POETRY AT THE PORTFOLIO CENTER: I'm delighted to announce that the new open mic and reading series has a home: The Portfolio Center. Sponsored by the Georgia Writers Association, we are slated to begin on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. with a featured poet to be announced. The open mic and reading will be held the first Friday of every month, just as the series at Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech.

The most exciting thing about this new series is the space itself and the many possibilities. PC is located at the end of Bennett Street (just off Peachtree between Buckhead and Midtown), which is known for being "artist row" in the city. The IMAGE film center is there, the TULA art center and dozens of galleries and shops. Mick's restaurant will offer a great place for after-poetry dinner or drinks. Parking is free and plentiful. The walls of PC are adorned with rotating art produced by its students and we'll also be providing refreshments.

As with the old series, readers will have five minutes to read their work and we won't limit it to poetry. If you want to sing a song, play a piece of music or read from a novel or short story, the mic will be yours. We want Poetry at the Portfolio Center to be a nurturing and welcoming place for all poets/writers regardless of age or style. Many, many thanks to poet and PC teacher Tania Rochelle and PC president Hank Richardson for welcoming us to the new space.

In other news, the London police have rounded up all four suspects in the July 21 attempted bombings of the tube trains and a bus, including one who had fled to Rome. Amazing work!

Last night, I went to Cliterati to hear S. Bear Bergman and Scott Turner Schofield do excerpts from their show Words Can't Describe (being staged this weekend at 7 Stages theatre), which offers insight into their lives as self-proclaimed "gender jammers" and "tranny poster children." Their work was funny as hell and I plan to catch a performance. I also got talked into reading, so I rolled out cleanskin/lilywhite and, by request, Why I Want To Be Pam Grier.

There's so much coming up in the poetry world in the next five months. I'll be out in LA again, doing a reading (maybe two) for the release of the Red Light: Superheroes, Saints & Sluts anthology, performing at Theatre Gael in A Soldier's Song, working with the new Word Diversity Collective (a post on that is coming soon) and hopefully making my way to London.

UPDATE! I just confirmed this morning that Sarah Maclay will be the featured poet on Oct. 7 at Poetry at the Portfolio Center! Sarah's book, Whore, won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. I'm so excited to have Sarah finally out here on the east coast. Her poetry is brilliant.

MUSIC MAKES THE PEOPLE COME TOGETHER: I haven't offered up any music recommendations lately, and since I was just over at iTunes blowing my allowance, I thought it was time to mention a few tunes that were moving me and grooving me. All of them are available on iTunes (unless noted):

Bedshaped - Keane: This UK band has been floating just under my radar for about a year, but after I saw them perform this tune at Live 8, I decided it was time to purchase the album. Brilliant, moody stuff, esp. this single...the final one from their debut album Hopes & Fears. The piano riff here is classic.

Unplayed Piano - Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan: This is such a moving song, dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, who just spent her 60th birthday under house arrest in Rangoon. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under house arrest for a decade for leading the pro-Democracy movement. Who would have thought a song about being under house arrest could be so exquisite. If you want to know more about Kyi and sign a petition for her release, visit The Burma Campaign site. Proceeds from purchasing the single go to the Burma Campaign. It's only 99 cents...don't be cheap.

Lose Control - Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop: A storming summer hit with some of the quickest rhymes and beats ever. The video for this song is a stunner, too. I love the line where Missy sings "systematic, ecstatic, this hit be automatic." Absolutely!

You're Beautiful - James Blunt: Another UK act who has held on to both the single and album chart for weeks across the pond. This elegant, simple song is a grower.

Shiver - Natalie Imbruglia: For some unexplained reason, this single has not been released in the US, although its been a hit in Europe and the album it comes from in the top of the charts for months. Of course, Natalie had a huge hit back in 1998 with Torn and Shiver is even better. This melancholy tune is accompanied by a gritty Bourne Identity video complete with car chase. If you go to this link, you can watch and listen if you have Windows Media Player.

Hide & Seek - Imogen Heap: The beguiling voice of Frou Frou (best known for the song Let Go from the Garden State soundtrack) on her new solo single. At first listen this may sound cold, with the entire song vocodered to within an inch of its life, but it's quite gorgeous. Reminds me of Laurie Anderson, which ain't a bad thing.

