A DATE WITH MADAM GUILLOTINE

11 Jan
Mike Cartel 1994 Although I sent over 35,000 enemies of the People to Madam Guillotine, I feel ambivalent about the death penalty. I would have eliminated all the reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries in France had the Directory not girlie-cringed at my...
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A CONVERSATION WITH RIVER PHOENIX AND DAN AYKROYD

20 Nov
By Michael Cartel (The Valley Vantage, 1993) I introduce myself to River Phoenix for an interview while he orders lunch. He appears casual, nearly vacuous, unbathed with matted hair. “Simple plain salad, darling,” vegan Phoenix says to a waitress as...
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A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO ME ON MY WAY THROUGH VIETNAM

12 Nov
Michael Cartel from my 1993 print column ‘Parades Make Strange Bedfellows‘   The biggest parade in Los Angeles history. Over one million attended. Tanks, jets, missiles. The day before, 200,000 stood for another elegant celebration in Orange County. San Francisco, the...
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A KILLER STORM SAVES A SLOW DAY IN THE NEWS

4 Nov
By Michael Cartel   “What a wonderful picture! Blood all over him – and exclusive too!” the city editor of Joseph Pulitzer’s Evening World said when handed a photo of the assassinated New York City mayor at the moment of...
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