We couldn't resist this one:

Our friend Dr. BLT is working on a country version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." Fair enough. 

But this is tribute is supposed to be a secret, even though the good doctor posted the news on Bakersfield Sound Underground. 

"If you haven't heard much about it, it is for good reason," says the post from this morning. "Being the operator of Bakersfield Sound Underground, I have a reputation to maintain as an underground blogger and an underground singer/songwriter.

The post continues: "Announcing the details, or allowing them to leak and, thus opening up the prospect of a media circus would blow that whole "underground" thing for me and other artists represented there.  We prefer to avoid photo ops and media leaks that would defeat our purpose: paying tribute to the King of Pop.  You will hear more about it once it's over, but when it's over, it will really be more like the beginning."

Alrighty.

Apologies in advance if this post triggers a media circus. Wouldn't want to bring wide attention to a tribute for the most widely known entertainer in the history of mankind.

Bakersfield can be a tough audience.

We booed Johnny Carson, a decision that spawned Bakersfield to become the butt of late-nite humor for decades.

Now comes a tidbit from a blog chronicling the career of The Three Stooges. The Stooges, struggling to make a comeback late in their careers, apparently fell flat in a performance at a Bakersfield Holiday Inn.

Reads the blog: "The first presentation of the new act couldn’t have been more disappointing. The stooges performed at a Holiday Inn in Bakersfield, California. Nobody laughed; even worse, some of the patrons, a little tipsy, started to heckle the trio. “Silence, you’re going to wake up my friend!”, yelled one, to what Moe replied: “You have thirty two teeth right now, wanna see how it is like having none?"…

But is Bakersfield really any tougher an audience than any other city?

I grew up in Fresno, and heard stories about Led Zeppelin being booed offstage at a local show in the late 1960s. And I personally saw a concert by the then-relatively unknown Police, whose leader Sting -- offended that Fresnans were sitting instead of standing before his greatness -- vowed never to play Fresno again (they did, in a stadium show a few years later that earned them big bucks).

What do you think? Are we power haters or just being singled out for honest "feedback" back in the day? 

Critics of President Obama's health-care proposal plan to demonstrate outside the downtown offices of KERO tonight (aka ABC23), apparently to protest ABC's decision to broadcast a special titled "Questions for the President: Prescription for America." 

KERO says it will invite some of the protesters into its studios to watch the public forum live. 

A local "chapter" of the 9/12 Project is behind the protest, and is encouraging people to bring signs reading "No to government run media" (huh?) and "No to National Health Care".  They say their target is ABC, not KERO, which they say has no control over whether or not to air the forum. 

 The PETA news release screams: "Dressed-to-kill nurse has run out of patience with meat-linked heart disease." 

Um, OK. 

But that's not enough. The "nurse" (aka "naughty Nightingale") will set up shop outside Mercy Hospital on Truxtun Avenue at noon today to protest meat eating. And she (real name Virginia Fort) will be wearing a "stethoscope and sexy nurse outfit (complete with a white minidress, knee-high stockings, and spiked heels), carrying a notepad to write 'prescriptions' for a vegetarian diet, and holding a sign that reads, 'Bypass Heart Surgery--Go Vegan.' " 

There's more in the release, but here's our question: For every person PETA gets to quit eating meat from this stunt, how many will be injured because they're looking at the "naughty Nightingale" instead of the road as they drive by?

Ran across this Facebook group called "Marin County Makes the O.C. Look Like Bakersfield."

4,282 smug people have joined the group, which proudly claims Marin is a county of "obscenely rich towns with way too many hot tubs and H2's. Together, they join forces to create the county with the highest per-capita income in the entire country. Take THAT, Orange County!"

Evidence of the intellectual power of the group can be found in a separate discussion, titled simply, "Bakersfield?" Members question whether there are worse places than Bakersfield, with dozens of other nominations. A theme throughout is whether the presence of Arby's is a sign you're one step from moving in with Satan.

My favorite response was from "Natalie: I LOVE BAKERSFIELD CUZ KORN'S FROM THERE. :D
iiiiii'm dumb."

larger view

We know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats for any tidbit of news related to the movie "Giant Ants Eat Bakersfield."

Well, wait no more: a trailer for the movie, which is still in early stages production, found its way online today. The trailer, described as a music intro to generate interest in the movie, features a large plastic-looking ant hugging a man in front of a KUZZ van and near Buck Owens' Crystal Palace. An original acoustic tune plays in the background.

Filmmaker Hank Ray Harwood says the film is "a metaphor for corporate entertainment that stole Bakersfield's music legacy."

Should production continue or do you get the idea?

One of the more interesting online destinations in the Bakosphere is LateModelRacer.com, home of local dirt track conversations of all kinds. 

But things turned wild early Sunday shortly after the races at Bakersfield Speedway when racer Richie McGowan jumped on the board and accused competitor Brian Shepherd of taking him out on the track AND cheating. Yep, them's fightin' words, and Richie said as much. 

As you might expect, the discussion stayed heated as others piled on, questioned the claims and when Shepherd came in to defend himself. Oh, and the track promoter jumped in head first into the fray, much to the dismay of some observers.

The thread is hard to follow if you don't know the characters and avatars, and all the bad spelling and name-calling makes it hard to wade through every comment. And I'm still not sure whether McGowan has officially retired/unretired or whether there's really going to be a rumble this weekend at Santa Maria Speedway. But after dozens of comments and almost 7,500 views, the thread offers a nice glimpse at the passion that powers local race fans.

NOTE: The headline in this post was updated to reflect new information provided by Mike Pilley in his comments below.

While Pilley's original accusation as described below was apparently in error, it's still good practice to thoroughly screen telephone solicitors.

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A Bakersfield computer technician is warning of a telephone scammer using Stockdale High School as bait in the sales pitch. 

Mike Pilley of Bakersfield Computer said he smelled a rat based on stuff he read in a post by marketing guru Seth Godin.  Godin warned that scammers are using trusted local institutions as hooks to lull people into thinking their deals are legit. 

Pilley recalled his experience, including this passage: 

 "The caller, Amanda, claimed that she was working with Stockdale High School in Bakersfield, which is fairly near my home, to produce 600 20×20 posters that would be posted all over the school and in local businesses in Bakersfield, and that she “just wanted a copy of my business card” that would be used on the poster to give exposure to my company.

"What Amanda didn’t realize is that while she was giving her pitch, I did a Google search on the number she was calling from, which I sometimes do when I receive calls from numbers that I’m not familiar with.  Instantly, the search results were providing sites related to telemarketer calls–another bad sign."

Good stuff.

Pilley also has tech-related posts on his site, as well as a fun "open letter" to Fox and Rupert Murdoch regarding a "Fringe" episode that went beyond an hour, which means the DVR switched off before the show ending. D'oh! 

Henry Louis Gomez posts on the Babalu blog early this morning that "I have known no place more lonely and desolate than Bakersfield, CA on a Sunday night."

That bit of wisdom is accompanied by a photo showing a mostly darkened Doughty Funeral Home in Bakersfield. The only lights flood the garage portion, where the hearse typically parks.

We're not sure what it all means -- the comments don't shed any light (other than to plug Buck and Merle's ties to Bako -- but it seems kinda deep.