MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2026
...and then keeps getting it right: We didn't even know that the appearance had occurred! We refer to the PBS performance which you can still watch right here:
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS
Alanis Morissette
Season 49 Episode 4912 / 53m 25s
Alternative rock icon Alanis Morissette thrills with a career-spanning set on her ACL debut.
Who knew? The session originally aired in February 2024. Yesterday afternoon, we stumbled upon a rebroadcast on one of the seven (7) PBS channels which festoon our cable lineup.
We well remember the first time we saw Morissette perform. In the middle of the night, probably in 1999, we stumbled upon a broadcast of her MTV Unplugged appearance.
The program featured this performance of That I Would Be Good. We especially recall the cry to the cosmos which followed these lyrics:
That I Would Be Good
[...]
That I would be loved even when I numb myself
That I would be good even when I'm overwhelmed
That I would be loved even when I was fuming
That I would be good even if I was clingy
That I would be good even if I lost sanity
That I would be good whether with or without you
There follows that memorable cry to the heavens, well past the balcony's back row. For full lyrics, click here.
"Black Jesus," we quickly told the youthful analysts—and we've never changed our assessment concerning the unbelievably good advice this young woman was inferentially dispensing, perhaps especially to young women but also, without question, to the young men who were wise enough to hear it and receive it.
(Some of her songs about gender relations were considered pretty tough. We thought those angry songs were basically right on target, not unlike the 2020 film, Promising Young Woman.)
To our ear, Morissette dispensed a ton of good advice, accompanied by a form of reassurance:
You learn
[...]
You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn
You scream, you learn
You grieve, you learn
You choke, you learn
You laugh, you learn
You choose, you learn
You pray, you learn
You ask, you learn
You live, you learn
Within the larger context of the full performance, that's unbelievably good advice—with the suggestion that the unavoidable process of becoming yourself will, with any luck at all, turn out well in the end.
Don't even ask us about "Thank U (India)!" With that, we turn to Bam Adebayo, who shocked the world last week in a very unusual way.
Last Tuesday, Adebayo scored 83 points as the Miami Heat defeated the admittedly hapless Washington Wizards. It's the second most points any player has ever scored in an NBA game.
As happenstance had it, it happened to be the first Heat game Adebayo's girl friend had been able to attend. We're speaking of A'ja Wilson, a major WNBA star.
After the game, Adebayo offered some spectacularly good inferential advice to teenage boys and young men. People magazine quotes him at the start of its report:
All About Bam Adebayo and A'ja Wilson's Relationship
A'ja Wilson was there to celebrate boyfriend Bam Adebayo's latest basketball milestone.
At the Miami Heat's March 10 game against the Washington Wizards, Adebayo scored 83 points, surpassing the late Kobe Bryant. Wilt Chamberlain still holds the record at 100 points. During a press conference that followed, the NBA star said he is "inspired" by his girlfriend.
"To have 83 the first game she's here is very special ... the behind-the-scenes, the workouts, the conversations, they're very motivating, and obviously you see what she does ... you get inspired by that. I'm thankful to have her in my life," he said in a video shared by the NBA on X.
And so on from there. Also, though, good God!
You almost never see famous men—famous male rock stars; famous male athletes—speak that way about their girlfriends or their wives. A few days later, along came that rebroadcast of Austin City Limits, and the circle was completed, at least here on this campus.
Adebayo set a spectacularly good example that day for hetero boys and young men. At 10 o'clock each weekday night, the Fox News Channel airs an unbelievably fetid counterexample, in which a bunch of lunkheads are paid to sit around comparing women to cows. (It goes downhill from there.)
The corporation puts it on the air; Blue America looks away. We Blues! We act like nothing is happening when such destructive swill is aired. On balance, this increasingly seems to be who we secretly are!
Adebayo went for 83, then kept getting it right. That said, we're still leaving Morissette at the top of the heap. Our favorite of her lyrics can be found lurking here:
Thank U (India)
[...]
How about no longer being masochistic?
How about remembering your divinity?
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out?
How about not equating death with stopping?
Thank you India
Thank you providence
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you, thank you silence...
To hear a performance, click this.
