--- Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net> wrote:
> Just out in Steve Perry's City Pages.
>
>
<http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1179/article11370.asp>
>
>
> The tantalizing open:
>
> Bright spring afternoon. Hitch and I spend it in his
> fave D.C. pub just down the street from his spacious
> apartment. At the long polished bar, he sips a
> martini, I swig Tanqueray on ice offset by pints of
> ale. The pub's TV is flashing golf highlights while
> the jukebox blasts classic rock. We're chatting
> about nothing in particular when the juke begins
> playing "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens. Hitch stops
> talking. His face tightens. Eyes narrow. I know this
> look--I saw it on Crossfire when he nearly slugged a
> Muslim supporter of the Ayatollah's fatwa against
> Salman Rushdie. I saw it during a Gulf War panel
> discussion at Georgetown when he responded to some
> pro-war hack with a precision barrage of invective,
> followed by the slamming down of the mike, causing a
> brief reverb in the speakers.
> And here it was again.
>
> "No," he said, shaking his head, exhaling Rothman
> smoke. "No--get rid of that!"
>
> Bartender asks, "Excuse me?"
>
> "Get rid"--gesturing to the music in the air--"of
> that."
>
> "Can't. Someone played that song."
>
> "Well, fuck it then."
>
> Don't know if Hitch is serious. Yes, his anger about
> the fatwa is real and understandable. And the fact
> that the former Cat Stevens, Yusef Islam, endorsed
> the mullahs' death sentence clearly enraged him. But
> getting shitty over "Moonshadow"?
>
> "You know," I say, "Yusef Islam renounced everything
> about his past. He hates Cat Stevens more than you
> do. He gave away or destroyed all his gold records.
> If you really want to show your disgust for him,
> embrace Cat Stevens. Play his stuff loud and often.
> Whistle 'Peace Train' or 'Oh Very Young' when you
> pass the local mosque."
>
> Hitch listens, head down, fresh Rothman lit.
>
> "No. Never. Fuck them both."
>
> "Moonshadow" ends. Pat Benatar--or was it
> Whitesnake?--takes over, and we resume drinking.
>
> DP
>
>
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com