Chez Chesler

VH1 re-ran their "100 greatest one-hit wonders" series this past weekend. They used a technical definition (groups that had exactly one hit in the top 20) so that a lot of artists we've heard of were listed (Sinéad O'Connor was #18) while Procul Harem (Whiter Shade of Pale) was excluded. A pop-up announced that it is illegal to play Randy Newman's "Short People" on the radio in Maryland. A few sites but as is usual with these "dumb laws" sites, no citation is given, and these typically are both over-generalizations and overly specific when researched. ("In Davis Square, Somerville, it is legal to shoot a Mormon in your pajamas" -- it is legal to shoot anyone in Massachusetts, if it's in protection of life, and it doesn't matter whether or not he's in your pajamas.) And while community standards come into play, radio is generally a federal concern. But I would be interested to see law or ruling on which this myth is based. In any case, various sites about the song claim that it as "clearly tongue-in-cheek", but I still don't get the joke. If the song were meant to be taken at face value, how would it have been different? Why is putting down short people so outlandish that Newman couldn't possibly be serious?

I went to the supermarket (Super Stop & Shop, Stoneham, MA.) After I unloaded my groceries into my car, there didn't appear to be a "cart corral", so I left my cart at the edge of the parking spot, between my car and the van next to it. As luck would have, out of the entire parking lot, the operator of that van came up behind me. "You're not going to leave that cart there are you?" she asks. I say "I was planning to, don't they pay someone to come and collect them?" But since she pointed it out I moved my cart, and still finding no corral, I left it near the front of the store. I get back to my car, and even though I'd nosed in the spot opposite my spot was empty, and I prepared to exit forward, when the van operator took her cart and moved it between the spot I was occupying and the spot I was about to drive through. I got out, asked her if we're not playing games, and moved it away. If I'd been quicker I should have moved it in front of her van.

I'm no fan of State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, so I thought it mildly pleasant when I read in the Herald last week (September 29, 2005, page 7)

State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, whose stint in politics has been marred by campaign finances and tax violations, was sued by state officials yesterday for refusing to document nearly $80,000 in ques- tionable use of campaign funds over a two-year period, including purchases of pizzas and a bra.

Among items repaid by the cam- paign to Wilkerson were $71.88 in groceries from the Super 88 Super- market, submarine sandwiches, pizza, taxi rides, a stay at the Bev- erly Hilton in Los Angeles and a $60.76 brassiere, the suit states.

On October 4, the Herald published a letter from Wilkerson's communications director Matuya F. Brand which opens

The article "Wilkerson's finances draw state lawsuit" (Sept. 29) reports an expenditure of $60 for a bra, when in fact the receipt was for Bras- siere Jo, a restaurant in the Colon- ade Hotel.

That sounded interesting, so I went back to the original article. I first searched online, and found the two paragraphs quoted above now read

State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, whose stint in politics has been marred by campaign finance and tax violations, was sued by state officials yesterday for refusing to document nearly $80,000 in questionable use of campaign funds over a two-year period, including purchases of pizzas.

Among items repaid by the campaign to Wilkerson were $71.88 in groceries from the Super 88 Supermarket, submarine sandwiches, pizza, taxi rides, a stay at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and a $60.78 bill at a restaurant Brassiere Joe, the suit states.

I didn't see any acknowledgement or correction in yesterday's or today's Herald, just a quiet editing of its own error.