The stimulus, however, has worn off. Now our monthly payment for the family health care plan has nearly tripled. We are exploring other options, none of them great. And I wonder why I don't lean toward music as much as I used to.
I am disappointed in our elected officials just like everyone else, but I am certainly thankful for the stimulus package, which kept my health care costs down to an almost reasonable figure.
The stimulus, however, has worn off. Now our monthly payment for the family health care plan has nearly tripled. We are exploring other options, none of them great. And I wonder why I don't lean toward music as much as I used to.
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Lots of sensible comments in the news lately, which are pretty easy to pick out because the contrast (politicians with no heart, not to mention idiots like Rick Perry, who think the U.S. can pray itself out of the huge messes we're in) is so vivid.
Common sense is not so common these days, so it was encouraging to read Warren Buffett's Op-Ed in the New York Times; Buffett stated that the super rich are being "coddled" when it comes to paying their fair share of taxes. Since my least favorite politicians are the ones who let facts get in the way of their ideology, it was fab to hear this quote from a "Democracy Now!" broadcast from former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, attacking a slew of extremists: "The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party--the anti-science party--we have a huge problem. We lose a lot of people that would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012. When we take a position that isn't willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Sciences has said about what is causing climate change and man's contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and therefore, in a losing position." Season 2 of "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." has been out awhile (on Tri -Fi 2 Productions, two DVDs), and it's required viewing for any fan of rootsy rock'n'roll.
Recorded in the fall of 2009, these programs (originally broadcast on the Sundance Network) are perhaps the greatest music and interview shows since David Sanborn's "Night Music" on network TV in the 1990s. When Elvis was approached to host "Spectacle," it struck him as an odd thing, because he is best known for getting kicked off American television (his infamous 1977 "Saturday Night Live" appearance--where he took the Sex Pistols' place on the show, hastily stopped a song and started a different number on live television--got him banned from "SNL" for the next 12 years) rather than excelling at it. But excel he does, because he's a terrific interviewer who has a certain structure in mind but doesn't over-rehearse the questions and goes with the flow following the answers, leaving room for some spontaneous and, well, spectacular results. Whether kidding Ron Sexsmith about "the impeccable manners of the Canadians" or taking a good-natured hit from Bruce Springsteen (to paraphrase, Elvis asked Bruce, "Was I the one who called your ['70s] music 'overly romantic?' "--to which Bruce replies,"Of course it was you; I've been waiting thirty years for this [to reprimand you])," Costello is meant for this gig. Best of all is the music, much of it recorded before a live audience at Harlem's Apollo Theater, with New Orleans' Allen Toussaint, Levon Helm of the Band, John Prine, Neko Case, Richard Thompson's powerhouse "Shoot Out the Lights" and Jesse Winchester's touching and deceptively titled "Sham-a-Ling-Dong-Ding" (which brought big tears to Case, who was sitting next to him) among the highlights. Not to mention Sexsmith rescuing Costello's "Everyday I Write the Book" from an overly-poppy arrangement on record, and a bit of Bono singing "One Shot of Happy, Two Shots of Sad," which U2 wrote for Frank Sinatra, who didn't record it (but Nancy Sinatra did). Bono and the Edge told Elvis that when U2 began, they sounded as if they came out of nowhere, causing Van Morrison and Bob Dylan to challenge them, asking, "Where are your roots?" Like the musicians (the core band plus guests) who were placed together on Sanborn's old "Night Music" TV show, "Spectacle, Season 2" creates some joyful collaborations that may not have happened otherwise. And Costello revisits some of his own songs, supported mightily by the Imposters (including keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas, who, as two-thirds of the Attractions, made Elvis' 1978-1982 recordings so special). Elvis Costello has always been an astute music historian--the second time I saw him, he played songs ranging from Joe Stampley to Bobby Blue Bland and the O'Jays--and brings that kind of depth to his television work. It's a shame that there aren't concrete plans to do a third season--heaven knows that Executive Producer Elton John has the dough for it. Maybe Elvis is a bit busy with his own records and his twin sons these days. Good for him. We have a neighbor with one of those toy dogs that has a most annoying, frantic, high-pitched bark. And I must be turning into a quiet but genuine crank, because I somehow find it equally annoying the way the lady walks her pet around the neighborhood, doting on that puppy.
Today, I was at a gas station, fueling up, when I saw something I could hardly believe: a woman carrying her dog while she was putting gasoline in her vehicle. At first, I'm cynically thinking, "Is that our neighbor?" But then I gave her the benefit of the doubt; for one thing, I really haven't paid attention to what she looks like. Even she wouldn't hold that dog while at the gas pump. Naw, that's not her, I told myself. Still, I made a mental note of that red car. And not long after I got home, a red car pulled into the neighbor's driveway--and a woman, cradling a dog, got out of it. Criminally underrated, as they say. Ignored, too. Sad to hear about the passing of Eugene McDaniels (1935-2011), who (as Gene McDaniels) was one of the best singers of the early 1960s.
But there's so much more. Once his star faded, McDaniels wrote the scalding "Compared to What" for Les McCann & Eddie Harris, who cut the definitive version in 1969, and there are plenty of other superb renditions: Della Reese, Ray Charles (a driving, disco-flavored take) and last year's John Legend & the Roots assault. Even though he was the focal point of a pop music machine with structured arrangements, McDaniels' vocals on such songs as "Tower of Strength" (1961) and "Point of No Return" (1962) seem like an absurd send-up of the macho singing styles of the era. Listening to them now, they're more than entertaining--they're pointed and ahead of their time, just like Bo Diddley's raw and funny approach in the previous decade, although the men sound nothing alike. McDaniels took that awareness into a new era, first with "Compared to What" ("the president, he's got his war/most folks don't know just what it's for") and especially into Outlaw (Atlantic, 1970--reissued by Water Records), a batch of great songs about militarization, race and gender relations ("she cannot dig machismo/but she really can dig some masculinity"). Needless to say, I want to hear the follow-up to Outlaw, 1971's Headless Heroes of the Apocolypse. McDaniels went through other name changes (Universal Jones) and drifted into jazz; I last heard new music from him with 2005's Screams and Whispers (Sky Forest), an excellent release that's buried under a mountain of my unfiled stuff. He's on a YouTube video from 2010, singing his biggest hit, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay," in front of a class (Arts In Reach) of teenage girls with Kent Allyn playing guitar and harmonizing behind him. Fifty years later, Eugene McDaniels retained his light and skillful touch. Around the time of McDaniels' passing, I caught Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love" on the car radio. The song was never a favorite, but I listened all the way through for once. Later, I found out that Eugene McDaniels wrote that Number One song. That was when I learned that he died. |
The J2 Blog J.J. Syrja (born in Detroit, 1955) is a journalist and radio broadcaster. The son of an electrician and a teacher, he has written for Goldmine magazine,
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March 2024
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