May The Tenth Be With You

Al Kooper

When the Hall Of Fame morphed the Sideman category into the Musical Excellence prize, Leon Russell was the initial honoree and he was the ideal person for that rebrand. A major songwriter, producer, bandleader, session musician and recording artist, it’s possible he fell short of induction if you isolate each individual element, but once you add it all together you’ve got a slam dunk Hall of Famer. That is also the case with Al Kooper, one of this year’s Musical Excellence inductees.

Similar to Russell, at his peak he had his fingers in seemingly every pie. After achieving early success as a co-writer of “This Diamond Ring” he began working with Bob Dylan, famously intending to play guitar on the Highway 61 Revisited session. As soon as he heard Mike Bloomfield play, he realized that he couldn’t measure up to him so he asked to sit in on organ instead despite his limited experience on that instrument. Once Dylan heard his playing on the track they were laying down, he admired the lack of sheen and asked for the organ line to be more prominently featured. That track was Like a Rolling Stone, which was only one of the most important recordings in rock history. Kooper went on to be part of the backing band for the legendary Dylan Goes Electric shows at Newport and Forest Hills.

From there, he continued to show a Zelig-like ability to show up everywhere. He formed one of the earliest supergroups with Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, and was the original leader of Blood, Sweat & Tears. His career as a solo act never really took off, but he was a much in demand producer throughout most of the 70s, most notably producing the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums. All this makes him a terrific choice for the Musical Excellence prize.

Who’s Coming Back Next Year?

Unless there is a shockingly quick resolution to the Writers Guild strike (Narrator: There will NOT be a quick resolution.) this season of SNL has ended 3 episodes early. Overall it was a slightly subpar season. I liked the fact that the show did not rely on recurring bits as much as it normally has, and I admired its willingness to embrace weird concepts, but there were too many instances in which sketches went nowhere. It’s a solid cast, and knowing that this was going to be a transitional year with so much cast turnover, the hope is that everyone will mesh much better with a year under their belts.

Which brings us to the annual tradition of speculating who will return come September. With the caveat that it is not always the cast member’s decision, there are two factors unique to this cycle which may have an affect on an individual’s decision making. First, this has been season #48, which means the milestone 50th season is only two years away. Any veteran choosing to come back will essentially be making a two year commitment as it wouldn’t make much sense to not want to return for such an important year. The premature end of this season should also be taken into account. I would imagine a veteran cast member would feel somewhat of a letdown if they leave without being able to say goodbye. (There’s always a chance that Lorne or NBC could allow someone to pull a Cecily and leave the show midseason.) With all that in mind I’ll take a peek into my crystal ball and try to figure out who will be back on the show this fall.

Michael Che & Colin Jost - Best to consider them as a package deal; it’s tough to imagine one leaving & the other staying. They are the longest running Update team in show history; I believe it’s long past time for new blood in those chairs. I think they both leave.

Mikey Day - He has seemed to have a lot less air time this season; it could be a sign that he’s starting to wind things down. I think he leaves.

Andrew Dismukes - He’s found a knack for portraying irrationality confident characters. Not a star, but he serves his purpose. He’s coming back.

Chloe Fineman - She’s one that has seized the opportunity to fill that chasm that opened up following last year’s high profile departures. She is one of the biggest stars in the current cast & will return.

Heidi Gardner - I thought she would have had a bigger role this season. She is so skilled at creating lived-in characters, particularly in her Update showcases but I’m not sure if the show has been making proper use of her skills. If pressed I’ll say she’s coming back but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she departs for greener pastures.

Punkie Johnson - She still has too many episodes in which she barely appears. It looks like she will suffer the fate of Melissa Villasenor; spending years on the show without getting a real opportunity to make her mark. Despite that she’s still coming back.

Ego Nwodim - She’s the stealth MVP of the current cast, equally capable of starring in a piece as she is as acting as the straight man to anchor a sketch. She will return.

Kenan Thompson - Hard as it is to imagine, even Kenan will eventually leave the show and when he does it will cause a national trauma. I can’t see it happening just yet. How could he remain on the show this long and not stick around to be part of season 50? He’s coming back.

Bowen Yang - No need to overthink this one. Setting Kenan aside, he is clearly the featured star of the current cast. He’s returning.

These days new cast members apprentice as featured players for 2 seasons before earning promotions to the main cast, regardless of how big of a splash they make in their debut seasons. No suspense for the 2 that have just completed their sophomore years. James Austin Johnson is the current equivalent of Darrell Hammond with his wide range of impressions and more importantly he portrays both Biden AND Trump. And Sarah Sherman has not only carved her space as the avatar of weirdness, but her airtime in non-Sarah centric sketches has increased as well. Both Johnson and Sherman are going to be promoted.

