The Library of Congress just created a new award:
"The Gershwin Award For Popular Song"

Its first recipient?
Paul Simon

The program was pretty damn good. There were the requisite historical performance clips, of course, and there were many very talented folks performing Paul's songs, including:
Lyle Lovett
Ladysmith Black Mombazo
Alison Krause and Jerry Douglas
Shawn Colvin
James Taylor
Marc Anthony (?!?!)
Stephen Marley
and a buncha others that I'm trying to remember, because I'm so tired after staying up too late watching this thing.

Highlights:
Alison Krause with Jerry Douglas singing "Graceland"
Ladysmith Black Mombazo singing "Homeless"
Grover and Elmo singing "Bridge Over Trouble Water" (and Art Garfunkel joined Paul on stage later to do the same song)

Really drove home just how deep his catalog really is.
LINK:
http://www.pbs.org/gershwinprize/?campa ... 2007-06-28

And who says congress is out of touch?

i turned it off when Bob Costas told me that Paul Simon was the only artist ever to make good music in five decades.

I didn't get that part, but I just assume that everything Costas says is either hyperbole or pure bullshit. He states opinion as fact far too often.

He would fit right in here!

Did you watch that bear show that came on before it?! Holy shit, they put a camera around the neck of a female bear to capture her every move. Fascinating.

I still snicker and think of that Family Guy reference.

Did not see it.
And I'm not sure whether or not you're bulshitting me, but that does sound like a PBS kinda thing.

Saw the whole setup part, but then went to bed before BearCam action started. Shit, I thought the shots from the whales were amazing. Bubblenets.

Why would I bullshit you about PBS? Perhaps you don't know of my infatuation with bears. Now you do.

wait, bears and whales? Please tell me there were fighting.

I like to look out the window
when I have to defecate
I get all introspective
I start to speculate

My entire body shudders
standing at the pane
What I call a PBS mood
I hold those fuckers to blame

I sent them my demo-reel
they said I had too much hair
and my sweaters weren't cardigan enough
and so I went to see them there

In the lobby I paused and gazed
at the waiting room TV
The holographic image of Murphy Brown
talking directly to me

That dame is fuckin creepy
I get chilled every time I see her
In those Sprint commercials
with no one else will she appear

they have to shoot her separately
in a hermetically sealed room
with a remote controlled camera
and stainless steel, saran-wrapped boom

I turn to the PBS Receptionist
and articulate my rage
I speculate on the awkward fit
of my knuckle in Murphy Brown's rib cage

before she can react and buzz
whatever passes for PBS security
I run screaming past her tiny booth
and begin the hunt for Murphy

down the corridor with my new demo-reel
actually a vinyl top from a bar stool
I slink past studio A, programming,
VTR and the secretarial pool

I gayly chortle and whisper her name
and decree that she will soon
appear with me personally in an original spot
a 30 second pitch from my bathrooom

I prop open the elevator door
with the mailroom clerk's head
I consider taking his haggar slacks
I am up through the trapdoor instead

with my magic vinyl reel in hand
I scale the well-oiled cable
I can almost smell that Murphy Brown now
a mixture of sweat, oxide and horse stable

It's taking all my strength
to keep from soiling my best pants
then suddenly, up above
I see her in the distance

I can hear the PBS hoardes now
closing in from below
I decide it's time to release the load
that i have been keeping in tow

I barely have my pants down
and the squishy hot dogs begin to flow.

But these rent-a-cops are shrewd
and mere scat cannot deter them
they give chase as I reach the nineth floor
I am so close now to that sweet hen

She slips in the doors above at level twelve
I cut in below and take the stairwell
I reach the twelfth with no time to spare
I hear the PBS boys curse and yell

And there she be, in the copy room
Slipping into the mainframe via a hidden door
The PBS posse follows me directly behind her
there had to be fucking 5 of them, or more

I lost them in the Power circuit
and there was Murphy, void of body and hands
a chilling spectre of one's and oh's, she was
hawking mobile services and long distance savings plans

I challenged her to space invaders
and she beat me into the ground
when I jammed my demo-reel into her algorhythm
she made a satisfying 'beep' sound

And the boys from security
were marooned in the LAN
I escaped with the mail clerk's dockers
and a new sprint savings plan.

I only saw bears.

bear v. whale, who wins? polar bears will eat the shit out of a sea lion or walrus. i'm sure the whale would just swallow the bear whole.

They were explaining the "critterCam" technology, which consisted of suction cupping a camera onto a whale, previously. Now it involves tranqing a bear, and putting it around his/her neck. Thus the whale-to-bear turn of events.

I'd be pretty pissed if I got tranq'd and woke up with a camera around my neck. again.

Was that show on Whale Fishing with Bears as bait?

Paging Hideous Lump…

I don't have any idea who Marc Anthony is, but after they didn't send out the hook after his first song, I lost all hope for the rest of the show. Motherfucker made me want to sterilize the teevee. Fortunately, it was time for Rescue Me, anyway.

Agreed. He sucked, although the 2nd song he did was more uptempo, and it suited him a bit better. Although that didn't stop me from changing the channel and checking back to see when he was done.