Well, our friend on Twitter @SonOfFritz gave us this artwork for the whistling rectal rocket novelty item, being produced by our friend Danny in Canada. If the dumb things never make it to market, this cover art made me very, very happy.
September 28, 2015
September 2, 2015
Please Help Our Friend Tracy DeMarzo
Our friend, Tracy DeMarzo (many of you know her as Rick Shapiro’s wife) is battling breast cancer and has a GoFundMe account for her surgery and reconstruction. To quote Tracy:
For those of you that know me, you know that I have great self-body-image. And yes, many of you have seen my boobs! Which makes me love them more. I have been on stages as a stripper, I have been to Fantasy Fest in Key West, wet t-shirt contests, naked piano dancing.. it was all me. But more importantly, my breasts have given me access to great self body image has lent hand in my confidence, my self-esteem.. and more so, my ability to love myself.
I am seeking enough money to see a specific Doctor. Any monies raised additionally will go to charity. As well, I will be participating in a photo-shoot which will carry the Breast Cancer logo and I am hoping to auction those off, signed. My last hope is to organize a comedy show all about boobs.
You all know our position on Weird Medicine, we support boobs under all circumstances, and friends’ boobs are even more important.
Please give $1, $5, $100, whatever you can give for this worthy cause (and I’m pretty sure Tracy will show us her new anatomy when she’s done!)
Cancer sucks. I don’t guess I’m going too far out on a limb, saying that. 🙂 CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO TRACY’S TITS.
yr obt svt,
Dr Steve
July 22, 2015
May the Funk Be With You
In honor of Star Wars Episode VII, coming soon to a theater near you, I am reposting a song that my friend Fred Vultee and I did with our other friends Gil Fray and Doug Baker in 1977, soon after seeing the first Star Wars movie. It was also our first attempt at ping-pong multitracking with multiple instruments. We didn’t have drums so Fred and I beat on pots and pans. Very low tech, but somehow I was in possession of a Korg synthesizer and posted a tasty synth solo somewhere in there. Yes, that’s me at the end, yelling like an idiot about “struttin’ our stuff…in the Milky Way…” I had no shame at that time.
Enjoy!
LYRICS:
GENERALISSIMO! OBI WAN KENOBI!
I WANT TO BE A FUNKY JEDI KNIGHT
FIGHT THE DEATH STAR WITH ALL MY MIGHT
USE THE FORCE AND IT COME OUT RIGHT
CAUSE I’M A FUNKY JEDI KNIGHT
WELL GENERALISSIMO! OBI WAN KENOBI!
NOW LOOK AT THEM TUSKEN RAIDERS
BE FRIENDS WITH OLD DARTH VADER
AND LOOK AT THEM OLD SAND PEOPLE
DON’T LIKE OLD R2-D2
GENERALISSIMO! OBI WAN KENOBI!
<CHORUS>
WHEN OL’ DARTH VADER USE THE FORCE
YOU KNOW NOTHIN’ COULD BE WORSE
AND LOOK AT THOSE STINKIN’ JAWAS…
THEY DON’T OBEY NO LAW-AS!
GENERALISSIMO! OBI WAN KENOBI!
<RIFF>
June 15, 2015
RexDart Update
It is with great sadness that I report that our friend of many months, RexDart, AKA Jeff Zurio, succumbed to his metastatic cancer earlier in the month. Fred from Brooklyn and I had kept in touch with him and when I last spoke with him he was in good spirits with good pain control. He had friends in El Paso who were going to actually care for him so he wouldn’t be alone. After that phone call, we lost all contact with Jeff.
One thing Jeff told me (many times, actually) was that the support, both financially and emotionally, from Weird Medicine, O&J and interrobang.com fans was the only thing that kept him going his last few months. Thank you all for being such great, great people; this shows that even a little effort by a lot of people can ease suffering and improve quality of life in people that we’ve never even met. Amazing.
yr obt svt,
Steve
You Don’t Want to Miss This!
Catch a Rising StaratOcean State Theatrepresents |
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Rob Bartlett & Tony Powell
Saturday, June 27 at 7:30pm
Tickets: $42 – Standard Seating |
 (comedian Rob Bartlett) |
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Rob started in stand-up comedy at Richard M. Dixon’s White House Inn, a talent showcase club on New York’s Long Island run by the presidential look-alike. He has headlined at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Atlantic City’s Tropicana and Hilton Hotels, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort and Casino. On television, Rob has appeared as a stand up comedian on the “MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour,” “Standup Spotlight” on VH1 and on “Late Night with David Letterman” and “Conan O’Brien.”