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out? In the appropriate circumstance, we'd call that good sound advice—but in the main, we just like the way it sounds!
In our view, Morissette gave a lot of young people a lot of extremely good advice in those early songs. Last week, to the world's surprise, along came the widely admired Bam Adebayo, who we're going to call a "real man."
Somerby praising a black man for the way he talks about his black girlfriend and a white woman for her wise and inspiring lyrics. I can't wait for our resident fabulist to tell us how this post proves Somerby's racism and sexism.
ReplyDeleteSo you have nothing better to do?
DeleteMind if I pull up a chair, DG? I am also quizzical as to how this post may occasion slaps at the Bob
DeleteSure. I'll pop some corn.
DeleteI, too, am anticipating a Slab o' Crap. Don't really understand why they don't just write "I hate Somerby, aaargh!"
DeleteMuch shorter read.
Leroy
Don't forget to finish on the cookie.
DeleteThis DG’s slab o’ crap.
DeleteIt seems ok to Leroy when Somerby says he hates women though. It takes more than over-praising Morisette to demonstrate woke cred. What do those lyrics mean to him? Not a clue, but kudos for telling us who wrote and sang them.
DeleteOf course, it's total and complete bullshit for 5:21 to write that "Somerby says he hates women." Total and complete bullshit.
DeleteAnd that's really what puzzles me. Why do the slappers keep on making shit up about Somerby?
Of course Somerby hates women. Liking the lyrics to an Alanis Morisette song does not get him off that hook.
DeleteNo woman, girlfriend or not, basketball player or not, wants to be named in a sentences that goes like this:
Delete"God knows, you never fail to "inspire" me, honey."
Leer, wink, nod, slobber. Emphasis on the word inspire...
Somerby gets this. It is why he behaves in his repulsive manner again today. He likes pissing off women the way right wing trolls like to own libs. This essay is Somerby's troll bait against his few remaining female readers.
6:17 - But here's what Adebayo actually said, as quoted by Somerby:
Delete"To have 83 the first game she's here is very special ... the behind-the-scenes, the workouts, the conversations, they're very motivating, and obviously you see what she does ... you get inspired by that. I'm thankful to have her in my life."
You read a "leer, wink, nod, slobber" in that? If you do, you might want to consider whether that tells us more about you than it does about Somerby.
So, he didn't say what People quoted or what Somerby said he said. He listed the basketball related ways she contributed to his life. That is far different than the second-hand supposed quotes about her "inspiring" him. But it is still inappropriate the way Somerby reduced that to his being "inspired" instead of motivating conversations, workouts, behind-the-scenes etc., which amounts to a real contribution not just being there in a passive way, the way an inspiration would be.
DeleteYou don't win the heart of a girlfriend by minimizing her contribution to your life or by minimizing her performance in the sport both players share. Adebayo didn't do that, but Somerby and People seem to have done so.
Somerby says: "Last week, to the world's surprise, along came the widely admired Bam Adebayo, who we're going to call a "real man.""
Why? Because he gave credit to his girlfriend. But why should that be surprising or unusual to the point that Somerby gushes over his lesson to other young men? This is how people respect the personhood of a person who is more generally treated as a second class citizen, especially in sports. Perhaps this is not a matter of young men teaching other young men, but of this particular young man teaching Somerby, an old sexist asshole, something that should be second nature by now. It is embarrassing to Somerby that he makes this kind of fuss over women being actual people, athletes with skills, capable of forming a basketball power couple instead of a cheerleader or team wife on the bench.
"God knows, you never fail to "inspire" me, honey."
DeleteLeer, wink, nod, slobber. Emphasis on the word inspire."
Hard to make sense of your comment. Here's the actual quote from the player:
"To have 83 the first game she's here is very special ... the behind-the-scenes, the workouts, the conversations, they're very motivating, and obviously you see what she does ... you get inspired by that."
No leer. No wink. No slobber. WTF are you talking about?
Well, what I think we've found out, Hector, is that those who want to believe that Somerby is an "old sexist asshole" will misread and misinterpret anything Somerby writes, no matter how innocuous -- even when what he writes is simply a plain vanilla quote from a common denominator magazine.
