Ramblin' with Roger

Kennedy Center Honors 2021

Justino, Berry, Lorne, Bette, Joni Dec 22

The Kennedy Center Honors 2021 are back in December! “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is proud to celebrate the 44th Honorees for lifetime artistic achievements: operatic bass-baritone Justino Díaz, Motown founder, songwriter, producer, and director Berry Gordy, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, legendary stage and screen icon Bette Midler, and singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.”

The program was recorded on Sunday, December 5. It will air on CBS-TV on Wednesday, December 22 at 9 pm ET.

There is occasionally one person on the list with whom I am not familiar. Can you guess which one? Justino Diaz originated the role of Francesco in the September 10, 1971 world premiere of Ginastera’s Beatrix Cenci, performed for the… now Washington National Opera), which inaugurated the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Don’t forget the Motor City

Whereas Berry Gordy I’m VERY familiar with. Not only did he establish Motown, but he is a songwriter and producer. His Songwriters Hall of Fame resume identifies just some of the songs he created or co-wrote. These include All I Could Do Was Cry -Etta James; and Lonely Teardrops plus others for Jackie Wilson even before he started the label.

Also, Shop Around – Miracles; A Do You Love Me – the Contours; Try It Baby – Marvin Gaye; You’ve Made Me So Very Happy – Brenda Holloway; I’m Livin’ in Shame – Diana Ross and the Supremes. As part of The Corporation, he co-wrote a string of hits for the Jackson 5, such as I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, and I’ll Be There. Listen to a few.

In 1998, I made a pilgrimage to Detroit. 2648 W Grand Blvd was the home of Hitsville, USA, and is now the home of the Motown Museum, where the Motown Sound was recorded from the late 1950s until 1972 when the label moved to Los Angeles. The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops, and most of the aforementioned artists recorded there.

In the 1970s, Gordy was involved with movies, such as Mahogany and Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross, who was nominated for an Oscar.

Live From New York

I watched Saturday Night Live, almost every episode from its beginning until 1999. Show creator Lorne Michaels was at the helm from 1975-1980, and from 1985 onward. These days I tend to catch clips from the show on YouTube rather than watch the whole thing. But it is amazing that over 45 years after it was created, it still mines relevant material.

Some of his other credits sometimes involve SNL alums. TV executive producer: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, 30 Rock, Portlandia. Movies: Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy, Mean Girls, and MacGruber. Broadway: he produced and directed Gilda Radner – Live From New York. He also produced several TV specials.

“Michaels’ 93 Emmy® nominations are the most ever for an individual. He received the 2004 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.”

EGT

Bette Midler is an Oscar away from an EGOT. She has three Emmy Awards®, including for her performance on the penultimate episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, which I watched, plus six other nominations. Her four Grammy Grammy Awards® include Best New Artist (1973). She was considered 11 other times, including for ALBUM OF THE YEAR: The Divine Miss M, which I just played this month, and the BEST POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE, FEMALE: the single from that album, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

One of her two Tony awards was for Hello, Dolly! (2017). But the other was a Special Award in 1974, “for adding lustre to the Broadway season” with her dozen and a half performances of a one-woman show. Twice she was nominated for an Academy Award®: For the Boys (1991) and The Rose (1979), neither of which I saw. But I did catch Ruthless People and The First Wives; Club. And yes, I saw Beaches.

Joni

In 2021, I purchased a box set of the first four Joni Mitchell albums. I had never owned the first album, Song To A Seagull; so THAT’S where Judy Collins found Michael From Mountains. Nor the second, Clouds. The third, Ladies of the Canyon I have on vinyl; I wrote about getting castmates to listen to it. The fourth is Blue, the Top Five on many people’s lists, which I own. Even Joni admitted, “There’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals.”

I have, in some form, For The Roses, Court and Spark (rebound album), Miles of Aisles (the pictured venue reminds me of the first time I saw her perform), The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (which I had coveted)… Actually, I own every non-compilation that is listed here through Turbulent Indigo.

Check out Joni discussing her health issues. “I’m hobbling along but I’m doing all right.” Also, Rick Beato’s What Makes This Song Great? Episode 91: Joni Mitchell’s Amelia and My Dinner With Joni Mitchell: 3 hours with an Icon.

Movie review: The French Dispatch

Liberty, Kansas

Since I have enjoyed many of Wes Anderson’s films, I went to see a matinee of The French Dispatch. For a time, I was the ONLY person in the Spectrum 8 theater, but during the previews, a couple came in.

I was fond of the conceit of the movie, that a newspaper in Liberty, Kansas, for reasons of nepotism, had an outpost in Ennui, France. And I did appreciate the “love letter to journalists.”

The framing story is that when Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray ) dies, so does the Dispatch. After a brief piece of a guy on a bicycle (Owen Wilson) picking some bizarre highlights of the city, there are three main stories.

The first major piece involves Moses Rosenthal (Benicio Del Toro), a murderer in prison, who takes up art to keep his sanity, perhaps. His muse is prison guard Simone (Léa Seydoux). An art dealer (Julian Brody) tries to convince his uncles (Bob Babalan, Henry Winkler) to invest in the prison artist. This segment is reported by J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton). I liked the absurdity of the manufactured art market.

