Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

Without the Tonys, EGOT is just EGO

Unfortunately for the Tonys’ commercial appeal, this year’s list of recognizable names is dwarfed by last year’s roster.


The Antoinette Perry, or Tony Awards, which honor Broadway’s finest, airs Sunday, June 12, 8 pm EDT on CBS-TV. Of the four US major entertainment awards – Emmys, Oscars, Grammys, Tonys – it is the most mysterious to the general public. I watch it because I find it to be the most entertaining of the programs, even though, or maybe because I’m least familiar with the source material.

Reasons you should watch it:
It’s unique. Music has the American Music Awards, movies and TV have the Golden Globes, not to mention the People’s Choice Awards, plus a plethora of others.
Nothing else is on. Prime time shows are over, summer movies are showing on 30,000 screens each.
Neil Patrick Harris is hosting, and The Book of Mormon is up for 14 awards, either of which would make it interesting.
If you do have something else to watch, such as Sunday Night Baseball, tape or DVR the Tonys; it’s not as though the Tony show is water cooler fodder, though it should be.
*It’s informative. When Memphis showed up on the roster for our local theater, I actually knew the plot, from seeing it on the Tonys.

Also, you can tell people what your favorite TV and movie actors have been up to in the last year, such as Ellen Barkin, John Larroquette, Frances McDormand, Al Pacino, and Vanessa Redgrave.

Unfortunately for the Tonys’ commercial appeal, this year’s list of recognizable names is dwarfed by last year’s roster. In the best actor in a play category alone, there was Jude Law, Alfred Molina, Liev Schreiber, Christopher Walken, and winner Denzel Washington. Other “names” included Kelsey Grammer, Valerie Harper, Sean Hayes, Linda Lavin, Laura Linney, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and those were just in the starring categories.

I’ve been particularly fascinated by the career of one Brian Stokes Mitchell. As Brian Mitchell, he appeared in a bunch of serviceable roles such as Jackpot on the TV show Trapper John, MD. But as a Broadway performer, he’s a star, even a legend.

Can’t wait for the Tonys!
***
EGOT winners.

Underplayed Vinyl: Our Best to You

Apparently, the commercial nature of For Your Love drove Eric Clapton out of the group.


I used to do a series called Underplayed Vinyl, which is about LPs that I own that I used to play a lot, though not so much recently, but I probably should. Guess I’m going to try to reinstitute it.

I’ve been a sucker for compilation albums since I received Big Hits From England & U.S.A. from the Capitol Record Club in 1965 or 1966. It had the “kids” side (Beatles, Beach Boys, Peter & Gordon) and the “adult ” side (Nat Cole, Cilla Black, Al Martino). The next one was Best of ’66, a bunch of Columbia pop artists.

A year later, I got TWO different albums, both called Our Best To You. One contained the “adult” stars such as Jim Nabors, John Davidson, and Robert Goulet; it had a green cover but otherwise similar design.

The other album is the one pictured. Links to the songs provided.

Side 1:
1. The Buckinghams – I’ll Be Back. A good, if slightly melodramatic, cover of the Beatles song.
2. The Byrds – All I Really Want To Do. . A fine Dylan cover.
3. The Cryan’ Shames – Sugar And Spice. Fun pop song by a group I’m otherwise unfamiliar with.
4. Aretha Franklin – Sweet Bitter Love. A tremendous song by the Queen of Soul, before she moved to Atlantic and had her big hits. This is a song I often played after a romantic breakup; I played it quite a bit. Written by Van McCoy, best known for The Hustle.
5. Moby Grape – 8:05. A moody piece with nice harmonies that I enjoyed.

Side 2:
1. Paul Revere And The Raiders – Louie, Louie. The Raiders actually had a regional hit with this song most associated with the Kingsmen. This is NOT the cut from the album being described, but as close as I could find.
2. Peaches And Herb – Everybody Loves A Lover. Long before they “Reunited”, they did this pop/soul classic that I could only find on Napster, track 77 on the link.
3. Simon And Garfunkel – The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy). Just for fun, as the serious Simon might have said at the time.
4. The Tremeloes – Good Day Sunshine. The sound on this video is not good, but it’ll give you a feel.
5. The Yardbirds – For Your Love. Apparently, the commercial nature of this particular recording drove Eric Clapton out of the group. Gotta say I LOVED this song.

