Hi Everyone:
Has anyone else noticed that the last few Santa-Cons have all been held in unseasonably warm weather? I've looked back at a few of the posts I've made regarding Santa-Con, and I've mentioned that part of the issue is that it's been warm for the second Saturday in December. I don't know if that's climate change, or just God's way of having fun with these folks who dress up in Santa outfits and proceed to get blitzed all over Manhattan. I actually didn't even get the privilege of riding into town on the LIRR with them this year, as the family and I are spending the weekend at my sister in law's Manhattan apartment.
Just hope they are not sweating their Jingle Bells off too much.
Onto the week that was..
And when the Beatles tell you
They have the word Love to sell you
They mean exactly
What they say...
from I Dig Rock and Roll Music by Peter, Paul and Mary
So as I eagerly awaited the arrival of Peter Jackson's remaster of the Beatles "Let it Be" Film sessions, which was titled Get Back, I went into it with a grain of salt. This was being pitched almost as alternative facts (as much as I hate to use that term) According to Jackson, and the two surviving Beatles themselves, this was going to show that things weren't really as bad as they were made out to be. That it wasn't all arguing and finger-pointing and all that. And I mean, my question was, If everything was so honky-dory in Pepperland, why did they still call it quits by the end of the year?
Well I just got finished watching the whole thing, which I honestly didn't think it would take me this long, but it ended up being almost 8 hours of footage. Originally when they were going to put in in theaters, it was going to be maybe 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Then when Jackson said it would be streamed on Disney Plus, he said he had 6 hours of footage. But it was much longer. Not that I'm complaining, but it was hard to do in one sitting.
If you've ever actually seen Let It Be, (and I have, I found it on YouTube once*) the quality of the sound is very poor, it's almost completely out of sequence and yeah, there are parts where the guys have clearly had it with each other.
This new documentary goes completely in order, a calendar from January, 1969 is shown marking off the days. There are notes put in to help describe what's going on. (they also issued a warning that the movie contained scenes of sensitive topics, strong language and smoking. I can't imagine 50 years ago, that anyone associated with the project would ever think there would be a warning about their smoking.)
The idea was that the guys were going to give their first concert since 1966, and they were going to do a TV show that would show them rehearding the new material they had for the concert. This goes through how that all evolved and you can see that for yourself. Here were some things though that I found interesting...
1) At one point in the first part, Paul McCartney and John Lennon are working together on what would become John's song on the Imagine Album, Gimme Some Truth. That's such an angry John song, watching Paul singing it with him was to say the least, strange.
2) In the Beatles Anthology, Paul and George Harrison seemed to complain a bit about Yoko Ono being at John's side constantly. It didn't seem to bother them too much here in Get Back, and there were a few times where she wasn't around. The two or three times Linda Eastman came, it seemed like her and Yoko got along well.
3) George walks out of at the end of part one. He doesn't make a scene or anything, he just says "I'm leaving", John asks when and George says now. That's on Friday the 10th. The film notes that John, Paul and Ringo head to George's house on Sunday the 12**, and that "the meeting did not go well." At the beginning of Part 2, it's Monday the 13th, and John says if they can't get George back, they will bring in Eric Clapton to replace him. Paul looks devastated about the thought of this being the end of the band as constituted.
4) George took credit in the Anthology for bringing in Billy Preston. Get Back says Preston came in on his own, being in London for a TV Special, decided to drop in on the guys, whom he had met in Hamburg, West Germany in 1962. What's of no doubt though, once Preston added his organ to these songs, they came to life. To me, he's the closest thing to the 5th Beatle there ever was.
5) In Part 3, Paul brings Linda and Linda's 6 year old daughter Heather into the studio on Sunday, the 26th. She was sitting next to Ringo Starr on the drum set, and he was keeping her entertained. At one point, they start rehearsing Let it Be, and Paul says something to Ringo about his drumming. Ringo shoots him a look like "Dude, I'm up here babysitting your girlfriend's kid,*** give me a f-cking break will ya?"