Freedom!

The second section was about student rebellion, led by Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet) and Juliette (Lyna Khoudri). Can Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) keep her journalistic objectivity? This section left me flat.

The last substantial part involves The Commissaire (Mathieu Amalric) inviting Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) to a dinner prepared by the great chef Nescaffier (Stephen Park). But then a crime is committed, and Wright is caught in the middle of the pursuit of the criminals. Wright retells the story to a talk show host (Liev Schreiber).

This may be the most absurd of the three – not necessarily a bad thing. So much so that a bit of the chase is rendered in animation. It may also be my favorite, largely on the strength of Wright’s performance.

Very Wes Anderson

Leonard Maltin noted: “This is not the first time Anderson has devoted too much time to minutiae and too little to actual storytelling. Even devotees of his work may find this an exercise in frustration-albeit an exceptionally handsome one.” I wasn’t frustrated, but I certainly understand where he was coming from. 74% of the critics and 76% of the audience liked The French Dispatch.

If you admire Wes Anderson’s quirky and occasionally indulgent work, you may appreciate this one. I have enjoyed Isle of Dogs (2018), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014 – my favorite), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). But I hated The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). I never saw The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Rushmore (1998), or Bottle Rocket (1996).

More Christmas on the burned CD

The Bells of Christmas

Here’s the second part of the Christmas song roster that I put on a burned CD in 2006. There are other holiday compilations I’ve made. But I pulled a bunch of CDs off the Christmas section of the shelf. I had intended to pick selections from various discs, but when I found this puppy, voila!

In retrospect, I might have put the two Santa songs and the Allan Sherman cut together.

Careless Santa – Mono Puff. From a Hello Records compilation c. 1997.

The Bells of Christmas – Julie Andrews. Absolutely one of my favorite Christmas songs ever. And I have the hardest time finding it on YouTube. There’s a version of it, featuring the Young Americans, performed much faster and higher in Julie’s range I just do not like. This version has an extra minute of strings starting at 1:07. The version I love is at 17:33 of the album. Accept no substitutes.

Barefoot Santa Claus · Sonny James. This appears on some compilation someone made for me. But I may have heard it growing up – it came out in 1966 – when I used to listen to WWVA in Wheeling, WV late at night.

Star Carol · Simon and Garfunkel. From their boxed set, Old Friends. It was recorded in 1967 but was not released until 1997.

Very special

What Child Is This? · Vanessa Williams. From A Very Special Christmas 2, which came out in 1992 to support the Special Olympics.

12 Days of Christmas · Allan Sherman. Heard this growing up.

The Coventry Carol · Alison Moyet. My favorite cut from A Very Special Christmas album from 1987.

The Christmas Waltz -Frank Sinatra. I have this on the Capitol Records Frank singles box set. BTW, tomorrow would have been Sinatra’s 106th birthday.

Gabriel’s Message – Sting. Another song from the original A Very Special Christmas.

Jingle Bells -Fab Four. Not the Beatles, but a tribute band.

Silent Night · Sarah McLachlan. Her Wintersong album came out in 2006, but I don’t own it, so it must have been on another compilation.

Winter Snow · Booker T. and The MG’s. Arguably my favorite song from Stax-Volt: The Complete Singles 1959-1968.

Inequality is engrained in the trees

Trees combat climate change, clean the air, reduce violence

One of those Daily Inspiration quotes actually inspired me. “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett

This got me thinking about the dearth of trees in urban areas. As an article in the Grist noted: In America’s cities, inequality is engrained in the trees.

“In the two-year-long study, a team of researchers from the Nature Conservancy found that 92 percent of low-income blocks in the U.S. have less tree cover and hotter average temperatures than high-income blocks. The inequality is most rampant in the Northeast, with some low-income blocks in urban areas having 30 percent less tree cover and average temperatures 4 degrees Celsius higher than high-income blocks.”

Trees may not be racist. But per NPR, Racist Housing Practices From The 1930s Linked To Hotter Neighborhoods Today. In another study “of 108 urban areas nationwide, the formerly redlined neighborhoods of nearly every city studied were hotter than the non-redlined neighborhoods, some by nearly 13 degrees.”

And if you’re not familiar, American Forests can explain. “Redlining was an unethical practice that put financial and other services out of reach for entire neighborhoods where people of color lived. Its name derives from the government-backed practice of drawing red lines on maps to indicate the perceived high risk associated with banks loaning people money to buy homes based on location rather than their individual qualifications.”

Smart Cities Dive notes: “Heat-related impacts also disproportionately impact poor and minority communities, which tend to have less access to green space, and therefore have unequal access to the benefits those spaces provide.” It cites a 2013 study explaining “the disproportionate amount of risk to minority communities. “It’s a serious issue of environmental justice.” Here are 22 benefits of trees.