In 1986, Rob became a regular in-studio guest of Don Imus at radio station WNBC 66AM. When the station was sold and the Imus in The Morning Program moved to the WFAN studios in Astoria, Rob became a contract player, and has since written and performed some of the show’s popular cast of characters. He has brought some of them, such as Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Camilla Parker Bowles, former president Bill Clinton and Dr. Phil to the new Imus In the Morning set at MSNBC. Rob’s television credits include starring roles on the Paramount/CBS comedy special “What’s Alan Watching?,” ABC’s “Move the Crowd,” and a recurring role on NBC as attorney Milton Schoenfeld on “Law & Order, Special Victims Unit.” Rob is very proud to have been voted one of the “Top Ten Worst” wrestling announcers in history for his short-lived stint at color commentator of the WWF Monday Night Raw. He is also the voice of Marty, the hyperactive dog, on the popular cartoon series “Kenny the Shark”.
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Veteran stand-up comic/writer Tony Powell can be seen and heard weekday mornings on the nationally syndicated radio program “The Imus in the Morning Show” which is also simulcast on the Fox Business Channel on cable television and Direct TV. His television appearances include USA Live on USA Networks, “A&E Comedy on the Road” and NBC’s “Showtime at the Apollo” to name a few. Tony has appeared in several national commercials including Visa All Star Café with Andre Agassi, Ritz Crackers, Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, Fila, Heineken, and he was also the national radio spokesperson for both the Miller Genuine Draft and U.S. Army. As a stand-up comedian Tony has worked as a warm-up for Bill Cosby and Nickelodeon’s “Keenan and Kel”. He has performed in the nation’s premier comedy clubs. The Improv in Santa Monica, CA, The Ice House in Pasadena, CA,Charlie Goodnights in North Carolina, Gotham Comedy Club, The Comic Strip, Carolines, Dangerfields, all in New York City are just a few of the venues in which Tony has shared his comedic gifts . He’s opened for major recording artists such as O’Jays, Spinners, Whispers, The Jets, GQ and The Platters. He’s been a regular at The Cesear Pocono Resorts, The Tropicana and Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
A Brooklyn native, Tony excelled academically and at the age of thirteen was accepted into the prestigious Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school. At sixteen he attended The University of Virginia where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Rhetoric Communications.
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click picture below for more info on Rob Bartlett |
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June 4, 2015
Incremental Advance in Immune Therapy for Melanoma
[Though not as striking as the abscopal effect stories that have come out recently in the context of metastatic melanoma, this story advances the notion that immune modulation is a viable approach to a generalizable treatment for cancer. Although my hypothesis is that patient specific immune modulation (targeting the patient’s actual tumor markers and pointing the immune system in the right direction) will be the eventual answer, drug companies want to at least try to develop something general that they can sell. We’ll see if this approach is just a stepping stone to a more complete general treatment or if they actually figure something out. In the meantime, this is a very interesting bit of news. –dr steve]
(CNN)Researchers meeting in Chicago are hailing what they believe may be a potent new weapon in the fight against cancer: the body’s own immune system.
An international study found that a combination of two drugs that helped allow the immune system to fight the cancer — ipilimumab and nivolumab — stopped the deadly skin cancer melanoma from advancing for nearly a year in 58% of the cases.
Melanoma, though a skin cancer, can spread to the lungs, liver, bone, lymph nodes and brain.
Other studies have shown promise in treating lung cancer. The research is being presented in Chicago at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Those involved in the fight against cancer are divided as to just how excited to get over the promise of immunotherapy in battling cancer.
“Immunotherapy drugs have already revolutionized melanoma treatment, and now we’re seeing how they might be even more powerful when they’re combined,” said Dr. Steven O’Day, an expert with the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
“But the results also warrant caution — the nivolumab and ipilimumab combination used in this study came with greater side effects, which might offset its benefits for some patients. Physicians and patients will need to weigh these considerations carefully,” O’Day said.
In the study, 36% of the patients receiving the two-drug combination had to stop the therapy due to side effects. Both drugs are made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, the sponsors of the study.
And Nell Barrie, a spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK, while calling the results “encouraging” and “promising,” told CNN that much remains to be learned and the new drugs would not replace any of the existing cancer treatments.
Surgery, she said, would remain vital. So, too, would chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she said.
She noted that researchers had yet to study the long-term survival rates for immunotherapy. And the side effects can include inflammation of the stomach and bowel serious enough to require hospitalization, she said.
But Dr. James Larkin, the lead author of the melanoma study, called the results a game changer.
“We’ve seen these drugs working in a wide range of cancers, and I think we are at the beginning of a new era in treating cancer,” Larkin told The Telegraph, a British newspaper.
Melanoma, though a skin cancer, can spread to the lungs, liver, bone, lymph nodes and brain.
Barrie said immunotherapy could offer hope to people with cancers that are otherwise difficult to treat, such as melanoma, advanced lung cancer or cancer that has spread throughout the body.
“We’re looking at another weapon in the arsenal,” she said.
