Friday YouTube Nugget

Who is that, indeed!

This week’s Nugget takes on a decidedly Cajun flavor as the 44th Super Bowl nears. While our Bills are sitting out the Big Game for the 16th year in a row, I have decided to throw my short-term rooting interest to the NFC Champion New Orleans Saints. This may seem like an easy call, as it appears very few people outside of Indiana are rooting for a team stolen from Baltimore and exhibiting all the personality of the local cuisine (which is to say, the Steak n’ Shake), while the Saints have an emotional, uplifting story and a unique connection to the city and the people they represent. While it isn’t quite true that the Saints have rebuilt the city’s infrastructure, brought in jobs and restored integrity to the political system, they have brought joy and a strong sense of pride to an area that has been in short supply of both since Hurricane Katrina.

For the purposes of this post, though, I will concentrate on the music of each region. While, on paper, this would seem to be a blowout favoring the rich musical heritage of the Big Easy, let’s be fair to the Colts and expand their region to the entire state of Indiana. Here’s the matchup:

 Indiana – Joshua Bell, Hoagy Carmichel, Babyface, Crystal Gayle, John Hiatt, the Jackson 5, “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, Mick Mars, John (Cougar) Mellencamp, Wes Montgomery, Cole Porter, Axl Rose and David Lee Roth

New Orleans - Phil Anselmo, Louis Armstrong, Terence Blanchard, Alex Chilton, Harry Connick Jr., Willy DeVille, Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, King Floyd, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Al Hirt, Mahalia Jackson, Dr. John, Ernie K. Doe, Earl King, Branford Marsalis, Jelly Roll Morton, the Neville Brothers, Randy Newman, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lloyd Price, Louis Prima, Professor Longhair and Huey “Piano” Smith

Yup…..though a little closer than anticipated, the Crescent City edges out Naptown with its array of legends of jazz, blues, R&B and early rock n’roll.

To celebrate New Orleans and send some good ju-ju to the Saints, here’s my favorite NOLA musician, Dr. John (a.k.a. Mac Rebennack) performing his hit “Such a Night” with the Band during The Last Waltz (1976)

Bless You Boys

Ripped Torn

He didn't dodge, duck, dip, dive or dodge

“Let the other guys do the crybaby stuff. Go for the laughs” – Elmore Rual “Rip” Torn, Jr.

 I imagine that poor Rip Torn isn’t going for many laughs these days. Fresh off his arrest and conviction last year for drunk driving (his third DUI arrest in four years), Rip Torn pulled a doozy of a caper and found himself charged with carrying a firearm without a permit, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespassing and third-degree criminal mischief last week.

For what, you may ask?

It appears that Ripper, after a night of carousing and some serious inebriation, mistook his local bank branch for his home and busted a window to gain entry so he might pass out in peace.

Well, that’s the story he’s going with. I know that when I’ve had too much and am stumbling home, I always confuse my local Bank of America branch with my domicile. They look so familiar!

I don’t intend to be too snarky with this post because I genuinely respect and love Rip Torn’s work. From his early days in television (including some outstanding roles on Alfred Hitchock Presents and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), through his breakout decade in the 70’s and early 80’s (notable roles in Payday, The Man Who Sold The World and his Oscar-nominated role in Cross Creek), the lean years of the 80’s and his brilliant resurgence in the 90’s, capped by his magnificence in the role of Artie, the harried talk-show producer, on the Larry Sanders Show.

But, it is clear that he is a troubled individual and in need of some intensive therapy or rehabilitation. Breaking into a bank while toting a loaded handgun is not the sign of a well-adjusted septugenarian looking to spend his golden years in peace.

Clearly, weird public behavior is not a new venture for Rip…..check out this clip from the making of Norman Mailer’s 1970 film Maidstone:

The story behind this weirdness is that Rip was unhappy with his role and the filming of Mailer’s script, which concerned a film director (played by Mailer) who decides to run for President. According to Torn, Mailer had planned to have his lead character assassinated at the end of the film, but never got around to including an assassination scene in the script. So, Rip being the professional that he was, took it upon himself to improvise an “assassination” and attacked Mailer – first, with a hammer and then, proceeded to strangle him. As the clip shows, Mailer was able to fight him off and, surrounded by his wife and crying children, chastized Torn for his behavior.

