Younger son David decides to humor his father, and this leads to a road trip from Billings, MT to Lincoln, NE.
When we can’t get a child sitter, sometimes the Wife and I will see the same movie on different weekend days so that we can compare notes. I went to NYC with The Daughter to see the Broadway musical Newsies on a recent Saturday, so The Wife visited the Spectrum Theatre and saw Nebraska. She deemed it quite worthwhile, so I watched it that Sunday; she was right.
This is a rare starring role for long-time character Bruce Dern, playing Woody Grant, who is convinced that he has won a million dollars some Publisher’s Clearing House-type mailing, despite the insistence of his family to the contrary. His wife Kate (June Squibb) and elder son Ross (Bob Odenkirk) think Woody’s losing it. But younger son David (Will Forte) decides to humor his father, leading to a road trip from Billings, MT to Lincoln, NE, with an important side trip to the family’s past.
This is, as described, “told with deadpan humor and a unique visual style,” and it is more than occasionally LOL funny, without telling any jokes. Great acting by Dern and Squibb, both rightly nominated for Academy Awards. Stacy Keach, as an old acquaintance of Woody’s, Oderkirk, and especially Forte, who is best known for Saturday Night Live, are all excellent, as are many of the minor characters. There’s one scene with some older men, and my wife suggested – as I thought – that they reminded her of some of her taciturn relatives.
The script is by Bob Nelson, who I do not know. The direction is by Alexander Payne, who has been the writer/director for several movies I have enjoyed, including The Descendants, Sideways, About Schmidt, and Election.
Did I mention that Nebraska was filmed in black and white? This enhances the feel of the story tremendously.
A friend asked which of the six Oscar-nominated films I’ve seen so far was the most ENJOYABLE; it had been American Hustle, but I think it’s been replaced by Nebraska.
CCR even appeared at Woodstock, though most people don’t remember that.
Stu, John, Doug, Tom
John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook met in junior high school, and soon backed John’s older brother Tom on some gigs. Eventually, they became a band, with Doug on drums, Stu – formerly on piano – switching to bass, and Tom on rhythm guitar, as John became “the band’s lead vocalist and primary songwriter.” In Tom Fogerty’s words: ‘I could sing, but John had a sound!'” That he did.
The group had a hit with their second single, a cover of Susie Q [LISTEN], in 1968, but then received massive success in 1969 and 1970, with five #2 hits, including three in a row. Has any group ever done that while NEVER having a #1 single in the US? Don’t think so.
They even appeared at Woodstock, though most people don’t remember that; I had forgotten myself. Their performance was “not included in the film or soundtrack because John Fogerty felt the band’s performance was subpar.” That was a reflection of tensions in the band.
John Fogerty had taken control of most aspects of the band’s direction, to the chagrin of the others, so Tom Fogerty decided to quit, and the band continued as a trio. John then wanted a more democratic process with Stu and Doug, but it was John’s sound that made the band and putting out an album with all of the band writing songs turned out to be a commercial and critical failure.
The band broke up in 1974, and the label put Chronicle, Volume 1, “a collection of Creedence’s twenty hit singles, in 1976,” a double-LP set. For all my affection for their sound, this was my first CCR album, though I did acquire a couple of the earlier albums later on. That greatest hits collection included the single version of the last hit, a cover of I Heard It Through the Grapevine [LISTEN], while the CD version of the album has the 11-minute rendition [LISTEN].
This is also sad: “In the 1980s and 90s, new rounds of lawsuits between the band members, as well as against their former management, deepened their animosities. By the time CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, John Fogerty refused to perform with Cook and Clifford. The pair were barred from the stage, while Fogerty played with an all-star band that included Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Robertson. Tom Fogerty’s widow Tricia had expected a Creedence reunion, and even brought the urn containing her husband’s ashes to the ceremony.”
