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Grey Anatomy’s ’80s Music; Stephen Colbert to CBS

The longtime president of Union College, Eliphalet Nott, was previously the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Albany.

I noticed that Grey’s Anatomy had been using songs familiar to me, but by different artists from the originals. What I hadn’t sussed out is that the program will feature all ’80s covers for the remainder of season 10. Here’s a list of recent music.

For instance, Episode 14 included [LISTEN to all]:
Don’t You Want Me by Young Summer, originally by the Human League.
Man in the Mirror by J2, featuring Cameron The Public, originally by Michael Jackson.
All Through the Night by Sleeping at Last, originally by Jules Shear, popularized by Cyndi Lauper.
Don’t You Forget About Me by Wind & The Wave, originally by Simple Minds.

This is part of a collaborative effort between Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes and music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas — what they call the ’80s Covers Project.
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My buddy Alan David Doane was musing about the limitations of the Stephen Colbert caricature on Comedy Central as a right-wing blowhard: “His ‘character’ gets in the way of providing the value and insight Jon Stewart delivers every day [on the Daily Show]… It was an amusing conceit that has proven limited in its capacity to entertain and enlighten, and this [then] current brouhaha seems to be the point where everybody has finally gotten as tired of it as I have always been.” It was always thus for me as well. I got the joke; I just didn’t think it was particularly funny over time.

When David Letterman announced his retirement from his CBS Late Night show, and Colbert was selected to replace him, I was hoping we’d then see the real Colbert. It will be so. Mark Evanier wrote quite a bit about all this HERE and HERE (what about Craig Ferguson, whose show follows Letterman) and HERE (why not Jon Stewart) and HERE. Also, Stephen Colbert hits back at Bill O’Reilly.
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I had to be rooting for Union College as it defeats Minnesota for the college hockey national championship. Not only was it a much smaller school, and an underdog against a perennial power, but it’s located in Schenectady, NY, in my metro area. Used to walk through the campus all the time in 1978.

Moreover, the longtime (1804-1866) president of the college, Eliphalet Nott, was previously (1802-1804) the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Albany, my present church home.
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Killing off a major character could be fatal to “The Good Wife”. I hope not, because it’s one of the few programs I actually watch and my favorite drama.

Fridays in Lent: The Life of Brian

The character Brian is CLEARLY not Jesus, established very early on.

One does forget that not everybody is aware of certain cultural icons. On one hand, I cannot name a single Justin Bieber song off the top of my head. Couldn’t tell you the identity of a single member of One Direction, even though I saw them on some morning show this past summer while getting physical therapy.

On the other hand, one of my colleagues, who’s in her early 30s, made a casual reference to the 1979 Monty Python film The Life of Brian in front of one of our interns, who’s probably in her mid-20s. No glint of recognition whatsoever.

So I sent her a snippet that always makes me laugh, What have the Romans ever done for us, and that classic tune Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, a song that pretty much ended the London Olympics in 2012.

The controversy over this movie at the time of release continues to amaze/amuse me. The character Brian is CLEARLY not Jesus, established very early on. Yes, there WERE other would-be messiahs in Jesus’ time. I just bought this movie on DVD in the last year or two and will have to watch it again soon. Maybe not next week, but soon.

Not liking music?

“Sing lustily, and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.”

A half dozen years ago, someone posted this to Yahoo! Answers:
“I don’t like music. At all. Any of it. Does this have a name? To me, music is an intrusive noise. It gets in the way of my thoughts and prevents my structuring a sentence.”

She goes on complaining that others try to share different types of music, but her reaction is the same. Some of the folks answering her find this either bizarre or else they too do suggest she hasn’t been exposed to the right kind of music.

But now, researchers say that some people lack the ability to get pleasure from music. There’s even a fancy phrase for it: “specific musical anhedonia.” Of course, I find it a little odd, but we’re all constructed differently.

There is even a musical reward questionnaire out there. I was slightly disappointed that all my answers were in the “normal” range for music enjoyment (40 to 60), with “social” being the highest, with a 59.

Jaquandor did one of his random Wednesday conversation starters a few weeks back: “How much do you sing? Publicly? In a choir, or solo? Only at home amongst friends? Only in the car or the shower?” I was really sad to read one response:

Never. When I was 10 years old I was told not to sing in church. We were doing some kind of Christmas thing and each Sunday school class was going to sing in front of the church. The Sunday school teacher kept trying coach me and finally gave up and told me to just move my lips. I guess that warped me for life because it’s been many years since I’ve even felt like singing.

I thought this was terrible! Someone sucked the joy of singing right out of this person’s life, and at such an early age.

As a former Methodist and long-time choir member, I am well aware of John Wesley’s Rules for Singing (1761), my favorite of which is this:

“Sing lustily, and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of it being heard, then when you sing the songs of Satan.”

Movies, music, romance

I once got a standing ovation playing a comb, seriously.

MDS of Pantheon Songs wonders:

What are some movies that are generally considered to be classics that you found to be just terrible/boring/ridiculous?

