can't listen to that thurston howell bullshit. some 1 called her lovely howell somewhere. she's not that interesting. she's thurston just boring you. i refuse to be stuck on an island with her so i stopped listening. most of my friends have stopped as well.

larry: she's not pretty, she's not thin, her voice is irritating and she has no fashion sense. so who knew she'd become the diana ross of air america????? chuck d is going to bail on this show. it sucks and he's got to know it.

jayson: lizz was silly but she usually had a point. rachel trying to 'lighten up' is flat out scary!
it's like watching herman munster smile. it's creepy!

sabina: with lizz by her side, rachel did seem smart and warm. without lizz, she's none of those things. dull is the only word.

those are some of the e-mails that i've read so far today. the show is dead. stick a fork in it's ass.

rachel will go back to doing radio out of some upper crust enclave where she can act like she's smart and pretend she knows what she's talking about and every 1 will give her a pass because of her sexuality. if she were straight, she'd be just as boring.

keep the e-mails coming in at sexandpoliticsandscreeds@yahoo.com and i'll try to post some more comments tomorrow.

this isn't the unfiltered blog, we don't censor you for having the basic decency to call them on the bullshit they did to lizz. and as some 1 who's not a fan of lizz winstead i want to repeat that she's been treated like shit and you know it's bad when i'm defending her.

air america held hostage day 7 as rachel maddow continues to terrorize listeners with her own brand of boredom

so my best friend checks out unfiltered and the blog today and tells me it's hideous.

no surprise there.

she said she really was dreading going to the blog. when she did she saw a lot of new names. and all that talk from ringers earlier in the week about 'guys we need to focus on the real important issues! not on what happened to lizz!' was long gone. they were talking about movies and other non-life alerting things.

'1 idiot, while i was on, tried to say, "lizz likes to leave. she creates something and she leaves. she's happy." and i couldn't believe how bad these ringers will lie. they know nothing about the daily show or why lizz left. another idiot, bonzo who has posted before, said "lizz wants us to support rachel!" i love how lizz hasn't spoken publicly once but you have all these idiots pushing
this shit. and i kept looking for conner or n69 or or ryan or martha or jimmy or james or any 1 i knew. they weren't there. i'll assume they've found some thing better to do with their time then waste it on unfiltered without lizz. pam has always been an idiot and she was still around lusting after rachel, no big surprise there. they're such idiots. judging by the blog today, you've got 1 bonzo who's trying to convince himself that things will get better. you've got pam and a few over the other 1s who always worshipped rachel. that was never a big crowd. rachel didn't read the blog. lizz did. and then you've got some people, a few, i saw 3 who were speaking up for lizz and were long time members. although some idiot, probably pam, had to try to claim that yummy soup was posting under another name. pam's such an idiot. she always insults the blog when she signs off with "now i have to go do important things so you guys have fun!" implying that the ones who stay don't have important things to do. hey pammie, i only had that block of time available because some 1 had to cancel a session. don't tell me about your important life. anyway it's obvious that the blog has died. what i'm talking about is that you have the same people posting so it looks active but it's not. the blog used to have tons and tons of people posting. now it's pretty much 20 people. the show's dying and they don't even know it.
and as i told them, they aren't doing rachel any favors by claiming the show works. it doesn't.
i don't plan to go back unless they fire rachel and then i'll be there to say to pam and the rachel groupies, "hey, we're just listeners! corporations are entitled to privacy!" and all the other bullshit things they type. rachel can't carry the show. that's obvious. and when rachel gets canned all these rachel freaks we'll find out that the ringers air america has been sending to the blog pretending to be listeners will be back and saying "guys we need to move on!" and i have no idea how they'll be able to argue back since they completely rolled on over this. they should be ashamed of themselves.'

what about the lizz fans?

'they're gone. i mean they're done with the show. and there's no way they're coming back for this shit. i wish i had gone on last week or at the start of this week to say goodbye to them because there were some good 1s. but judging by the blog as it was today, the show's lost about over 1/2 their audience. and remember this is with the ringers coming in and chatting up rachel. imagine how much lower the ratings will sink after people realize the show's not getting any better?'

anything else?

