Billy Cerveny is my favorite alt-country singer and one of the best songwriters working today in any genre. If you live in the D.C. area, he’s doing a show tonight in Vienna. Click here for details. If you can’t make the show, you might want to check out his site. It has MP3s of his songs you can listen to for free and links to buy the CDs. He’s the best.

Mike Russell’s latest non-fiction comic strip is out. This week’s installment is about the cycling/anarchist group Critical Mass.

In yet another sign that the Daily Kos has morphed from a lefty-fringe site into the Democratic mainstream (or vice versa), Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank has just given the site an interview in which he discusses the Gannon kerfuffle (which the grownups at the Post have decided not to cover, so far). Tom Maguire asks the important questions:

Now, as to the Milbank interview – what are the journalistic standards here? Daniel Okrent wondered about the same thing a few weeks back, in the context of NY Times reporter Judith Miller appearing on a television show, saying “you would have every reason to think she was speaking with the authority of the paper”.

Well, did Dana Milbank speak with the authority of the Washington Post when he chatted with Keith Olbermann last week, or (by e-mail) with SusanG recently? If so, why has the Post not broken this story that the White House may be lying about the day pass for Gannon – I find no mention of it there, yet I see it at E&P.

Or is Dana Milbank using Olbermann and the Daily Kos as an outlet for the innuendo and speculation he can’t quite slide past his editors? If this becomes an accepted practice it will make sympathetic blogs quite a helpful forum for reporters . . .

Who wants to bet that the old media will stop fretting about dangers of the blogosphere the day after reporters understand what Milbank has just done won’t get you fired?

I’d like to think the passing of the fine Canadian actor John Vernon two weeks ago would have garnered more attention had it not occurred three days before the death of Ossie Davis. Vernon was never nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe–he spent most of his career playing character parts in films like Dirty Harry and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. He was also a staple in cheesy ’80s T&A flicks such as Fraternity Vacation. But without a doubt, Vernon will forever be remembered as the vile Dean Wormer in Animal House. With his bellowing voice and sinister eyes, Vernon played Wormer as Inspector Javert, obsessed with squashing the Delta House. Sure, he had his faults–making shady deals with town locals for one–but you couldn’t help thinking that deep in his heart, Wormer only wanted the best for his school.

As the dean of Faber College would say, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

This will be the final Galley Slave post on the 2005 Super Bowl. Turn away, if you must.

The last time the Philadelphia Eagles went to the Super Bowl, I was 6-years-old. I watched the first half of the game, but missed the second half, since it was past my bedtime. The next time the Eagles made the Super Bowl, I was 30-years-old and on a cruise ship. I watched the first half from the ship’s bar, and then missed the second half because I had to attend a dinner (for work). When I am 54 and the Eagles make the Super Bowl again, no power in this world or the next will keep me from seeing the entire game.

But, since I didn’t even get to watch the whole game, I have only a few disconnected thoughts:

(1) The Eagles’ loss should surprise no one from Philadelphia. Those of us who fell into thrall with the team have only ourselves to blame. The Patriots are very good.

(2) That said, if you bet money on the Pats, you lost. Expect to hear this lame retort from Philadelphians for the next 24 years.

(3) Donovan McNabb was erratic, but much better than John Elway was in his first Super Bowl. Elway’s career turned out okay. McNabb’s will, too.

(4) Has any city had same-season sporting heartbreaks like Philly with the Eagles and Smarty Jones? I don’t think so.

(5) When I returned to dry land, I found the following voicemail from Galley Brother B.J. It was left in a rage during the fourth quarter: So if T.O. was on a team that was a six-point favorite in the Super Bowl, and he started doing celebratory dances mocking an injured player from the underdog team, when do you think the heads on ESPN would stop giving him shit?

Good question. My guess: Never.

(6) Freddy Mitchell is no longer a charming, quirky “character.” Andy Reid needs to give him the King Kong Bundy splash and then cut his ass. Five years from now I fully expect to see Mitchell strutting down Broad Street, carrying his shiny gold championship belt, and begging from spare change. He’ll get none from me.

(7) Even in defeat, I concede and celebrate the genius of Bill Belichek. Also, Miramax better move on Golden Eye: The Tom Brady Story, before Matt Damon gets too old for the part.

(8) Message to Joe Banner: I suggest the Eagles trade Mitchell and a player to be named later to the Sixers for Allen Iverson. Mitchell is more of an NBA personality, anyway. And Iverson would be an amazing wide receiver whose ability to run, throw, and catch would give defenses fits. Think about it.

This concludes the post mortem. See you in 2029.

Just when you thought this guy was going to receive a presidential medal for appearing in Raisin in the Sun, his literary contribution peters out.

Also, I like this super corny lede by Karen Holt in The Book Standard: “He’s answered to Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and Sean “Puffy” Combs, but to Random House he’s D. Fendant. The publishing house is suing to get back the $300,000 advance it says it paid the rapper-mogul for his autobiography.”

For the rest of the story

Last Sunday, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne offered his advice to incoming DNC chair Howard Dean. Among the myriad questions to be answered, Dionne passes along a “must-do list” with items such as “Defeating the Bush Social Security Plan” and “Holding fast to the party’s commitment to abortion rights and tolerance.”

And then there is this: “Understanding the views of NASCAR dads, security moms, country-western music fans, gun owners, Southerners, country people and others who regard the Democrats as the party of overeducated, arrogant, Volvo-driving elitists.”

Country people? Why on earth would these folks ever “regard the Democrats as the party of overeducated, arrogant, Volvo-driving elitists”?

Tom Maguire has a totally interesting (and wicked long) post on how liberals can win the blog wars. Yes, it’s long, but it’s worth reading through.