Good lord, my sister just called from New York where her husband is headlining tonight at Madison Square Garden for New Year’s Eve but they can’t get near the stadium (even though the concert is starting right now) because some lunatic sniper is holed up in the building across the street from Madison Square Garden and is threatening to kill his family members! Sue and Jeff were going to take the subway there because the streets are blocked by millions of revelers but now they’ve closed down the Penn Station subway station because of this incident. I’m sure all will be resolved soon but Jesus, what is happening in this country? Is everyone just a few beats away from grabbing a gun and shooting people indiscriminately? I’ve no doubt that other countries have similar levels of rage and mental illness but what they DON’T have is a system that makes it so easy for deranged people to get their hands on a gun.
I just saw the very depressing film “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” about a real-life guy (beautifully played by Sean Penn) who tried to hijack a plane in 1974 and fly it into the White House. His plan was foiled but he did manage to kill a few people (including himself) on the plane in the process. Oops, sorry if I just gave that away but it’s pretty clear from the beginning of the film that this is what’s going to happen—it’s more about watching his process of transformation from an average schmoe with three kids to an unhinged and hopeless nutcase who is willing to kill innocent people to get on the news. Perhaps 2005 will see us paying more attention to the levels of violence and rage in this country and less to things like Janet Jackson’s left breast. I can’t believe that one NOTHING moment at last year’s Super Bowl caused more consternation than Bush’s disinformation campaign that enabled the war in Iraq. HELP, we are living in crazy times! And yet even though I would never engage in any violent action I can sometimes understand how rage can build up in a person in insidious ways. Even while watching this dark portrayal of increasingly crazed Sam Bicke, I found my own levels of annoyance going off the chart in the movie theatre. This guy in front of me had a large popcorn and a salt shaker (that he “borrowed” from the refreshment stand) and once every minute or so he would salt his popcorn and then loudly shake his bucket for about 15 seconds to mix it in. AAARGH! Recently at the movies a woman behind me got a call on her cell phone in the middle of the film and then TOOK the call, talking to her friend in a perfectly normal voice! Kendall and I turned around and gave her our patented “death stare” but it did no good and when we asked her to hang up or take the call outside the theatre she started yelling at us as if we were depriving her of her civil rights. Serves me right for letting Kendall convince me into seeing a mainstream commercial film.
I didn’t plan on ending my blog posts for the year on such a depressing note! So I'll tell you that the home page of the Wilco site is asking fans to donate to the Indian Ocean Relief Fund (is this the new name of the tragedy?). Wilco fans are famous for being very generous—when the band was giving away free MP3 tracks of "A Ghost Is Born" on their site before the CD was released the fans donated many thousands of dollars they would have spent buying it on various charities. So there is hope for the world after all! Happy New Year to everyone!
Happy New Year Danny! Oy how we wished you were there last night. I have tons of pictures in my camera of the fun. At one point Susie was even on stage! Also, your cousins Jonas and David are the coolest.
Anyway, I am scouring the papers online for a word about last night's incident and this is all I can come up with. It mentions 1 Penn Plaza which is the building across from MSG on 33rd Street, and incidentally the home of the Maury Povich show studios!
From the NY Post: January 1, 2005 -- A Penn Plaza maintenance worker was arrested yesterday after he brought a loaded rifle to work in a bag and showed it off to a co-worker, cops said.
The 41-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was apparently drunk when he arrived to work at 6:30 p.m. at 1 Penn Plaza and opened his bag to show off his Enfield .303 caliber rifle with a 10-round magazine to a colleague, police said.
His co-worker asked what he planned to do with the loaded weapon and the man gave a chilling response: "You'll see."
The co-worker immediately called cops, who found the man on the 12th floor with his bag, which also contained a military dress uniform and a Confederate flag, police sources said.
The man, who may have been distraught over his first New Year's alone since his wife left him, faces weapons charges.
Posted by: Ellen | January 01, 2005 at 06:15 AM
Thanks for that update, Ellen, but do you think this was the guy? Sue said he was holding his family hostage and that the police snipers "took him out" whatever that means. Sounds like the show was great last night, I could hear some of it from Sue's cell phone (and God knows she was sure feeling no pain!). What in God's name are you doing up so early? (Or were you just going to bed when you posted this?) Were there any fun after-parties? Send pix!!
Posted by: Danny | January 01, 2005 at 07:21 AM