At the heart of immunotherapy is that cancer — unlike most other diseases — is not an invader. It consists instead of the body’s own cells gone rogue.
So the immune system is not programmed to target the cancerous cells because it does not recognize them as foreign.
The immunotherapy drugs, Barrie said, “work to switch the immune system back on.”
April 28, 2015
NSNG Slow Cooker Minestrone
4 Cups vegetable stock/broth
1 cup water
2 x 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (basil and garlic is good)
1 cup chopped cauliflower (may use 1 can white italian beans instead if not worried about carbohydrate content)
1 large chopped onion
2-4 ribs celery, sliced
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced fresh green beans (or frozen)
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
2 tsp minced garlic
1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp thyme
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp white pepper (optional)
4 cups fresh spinach
Grated parmesan
Combine all ingredients except parmesan in crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Top with grated parmesan cheese when serving.
Notes: Add pre-cooked, cubed chicken for more protein. Alternately, add raw stew beef with with the other ingredients at the onset of cooking.
April 15, 2015
No Sugar, No Grain, Low Carb Shepherd’s Pie (FIXED)
[I left out a few steps when I first posted this…if you DL’d the original post, you’ll want this version instead, sorry!]
INGREDIENTS
1 head cauliflower
1-2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/4 tsp white pepper (optional)
5 oz soft garlic/herb cheese (Boursin or Allouette or similar)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (not the stuff in the can)
1 1/2 – 2 pounds ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 small can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups stock (beef or chicken, substitute water if you’re cheap or lazy)
SEASONING BLEND
1 bay leaf
2 TBSP fresh, chopped rosemary (1 tsp if dried)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cut cauliflower into florets and place in large pot with half the stock; bring to a boil. Lower the temp, and cover. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower is very soft, then puree with a potato masher and thoroughly mix in both cheeses. Set aside.
Brown meat in a large skillet; add seasoning blend, onions, and celery. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are translucent and tender. Add tomato paste and remaining stock. Cook until filling thickens slightly. Remove bay leaf.
Transfer meat to a casserole dish and top with even layer of cauliflower purée. Add some texture to the topping with a wooden spoon (this will promote selective browning which looks cool).
Bake the casserole 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbly at edges.
April 14, 2015
No Grain Lasagna
No Grain Lasagna
[Note: this s#!$ is GOOD. Also, you can use the cauliflower cheese bread recipe instead of squash for the “noodles.” Just leave out the final cheese topping and cool the “bread” overnight in the refrigerator. Cut into lasagna layers at the time of assembly.]
SAUCE
4 TBSP olive oil
1/2 lb Italian sausage peeled and chopped
2 tsp fresh chopped basil
2 garlic cloves chopped
pinch salt and pepper
six oz can tomato paste
4 cups canned italian tomatoes
FILLING
1 lb ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 lb spinach, cooked and chopped
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp water
salt, pepper, nutmeg
BUILDING
3-4 large yellow squash or zucchini, thinly sliced longways
grated Romano or parmesan cheese
ALGORITHM
Place zucchini in a single layer on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 400dF oven, 5 minutes on each side. Reduce oven temp to 350dF. Saute sausage in olive oil with basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes and add tomato paste and tomatoes. Simmer until fairly thick.
In a separate bowl, mix lightly all filling ingredients and set aside.
Fill oiled baking dish with alternate layers of zucchini “noodles,” cheese filling, and sauce. Finish with the sauce and top with grated parmesan. Cover with foil and bake 50 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 minutes until golden brown.
March 25, 2015
RexDart Update
We have a listener who has been battling terminal bladder cancer since 2011. He’s had to try to continue to work just to keep the lights on despite horrific intractable pain, but hasn’t had a full time job since being laid off in 2012. A few months ago he told me “i’m already $100 away from being homeless. At this point I long for the relief that death will bring.”
Recently he was admitted with intractable bleeding from his bladder, causing blood clots that obstructed his urethra, causing horrific pain. A large catheter with three tubes in it did continuous irrigation to clean his bladder out. Being admitted wiped out his account and he has $1000/month in bills on a $700/month income.
He has no family who can help him, and he’s alone, suffering in a cold house trying to live on $700 a month. He finally has an oncologist who will TRY to treat him, but the chemo is keeping him from working and he just got admitted to the hospital with a blood sugar of 700.
He got better for awhile and we stopped raising money for him; he’s again bed ridden and can’t work. Eventually he will need hospice but the docs think they might be able to kick this thing back a bit if he can just make it to the treatments and stay out of the hospital.
Please donate below, $5, $10, $100, whatever you can afford; 100% will go to RexDart who is known to people on the Interrobang website and on twitter as @rexdart936.
Let’s see what we can do as a group to keep the lights on and some heat going so our friend can live out his days in peace.