I fell asleep watching Citizen Kane on video; in general, I prefer seeing a film first on the big screen. But that lapse was probably because I was tired. The only film during which I ever fell asleep at a movie theater, excluding drive-in double features, was Empire of the Sun (1987), and again, maybe I was just fatigued.

I didn’t love either The Royal Tennenbaums or Lost in Translation, but this may be a function of seeing them after hearing too much hype. Or I was in a bad mood. Or tired.

Nothing, I guess, fits the bill.
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Tom the Mayor asks:

Are you worried about Lydia when she gets to the age of Dating?

I was watching a performance of The Lion King that Lydia was in on March 2. There’s a scene where Nala, played by the pastors’ daughter, was being sized up by the evil king Scar. And the male pastor, who was fairly near me, got rather physically tense until Nala slapped Scar and got away.

So sure, I suppose it’s an issue. Don’t know what she’ll face, and kids seem to have more ways to be mean.

Also don’t know what dating will mean to a mixed-race kid these days, though you assume the world is better than this being a problem.
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This must mean it’s New York Erratic time again:

What skill has gotten you the most girls? (Thinking clean, like music and singing and whatnot).

My guess is that I can be a very good listener. I was often friends with women I ended up going out with. Someone long ago told me that steering the conversation to be about the other person tends to make them feel good, and not just in romantic settings.

Though I know I did wow someone with my air guitar of Smoke On The Water.

What musical instruments do you play? Which do you wish you played?

I don’t play any instruments. That’s technically not true; I’ve played the comb. In public, including several times as part of the Green Family Singers. I once got a standing ovation playing the blues on a comb in Manlius, NY c 1970, seriously.

I wish I could play piano; I took a year of it when I was about 12, but I just didn’t have the chops. Or guitar; my father played and taught my sister Leslie in about a month, but I couldn’t get it.

What subject in school did you find the most difficult?

College freshman calculus. No idea what I was doing. And I did so well in high school math, with a 97 in algebra, 86 in geometry, and 98 in trigonometry; I would have done better in geometry, except memorizing proofs I thought was dumb.

First calc test I get a 73, the second 56, the third 37. I needed a passing grade on the final. I crammed for two days, sleeping maybe a total of four hours. Got a C on the final, a C in the course. Two weeks later, I looked at my textbook and did not understand a thing.

Which places on Earth you do NOT want to go to?

There are so many. Places that are too hot and sticky, and/or have too many insects; e.g. the Amazon. Places that are too cold, I mean below freezing even in summer; e.g., Antarctica. Places that are too remote because I like people; e.g., some cabin in the remote Rockies. Places that are too crowded because I don’t like people THAT much; e.g. Calcutta.

There is still time to Ask Roger Anything.

M is for the McVies of Fleetwood Mac

in January 2014, it was announced that Christine McVie had rejoined Fleetwood Mac.

Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie

The group Fleetwood Mac was named for drummer Mick Fleetwood, who helped found the band in 1967, and bassist John McVie, who, I did not know until recently, actually declined to join the group initially, but eventually came on board. The early iterations of the band were of classic British blues.

Early on, one Christine Perfect joined the band, initially as a session musician, and after marrying John McVie, as a full-fledged member. The band continued to have a revolving membership until Americans Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the group, two strong singer-songwriters. However, I’m going to limit the songs here to those written, or co-written, by Christine, only because it fits the family group motif.

The first album together, 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, had several hit songs, with Over My Head [LISTEN to the very first FM song to hit the Top 20 (just) in the US. Say You Love Me [LISTEN], made it to #11.

“In 1976 [Christine] McVie began an on-the-road affair with the band’s lighting director, which inspired her to write You Make Loving Fun [LISTEN], a [#9] hit on the landmark smash Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all-time.” It spent an amazing 31 weeks at #1 and spawned a number of other top 10 songs, including Don’t Stop [LISTEN], which went to #3, and later became a theme song at Bill Clinton’s 1992 inauguration. “By the end of the Rumours tour, the McVies were divorced.” Nicks and Buckingham had also ended their romantic relationship, and Mick Fleetwood would be getting divorced from his wife.

The double album Tusk followed, including Think About Me [LISTEN], #20 in 1980. 1982’s Mirage, featured Hold Me [LISTEN] (a #4 hit) and Love In Store [LISTEN] (#22), with co-writers from outside the band.

Tango in the Night, from 1987, contained Little Lies [LISTEN], another #4 hit, co-written with her new husband Eddy Quintela, and Everywhere [LISTEN], which went to #22.

Eventually, Christine McVie, Nicks, and Buckingham all left at different points. Yet the classic band found its way back together in 1997 for an album and tour, the year before the five of them, plus former Mac guitarists Peter Green and Danny Kirwan were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Christine departed again, but in January 2014, it was announced that she had rejoined the band, and in March, a reunion tour was scheduled.

We’ll end this with The Chain [LISTEN] from Rumours, written by all five of the members at that point, because, despite it all, there is something holding these five people together.

ABC Wednesday – Round 14