The Love You Save
I don’t know for certain what the very first 45 that I owned was, but I’m pretty sure that it was ABC by the Jackson 5. (That’s not to be confused with the first record I purchased on my own with my allowance money. Sadly enough, that would be The Streak by Ray Stevens. My musical taste would eventually improve.) The Jackson 5 were a major part of some of my early childhood memories. In addition to their early run of massive hits, they had a Saturday morning cartoon series that I watched every week, and they even had little cardboard records which served as the prize on the back of boxes of Alpha Bits cereal.
Their early run of hits was truly impressive - their first 4 singles each hit #1 on the Hot 100, and the next two each peaked at the #2 position. Of all of those classics, The Love You Save is the one that I love the most. It hits high gear right from the opening notes, and you can’t find a better example of the unbelievable charisma that Michael had. In addition, Jermaine’s vocal contributions brought this to another level. The contrasts between the tones in their two voices made this more special.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to defend Tito. For the longest time his name has been used as shorthand to isolate a non-essential member of a famous band, but that’s really unfair to Tito. He did play guitar after all (not on the record, however. Motown’s studio band laid down the instrumental track) and if my memory serves correctly he usually had the best lines in the cartoon show. If you really feel the need to make one of the Jacksons a Zeppo, then it would have to be Marlon. Sorry.
Pitchers & Catchers & The Rest
This offseason has brought back memories of the infamous 2018/19 free agency sludge. That was the year that spring training camps opened and Bryce Harper and Manny Machado still had not signed contracts with anyone, which in turn created a ripple effect for free agents on the next tier. The available players all eventually signed deals, but there was a shocking number of useful players whose fates were still up in the air as spring training began.
Well, here we go again. Because the Dodgers & Padres are started the season with a series in South Korea, their camps opened a couple of days earlier than the rest of the league. Pitchers and catchers day for the other 28 teams will be early next week. Even so, no one has signed Blake Snell or Cody Bellinger or Matt Chapman among others. Early this offseason the general consensus was that teams needed to wait on Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto before knowing for certain what their budgets could be. Their signings barely moved the needle, however. Now the belief is that the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy is causing too much ambiguity for the teams that are affected by that situation. Without knowing how much money they will earn from broadcast rights it’s difficult for teams to determine how much money they have to spend. Whether that is a legitimate reason or not, the fact remains that there are a lot of talented ballplayers impatiently sitting by their phones, waiting.
Things should change rather quickly, and not just because a player is eager to get to work. Teams cannot place a player on the 60 day IL, and therefore clear up a spot on the 40 man roster, until the start of spring training. Therefore, in a few days teams will be able to disable all of the guys who have injuries that will keep them off the field for most, if not all of the year. In a few days, there will be a couple dozen available roster spots scattered throughout the league, so a frenzy of free agent signings is likely just around the corner.
Spring training also begins with the saga of the Oakland A’s continuing to be as embarrassing as possible. There’s still no groundbreaking date for the supposed new stadium in Las Vegas, and the team’s lease with Oakland Coliseum expires after this season. So, not only does the club not have a home for next season, but they have no idea when, or even if, they will have a permanent park in Vegas. To make it worse, Las Vegas’s mayor expressed her belief that the team should remain in Oakland. To call this a debacle is an understatement. Is there anyone on the planet besides John Fisher who actually wants this to happen? Good job, good effort all around.
Finally, this story was a bit of an eye opener. There appears to be a strong push to have MLB players participate when baseball returns to the Olympics in 2028. (Neither baseball nor softball are on the 2024 program.) The fact that the 2028 Games are to be held in Los Angeles makes it at least somewhat feasible, with only minimal disruption to the season. The one huge drawback to the World Baseball Classic is that it takes place before pitchers have fully ramped up. That would not be the case here. It’s a story that bears watching.
This Year’s “Please Clap” Moment
In one of the oddities of this year’s primary season, this week Nevada held both a primary & a caucus on separate days. Pay attention, there will be a quiz. Nikki Haley participated in the primary, but not the caucus. Donald Trump did the exact opposite. If that wasn’t confusing enough, the Republican Party is only awarding delegates from the caucus. As a result, the primary was essentially meaningless. At least Haley made a strong enough showing to claim a moral victory, right?
Jokes about finishing worse than “none of the above” have long been a comedy staple, but to see it play out in real life is something else. I have no idea what Haley’s end game is. I suppose her strategy is to stay in the game just in case something happens to Orange Napoleon, but that’s the longest of long shots. We’ve all seen how he destroys anyone who he perceives to be a threat. He has completely poisoned her name in MAGA world; I cannot envision any scenario in which a significant percentage of his supporters would ever turn to her. Not only is her candidacy toast, but I just don’t see how she can possibly have a viable future in a Trump dominated GOP.
