Ramblin' with Roger

The only time I ever literally fell out of my seat laughing was when I saw the movie Young Frankenstein in the scene when the monster, played by Boyle, was having…difficulties with a blind man, played by Gene Hackman. I thought this was so terribly funny, that I fell into the aisle of the movie theater, convulsing. YF is my favorite Brooks film.

Conversely, I didn’t LOVE Raymond, so I never saw the TV show, except for one episode, for which he – reportedly – should have won an Emmy.

As for the album: if you like James Taylor, you’ll probably like the disc. What does one want from a Christmas album? A couple of unexpected cuts – he sings In the Bleak Midwinter, which I seldom here on “secular” albums. A twist on the familiar – “Jingle Bells” reminds me of a slowed-up version of the Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters version, for some reason.

As I noted the other day, Lefty asks LOTS of questions. One from this post last week got me thinking about “Christmas” songs, and why some of them actually are considered as such. Moreover, why one couldn’t play some of them, say, in January? Or February? Three of them are on all versions of the James Taylor album: Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bells, and the somewhat randy Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Let It Snow also qualifies. And as I’ve described here, we’re not even IN Christmastime, we’re in Advent, so some of those Christ-Mass songs don’t even make sense until December 25 or later – the Three Kings may have taken their time getting to the manger.

So, I resolve:
1. to keep playing Christmas music until January 6, Three Kings Day, and
2. in honor of the biggest Christmas geek I know, to play some winter songs on January 30
Probably doing other things on January 30, which will be discussed in due course.

You might have heard about the so-called “War on Christmas from these articles:
Mo Rocca Wants His Christmas Big
‘Christmas’ makes a comeback in public spaces
W.Va. City’s Xmas Scene Has No Jesus
Critics Aren’t Keeping Quiet Over ‘Silent Night’ Lyrics Change
But no one can declare a war on Christmas like this person.

Studio 60 is rebroadcasting its Christmas show, last broadcast on Monday, December 4, on Monday, December 18. The last six minutes or so are rather affecting.

So, no insights on BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters, a 45-MINUTE You Tube video link e-mailed to me on “how to successfully refuse unwarranted police searches and seizures by exercising your constitutional rights”, also available on DVD from FlexYourRights.org. No review (yet) of the St. Elsewhere Season 1 DVD I got in the mail Friday. Don’t have the brain cells to ascertain if the middle name of Barack Obama will prove to be a political liability. But do go see A Charlie Brown Christmas, As Performed by the Cast of Scrubs, recommended by some guy in Buffalo.

Actual content tomorrow, probably.

What is the best concert or festival you’ve been to in your lifetime?

Answered here about a year ago, and nothing has changed in the intervening period. Not even seeing the Turtles. What I didn’t note was that the T Heads were on the tour that brought forth the Stop Making Sense movie, which I have never seen, although I have the soundtrack.

What music does your daughter enjoy that you are tickled pink that she likes?

She likes anything that’s danceable. I got a kick out of her dancing to London Calling. But she has definite dislikes, though I’m not remembering specifically, except that it was a song that came from the Gordon-sponsored Mixed CD collection; she thought it was noise, and I probably agreed with her.

I’m formulating my Top Ten Music, what are some ones that might have slipped my eagle-eye gaze?

This is a tough question. I mean, I know that Gordon turned you on to stuff that I figured you might already have hit upon, but apparently had not. With that caveat:

Miles Davis – Kind of Blue. It is on that ALL-Time list for a reason. Get it. In fact, why don’t you find the ALL-Time list or one of those thousands of Rolling Stone Best Of lists and tell us what you have, so your musical gurus can endlessly taunt you about what you’re missing?
Dave Brubeck. Don’t have a specific album in mind. There’s a Greatest Hits which I don’t have, and The Essential DB, which I’ve given as gifts, but you can’t go wrong with Time Out, which, last I checked, cost $7.99 on Amazon. All sorts of funky meters, not just 5/4.
Elvis Costello – Spike. No, I say again: EC is NOT just a singles artist. The nature of my fondness for this album is based on some of the same reasons I like The Beatles’ Revolver, which is that it’s musically all over the place. From the Amazon review: “you could call Spike the beginning of Elvis Costello’s super-eclectic period. The 1989 disc…offered everything from the bed rock New Orleans sounds of Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to clanging rockabilly, Paul McCartney collaborations (including the sparkling pop hit “Veronica”), and a jazz-ballad standard in the making (“Baby Plays Around” ).”
Paul McCartney – Tug of War. I almost picked Flowers in the Dirt, which was recorded around the same time as Costello’s Spike (Elvis sings on a couple tunes, and reportedly gave Macca the push to actually allow the “My Brave Face” bass line to sound like Beatle Paul.) But I opted for the earlier disc. Paul’s solo/Wings output was always uneven, but this one is pretty solid. It has a fun duet with Stevie Wonder – and I DON’T mean Ebony and Ivory – plus a duet with Carl Perkins.
And speaking of Stevie Wonder – you might as well get his whole late 1972 to 1980 output (Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life, Hotter than July), EXCEPT Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.
Finally, I’m a big fan of the Johnny Cash American albums. While the third (Solitary Man) and fourth (The Man Comes Around) albums have great songs, and the first one (American Recordings) is a wonderful solo effort, I’m thinking that the second one, Unchained, might be a good choice if you don’t have it. It’s more “commercial” – don’t mean that pejoratively – in that he’s backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I thought it’d be a big crossover hit, but it did more poorly than 1, 3 or 4. Actually, what you REALLY need is the fifth disc from the JRC box set, a greatest hits set from the four, but I haven’t seen it for sale separately.
If you asked me next month, it might be a whole ‘nother list.