'yes, this idiot e-mailed me. wasn't a name i knew from the old days of the blog. wasn't any name that was on the blog today. but realitygirl87 e-mails me to say, "hey, girl, what have you been up to? i haven't seen you in forever. i understand that you miss lizz but she wanted to go. she can't tell people this but she's really sick and wanted to move on to other things. she asked that we all show our support for rachel and get behind her. she said she's happier now and just wants to be sure that we keep supporting rachel." i wrote back, "fuck off you shit head. you haven't spoken to lizz. if she were sick and telling people that, we'd all know it. i don't know if you work for air america or if you're rachel's girlfriend susan or maybe her mommy but don't ever write me and act like we know each other. i've never heard of you and the reason for that is you are a phoney bullshit fake. real cute how you could have posted that to the web for every 1 to see but instead e-mail me privately and act like we know each other and you have some info that you don't have." but that's what someone's doing. and it's sick. lying and saying lizz is ill to try to prop up this lame ass show. who ever is spreading those rumors needs to be ashamed.'

so that's what it's coming to. now, to make it look like rachel can carry the show, some asshole named realitygirl87 is spreading rumors that lizz left because she's sick. as every 1 knows now from the limited press coverage, she didn't leave because she's sick. whether she was fired or quit in the face of pressure - to tone down support for abortion rights (a popular rumor) .

i don't know why lizz left. but people are e-mailing this site saying that certain people in power were complaining that she was pushing a candidate for senator in pennsylvania that wasn't junior-the-chosen 1. and that air america didn't want to offend some powerful democrats.
is it true?

could be. makes more sense than the nonsesne that she chose to leave for health reasons. or that absurd lie that she likes to create something and then move on.

if air america doesn't like the rumor that lizz was pushed out because she offended right leaning democrats in power with her strong support for abortion rights, all they have to do is get honest about why she's no longer with the network.

there are other rumors. and maybe they're true and maybe they're false.

supposedly clear channel is saying they could carry those 3 hours on all their stations if they were hosted by a man. they're supposedly telling air america that early in the morning, listeners want to hear men. (clear channel doesn't air unfiltered on all stations and on some it doesn't play live but late in the night.) so don't be surprised if rachel finds herself with a male host if that rumor is true. or even if rachel gets kicked out on her big brain ass to be replaced by a male or a male and an even weaker ass woman.

see rachel's weak but she's still a lesbian and it's thought by those who believe the clear channel rumors that having forced lizz out, they'll now start claiming data that shows rachel offends listeners and they don't want 'sexual politics' in the morning.

what's going on?

air america knows. they just don't want to tell the listeners and that's pretty disgusting.

it's also pretty disgusting that while arguing about media monopolies, 1s being created that shuts out local programming.

lizz is gone and they don't give a goddamn about the listeners's feelings there.

the e-mail address is sexandpoliticsandscreeds@yahoo.com and if you've got a theory, a fact or a rumor send it in unless you're realitygirl87 because i don't need your lies and justifications.

before i got married (and then divorced) i worked in public relations. any 1 could have told air america that you do not create a vacuum. when you do that, someone comes along to fill it in.
if they're unhappy with the questions people are raising, they have only themselves to blame.
they bungled it. it's a public relations nightmare.

and some idiot is under the impression that it will just go away. that's not reality-based and makes you question the judgement skills of the network. and these were supposed to be media savy people!

rachel maddow continues to induce comas. air america continues to act like nothing happened. unfiltered continues to suck.

air america held hostage week 2

for those late to the story, i'll post this from poynter:

From KIRK MONTGOMERY: Last week Lizz Winstead, the co-host of the Unfiltered morning radio show on Air America, was removed from the air. On Monday, she was absent without explanation, Tuesday was a repeat of an old show, Wednesday the remaining host, Rachel Maddow, opened wih this, the only Air America Radio official comment on the situation:

RACHEL MADDOW: Good morning and welcome to Unfilteredhere on Air America Radio. I'm Rachel Maddow. Were online at unfilteredradio.com. Thanks for joining us here this morning.We know that a lot of you have noticed that Lizz Winstead is not here in studio with me; I certainly have noticed this fact.
I know that conspiracy theories are out there and everybody has their tinfoil hats very finely tuned on this matter. but the bottom line is that, uh, we miss Lizz, we wish her all the best, and Unfiltered will be going on without Lizz - uh, with me, and with Chuck D, and of course with you.
So, uh, that's the bottom line, and thank you to everybody who has uh, gotten in touch with us on this matter. And that is uh, the where it stands right now and we appreciate everything that weve heard from everybody and you can certainly join the discussion online should you choose to at uh, airamericaradio.com, just click on Unfiltered.
I'm Rachel Maddow, this is Unfiltered here on Air America Radio, and uh, that is very sad news for me to deliver. I take no pleasure in delivering that. Umm, and uh, just so you know that Im giving you the straight dope - that is the straight dope.

