Ramblin' with Roger

Well, after answering Eddie’s question recently about how much music was too much, and having the unique opportunity to actually work on my own project – Carol took Lydia to see Grandma and Grandpa last weekend – I pulled out all of my vinyl, and put it in broad alphabetical order. by that, I mean all the A’s are together, all the B’s are together. O.K., that’s not technically true either: there are A’s on the first floor and on the third floor, likewise B’s and C’s. But on each floor, they are in rough alpha order.

What I had discovered that there are certain artists where most of my music of theirs is on vinyl: the solo Beatles, especially John (IS there a CD version of The Wedding Album? And, if so, do I WANT it?); Joan Armatrading; Joe Jackson; the Supremes; the Temptations; XTC; pre-1971 Stevie Wonder. Then there are the artists who I have ONLY on vinyl: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass; the MC5; Don McLean; Moby Grape; Peter, Paul, and Mary; solo Todd Rundgren; Gil Scott-Heron; X. I must admit that I didn’t know I had any Bobby Vinton at all, but there it was Melodies of Love, featuring that big hit, “My Melody of Love”.

It finally hit me, because I had frankly forgotten: there were people who just GAVE me their LPs when they moved or were just going digital. I can tell, because some of their names are still on many of the album covers.

While working on the project, I listened to CDs on the boombox while I was on the third floor, but while this task was going on on the first floor, why not listen to some vinyl? Well, because the turntable is a bit funky. I turned it on, the arm automatically went to the beginning of a 12″ album, then stopped; I had to manually get the turntable going before it would run on its own. Then when it got to the end of a side, the arm just sat in the inner groove until I hit the stop button two or three times.

What to listen to? No, it wasn’t Bobby Vinton, though being from Binghamton, with its large Slavic population, I have an admitted affection for the first track. No, I started with Smile, a bootleg of the Beach Boys’ album that Brian Wilson finally put out 37 years after he started. It was not unfamiliar to me; between the legit Beach Boys albums, the outtakes from the Beach Boys box set and Brian’s SMiLE album, it all sounded a bit familiar. Except for some cacophonous saxophone piece, which, fortunately, I don’t think survived.

I should talk about bootlegs. I don’t have many, maybe 10, mostly Beatles, and with few exceptions, they are disappointing sonically. In retrospect, they are dubious to own morally, I suppose.

The next thing I played was Side One of Daryl Hall’s first solo album, Sacred Songs, produced by Robert Fripp. My favorite song is the second, “Something in 4/4 Time”. Lefty once asked if I liked vocal choruses, and I do, this song being the epitome of this. In the middle, it gets kind of Fripp-like, with a bunch of triplets, but never loses the beat. One of my favorite songs ever.

By the 1970s, though, it has fallen into disuse and disrepair. I walked in the arcade in 1977 and was nearly overwhelmed by the smell of bodily wastes. Yet, it was at that time when the revival of Proctor’s took place. Among the many supporters of Proctor’s was the Schenectady Arts Council, which obtained a grant to provide arts in the schools of Schenectady in 1978. The offices of the artists and the administrative staff, which included me doing the bookkeeping, were located on the second floor of Proctor’s. My very first task was to sell ad space for a program that would be a benefit for Proctor’s in April 1978. There were a number of performers on stage for that show, and even more including our secretary, Susan, two of her friends, and me, singing in the arcade. I was also in charge of an Artisans’ Arcade, a biweekly event, not surprisingly, in the Proctor’s Arcade.

So, I have a great deal of affection for the elegant Proctor’s, and am thrilled by its comeback. Its director, Philip Morris (really) is leading an expansion of the facility that will include two new theaters. Meanwhile, it’s a great place to see a film, with a BIG screen, rather than one the proportions of an oversized home entertainment theater. The ticket prices skyrocketed from $2 to $3 last year, though.

After the previews for Ant Bully, Superman Returns, and An Inconvenient Truth, all showing in the near future, the featured film came on. I liked it well enough. The performers are uniformly excellent, including Lindsay Lohan, who holds her own. Meryl Streep’s singing was a revelation. The music throughout was great. But…

Both my wife and I remember quite distinctly Ebert and Roeper’s review of the film. Roger gave it a thumbs up, while Richard gave it a thumbs down. The difference? Ebert listens to, and likes the radio program upon which the film is based, and Roeper does not, or more to the point, has heard it and hasn’t especially enjoyed it.

It is true that nothing much happens in the film. Yes, it’s “the last show” but Garrison Keillor’s character, GK, treats it like any other show; must be that Norwegian bachelor farmer reserve. Oh, Virginia Madsen wanders around, but that mystery is resolved soon enough. And there’s no “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon,” probably because it was decided that such a monologue wouldn’t be very interesting in a cinematic product.

James Lipton’s Ten Questions
Since I’m unlikely to appear on the show, here are the ten questions (compiled by Bernard Pivot) that James Lipton asks every guest on Inside the Actors Studio, along with my own responses.

1. What is your favorite word?
“Rendezvous.” I’m fond of words of French or Italian origin.

2. What is your least favorite word?
“Blitzkrieg”

3. What turns you on?
Curiosity.

4. What turns you off?
Hard-headed stupidity.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
It starts with an a, it has seven letters, we all have one, and my friend Karen says
it with such passion that it’s almost music.