Wires - Athlete: I've been in love with this song for months, after it first came out in the UK. Now it's released in America. They remind me of an even darker Coldplay. The song seems to be about a father rushing to the beside of his newborn daughter. Haunting.

Love Has No Name - Babble: This is my oldie pick, well sorta oldie. Babble is actually Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie, who you probably remember as the Thompson Twins. They released two albums under the name Babble including Ether in 1996. This was the single. This is an ambient, chill-out groove supreme. Nothing like Thompson Twins, who I loved, but who would have thought they could have created this?! More, please.

Twentyfourseven - Artful Dodger: Oldie pick number two. Released in 2001, this pulsing pop confection features Melanie Blatt (just off the break up of girl group All Saints) purring over a acoustic Latin guitars that are braced by one of the most catchy rhythms ever. "If you want me to do you right, you're gonna have to love me day and night, twentyfourseven love you know..."

Who Knows Where the Time Goes - Judy Collins: I adore Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny, who originally recorded this tune, but I've heard Judy Collins do this live and it's so stunning. When I met Judy a few years ago, she was so cool and chatty and when I produced my ancient vinyl copy of Judith (the album with Send In the Clowns) she signed it and we talked about it. After we talked during her break, she came on and did Who Knows Where the Times Goes and I must admit I was verklempt. iTunes has the version from Live From Wolf Trap. Brilliant.

Enjoy!

THE TRUTH HURTS: London Mayor Ken Livingstone has never been one to keep his opinions to himself. He has been widely criticized since the London bombings for statements such as this:

"We have propped up unsavory governments, we have overthrown ones that we didn't consider sympathetic. I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s the Americans recruited and trained Osama bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs and sent him off to kill the Russians in Afghanistan and they didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that, he might turn on his creators."

While Ken might be a bit off on other ideas (including his over-simplification of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine) he summarizes the US's dealings with Osama bin Laden perfectly.

LOST WEEKEND: Before I came home from work last night, I stopped by the video store and the supermarket with the plan to not leave the apartment all weekend. So far, so good. I've watched two movies so far (Birth and Team America:World Police - yeah, I know, weird combo. I like my artsy drama balanced with fratboy humor) and I'm plowing through the new John Irving novel, which is excellent. I'm also catching up on writing grants for the upcoming Voices Carry 2 on Sept. 11 at the Carter Center. We have an amazing line up of poets: Eric Nelson, Sharan Strange, Beth Gylys, Jon Goode, Dan Veach, Cecilia Woloch and Kodac Harrison hosting. I'm reading, too, but I bow to those on the bill - great poets all.

In between reading and watching movies, the news filters in. The shocking execution of two young gay men in Iran totally sickens me. Simianbrain has posted a photo of the boys having the nooses put over their heads. Apparently the Middle East has been on a jihad against gays. To me, this is a form of genocide. I doubt America will be sending any troops in to liberate all the homosexuals currently in jail who are either being tortured or waiting for execution. While you're at Simianbrain, scroll down and check out the excellent recap of the Downing Street Memo, which celebrates its three-year anniversary today. This secret memo, which originated in the UK, indicates that Dubya and his cronies were creating evidence to invade Iraq.

Speaking of Dubya, his golden boy for the Supreme Court has been glad-handing more people in Washington than any politician up for re-election. The Dems have been pretty quiet, but I'm sure they are gearing up for an assault during confirmation. The pro-choicers have been out marching already, saying John Roberts appointment will lead to the end of the rights granted by Roe v. Wade.

In London, the overzealous police shot dead an innocent man because they thought he was was one of the terrorists who tried to detonate bombs on the tube and a bus on Thursday. While it's understandable the police might have itchy trigger-fingers after all the horrific bombings, shooting the guy at point blank range while lying on the floor of a tube carriage in full view of passengers does nothing to boost confidence and only causes more fear to a public already on edge. Jean Charles de Menezes was a Brazilian national working as an electrician in London. Why he ran from the police is unknown, since he apparently had never been in any trouble.