DeleteIf you consider this innocuous, you may find yourself having problems with women too.
DeleteYeah, it could be because I leer, wink, nod, and slobber too much over the proper punctuation of block quotes.
DeleteBeing included in a block quote changes nothing about the use of those scare quotes around the single word "inspired". It singles out that word from the rest of the quote.
Delete"It singles out that word from the rest of the quote."
DeleteAnd the rest of the quote follows immediately, so there can be no possible misunderstanding by anyone who is not blinded by Somerby-hatred.
Somerby uses language in odd ways, on purpose.
DeleteHere's what it reduces to. The quote is this:
Delete"To have 83 the first game she's here is very special ... the behind-the-scenes, the workouts, the conversations, they're very motivating, and obviously you see what she does ... you get inspired by that. I'm thankful to have her in my life"
Some here read this quote as slobberingly sexist. I don't. Make up your own mind.
8:34 - "Somerby uses language in odd ways, on purpose."
DeleteThat's one theory. I differ. I think he uses language pretty carefully and in normal ways, but some people here misread him in what I consider very odd ways.
He uses language to obscure meaning and misdirect. What were all those Morisette lyrics for?
DeleteEven I understand how block quotes work. And I am a Nasty Customer.
DeleteI love Somerby figuratively giving "the Others" the finger, by praising a black man on the internet.
DeleteIt's going to take all of us, even our obscure bloggers, to pushback on the Republican Party's fascism, since we know the business community, the mainstream media, and our elites don't have the fight in them.
“You almost never hear famous men….speak the way about their girlfriends or wives.”
ReplyDeleteEver seen the Oscars?
Why put the word inspired in scare quotes? It implies she does something other yhan inspire him. This may be why women find Somerby creepy.
ReplyDeleteActually, Somerby is block-quoting People magazine, and it's the magazine that put the quote marks around "inspired," and it did so because that's the word Adebayo actually used.
DeleteBut if Somerby quoting a magazine which quotes Adebayo is what creeps you out, well . . . .
If Adebayo is being quoted, the entire quote should be in quote marks, not just one word. And why that word? Your suggestion does not excuse Somerby.
DeleteClick on the link. As Somerby tells us, this is what Peple wrote, and "inspired" is in quotes in the article.
DeleteHere's the sequence, paraphrased:
Adebayo: I'm inspired by my GF.
People: Adebayo says he's "inspired" by his GF.
Somerby: People magazine reports that Adebayo says he's "inspired" by his GF.
The professional way to do this is:
DeleteAdebayo: I'm inspired by my GF.
People: Adebayo says he's inspired by his GF (no reason to put that word in quotes because it is a paraphrase).
Or People: Adebayo says "I'm inspired by my GF."
When you put "inspired" in scare quotes it implies an alternative meaning or usage. If none was intended, the quotes should not have been used. That goes for people or for Somerby. Sexual innuendos in male-oriented sports coverage may make men feel manly but it annoys women, so that would make Abegayo stupid for using the word inspired in anything but a literal sense, and doubly stupid for insulting his girlfriend by not saying her name, as if he is ashamed of her or doesn't want to share his victory with her. It is the same when a player fails to compliment teammates or his coach.
Somerby has this wrong. He wouldn't be writing stuff like this if he weren't clueless himself.
Adebayo
DeleteIf you've been a reader of Somerby for any length of time whatsoever, then you know his practice of linking and block-quoting. So I have a hard time believing that you sincerely want to debate correct punctuation.
DeleteThe truth is that there are no scare quotes around "inspired." Period. And that blows your whole theory to hell.
Here they are in all their glory:
Delete"During a press conference that followed, the NBA star said he is "inspired" by his girlfriend."
Toward the end, Somerby says:
"Last week, to the world's surprise, along came the widely admired Bam Adebayo, who we're going to call a "real man.""
Why would he put scare quotes around the phrase "real man." Does he not mean it?
Don't let Somerby fool you. He reads his comments.
DeleteThat's why he stopped telling "us blues" to listen to Republican voters, after we posted comments about how racist as fuck those people are.
*FCC chair threatens to revoke broadcasters' licences over Iran coverage.
