Greatest Song Evah 12/15/23
September
You may accuse me of selecting this song about 3 months too late, but that’s not how I roll. Ignore the calendar, this song provides an ideal soundtrack for literally any day of the year.
There were so many components that made Earth, Wind & Fire great, but one of the biggest was the contrast between the voices of Maurice White & Phillip Bailey. Many of their finest works featured one of them handling the verses & the other the chorus, which was the case here. And their best songs were always so impeccably produced. White was such a wizard in the studio; the combo of the horn section with the heavy funk bottom meshed seamlessly time after time.
As the band moved into the legacy artist portion of their career, they have been reduced to the remaining core of Bailey, Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson along with backing musicians. As the video for this song shows, the full band experience in their peak era was a visual spectacular, and they were as tight of an ensemble as one could find.
This song served as the new track on their greatest hits album that came out in 1978. That seems perfect; they were well into their run as a premiere crossover act, and the song showed that they were still on top of their game and that their creative and commercial success showed no signs of slowing down. I don’t think they ever topped this one, but they would still prove to be a force to be reckoned with in the ensuing years. Is there a more joyous way to go into the weekend than with a few “bah dee yahs?”
The Countdown Continues
Newcomer #5 - Matt Holliday. I find it a bit sad that the “Which cap should go on an inductee’s plaque?” question has gotten so contentious in many instances. That’s why it’s unfortunate that as good of a player as Matt Holliday, was he wasn’t HOF good. Because if we was, instead of having to choose between which of his two main teams would be a better choice for his plaque, the Hall could have thought outside the box and honored the most famous moment in his career. In 2011 he had to leave a game because a moth flew into his ear and lodged in there. In lieu of a cap, the plaque could simply depict a moth ominously fluttering around his head.
All kidding aside, Holliday was an outstanding player. Even after setting aside the skepticism that comes with big numbers produced in Denver, he was one of the top hitters in the game, and he proved that his numbers were not a mile high mirage when he was nearly as productive during the years he spent in St. Louis. Also, even though he didn’t actually touch home plate when he was credited with scoring the winning run in the tiebreak game, he was one of the heroes for Colorado’s only pennant winning team in 2007, earning NLCS MVP honors.
His resume is filled with lots of bullet points that add up to a noteworthy career - MVP votes in 8 separate seasons, a 7-time All-Star, 4 Silver Slugger Awards. The Hall makes a big point over the fact that only 1% of all major league players earn induction. Holliday wasn’t that, but it’s reasonable to place him in the top 3% of all players instead, and that’s a hell of an accomplishment. His career totals belie that; more than 2000 hits, more than 1200 RBI, a batting average just below .300 & an OPS+ of 132. He just needed to do a better job of avoiding that moth.
Holdover #5 - Andruw Jones. Andruw Jones made a splashy big league debut. After a late season callup in 1996 at the age of 19, he really made a name for himself in that postseason, punctuated by hitting 2 home runs in Game 1 of the World Series. He remains the youngest man to have homered in the Fall Classic. He went on to total 434 regular season dingers in his career, leading the league once.
But that’s not where the bulk of his value comes from. He was more than just an elite defensive center fielder, winning 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards, he was historically great. I don’t completely trust defensive metrics, but in his case the numbers match the eye test. Depending on which metric you look at, he ranks as either the greatest or second greatest (behind only Willie Mays) defensive center fielder in the sport’s history. And he did this without needing to make spectacular plays. He had a knack for positioning himself perfectly, so he could simply glide to the ball. He just looked so smooth out there.
And yet… I find it hard to get past just how badly he fell off the table once he turned 30. This was not a standard age-related decline; seemingly at the snap of a finger he became basically unusable as a regular player. He’s not the first player to suffer a drastic decline as he aged, but few have been so dramatic so suddenly. Jones had the peak value, but not the career value. Did he have enough of a peak to counteract how terrible those last 6 years of his career were? For me, it’s a no.
The National Registry
The Library Of Congress announced this year’s list of 25 films that will enter the National Film Registry. As usual, it ranges from highbrow to lowbrow, from crowd pleasers to films only known by film buffs, displaying the full breadth of what types of storytelling are possible in the realm of motion pictures. Selections go back as far as the silent era, and all are considered significant enough that they are worthy of preservation.
A few of the choices caught my eye. I remember that Bamboozled was heavily criticized upon its release, I did not realize that its reputation has improved over the years. I was very happy to see the love for 20 Feet From Stardom. It contains one of the greatest scenes I ever saw in a music documentary. Merry Clayton retold the story that has been often told of how she wound up on the Gimme Shelter session. This time she listened to her isolated vocal track & gave the camera a look that I can only describe as the visual equivalent of a mic drop. And sorry, but I realize how popular Home Alone is, but I have the level of visceral hatred for that movie that many other people hold for Love, Actually.
Anyhoo, these 25 movies will be preserved forever. It’s good to know that when society collapses WALL-E will have a wider range of selections to choose from, not just Hello, Dolly.
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
Speaking of societal collapse, this story caught my eye. Yep, a dolphin with thumbs has been discovered. As always, The Onion was eerily prescient.
The dolphins aren’t going to take over the planet just yet, they need some more time to fully organize. Once again, however, I can’t help but think that the orcas ramming boats earlier this year was a precursor to the inevitable dolphin takeover. Humanity had a nice run, but let’s admit it. We messed up badly. Flipper and his pals should do a better job of running things around here.
