Greatest Song Evah 10/6/23
Good Morning. It has been 0 days without an embarrassing story about the Mets. Death, taxes, etc. etc.
I’ll Be You
I highly recommend the book Trouble Boys, a thoroughly detailed history of The Replacements. It’s at various times a truly fascinating as well as a deeply depressing look at one of the truly great bands of its era as they maneuver through their assorted ups and downs and downs and downs. To be brief, this was a group completely incapable of thriving in the public spotlight; as much as I would have loved to see them achieve the massive success that they deserved, I dread to imagine how they would have handled fame.
And in a perfect world they would have become huge stars. Paul Westerberg was a true craftsman both melodically and lyrically, and they were a band that could master a wide range of sounds. They grew out of their initial roots as a prototypical hardcore punk band who could barely play their instruments into a band equally adept at bangers such as Bastards Of Young, soul homages such as Can’t Hardly Wait, and aching ballads such as Here Comes A Regular.
This week’s selection comes from their penultimate album, and it’s pure perfection. Ear catching riffs, strong harmonies, and it uses the phrase “rebel without a clue” years before future tour mate Tom Petty would. I mean this as a compliment - this song would seamlessly fit into any set of classic mainstream rock.
Once this failed to take off commercially it gave the band full realization that major success was not in the cards. With their massive alcohol consumption combined with their penchant for self sabotage (they are one of the few artists who received a lifetime ban from SNL; for all I know it may still exist) it’s almost just as well. Their final album was released a full year before Nevermind came out, so they weren’t even in a position to ride that wave. Tommy Stinson served as the bassist for Guns N Roses for more than 15 years, but other than that the rest of the band has been largely quiet. Westerberg’s solo career was low profile; ideally he could have been a great songwriter for hire but that didn’t happen either. They were nominated for the Hall Of Fame once, but even I didn’t expect the to make the cut. There’s always hope.
Elect Clowns… You Know The Rest
Zero sympathy for Kevin McCarthy coming from this corner. He’s feckless, spineless, unprincipled, and completely lacking in self respect or dignity. While it’s likely that whomever inherits the speaker’s gavel will be even worse (Gym Jordan? We all know how well the last former wrestling coach as speaker worked out) I gladly watched the door hit Kevin on the way out.
The entire sequence of events, going back to the marathon series of votes that put him in the position in the first place, is further proof that no matter how many people attempt to brand it otherwise, at this moment in history the two parties are not the same. One attempts to govern, the other prefers chaos.
The reason that the classic Will Rogers quote continues to resonate is that for generations the Democratic Party has shown a constant inability to get out of its own way. It still has its circular firing squad moments, but that’s nothing compared to the behavior of the current GOP. Nancy Pelosi often had majorities just as slim as Kevin McCarthy has had, but that never prevented her from keeping her caucus together and passing legislation. And comparisons between the extremes of the two parties do not hold. You can disagree politically with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez & other members of The Squad as much as you wish, but just watch how she conducts herself in congressional hearings. She comes fully prepared and asks direct, substantive, and pertinent questions of her witnesses. Compare that with members of the MAGA wing of the party who too often use their time to grandstand. The extremists on the right spend the bulk of their time s***posting & owning the libs instead of doing the jobs they were elected to do. How much actual constituent service does someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz actually provide? This is a political party that needs a complete fumigation.
On a related note the first set of polling data has come out of New Jersey following the indictment of Bob Menendez and his support has completely cratered. See, it’s possible to hold a politician accountable for misdeeds. Take a lesson from that, GOP voters.
Live From New York, It’s….. Season #49
Saturday Night Live returns to the air on October 14. As a quick reminder, SNL is classified as a variety show so it falls under a slightly different SAG-AFTRA contract. So it is not a violation of any strike protocols for the cast to return to work. (And negotiations appear to be progressing, so there’s a good chance of a settlement within the next week.) Because it was such an abnormal offseason, the entire cast is returning. As is the standard operating procedure, James Austin Johnson & Sarah Sherman have been promoted from featured players to the main cast, and Chloe Trost is the one new addition to the crew. Otherwise it’s all status quo.
