  Ed Hamell is often referred to as a one-man punk band. But
what he does for a living isn't exactly easy to categorize. He's
not quite a pundit, not quite a comic, and definitely not a
touchy-feely singer-songwriter mope.  "I'm at a loss of what to
call it," says Hamell, sounding surprisingly energetic after a
23-hour flight from Kodiak, Alaska, to his home in Ossining, New
York. "And I know it's a tough sell. If you were to say to me,
'Let's go see this guy, he plays acoustic guitar, he's bald, and
he tells the audience to fuck off, but he's funny; he does
political stuff, he calls himself "acoustic punk"' -- I don't
know if I'd go, either. But if I saw it once, I'd keep comin'
back. It's just getting 'em in there the first time."  An
engaging raconteur with a chain-smoker's baritone, Hamell grew
up in a blue-collar Italian-Polish neighborhood. His dad, who
worked for an air-conditioning company, would tell salesman
jokes. Like his father, the 44-year-old Hamell has a way of
telling stories, whether they in