Greatest Song Evah - 5/3/24

Hurt

In what has become a famous quote, upon hearing Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, Trent Reznor said “this song isn’t mine anymore.” It wasn’t said out of bitterness, more out of a recognition that Cash had completely recontextualized the song in such a way that people will forever think of the song through Cash’s interpretation and not through Nine Inch Nails’ original. (See also, Aretha Franklin’s cover of Respect compared to Otis Redding’s version.)

Hurt was originally one of the cornerstone songs on Nine Inch Nails’ classic The Downward Spiral album. As a portrait of addiction and deep pain it was sung with all of the self-loathing that would be expected. When Johnny Cash covered it he took a different tact. His interpretation was that of a man looking back at his life with deep feelings of regret. It was made more powerful by the fact that it was coming from the voice of a septuagenarian Johnny Cash. His weathered voice perfectly embodied the ravages of time and made every single word he sang fully believable.

The spare production added to the power. This came from the fourth collaboration between Cash and Rick Rubin, and there are no frills to be had - just Cash’s voice with minimal musical accompaniment. It starts with a simple guitar arrangement from Mike Campbell, and the tension subtly builds. Benmont Tench’s keyboards are particularly haunting.

My selections for Greatest Song Evah are based on how strong the song is, but Hurt is one in which it’s impossible to discuss without also mentioning the video. Filmed at the old Johnny Cash Museum, which had fallen into disrepair, it intercuts old footage of Cash as a younger man along with his current aged self. The scenes of the withered museum along with footage of a man clearly in his final stages made the song even more powerful. And then in a serendipitous moment June Carter Cash had poked her head in during the filming to check in on her husband, and the cameras caught that moment. At the time it was well known that his health was failing, but few knew that June was also gravely ill. She would pass away only a few weeks after the video was shot. To see her face in a closeup as the line “everyone I know goes away in the end” is a real gut punch.

This served as Johnny Cash’s final act. He died a few months later. I can think of very few artists who went out on such a strong note.

WNBA Primer For Newbies - Part 2

Last week I went through the teams in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference. Now it’s time to go west young man.

Dallas - Dallas is in that awkward position that NBA teams such as Indiana right now or Utah a few years ago have gone through. They’re good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to seriously challenge for the title and too good to earn a high enough draft pick that they would have a shot at obtaining a franchise altering player. Expect more of the same, especially since Satou Sabally, their best player, suffered an injury whilst playing overseas and is likely to miss a big chunk of this season. The player to watch on this team is Arike Ogunbowale, one of the best shooters in the league.

Las Vegas - The Aces are the 2-time defending champs & are a strong favorite to get that threepeat. The core has the advantage of having played together long enough that they all know how to bring about the best in each other’s games. The pieces compliment each other so well. My pick for the top star in the league is A’ja Wilson, who has a dazzling range of skills, but the team is more than just her. Chelsea Gray has been aptly dubbed the Point Gawd, Kelsey Plum is an elite shooter, and Jackie Young is a human Swiss Army knife.

Los Angeles -Arguably the league’s signature franchise, they have been terribly dysfunctional the past few seasons. They have finally come to terms with reality and have begun to rebuild. There are lots of glue players here such as Dearica Hamby and Kia Nurse, but it figures to be a painful 2024.

Minnesota - Once you move past the league’s big 3 stars there are a bunch of players in that level just below. Napheesa Collier is among the best of that grouping of players. After a major rebuild of their own last year the Lynx took the first tentative steps back to prominence. They could use a second star, perhaps the newly acquired Courtney Williams will be the one.

Phoenix - The Mercury made some good moves this offseason to insure continuing success in the post-Diana Taurasi era. ESPN dubbed Kahleah Copper KFC when she won the Finals MVP award while leading Chicago to the title in 2021. Natasha Cloud is one of the top point guards in the league. And Taurasi of course remains a terrific scorer in what could be her final season. But everything in Phoenix revolves around Brittney Griner. She came back last year showing little rust after her time in a Russian prison. She is a defensive stopper and an unstoppable presence in the low post.

Seattle - Seattle is another team that had an active offseason, and they have the necessary trio of major stars to qualify as a superteam. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how long it will take for the pieces to mesh. Joining the holdover Jewell Loyd will be veterans Nneka Ogwumike & Skylar Diggins-Smith. If/when this team fully gels they figure to be on par with New York as the biggest threat to Las Vegas.

Preseason play begins tonight; the first regular season game will be May 14. This figures to be a very special season for the league. Can’t wait.

50 Years Ago - The Movies You Couldn’t Avoid

There’s a certain subset of movies that I remember very well because it seemed to me that TV stations ran their ads on a constant loop. That’s even more true for movies that were targeted to children. Afterschool TV was filled with commercials for something like The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Even better was the breathless voiceover: Held over one more week by popular demand! Must leave theaters this week! Marketers sure knew how to appeal to their target audience; children who wouldn’t know any better were uniquely susceptible to such persuasion.

There was a particular type for movies heavily advertised on weekday afternoon TV. I mentioned Sinbad in the previous paragraph as an example, sugar rush sorts of movies with a fantasy element. The Land That Time Forgot was another great example, what kid doesn’t love a dinosaur movie? So what if the special effects looked a little cheesy. It had dinosaurs!