Rip Torn has had a long, illustrious career in Hollywoood and is admired by a small, yet fervent audience which appreciates his art. Whatever troubles he’s experiencing, I hope that he gets the counseling he needs, the career advice he deserves (please, no Freddy Got Fingered 2, no matter how much money they throw at you) and the roles we all want him to essay. Godspeed, Elmore.

Friday YouTube Nugget

File Under "Unaccessible"

For some reason, I’m drawn to the mysterious Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band for this week’s nugget. I initially wanted to continue the theme of “how could that crap make the Top 40″ started with Gilbert O’Sullivan last week and devilishly planned to unleash the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and his execrable 1968 “hit,” Paralyzed on you. Here’s a clip of his appearance on Laugh-In if you really want to make your eyes and ears bleed.

Anyhoo, it got me thinking about acts that appear completely unaccessible to the general public and, naturally, thought of Captain Beefheart. The good Captain (born Don Van Vliet) was a poet, painter, songwriter and singer who turned a friendship with Frank Zappa into a shockingly long recording career from the 1960’s through the early 1980’s. As I was growing up and getting into music, it seemed that all the hip music magazines I read ranked his Trout Mask Replica among the greatest rock albums ever made. Imagine my surprise when, upon purchasing it and rushing home to spin this piece of “aural gold”, it turned out to be 28 pieces of tuneless, aimless, shambled “music” that was virtually unlistenable. In the years since, I have come to appreciate some of the subtle humor and musicianship on the album, but I still regard it overall as a headscratcher. Who would think, if they weren’t doped up on something extra potent, that this was a good album, let alone one of the best of the rock era? I let my Rolling Stone subscription lapse a long, long time ago due to garbage like this.

To be fair to the good Captain, there is one song of his that I enjoy – here’s a clip of him and the Magic Band doing their thing on the great Musikladen show from the early 70’s:

(Mis)State of The Union

Don't do it, man.....don't do it!

It appears that, as part of his State of the Union address to Congress tonight, President Obama will propose a spending freeze on all non-military federal spending to demonstrate his administration’s committment to cutting the elephantine budget deficit.

Yes…in the midst of the deepest recession in over 70 years, an unemployment rate over 10% and an ongoing health care crisis, Obama and his team are choosing to obey deficit hawks?

Amid the initial outcry over this ridiculous plan, the Administration has walked back the proposal and it seems that the proposed freeze will only impact 1/8 of Federal spending and, within that eighth, only the total level of spending will be frozen. Also, the current stimulus (and future stimulus packages, if introduced) will be outside of the scope of this freeze. So, instead of being a disastrous blunder that could wipe out any progress achieved by the initial stimulus, it will merely be a political trick designed to fool the most overheated deficit hawks (and the TeaBagging hordes who discovered outrageous Federal spending on January 20, 2009). Methinks it will fail.

Instead of playing cutesy with people who will oppose them anyway, the Obama administration should show some bottle and, you know, actual leadership. Instead of accepting the Republican framing of his administration as a spend-crazy house of Socialist lunatics, he should throw down the gauntlet and ask this country if they should listen to him or the people who presided over the near-collapse of the economy.

It is impossible to say that Obama is in political trouble he’s in because he’s been pandering to the left. On the contrary, at every turn, on every major policy proposal this Administration has touched, they’ve tried to play to the middle, or even gone too far right. Healthcare reform being an egregious example of this. I’m not hopeful that the “spending freeze” language will be struck from Obama’s address tonight….I’m in “Hope Fatigue”

Friday YouTube Nugget

It’s been a pretty downcast week…let’s review:

• The Bills continued their Commitment To Mediocrity with the hire of Chan Gailey as head coach.
• Scott Brown was elected President.
• The Democrats, who control everything in Washington, have decided that governance really isn’t their thing.
• Conan O’Brien got his unfunny, ratings-deprived late night show taken away because of Jay Leno’s even-unfunnier, ratings-deprived show and only has a $45 million buyout to show for it. Pity the poor ginger boy.
• The Supreme Court just ruled that CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE!!111!!!!!!111!!
• A 5.9 aftershock rattled Haiti as the death toll from last week’s earthquake was placed at nearly 200,000.
• Our County Executive is a boorish clown, don’t you think?
• The Sabres lost twice after a blowout win in Phoenix to start the week.

