Meet The Nominees Vol. 11

The Spinners

The Spinners have long been near the top of my personal list of most overlooked candidates, mostly due to what their absence says about changes in voting patterns. If you look at the inductees from the first dozen or so classes, R&B is very well represented. Virtually every major Motown act is in, along with most of the important Stax artists and the significant Atlantic R&B figures. Once the timeframe began to move into recognizing artists from the 70s, the path of R&B acts started to get blocked and the overall makeup of the Hall grew increasingly whiter. There would be an O’Jays here or a Staple Singers there, but not much to see otherwise.

It is particularly unfortunate for The Spinners, who themselves were briefly a Motown act but made the bulk of their impact recording for Atlantic Records, and whose resume matches that of many previously inducted artists. Similar to someone such as The Four Tops, they were hugely popular for several years and many of their hits have become much beloved timeless classics. And yet they remain on the outside looking in, having been nominated three times previously with nothing to show for it.

And they are not the only 1970s R&B act in the same boat, just the one for whom one can make the strongest argument. But there is also The Stylistics. And The Chi-Lites. And Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Don’t forget some of their other contemporaries that eventually found massive crossover success. Like Kool & The Gang. Or The Commodores. Or The Pointer Sisters. At this time I’m not really trying to lobby for any of these groups other than The Spinners, but I can safely say that they all have stronger credentials than The Dells, they simply emerged in the wrong decade.

The Spinners’ fate on this year’s ballot will be interesting to watch. They are far from the biggest name, yet at the same time there is no one else who shares their profile. Does that open up a free lane for them?

If elected, will they perform at the ceremony? Yes, but… The only nominated member who is still alive is Henry Frambrough. As such, he has rights to the name, and leads a group that continues to tour as The Spinners, but it would feel a bit odd to watch a group of faux Spinners sing a couple of songs.

Their biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit - Working May Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl, although they also hit #1 duetting with Dionne Warwick on Then Came You.

My personal favorite - The Rubberband Man

Possible Side Category Inductee - Big Mama Thornton

Outside observers have long championed Big Mama as an ideal candidate for an Early Influence induction. Odd that it hasn’t happened yet, but perhaps now will be the time. She perfectly fits the definition of an early influence by helping lay the foundation for what would soon become rock & roll. Her most famous recording is the original version of Hound Dog, and she also wrote & recorded Ball and Chain.

Her Hound Dog contrasts sharply from the Elvis version. It’s gritty & grimy and she completely sells the song’s original meaning as she cuts off a no-good man at the knees. Elvis Presley’s take in comparison cleans it up to the extent that it’s become a cute little ditty about an actual dog. You can’t picture Thornton crooning the song to a basset hound wearing a top hat.

She was one of the premiere blues singers of the era that predated and was eventually concurrent with the beginnings of rock & roll. She is a textbook example of the word “influential.” To go with the most obvious example it’s difficult to imagine Janis Joplin without her inspiration, and not just because of her famous rendition of Ball & Chain. Big Mama Thornton clearly deserves a spot in the Hall.

SNL Recap

I have to admit I started to get a sinking feeling in the early portion of the show. After a tepid cold open Jenna Ortega brought Fred Armisen onto stage during her monologue and she told him that The Californians is her all-time favorite sketch. That made me seriously question her comedic instincts. No need to worry, as this turned out to be one of the top episodes of this season. The show this year has tended to embrace the weird, and it really payed off this week.

This week’s highlight was the Please Don’t Destroy film. Ortega joined the trio on a cross country car trip, with their happy singalong intermittently interrupted by the reality that being trapped in a car with people for that long can get on one’s nerves. Note: Do NOT let Martin handle the navigation. This was an ideal showcase for their inherent lunacy. It’s worth noting that a pre taped piece is the high point as the show’s post production team is on the verge of going on strike on April 1. They do amazing work to get those filmed pieces look so good in such a brief turnaround; NBC needs to do the right thing and pay them what they’re worth. It will certainly have a detrimental effect on the show if they do walk off.

Another gem was the School v. School sketch. Seeing a game show set was worrying, but the point of this one was not about the game. It was very noticeable that only one of the two teams was visible as the sketch opened. It was a good payoff to see that the other competing team was an X-Men type of boarding school. Mikey and Ortega really sold their characters.

It was an encouraging sign of creativity that they never went with an obvious Wednesday sketch. They did acknowledge Ortega’s horror movie roots with an exorcist sketch. The type of world weary character that Ego portrayed in that one is right in her wheelhouse. Kudos as well to the Varsity Valley sketch; it was well staged with the Waffle House insanity contrasting with the angsty sincerity shown by Ortega’s and Marcelo’s characters.

