Sunday, April 16

Parliament says R.I.P. Bill Hicks

I just ran across what most be one of the strangest ever tributes to comedian Bill Hicks, who died back in 1994.

He never made it big in America, despite respect from other joke-tellers who thought of him as a "comic's comic." But for whatever reason, he's got an enduring grips on British hearts. Maybe it's his comments about squeegeeing his third eye with hallucinogenic mushrooms (which until last year were legal to buy in England), or his ripping on America (apparently he called his schtick "Chomsky with dick jokes"). You see biographies of him in British bookstores, and he seems to have attained the status of, say, Seinfeld back in the States.

But even so, I was still surprised to see this motion from the UK Parliament, which 8 Members of Parliament had signed onto:
ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF BILL HICKS—25.02.2004

That this House notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on 26th February 1994, at the age of 33; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worth of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.
Link to the UK Parliamentary Information Management System (PIMS). (Is this a veiled reference to Pimm's? Is that what the MPs are drinking over there while they think of which dead comedians to honour?)

UPDATE/PLUG: I just found out that emusic.com has a load of Hicks' recordings. I don't usually plug stuff, but emusic is an exception. It's such a good deal—25 cents or less per song, depending on what kind of subscription you sign up for—that it's made me go (nearly) legit on music downloading. And if you know me, you know how big a change that is.

I always said that if music downloads were like a quarter of the price at iTunes, I'd be all over that... well, at emusic they are. I subscribe for $20 a month and get 90 downloads, which is like 4 Bill Hicks albums or, if I'm downloading 20-minute epic instrumentals by godspeed! you black emperor, then it's like 40 albums worth.

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