Stu and Doug worked as session musicians and on other people’s albums before forming “Creedence Clearwater Revisited in 1995 with several well-known musicians. Revisited toured globally performing the original band’s classics. John Fogerty’s 1997 injunction forced Creedence Clearwater Revisited to temporarily change its name to ‘Cosmo’s Factory,’ but the courts later ruled in Cook’s and Clifford’s favor.”
The chance of a CCR reunion is remote. While John has recently suggested, after years of rejecting the idea, that it was theoretically possible, Stu and Doug don’t believe it will ever happen. But John’s solo career is thriving.
(I realize that quite a few of these family tales are less than happy. It DOES get better.)
From JEOPARDY show 6666: MY “SON”, THE PRESIDENT (each answer has the word “son” in it)
*Chronologically, he was the first who fits the category
*He was preceded & succeeded as president by the same man
*He beat Clinton–DeWitt Clinton–in 1812
*For refusing to shine the boots of a British officer as a child, he got a saber across the face
*He whipped 2 former presidents in the same election by an electoral score of 435-88-8
Another quiz question: Who was the last president to outpoll non-voters in a presidential race?
Some music trivia: What blues legend, who performed under a pseudonym, was actually named after a US President?
(Answers at the end)
“Nixontapes.org is the only website dedicated solely to the scholarly production and dissemination of digitized Nixon tape audio and transcripts. We have the most complete digitized Nixon tape collection in existence–approximately 2,300 hours spread over 2.5 terabytes of hard drives that contain more than 7,000 audio files. This is the only website in the world that makes the complete collection of Nixon tapes available directly to the public in a user-friendly format, free of charge.” There are a total of 3,700 hours of tapes, so the job is only 2/3s done!”
If Hillary Clinton becomes President, will she name Bill as Secretary of State? No, she can’t, unless they get divorced. And I gather the law banning it was in reaction to John Kennedy naming his brother Bobby as Attorney General.
“Expansionism and intervention are oppressive forms of activism. From that perspective, it’s easier to arrive at the four worst Presidents.
ANSWERS –
Who was:
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
James Madison
Andrew Jackson
Woodrow Wilson
and Theodore Roosevelt.
I had guessed LBJ, who beat Barry AuH2O badly in 1964. Dan reminded me that “Johnson got the highest vote total of the century, but the non-voters still beat him. Goldwater’s veep went to Albany Law School. He was also the first Catholic veep nominee for the Re-pubs. His name? [which I DID remember] ‘Here’s a riddle, it’s a killer/ Who the hell is William Miller?’ His daughter is comedienne and talk show host Stephanie Miller.”
The musical answer is Howlin’ Wolf, who was born Chester Arthur Burnett.
Oh, the guy pictured: Martin Van Buren, whose native language was Dutch. This was a quiz on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanapoulous earlier this year, and NONE of the panelists got it right.
I noted that I would be putting my Black History discussion up on this blog, NOT the Times Union newspaper blog. And someone asked me why. I said, “It’s just not a safe place.”
I expected that the first time I would bother to unfriend someone on Facebook would be because of some great, substantial, important issue. And it wasn’t. It was Because Facebook.
I wrote, on Facebook:
FACEBOOK wrote to me: Why am I not seeing a movie?
If you aren’t seeing A Look Back movie when you visit facebook.com/lookback, it may be because you have not shared very many things on Facebook. Depending on how long you’ve been on Facebook and how much you’ve shared, you’ll see a movie, a collection of photos or a thank you card. (I have pics.) I am SO NOT disappointed.
And someone, who I friended, because she is a friend of a friend, wrote:
“And who gives a…”
It occurred to me, at least in Facebook World, maybe some people might have cared, since LOTS of people I knew and weren’t aware, were posting their “movies”, none of which I have actually seen yet. I wanted to explain why I had not. So the response didn’t anger me but annoyed me enough to zap her. It was just negative energy I didn’t want. I thought the CORRECT response to something on FB that was not of interest to one is to ignore it; I do it ALL THE TIME.