It was an encouraging episode for Molly Kearney; until this week they were the only one of the rookies without an Update showcase, but they got the role of Tennessee’s LGBTQ-hating Lt. Governor who has a shall we say interesting internet presence. It wasn’t a particularly well written piece, but Update time is always important for newbies to establish a presence.

Good work all around, Jenna Ortega made for a solid host and she shows why her star is ascending. The show is taking a break for a couple of weeks, hopefully the April 1 return will come with a new and fair contract for the post crew. Quinta Brunson will host. I’m already thrilled about that.

They Passed Out Some Trophies

As suspected, they didn’t wrap it up by 11. You would think that with Christopher Guest seated in the first row they would show a little more respect for the sacred number. I’m not just saying this because I loved Everything Everywhere All At Once as much as I did, but I can’t recall a more emotional and uplifting Oscar ceremony.

Really, if you weren’t moved by Ke Huy Quan’s victory and his response then I’m not sure you have a soul & I have to wonder in which dark portion of the multiverse you dwell. Racacoonie would not approve. But all 4 of the acting champs have great backstories and in their tearful speeches made sure that there were no dry eyes in the house. It’s just a shame that there couldn’t have been a tie for Supporting Actress, as I would have been just as happy to see Angela Bassett finally get what she’s long earned.

The best moment was saved for last. What a wonderful reunion between Indiana Jones and Short Round.

Let There Be Chaos

Out of necessity the scheduling of pool play in the World Baseball Classic needs to be staggered. With 2 of the 4 pools taking place in Asia, the teams competing at those venues require enough of a buffer to complete pool and quarterfinal play so that the semifinalists can make it to Miami for the semis with sufficient time to recover from jet lag. As a result, we have the quirk of Pool A completing round robin play before either Canada or Israel played even one game.

And Pool A ended in the best way possible. All 5 teams finished with identical 2-2 records. Therefore a complicated series of tiebreakers ensued which determined that Cuba and Italy are the two squads moving on. Seriously, tiebreaker #5 was drawing of lots. On one hand, The Netherlands elimination means we saw a premature departure of Honkbal & the wonderful names on that roster. Sicnarf Loopstok? An MLB team needs to sign this guy, stat! On the other hand, Team Italy has a Nespresso machine in their dugout! That, I believe, was the first tiebreaker.

A special shout-out goes to the Great Britain uniforms. They look like they came from the wardrobe of a low-budget movie that couldn’t afford to pay for major league team names or logos, so they designed the most generic looking unis possible. I almost admire the “let’s phone this in” minimalism.

Shiffrin Stands Alone

The inevitable happened this past weekend as Mikaela Shiffrin won her 86th & 87th career World Cup races, propelling her past Ingemar Stenmark to break the all-time record and become the most victorious Alpine skier of either gender. Additionally, just a couple of weeks ago she won a total of 3 medals at the Alpine World Championships, which set that career medals mark. Bottom line, her mantelpiece is getting weighed down by all that hardware.

It’s worth noting that she is still only 27 years old, so as long as her health holds she can really separate herself from the pack before all is said and done. The 2026 Olympics is a good carrot at the end of a stick. It’s safe to say she really wants to remove the bad taste that the Beijing Olympics left in her mouth. This is some serious historical greatness we’re looking at here.

The Veterans Stadium Horror

I’ve always hated watching baseball games played on artificial turf. First off, it just looks ugly. The shade of green has a nauseating vibe to it, and the huge splotches of water on the older surfaces made for an aesthetically unpleasing visual. Plus, there’s an inherently different feel to game play. It was never any fun to see a simple bloop hop well over an outfielder’s head, turning what should have been a cheap single into a triple. And outfielders would need to play passively, not risking a dive precisely because a ball could easily bounce around like a pinball if they miss that attempt.

But a horrifying story just came out makes any stylistic complaints about the fake stuff seem trivial. Last week the Philadelphia Inquirer examined the fact that 6 former Phillies (Ken Brett, Darren Daulton, Tug McGraw, Johnny Oates, John Vukovich, & David West) have all died from glioblastoma, a statistically unlikely cluster. They were able to examine samples of the old Veterans Stadium turf and found that it contains PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” It’s also noteworthy that Gary Carter, Dick Howser, and Dan Quisenberry all died young from brain cancer as well.

I’m not sure how significant it is that most of the men were either pitchers or catchers, but it is chilling to see this. Turf was a major part of the game for most of the 70s & 80s and as a result there is a significant number of former major leaguers who played more than half of their games on the stuff. Newer artificial surfaces are made from different material, so it’s likely the concern wouldn’t be as high nowadays, but I bet there are scores of retired men with legitimate worries about their future health. We likely have not heard the last of this story.

Good Night Mrs, Calabash, Wherever You Are

Thanks as always for supporting Tending The Herd. Let’s all have a great week!