Terror wasn't limited to London this weekend either. The bombing of a Red Sea resort in Egypt has also sent shockwaves across the world. These were no little bombs either. One of them totally demolished the front of a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, while another went off in a crowded market and a third on a beachfront walkway. Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility along with another group called The Holy Warriors of Egypt. America is next. You can feel it in the air. Something horrible is going to happen in this country soon. It's either going to be suicide bombers or a car bomb or chemicals released.

Frankly, I'm tired of waking up every morning and finding out that some more whackjobs have killed a bunch of innocent people. My fear is that the only way this reign of terror will end is with the use of a big bomb on some Middle Eastern or Asian country and I know Dubya has an itchy-trigger finger. There's a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the political spectrum about the US pulling out of the Middle East and Asia, which is what these extremists are calling for. If we left, would they stop bombing? Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq after the bombings there last year. Yes, it's "cutting and running," but at some point the lives of everyday people who are dying indiscriminately on a weekly basis are going to have to come into the discussion. Is America going to continue being the "world police?"

LONDON BOMBED AGAIN: I think I had another instance of disassociating from reality this morning when I got word of the latest round of terror bombings in my beloved London. Although I knew it had happened and had a cursory idea, I sat calmly answering emails and checking phone messages at my desk. Then I dug into the news and got that wave of nausea all over again. Luckily, no one was killed today. Whoever is running the operation picked amateurs to build and detonate the bombs because it was a lot of smoke and noise and little else. However, it plunged the capital back into chaos and the already crippled Underground just got a little more scary.

My favorite story of the day was the moronic bomber who apparently couldn't get his bomb to detonate, so he pulled out a gun (?!) inside the tube carriage and started shooting at the rucksack. The passengers chased him off the train and would have certainly beat him. I know I would have. The other three bombs (four all together - three Underground, one on a bus - chillingly like two weeks ago) fizzled as well. However, had they gone off, chances are dozens more would have died. What may bring this wave of bombings to a stop is that the bombers keep leaving behind extensive physical evidence...even more this time. There will be fingerprints, DNA samples and I bet there is some interesting CCTV footage of that terrorist being chased by the passengers. The call by the conservatives in the UK to create a list of people who "promote hate" (in sermons, websites, blogs, articles) is bit Orwellian for me.

This still doesn't put me off from going to London in the fall. I'll be on the tube ready to pounce on anyone fiddling inside their rucksack.

On another note, I actually had to hand it to Condi Rice today for standing up to the Sudanese government who tried to manhandle members of her staff and the press asking about the ongoing genocide in Darfur. She actually went to the camps in Darfur and met with women who had been raped by government militants while they were gathering firewood. More UN peacekeepers arrived in Darfur today as well. I'm glad to see America is finally paying a little more attention and that Condi has bit more conscience than I thought. If she's running for president in 2008, she just might get elected. Condi or Hillary? What a choice.

LEAVING GPS: As some of you already know, I resigned as vice-president of the Georgia Poetry Society earlier this week. This means an end to the open mic and reading series I've hosted for the last two years at the Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech the first Friday of each month. The final open mic will be Friday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 p.m. with Dustin Brookshire featuring. I plan to make an announcement about my new open mic and reading series that will launch in the fall. I will be partnering with the Georgia Writers Association on this new venture and poets writing in all forms (or non-forms) will be welcome.

The last three years with GPS have been a mixed bag. It became increasingly obvious that my politics and my opinions were not appreciated by some of the membership. I turned down the presidency last year, not wishing to rock the boat with my "radical" ideas of modernizing the society. Since it was apparent that I would ascend to the top spot in 2006, I had made no secret that I wanted to change the name of the organization and extricate us from the National Federation of Poetry Societies. The word "society" is quaint, antiquated and, to me, sounds like the bastion of old, rich, white people. I've been unhappy with our continuation in the NFPS for sometime because it is so out of step with the evolution of poetry in this country. Many state poetry organizations have left the national federation over the last few years, finally waking up and smelling the coffee. When I mentioned these ideas again after our meeting on Saturday, I was politely asked to "reconsider my position" with GPS. So I did.

