Ramblin' with Roger

2022 Kennedy Center Honors

George Clooney, Amy Grant, Amy Grant, Tania León, U2

As is my tradition, I note the honorees for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors. Once again, I am very familiar with four of the five selected in this 45th class and the fifth, not at all.

I vaguely remember George Clooney from shows like Roseanne and Sisters, though I seldom saw The Facts of Life.

Nor did I see him on another show. Nevertheless, he won me $1,200 on JEOPARDY in 1998. A VIDEO DAILY DOUBLE: “Hi, I’m Jason Alexander. This actor co-starred with me on a sitcom called E/R before starring in the medical series ER.” Something I must have read in People magazine or Entertainment Weekly got stuck in my head when Clooney first started playing Dr. Doug Ross.

Subsequently, I saw or heard him in several movies, such as Up In The Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Descendants, Gravity, and Tomorrowland. He directed and appeared in Good Night and Good Luck and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

He was the executive producer of Far From Heaven and producer of Argo and August: Osage County.

When I saw Alison Krauss and Union Station in Albany in 2003, Dan Tyminski noted how his wife enjoyed hearing his voice come out of George Clooney’s mouth when the actor “sang” Man Of Constant Sorrow in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? I have had the soundtrack for two decades, though I saw the film during the COVID lockdown.

“George Clooney is co-founder and co-President, along with his wife Amal, of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.”

Contemporary Christian and pop singer-songwriter

I may have only one Amy Grant album, a vinyl recording of The Animals’ Christmas with Art Garfunkel. It was written by Jimmy Webb.

She was the first self-identified singer of Contemporary Christian Music to go to #1 on the pop charts. There were “Christians” who were HORRIFIED that Amy was doing pop music, such as Baby, Baby. Oh, please.

Amy married musician Vince Gill in 2000. She’s been active in philanthropy for her entire career.

A legendary singer of soul, Gospel, R and B, and pop

I must have learned that Gladys Knight won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour TV show from reading Ebony or Jet when I was growing up. She was eight in 1952.

Gladys Knight and the Pips had minor hits on minor labels, most notably Every Beat Of My Heart in 1961 (#6 pop, #1 RB). She left the group in 1962 to start a family but rejoined in 1964.

The group signed with Motown in 1966. It always felt that the label didn’t know what to do with the act. Berry Gordy wouldn’t let the Miracles release I Heard It Through The Grapevine, but was OK with the Pips doing so. It became a big hit for the Pips (#2 pop for three weeks, #1 RB for six weeks); it is my favorite version of the song.

Gladys Knight and the Pips did have other hits on Motown, notably If I Were Your Woman (#9 pop, #1 RB) and Neither One Of Us (#2 pop for two weeks, #4 RB). But they also were recording the same songs that The Temptations were also getting.

Their move to Buddah generated their first #1 pop hit (for two weeks), Midnight Train To Georgia. More Top 5 hits followed. She had an active solo career and acted as well.

Cuban-born American composer, conductor, and educator

Alas, Tania León is the honoree I do not know beyond what’s in the KCH bio.

Iconic Irish rock band

In 1988, I told a friend of mine that The Joshua Tree by the band U2 was one of my desert albums. My friend said one couldn’t put a one-year-old album on such a list. Maybe not, but I still like it quite a lot.

Lead singer Bono and his wife of 40 years Ali Hewson, were recently interviewed by Norah O’Donnell for CBS News’ Person To Person with U2’s Bono. He talked about his new book “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.” He shares how the band – he, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. – stayed together for decades and much more.

Here are some songs: Beautiful Day, One, When Love Comes To Town with B.B. King, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Rattle and Hum version), Where the Streets Have No Name, and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Watch the show!

The Kennedy Center Honors took place Sunday, December 4th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House. It will be televised Wednesday, December 28th, on CBS. We watch it every year.

The year is ending at Sunday Stealing

human contact

This Sunday Stealing is The year is ending. I have a ritual closer to New Year’s Day. But it doesn’t preclude trying these on for size.

1. Wintertime comfort foods, habits, hobbies

At least once a year, I make lasagna. At least two of them because it’s less labor-intensive. I’ll do that for sure. I hate turning on the oven when it’s warm, but I LOVE doing so when it’s cold. Using the same Betty Crocker recipe, I have to adjust the quantities. It’s because of what has been annoying-labeled shrinkflation, though it’s been happening for decades. Thus, my 32-ounce cans of tomatoes are only 28 ounces.

