http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r2vjPrky60

Also Pete Seeger got to sing the “censored” verse of “This Land” about the “Private Property” sign. That should drive the nerds over at National Review Online completely nutz. This concert event was awesome – great performances, choirs, military bands – something for everyone. The “Lincoln Portrait” motif of reprising words of great Presidents and other historical figures was wonderful. You can still see the whole thing on HBO-dot-com.

As for the battle of the weeklies, I don’t agree with Marc Cooper on much, but he seems correct in his take on what Jill Stewart’s done to the Weekly, dumping real investigative reporting for “fast and dirty hit pieces” on city hall, even using people with no reporting or writing skills whatsoever like homeless blogger/ public comment gadly zumadogg, who disrupts meetings and then “writes” an expose on land use issues and is featured, more recently, on its story about the demise of public access in L A. (The result of state, not local, legislation, by the way.)

I will miss Steven Leigh Morris especially, who did recent, very solid stories (definitely not butt-kissing officials but sans the biased vitriol favored by Jill Stewart and her current faves) about the CRA etc. And yes, also Andy Klein, who like Alan did his time at both papers and is one of the best. Guess it’s an unfortunate byproduct of the mushrooming of so many online reviewing sites that people don’t think the opinions of people trained to think critically, and who bring a wealth of years of viewing and writing about movies (or theatre or books) to the table, really matter much more than the opinion of anyone with access to a keyboard.

John Chiang announces that his office will suspend $3.7 billion in payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1, as a result of the state’s cash crisis. Student grants are also affected.

Gotta say, if you figure out that model, you want to trademark it, patent it, register it, or do something which would pay you royalties. Lots of folks would like that model. Advertising is one route, of course. Although some of the advertising I encounter online makes my experience of the site less than appealing.

So far, I’ve appreciated most those sites I want to visit frequently (at least once a day) offering me a variable subscription rate which will get me out of “some” advertising, or “all” advertising. If the site is worth its salt, I pay the higher rate and opt for no advertising every time.