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Wisconsin Man Takes in Jazz BandSeptember 12, 2005
Madison, WI
Whit Pistol
The destitute refugee New Orleans jazz band The Whirling Dervishes, available for weddings, company parties, and high school proms. Albert Martinson (inset), the kind soul who took them in, is available for none of those things.
T
he whole nation wants to do their part to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but a Madison, Wisconsin man is doing so much he makes all the other volunteers and charity donors look like dried puke. For Albert Pohl Martinson hasn't merely taken in three or four family members or refugees from New Orleans: He's taken in a whole jazz band.

"I just wanted to do what I could," Martinson told a deluge of fawning media standing on his front lawn. "So I said I would take in the first group of refugees I could. I sent them bus tickets and had them carted up here immediately. And then, being a good citizen, I called the local news to make sure they were informed."

However, Martinson didn't stop and giving the 5-man combo all the food, shelter, and clean water they needed;...Read more...


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October 28, 2002

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The Myth of American Constipation

Jesus. It's as cold as Hillary Clinton's snatch out there. I know this happens every year, but Good God. Does it really? Like this?

Knock on wood and hopefully I'm not screwing myself here, but is constipation really the big national problem these TV commercials make it out to be? Who are these poor suckers who are getting so desperately plugged up on a regular basis? Granted, you go to the average steak house and the amount of fried batter on the appetizer platter alone is enough to mortar over the San Andreas Fault, but does anyone actually eat all of that crap? You'd think that a couple of heart attacks at the table while eating would be enough to convince the average person to ask for a doggie bag and maybe finish the meal tomorrow at the hospital, but I guess not.

Maybe I'm more of a rarity than I like to think, but I have to admit that just like that Drew Barrymore movie, I've Never Been Constipated. Sure, I've had a few slow days at the lumber mill, as they say, but nothing a Burrito Supreme couldn't fix. And I'm not kidding, that Taco Bell "meat" will clean you out like a fire sale. If you need any kind of medication beyond that, I swear, you must have a prairie dog gummed up in the works down there or something.

Now okay, I have to admit, this isn't all entirely true. I did get constipated once. One time, back in the fifth grade. It was some kind of craft project day at school like we used to have back then. I guess that...Read more...


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May 16, 2005

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Penitent Penitentiary

I have not actually been in prison, but I've spent a total of three years in county jails. I keep careful track of all my minutes spent behind bars, so I know this for sure. So I'd say I have a little bit of room to lecture on prison.

Don't think I'm some sort of pervert or nothing. I only go to county jail for crimes I didn't commit, like drunk driving. I don't even own a car, so pinning a drunk driving charge on me is ridiculous. I may have been driving, but it's not my car. That has to be some sort of technicality. Two times it was a bicycle. You can't call that driving. In any case all the vehicles get returned to their owners, and I even paid the gas money.

I suppose if I had to go to prison for some non-drunk bicycling charge, I wouldn't want it to be any of the usual crimes. Drug dealing is probably the major reason why people are behind bars. A lot of people going to prison probably want to be in there for murder, like that will get them a break from the rough guys on the inside. I'd rather go to prison for doing something nobody else can do, like strangling an endangered species. The last of them. Then when they ask me why I killed the last black condor with my bare hands, I can just tell them, "He knows why." Then they'll never find out I didn't have a reason at all, and just wanted to see my name in the newspaper.

Do prisoners still get to wear denim? I miss denim. Nowadays prisoners are seen in public in those fancy-pants...Read more...


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Quote of the Day
“Yawn and the world yawns with you. Fart and you fart alone.”

-Dr. Filbert
Fortune 500 Cookie
Stop taking it so personally when everyone tells you how ugly you are. At least you're getting noticed. That breakfast cereal you made out of Tic Tacs sure has helped your breath, but next week our crystal ball shows a diagnosis for cancer of the everything. They say dogs are a good judge of character, and even dogs don't like your screenplay. This week's lucky Tims: Tiny Tim, Spazzy Tim, Him Tim, Tim and Tim Again, Phantom Tim, Tim Saved in a Bottle.


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View Past Columns
BY Pete Durmondo
5/12/2003
My Life: A Pete Durmondo Memoir
Before. There's always a before. Before the breakthrough role in Crush of the Wheel. Before the 1976 Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Daddy's Favorite. Before the attempted murder charge and consequent complete acquittal on the charges. There's always a before. Here's my before.

It may not be common knowledge, but it's not a secret either: I wasn't always Pete Durmondo. I was born Jimmy Durmondo, on the lower east side of New York City, and changed my name to Pete Durmondo on the advice of an agent because it "had more snap." That agent wasn't my agent, he was about to become my agent when he committed suicide, but he did help shape my career. He told me I had more talent in one finger than most people have in their whole bodies, and that if I could get that same...Read more...

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