I have no ill-will toward GPS. The membership is mostly an older group of people (a recent survey said the average age of our members was 65), many who write in form, and are set in their ways. They don't like change and the changes (or attempts) that were made over the last few years were met with criticism. The open mic I hosted was never embraced. As a matter of fact, only a handful of the 100 or so members ever attended in the last two years. The protest in absentia was disappointing. The open mic was created for the members to share their work. Luckily, the open mic was embraced by a diversity of local poets and I am proud to have featured such nationally known poets at Maureen Seaton, Cecilia Woloch, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Tania Rochelle, Stephen Bluestone, Jessica Care-Moore, Cherryl Floyd-Miller, Sholeh Wolpe and many others.

Before I ever joined GPS, I was warned by a number of former members that the society would do nothing to further my knowledge or appreciation of poetry. I am of two minds now. I met a number of great poets and friends during my three years in GPS, people I admire and respect. On the other hand, I also dealt with some of the most backwards, closed-minded, bigoted, doddering old farts you could imagine. The membership was polarized by the changes former president Rosemary Mauldin and I instituted, but we truly believed those changes were necessary to move the organization forward. My presence in the society was met with a mixture of welcome or hostility. My "upstart" ideas and my poetry in general was too brash, too "dirty," too political for many. The very idea of diversity was pooh-poohed as being a politically correct term with no real merit.

I also acted as webmaster, but you will see that site is now closed. I was asked to give this up as well and a new site has been created. The motto on this new site declares that GPS is "Poetry for the 21st Century." All evidence to the contrary, but I wish the organization the best and I hope they can live up to this bold statement.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN: Dubya put forth his nominee for the Supreme Court this evening: U.S. Circuit Judge John Roberts. Jr. You're going to be hearing his name a lot in the coming weeks as the Republicans and Democrats square off. Roberts is exactly the kind of Supreme we don't need. He has a history of working to overturn Roe v. Wade and even argued in favor of letting nutjob pro-lifers block entrances to abortion clinics (he lost). Blogger pal and poet Robin has the PDF linked on her site talking about Roberts moves to tear down the wall separating church and state and his hostility toward minorities. All day long, there was a rumour swirling that Edith Clement would get the nom, but Republicans were about to lose their shit over her because she didn't have a "paper trail" and had once ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood on a funding issue. I knew Judge Edith was a longshot, but it offered a glimmer of hope that Dubya might be trying to be more moderate. No such luck. He goes for right-winger that has the Christian right base doing the happy dance and touching their naughty parts. I hope the Dems are prepared to filibuster this guy. To the ramparts...

BACK TO LA & OTHER TALES: This past week was very challenging what with the computers being down at work while we're in production for the August editions and mopping up from the flood at my new apartment. The computers are back up and the leak is fixed. I thought about it and decided to stay in this apartment rather than pack up and move to a top floor unit. The day before the flood, I had finally put up all the pictures and the wall and set up my office. The thought of packing all that up (although the complex offered to pay for the move) is just not something I wanted to deal with. I'm supposed to be on my "sabbatical" and it's been mostly bogged down in little dramas. I think I'm on the other side now. I did manage to submit some new poems to a couple of literary journals and I'm going to start again this coming week shuffling the poems in my next collection....which is still untitled.

During all the hellishness, I received a lovely invitation from John Amen and Cecilia Woloch to join them for another of our trio readings at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California on Thursday, Oct. 27. I'm so looking forward to this. Beyond Baroque has been around for something like 30 years and all these brilliant poets have featured there. It's definitely an honor to be asked, and to read with Cecilia and John again is just a cherry on top. I hope to pick up a couple of other readings while I'm out in LA and see some friends like Brendan Constantine and Teka Lark Lo. More on this soon.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the new poem cleanskin/lilywhite. The poem is still in progress as more details about the terrorist bombings emerge. It was good to see the unity in London on Thursday evening at the rally in Trafalgar Square and the swiftness at which London police have moved on the bombings.

