Spicer comes out, neglects to rub the lucky tree branch. Crowd is immediately suspicious and hostile. Host — Sinbad? Steve Harvey? — asks Spicer where he's from, what he's going to do.

I'm imagining the crowd at the Apollo Theater booing him off stage.

I can't speak for Mrs. Langdon Alger, but I don't resent his happiness. I resent — quite rationally — his existence, and the threat it represents to my happiness and existence, and the happiness and existence of people in this country and all over the world.

That Post story and a similar one in the Times report that Trump and his team of lawyers are digging for ways to stop or limit or discredit Mueller's investigation. The Trumpers keep talking about conflicts of interest, and it's true that the Attorney General (or Rosenstein in this case) can get rid of the special…

Off the top of my head, George Martin's piano solo on "In My Life".

My favorite this week was The Complete Blind Willie Johnson. I already had a few of his songs, but after listening to the collection of all of his songs, I'm a bigger fan. I don't know enough about the blues, but I like him and his guitar playing more than Robert Johnson (whom I do like) or Blind Willie McTell (whom I…

I haven't read the article yet, but he's been upset (in a perversely Trumpian way) with Sessions since Sessions recused himself. And there have been rumblings about firing Mueller ever since Mueller was appointed. Granted, Trump is capable of anything, but I'll believe he's firing Sessions or Mueller when those things…

There Is Nothing Left To Lose is not as good as their first two albums, but I think it's better than you or I remember. (My own least favorite Foos album is probably either In Your Honor or ESP&G. I may like Sonic Highways even less, but I sort of don't count it as a true album.)

Can it be two things? I'm going to Alaska on Saturday, for a weeklong vacation with my mom and sister. I'm looking forward to it, but I can't decide if I'm looking forward to not being at work even more.

The Wallflowers, "Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)"
Otis Redding, "Everybody Makes A Mistake"
Phil Phillips & The Twilights, "Sea Of Love"
Van Halen, "Summer Nights"
Weezer, "Across The Sea"
Metallica, "Master of Puppets"
Foo Fighters, "Aurora"
Journey, "Wheel In The Sky"
The Redwalls, "Summer Romance"
U2,…

Hey, I'm happy to revel in Megyn Kelly's failure, but don't knock Charlie Rose. CBS This Morning is actually watchable — a morning show with some intelligence, unlike Today and Good Morning America. I mean, it's not as good as a decent newspaper, but by the standards of morning television, it's really good. I'm waging…

I clicked because the headline made no sense to me. The story was stupid and pointless, but "Korean Abdul-Jabbar" did make me laugh. (The name itself, not whatever that person tweeted.) So I'm calling it a draw.

The day is still young.

A bit of good news: A new Washington Post/ABC poll has Trump's approval rating dropping six points since April, down to 36 percent. His disapproval rating went up five points, to 58 percent.

Cool. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/wat…

They're a fantastic live band. They were really good when I saw them open for the Foos, so I decided to check them out when they came to town on their own tour, and dragged along a friend. He liked them so much that he told me about the next time they came to town, and we went and saw them again.

U2, four times (the fourth coming just two weeks ago). Second place, strangely enough, is The Joy Formidable, whom I've seen three times (once opening for Foo Fighters). I don't think I've seen anyone else more than once.

That version of "With or Without You" from Rattle and Hum (the movie) is sublime. Did you hear that live? (I think they played two shows there.) I'm just wondering if it was as good in the stadium as it is in the movie (and in the YouTube clips that I watch periodically).

He stole that! The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York made that joke in a press release and in a tweet announcing the charges. For real. From the press release:

In fairness, my understanding is that those teams they had in the late '60s and early '70s — Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Bill Bradley, Earl the Pearl, et al., coached by Red Holzman — played beautiful, harmonious basketball en route to two NBA titles. But that's about it. And whatever beauty those teams provided got…