The End Of An Era
HBO has announced that the upcoming 12th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which premieres in February, will be its last. It’s probably time, the last few seasons have been a bit inconsistent, but at its best it was one of the flat out funniest TV comedies that has ever been seen.
Where to start? With the number of absolute classic episodes? Such as Krayzee Eyez Killa? Or Beloved Aunt? How about the ways in which Susie Essman turned profanity into an art form? Everyone has their own choice for the series’ peak, but for my money the top season long arc came in season 4. The season followed 2 running plots, which finally converged at the very end. First, Larry reminded Cheryl about a pact they had made when they got engaged in which she would give him one “freebie” that he could cash in on their 10th anniversary. He made many futile attempts to cash in on that promise. At the same time Mel Brooks cast Larry to take over the role of Max Bialystock in the Broadway production of The Producers, much to the chagrin of Brooks’ fellow investors. That entire season merits a rewatch.
It clearly has shown its age in the latter seasons. If there is a central theme that runs throughout the series it’s that Larry (and there is little separation between the real life Larry David & the TV character Larry David) decides that many of the societal rules are arbitrary, and he takes it upon himself to violate the established norms. More often than not he learns that there is in fact good reasoning behind these seemingly arbitrary rules. It has seemed like he is starting to run out of ideas; eventually one is going to run out of things to complain about. As an example, in one scene he saw a couple using a selfie stick and he just walked over, grabbed the stick, and smashed it over his knees. That just seemed pointless and mean spirited. And even though he was only a supporting character, the show really was hurt by Bob Einstein’s death. They introduced Vince Vaughn as Funkhouser’s cousin, but he didn’t feel like a good fit.
HBO has always had a unique deal with Larry David. They didn’t pressure him to deliver a season of episodes within a fixed time frame, they let him produce at his own pace & the network would schedule new episodes when he was ready. The hope is that he went into this season knowing that it would be the final one & that he used every last great idea he had in reserve. If nothing else, I’m anticipating that the final run of episodes will be pre-tay, pre-tay, good.
SNL Preview
SNL has moved away from this idea a bit in recent seasons, but for a prolonged stretch the show would traditionally bring back a former cast member to host the final show before the holiday break. By this point in the year everyone is pretty exhausted, and it’s much easier to bring in someone who already knows how the machine works. And if that means other alumni return for surprise guest appearances, even better.
This week it’s Kate McKinnon’s turn to make her hosting debut. I think she remained with the show a year of two too long, but at her best she was one of the all-time greats. I got a little tired of seeing her appear as seemingly half of Trump’s Cabinet, but her Ellen DeGeneres & Justin Bieber impersonations were top notch. She specialized in crazy-eyed characters; I will always appreciate the Russian peasant woman Olya. Billie Eilish will be the musical guest; I am optimistic that the show will continue the minor winning streak it has been on lately.
TV Of the 21st Century - My Name Is Earl
For years, the Thursday night NBC lineup was television’s zenith. Going back as far as the early 80’s when the schedule was filled with critically acclaimed yet poorly rated shows, leading to the Cosby led ratings bonanza, and then to the Seinfeld and Friends eras, those years were overflowing with top notch programming. The dirty secret was that there would usually be one show in that lineup that was essentially swimming in the wake, scoring high viewership simply because people didn’t feel like changing the channel. That whole Single Guy/Veronica’s Closet/Boston Common group is largely forgotten today.
But when the entire evening is filled with winners, that’s really special. Such as the period when the comedy block contained 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs, & My Name Is Earl. Earl wasn’t quite up to par with those other 3 but it was a winner in its own right.
Jason Lee was the titular Earl, starting off the series as a sleazy petty criminal. After winning a huge prize from a scratch off ticket, he was immediately hit by a car and lost the winning ticket. While recovering in the hospital, he learns about the concept of karma (from Carson Daly of all people) and realizes he needs to make amends and perform a series of good deeds to make things right with the universe. He does recover the ticket, and sticks with his pledge to better himself with the assistance of his brother Randy. In this show’s universe we meet the likes of Crab Man, Catalina, Mr. Turtle, and of course, TV’s Tim Stack.
In addition to being laugh out loud funny (it was a great running joke that Earl would constantly close his eyes when being photographed) I appreciated the fact that even though it was set in the culture of trailer parks, it never condescended to these people. It was funny without being too mean-spirited.
Early episodes followed a basic structure. Earl had a master list of all the people he had wronged, and he would cross off a new item on his list each week. That could grow repetitive, and eventually the scope expanded so that Earl’s search for karma remained the central tenet of the show but it wasn’t beholden to the main plot line every week. The standout was Jamie Pressley in an Emmy winning role as Earl’s ex wife Joy, constantly attempting to sabotage Earl.
All in all, this qualifies as a quintessential little show that could. It never received the same levels of hype, or acclaim, that the shows surrounding it on the schedule did. But it was a consistently funny show, and it more than held its own with its brethren. Certainly much better than Suddenly Susan did.
Originally aired on: NBC
Currently streaming on: Hulu
Our Long National Nightmare Is Over
Closing Laughs
Well, friends, my gift to you? I have a couple more Bluesky invite codes to give away. If you are interested, ask & you shall receive. Have a great weekend, everyone, & I’ll see you all on Monday.