2. Favorite seasonal/holiday music and songs

This List from four years ago will do.

3. The people I want to spend more time with next year

I hope that some folks who stopped attending church because of the pandemic – the service is on Facebook – will feel comfortable enough to return to in-person services.

4. How much I could change my life in 1 year if I focused

One can always pick one thing to do; I might pick working more on genealogy. But this would inevitably mean NOT doing something else, and I’m unwilling to unbalance myself in that way.

5. The valuable lessons I learned this year

I need human contact! One example: we had been doing church remotely from March 2020 to June 2021. Getting back together was a joyous occasion, and I never attended remote church again if I were in town unless I was sick.

Then in January 2022, because of a local surge of COVID, we went back to remote only. I HATED, HATED, HATED it. I couldn’t focus on the sermon. When we were back in person about a month later, it was such a relief.

This year

6. How I’d describe 2022 in 10 words

Daughter’s College; wife’s leg infection; COVID for three; Wordle streak.

7. My favorite Reads of 2022

I have an online subscription to the New York Times. It’s currently $4 a month. I’m enjoying it immensely. I used to read the newspaper daily in the late 1970s and 1980s but shifted to just the Sunday paper. Then it fell off the list.

8. Best movies I saw in 2022

I’m still contemplating this. But the two films I most enjoyed in a movie theater in 2022 were The Wizard of Oz, which I’d seen many times on TV; and Cabaret, which I had not watched in a half-century.

9. Favorite TV shows/episodes of 2022

This will sound snarky, but it is not intended as such. Watching the game show JEOPARDY, I always root for the so-called “super champions,” who have won ten or more games, to lose. To paraphrase Hawkeye Pierce on an episode of M*A*S*H, “I want someone else!”

Highlights

10. Memorable experiences from 2022

Going to Carnegie Hall with my daughter. Lots of live theater in the summer. Seeing, at different times, two of my oldest friends, who I first met in kindergarten. My sister’s high school reunion, with such a gracious host putting us up.

11. Three people I enjoyed spending time with this year

Uthaclena; Lee; Bruce.

12. How I handled challenges this year

With aplomb, of course.

Actually, new stuff usually makes me initially grumpy. Then, eventually, I discovered it’s not so bad, and I’m pretty good at it.

13. What I’m leaving behind in 2022

COVID. (From my lips to God’s ears.) I did receive the bivalent shot targeted at Omicron last week. I’ve never had any reaction to the vaccines other than a sore arm at the injection site.

14. How I changed most from the beginning to the end of the year

Perhaps a soupçon more optimistic

15. What I want to tell myself before the New Year

There are no federal or statewide elections this year. My email box should be far less crowded.

Also, when in doubt, eat applesauce.

A LOT of Christmas music

Queen of Christmas

I have a LOT of Christmas music, 100 LPs and CDs or more. This is why I rarely listen to the radio stations playing holiday music between Thanksgiving (and some even earlier) and December 25. With all the music available, why are so many stations limited to a few dozen recordings?

It’s not that I MIND them. But When my wife tunes in, I’ll hear the same song, often by the same artist, every three or four days. A lot of them are almost as old as I am. Understand I like a lot of them, but still.

Feliz Navidad – José Feliciano
White Christmas – Bing Crosby
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Burl Ives
Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee

Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald
Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town – Jackson 5
The Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth – Bing Crosby/David Bowie
plus various cuts by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and more Bing

Not that I would ever complain about hearing songs from that Phil Spector album, such as:
Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane) – Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans
Frosty the Snowman – The Ronettes
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love

There are those “newer” songs if you want to call a quarter century “new”: All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey. And speaking of Carey, her desire to trademark the term “Queen of Christmas” is pretentious and ill-advised. Darlene Love and Elizabeth Chan have raised serious objections, as they should.

Meanwhile

Here’s a link from four years ago. Besides the part about Nowell We Sing Clear, there are some of my favorite pieces, including by Tom Petty, Julie Andrews, and Stevie Wonder.

Needed cash

pointed the same way

It was a Sunday night. My wife needed cash for her hairdresser appointment early Monday morning. Either her bank doesn’t have an ATM, or she never bothered to get a card; I suspect the latter.