6. What sound or noise do you love?
Actually, I like white noise- fans, certain vacuum cleaners, even. I’m thinking noise vs. music.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
A jackhammer.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
It took me so long to figure THIS one out. I suppose law.

9. What profession would you not like to attempt?
Oh, so many. Medicine – don’t want to kill anyone.

My first thought was to show the range of murder from comedy to tragedy, but there simply wasn’t enough comedy: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Beatles), The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun (Julie Brown), Lizzie Borden (some folk duo). Then I thought to do that murder ballad thing I had thought of years ago, with Delia’s Gone (Johnny Cash), Pretty Polly (Judy Collins), any number of songs from Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads CD, and others. But then I got my disc from Lefty, which contained two of my choices: Down By the River (Neil Young), and Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix). OK, scratch that.

I’m now working on a new concept, but Gordon himself stole Somebody Got Murdered from me. What to do, what to do? Anyway, I THINK my burning issue is solved, but the discs probably won’t go out until the end of next week. Those not involved in the exchange can still get whatever homicidal package I put together.

The other musical topic is the fact that someone (to whom I owe a picture of myself, but I haven’t had a chance for my wife to take it; I haven’t forgotten) gave me a $25 iTunes card. While I know I could use it on a number of things, I’ve decided that I want to get songs of artists that are one- or two-hit wonders, for whom I don’t need their whole album. So far, I’ve selected:
But It’s All Right (J.J. Jackson), not, as I understand, the late original MTV VJ, but one of the few black artists on Warner/Reprise in the 1960s, along with Bill Cosby.
I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four) in Gordon’s honor.
Expressway to Your Heart (Soul Survivors), with that insistent bass line. Maybe my sister owned the single.
And because I suppose every music-loving boomer is supposed to have it:
Incense and Peppermints (Strawberry Alarm Clock)

But what else? Here are some examples:
I Can Help (Billy Swan) – possibly the least well-known #1 of the era (1972), at least until ServiceStar used it in a commercial.
Why Can’t We Live Together (Timmy Thomas) – so of its period, and yet still relevant.
The Ballad of the Green Berets (S/Sgt. Barry Sadler) – not that I’d actually buy it.

As I pondered this aloud at work, my boss said, “Why don’t you ask the people reading your blog?” What a swell idea! What singles, or for that matter, tracks of albums where the album’s not all that hot, but has one killer cut (“killer cut”? – back to the murder theme?), do you think I should own? I have the Nuggets CD, so I have Wild Thing by the Troggs, e.g.

1. I asked you earlier in the baseball season who would be playing in and win the World Series. You answered the Mets would be the Tigers in 6. Do you still stand by this prediction? If not, then who?

I’ll stand by the Mets to win it all. The American League winner could be anyone. My father-in-law is a Twins fan. There are lots of people around here who are rooting for the Yankees to win the AL, and then lose to the Mets. But in a short series, anything can happen, including the Tigers winning.

2. If you could dine with one athlete, one politician, and one writer (all either dead or alive) who would they be and why?

I’ll pick all dead people on the theory that I could somehow still meet the live ones:
Athlete – Arthur Ashe. He was a pioneer who lived his life with dignity.
Politician- Thomas Jefferson. Maybe he’d give me the real scoop on Sally Hemings.
Writer- Mario Puzo. Just because I happened to see this name on my bookshelf. Also, because I’d be interested in how he researched “The Godfather”.

3. (Playing off Lefty’s first question) How far do you think we are away from having an African-American President?

It’d have to be someone not perceived either as an old-line liberal (Jesse Jackson) or a sellout (Condi Rice). Someone like Barack Obama. 2016. Maybe.

4. Do you think it’s right for the President (whether Dubya or any other after) to put their religious beliefs so in the forefront, considering that we have freedom of religion in this country?

Yes. I’m old enough to remember JFK having to say that he wouldn’t take orders from the Pope. That said, as a Christian myself, his brand of Christianity makes me very uncomfortable.

5. Do you know that I was going to do this same segment again on my web site because it was really fun the first time (after stealing your idea) but you beat me to it by a week or so?
No, but if you hum a few bars…
“I was gonna do
The same post as you.”
Is that how it goes?
And I see you did yesterday. I hope I found questions to make your life a living heck, at least.

And now, a fellow Piscean, Gordon:

1. Have you seen the remastered STAR TREK? And if so, what do you think?

No. And I think I’ve grown weary of re-release, remastered, release the original (Star Wars). Now, I’ll ask you, should I see the remastered STAR TREK? I know you wrote about the Trekkers’ complaints. It doesn’t BOTHER me, philosophically, as opposed to my feelings about colorization, e.g., I just think it’s a way to squeeze more dimes out of my pocket, and I’ll pass, thank you.

2. Does William Shatner really deserve to be a cult figure?

As opposed to whom? Sure, why not? I’m always reminded of the folks on Hollywood Squares, where I no longer knew WHY Charley Weaver was famous in the first place. Shatner’s avoided that with his three series plus the Star Trek movies. (Gee, a visual of him doing Rock-et Man suddenly flashed through my brain. Whoa!)

3. Mike Sterling: pro or con?