Whereas some I DO know passed along this nonsense about Obama having the flag lowered for Whitney Houston, but not for Shirley Temple. (In fact, Republican governor Chris Christie had the flags in New Jersey lowered for Whitney.) Because I had a relationship with him, I asked about it, and he only forwarded it because he was showing how ridiculous it was. *** I gave my Black History Month presentation at church, based on my February 13 blog post, and I noted that I would be putting it up on this blog, NOT the Times Union newspaper blog. And someone asked me why. I said, “It’s just not a safe place.”
I would undoubtedly, get more comments there than here, but a LOT more argumentative comments. I don’t mind discussion, but I loathe rants. And conversations about race almost inevitably turn into rants, usually having nothing to do with the original topic. Or, in the alternative, a twisting of one’s words. No thanks. *** Speaking of rants: OK, not really a rant, but this musician I follow on Facebook wrote:
Why do people take such pleasure in being ahead of me? That car that just HAS to nudge past me as we approach the Thruway tollbooth, that guy whose pace quickens as we both approach the door to Chipotle…are their lives so devoid of triumph that this registers as an accomplishment? Are they banking those eight saved seconds for a rainy day? Or is this some hardwired, ancient simian instinct, a fear that the monkey in front of them will get the last banana?
I so relate. I’ve noticed this when I’m trying to leave the bus and someone’s trying to push past me to get off first, not trying to catch a connecting bus.
There’s a lot that Inside Llewyn Davis got right, starting with an actor, Oscar Isaac in the title role, who could act, plus sing and play guitar convincingly.
I had this perfect Saturday date planned with The Wife. She had a church meeting all day until 3:30 pm. I would walk The Daughter to a friend’s house, drop her off, catch a nearby bus at 2:45, catch another bus at 3:03, get to the Spectrum Theatre about 3:15 to buy tickets for the 3:45 showing of the movie Nebraska, which I had been trying to see for a while. The Wife would meet me there.
Unfortunately, no one was home at 2:30 or 2:45. We had to take a bus downtown at 3 to go to church and intercept The Wife, then call The Daughter’s friend’s mom, who had mixed up the time, drove down to the church, picked up the Daughter.
By then it was already 3:47, too late to see Nebraska, but barely enough time for my wife to drive us to see the 4 pm showing of Inside Llewyn Davis. This was on my list, eventually, ever since I got the soundtrack of this Coen brothers film for Christmas, which I liked.
There’s a lot that this movie got right, starting with an actor, Oscar Isaac in the title role, who could act, plus sing and play guitar convincingly. The atmosphere of the 1961 Greenwich Village folk scene felt authentic. The other performers in the club, including one played by Justin Timberlake, were solid. And that hit song, Please Mr. Kennedy was a hoot.
The other characters, including Jean (Carey Mulligan), who has a hate/tolerate relationship with Llewyn, the uptown art supporters the Gorfeins (Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett), his agent, the club owner, the record producer all felt quite on the mark. The side story with the John Goodman character was kind of strange, but I could accept that too.
And I’ve felt as adrift as Llewyn, with some of my stuff stored here and there, especially in the mid-1970s.
The problem with the film for me was that when it was over, I had the sense, quoting the song NOT in the film, “Is that all there is?” He goes through the whole movie and, quite literally, ends up where he began. It’s only a week in life, but it was oddly unsatisfying; somehow I wanted more…something. Character development, maybe. *** ADDENDUM SamuraiFrog noted that “Llewelyn Davies is the name of the family with all the kids that inspired JM Barrie to write Peter Pan (one of the boys was named Peter).” This made him, and me, wonder “if the Coen Brothers chose a name so similar on purpose, since growing up seems to be one of Llewyn’s issues.” If he hadn’t seen Finding Neverland years ago [which I did too, but forgot this detail], he might never have made the connection.
When we can’t get a child sitter, sometimes the Wife and I will see the same movie on different weekend days so that we can compare notes. I went to NYC with The Daughter to see the Broadway musical Newsies on a recent Saturday, so The Wife visited the Spectrum Theatre and saw Nebraska. She deemed it quite worthwhile, so I watched it that Sunday; she was right.