I cannot find any discussion of this anywhere outside the blogospehere, but it seems quite unusual and intriguing, no?

for any 1 concerned about fair use, i've credited kirk and poynter and all but 6 lines above are public -- a transcription of what was heard on the air waves.

i thank kirk for having the guts to raise the question no 1 seems to want to discuss.

so the basic news is that lizz got dropped kicked off unfiltered and out of air america.

and no 1 wants to talk about it.

check the blog where you find idiots like "swing state girl" telling you that 'what if lizz is sick? do you have a right to know!' and arguing that 'as a progressive' it's really important that we respect the corporation's right not to speak.

a blogger bopped her on the head with that and pointed out that progressives stand for transperency with corporations but swing state gal just kept on swingin'.

that's what happens at the unfiltered board.

if you're not familiar with it, read through an old 1 when lizz was on 1st. then read through 1 after she is gone. you'll find names of people who have never blogged before.

i called my friend elaine to ask her about because she used to blog there. i said, 'hey elaine, what's up with this shit?' and i start giving her names and e-mail addresses (like the chuck from world wide pants) and she says, 'i don't know who those people are. i listened and watched the blog every day. i may not have had anything to share all the time but if i did i posted. i know the people. there's n69, for instance, that's some 1 who listened to the show. ryan and martha i know and i think i remember nat.' all three of those people were sticking up for lizz. the new people? the 1 attacking lizz?

'well since they're giving phoney e-mails without real accounts i think it's not real listeners or it is 1 over eager listener trying to act like he or she is many.'

what do you think of the new format?

'when rachel lied last tuesday and said lizz was sick, i listened even though it was boring. when wednesday was a repeat, i listened. on thursday when lizz wasn't on and rachel wasn't telling what was going on, i stopped listening. the show is disgusting now. rachel can't carry it. she never could lighten up and she can get pissy about minor things. she also has a tendency to lecture her audiences. i don't think randi rhodes does that but if randi did, randi's got some life to back that up. rachel's a young woman and when she's trying to tell us how it has to be, you just think "shut up you, nerd!" she's the person you fled in high school. so there's that. but there's also the fact that lizz took the humor and sparkle with her. and what we are left with is rachel trying to do a call in line show that sounds more and more like "yes, you're speaking to doctor fraiser crane." it's impossible to listen to.'

i read some of the statements from supposed long time listeners to her, comments they've posted in the last few days and she says 'those are not long term listeners who have been posting. i don't know if air america's hired people to post or if rachel's called susan and said "post for me, they're beating up on me!" but those are not long term listeners who've been posting.
what is connor saying?'

i read to her what connor's written.

'i'm ashamed of him. he called in and rachel or lizz says "it's a guy called conner from wherever"
and lizz says "oh, it's connor from the blog!" and rachel starts in with "you don't know that" in her self-important tone. turns out it was conner from the blog. and the fact that lizz knew his name and knew it was him should mean some thing to him. i can't believe he is not screaming his head off. he should be ashamed of himself.'

she asks me to read people who've been posting for lizz.

'ryan is making good points and he is correct that he has always like rachel best. that was always obvious from what he would post. i'd say the fact that some 1 who liked rachel better is outraged demonstrates how hideous this has been handled and how much the show sucks now.
what about martha?'

i read her what martha posted.

'good for her. if they have the energy to fight and cause a stink, they should. they are long term listeners. i don't have it in me anymore. they came on like "we're 1 big family." then lizz is gone and they can't even tell you. rachel will only address if the blog presses her. they should stay on her case. i think the show will be cancelled. rachel can't carry it alone. but there's a feeling that lizz was fired because she was the more political 1. she would get hot and angry when people tried to sell out on the choice issue. i wonder if they got complaints from dlc types? rachel's a coward. she should have walked the minute what ever happened to lizz happened. they wouldn't have sued her since air america doesn't want to talk about it. she's like suzette charles!'

who?

'exactly. vanessa williams was the first black miss america. then they strip her of her crown at the end of her reign. and suzette charles comes along to grab it for the last weeks. nobody remembers that back stabbing coward. but if she had said "no, i won't take it." she'd be remembered now as the woman who turned down the crown. rachel's a suzette charles."

what do you think happened?

