Greatest Song Evah 1/17/25

You Don’t Know My Name

This song is a wonderful throwback to classic 1970’s soul, right down to the spoken word interlude. It helps that the track is centered by a sample from an old tune by The Main Ingredient. You Don’t Know My Name, the leadoff single from the second Alicia Keys album, is a tale of unrequited love that contains what is arguably the most sensuous vocal performance that Keys ever produced.

It’s an old saying in the music business that an artist’s second album is the most crucial; it’s the one which proves whether or not the debut is a fluke. Alicia Keys certainly came through with her second release; it builds on the considerable promise that she showed on her debut and proved that she had staying power. This song is the finest work she has done; I love the melodic change in the song’s bridge.

Keys’s co-producer on this record is none other than Kanye West. West’s own debut had not yet been released; at this time he was still largely known as a rising producer. He has trashed his reputation due to his behavior, and I am in no way condoning it, but his talent is undeniable. The song is as great as it is due to Keys’s performance, but don’t forget that West has always had a knack for bringing the best out of the artists with whom he has worked. This song also contains a contribution from another future recording star who had yet to release his first album. John Legend is one of the background singers.

OK, I’ll admit that the spoken word portion is somewhat kitschy and unnecessary. But overall, this is a magnificent record. It would not have felt out of place on an R&B radio station in the mid-70’s. It feels like ooh-ooh.

A New League

Tonight the new women’s professional basketball league Unrivaled tips off with its set of opening night games. The league, which will play full court 3x3, provides a much needed outlet for the WNBA players to keep in game shape and earn money without having to go overseas. Among the benefits of Unrivaled is that they get a physical break by avoiding the grind of international travel, they can keep themselves & the league in the spotlight during the offseason, and they all receive equity in the league.

On the other hand, being that this is a new league it will take some time for fans to wrap their heads around which players play on which teams. In addition, all of the games will take place in Miami without any affiliation with specific cities, which means there is no inherent rooting interest in one’s hometown team. That means at least initially fans will be drawn to whomever their favorite players are. Instead of rooting for laundry, they are rooting for specific stars.

And the initial rosters are stacked. Virtually all of the top stars of the WNBA have signed up with Unrivaled. A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark are the two glaring omissions, but otherwise the rosters are filled with the biggest names in the sport. Should be fun.

Mr. Baseball

There have been few greater ambassadors for baseball than Bob Uecker. An outstanding raconteur, a natural comedian, and one of the most universally beloved figures in the sport, he has been a major figure in the game for more than six decades.

It all began with a terminally mediocre playing career. Playing 6 seasons as a backup catcher it was strangely symbolic that he ended with a .200 batting average, just at the Mendoza Line. He still made a name for himself with self deprecating jabs at his lack of success, eventually finding a spot on the couch as one of the most frequent guests on The Tonight Show. He made more than 100 appearances, and Johnny Carson would simply sit back and let Ueck tell anecdote after anecdote. He even spent years in the lead role of a long running sitcom, Mr. Belvedere.

His true home was in the broadcast booth. He was the play by play voice for the Milwaukee Brewers for almost the entire history of the franchise, although he severely cut back on his schedule as he aged. He was also in the booth for national games for around 20 years. How many of you remember that ABC’s initial #1 team after they won a portion of the MLB contract consisted of Uecker along with the soon to be jettisoned Bob Prince and Warner Wolf?

Let me make a quick confession. As big of a baseball fan as I am, I don’t like the Major League movies. I didn’t find them funny, with one obvious exception. Every moment of the movie which featured Uecker as Harry Doyle was pure comedy gold. It’s impossible to see a pitcher miss the target badly without hearing “juuuust a bit outside!” in your head.

And no one was better than he was in the long running Miller Lite ad campaign. There were so many great commercials featuring Uecker that it’s hard for me to narrow it down to just one. So here are two for your enjoyment.

What the hell, here’s one more. I have to share this one because of his co-star.

Uecker died at the age of 90. That still seems too young. With his passing baseball has lost a little bit of its heart and soul.

A Singular Auteur

Losing both Bob Uecker and David Lynch on the same day is rough. It’s almost as if there is a pre-January 20 rapture taking place, with some of the coolest amongst us departing. It’s understating things dramatically to say that there was no one quite like David Lynch. Somehow the same man directed both Eraserhead AND The Straight Story. As a filmmaker, he showed the enduring value of oddity and eccentricity, and I mean that as a high compliment.

