jimmy fallon

U2 just finished on Letterman and I've turned over to Jimmy Fallon's first night.
Opening segment patter with Conan O'Brian
The Roots, a really fine band.
Starting with opening monologue: His suit looks too small.
"Rush Limbaugh called up and said he wants me to fail."
Obama joke, bringing he troops home in 18 months but the troops call to say, "Thanks but the economy is better here."
Audience members are yelling at him.
Microsoft joke
Ohio joke, woman arrested for driving while breast-feeding her baby.
Pelosi joke, slow jammin' the news, the Roots playing with Fallon talking over the track, singer singing in response. Wonder if this will become a new segment. "You can't rush my stimulus baby."
End of monologue. Pretty good, but not great.
"Great show tonight." Are there no writers who might have suggested an alternate line?
Blonde Mothers film, target demographic.
First commercial break, movie, (I love you man), Bud Light Lime, Olive Garden, Direct TV, Dove, Aveeno, VW, Old Navy, Last Call with Carson Daly.
We're Back.
A game, "lick it for ten." Looks lame. So far it is lame. Yep, it's lame. This bit will not last long. Too bad this is his first bit. His personality is not strong enough to compensate for a boring routine.
Second commercial break: Movie (The Last House on the Left), Rent-a-Center, Expedia, Cover Girl, Zantac, C-Class Mercedes, Energizer, Local commercial for Nightline.
We're Back.
"My very first guest on my very first show...please welcome Robert DeNiro."
Questions with one word answers. Pretty bad interview so far. Not engaging DeNiro. Come on Jimmy, make it interesting. Now he's telling a story with Jack Nickelson. Not much of an interview.
I like Fallon, but he is not doing a good job. Pretty disappointing. I'd love to stay up for Van Morrison, but I'm fading.
Hopefully he'll get better.

upon further political reflection

While writing a friend who, over the years changed from very convicted Republican to equally convicted Democrat, I found myself reflecting further on the results of the recent Presidential marathon. As someone who planned for seven years to vote for Hillary Clinton, it has been difficult to muster enthusiasm for the administration about to enter the White House. I applaud President-elect Obama's choices, especially all those people from the Clinton administration. And, yes, I think his choice for Secretary of State is a good one (keep your friends close and your enemies closer).

But I'm still recognizing some missed opportunities for this country and have several big disappointments in Hillary not being President:
- Would Bill be called, "The First Gentleman," "The First Lad," "The First Man?"
- When introduced, would they be introduced as President & President Clinton?
- And the biggest. I so wanted to see Bill lead the televised tour of the White House Christmas Decorations!!! That alone should have gotten Hillary the nomination and the Presidency. The American people have missed a unique opportunity! Christmas, 2009 is not going to be as exciting as it might have been.

Sure, President-elect Obama will have a well-organized administration and his children will be adorable. His wife is no Jackie O, but I'm sure she's going to do some good things. It will be good for some people in this country to have the first half-African American President. We've had 43 Presidents, all of whom were Caucasian males and now our 44th will be a half-Caucasian male. But I was looking forward to the first female President and nothing President-elect Obama has done has soothed my disappointment.

movies of 2008

Lots of movies were released in 2008.
Most of them did not have interesting enough trailers or advance press to gain my attention.
My favorites were surprises.
I expected my two favorite movies of the year to be Prince Caspian & Indiana Jones.
I did not hate them, but they did not capture me in the way I anticipated.
My favorites:
Iron Man
WALL-E
The Dark Night
Speed Racer

Movies I liked a lot but were disappointing at some level:
Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Movies I liked better than anticipated:
W
Twilight

Movies that were a major disappointment:
Mama Mia

sounds of Christmas

Christmas Music is very important to me partly because I'm a Christian, partly because I'm a musician but mostly because music has always been an important part of my Christmas celebration. The following are some of my favoirte Christmas songs most with a suggested performer who seemed to perfectly capture the mood, theme, or messaage of a song.

* O Holy Night, performed on the December 4th, 2006 episode of Studio 60 on Sunset Strip by a group of New Orleans musicians. The trumpet is played by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. It is a perfect performance of a perfect song. You can see the performance on YouTube or as a free download, tromboneshorty.com or on a Christmas CD sold by Barnes & Noble titled Sunday Music 5: Holiday. The Studio 60 web site used to have a video of the pure performance without the additional scenes from the episode.

* Please Come Home for Christmas The Eagles. When the Eagles released this single, not too many rock bands had Christmas singles. They offer a great performance of a great Christmas love song. For me, their performance edges out the Charles Brown original, but just barely.

* Santa Claus is Coming to Town Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Pure fun. Great live performance.

* Happy Xmas John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. But really, this is John's song, everyone else is window dressing. Lyrically and musically it's not the most interesting song he ever wrote, but it fits with the season.

* The Christmas Song Nat King Cole. Of course there needed to be some traditional Christmas music on this list. This is the performance of a master. All other performances of this song are a tribute to the master.

* White Christmas Bing Crosby but I really prefer the performance in the movie, too bad the sound track is different.

* Blue Christmas Elvis Presley. Have to include the King. I love to get crowds to sing this as an "elvis-a-long" with people trying to imitate Elvis.

* Linus & Lucy Vince Guaraldi Trio. Of course the entire soundtrack is great but this is really the main theme.