You have any music that your wife won’t let you play when she’s around?

That said, I think I’ll be signing up my mom for the Remembering Site for Christmas. I doubt that she’d initiate preserving her memories on her own, but I’m betting she’d do it with me, or so I hope.

RELIGION

Remains of St. Paul may have been found – Yahoo!

Our church is getting involved with The Laptop Project.

POLITICS

Mixed reaction to Cheney’s daughter’s pregnancy, says CNN – fair enough. But Mary Cheney’s pregnancy affects us all? So says Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the “think tank for Concerned Women for America… a recognized authority on domestic issues, the United Nations, cultural and women’s concerns.” Feh. It affects Mary and her partner and their families. “The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation” to the arrival of their sixth grandchild.” Good answer. Read it if only for the snarky comments on both sides of the issue. Haven’t seen such silliness since Dan Quayle went after Murphy Brown.

A Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

Inside Higher Ed: Rethinking racial classifications
An Education Department plan to change the way colleges collect and report data on their students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds is attracting growing criticism. Opposition is coming from a group that represents some of the most elite private colleges in the country – as well as from officials of large, diverse public universities.

INFORMATION

Report: Students struggle with information literacy.
“Many students know how to use technology, but fewer know how to apply it to find what they’re looking for” by Justin Appel.

You might think the 2010 Census is far away; you would be incorrect, as this website will attest.

How To Conduct a Background Check

The World Almanac has a blog, now about a month old. This probably means more to me than most, since I’ve been reading the book since I was about 10. I may have told this story: my co-workers had a shower for Carol and me, during which they asked us to identify characteristics of the other. I was supposed to name her favorite book – which I failed to do (100 Years of Solitude), but she got mine (The World Almanac). Thing is, when she made her pick, before I revealed my answer, no one thought she was correct, which I thought was terribly funny.

The Small Business Economy: 2006,which, of course, covers the small business economy in 2005. It used to come out the April or May after the prior year; now it comes out in December.

Snopes confirms a gift card scam.

An alpaca pregnancy calculator from the Alpaca Journal.

THE DESTRUCTION OF YOUNG MINDS

Maybe it’s strange that there is a website or two dedicated to people opening boxes, but a front page story about it in the Wall Street Journal about the “unboxing movement” cracked me up.

Last month, Nik, in response to an August post of mine, wrote: Ah, Fantaco! Their “Chronicles” series helped really turn me into a fanboy for the first time. Picked up the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man volumes and that was it, hooked for life. Oh, dear. I edited both of those magazines! I’ve corrupted youth! Sorry, Nik.

MUSIC, GENERALLY

One of my favorite sites is Dead or Alive. I was disappointed, though, that the late Ruth Brown hadn’t made it onto the page. So, I wrote to them to that effect, and now she has.

Bank of America sings U2’s One. Described recently by Ad Age’s Jonah Bloom as “more toe-curlingly cringe-worthy than anything David Berent did on ‘The Office.'” So popular that it has been parodied as David Cross and Johnny Marr cover Bank of America guy covers U2.

BEATLES, SPECIFICALLY

One of my colleagues got really excited by this “John Lennon” Clip from The Cavern, until he discovered it was from the Cavern Beatles; a decent simulation.

Johnny Bacardi turned me onto a website about the REAL Beatles called What Goes On. It collects Beatle (and Beach Boys) news from all over. It’s where I found this story about UK rejecting music copyright extension, which would, presumably, put the Beatles’ catalog in the public domain there during the next decade. Practically, with the US law with a much longer term, what will this mean? I’m hoping this guy, who is an intellectual property lawyer, as well as a rock and roll drummer, might answer this. He just wrote this interesting Apple vs. Apple piece.