There’s no guarantee that will remain the case for the entire season. The milestone 50th season is only a year away, and I can’t imagine that anyone who has been on the show long enough that their eventual departure would be their choice and not NBC’s or Lorne’s would be on the show at this point and not choose to stick around for #50. In essence, a veteran would be making a two year commitment. But since the WGA strike caused last season to end so abruptly, it’s certainly possible that some cast members may be returning long enough so that they can say proper goodbyes and then leave midseason the way that Cecily Strong did last year.
Pete Davidson, who was scheduled to host back in May before the strike brought to season to a premature end, will host the season premiere. Season #48 was shaky at times; the show spent a lot of time trying to find its way following multiple high profile departures. Keep in mind that with the lengthy work stoppage it will likely take some time to settle into a groove this year as well.
If A Team Sweeps A Series In Tampa Bay, Does It Make A Sound?
4 wild card series, 4 sweeps, which gave us 2 full days without baseball. The league could have at least thrown us a bone and brought back the Mets & Marlins to play the final inning of that suspended game on one of the off days. I don’t think that’s asking too much. One of the swept series stood out among the others.
The Tampa Bay Rays’ season ended with a resounding thud. After starting the year on a 13-0 run, no one on the Gulf Coast could have imagined such an ignominious ending. The year featured so many Tommy John surgeries that I believe the franchise has qualified for a free sub, along with the Wander Franco ugliness, and it was punctuated with an embarrassing effort in the postseason filled with inexcusably sloppy defensive play. And then there was the attendance, or lack thereof.
To be fair, MLB takes a long time to announce start times for the games. It’s not easy for fans to make plans to attend weekday afternoon games on such short notice, and it has long been an issue that the location of Corporate Sponsor Name Dome is far from ideal. But other teams have had afternoon games scheduled in the postseason, and they don’t have issues filling the stands. Only 19,000 fans attended Tuesday’s game, just over 20,000 on Wednesday. Setting aside the COVID season played without fans, the last playoff game played in front of such a small crowd took place in 1919!
Late in the season team management announced that a deal has been struck to build a new stadium. As always, hold off on any excitement until a shovel actually touches ground, but in theory this should be a positive development for the organization. Inexplicably, it will be built on the same location where the current park is. You know, the location that is difficult for fans to get to. The Tampa Bay attendance narrative is not going away anytime soon.
Expansion
On the eve of the much anticipated WNBA Finals matchup between Las Vegas and New York, the league at long last announced expansion plans, with a new Golden State franchise set to debut in 2025. In addition, although it has not been made official, it appears likely that there will be a second new franchise added in Portland.
This has been long overdue. It will actually be the second Portland based team in the league. The Portland Fire existed for 3 seasons in the league’s Irrational Overexuberance phase, as the league expanded too rapidly in its early years when neither the depth of the talent pool nor the level of interest justified it. That’s no longer the case. With only 12 teams, roster spots are at a premium. Plus, there are actually fewer than 144 available spots. The W has a hard salary cap, so several teams roster fewer than the maximum number of 12 in order to remain under the cap. Or, put it this way. 3 first round picks from THIS YEAR’S draft did not make opening day rosters. Charli Collier was the #1 overall pick in 2021, only 2 years ago, and did not play this season. There is more than enough talent to justify expansion, and TV ratings and attendance figures are both rapidly rising. The interest is clearly there.
Look At The Hollywood Reporter, Stealing My Thunder
Because there has been so much other stuff to talk about my ongoing feature discussing some of my favorite TV of this century has not run as frequently as I had intended. So the good folks at the Hollywood Reporter leapt into that void and presented their listicle of the 50 best TV shows of this century.
Like any list of this nature it’s intended to ignite debate. There are some choices that are ranked too high or too low, some puzzling omissions, and some lesser known selections that I am happy to see on the list. That’s the inherent nature of this type of article, and what provides most of the fun. And for those wondering where The Secret Diary Of Desmond Pfeffer is, that show came and went in 1998, so it belongs to the previous millennium.
The Emergency Test Didn’t Instigate A Zombie Apocalypse After All
So if you suddenly felt a sudden craving for braaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnsssss on Wednesday, that wasn’t the reason why. Thanks as always for reading, and if you’re visiting for the first time and like what you see a simple click on the “subscribe” button will keep it coming to your inbox three times a week. Have a great weekend everybody, and I’ll see you on Monday.