So, to cast off the bitter taint of this week and fill my heart with gladness again, I decided an uplifting song was in order for this week’s Nugget.

“Alone Again (Naturally)“….naturally.

This was perhaps the most depressing song ever to hit #1 in the U.S. Written and performed by Gilbert O’Sullivan, it topped the Billboard charts for six weeks in the late summer in 1972. The lyrics concern a most unlucky fellow – a combination of being left at the altar and mourning the deaths of his parents is driving him to jump off the nearest tower.

Gilbert, take me away….

The Face of our Football Future

I'm 2 games over .500 as an NFL head coach and I'm the only chance you have

It’s official – the Chan Gailey era begins. It’s easy to knock this hire (another retread, boring, etc.), but really….what else was out there? Leslie Frazier? He’s still leading an outstanding defense in Minnesota and will have a much better opportunity than Buffalo next year. And forget about Bill Cowher….he’d rather sit on the CBS NFL Today show guffawing like a village idiot at Shannon Sharpe than take on this Herculean task. So, we get Cowher’s friend…the one with the “good personality”.

I’m not inclined to immediately take shots at Gailey, except to say his hiring perpetuates the “Commitment to Mediocrity” ethic this franchise has exhibited for the past decade. This was the opportunity to show boldness, to demonstrate an organizational pledge to embrace change. Most importantly, a chance to throw a bone to the fatigued and put-upon fan base – the folks who spend their disposable income (shrinking by the week) on season tickets and parking and concessions and game jerseys, etc., etc. – that the team takes their concerns seriously. This hire falls quite short of that.

I’m not entirely unsympathetic to the Bills’ quandary in this head coach search – when one of the potential targets wonders on national television “why would anyone take the Buffalo job,” you’ve got a major perceptional hurdle to overcome. However, a lot of that is the organization’s fault. Uncertainty in what will happen with the ownership, a lack of a “football guy” in the GM position (until recently), an aversion to spend money to get better players….take your pick. The organization has done much in the last 10 years to ensure no coach worth his whistle would ever consider taking up residence at One Bills Drive.

Of course, Ralph Wilson and Buddy Nix could have held a seance and coaxed the Ghost of Vince Lombardi to coach the Bills and it wouldn’t make a difference until we get a quarterback. Chan Gailey will only be as good as the players on the team make him look. Gee….I hope Colt McCoy’s shoulder is feeling better.

Devastation in Haiti

Following Alan’s lead, let this space and the heartbreaking photos below mobilize you to donate to the International Red Cross or the relief organization of your choice to help the victims of Tuesday’s earthquake, which has pretty much reduced its capital city of Port-au-Prince to rubble. This is a grim reminder that, no matter how bad we think we have it, we live in a veritable paradise of good fortune each day.

Friday YouTube Nugget

An easy call for this week’s nugget – today would have been Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday. In the avalanche of media coverage of Michael Jackson’s death last year, I found it interesting that among the significant cultural touchstones discussed in comparison to MJ’s passing, Elvis’ death was the most oft-mentioned. One monarch to another, I guess.

Rather than post a video from his mid-70’s nadir (which is too easy to do), I’ll share a clip from his famous 1968 “comeback” special. Here’s the King and some of his original backing band from Sun Records (including Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana) performing the very first song Elvis ever recorded – “That’s All Right”

Reflections on my 39th year

Today is my birthday (hold your applause)…one year shy of the big four-oh. I plan to enjoy the last year of my thirties which, all things considered, has been a great decade for me personally. When it comes to birthdays, however, my thoughts are nicely summarized by the following:

Happy New Year!

The real New Year's Eve tradition

Time to bid adieu to another year. I’m sure most of us are relieved to put 2009 in our rearview mirror and are looking forward to what fresh hell 2010 has in store. Here’s hoping your New Year’s is fun with no serious injuries. I’ll be hosting a shindig at my place with my girlfriend….it’s our 2nd annual NYE party and we’d like to think we’re establishing a tradition.

Speaking of which, I consider myself lucky that I am old enough to remember the cherished tradition of Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians big band playing at the Waldorf Astoria every New Year’s Eve. I managed to catch the last few years of Guy’s gigs (he died in 1977) and I remember vividly what a special time it was to gather with family and friends and ring in the New Year with Guy playing in the background.  I cherish those memories from long ago and look forward to making more in the New Year.

And here’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne