A report on The Honeymooners' performance on Friday night: it went off great. We had a pretty big turnout and the songs seemed to go about as well as could have been expected. Biggest challenge was the busy hands and can't-help-himself attitude of a particular five-year-old nephew that couldn't stay away from our equipment, from tuners to mic stands (even in the midst of our songs). But he's at all my coffee-shop shows, and playing through that particular distraction is something to which I've grown somewhat accustomed.
People seemed to genuinely enjoy the music; and among a number of nice comments we got after the show, the best one came from the co-owner of the establishment, Phil, who remarked that it"...turned my day around. It was a really nice ending to a not-so-great beginning to the day" (referring, of course, to the robbery). We got a pretty decent recording of the performance, upon which I have already experimented with some nice track-splitting software I discovered (called CDwave). I think I may be finally ready to put to bed my fears of being a technically below average guitarist. I was not formally trained, and I think my lack of knowledge about notes & scales on the guitar, coupled with a reluctance to really do much in the way of finger-picking for many years, led to this lack of confidence. Fact is, there are plenty of things an accomplished finger-picker can do that I cannot; and there are plenty of things that the quintessential rock n' roll "lead guitarist" can do that I cannot. But through my 15 or so odd years of playing guitar, I have certainly developed my own style of play, that would be difficult for many other guitar players to duplicate. The guitar feels natural in my hands, and if there's something I want to make it do, I can usually make it co-operate (even if it maybe takes 15-20 "takes" to get a flawless guitar solo down for a recording).
On the second topic, I'd like to offer a quick report on some Holiday Classic viewing. As a little background, I recently checked out a three-episode set of a relatively unknown British comedy, "Father Ted," about these three Irish priests that serve on a barren, craggy, obscure Bristish isle; and their various misadventures. Very funny at times; enough so that I picked up the next set of episodes, this time a collection of two holiday-oriented ones under the title, "A Christmasy Ted." Got through most of the first one last night-very funny, though I started nodding off towards the end.
We also rented "Scrooged." I had never seen the movie, though Sharon had seen it in college, I think, and had put it on our "to rent" list long ago. We got through about 90% the other night before a meltdown by Lucy (who's feeling a little under-the-weather) sent me scrambling upstairs for the night. We'll finish it, but we were both quite mutually agreed that the movie (or Sharon, at least) had suffered from a fairly significant episode of what we refer to as the "Facts of Life Syndrome." Sharon had these very fond memories of watching, and enjoying, "The Facts of Life" as a youth, and received a reality shock when she had the opportunity of catching an episode as an adult and it was revealed to her as the crap it really was.
Other notables instances of "The Facts of Life" syndrome that we have experience: "The Superfriends," "Night Court," "Get Smart," (to a lesser extent) "Top Secret."
Those movies/shows that have, in defiance of my expectations, avoided the "FOLS:" "Heaven Can Wait," "The Andy Griffith Show."
Anyway-long and the short of it: there's a lot of really great holiday classics out there, and I do not number "Scrooged" among them. If you want a really great original version of "A Christmas Carol," I urge you to watch the George C. Scott version from 1984. Moments from this incredibly well-written and still very relevant story are brought to life on the screen in goosebump-raising fashion, including the overall message, as summarized by the ghost of Marley in these words:
Mankind should have been my business! The common welfare should have been my business!! Charity, mercy, forebearance, and benevolence all should have been my business!!"
Good stuff.
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7 comments:
I am very interesting in hearing it if that is possible. Glad you brightened up so many people on Friday night. Do you want to throw a boot at that kid who is messing with all your stuff? :)
I DO want to throw a boot at the kid, as a matter of fact; but I do have to often remind myself that the little guy has faced a set of challenges, from genetics to his pre-3 years, of which I can barely conceive.
You're interested in hearing if what is possible?
Your recording, methinks he meant.
Glad to hear it went off well, as well.
Had a recent experience related to the FOLS. Rented (via Netflix) The Private Eyes (1980) with Don KNotts and Tim COnway as bumbling detectives who are called in to 'solve' the murder of a rich old couple, with the entire plot revolving around the continued deaths of the crazy staff and a series of poems left at the scene of each murder that never quite fulfill their rhyme scheme. I'm certain that Mighty Tom could expound upon this movie as well, as I know for certain of his love for it, and his larger love for Don Knotts - see The Amazing Mr Limpett. All in all I was quite pleasantly surprised by the production values, but the plot was pretty much theme and variation, and not much at that. Funny, entertaining, but not the laugh riot my 10 year old brain thought it was.
Sounds like it wasn't a total FOLS boner, then. Again, neither was Top Secret, but that particular movie, 18-year old Dan had named as my absolute favorite in the world. In that light: FOLS.
I love the topic-a little variation on "Jump the Shark," but collection of silver screen "classics" that is unique to each individual viewer.
You have, if I'm not mistaken, a prime candidate for FOLS in your collection: Total Recall (though that one may fit into that sub-category that does not quite match your original excitement, but neither is all that bad of a film in the end analysis).
To Cory: Yes, I am planning on a distribution of four or so copies of the performance. You will get one.
Total Recall is definitely still a 'good' movie, for what it was, but yeah, it has no place in my collection.
Great show. Loved the Beck. You should check out the whole album, but then I would tell you to buy all of his albums too. Sorry we couldn't stay longer. Looking forward to hearing both the disk of the performance, and the disk of the originals.
A movie that seems to me like it should suffer the FOLS is "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." But it doesn't. Not for me anyway
Thanks for the compliment.
I think I understand about Ferris Bueller. I've seen bits & pieces a couple of times (in the old days, pre-Lucy, when I'd sometimes flip the TV on and catch the WB Saturday matinee). Seemed to stand the test of time.
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