A Flickering Blue Light

In light of the disarray over at Kmart, The Band here hazards a guess that Martha Stewart's dance card may be starting to fill up, perhaps with the likes of Target or Wal-Mart, who no doubt would love to sink their icy retail claws into her prodigious Connecticut spice garden. Or dip their huckster wicks into her bountiful cornucopia of accessorized domesticity. Or drink deeply from her lushly appointed cup of abundance, perhaps? Something like that. Suffice it to say that there's some salivation going on in the La-La Land of Product Licensing. (Here in Band-land, we must confess that we've never quite been able to connect the metaphorical "discount superstore" and "designer-label" dots. Still seems a bit of a stretch to us. And we could've sworn that Target had already reserved a seat on Martha's taffeta-draped seasonal bandwagon of comfort.)

At present, the Domestic Dominatrix and Diva -- here described by Barbara Lippert as "the Ralph Lauren of home entertaining" (this article also includes some amusing thoughts on the Martha Stewart-Katie Couric dynamic) -- has this to say: "We remain optimistic that Kmart, our long-time domestic mass-market merchandising retail partner, will ultimately emerge from this situation as a stronger, more competitive company in keeping with its proud heritage." (Go here for the official Martha paper.)

When you've had enough of that, check out some darker notions in home decor, reputedly inspired by Martha nonetheless.

It's a good thing.