Meet The Nominees Vol. 2

Sheryl Crow

I’ll start with an anecdote. I’m going to be intentionally vague because I don’t want to risk violating any trust by laying out specific details. One of my BFFs was very close friends with a rock & roll legend. One time the rocker was headlining a couple of all-star shows at the Ryman Auditorium and he asked my buddy to act as his onstage emcee and had him ride on the tour bus down to Nashville. My friend had the chance to hobnob with some big names, but there was one show participant whom he couldn’t get anywhere near to - Sheryl Crow. That’s not because she was standoffish, or surrounded by an entourage. It’s because her fellow artists were so excited to see her that they monopolized her time. If an artist impresses other impressive people that speaks volumes about the level of respect one has. When you add in the number of Grammy awards she has won, it means she has plenty of admirers among both fellow musicians and industry insiders, two groups that make up a huge chunk of the voting population. Crow has an excellent shot at induction.

She traveled a longer road than normal to achieve stardom, paying her dues as a backup singer before settling down in LA. Joining in with an informal gathering of musicians dubbed the Tuesday Night Music Club acted as her incubator which helped her develop an individual sound and she eventually released her debut album which methodically built an audience. When it finally did, it became a massive hit and her run of success took off and held firm, as she maintained a major presence on the upper reaches of the charts throughout the last half of the 90s into the early aughts.

She’s most closely associated with the singer-songwriter movement, but even within that niche her versatility stands out. She has dabbled in rootsy music, bouncy pop, country-ish vibes, and hard grinding guitar rock. And having come from Missouri helped her a lot, as it’s a vaguely, but not quite southern region of the country. Her cadence has a vague twang and her voice has a wide enough range so that she can morph her tone to match the requirement of any particular song. Her ability to play multiple instruments is another crucial skill; she can customize her musical contribution to fulfill the requirements of any individual song.

In recent years she has settled well into the Respected Veteran portion of her career. Her presence improves the prestige level of whichever project she’s taking part in. With a sizable catalog of hits that have stood the test of time, she would certainly be a worthy choice.

If elected, would she perform at the ceremony? Yes. She did so at last year’s ceremony, and as mentioned, she frequently appears at industry events.

Her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit: All I Wanna Do

My personal favorite: If It Makes You Happy

Potential Side Category Inductee - Patsy Cline

With Willie Nelson as one of this year’s artist nominees it seems to be an ideal time to consider the candidacy of the singer whose signature hit was one of Nelson’s earliest songwriting successes. Patsy Cline was a clear inner circle legend in the country music field, and would be a fitting recipient of an Early Influence honor.

Her bona fides as an influential artist are crystal clear. An overwhelming majority of female country singers over the past half century have metaphorically genuflected in her direction. And her impact expanded well beyond the country community. She had pop hits in an era when it was rare for country stars to crossover. I don’t know for sure how cutesy the side committees act, but if Willie winds up as one of the electees this year it would be nice symmetry to also honor Cline and have someone perform “Crazy” at the induction ceremony.

Lili Von Shtupp & Hedley Lamarr

The other day Blazing Saddles was trending and I usually grit my teeth when I see that because it means the same tired discourse is popping up again. Yep, one of those Twitter prompts came up, asking which classic movie could not be made today, and Blazing Saddles continues to be a popular choice. True, it could not be made the exact same way today. But guess what? It couldn’t be made in 1953. Or 1937. Or 1991. Or any year you choose to name.

The truth is that any movie necessarily reflects the time in which it was made. This is particularly true for comedies. Great comedy pushes boundaries and over time the borders of those boundaries change. Sometimes what once seemed edgy eventually becomes corny. Sometimes changing cultural mores make jokes that were once funny seem less so.

If the Marx Brothers were around today it would be impossible to pause the movie so that Harpo could spend a few minutes playing the harp. Modern audiences would rush to the concession stands. And one of my favorite, most rewatched comedies of all time is Animal House. Nowadays the whole Pinto/mayor’s daughter plot is much too uncomfortable to watch. In their crucial scene she passes out drunk and an angel and devil appear on each of his shoulders as he decides what to do while standing over her unconscious and topless body. Oof. There’s no way that scene would be in the movie if it were made today and it’s not because of overly sensitive snowflakes. That scene is just not appropriate. Even worse, the movie portrays Pinto as the sweet-natured member of the frat, and we later find out how young she is? Oh no.