Conversely, I use the ATM of my bank, two blocks away, all of the time. As I’ve mentioned, during the pandemic, my bank figured out that its machines could be programmed to dispense not only $20s, which it did forever but also $10s and $5s. They must have decided that the investment in tweaking their money dispensers was better than having customers coming into the bank to break a $20.

My wife said, “I need two $5s, three $10s…” Wait a minute.. she’s giving it to me from the bottom up, not the top down? This confused me! To be fair to me, she said she would give me a check for $150 to deposit, and she’s already asked me for $40 back so far. No, she decided she only needed $100 in cash, so three $20s. Got it. Still, the ATM asks from the top denomination down, and my mind wants to do the same.

One useful thing

When I first moved to the Albany/Schenectady, NY, area, the first job I got was as a teller at the Albany Savings Bank in downtown Albany. I didn’t love it, and I quit in a month to take a job as a bookkeeper for the Schenectady Arts Council’s program. Not only was I making more money – $8200 instead of $6000 per year, but the latter job was far more interesting.

Still, there was one thing I learned at the bank. All the bills in the drawer should be in value order, from left to right. And the bills should all be face up and pointed the same way.

As the person who most often counted the drawer and made the bank deposits at FantaCo, the Albany comic book store I worked at from 1980 to 1988, I tried to enforce that one thing. It was easier to impose this on people who started at the store after me than those who started before, let’s just say.

Carrying cash

When I buy things at most chain stores or restaurants, I usually use my DISCOVER card for the cashback bonus. For small mom-and-pop operations, though, I prefer giving them cash because it helps with their profit margins. But the amount matters, too, because I rarely have more than $100 in cash on me.

Gender-Neutral Acting Awards

movies

The recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Women’s Group Cautiously Receptive to Gender-Neutral Acting Awards, I found intriguing.

Specifically, “the Independent Spirit Awards were the latest Hollywood voting body to go genderless with its awards, announcing on Aug. 23 that the best lead actress and best supporting actress awards were being retired forever. To make up for the two eliminated categories, a new category, honoring a ‘breakthrough performance in film,” was added…”

One factor is the visibility of openly trans actors. Trace Lysette Is First Trans Actress to Lead a Competition Film at the Venice Film Festival.

Meanwhile, regarding “the Academy Awards — which are voted on by a body of over 10,000 members — …new Academy CEO Bill Kramer said the organization is ‘conducting due diligence’ on gender neutrality, ‘but there’s no plan right now to activate that.'”

The Conventional Wisdom when I was actively paying attention to the Oscars last century was that the awards would disproportionally be won by men. I’m not opposed to such a change, but it would take me a moment to get used to it.

I wondered how the last couple dozen Oscars would have turned out if there were no gendered categories. Of course, I have no idea. Tell me what you think of gender-neutral movie awards.

2000 LEADING ROLE: Russell Crowe — Gladiator* v. Julia Roberts — Erin Brockovich
SUPPORTING ROLE: Benicio Del Toro — Traffic v. Marcia Gay Harden — Pollock
I think both men win. On the other hand, if Ellen Burstyn had won for Requiem For A Dream, which she should have instead of Roberts, I’d have picked her.

Space

2001 LEADING ROLE Denzel Washington — Training Day* v. Halle Berry — Monster’s Ball
SUPPORTING ROLE Jim Broadbent — Iris v. Jennifer Connelly — A Beautiful Mind
This was hardly Denzel’s best role.

2002 LEADING ROLE Adrien Brody — The Pianist* v. Nicole Kidman — The Hours
SUPPORTING ROLE Chris Cooper — Adaptation v. Catherine Zeta-Jones — Chicago
I think it’s Zeta-Jones, who was more integral to her movie.

2003 LEADING ROLE Sean Penn — Mystic River* v. Charlize Theron — Monster
SUPPORTING ROLE Tim Robbins — Mystic River* v. Renée Zellweger — Cold Mountain
If there are only two awards, would BOTH go to the same movie? Theron was transformative in the role.

2004 LEADING ROLE Jamie Foxx — Ray v. Hilary Swank — Million Dollar Baby
SUPPORTING ROLE Morgan Freeman — Million Dollar Baby v. Cate Blanchett — The Aviator*
Now we’re in the period when my daughter was a baby/toddler and missed lots of films.

