Greatest Song Evah - 1/20/23

(Nothing But) Flowers

As well-regarded as they were, I still think the Talking Heads have been somewhat under appreciated. They consistently put out banger after banger, constantly expanding the scope of their sound. Even their final full length album, when it seemed like they were starting to run on fumes, contains arguably my favorite song of theirs.

(Nothing But) Flowers, the hit single from the album, settles into a groove rather quickly and never lets up. Among the musicians that augment the classic 4 piece band are some pleasant surprises. Kirsty MacColl! Johnny Marr! The lyrics describe a post apocalyptic future, in which all of the modern conveniences have faded away and nature has taken over. The song’s narrator wistfully reminisces about everything that has been lost. The irony is that one can easily imagine real life David Byrne being more than happy with living such a simple no frills existence.

They rarely performed together following the release of the Naked album. There were some new tracks on a greatest hits collection, and Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison recorded an album together calling themselves The Heads. But except for a full reunion at their R&R HOF induction (in which they sounded great) that was it. This track was an excellent way to go out.

When Bad Owners Happen To Good Franchises

What makes a good or a bad sports owner? There are obvious answers on both extreme spectrums. On one hand you have the San Antonio Spurs ownership that stays fairly anonymous and largely leaves basketball people alone to make basketball decisions. On the other hand you have ownership of teams such as the Oakland A’s or Cincinnati Reds who invest as little money as possible in their teams and appear to be much more concerned with bottom lines than won-loss records. In between the margins one finds a wide range of types to be found - meddlers, absentee owners, flat out repugnant people, etc.

At what point does ownership become so distasteful that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to root for the team? I realize this may not show consistent thinking being that I passionately root for a team that the Wilpons owned for decades (I could devote multiple columns to my contempt for those 2 but they’re merely a memory now so I can let it go) but there is one owner so irredeemably awful that he drove me away from the team. That would be the lead singer of JD & The Straight Shot himself, James Dolan.

A quintessential trust fund baby, it’s almost as if he were Frankensteined from the worst parts of other team owners to create a Platonic ideal of shoddy stewardship. He’s impulsive, paranoid, vindictive, and thinks he knows more about the sport than he actually does. It’s amazing to look at the number of veteran basketball minds who left New York with seriously damaged reputations. Phil Jackson is one thing, as he never seemed interested in actually doing his job, but the likes of Donnie Walsh, Don Nelson, Larry Brown etc. seemed to rapidly age simply from having been swept up in his wake and left the franchise as broken men.

But wait, there’s more. He has been instituting bans of employees of law firms that have been representing litigants suing MSG, barring them from attending events at any property he owns - not just Madison Square Garden, but also Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre. It’s not just limited to the lawyers, but any employee of the firms in question whether they are actively involved in the cases or not. He has resorted to using facial recognition software to remove people from MSG owned venues. That demonstrates such an arrogant level of contempt that it’s off the charts.

Years ago I reluctantly came to the conclusion that the Knicks do not deserve my fandom. We’re about to hit a full half century since New York’s most recent championship, so it’s questionable if they actually are the iconic franchise that they often claim to be. But Knicks fans, and the league in general, deserve better than this.

Now, after all that, is he worse than Dan Snyder? Hmmmm…..

SNL Preview

With the predication that Kenan is essentially his own category, a new era of Saturday Night Live truly begins with this week’s episode. Cecily Strong’s departure at the end of 2022 means that the last of the non-Kenan long-standing veterans has moved on. This gives the current cast the opportunity to make their collective mark as the machine heads towards its landmark 50th season.

For the last several years along with Kenan, the trio of Aidy/Kate/Cecily have been the pillars that held the show in place. I’ve felt that Chloe Fineman/Heidi Gardner/Ego Nwodim all have the skill to be just as crucial to the show as their immediate predecessors had been, so now that all 3 have left the show the ball is firmly in their court. The show now belongs to that triumvirate along with Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman, although the fact that cast members stay with the show much longer nowadays makes it odd to classify some of these cast members as new blood. Hard as it is to believe, Gardner has already been on the show longer than Aykroyd and Belushi were. Doesn’t she still seem like a newbie?

The show has been trying to find its feet this season, which is inevitable when you consider how huge the cast turnover was this go around. I haven’t found any of the new cast members to stand out yet, but perhaps Strong’s departure will free up some airtime and give them the chances they need to shine. This has not been one of the stronger seasons of the show so far; it seems to be particularly dependent on the skill of the host this year. I’m cautiously optimistic about Aubrey Plaza’s turn in the chair. She has a very distinct style, which often lends itself to writers’ ability to mold the episode to fit a host’s strengths. Do the majority of sketches play on her deadpan, I can kill you with a glare, image? Or do they have a little more fun, and put her in situations that allow her to act uncharacteristically wacky? We shall see. I’m confident in one matter - the cold open will somehow involve Bowen portraying George Santos.

Speaking Of Santos

In an odd way, I can almost respect the guy. He brings the “if you believe it enough, it’s not a lie” mindset to a level that not even Costanza could conceive. In all seriousness, he is either so arrogant that he doesn’t think there could be any real consequences to his dishonesty, or so stupid that he doesn’t recognize that the bulk of his fibs are so easily disprovable. But it speaks volumes to see who is reluctant to abandon him. I get that the margin in the House is minuscule, but it’s not so small that you can’t afford to cut him loose. Kev, can I call you Kev? You still have a majority without him.

Santos vehemently denies some of the more recent stories that have come out, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that he has lost the benefit of the doubt and his denials are a tad hard to believe. If the GoFundMe story about the dog is true, yikes. You can’t go much lower than screwing a veteran and letting a dog die, but I suppose it’s more crucial to own the libs.

Cros

Watching old clips of The Byrds can be jarring. Not only did David Crosby look so young, but he almost seemed cherubic. That seemingly innocent looking guy clearly had no idea what would be in store for him in the ensuing years.

It must have been something to have been a fly on the wall for a CSNY session, yet at the same time I feel sorry for any fly that would have to be witness to such a volatile atmosphere. With 4 such strong and often difficult personalities, it’s no wonder that their collective relationship was as combustible as it was. It’s pretty impressive that they were able to last as long as they did, although they hit multiple bumps in that road, depending on who was actually talking to whom at any particular stretch of time.

Of all of the classic rockers, Crosby would be high on the list of people whose eventual death seemed unfathomable. After all those years and all those substances, he seemed indestructible. With every age milestone he hit, plenty of people likely had the same thought - “I can’t believe David Crosby made it to __!” As it turns out, he made it to 81. And he had a robust social media presence in his later years. Clearly in a no f****s left to give mode, he was cantankerous and brutally honest and it was glorious. Well done. I can’t honestly say that I would have wanted to live his life, but I’ll bet he’s got a boatload of stories to tell his fellow denizens of rock ‘n’ roll heaven.

Sundry

Thanks for reading, and by all means please share if you like what you see. Have a great weekend you good people.