There was simply so much, I'm probably going to have to watch it two lot three more times before I can really give an honest assessment of it. These are just the things coming to my head now. But I will say this...I was surprised with how much they all cared about each others songs. The impressions I got through the years was that they felt they were becoming each other's backing band, but from what I saw here, they all had suggestions for each other's stuff, and for the most part, they took the suggestions to heart. Like I said, I went in skeptical, but somehow they pulled I’d off. You really do feel like they still we’re getting along.
If you have the time to binge watch it, by all means. I couldn't do it. I mean don't get me wrong it was fascinating and there were a bunch of wow moments, but it's a ton to digest. It is definitely worth watching though.
OBITUARIES
Bob Dole- By the time he ran for President against Bill Clinton in 1996, Bob Dole, the Senate Majority Leader from Kansas, seemed to epitomize the old man yelling "Get off my lawn!" This was a combination of his age, his monotone voice and that his opponent was some 23 years younger. In their 3rd and final debate, Dole had been hammering away at Clinton's ethics or lack thereof, when the question came up of whether Dole might be too old to be President****. Clinton looked at the camera and said "I can only tell you I don't think Senator Dole is too old to be President. It's the age of his ideas that concern me."
Dole grunted something about Clinton not having any ideas so that's why he was saying Dole's were old. Didn't matter, to me any shot Bob Dole had of becoming President ended that night. And I'm not sure that was necessarily a bad thing.
But considering him nothing more than some curmudgeon? That was unfair.
First of all, the man was a genuine war hero, having lost most of the use of his right arm towards the end of WWII.
Secondly, as tough and partisan as he could be, he also helped get many deals done. You want to talk about a lost art. As much as they went after each other, both Clinton and Dole had a definite respect for one another. I remember in 1996, even when it looked like the fur was flying, Dole when asked how he felt about Clinton personally, politics and ethics aside, said something to the effect of "I like him. He's got a firm grasp of the issues and he's smart as a whip." I'm not sure I have the quote exact, but that's pretty close.
And what a sense of humor. You have to be able to laugh at yourself a bit if you are 75 years old and doing Viagra Commercials. And how about the Visa commercial he did where they ask for his ID and he says, "I just can't win!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjmxbhzlLI
I say this all the time.. whenever we lose someone from the greatest generation, it's a sad day, there are so few of them left. When you lose one who also served his country as a dignified statesman, especially in this day and age, it's even sadder.
Michael Nesmith- The first time I watched The Monkees, was on Channel 9 back in the mid 80's. Apparently MTV had started re-running the show that had originally aired on NBC from 1966-68, so they were once again becoming popular. Having no idea what passed for comedy in the 60's as a teen ager in the 80's (Austin Powers was still a decade away) I had no idea what the hell I was watching.
But the music was always good. And eventually I started to get the humor. And of the four of them, the one who cracked me up the most was Mike Nesmith.
He just looked and sounded different. I almost felt like Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork could have been brothers. I know Davy had the British accent, but Mike had the Texas twang. Plus he was so much taller than the others and he wore that green wool hat.
With their popularity increasing because of MTV, the Monkees got back together and even put out a single that made it to the Top 20 in 1986. Nesmith didn't re-join the band then, and the rumors were that he wasn't getting along with them. Fact of the matter was, he had his own production company and was involved with films, music, TV all sorts of stuff. He was already wealthy, as his mother was the inventor of white-out. (True Story) and his various work with music videos is what is widely regarded as the groundwork for what became MTV.
He said the reason he didn't join the other 3 in 1986 was that he was just too busy.
He did join them for a TV special in 1997 that even I thought wasn't that great, but it was good to see them together again.
And speaking again of the Fab Four, if you ever see the video they did for A Day in the Life off Sgt. Pepper, Mike Nesmith is seen hanging out with his buddy, John Lennon.
Just a remarkable life. I was really bummed when I heard he passed on Friday.
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It seems it happens nowadays as often as Hailey's Comet comes along, or a total solar eclipse, but something happened on Saturday that really hasn't happened a whole hell of a lot lately...
