for the most vital, most urgent, most inescapable reasons

...I have to link to Keith Olbermann's latest "special comment". If you've come here looking for my poem to Knucklehead, feel free to read the poem is beneath this post, please read it and revel in our joy. But for a cold dose of truth beyond the love of my life, check out what KO has to say about the death of habeus corpus. In a time of darkness, he seems to be the only voice of reason on major television. Hat tip, as usual, to Crooks and Liars. Take it, KO:

"And if you somehow think habeus corpus has somehow not been suspended for American citizens, but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: if you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien, or an undocumented immigrant, or an unlawful enemy combatant, exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not?! Do you think this attorney general is going to help you?!"

What my K stands for

Knowing
You don't have to knock,
you already keep
the keys
to me.

You can come and go
freely,
but really, i like it
better
when you stay,

Some carefully crafted
combination of need and want,

Sure,
I could make it through days
without you,

but why the hell would I want to do that?

What good are kitchens
I don't get to dance in with you,
Cars without your puns
careening through
like dirtroad pebbles,

what's the point of singing
without your harmony,
or davenning
without your Kavannah
beside me?

what's a better world
without your embrace?

what good are notebook pages
without your inspiration?

what can I do
with the knowledge I've picked up
but share it with you?

who needs a mitt without
you throwing a softball?

What purpose do my lips serve
if not to laugh at your jokes,
taste our cooking,
whisper in your ear,
or kiss you?

Who needs a sleep bereft of
snuggling up to you?

Your kindness massages
my aching tendons
Your wisdom bends me
back into shape

and to you chuckle
is to remember
why G-d invented laughing.

You push me to continue
long past points I'd never reach

You keep me grounded
with my head above the clouds,

grinning so loudly
they want to arrest me
for decibles 5 times the legal limit
and broadcasting without a license.

You've got the keys,
so I know
you can come and go
as you please,
but please, stay awhile

i promise I'll make it worth your while.

My fingers will traverse
every cell of the bottom of your feet
like Magellan was immortal and had a motor

i will continue to cobble
syllables to you
till you blush anytime you reach
for a book.

my lips will kiss you
good night, good morning, good day
good afternoon, good evening, good elevensies
good midnight, good tuesday, and

good 2:37pm.

My eardrums stand ready
to lay down the cadence
you ask of the rest of me,

to love you like
no one ever has,
or ever will, and my body
eager to deliver that promise.

You already have the keys to me.

But I want you to stay.

That way,
the next time someone asks me
what the K stands for,

I can smile and tell them

K stands for

keeping your head on a swivel, for
knowing someone's got your back
front, and sides, for

kicking everything from
niggunim to KRS ONE in the car, for

getting me back on
kilter, for
kindness without bounds,

for

killer insight and
killer smiles, for the
kavannah and
kodesh you bring to my life,

for helping practice

kiddush and bentching outloud, for your
kisses that fit all occasions, that always succeed in
kindling my insides,

for (name redacted),
for (name redacted),

but the next time someone says
Mr. K,

I want the K to be short
for

Knucklehead.

What the K stands for

not even the abysmal performance of my Yankees can sour my mood right now.

In addition to everything else, the K in Ruby K will stand for Knucklehead.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

More to come, dear readers.

Best quote from a reaction so far, from Zappy: "That's such great news I won't even make fun of you for going apple picking, that's how wonderful I think this is."

Shabbas with BOOTH seating!

I'm quickly growing to love this whole Sukkot thing. My observance of it has increased substantially over the last couple of years, and now I'm spending shabbas and chag with EAR and her fam in Jersey, along with BZ, JN, EM, and of course, Knucklehead. Applepicking sunday!

should be great!

Booths!

Shabb... Sukk... Sukkos/Shabbas is coming, and were going to the glowing garden state (irony? appropriate? who knows?) to continue the Tishrei. A packed and truly exciting weekend ahead.

"Admirable in a French Torch Singer, cataclysmic in an American Leader"

Oh, KO.
Keith Olbermann should have "lowers the boom" attached as a permanent suffix to his name.

Thank G-d he's somehow got a prime time spot. And America may even be listening.

It's hard to imagine him as my favorite Big Red alum, but man, he makes it close.

(h/t crooks and liars)

Some bitter in my sweet/It's up to you, New York.

Humming Francis Albert's classic version of "The Theme From New York, New York" after another great playoff game at Yankee Stadium, my mood was soured by the news that Detour is closing at the end of the month.

A phenominal jazz venue that offered eager ears to up and coming Jazz musicians and free/five dollar cover to folks who wanted to hear great music but can't afford the Blue Note's 35 dollars at the tables all time, Detour has been around for 11 years now. I remember discovering it in 2000 upon my return home from time in Southeastern Helleticutt, and just digging the vibe. Great for musicians, for listeners, for people on dates with that cool someone who wants to hear some good music. Great for New York.

Another of my favorite venues closes at the end of this month. Less heralded, and probably less important in some key ways, than the Continental and CBGBs. But the point stands. How many great affordable music spaces are going to close in this city before something is really done about it? As rents, condos, the search for more parking spaces drive out businesses that make working class and middle class New Yorkers feel like they can live it up, how much more can we take? And will the rich realize what they've done when the last words of real creativity are forced from their island of opunlence?

It's up to you, New York New York.

2.5 hours and counting...

...and I cannot wait. Time to take to the 2 to the 4. Time to head to 161st St.

It's October.