In the case of Blazing Saddles there’s a good reason why peak Mel Brooks was such a comedic genius. He knew precisely how to adjust his sensibilities so that they fit with the times. If he had been born 40 years later than he was, he would have absolutely been able to make a Blazing Saddles just as funny as the version we know. Let’s not forget that the people making the “kids are too sensitive” claims are the same that constantly throw out accusations of wokeness. The Wokeness Warriors themselves wouldn’t accept it. “A black sheriff? Not in my westerns!”

If we can all agree on one thing, however, it’s this. Mongo will always only be pawn in game of life. That s*** is timeless.

It Was Balloon

I can never decide which is worse when I hear politicians or cable news talking heads spout nonsense. Do they really believe what they’re saying, even if it’s objectively false? Or do they know and not care, realizing that their intended audience will believe that their complaints are rooted in the truth? For example, we regularly see GOP politicians send out tweets after a huge shipment of fentanyl gets seized at the border in which they say this is an example of Biden’s disastrous border policies. That makes zero sense. Shouldn’t they be pleased that border agents stopped the shipments? If border security is as weak as they claim, wouldn’t the drugs have gotten through?

Last week’s balloon discourse was particularly silly. The likes of JD Vance tweeted out photos in which they were aiming weapons at the sky as if they actually thought they could shoot down an object floating thousands of miles up in the air. Perhaps they all knew it was mere performative art, but what if that had inspired ordinary folks to fire their arms at the balloon? After all, what goes up must come down and if there had been an epidemic of people shooting at the sky it would have also meant a plethora of bullets falling back down to the earth.

And of course, we heard a lot of complaints that this whole series of events was a perfect example of Biden’s weakness and that it would never happen under Trump either because the Chinese would be too scared of Orange Alpha Male to poke him with a stick or because he somehow wouldn’t allow it to happen. At the very least it would have been shot down a nanosecond after entering American airspace.

Or not. Reports came out that under the previous administration 3 different Chinese balloons infringed on US airspace and the public was never informed. It’s not clear how many Senators were privy to that intelligence, but it stands to reason that at least some of the complainers were fully aware of this fact. And the kicker was that the military disabled the new balloon almost at the moment it was discovered and immediately shot it down once it safely moved over the Atlantic. It’s very unlikely that Chinese intelligence discovered anything that they couldn’t already learn by using Google Earth.

This story didn’t quite reach a Tan Suit Scandal level of nonsense, but it was a lot of hot air (pun intended) spewed out for little reason. It becomes so hard to take many of these people seriously that you wonder if they’ve cried wolf frequently enough that they wouldn’t be listened to if/when a serious issue does occur.

He Did It

LeBron James is now the all-time scoring leader. As I had mentioned earlier, I don’t have a lot of interest in taking a definitive stand in the LeBron/Jordan debate. They are both amazing, and I feel fortunate to have seen both of them.

Among his considerable achievements is the fact that he came up as one of the most hyped athletes in history and he lived up to every single expectation. Right now the guy is 38 & still at the top of his game. When you take that into account along with the fact that his stated goal is to be able to play in the league with his son, it sure seems possible that he will put that scoring record as out of reach as Rickey Henderson’s career stolen base record is.

What Is Dead May Never Die

It’s understandable why studios, networks, and streaming services are so addicted to existing IP. With a dizzying array of options available, a project that arrives presold stands out more easily. I personally have contradictory feelings when I read about the upcoming revival of an old TV show. I think “why are they doing this?” yet at the same time I know that I am more likely to sample it if I liked it in its initial goaround.

But I admittedly shuddered a little when I heard about the most recent revival. John Cleese is going to bring back Fawlty Towers. Cleese is one of the funniest men who has ever lived, but he has spent the last several years branding himself as a grouchy old man, constantly complaining about cancel culture and the like. Knowing that Basil Fawlty was a famously misanthropic character, I have a deep fear that there will too much focus on airing cultural grievances and not enough on actually being funny. Some things are best left alone.

Having said that, I am eagerly awaiting the return of Party Down. Are we having fun yet?

The Grand Finale

How could you not listen to Homer? Thanks again for reading, and please spread the word.