A professional sports team from New York won a championship! I know, will wonders ever cease?
Last Sunday as I was watching the latest installment of the NY Jets pooping the bed, I started to flip around and saw that NYCFC, one of our two MLS franchises (That's soccer FYI) was getting ready to play Philadelphia for a berth in the MLS Cup against the Portland Timbers. I figured just knowing that NYCFC was in the semis would doom their chances to advance to the finals, so I didn't bother watching.
Turns out they beat Philly to advance to the final. So I rolled the dice and tuned in Saturday afternoon to watch the MLS Cup Final.
So first things first..how cool was it to watch a championship game on a Saturday afternoon? As much as I was rooting for New York, it looked like the people in Portland were having the time of their lives. And it was raining like it was here in NYC, but it was also 20 degrees cooler.; That had to be uncomfortable, but they didn't seem to care. That stadium was rockin.
And wouldn't you know, with less than a minute to go in the first half, NY scored to take a 1-0 lead into the break, We were 45 minutes and change away from the MLS Cup! And I couldn't believe how excited I was.
Of course only a team I root for could mess things up as spectacularly as NYCFC did. First of all, the officials added 4 minutes of extra time which till my dying day I will never understand the logic. To me that gives the whole thing a WWE feel to it. Let's tack on time till the other team scores.
And of course that's exactly what happened. There were literally 4 seconds left when Portland scored to tie it up. NYCFC was insisting there was a penalty on the play, but the refs weren't having it.
So then you have two 15 minute overtimes, in which I was certain Portland would score multiple goals. The combination of the Timbers and the stadium coming to life, plus those NYC guys who weren't beefing with the refs were in such shock that it looked like they could barely move.
NYCFC's goalie Sean Johnson made a couple of spectacular saves to keep hope alive for us. Then it went to a shootout. Once again Johnson was the man, stopping the first two Portland free kicks. NYCFC made the first one, missed the 2nd, then made the next three, not even giving Portland their 5th penalty kick, and viola! NYC has it's first champions since the Giants in 2011.
Back in 2003, my sister did an internship for MSG-TV, and I drove her to a couple of Red Bull NY games. (I think they were still the MetroStars back then.) And when I found out that the new NYC soccer team were partially owned by the Yankees and they were going to play in Yankee Stadium, I figured I'd stick with the Bulls.
But I've justified my jumping on the bandwagon thusly.. The Red Bulls now play their home games in Harrison, NJ. Harrison is west of the Meadowlands, so that really is New Jersey. NYCFC is in New York, I mean you can't get more NY than the Bronx right? I know the Jets practice in Florham Park, which is even further west than Harrison but well, they play at the Met Life Stadium so that's that.
Billy, I can call you a lot of things. One thing I can’t call you is a front runner—my late father in law, Tim Connors
Anyway, I wonder if my new soccer team, the MLS Cup Champion NYCFC will get a parade down the Canyon of Heroes. I don't see why not, we haven't had one in a while.
Anyway, let's here it for our hometown soccer club!!!
On a serious note, our hearts are breaking for the victims of the tornadoes in the Midwest. Kentucky seems to have taken the brunt of it. There’s never a good time for that to happen, but to have it happen during the holiday season is especially tough. The pictures and video are just awful.
Fall finale next week. Till then…
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*The Beatles apparently went through great lengths in recent years to keep Let it Be out of the public’s hands, I caught it on YouTube before the admins took it down.
**I watched that part with Tara and Tim and I pointed out that while John, Paul and Ringo were trying to talk George into coming back, the Jets were beating the Colts in Super Bowl III. They didn’t seem to care. I don’t blame them.
***Paul and Linda would marry two months later, and Paul would legally adopt Heather shortly thereafter. A sure fire way to piss Paul off is to refer to Heather as his stepdaughter
**** Ah the golden days of yesteryear, when 73 was considered by some to be too old for the Presidency. Both candidates in 2020 were older than Dole on Election Day.