I wouldn’t even begin to claim that everything he produced exactly worked, but there is no doubt that he always remained true to his vision and his personal vision was always evident, regardless of any specific film’s genre. It says just as much to see how frequently he worked with many of the same actors. There was a sense of loyalty which worked both ways and as a result he built his own little repertory company with everyone from major stars in the Laura Dern/Naomi Watts realm to quintessentially Lynchian actors such as Jack Nance to the man who almost seemed to be Lynch’s personal muse Kyle McLachlan.

For all of his major work such as Blue Velvet or The Elephant Room, not to mention the disaster that was the first version of Dune, it was Twin Peaks that made him a legend. From the perspective of 2025 it’s difficult to conceive that a major television network actually gave the greenlight to a show with a log lady, a backwards talking dwarf, Nadine Hurley’s quest for silent drape runners, and a murder mystery that Lynch didn’t seem all that interested in actually solving. ABC thankfully entrusted him with full creative control. It’s just as difficult to conceive that such a unique show briefly became a massive ratings success. By the same token, Mulholland Drive was originally conceived as a television show. Imagine turning THAT into a weekly show.

David Lynch was 78. Let us all pop open a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon and raise a toast in his honor. We shan’t see the likes of him again.

Who Could Have Possibly Foreseen This?

One of my “broken record” talking points has been my disgust with the increasing amount of product that pharmacy chains place under lock & key. It grows more and more absurd each time I enter a store - even the traditional impulse items have been guarded as tightly as the gold in Fort Knox. No joke - the most recent time I was in a CVS I was looking for cough drops and even they were locked up in the glass cage. Cough drops! I’m only a focus group of one, but I can’t be the only one who decides to shop elsewhere if I can find the same item in a different store without needing to hit the call for assistance button.

Lo and behold, it appears that I am not alone. The CEO of Walgreens has admitted that this strategy is backfiring. Hold the phone, Jack. Are you trying to tell me that making the shopping experience inconvenient for your customers will cost you sales? Now I’ve heard everything.

SNL Preview

For some reason Lorne Michaels has designated Dave Chappelle as his “break glass during a major news cycle” host. Chappelle hosted the first shows that followed the 2016 & 2020 elections, and now he returns to host the show airing 2 days before the inauguration. Chappelle is of course a comedy legend, and starred in his own groundbreaking sketch show. With this being his 4th time hosting, he is only one show away from gaining entrance into the Five Timers Club.

There is unfortunately a huge difference between Chappelle’s Show era Dave Chappelle and 2025 Dave Chappelle. He has made transphobia a central part of his act, and there is an ugliness surrounding his whole vibe. I am very pessimistic about this weekend’s episode; I have no confidence that the show will be able to rein in his worst instincts. GloRilla will be the musical guest.

50 Years Ago - Wheel Of Fortune

1975 saw the debut of Wheel! Of! Fortune! It has been on either network or syndicated television ever since, and it is one of the 3 most successful game shows in TV history. (I would include Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right in that pantheon. Am I missing anything else?) The genius of the show is its simplicity. Too many shows make the rules of the game overly convoluted; by contrast Wheel’s rules are easy to understand and the tweaks over the years have been fairly mild.

The long recognizable elements of the show were in place from day one. The puzzles, “I’d like to buy a vowel,” the dreaded Bankrupt slot on the wheel. The biggest change from the early days is that back then each round would conclude with the puzzle solver using their winnings to go on a shopping spree in the showcase room. “I’ll take the dresser drawer for $200. The end table for $50.” “You still have $100 left over. Do you want a gift certificate, or do you want the money to go on account?”

When the show premiered, I was still an avid game show viewer, so I am more familiar with the Chuck Woolery/Susan Stafford era of the show than I am with Pat Sajak/Vanna White. (Quick quiz: who briefly took over hosting duties on the daytime version when Sajak moved to the nighttime version? Yep, former San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke.) I didn’t watch much of Pat & Vanna but from the little I saw I did notice one immediate difference between the two hosts, and that came at the end of the show when there would not be enough time to complete a puzzle, so it went to a lightning round in which the host made a final spin of the wheel and each contestant took a quick guess at the puzzle. Woolery made sure to spin the wheel with the right amount of force to ensure that it would land on the highest money value. Sajak would just spin it full force and let the fates decide on the landing spot. Advantage Woolery.

I am fairly certain that the only times I have watched an episode of Wheel in the last 30 years is if I had been visiting my parents and they of course had it on the telly. This show is the ultimate in TV comfort food, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There is something soothing about shutting down a portion of your brain for a half hour and playing along with the show to solve a relatively easy word puzzle. The show endures for a reason.

Closing Laughs

We need to find good news where we can get it, so there’s this. We are less than 4 weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. Have a great weekend you good people, and I will see you again on Monday. In the meantime, please be sure to hit that “share” button.