Meet The Nominees Vol. 7

George Michael

It took me a lot longer to come around on George Michael than I should have, mostly because he made an awful first impression. The first two Wham! songs that I ever heard were Wham! Rap, which was awful, and Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, which was admittedly catchy, but in an irritating Kars 4 Kids jingle sort of way. Plus, the lyrics to that one were so insipid that you risk losing IQ points if you listen too closely. His true talent became much more evident in Careless Whisper, which although credited to the duo, was essentially his first solo single.

After several years of massive success with Wham! he blew up into massive popularity once he fully committed to a solo career. Once again, it was difficult for me to listen without prejudice. The release of Faith coincided with my stint working at college radio, so I desperately wanted to see the types of artists that we were playing achieve the same level of mainstream success that artists such as Michael had. Hindsight makes it more evident that he was a talented guy with a soulful voice. There’s that old saying that you can judge a man by the company he keeps. Well, in addition to the massive hits he had on his own, he also reached #1 from duets with megastars Aretha Franklin and Elton John.

That level of success rarely lasts long, and Michael was no exception. He intentionally avoided the spotlight when his follow up album came out, not appearing in any of the videos. Despite his reluctance to fully promote that release, don’t forget that Freedom ‘90 is an all-time banger. I know audiences grow weary of “fame is hard” lyrics, but this one really worked, from the systemic destruction of his artifacts in the video to the soaring, joyous chorus.

He only recorded sporadically in the last couple of decades of his life, and most of his success stateside was limited to the dance music category. But he made a major mark during his time on top, and he was clearly a full fledged member of the Respected Veteran Society late in life. I wouldn’t vote for him, but as one of the signature acts from his era and as one of the most talented singers of his time he is surely the type of artist for which there is usually a spot in the Hall.

If elected, how would it be handled in the ceremony? Tricky. There have been larger classes in the past 2 ceremonies, and the video packages have run much longer as well, which have obviously made the night run longer. One of the ways that producers have found a way to cut down the ceremony to a more reasonable length is that time devoted to deceased inductees has been limited to the video package and presenter remarks with no acceptance speech from a family member nor any tribute performance. The Hall has gotten criticism for being disrespectful in that regard. I have to believe they will find an appropriate way to honor him with the amount of time that he deserves.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hit - Faith

My Personal Favorite - Freedom ‘90

Potential Side Category Inductee - Estelle Axton

This one is a particularly puzzling omission, because she should have been inducted years ago as part of a team. Way back in 2002 Jim Stewart, the “ST” in Stax Records was inducted, yet the Hall ignored his sister and label co-founder Estelle Axton, who was the “AX.” Stax was one of the most important record labels of the 60s, with a roster filled with Hall of Fame acts along with plenty of other artists that may not have been quite Hall worthy, but did record many modern R&B standards.

Sadly, Axton’s absence from the Hall is likely largely due to classic sexism. She was just as much of a talent scout as Stewart was, and it’s just ignoring history to honor one but not the other. There is a pronounced gender inequity when it comes to the list of honorees; this is one terrible oversight that needs to be corrected ASAP.

SNL Recap

This week’s show was particularly timely, as it appears that many of the sketches were written by a bear on cocaine. Woody Harrelson’s return to the big stage was a solid, middle of the pack episode.

It was inevitable that they would find a way to work the Georgia grand jury forewoman into the cold open, the only question was if Chloe or Heidi would play the role. It wound up being Chloe, as she popped in as part of Trump’s appearance in East Palestine. Overall it was pretty blah, not as funny as many of JAJ’s previous takes on Orange Man.

In Harrelson’s monologue he described himself as a redneck hippie, which is the take the rest of the monologue took. He dove into his stoner rep by telling a meandering story with multiple tangents - he seems to believe that Central Park is filled with palm trees - while ending with a vaguely anti vaxx joke. He also stretched out his arms a couple of times in anticipation of receiving his Five Timers Club jacket that did not come.

My personal highlight was the first post commercial break prison visit sketch, with Woody’s inmate visited by Chloe as his wife. It was built on the simple premise of letting Ego be Ego and Kenan be Kenan, as they portrayed the guards supervising the conversation. Ego scoffed at Woody’s pledge to buy a new house for his wife, while Kenan noted that their son looks just like the man who dropped Chloe off at the prison.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the Cologuard ad. It started off with the carton speaking to Woody and eagerly waiting for him to “unleash,” with Kenan’s UPS delivery guy also watching in anticipation. It continued to devolve into ever increasing absurdity, with multiple talking cartons joining in. I also liked the The Whale parody, as the director of the fictional film The Hippo has to tell his cast that the studio is cancelling the film mid shoot, much to the chagrin of Woody’s leading man, who had gained 450 pounds for the role.