ReplyDelete* A Major Unconstitutional Assault: A Bias Monitor Installed by the White House at a News Division
How you all liking living in a fascist country?
Sing it if you want a chance to stay out of the camps:
DeleteAll we owe,
We owe to Drumph!
Somerby writes: "MONDAY: Adebayo goes for 83...
ReplyDeleteMONDAY, MARCH 16, 2026
...and then keeps getting it right: We didn't even know that the appearance had occurred! We refer to the PBS performance which you can still watch right here:
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS
Alanis Morissette "
This is how a writer jerks his readers around. He starts by mentioning Adebayo, with the context that this is an NBA basketball player who set a record in scoring, creaking Kobe Bryant's record in a game his team lost. We are just supposed to know that stuff. Then midsentence he switches to talking about Alanis Morisette in a rerun on PBS, from two years ago. We are not told what Adebayo keeps getting right, nor why this particular show is worth linking with his name or telling us about at all. This perhaps shows Somerby's brief attention span and lack of focus, his inability to follow a single train of thought, even while writing. There is no obvious reason for writing like this. It might be artsy if there were actual links, but instead it comes across as clumsy, accidental and self-indulgent because it shows no respect for readers trying to follow his stream of consciousness. Much like Trump during one of his off-teleprompter speeches.
Then we find that Morisette too has nothing to do with Somerby's later thoughts. Nowhere in Somerby's sappy babbling about Adebayo being a "real man" for sharing his success with his girlfriend, are we told his girlfriend's name. We are supposed to already know that, I guess, but how do you praise someone without telling people who you are talking about? From Somerby's prose, you would think it was Alanis Morisette, especially because he says they are linked, but in real life, Adebayo's girlfriend is WNBA star A'ja Wilson, a professional player and star of the Las Vegas Aces.
A real man might have mentioned that. If Somerby had any respect for this women, other than as a guy's girlfriend, he would have said her name. It clarifies that she most likely had real advice and encouragement to give Adebayo, not just "inspiration" as Somerby uses the word. She has legitimate basketball experience and advice to share with him, not just as a cheerleader but as a star player. Maybe Somerby doesn't recognize that woman can compete in basketball too? Maybe he doesn't care. Regardless, he shows himself to be a first-class asshole with no clue how men should interact with women, much less good advice for boys about how to be men (with actual girlfriends).
Who knows what Adebayo actually said. We can all see how Somerby handles this situation. He disappears the girlfriends name and "puts scare quotes" around her ability to inspire the male star, who is his main focus. This is just as it ever was when creepy sexist men talk about sports.
5:58 "Nowhere in Somerby's sappy babbling about Adebayo being a "real man" for sharing his success with his girlfriend, are we told his girlfriend's name."
DeleteSomerby: "As happenstance had it, it happened to be the first Heat game Adebayo's girl friend had been able to attend. We're speaking of A'ja Wilson, a major WNBA star."
So you built your comment around the accusations that (1) Somerby didn't tell us Wilson's name and (2) he put "scare quotes" around "inspired." Both accusations are 100% false. You may want to read more carefully and more charitably.
DeleteOK, you are right and I missed those few sentences, but notice where they appear in his essay. Near the bottom at the end, after we readers (who don't follow basketball or Adebayo's career or his social life) are misled and wondering whether Morisette might be too old for the lad. That isn't how you treat a girlfriend -- that point stands for both Somerby and
DeleteAdebayo, if he made the mistake of not naming her.
But worse, it seems like Somerby wrote an essay about how much he enjoyed an Alanis Morisette concert, then encountered Adebayo's remark after his record-setting scoring, and decided to graft that onto what he had already written, with his own semi-sarcastic nonsense about how a real man should treat a girlfriend -- Somerby is the last guy on the planet qualified to write about that.
It doesn't matter who put the scare quotes around the word "inspire," it is inappropriate in a leering, sexist way, to do that when discussing a girlfriend of a player. The assumption is that so-called inspiration is all she might have to offer a pro basketball player boyfriend, despite her being a star in her own right. I implies he values her only for her encouragement and not her basketball expertise. That is sexist.