'there was a thing in the new york daily news yesterday. lizz was either fired or forced to quit. that's obvious. so swing state girl and these other morons need to quit trying to say "it could be her health! you people need to shut up and accept that lizz is gone!" what morons. what cowards. if they really did listen to the show, how dare they not get angry about what happened to lizz. they're acting like lizz came on every 4th week and that was it. lizz was at least 1/2 the show. now she's gone and stupid morons want to say "move on!" and argue it's for the good of the "movement." there is no "movement" without accountability. that's what pissed so many people off about ohio. that people wouldn't fight and they kept trying to tell you to "move on."
it's nonsense. they were never listeners of the show. they've got to be ringers brought in to quiet the discussion on the blog. but it's not going away. i bet the audience is. no 1 wants to hear rachel go on and on in her faux npr manner. she's always wrong about stuff. i remember when some 1 called her on something and she got so damn pissy about it on air.'

that was when they confused harry reid with jack reed and had just done a salute to harry for what jack did. (jan. 27, 2005) instead of talking about jack reed rachel had to go on and on about how 'we always correct our mistakes.' no and you didn't then big brain. correcting your mistake would be doing a thing on jack reed. bragging about the fact that you're an idiot is noting that you got it wrong.

i read through the e-mails and this show is just boring for people now.

sherry: 'i just don't care to hear boring rachel. i always feel like i'm a parent going to a parent-teacher conference and i'm confronted with a first year teacher who can only relate to me as though i was 7 years old. i hate people who talk down to me.'

mel: 'why does she always act like she's doing us a favor by telling us about a news story that's at least a day old and sometimes longer? she acts like we're stupid and says things like "let me explain to you why this is important." i know why it's important, you stupid ass, i got that when i heard it on a real news broadcast. she's just hideous.'

laura: 'they fired the wrong 1. even when lizz pissed me off, at least i felt some thing. with rachel it's like i'm on heavy meds because she leaves me numb.'

trevor: 'i've never heard some 1 try harder to be terry gross and fail so miserably. what big brain maddow doesn't get is that terry gross can connect with listeners and has a great speaking voice. rachel can't connect."

loretta: 'let me be the 1st to say it, as a lesbian, i never would have thought a lesbian on the air could be so goddamn boring.'

bradley: 'they call it unfiltered but it's filtered because they tried to act like lizz never existed and only talk about it now when the blog goes crazy. rachel's coming off bitchy and rude to the listeners. they need to fire her ass.'

it is embarrassing to listen to. it's like the pat sajack show or worse - the chevy chase show.
rachel can not carry a news break, let alone a 3 hour show. when that pompous 'i'm so smart' hectoring tone starts up, listeners have had enough.

a friend swears that there has been a huge drop off in the amount of streaming for unfiltered.

it's like that thing c.i. of the common ills wrote on friday 'Breaking News Sally Struthers to co-host Unfiltered (This is PARODY, PEOPLE).' rachel needs lizz more than lizz needs rachel because lizz is the cher of the duo and rachel's the sonny.

and to answer a question i got asked over and over in the e-mails, i was at a soldier's play last night. i hadn't planned to go out but a friend called with 2 tickets and pointed out that we always say we'll go to plays and stuff but never do. it was a reading of play, not a performance and it was about racism and murder in the military during wwii. it was really great.

i had planned to stay home and blog but at the last minute, my friend ended up with tickets and needed some 1 to go with her.

times jukes on the page and calls it writing also the hideous rachel maddow inspires a drinking game

let me start off by directing to you an editorial by the third estate sunday review. this is what i gave you a heads up to earlier. they don't name the person and i'll be respectful of their decision and keep my lips sealed as well. but i am sooooooooo dying to tell you who it was. don't know what i'm talking about? well get your ass over to the third estate now.

have you read the common ills today? i read it with interest but also the thought 'i am so never writing anything as long as the second or third entry.' more power to c.i. but i can't imagine ever having that much to say.

which, funny story, don't ever ask c.i. to help you with research. there's a point to this post and i'll get to it shortly but i asked c.i. for some assistance re: background on a topic.

and?

i'm flooded with research. i had e-mails of links, e-mails that c.i. typed up articles not available online, on and on.

i'm a piker, i make no pretenses.

but what i was looking at, what inspired the mountains of research, was a story in the arts section today of the new york times. they've practically written a book on the axel rose.

that's axel, not guns and roses.

the hype is supposed to paint him as the new brian wilson, troubled genius.

i guess the difference (1 the long, long, long article never points out) is that brian williams wrote songs people actually still sing and remember: 'wouldn't it be nice?,' 'help me rhonda,' 'barbara ann,' 'god only knows,' 'good vibrations,' 'california girls,' 'surfin' u.s.a.,' 'i get around,' and 'fun, fun, fun' among others.