Update introduced us to 2 new characters this week. JAJ popped in as Bill Walton. It seemed to be intentional that a Walton impersonation appeared in a Woody Harrelson episode, and the piece really worked. I was less enamored by Heidi as a mother of four who has some inappropriate feelings for her no-good son. It wasn’t that it was bad, more that it was too similar to other characters she has played.

All ended well. After a fake out in the closing goodbyes in which Kenan presented musical guest Jack White (whose performance was absolutely scorching) with a five timer jacket, ScarJo finally emerged on stage and gave Woody his jacket, welcoming him into the club.

Overall, it was a good episode for both Kenan and Ego. I don’t recall seeing either Punkie or Sarah in any sketches; Punkie has not gotten much time this season, which may not be a good sign for her. In addition to a memorial card for Richard Belzer, there was also an acknowledgement of the passing of longtime set designer Eugene Lee. He was one of the oldest of the old guards having been with the show since day 1, only absent during the Dick Ebersol era.

Next week Travis Kelce makes his hosting debut. The show’s history of athletes as hosts has been a bit shaky, so we shall see how that one turns out.

Life Comes At You Fast

A year ago long serving Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe resigned in the middle of his term. Not terribly unexpected, the man was 87 years old at the time of his retirement after all. A recent interview with a Tulsa newspaper shed some more light on his decision. He said that it was largely due to the fact that he’s been dealing with the effects of long COVID.

Inhofe was well-known for being a prominent climate change skeptic; he was the man who notoriously brought a snowball onto the Senate floor as “proof” that it’s all a hoax. He wasn’t quite as rigid when it came to COVID; he spoke of the potential seriousness of the pandemic, yet at the same time he voted against every relief bill that came up. Please don’t take this to mean that I’m dunking on someone who fell ill, but here is a guy that had the power to help people affected, yet refused to do so. It remains beyond my understanding to see the number of people that to this day continue to be dismissive of the pandemic, knowing how many people died as well as how many are dealing with long-term difficulties.

Furthermore, he said in the same interview that there are 5 or 6 others that also have long COVID, but he’s the only one willing to admit it. He didn’t elaborate beyond that so we don’t know if those others are spread across both chambers or if he was only talking about the Senate, nor do we know if any of those others are presenting symptoms as serious as Inhofe’s were.

I Regret To Inform You That The Dilbert Guy Is At It Again

Editor’s Note: Under certain circumstances a man is so broken that he loses the rights to his Christian name and will henceforth be referred to as “the ___ guy.” e.g. Guy, The My Pillow.

I’m sure that by now everyone has seen, or at least heard about, Dilbert Guy’s stunningly racist tirade which has already resulted in multiple newspapers dropping the strip. Weep not for him, he’ll turn out alright. He’s certain to make the Fox News rounds so that he can scream about cancel culture, and Bill Maher is probably salivating as if he is Pavlov’s dog so that he can book him for next week’s show, preferably on a panel with Bari Weiss. And MAGA types will clear the shelves of Dilbert paraphernalia so that they can signal virtue to their hearts’ content.

And of course we’re going to hear yet another cycle of the tiresome cancel culture debate. I don’t really need to hear Dilbert complaints from someone unless they were just as angry about the steamrolling of Chicks’ CDs or the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick. Similarly, I constantly see promos for Roseanne Barr’s Cancel This on Fox’s streaming service. Many of the same people celebrating her for owning the libs also condemned her all those years ago after her poor rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

There was a really good interview with Ike Barinholtz in the Hollywood Reporter last week. At one point this topic came up, and he had a great quote, which ideally should be the final say in these types of matters:

I think when people in comedy talk about cancel culture, what they’re mad about is being called out on their shit. And, by the way, I don’t know any comedians that are actually fucking canceled. [Dave] Chappelle just won a Grammy, Louis C.K. just sold out Madison Square Garden. Nine times out of 10, those complaining about cancel culture are just mad that someone that they’ll never meet is saying, “You suck.”

Closing Thoughts

And in conclusion, I’d like to say that I’m finished. Thanks for reading, and please clap.