AltWeeklies Wire
Thoughts On Steve Jobs, Capitalism, Cybernetics & Old Reactionary Bankersnew
I’ve never been a fan of capitalism, but Steve Jobs made that a difficult position to uphold.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
10-10-2011 |
Commentary
An Insidious Pack Of Scoundrelsnew
The insidious pack of scoundrel running for President on the Republican side make it difficult for me to figure out if I should shit or go blind in the event Obama were defeated by one of them. On the one hand, it's clear that the smartest among them is John Huntsman. He's not an obvious scoundrel like a Perry or a Bachman. He is intelligent, and for that reason I hope he is not the candidate. He's the only one who would have a chance of successfully going head to head with Obama. Hopefully he won't be the Republican candidate, I guess, but then I get the chills. I used to think that Ronald Reagan was a man who could never be elected president. I was wrong.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
09-14-2011 |
Commentary
Altadena Man Remembers Civil Rights Struggle On Eve Of MLK Statue Dedicationnew
This Sunday when President Obama dedicates the $120 million Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in front of the nearly 31-foot tall statue of the man who delivered his "I have a dream" speech there on Aug. 28, 1963, one Altadena man will feel especially stirred by the events. This Sunday will be about celebrating that speech which occurred 48 years ago to the day.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
08-26-2011 |
Civil Liberties
People’s Capitalism Is Dead!new
With two of the three leading Republican candidates for president threatening to set up a new Christian theocracy, this next election may be our last. We know that it will be brutal, the Republicans will use every cheap bullying lie and tactic that they can, and we’ll end up with America’s first fascist state if they prevail.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
08-26-2011 |
Commentary
The Sierra God Machinenew
This is an excerpt from Lionel Rolfe’s unpublished novel, “The Misadventures of Ari Mendelsohn,” a novel of the ‘60s.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
07-29-2011 |
Excerpts
Who Was The Real Columbo?new
The death of Peter Falk at 83, the actor whose most famous role was a rumpled, eccentric Los Angeles police detective named “Lt. Columbo,” brought to mind the real story of who Columbo was.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
07-01-2011 |
Commentary
Tags: Columbo, Peter Falk
A Reunion At Mt. Lowenew
Lionel Rolfe is the author of “Literary L.A.,” about which a documentary is being made. The following are his recollections of his teen years at Mount Lowe Military Academy in Altadena, California and the secrets that mostly died with its closing.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
06-27-2011 |
History
Roots in the Garden of California’s Bohemianew
Charles Fletcher Lummis, L.A.’s “renaissance man” from the turn of the last century, began building El Alisal in 1897. Later, he liked to throw soirées on Saturday nights there among the sycamores on the Arroyo Seco. That is the memory people will try to recreate at El Alisal and along the arroyo when artists, poets, musicians and dancers celebrate “Charles Lummis Day” on Sunday, June 5.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
06-03-2011 |
Commentary
My Hero, Ed Asnernew
Twenty-five years ago, my mentor and hero was a city editor of television fame. The actor's name was Ed Asner and he played a city editor named Lou Grant, which was also the name of the television series.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
04-14-2011 |
Commentary
The “Opposable Thumb” Will Be Celebrated In Downtown Los Angelesnew
Whether it’s an incredible coincidence or something more, the class struggle between those who use their opposable thumbs to create wealth and those who own the means of production has come full circle.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
03-08-2011 |
Commentary
Torn From Today’s Headlinesnew
Hoyt Hilsman, a well-known screenwriter and most recently a Democratic candidate against Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, has written his first novel, "Nineteen Angels," snatched right from today's headlines.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
02-28-2011 |
Commentary
Tags: Hoyt Hilsman, David Dreier
Photographer Phil Stern Opens His Own Gallerynew
The Phil Stern gallery in downtown Los Angeles opened its doors last week to the general public, a few days later than planned.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
02-14-2011 |
Art
Vladimir Rodzianko -- The Real Ghost Of Rasputinnew
I never was too clear from Vladimir’s many and graphic memories of his time with Makarova of the exact gossip of who was doing what to whom. But Rodzianko talked with a certain enthusiasm about Nureyev’s famed collection of cock rings and his myriad of sexual peccadilloes. The rumors of which were mostly true, Rodzianko assured me.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
01-14-2011 |
Original Work
Despairnew
I was talking to a friend about the increasing despair I had been feeling since Boryana left me. I said I was afraid it was starting to morph into a black hole that would all but consume me. “Maybe it’s not just her,” Lee said. “Maybe it’s all the bad news that’s going on,” he said.
Boek said that we had had a shadow government for decades now. “The politicians are just the fronts for them,” he said. “Obama has to know that, even if he tries to get as much for the workingman as possible.”
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
12-20-2010 |
Commentary
The Tea Party Was Foretold by Sinclair Lewis' Classic, "It Can't Happen Here"new
As the Tea Party has forced a new low in American politics, making the threat of fascism the most real it has been in decades, I am reminded of a novel Sinclair Lewis wrote about eight decades ago called "It Can't Happen Here."
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
12-10-2010 |
Commentary