On Friday night, I went to see a staged reading at Neighborhood Playhouse in Decatur. My pal Lisa Allender was starring and it was directed by Cherryl Floyd-Miller. The play, Nighthawks by Evan Guilford-Blake, is based on the painting by Edward Hopper of those lonely figures seen through the window of an all-night diner. Lisa is an amazing actress and Cherryl performed a miracle by getting these people ready in just three days. I enjoyed the play, which has been produced all over the country at small theatres and festivals, but somehow it seemed a bit dated. I couldn't put my finger on it. The second act was the strongest and Lisa's portrayal of mentally retarded prostitute was disturbing. I don't get to the theatre nearly as often as I would like, so this was a treat.

On Saturday, I schlepped all the way to Cumming, GA for the Georgia Poetry Society quarterly meeting at Humpus Bumpus book shop. Humpus Bumpus in Cumming. Insert any number of jokes here. It was a fairly quick meeting and I had lunch with Lisa and Dustin Brookshire. I also hosted an afternoon reading for the Java Monkey Speaks Anthology with Karen Wurl and Lane Young featuring. We sold quite a number of copies, so I was pleased. A long board meeting kept us, but I was back in time to meet up with my gal pal Mal for a movie.

We saw Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, which was not my first choice, but Mal was dying to see it. I was pleasantly surprised at how dark and twisted this movie was. While I'm not a huge fan of Johnny Depp, he made one of those Nicole Kidman moves (a la The Hours) and disguised himself behind white make up and false teeth that totally transformed him. His nasty little comments and the look of the film are genius. The dispatching of Veruca Salt was particularly disturbing, and I heard quite a few whimpers in an audience full of children. I have to admit I still love the original film with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, but this was an inspired film on Roald Dahl's classic story.

Today, I had to go into work for an hour or so to catch up and I also picked up John Irving's new novel, Until I Find You. Of course, The Borders I stopped at was still in a Harry Potter frenzy and was sold out of that book. They had sent someone to the Kroger across the street to try and buy up a few copies. I know many consider is sacrilege, but I've never picked up a Harry Potter book or seen any of the films. Maybe one day. When I'm on a longer sabbatical.

cleanskin/lilywhite

Police terms for a person who has no connection to terrorism

They carried rucksacks into King’s Cross,
these clean boys, these untouched boys,
these led astray men.
When shoplifting is no longer a thrill,
turn your attention to heaven,
the gold and riches and gaping legs of girls
all waiting on the other side of the big bang,
perverted promises, brainwashing.
Set aside chemistry, childrearing and cricket,
these false prophets, these western sirens.
All you need is to dirty yourself once.
Your names, although hard to pronounce,
will be on every television,
go down in history with your fellow
passengers, just on their way to work,
their flesh the only barrier to your reward.
Proud of your brown skin,
now they call you lilywhite,
what’s left of you,
splattered on a tube carriage wall,
flung hot-baked from bus to building,
not rising through big holes,
your planned escape hatches,
but just residue left to scatter
in the wind over Tavistock Square
or down the tunnel to Edgware Road,
not heavy enough to rise to heaven.
You’ll settle into gutters,
like the ones you tried to escape in Leeds,
the promises of Allah just ashes.

WE ARE NOT AFRAID 2: The brilliant website We're Not Afraid has received something like 4 million hits in just a day or so. The site is fully operational again, filled with images and messages of solidarity after the bombings in London. The image at left was created by Thomas Shoehn.

A giant rally is planned for Thursday in Trafalgar Square to spread this same message. I'll be there in spirit.


SUICIDE BOMBERS: In less than a week, the UK and London police know who the bombers were, where they lived and even have video images of them arriving at King's Cross station all carrying rucksacks with their deadly bombs. Today, the police raided homes in Leeds in West Yorkshire (about 190 miles north of London) and announced that at least one of the terrorists, all twentysomething, UK born Pakistanis, died in the bombings. That means suicide bombers are now operating in the UK.

I can't say I'm surprised. Actually, I keep expecting it to happen here in America any second now. A suicide bomber could easily walk into a shopping mall, business or restaurant and blow the place up. Everyone carries bags here and in the winter everyone bundles up in big coats. When that happens in the US (and it eventually will), I'm not sure if we'll be able to cope. Everyone becomes a suspect. You can look closely and scrutinize people who get on planes and trains, but you can't stop someone from walking into the Mall of America strapped with a bomb and so fanatical about their religion, that they will happily die.