Really, Tim Scott had the ideal result. He was in the race long enough to make a name for himself and repeated all of the MAGA approved talking points. Yet he dropped out well before the first vote was taken. So, he didn’t merit a degrading nickname, but since Trump has the attention span of a squirrel with ADHD, he’s a contender for a cabinet position in the nightmare scenario of a second Trump term in the same way that he selected Rick Perry & Ben Carson the last time because he literally couldn’t think of anyone else.
We Are All Pawns In Game Of Life
There’s been a lot of discourse over the past few days concerning the 50th anniversary of the release of Blazing Saddles. The tiresome “this could never be made today” argument continues to come up. I think that Craig Calcaterra says it best here, I largely agree with many of his points.
What I would rather discuss is something that I think about on occasion, which is closely related to my earlier thoughts on Carl Weathers. It’s noteworthy that the level of success an actor achieves can often come down to a simple matter of timing. Take Madeline Kahn as an example.
There’s plenty of sexism in the entertainment industry, but it may be most prevalent in comedy. For generations the field has had a collective “dames ain’t funny” mentality. Far too often female comediennes have had to make themselves intentionally unattractive in order to make it. Things are still far from ideal, but they are certainly better with the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler having so much power.
The two women whom I frequently believe could have had much stronger careers in a more welcoming age are Madeline Kahn and Teri Garr. Now, both did in fact have careers that anyone would be proud to have. Both have at least one Oscar nomination, and both appeared in some of the most beloved comedies of their eras. But can you imagine the type of major stardom either would have had if they had access to a flux capacitor and could transport themselves a few decades forward? Is it difficult to picture Madeline Kahn as Jenna Maroney? Teri Garr made a few appearances on Friends as Phoebe’s birth mother. Imagine how well she could have portrayed the role of Phoebe herself.
Sadly, neither were even able to reap the benefits of a later atmosphere more welcoming to funny women as they aged. Kahn died relatively young from cancer, and Garr faced multiple serious health issues that forced her into a premature retirement. I can think of all sorts of guest roles on TV comedies that creators could have given to them as Respected Veteran Performers. Both of them were truly spectacular comedic actresses, both have resumes with a lot of highlights, both deserved even better than what each accomplished. Perhaps things were better for them on Earth 2.
Sure Could Use Some Fixin’
On Wednesday Mojo Nixon died at the age of 66 a night after he had performed on a country music cruise. We often casually toss around phrases such as “there’s no one like him,” but in Nixon’s case it was an appropriate description. Often described with terms such as “psychobilly,” there absolutely was no one quite like Mojo Nixon.
The true definition of a cult artist, he cultivated an image as a crazy southern preacher type in his music. He clearly was not for everyone’s taste, so he rarely enjoyed much mainstream radio airplay, and MTV generally saved him for late night programming. His best known song was “Elvis Is Everywhere,” and that was just one example of the niche he cultivated with a series of manic songs about pop culture figures - “Don Henley Must Die,” “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child,” “Stuffing Martha’s Muffin.” He built a lasting career as a long time Sirius XM host in addition to maintaining a heavy touring schedule. And by all accounts he was a swell guy; he was a much beloved figure within the alt country community.
I was working in college radio during the “Elvis Is Everywhere” era & I had an opportunity to interview Nixon. It was a really fun conversation; I don’t know if he was really like that or if he knew that for branding purposes he always needed to be “on.” Whichever it was, spending those few minutes speaking with him did not disappoint. Truly one of a kind, here’s hoping that in the next phase he gets to spend some quality time with the Sailing Elvis.
This week there were a few other losses in the music world worth noting. Aston “Family Man” Barrett, bass player for the Wailers died at the age of 77. Those deep grooves were a key component of the Wailers’ sound. He was an integral piece of the Bob Marley legend. And MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer died at the age of 75. Fierce and uncompromising, Kramer was true to himself until the very end. Kick out those jams! Henry Fambrough also passed away this week. He was one of the 2 surviving members of The Spinners who were still alive for their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. It’s fortunate that he was able to enjoy the honor; seeing the look of gratitude on his face during the ceremony shows that for all of its faults, the Hall is an institution that matters.
It’s That Time Of Year Again
Speaking of which, on Saturday the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame will announce the list of nominees for the Class of 2024. You’re damn right I’ll have many thoughts to share on Monday. Keep in mind that this will be the first new ballot since Jann Wenner’s infamous interview. It will be fascinating to see the composition of this ballot in that light.
Closing Laughs
And that’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and have an enjoyable weekend. Be sure to come back on Monday.