and der axel? um. well. there's. uh. oh, 'sweet child o' mine!' there's 'sweet child o' mine!' and.
um. uh. 'live and let it die!' that's a great song. oh, yeah, paul mccartney wrote that. well, there's. eh. 'knocking on heaven's door!' that is an amazing song ... written by bob dylan. never mind. uh. oh! 'patience!' but izzy wrote that right?

yeah, him and brian wilson, song writing genius on an equal par.

not quite. not fucking quite.

some dumb ass wants to jerk off and juke all over my morning paper and the times wants to call this an article?

here's what our 'expert' failed to tell you. (the 'expert' is jeff leads.)

let's turn to my gal kat who was kind enough to share a condensed version of the group with me in an e-mail. (yes, that's kat of kat's korner.)

kat: guns n' roses hit the payday with appetite for destruction. largely due to the energy level, they became a group of the moment. by the time the ep comes out, they've already got problems. using the n-word doesn't help and axel's attempt at justifications of that and the homophobia only make things worse. i think it's around that time axel pleads for understanding because he was molested by a relative as a child. tough guys found that very off putting and started making butt fucking jokes about axel. if he was counting on understanding, he didn't understand that a number of his core supporters didn't want to hear it and aren't exactly enlightened types. and with '1 in a million' off the ep, they'd pretty much reduced themselves from being a group for every 1 to a group trying to maintain their core. there was the flare up about them being invited to performa at an aids benefit and that's not mentioned. there was the war the now old geezers attempted to start with kurt cobain & courtney love which further damaged the group. all of this is known and all of it is refelcted in the continued decline in sales for each album. the writer's got a hard on for axel. probably spent his not so long ago youth locked in his room and cursing his mother as a 'castrating bitch.' that's the audience for axel today. there were rumors about his beating women and that only cut into the prospetive audience all the more. by the time nirvana's riding high off nevermind, guns 'n roses are over and every 1 knows it but them. it's disgusting to read such a long piece as this with such lack of information. the guy's a wanker in the worst way. i mean jeff leeds but it actually applies to them both.

thank you kat. (and to be honest, i was hoping c.i. would break it down like that and not pile on the research. spoon feed me, please!)

i'm reading this and thinking 'i remember those days and this doesn't sound like anything i remember.' i remember axel making remarks onstage about how women fuck up 'our lives' and wondering why i let my boyfriend at the time talk me into going to this concert. every guy around me turns and does the macho glare to let me know they're with axel and i'm thinking, 'why the hell am i at this concert?' (no, it wasn't for sex. when i finally slept with that stoner of a boyfriend, he fired off prematurely and i spent the whole night lying to him that it was no big deal.)

only in the days of reagan-bush could axel be a star. he'd be smart to put out an album while the bully boy is in office since bush's cohorts might be in the mood for the mindless ravings a racist, sexist, homophobe.

here's something else i remembered that the times didn't tell you about, axel's return to performing as a fatty. when you've built your stage act on no shirt and bicycle pants, an alarming weight gain is a bit like going to see tina turner live and finding out that she'll be sitting on a stool for the entire performance.

i don't know what wet dreaming piece of crap music rag jeff leeds got his 'expertise' from but he doesn't know shit. and the times gives this piece of crap prime real estate on the front page of the arts section, a full page inside and then another 1/2 page inside.

all that space wasted on a man who can't musically get it up. someone who, when he still could get it up, didn't really do that much.

i mean if this is all because 1 album sold, well alanis morissette sold a ton of albums with jagged little pill. will we get an article on her this long any time soon? i mean 'u ought to know,' 'hand in my pocket,' 'ironic,' 'thank you,' 'uninvited' and others were hits and alanis wrote them.

oh wait. this kind of jerking off is reserved only for males. by males. it's the little thing that lets them get in touch with their inner desires for a man while pretending they're manly because 'axel is such a way awesome dude! i love you, man!'

not a good day for the times. if you saw the common ills you know that already. but you can pretty much pick through today's paper to find 1 embarrassing moment after another.

lastly, sherry e-mails that if any 1 hear feels the need to listen to the lizz winstead-less unfiltered tomorrow they should do so only as a drinking game. take a shot every time rachel squawks 'support the troops' and sherry swears you'll be hammered before the 1st hour is over. rachel maddow will kill any energy behind this weekend's events, mark my words.