2005 LEADING ROLE Philip Seymour Hoffman — Capote v. Reese Witherspoon — Walk the Line*
SUPPORTING ROLE George Clooney — Syriana* v. Rachel Weisz — The Constant Gardener*
In a contest of performers playing real people, my guess is Hoffman.

“Royal” competition

2006 LEADING ROLE Forest Whitaker — The Last King of Scotland* v. Helen Mirren — The Queen
SUPPORTING ROLE Alan Arkin — Little Miss Sunshine v. Jennifer Hudson — Dreamgirls
Whitaker and Hudson, I’d think, though Hudson’s barely a supporting role.

2007 LEADING ROLE Daniel Day-Lewis — There Will Be Blood* v. Marion Cotillard — La Vie en Rose
SUPPORTING ROLE Javier Bardem — No Country for Old Men* v. Tilda Swinton — Michael Clayton*

2008 LEADING ROLE Sean Penn — Milk v. Kate Winslet — The Reader*
SUPPORTING ROLE Heath Ledger — The Dark Knight* v. Penélope Cruz — Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Ledger was good, and he died.

2009 LEADING ROLE Jeff Bridges — Crazy Heart v. Sandra Bullock — The Blind Side
SUPPORTING ROLE Christoph Waltz — Inglourious Basterds* v. Mo’Nique — Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire*

2010 LEADING ROLE Colin Firth — The King’s Speech v. Natalie Portman — Black Swan*
SUPPORTING ROLE Christian Bale — The Fighter v. Melissa Leo — The Fighter

Silence

2011 LEADING ROLE Jean Dujardin — The Artist v. Meryl Streep — The Iron Lady
SUPPORTING ROLE Christopher Plummer — Beginners v. Octavia Spencer — The Help

2012 LEADING ROLE Daniel Day-Lewis — Lincoln v. Jennifer Lawrence — Silver Linings Playbook
SUPPORTING ROLE Christoph Waltz — Django Unchained* v. Anne Hathaway — Les Misérables
Day-Lewis for certain.

2013 LEADING ROLE Matthew McConaughey — Dallas Buyers Club v. Cate Blanchett — Blue Jasmine
SUPPORTING ROLE Jared Leto — Dallas Buyers Club v. Lupita Nyong’o — 12 Years a Slave*

2014 LEADING ROLE Eddie Redmayne — The Theory of Everything v. Julianne Moore — Still Alice
SUPPORTING ROLE J.K. Simmons — Whiplash v. Patricia Arquette — Boyhood
I’m inclined to think both women would win.

2015 LEADING ROLE Leonardo DiCaprio — The Revenant* v. Brie Larson — Room
SUPPORTING ROLE Mark Rylance — Bridge of Spies* v. Alicia Vikander — The Danish Girl

M. Ali

2016 LEADING ROLE Casey Affleck — Manchester by the Sea v. Emma Stone — La La Land
SUPPORTING ROLE Mahershala Ali — Moonlight v. Viola Davis — Fences
Ali was a breakout star, whereas Davis won a Tony for the same role.

2017 LEADING ROLE Gary Oldman — Darkest Hour v. Frances McDormand — Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
SUPPORTING ROLE Sam Rockwell — Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri v. Allison Janney — I, Tonya
I loved McDormand in the role.

2018 LEADING ROLE Rami Malek — Bohemian Rhapsody v. Olivia Colman — The Favourite
SUPPORTING ROLE Mahershala Ali — Green Book v. Regina King — If Beale Street Could Talk
If Ali had won in 2016, he wouldn’t win for this role in a lesser film.

2019 LEADING ROLE Joaquin Phoenix — Joker* v. Renée Zellweger — Judy
SUPPORTING ROLE Brad Pitt — Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood v. Laura Dern — Marriage Story

2020 LEADING ROLE Anthony Hopkins — The Father v. Frances McDormand — Nomadland
SUPPORTING ROLE Daniel Kaluuya — Judas and the Black Messiah v. Yuh-Jung Youn — Minari
Kaluuya’s was much closer to a starring role.

2021 LEADING ROLE Will Smith — King Richard* v. Jessica Chastain — The Eyes of Tammy Faye*
SUPPORTING ROLE Troy Kotsur — CODA v. Ariana DeBose — West Side Story