Roger O Green

Review: Tombstone Rashomon

faux-documentary

Frank_Ike_02 - TOMBSTONE RASHOMON I got this email earlier in April: “TriCoast would like to offer Ramblin’ with Roger a review of the western mockumentary, ‘Tombstone Rashomon’, directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy).” I said yes. I waited a week, then wrote to the other rep in the email, who apologized and gave me the access key.

By then, I was busy. Still, I promised to review it, so I watched it yesterday. First off, inherently I love Rashomon constructs, based on the classic 1951 film. We do so often have eyewitness accounts that vary wildly in detail.

Surprise! The film actually shows up on the IMDB, with a release date of 2017. Alex Cox had started this project on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.

From one review: “The opening text of Tombstone Rashomon tells the audience about a time-traveling camera crew who went back in time and accidentally got to Tombstone the day after the notorious gunfight,” i.e. October 28, 1881. We’re left with supposed eyewitness accounts. “This firmly tells the audience that… there’s going to be a little fun had with the story…”

No in-world consistency

Another reviewer admitted, “It might not make sense, but it might also be the best thing I’ve ever seen in any movie ever. I just don’t know.”

For instance, the “Hungarian born Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings, here simply known as Kate (Christine Doidge) assign the incorrect gender pronouns to the men she talks about.” This is apparently accurate, but it’s either funny or tiresome, or, for me, a bit of both.

More on target was the bit when the off-screen narrator asks Wyatt Earp to “Hold the book to your breast for a longer moment.” Later, Doc Halliday’s tale is interrupted in a manner consistent with what we historically know about the man.

Here are the two Rotten Tomatoes reviews. I agree with both of them.

“As a link to Rashomon, it doesn’t work because there have been so many mockumentaries throughout cinema that it feels like the attempt to link the two is yet another attempt to suggest the filmmakers are cleverer than they really are.”

“That’s the beauty of Tombstone Rashomon: despite having almost no budget, no stars, and no in-world consistency, it’s aggressively not content to fit into any one descriptor. It’s a faux-documentary-western-science-fiction-time-travel-homage.”

For those of you, like me, who isn’t greatly fond of bloodshed, for all the gunplay, it’s quite tame in this department.

“TriCoast Entertainment will release ‘Tombstone Rashomon’ onto DVD in store and online April 21st (Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Deep Discount DVD, DVD Planet, CC Video and more). Pre-order on Amazon.”
Wyatt_08 - TOMBSTONE RASHOMON

Singing parts; cream of tartar

the Pips

lemon merengue pie Carla, who I’ve known since high school choir – was she an alto? – decided she needed to know stuff:

Ok… when you sing alone… do you mostly sing the melody, or do you sing your “part?”

Almost always, in four-part music that I’m familiar with, it’s the bass line. In pop music, it’s usually the Pips response, not the Gladys Knight lead. On Lola (Kinks) or The Boxer (S&G), it’d be the high harmony, not the melody. I just hear them better.

To that end, I can sing a higher pitch in harmony than in melody. This makes no physical sense, so it must be mental. We had a church play in March, Once On This Island. I hated singing the high parts in my solo; it made me anxious. But the harmony, I absolutely LOVED doing. Harmony almost always I find relaxing.

No lemon merengue pie?

She also wants to know – those people from Binghamton, NY always inquisitive, especially when the extended family runs the Little Venice restaurant:
OK here is another question…. why are you unfamiliar with cream of tartar? You never make lemon merengue pie? Or soufflés?

I think I’ve made lemon merengue pie exactly once in my life. To the best of my recollection, I’ve NEVER made a soufflé. Or snickerdoodle cookies, which also can use cream of tartar.

But that’s about it. WHY have cream of tartar when it has such limited use? It’s not like cinnamon or nutmeg or any number of other spices I’ve used regularly. AND there are reasonable substitutes.

Now, there was a period in the 1980s, I was into making pumpkin pies, and even baking cookies. And it wasn’t always in the autumn. But it wasn’t for my own consumption. It was either for a food pantry or some benefit auction. I don’t even like eating pumpkin pie as much as I like apple. Or lemon merengue. But they were easier to make; no top crust.

Since I got married, I almost never make pies or cookies. My wife is WAY better at it. I’m not all that interested in doing things only so-so. And frankly, if I were to make them, I’d want to eat them, and I don’t need to do that.

“You’re just like me,” he said

vitiligo

On the bus recently, I saw a young woman with a “People Are People” handbag. On the surface, a reasonable sentiment. Part of me, though, is instinctually wary. Does this mean that we’re all alike?

And that is, of course, not accurate. We come with varied experiences in geography, different types of abilities, demographic characteristics, et al. I think we’re necessarily a bit schizophrenic about these things.

On the one hand, we hawk our individuality. On the other, at least some of us embrace our oneness. And, I suspect, both are true.

I was at the grocery store a couple months ago. The young man ringing out my purchase, even before scanning one item or saying hello, proclaimed, “You’re just like me!” And I looked at him, a young black man in his early twenties, and I knew exactly what he meant.