Delete6;24 - "OK, you are right and I missed those few sentences"
DeleteI disagree with everything you say in the last couple of comments, but I do want to say that I admire you for this sentence. Everybody makes mistakes, but honest people admit and correct them.
To be honest with you DG, I don't make know mistakes! (Not 6:24).
DeleteKing Orange Chickenshit completes his murder of the Kennedy Center today, because fuck you, what are you going to do about it
ReplyDelete"Florida’s Republican sheriffs want President Donald Trump to end mass deportations of undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed crimes, a striking shift from law enforcement in the nation’s most aggressive anti-undocumented immigration state.
ReplyDelete“While Congress sits on their hands and does nothing about this, we are on the ground floor with this day in and day out — looking in the eyes of these folks that, yes, came here inappropriately. But some came here inappropriately only to do better for themselves and their family,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday during a State Immigration Enforcement Council meeting.
He plans to draft a letter to Trump, the U.S. House Speaker, and the Senate majority leader urging better guidelines over which undocumented immigrants should be targeted for deportation."
Even law enforcement in red states are opposed to these mass deportations of law-abiding immigrants.
lol! A letter to Trump! Stop it, you’re killing me! 😂
DeleteBob, we don’t get to see this side of you very often. It’s always moving when we do.
DeleteTo letters to Trump "FU".
DeleteCecelia, I suspect your comment was misplaced. This isn't anything Somerby said.
DeleteFuck out of here Trannytroll.
Delete6:56 You left out the paragraph where he says he can't find anyone to trim his shrubs.
Delete" to trim his shrubs."
DeleteSounds like Republican-speak for "rapes 9-year olds".
Allies reject Trump’s demand to help U.S. with Iran.
ReplyDeleteThe art of the deal! lol 😂
Ten years of I'm with Vino & Putin, fuck you NATO, no cassus belli, no coalition building ahead of attack; I dunno, may have consequences.
DeleteVino = Bibi - spelel check sucks.
DeleteThey hate us for our (imaginary) freedoms.
DeleteAt the end of WW2, the US was by far the richest, most powerful nation. We could have conquered the world. Instead, we established various well-intentioned international organizations for which we supplied a disproportionate share of the resources. Europe, in particular, became prosperous because they didn't have to spend much on military. We were carrying them. Trump is now changing this little by little.
DeleteIran is really more Europe's problem than ours. If Iran were not stopped, in a few years they would have had nuclear missiles that could reach Europe. Iran could have blackmailed Europe with that threat.
The Hormuz Strait is not really a US problem. We are energy self-sufficient. We don't get the oil that comes through the Hormuz Strait. China and some European countries do use this oil. Following in the pattern set in 1945, the US is bearing the cost of actions that benefit other nations. In Trump's opinion, and mine, these nations ought to be involved in protecting the oil that they use. But, some countries are free-loaders. They know that the US is going to get the Hormuz strait open, so they're no bothering.
Thank you for that. I didn't realize what a schmuck Trump is until you pointed it out that he is wasting precious US dollars and lives in the service of other countries' energy needs. On the other hand, it is also possible, in keeping with the substance of your other posts, that you comment is flagrantly ignorant.
DeleteThe Europeans have wisely identified Netanyahu as a crook who engaged in genocide and runs an apartheid state, and not someone to blithely follow into war. They have not stuck their noses into a regional issue in the Mideast and therefore are not worried about being targeted by Iran. The worst case scenario for them is a war causing widespread displacement of populations that might travel North into their countries resulting in more Islamic presence. Being geographically isolated from the possibility of such migration, the US is free to stir things up and potentially cause a widespread conflict in the Midwest that would result in such mass migration. The Israelis and the US could give a shit about the possible repercussions of such a war on Europe, so therefore the Europeans are supposed to expose themselves to the possibility of being targeted by terrorist organizations by abetting these countries who did not consult with them about instigating this conflict. Makes perfect sense to a MAGAt.
DeleteSpell check turned Midwest into Midwest twice; I caught the first instance.
DeleteMideast into Midwest goddammit.
Delete"Iran could have blackmailed Europe with that [nuclear] threat." And why would they do that? You are hilariously stupid.