* Do They Know it's Christmas? Band Aid. Above average performances of an average song but it serves the purpose.

* Christmas Time is Here Again The Beatles. They were talented musicians who could be very serious about music and worked hard in the studio but could still have fun.

* In the Bleak Mid-Winter No particular artist. This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns.

I could keep going, but every entry needs to stop somewhere...
Happy Christmas

pastor swap

A friend recently asked which Reality Show was my favorite. I think Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a riot. Sometimes I watch Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor with my wife, depending on whether or not the contestants are interesting, but My Favorite Reality Show is called Pastor Swap; a black, liberal, Harvard & Yale Divinity schools pastor changes places for one month with a white 3rd-grade-educated pentecostal, snake handling, poison drinking, heaving, pastor from the hills of Tennessee. Unfortunately the show was canceled after one episode. Something about the black pastor dying of snake bite and the white pastor inducing a riot his first Sunday when he introduced his favorite rattlesnake, Clyde, and asked "Who's first?"

Well it would be better than some...

My Perfect Beatle Album

A friend challenged a group of us, all Beatle nuts, to assemble our perfect, personal Beatle album. We had to limit ourselves to 14 tracks and were given two weeks to complete the challenge. The following is my list including my rationale for each song choice. It is arranged as an LP with bonus tracks for the CD version.

Side One

A Hard Day’s Night – The best opening of any rock & roll song ever.

Help – Another great rock & roll song that shows a four-piece group already moving beyond typical arrangements with great lyrics, melody, vocals, instrumentation and beat.

Boys – My favorite Ringo song. Pure Cavern/Germany Beatles simple rock & roll. I hear this song and think, this is what they sounded like in those clubs. Straight ahead, 4-piece rock & roll band with great playing, girl group bgv’s, bass line that proves that Stuart did need to leave the band, a lead that reminds us that George got Chet Atkins.

Back in the USSR – My favorite Beatle song. The Lads give homage to Chuck Berry & the Beach Boys with a farcical lyric.

Revolution (single version) – Years later, they still know how to play rock & roll with a protest song.

The End – These guys can play their instruments! My only complaint; I wish the drum solo was twice as long. Does anyone know, is the guitar duel order, Paul, George & John, then repeating in that same order?

Hey Jude – I wanted an anthem and this is my favorite Beatle anthem. Almost included Give Peace a Chance instead but I think this is a better song. They got Top Forty radio to play a song longer than three minutes! Plus it is a song of hope. Things will get better.


Side Two

Here Comes the Son – The best second side of an album opening song ever, plus I have always, always liked this song. Also, I had to include at least one George song!

In My Life - This is so much more than a love song. It is a celebration of life. It’s one of the songs that will be performed at my funeral. The others are Tears of Heaven (Clapton), Time of Your Life (Green Day), and That Where I am, There You May Also Be (Rich Mullins)

Here, There & Everywhere – Perfect love song.

Strawberry Fields Forever – This song and Penny Lane are recording masterpieces. Many people point to Sgt. Pepper as a masterpiece of the time but I put SFF & PL in the same vein. There is an abundance to hear in these two songs. I remember when Dick Clark played a short film the Beatles produced for one of these songs and asked for responses from the audience one boy said, “They went out with the Twist.” At the time I thought, “Kid you have no idea what you’re saying.” I wonder if he regrets his comment.

Penny Lane – George Martin told the story of the recording of the piccolo trumpet. After the guy finished playing it he was completely out of breath and Paul said, “That was pretty good. Let’s have him do it again to see if he can play it better.” The guy had a shocked expression on his face, looked at Martin and said, “I don’t think I can do it again.”

Because (a cappella version found on disc two of Anthology Vol. 3) – The Beatles sang incredible harmony. John, Paul & George each sang this three times so there are nine vocals on this song yet it is incredibly tight. This also reminds me of one reason why I’ve never been as interested in their solo work. It appears as if they all forgot how to sing harmony.

Kansas City – The Beatles were a great cover band. No question The Fabs great song writers, but equally great as a cover band.


CD Bonus Tracks:
Christmas Time is Here Again – Not a great song, but lots of fun.
You Know My Name, Look Up My Number – A strange song that, for some reason, I enjoy hearing.

Nancy Drew

When I was in grade school we regularly did oral book reports in class. One day a girl in class presented a report on a Nancy Drew mystery. I thought it sounded interesting so I went to the library that afternoon and checked out The Secret of the Old Clock, with the original blue cover. I'm not sure how many more Nancy Drew mysteries I read, at least 20, but I enjoyed them all. As a guy, I'm not sure why I never read The Hardy Boys, but I didn't. When the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys television series aired in the 70's I watched it even though the show did not begin to capture the atmosphere of the books.

Given that background I was really interested in the recent Nancy Drew movie. Would it be a period piece or would it have a modern-day setting like the TV series. I was not prepared for the answer to be "both."
The movie is fun. It captures the Nancy Drew of the original books. Even though it is a contemporary setting, the Nancy Drew character is a throw back to the original books, complete with her blue roadster.

While watching the movie, I wished my daughter was 10 again because at that age, I think she would have enjoyed this movie.
I can imagine showing this movie to a group of giggling 10 year old girls during a birthday sleep over.

Be careful though. After watching this movie you might find yourself involved in a little "sleuthing!"