The Muslim faith, which calls for peace, has been hijacked by extremists who have perverted the word of Allah. Of course, you can draw parallels to the Christian faith here in America, which has currently been hijacked by radical right fundamentalists who have killed abortion doctors in the past and regularly carry signs with words like "AIDS Is God's Punishment For Fags." Radicalism begins in subtle ways. It begins with attempts to control others' freedom, perverting religion, and creating fear and loathing. Americans - especially the radical right - likes to lump all Muslims into the category of extremists. I recommend those Americans look in the mirror.

WE ARE NOT AFRAID: I woke up this morning to a flood in the bedroom of my new apartment. There are two leaks, with water gushing in from under the carpet and running down the wall. We had torrential rains from the remains of hurricanes Cindy and Dennis. They've ripped up the carpet and my place is a construction zone. I've completely disassociated from reality, because if not I'd have killed myself by now. In August, I'm moving again. I'll be in the same building, but on the top floor. The thought of moving again makes me want to slice my wrists all the way to my elbow, but I've not felt comfortable in the new apartment. I hate the ground floor (even more so now) and I need to get to a place where I can be at peace.

Of course, my little drama is put into perspective by what happened in London. There are now 52 dead and the recovery work continues. What I love about Londoners, and the British in general, is their spirit. They have gone back to work, they are riding the tube, they are giving the big middle finger to the motherfuckers who did this.

Over the last few days a brilliant website called We're Not Afraid has been created showing images of people, pets or London landmarks, all with the added message that "We are not afraid." By 10 a.m. today, four days after the blasts, about 3,500 images had been submitted and more than 1,000 posted on the site. Getting to the site has been hard because thousands are trying to access it. The site has has over 250,000 hits in just a couple of days. Be patient and check it out. Or check out the story on CNN, which has some images from the site.

This has been a year of personal challenges because of all sorts of circumstances: deaths, family illnesses, work, my writing career, the move that nearly killed me. But this morning, sitting in the middle of my flooded apartment, I just had to laugh. It's really all you can do. Life is short, and although I believe in reincarnation, I want to live this current one without fear. I was in Paris during a high alert and just before the bombing of the Saint-Michel metro station in 1995. During that same trip, the Eurostar passed over a bomb that failed to detonate on the tracks. I flew into London in 1996 the day of the IRA bombing of a London bus in the West End. I'll be going back o London soon. I'll get on the trains, tubes and on the buses. And I won't be afraid.

UPDATE: The news is rife this evening about a secret memo leaked to a London newspaper about the UK's plans to pull troops out of Iraq and redeploy them to Afghanistan. That same memo also talked about the US pulling thousands of troops out of Iraq early in 2006 and handing security over to what is now supposed to be a free country. Hmmm...interesting timing. Just in time for the presidential candidates to start making their intentions known. Watch this closely folks. Just a few months ago, Dubya was saying we're staying until the job is done and now there's plans to cut and run in six months.

Also, Dubya's favorite butt boy, Karl Rove, has been identified as the mouth who revealed that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative to a journalist. Dubya said he would fire whoever the culprit turned out to be. Oh...really? I can't wait to see if the prez will leave his main man twirling in the wind.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica in Bosnia, where more than 7,000 Muslim boys and men were massacred by Bosnia Serbs. This kind of ethnic cleansing continues today in many places, such as Darfur, with little intervention by other countries, including the G8.

THE DAY AFTER Just checked in with the BBC and CNN on casualty figures from yesterday's horrifying bomb attacks in London. The number fluctuates between 49 and "more than 50." Apparently, there are still bodies underneath King's Cross and they announced this afternoon that 13 died on the double decker bus at Tavistock Square.

Just when I thought all my friends were accounted for, one of my friends and blogger pals is awaiting word on members of her family who were connecting through London yesterday, but haven't been heard from in 24 hours. I don't want to go into any details or give names at the moment because it's a very fluid situation. It's just another indication of the chaos in the aftermath of these, to quote Blair, "barbaric" attacks. Or as one of the tabloids summed it up in their headline: "Bastards."