DeleteTrump is saving a bunch by having NATO pay for the weapons that we are sending to Ukraine.
DeleteDavid the flailing troll. Look over here! What about this?, that?, or the other?
DeleteThis war has been lost. Should have partnered with Ukraine to learn how to fight modern wars with drones accounting for half the casualties but Drumpf has his head too far up Putin's ass. Pathetic, the whole lot of you endless oil war idiots. We could have gone green and told big oil to fuck off. But big oil first, they gifted Drumph's campaign after all - and America Last.
The idea that NATO hasn’t spent enough on its defense is rebutted by asking how many times it has needed to deploy its so called inadequate forces. Meanwhile the US has military presence in every fucking nook and cranny it can squeeze a base into, has engaged in a series of winless conflicts, and devotes a third of ithe US budget to the military. Trump’s forays honor a longstanding tradition of sticking our nose into places that are costly and without an exit strategy. The economic consequences will be disastrous.
DeleteYou have some fucking nerve bringing up military aid to Ukraine, dickhead. You have been surrendering to Putin for over a fucking year. Why don't you just shut the fuck up about Ukraine, you treasonous bastard. Worry about your own country, Israel.
DeleteHey Dickhead, how many hundreds of billions have we gifted the terrorist state of Israel over the years? Go bitch about that. At least Ukraine is tearing up the Rooskies. One of our two greatest enemies.
DeleteHey Dickhead, I found Trump admin's Iran war plans:
ReplyDeleteWeek 1: "We Won"
Week 2: "We're Winning"
Week 3: "Send Help"
Jesus we are fucked.
Yep. The amount of money we will be devoting to this boondoggle will help bankrupt us, along with Trump's economy. Meanwhile, the Europeans, who have been constantly maligned and targeted by the Putin- loving clown that runs the show here, have no interest in showing allegiance to us, nor should they in this unnecessary conflict. Ships not aligned with us will more likely have safe passage through the strait, as stated by the Iranian regime. There is more likelihood at this point of their honesty than Trump's.
ReplyDeleteIn this arena of division, just remember that we all fannyburp everyday. At least we all share this wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteFanny Peace-Love
That is a shartztastical story. Thanku.
DeleteVery true.
DeleteAlJazeera says the US is winning in Iran
ReplyDeleteThe US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why
Every aspect of Iran’s ability to project regional power is being successfully degraded.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/3/16/the-us-israeli-strategy-against-iran-is-working-here-is-why
Add Al-Jazeera to the long list of Bob-slapping Somerby-haters, who will try to make Trump look cognitively all there, just to contradict our esteemed host.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteGood luck imagining a Republican politician who wouldn't start WWIII to distract from the Epstein Files. You'll need it.
you are an imbecile, penis-head in cal. Is that an Al Jazeera editorial or the opinion of one opinion writer, Muhanad Seloom?
Delete9:38. Thanks for pulling up the link. A single opinion writer. Hopefully the Europeans read the column. No need for their help in this unnecessary war.
DeleteEvery aspect of Iran bombing neighbors oil production and chocking off the Straight has been demonstrated. Idiot Trump lost, ran head first into a decades long quagmire.
DeleteTrump thinks he can take Cuba, because he can do anything he wants.
ReplyDeleteThe poor deluded, cognitively-declining old man (hat tip Bob Somerby), actually thinks he could get away with literally giving black people reparations for slavery on Fifth Avenue, and the mainstream media, his Republican voters, and the Russia-funded Republican Congress would let him get away with it.
He loco.
Only someone bat-shit crazy woulds think he could get away with helping black people in Ronald Reagan's America.
DeleteSpeaking of bat-shit crazy. JD Vance thinks if Trump dies while in office that he'll become President, because he's currently the VP, and that's how it's always worked.
DeleteThese people have all lost their fucking minds.
U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba on Monday, saying he expected to have the "honor" of "taking Cuba in some form" and that "I can do anything I want" with the neighboring country.
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ Almighty, this man is not well. How much longer, Lord?
Till the fucker drops dead apparently.
DeletePeople are going to die in Cuba because of this madman imposing an energy embargo
Delete