In later years Bigfoot movies were prevalent, but as far as 1974 specifically goes, two movies clearly stand out. The Life & Times Of Grizzly Adams was the ultimate overly hyped movie. It seemed to be in theaters forever; each time with that hysterical “it’s closing this weekend and we really mean it this time!” promise (threat?) in the ads. Benji was just as inescapable; the ads were a bit more sedate, but there wasn’t as much of a need to overhype things. Showing film clips of the cutest dog on the planet is sufficient. Every child loves to see a movie starring an adorable dog. (Kristi Noem would of course root for the villains in a Benji movie. That is my Kristi Noem joke of the day.)

The studios would not only promote G-rated movies to a young audience. Ads for The Lords Of Flatbush were also a frequent presence. That one sticks in my head all these years later because the ad consisted of a montage of scenes from the movie with an a cappella doo-woo group singing over the footage, culminating with the lines “The lords of Flatbush, Flatbush, Flatbush… rated PG!” A catchy little number.

Finally, another movie in this category was The Trial Of Billy Jack, the final film in that series. It’s odd that such a violent movie was heavily promoted to an audience of children. This is in fact the only time I was ever turned away at a theatre when attempting to buy a ticket. I had seen PG movies at my local theatre before, but I assume that management cracked down a little more heavily on this one because of the violence. Even though the older brother of my best friend was serving as chaperone, they would not let any of us in to see it. As a result, even 50 years later I have yet to see The Trial Of Billy Jack. I presume that I’m mature enough to see it now; should I give it a chance?

Baseball Is The Best!

Yesterday was Sarah Langs’ birthday, or to be more accurate, the birthday of Sarah Langs, Certified National Treasure. She is a jack of many trades whose contributions are crucial to almost any baseball telecast as she provides statistical info for ESPN, MLB Network, and many other outlets. Her vast encyclopedic knowledge of all things baseball humbles me. Her ability to come up with the most obscure nugget at a moment’s notice is otherworldly.

Langs is arguably the most beloved person in the entire sports industrial complex and not just because her assistance makes everyone around her look better. All indications are that she is simply a good person; in fact she is one of the few that still makes Twitter worthwhile. Her frequent “baseball is the best!” tweets are a rare ray of sunshine that balances out so much of the internet toxicity. Even better are her “wheeeee!” tweets whenever a game ends with a win probability graphic that looks like a roller coaster. It’s perfect that such a game happened on her birthday, at yesterday’s Mets game at which she was being honored.

MLB has made this entire week Sarah Langs Week, as the sport has used the occasion as an opportunity to raise funds in the fight against ALS. It is so cruel that a woman who is only in her early thirties is dealing with such a terrible affliction. It is inspiring to see an entire sport rally around her, but it’s accompanied by the unspoken reality that she is facing a terrible fate. She still appears on MLB Network & SNY on a regular basis, but her voice is getting significantly weaker each time. She continues to work as hard as she can, both in her day job and as a fundraiser as well. The world could use a lot more people like Sarah Langs.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Tuesday evening Matt Hilton was enjoying a casual evening watching his son’s t-ball game. Little did he know that there would soon be a need for a beekeeper at Chase Field, as a bee colony formed at the netting during the pregame, making it impossible to start play. Hilton was called to come to the rescue and he safely removed the hive, which allowed the game to be played after a 2 hour delay. Kudos to Hilton, he milked the moment for all it was worth and even got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. They always say that when you attend a game there’s a chance that you might see something you had never seen before. I would say that this qualifies.

SNL Preview

Dua Lipa pulls double duty as host and musical guest this weekend. I’m going to give you a hot take, hope it’s not too controversial but here goes. Dua Lipa is an aesthetically pleasing woman. Don’t be surprised if many of the sketches are built around the premise of her attractiveness. She has begun to dabble in acting recently, but it remains to be seen if she has live sketch comedy skills. We will find out soon enough.

Farewell To The King Of Twang

Early rock & roller and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Duane Eddy died earlier this week at the age of 86. I’m not sure how well his name resonates with younger generations, but he was one of the pioneers of his time. He had a long string of instrumental hit records with a signature sound of his own. A typical Eddy record was reverb-heavy, mostly concentrated on playing the bass strings of his guitar. Songs from his era are not heard on the radio very much these days, but his hit recording of the Peter Gunn theme remains popular to this day. There are so few musicians from the pre-Beatles era that are still with us; it feels especially poignant when another one passes away. We are quickly losing direct ties to that time frame.

We also lost fellow Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer & ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy this week. The first thoughts that come to mind when thinking of ELO are usually the orchestral elements in their early work along with Jeff Lynne’s craftsmanship. Tandy’s contributions were just as vital. Think of how prominent pianos or keyboards are in many of ELO’s most beloved songs, from Evil Woman to Mr. Blue Sky. Richard Tandy was 76.

Closing Laughs

Lo and behold, another weekend is sneaking up on us. Enjoy yourselves, and come on back over here on Monday.