Made for the Shade

It’s not that it hurts me, or offends me. It just IRRITATES me – I can’t explain why.

Ah, June. Look forward to it less than I used to.

As I noted here, way back in 2007 and subsequently, I have a skin condition called vitiligo. After dealing with some weird socio-psychological stuff, I’m more or less OK with it. Most of the time.

I wear long-sleeve shirts almost all of them time when I’m going to be outside, even when it’s hot out. I seek shade. I wear hats. I use sunscreen on the cloudiest of days. I also wear sunglasses and shop at Pure Optical a LOT; don’t know if it has anything to do with the condition or merely aging, but I seem to be much more sensitive to sunlight than I used to be.

Still, I’m still tired of people – OK, there’s no getting around saying it, white people – coming up to me and pointing out that they are darker than I am, or at least the parts of me where the melanin has ceased to work on me. It’s usually my hands, particularly the back of my hands, that are the points of comparison. Happened to me a couple weeks ago.

It’s not that it hurts me, or offends me. It just IRRITATES me – I can’t explain why – moreso because it’s usually done by people I know, often by people I like. So if you happen to see one of your friends who are experiencing vitiligo and feel compelled to lord your tan over that person, PLEASE don’t. They may be smiling outside, but even money, you’re bugging them.

T is for Toy Trucks

As it turns out, Hess trucks have been coming out since the mid-1960s, and some of them are quite collectible.


I’d been married to Carol for about a year and a half in the late fall of 2000. She was trying to figure out what to get me for Christmas. I made some passing mention that there was a really cool toy fire truck being sold at the local Hess station. I might have even seen an ad on TV for it.

Still, I was quite surprised when, on Christmas morning, she (or Santa, I forget which) actually got it for me. I must say that I really loved it. It has a couple of different sirens, and flashing lights, and a workable ladder.

So before Christmas 2001, I subtly hinted that I wouldn’t mind getting that year’s model, which was actually a helicopter with a motorcycle and a cruiser. This too was a hit with me; the helicopter features, among other things, rotors that really spin!

Thus a tradition was born, with me getting all of the items through 2010. Along the way, I also picked up a 1998 model.

This does not include the mini-trucks, only one of which I own, and that by happenstance.

I have this friend, Mary, who had a husband named Tom, who I was very fond of. Unfortunately, he died in November 2004 at the age of 49. He had started collecting Hess trucks long before I had. Just this month, Mary sold me Tom’s 1997 and 1999 editions, because she thought he’d want me to have them.

As it turns out, Hess trucks have been coming out since the mid-1960s, and some of them are quite collectible. Check out the lists HERE and HERE

At least in recent times, they’ve been running TV around Thanksgiving for the current year’s models. Here are the ads for 2006 and 2008 and 2009 and 2010 TV ads, all to the unlikely tune of “My Boyfriend’s Back.”

Someone put together a video of all the trucks.

ABC Wednesday – Round 8

Decoration Day

Sometimes, looking at discussion boards about the Civil War, I get the impresssion that we in the United States are STILL fighting it.


I’m old enough to remember when Memorial Day was on the 30th of May, not the last Monday in May, which was a change that took place in 1971. I’m not sure when the holiday changed from being called Decoration Day to Memorial Day, though I recently saw a 1902 Library Journal making reference to the former name.

The holiday was designed to remember the dead from the American Civil War (or however it was called by others) on both sides of the battle. According to Wikipedia, “General John A. Logan, who helped bring attention to the event nationwide, was likely a factor in the holiday’s growth. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic – the organization for Northern Civil War veterans – Logan issued a proclamation that ‘Decoration Day’ should be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.” (Emphasis mine.)

This year, of course, is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. Sometimes, looking at discussion boards about the war, I get the impression that we in the United States are STILL fighting it.

One can surely question the wisdom of wars, which, after all, are generally instigated by the civilian leaders who don’t actually FIGHT in the wars and still appreciate the ultimate sacrifice many have made over the years fighting them.

Ramblin' with Roger
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