I'll post another update and some links later this evening.

UPDATE: My friend's family is safe. There was a communication breakdown and personal drama, but they are safe and back in the states.

I finally had to turn off CNN and BBC. Luckily, that great old camp western Johnny Guitar starring the incredibly butch Joan Crawford and a boozy Mercedes McCambridge. Joan plays a tramp gone good, trying to start her life over in the wild west by starting a poker saloon and wheeling and dealing with the railroad barons. McCambridge plays a cattle baron determined to run Crawford out of town. These two crazy (but fabulous) actresses obviously hated each others guts. There's a story that after a fight on the set, Joan took all of Mercedes' costumes and scattered them along a highway in Arizona where they were filming. Hard to tell who would have won in a fight between these two. Mercedes McCambridge is probably best known for being the voice of the devil in The Exorcist.

SPARE A THOUGHT FOR LONDON: A phone call woke me early and told me about the terrorist attacks in London. This is my second home and I have good friends there, who I haven't heard from yet. The moment I turned on the television, I instantly recognized Edgware Road and the hotel I stayed in on my very first visit. That whole area where the attacks happened...Kings Cross, Aldgate, Russell Square...I know them all well. I've travelled that part of the Circle Line more times than I can count. Somehow it makes it worse knowing these areas so well. I can only imagine the hell on the tube. My sympathies and prayers go to everyone in London.

UPDATE: Just heard from my friend Carrie and her husband Roger. She works at Tavistock Square where the bus exploded and can see it from her office window. Had she not overslept, she might have been on that bus. There was about an hour where Roger didn't know where she was. She said it's raining steadily and things have calmed a bit, but the city is basically shut down.

Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the "blessed" attack on London via some website. I hope this will refocus the fight no terrorism away from Iraq and back to the search for Osama bin Laden and the cells that are obviously working secretly in cities around the world. Neither America or Britain can fully fight the threat of Al-Qaeda, which is obviously alive and well despite what Dubya might say, while we can't get out of Iraq. All the resources should be focused on finding the terrorists who have money, are well networked and can plan these kinds of barbaric attacks on innocents.

UPDATE 2: Thirty-three confirmed dead in the London terrorist attacks at this update at just past noon. Carrie is considering spending the night at her office, since the entire Underground is closed. Zone 1 bus service is starting up again, but is spotty and running way behind schedule.

This coordinated attack of four bombs must have been well thought out. The stations hit are massive and busy, with many connections. King's Cross is a main hub, not only the tube, but mainline trains. The bus that was blown up in Bloomsbury is a very busy tourist and student area, with the British Museum just a few blocks south.

While Blair's speech was emotional and supportive, Mayor Ken Livingstone, still in Singapore after London's triumph of winning the 2012 Olympics yesterday, said this:

"This was not an attack against the mighty and powerful. It was not aimed against presidents or prime ministers. It was aimed at ordinary working class people...Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindus and Jews, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion. London will not be divided by this.

I wish to speak through you directly, to those who came to London to claim lives, nothing you do, how many of us you kill will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another, whatever you do, how many you kill, you will fail."

UPDATE 3: Death toll stands at 38 as the investigation begins into who is repsonsible. Blair says its al-Qaeda, and it probably is. Has all the hallmarks, esp. echoing the bombings in Spain. London is keeping its stiff upper lip. This is my favorite reaction (From the London News Review)

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us.Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work.All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap.And if, as your MO indicates, you're an al-Qaeda group, then you're out of your tiny minds.Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're London, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the pub.So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city." - London News Review.

My sentiments exactly.

FREEDOM FOR ALL? I'm not feeling very patriotic today. Okay...I haven't been feeling patriotic for a couple of years. However, one thing that did lift my spirits on this Independence Day was the United Church of Christ voting to support gay marriage. The resolution still has hurdles to clear, but it's a step forward and proof that not all Christians are fanatical, homophobic, right-wing crazies.

The retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor from the Supreme Court is sure to set up a battle royale in Congress. Dubya is going to move to put one of his crazy Christian fanatics on the bench to begin the effort to thwart Roe v. Wade, rewrite the Constitution, and strip minorities of more of their liberties. This Independence Day fills me with a bit of dread, actually. It's like the calm before a really big storm.

On a lighter note, I went with my pal Malory to see War of the Worlds yesterday. It was scary and nihilistic up until the every end, which was a cop out. I was even able to suspend my dislike for Tom Cruise as he tried to save his family from the aliens. The fact that Tom believes in real life that he's an alien deposited here millions of years ago by some cosmic warlord aside, it was still an exciting flick and he played deadbeat, asshole, redempted dad convincingly. Just lay off poor Brooke Shields, stop dancing on couches and using poor starlets as beards.

LIVE 8: I literally spent the entire day watching the historic Live 8 concert on television. While the telecast on MTV and VH-1 focused too much on the American and London shows, there were still some iconic moments today: Coldplay and Richard Ashcroft, a still vital Madonna and the reunion of Pink Floyd - including Roger Waters!

I was 15 years old when the Live Aid concerts were held in 1985. I watched most of it at my late Uncle Terry's apartment that Saturday 20 years ago. Damn...time does fly. I still remember delighting at a young Madonna defiantly stating, "I ain't taking shit off," after nude photos of her had been published. She launched into Holiday wearing a layer of coats even in the sweltering Philadelphia heat. Other favorites from 20 years ago are Tina Turner and Mick Jagger doing State of Shock and Queen leading the crowd in London through Radio Ga-Ga. Even then, I understood the magnitude of the moment and was glad to be alive to see it.

Sir Bob Geldof organized Live Aid and he came through again today with Live 8. He's a tireless activist for fundraiser for Africa and the effort to end global poverty. The Live 8 concerts came just ahead of the G8 Summit in Scotland, encouraging the leaders from the world's most powerful countries to focus on erasing the debt to developing countries and giving more aid. While there has been plenty of criticism of Live Aid and what it actually did for Africa in the 20 years since those concerts in 1985, raising the awareness of the poverty, famine and AIDS crisis is not to be dismissed lightly.

While I was incredibly pissed that performances by Bjork in Tokyo, Pet Shops Boys in Moscow, Annie Lennox in London and Sarah McLachlan were never even aired during the eight hours of coverage, it was still amazing to see some of the acts. London definitely had the hottest show. Coldplay and Richard Ashcroft (formerly of The Verve) performed the now classic song Bittersweet Symphony, which is one of the moments that everyone will remember. It's one of my favorite songs, so I was thrilled. Geldof introducing a now healthy and happy young African woman who was shown near death in a documentary filmed in 1985 was so moving, and it even touched Madonna, who was verklempt as she launched into a trio of hits: Like A Prayer, Ray of Light and Music. She looked and sounded amazing. Definitely one of the great moments.

Of course, everyone was buzzing about Roger Waters and Pink Floyd reuniting for Live 8 and they didn't disappoint. Watching the 200,000 plus spectators packed into Hyde Park at dusk made me long to be there. When the pig floating over Battersea Power Station appeared on the giant screen, the crowd went nuts. Money, Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here (which made me a little verklempt, I must admit) was transcendent.

U2 and Paul McCartney looked like they were having fun performing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and Green Day belted out American Idiot and a cover of Queen's We Are the Champions in Berlin. From the American show, Kanye West was definitely the most potent performer and I love his new single, Diamonds from Sierra Leone, which cleverly samples both Shirley Bassey's Diamonds Are Forever and OutKast's Mrs. Jackson. The night closed with an all-star sing-along in Hyde Park with McCartney leading everyone through a round of the warhorse Hey Jude.

I encourage everyone to visit the ONE campaign site and add your voice to the cause to end global poverty and AIDS. Also consider making a donation to The Global Fund. Although everyone is tight on money these days (me included), every three seconds a child dies of starvation in Africa. In the time it took you to read this sentence, another child has died. Now is the time to add your voice, stand up and be heard. As cliched as it sounds, I still believe it is possible to change the world, but we must work together. It's never been more important.