I’m less certain about the 4 rookies. All 4 have gotten a solid amount of airtime including Update showcases. None of them have faded into Luke Null territory. At the same time, none have stood out from the pack just yet. Will all 4 be invited back? My guess is their likelihood of returning ranks like this: 1) Michael Longfellow 2) Molly Kearney 3) Marcello Hernandez 4) Devon Walker. If I hazard a guess, I’ll say 3 out of the 4 will make it back. I’m not sure if Walker showed enough this year to warrant a second season.

SNL Season 6 Recap

Episode 3 is another instance in which it’s a shame that NBC Universal didn’t want to splurge on music licensing fees. This week’s musical guest was Aretha Franklin! It sure would have been more ideal to see her performances than to have to sit through the awful attempts at comedy contained in the episode.

Ellen Burstyn was the host this time. To her credit the focus of her monologue was the fact that there’s very little comedy in her filmography. Acknowledging that is one thing, but it’s not as if the material did anything to disprove the belief that she was a poor fit to host a live comedy sketch show. Once again, the stoned silence from the studio audience was all too noticeable. Once again, I simply cannot name a best sketch of the night.

But I’m burying the lede here. This episode introduced America to… Eddie Murphy! This wasn’t his actual on-camera debut; he was an extra in a sketch from the previous episode which for whatever reason is not included on the Peacock edit. But this was the first time he had lines, and from the get go he shared screentime with Joe Piscopo and the two showed an immediate rapport. Piscopo’s sportscaster character did a report on Update concerning a Cleveland law that apparently required there be at least 2 white players on high school basketball teams. Murphy came on as a sophomore player decrying the law. It wasn’t a funny piece, but knowing that Murphy will start to appear more frequently at least provides hope that future episodes won’t be as painful to sit through as the first 3 have been.

Next week’s host will be Jamie Lee Curtis at the height of her initial scream queen stardom. It might be too much to hope that the show will provide an early showcase for her considerable comedic chops, but I can always be optimistic, can’t I?

That Was Then, This Is Now

As we continue to descend into an authoritarian dystopia, this difference from earlier dark periods has always stood out to me. The anti-government rhetoric was just as vicious in the early 90s as it is today, and there was no shortage of enablers in the right wing information infrastructure. The ugliness really increased post-Waco, but there was a major tragedy that made many realize that things had gone too far. That was of course Oklahoma City.

The bombing of the Alfred Murrah building seems inevitable in retrospect. Extremists increasingly dehumanized federal employees and created an atmosphere in which a federal building became a natural target. The sight of so many dead children caused many to pump the brakes. It didn’t put an end to the militia mentality of course, it merely buried it underground, but GOP leaders largely stopped indulging the more radical elements.

That is certainly no longer the case. No matter how many radical right wing domestic terrorists cause mayhem, party leaders bury their collective heads in the sand and claim there’s nothing to see. A man plowing a vehicle into a migrant shelter will not stop anti-refugee rhetoric. There is an element of Frankenstein monster syndrome here, as the creators of the atmosphere have lost control. But there seems to be no one willing to tamp down the emotions. Until that happens it will be nearly impossible to pull our society out of this ugly downward spiral of violence.

Where’s Nardo?

This photo went viral the other day and seeing it made me irrationally happy. Taxi ranks high in my all-time pantheon of sitcoms - definitely top 10, perhaps even top 5? It’s a bit heartwarming to see old friends just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory. (This photo does not appear to have been taken at a Jersey Mike’s, which explains Danny DeVito’s absence.) I suspect many of us like to imagine that former cast members of classic TV shows or movies frequently reunite so that they can revel in the knowledge of the special times they shared, but that’s not the case. Celebrities are Just Like Us; they are not necessarily able to see old friends as often as they would like to.

Or to put it another way, think about how often you are able to see your old coworkers. I had held one of my previous jobs for 17 years, and I haven’t had many opportunities to see my old colleagues and friends from that time other than through Facebook, and I’m almost never on Facebook these days so I don’t even have that outlet to keep in touch all that much. Next month is one of my college reunions - I’ll pass on saying which anniversary it’s for. There are plenty of people I’ll see next month for the first time in 5 years, the realities and responsibilities of living in the real world kind of prohibit more frequent face to face meetings.

That’s a major part of the reason why so many people loved the final season of Star Trek: Picard, which featured a full-on reunion of the core TNG cast. It’s comforting to see so many actors/characters whom we had grown so fond of fall back into comfortable rhythms so easily. There was a lot of unavoidable fan service, but it was the good kind of fan service. Now somebody needs to arrange a lunch gathering for the surviving cast members of WKRP In Cincinnati pronto!

We’ll Meet Again

That’s all for now, folks. Thanks as always for reading and let’s all do this again on Friday.