Born Dec. 13: Ross Macdonald (1915), Dick Van Dyke (1925), Lester Bangs (1948), Tom Verlaine (1949), Taylor Swift (1989)
Also Dec. 13: Al Gore concedes (2000); Saddam Hussein captured (2003)
Feeling weird today?
This 13 is an odd one
Cosmic hits, misses
Al Gore conceded
Half-million vote edge no help
Florida, High Court
Al Gore conceded
Leaving us in the Bushes
We know how that went
Inconvenient truths:
Saddam caught 3 years later
— At terrible cost
Saddam’s opposite
Born this date, in Missouri
Nice guy Dick Van Dyke
In “Bye Bye Birdie”
He found Broadway success, then
His great TV role
“The Dick Van Dyke Show”
This empire’s only misstep?
Rob’s ottoman trip
Great ensemble cast:
Rob, Laura, Buddy, Sally,
Little Richie, Mel
Dick’s chimney sweep, Bert,
Worked wondrous sidewalk magic
For Mary Poppins
Super-cali-frag-
Forget it! That word won’t fit
Any haiku line
Dick Van Dyke lives on
DVD on DVD
Now, and when he’s gone
Live? Or Taylor Swift?
I don’t care, really, because
She writes fine young songs
Singing’s OK, too
She does what she can, KAN-ye
So cut her some slack
Probably not what
Lester Bangs would do for her
Were he still around
Bracing honesty
Marked Lester’s reviews, got him
Fired at least one time
But you always knew
Just where he stood — he’d never
Suck up to stardom
So sad he OD’d
Darvon, Nyquil, Valium
What a weird lights-out
Saved my faves for last:
Masters of noir and guitar,
Mystery and music
Ross Macdonald wrote
Great American novels
Disguised as mysteries
Macdonald’s stories
Plumbed family dissolution,
Alienation
Main man Lew Archer
Always got to painful truth
Cracked the case, his heart
LA’s facade, too,
Stripped away, reality
Beneath the glitter
Ross Macdonald tales
Equal Chandler, Hammett
As good as it gets
As good as it gets
Tom Verlaine on the guitar
Mystery, too, no star
Band Television
Rocked the CBGB scene
In the punk heyday
“Marquee Moon,” “Blow-Up”
“See No Evil,” “Friction,” “Days”
Fluid, powerful
His solo career
Even more nuanced, speed freaks
Won’t find much to like
But exploration
Of effects, textures and tones
Gets me — and it rocks
Unusual voice,
Words playful, elliptical
Complete the package
Happy birthday, Tom
You fit in nicely on this
Different kind of day
Greg's Hack-u 