Oh, Albany

So I was pleased when I saw this link. “Since the Fall of 2020, the City of Albany has focused tree planting in Wards and neighborhoods where the urban forest is most at risk, including in the South End, Arbor Hill, West Hill, and Pine Hills neighborhoods. More than 50% of the 1,000 trees planted since the Fall of 2020 have been planted in these neighborhoods alone.”

I’m sure, because she told me in an email, that the mayor would LOVE churches or other entities to participate. And I’ll bet this is a program that could be replicated in other urban areas.

Rebecca Jade Xmas and Burt Bacharach

Dave Koz and Jonathan Butler

Dave Koz Christmas 2021 I got to see the Rebecca Jade Xmas show! Oh, yeah, and Dave Koz, Jonathan Butler, and others were there, too.

OK, I jest here. Koz has been the frontman for a holiday tour for a quarter of a century. The saxophonist’s music is labeled “soft jazz”, and that is true. But read this review of Dave Koz And Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas album in 2017: “Yes… you’ve heard all these classic yuletide songs before. But have you heard them the way [he] arranges them?”

In 2020, the C-year, he and his friends were unable to go on the road. So they did a one-off virtual concert – teased here, and featuring Rebecca Jade. My wife and I saw it; REALLY good. So in 2021, he and his cohorts were back on the road. But there is only stop in New York State, and it ain’t in Albany.

Two trains

Sunday, December 5, my wife took me to the train station. I could have taken the CDTA bus, which is convenient, but that was a nicer way to depart. I decided to go all-digital with my new phone. This is the first time I didn’t print my ticket.

Then I went to the vending machine to get a ticket to the Oyster Bay on the Long Island Railroad. Literally, the only thing I know about the place I learned from passing references in two Billy Joel songs.

I had booked a place via Hotels.com, a little wary of the geography. But Andrea, my sister’s friend who picked me up at the train stop, noted that it was pretty close to both my hotel and the concert venue. She dropped me off at the East Norwich Inn to check in. More about this anon.

We followed her GPS four miles to get us to a Greek gyro place 800 feet away, where we got some grub. Then we headed to the concert venue, the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post in Brookville. I had moved my ticket from Ticketmaster to some Apple Pay app, as though I knew what I was doing! Everyone had to be vaccinated; the picture of my card was on my phone. We had some overpriced cups of wine with an interesting couple we did not know, but who welcomed us to sit with them.

The show

The show began with Koz, South African guitarist/singer Jonathan Butler, trumpeter Rick Braun, and saxophonist Richard Elliot trading licks. Then vocalist Rebecca Jade came out and sang with Butler on one of my favorite songs of the season, What Christmas Means To Me by Stevie Wonder.

A bit later, she and Butler dueted on Mary Did You Know. They performed this last year on the virtual show. It’s a great song and exquisite pairing. I heard it on Butler’s Christmas Together album with another vocalist, but the live renditions were just better. Shortly thereafter, possibly the least suggestive version ever of Baby, It’s Cold Outside.

There were other highlights as well. Each year, Dave does a Hannukah section, since he was born Jewish. A giant dreidel descended from the rafters. Kids from the college, I assume, were wearing Santa hats and bringing Koz the right sax, sometimes mid-song.

Dave reminds me a little of another underrated musician, Doc Severinsen, who could play the clown with Johnny Carson, but who was/is a great jazz trumpeter.

Life on the road

Dave Koz Christmas 2021 locations Afterward, Andrea and I got to see Rebecca briefly. The tour started around Thanksgiving and ends December 23. Just for the Long Island show, the band came from Newport News, VA, seven hours away, where they performed the night before. The following evening, they would be taking the tour bus, which sleeps 12, to Detroit, 10 hours away.

Then a day off before trekking through Ohio, Indiana, and Louisville, KY. Good thing they have a day between there and El Paso, TX which is 21 hours away. Life on the road may be rewarding, but it’s tough.

Andrea drove me back to the hotel. I finally got a good look at the photos on the walls. They were often of horse race winners, with the jockey usually the famed Willie Shoemaker. And Burt Bacharach was prominent; Angie Dickinson, who I had forgotten had been married to Burt for a time, I recognized instantly. There’s a headshot of Edward Winter, who played the annoying Col. Flagg on MASH.

For the East Norwich Inn used to be called Burt Bacharach’s East Norwich Inn. The old sign was embedded into a wall. And the exterior still looks like this. The place is a bit worn; there was a squeak in my room floor, but it was in key. The venue was clean, convenient, and quite inexpensive. Burt also owned at least one restaurant in the area but I’m uncertain where that was.

Going home

The next morning, I called a taxi company; the guy at the front desk of the hotel had given me a phone number. But the man at that location gave me a second number, and the guy at the second number referred to the first. This left me with Uber. My driver was great, as he told me I could have taken a closer and more frequently running LIRR train, such as Hicksville. Next time I’m in the Oyster Bay area, I’ll remember that. My LI geography knowledge might fill a thimble.

Back to Manhattan to eat some lunch while sitting on the stairs between the entrances to the Moynihan train Hall. It was a beautiful day. Amtrak home to rain; fortunately, my wife picked me up. And my daughter might have even missed me a little.