I don’t have HBO, but my sister-in-law does; therefore, my wife and I paid her a visit to watch Chris Rock’s Kill the Messenger. Although I was laughing my ass off, I felt kind of embarrass watching it with my sister-in-law and her husband. Rock has been vulgar, but I didn’t expect him to go all out like that.

His sex jokes turned into pornography. I tried hard not to laugh at punch lines like “Pussy is like visa. It accepts everywhere,” or “if he comes, it doesn’t mean that you made him come.” I guess you have to be with a different crowd to enjoy it. Luckily, my wife was reading her book.

Having been a fan of Chris Rock since Bring the Pain, I had an idea of his topics: racism, “nigger,” black vs. white relationships and, of course, politics. I was waiting for some hard blows on McCain, but he only mocked his age, like McCain wants to talk about the future when he “ain’t gonna be there.” The people who know Obama will be under investigation, but the people who know McCain get off easy (“all his friends are dead.”)

This election has brought up some racial issues. For instance, the myth is that black people vote for Obama because he’s black. Rock clarified, “We vote for him not because he’s black. We vote for him because he’s black and qualified.” He hit it right on the spot.

After all these years, Bush remains Rock’s favorite target. He called him “worse president of president.” Rock’s knock out punch is when he responded to the question on the mind of most people. Is America ready for a black president? His answer: “We should be. We just had a retarded one.” Can’t agree more.

Through the first presidential debate, Obama has stepped up his game. Thanks to Hillary Clinton for the challenge she prepared him with during the primary. McCain, as predicted, was aggressive, but I was not surprised that Obama could handle the pressure after seeing him face to face with the intolerant O’Reilly. Obama handled the jabs by remained cool under attacks. McCain came strong, but Obama stayed focus and he responded directly to his opponent by looking straight in his eyes, whereas McCain seemed to look down to his opponent.

The vice presidential debate is going to be an interesting one. If not careful, Biden could come off mean or even sexist toward Palin. Beating Palin in debate shouldn’t break a sweat from Biden. Palin is clueless; therefore, he should focus on the issues, go straight at McCain and skillfully ignore her. If he could accomplish those three aspects, he could kill two birds with one stone. Not only he could knock out the debate, but also landing some punches at her running mate.

Kevin Mahogany’s last night performance in the Kennedy Center was enjoyable but not as ecstatic as the first time I saw him at Jazz in the Valley in West Park, New York. His gruff, husky voice hasn’t changed, but the band, The Godfathers of Groove, accompanied him didn’t hold up. The trio group consisted of Grant Green Jr. on guitar, J.T. Lewis on drums and Reuben Wilson on Hammond B3 organ. Personally, I prefer the piano to the organ. The major drawback was no thumping double bass to accommodate Mahogany’s hypnotic low register.

The Godfathers of Groove opens the show with an instrumental number and Kathy Kosins whose voice sounds like Diana Krall but less smoky sang two Kansas City blues, included “You Turned Your Back on Me.” She introduced Mahogany to the stage and he kicked off with him own blues tune called, “Kansas City Born and Bred.” He performed a handful of Kansas, shouting blues including “Centerpiece,” in which he scatted the entire B section. My favorite piece is “Please Send Me Someone to Love,” in which he sang with a soulful, gospel feel. There was also a medley that started in slow blues, but progressed in triple tempo. The best part was when he invited Kosins to join him for a scat duet.

The show was an hour and a half long, but it went by so fast. Mahogany was quite a funny man and he made us laughing in between the songs. I copped his live recording of Mahogany sings Hartman after the show. By the way, the Kennedy Center was gorgeous, and looking down to DC at night in the rain was a wonderful experience.

Kathleen Parker:

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Bow out or not makes no different. Both McCain and Palin will bow down and out on November 4th.

In an interview with Larry King, Chris Rock said:”It’s simple, vote for the guy with one house.” I really want to see his HBO special, “Kill the Messenger,” tomorrow.

McCain decided to go to the debate. Damn, I have to go see Kevin Mahogany tonight. I’ll have to watch in online then.

McCain already ran the “McCain Wins Debate!” ad even though the debate hasn’t started yet. What an egoistic freak.

From Big Eddie:

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”

The McCain campaign is fucked and they know it.

Good point, HmL and I like your formal boss’s comment: “McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory.” Being an opportunist he is, who knows if McCain is going to throw Palin off the bus once she is no good anymore, which is pretty soon, and bring someone else on board. He has been doing the unthinkable day by day.

The sky was rainy and gloomy and the traffic was jammed so we turned around to Ted’s Montana Grill for dinner. I had the burger and the beer deal and Dana had the sliders. The bison was not bad, but we didn’t like the kaiser bun. It was too soft and pasty. We split the burger and the sliders, but I ended up with three sliders and she had one. The sliders weren’t as tasty as Tonic‘s. We should have waited patiently through the traffic and went to Five Guys instead. At least we tried and I won’t want another burger for at least a month.

AP:

A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrolman has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Oh man, that is so funny (Thanks Pho Lover).