He had vitiligo, an autoimmune disease, on his face and hands. I have vitiligo. I told him I didn’t always have it. He said, “Me too. I didn’t have it when I was younger.” I meant I didn’t have it until I was 50. This common experience meant we’re alike, at least in that particular way. We had that connective tissue.

It’s like when I’m riding my bicycle in town. When I see other riders, they give me that head nod acknowledgment. Naturally, I return the signal.

This pic, BTW, is, unusually for me, a selfie, from about three years ago. This is about the time of the year I start wearing sunscreen religiously, if not earlier. I don’t wait for the summer. Also, I almost always wear hats. After the church play, there were a few unused white hats left over, and I took them all, mostly because I’m always misplacing headwear.

The Depression of #1 hits: 1930

Sir Duke

There was a recent JEOPARDY question about the first full year of the Great Depression. That would of course be 1930. There were a series of bank failures. By 1932, the nation’s income was cut in half. That could never happen now, right?

And the music business took a real hit. According to A Century of Music, the record industry went through almnost a total collapse. In 1927, there were 140 million discs sold. Five years later, it was down to six million.

Still, there were a couple of songs that you will know.

Stein Song (University of Maine) – Rudy Vallee. Ten weeks at #1. I saw Vallee in the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky’s in a Binghamton cinema.

Dancing with Tears in My Eyes – Nat Shilkret with Frank Munn, vocals. Seven weeks at #1.

Body and Soul – Paul Whiteman; Jack Fulton, vocals. Six weeks at #1. Libby Holman went to #3 with this song in 1930.

Little White Lies – Waring’s Pennsylvanians. Vocal refrain by Clare Hanlon & the Three Girl Friends. Six weeks at #1. When I was in glee club in high school, a lot of the arrangements were by Fred Waring. This song went to #3 in 1930 by Shilkret/Munn.

You’re Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?) – Guy Lombardo, with Carmen Lombardo on vocals. Four weeks at #1. Gaetano Alberto “Guy” Lombardo (1902-1077) was a Canadian bandleader who was Mr. New Years Eve from 1956 on TV, and going back to 1929 on the radio.

Three Little Words – Duke Ellington and the Rhythm Boys. Three weeks at #1. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899 – 1974) was “an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death over a career spanning more than six decades.”

Again?

When It’s Springtime in the Rockies – Ben Selvin. Three weeks at #1.

Chant of the Jungle – Roy Ingraham. Three weeks at #1.

Happy Days Are Here Again – Benny Meroff, with Dusty Rhodes on vocals. Three weeks at #1. In the same year, Leo Reisman/Larry Levin’s version went to #3.

When It’s Springtime in the Rockies – Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra, with Frank Luther and Carson Robison, vocals. Two weeks at #1.

If I Could Be With You One Hour To-night – McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, George Thomas, vocals. Two weeks at #1.

Happy Days Are Here Again -Ben Selvin. Two weeks at #1, yet I can’t find a recording. This song also went to #3 in 1930 by Leo Reisman/Larry Levin.

Puttin’ On the Ritz – Harry Richman. One week at #1. This also went to #4 in 1983 by Taco.

The Man from the South (with a Big Cigar in His Mouth) – Ted Weems with Art Jarrett, vocal.

COVID While Black, naturally

Not everybody can work from home

To add to the pantheon of Driving While Black, Shopping While Black, and the general Existing While Black, is COVID While Black.

ITEM: Black people have faced racial discrimination on Zoom meetings through Zoombombing. K’Andre Miller was making an appearance to talk to New York Rangers fans when he was subject to a vile racist outburst. The hacker posted the N-word hundreds of times during the online chat. A virtual meeting with black University of Texas students was cut short by racist ‘Zoom bombing’.

A friend of mine has posted about his personal experience of being targeted with the N-word and the F-word. while in a Zoom meeting. The hacker even called him by name because his name was under his picture. He was the only black person in that session. It appears that Zoom has fixed the problem with added steps of security passwords. Still, it was quite disturbing.

Who IS that masked man?

ITEM: You know how we’re all supposed to wear those face coverings to help stem the tide of the virus. But, in particular, black men fear homemade coronavirus masks could exacerbate racial profiling. “The CDC’s guidance on wearing masks outside comes with an added burden for minorities. ‘If you’re a person of color, you can’t just wear a mask.’”

I’ll admit to feeling a tad nervous wearing them myself, as though someone thought I might steal the toilet paper. I may be wrong, but I swear I’ve felt the negative reaction myself. And my masks are really nifty items, made from my daughter’s scarves.

Related, there are stores that have banned the use of masks, which makes no public safety sense.

ITEM: African-Americans may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Why IS that?

African-Americans are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19. Not everybody can work from home. Black and Hispanic workers are much less likely to be able to telework.

African-Americans have a higher incidence of underlying health conditions. And yet…

African-Americans have less access to medical care. “Inequities in access to health care, including inadequate health insurance, discrimination fears, and distance from clinics and hospitals, make it harder for many African-Americans to access the sort of preventive care that keeps chronic diseases in check.”