My nausea prevents me from posting tonight. All the behind-the-scenes folderol having to do with my documentary—Operation Four Little Martyrs: A Hamas Deception that Fooled the World—has wiped me out. Stress is the worst thing for Meniere’s disease. It’s what exacerbates the symptoms more than anything. Every book I published relied on the cooperation of…
Too dizzy for a post tonight
May 24, 2015
Meniere’s disease is incurable, and it causes rotational vertigo attacks. It feels like the world is spinning while a heavy weight is pressing down on you. I haven’t had an all-day attack for years, but today I’m too dizzy to write. Rotational vertigo attacks are triggered by stress. Against my will, I’m beginning to remember…
An interview with my proofreader
April 1, 2015
The proofreader of Ghosts and Ballyhoo: Memoirs of a Failed LA Music Journalist is named Tom Pickel. He generously did the job for free. A professional would’ve charged me $2000 at least. Tom is a great proofreader; today he informed me that he’s also a very odd fellow, which is truly excellent. I’m a huge…
An offering to the gods of SEO
March 2, 2015
I’m so tired I can’t think. Brother Cat is driving me crazy with his neediness, nonstop meowing, and roller-coaster emotions. Other things are happening too. But to make the gods of SEO happy, I must post tonight. SEO is search-engine optimization. Back when I wanted to sell books, it was important to have high search-engine…
Contest: Make me a video
November 1, 2014
I need a video of Operation Four Little Martyrs, but none of the professionals I’ve queried will make one for me. Anti-Israel sentiment is the main culprit, I’m sure, followed by peer pressure and fear of reprisals by terrorists. Since I really want a video, I’ve decided to host a contest. There will be three…
Residue
April 7, 2014
Mom and Dad made no real provisions for their deaths. For some reason Dad threw away most of his tax documents. Since his death we’ve discovered that he had plenty to hide. Mom’s residue, on the other hand, is fully intact. Tim and I have learned a lot about not only Mom and Dad but…
My interview with Fanfare
March 5, 2014
Fanfare has published a very long interview with me. The deal was they’d send me copies of the magazine and tell me when the interview would go on the Website. Neither promise was kept. Color me SHOCKED!!!!!!!!! The interviewer was Robert Schulslaper. Note that it’s a classical-music publication. The was Mike Albee’s idea of publicity….
Grampa can say anything
March 5, 2014
I have far too many bizarre physical problems to list. Here are the major ones. Three kidneys, three cowlicks, a baby tooth with no permanent tooth under it, no gastrocnemius on my right calf, the longest ear canals in medical history, and Meniere’s disease. The weirdest issue is that when I shave, the skin on…
The cow must die
March 3, 2014
This is a sad video, but it isn’t graphic. And it makes a broader point, so please watch it. “Awww, ya dumb fucker.” No, the cow doesn’t deserve its fate, but the engineer did all he could. The cow had the entire world to stand in. For whatever reason it chose to position itself on…
How to piss me off
March 1, 2014
A few days ago a Scottish mental patient went off on me like nobody has in years. I don’t know the guy. He objected to this post; I can’t remember what he said exactly because the moderator of the site deleted all of his comments. Here’s the gist. “You’re a narcissistic, childish, aging failure and attention…