Music – Page 101 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 4 – Lisa Selects – Ray Donovan

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Lisa at https://tao-talk.com/

test
Liev Schreiber as Ray Donovan

Originally on Showtime
7 seasons, from 2013 – 2020 (and a movie in 2022)
82 episodes (12 in each of the first 6 and 10 in the 7th season)
Directors: with # of episodes: John Dahl (11,) Tucker Gates (9,) Michael Uppendahl (9,) David Hollander (6,) Allen Coulter (4,) Daniel Attias (4,) Colin Bucksey (4,) Guy Ferland (3,) Joshua Marston (3,) Michael Apted (2,) Lesli Linka Glatter (2,) Phil Abraham (2,) Liev Schreiber (2,) Ed Bianchi (2,) Robert McLachlan (2,) Daisy von Scherler Mayer (2,) Stephen Williams (2,) Zetna Fuentes (2,) and 1 episode each for Daniel Minahan, Jeremy Podeswa, Greg Yaitanes, Tricia Brock, James Whitmore Jr., Carl Franklin, Denise Di Novi, Tarik Saleh, Nick Gomez, Dash Mihok, and Kyra Sedgwick
Genres: drama, crime

Starring
The Donovan Family
Liev Schreiber is Ray Donovan, the central character in the series, the planet the rest of the satellites revolve around. Set in L.A., Ray is a fixer to the stars and star makers. Kill your mistress by mistake on a coke binge? No problem. Macho star in love with a trannie? No worries. There is Ray the professional fixer that never fails. Then there is Ray the second oldest brother of a severely dysfunctional family, where he can never seem to do right or fix anything.

test2

Eddie Marsan as Terry Donovan

Eddie Marsan is Terry Donovan. Terry is the oldest brother. He manages Donovan’s Fite Club, the family boxing club that always loses money but is a perfect front for Ray’s money laundering (that Terry knows nothing about!) Terry, who was a strong contender to be a top boxer, was put into a mismatch by his father and got a brain injury that has given him palsy in one of his arms. Terry is a serious sort that acts as a mentor/trainer to talented young boxers. He has a pattern of attracting women who, for one reason or another, leave. He has a lot of pent-up anger about a lot of things.

test3

Dash Mihok as Brandon “Bunchy” Donovan

Dash Mihok is Brandon “Bunchy” Donovan. Bunchy was molested for years as a kid by a Catholic Priest and has real intimacy issues because of it. When the series opens, Bunchy is part of a class action suit against the Catholic Church for his childhood sexual abuse. Bunchy also boxed as a kid and may have been hit in the head too many times, leaving a cognitive impairment and some impulsivity issues. Bunchy sleeps at the gym. Terry looks after him.

test4 Pooch Hall as Daryll Donovan

Pooch Hall is Daryll, the Donovan brother from another mother. When the other brothers’ mother was dying of cancer, their dad went and shacked up with Claudette (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and together they had Daryll. When Mickey, their father and the patriarch of the Donovan clan, goes to prison, Claudette hooks up with Alan (Paul Michael Glaser,) a big movie producer, and moves to Palm Springs. As the story opens, Daryll has never met any of his brothers.

test5 Jon Voight as Mickey Donovan

Jon Voight is Mickey Donovan, the patriarch of the family. As the story opens, Mickey is in Walpole doing a 20-year sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. While Mickey has been in prison, Ray has stepped into the patriarch role. Everyone is worried about when Mickey gets out of prison because he is a force of mayhem and chaos, one who is always scheming but one whose schemes always get f*cked up. Unfortunately, those around him are the ones who suffer because of his f*ckups. Mickey is the charismatic flim-flam man who could talk a leopard out of its spots. Ray seems to be the only one who can see Mickey for who and what he is, even when others who have borne the brunt of his mistakes again and again seem to have amnesia. Mickey is a lovable, but toxic, rascal.

Emily Richardson is Bridget, the oldest sibling and only sister of the Donovan brothers. As the story opens, we learn that Bridget committed suicide back in high school. The facts surrounding it are blurry, but over the seasons the pieces are put together.

test6

l.-r. Bridget, Conor, and Abby Donovan

Ray’s Family
Paula Malcomson plays Abby, Ray’s attractive, feisty, haranguing wife. Ray is a serial cheater and Abby turns a blind eye to it as much as she can. Ray’s work is his life and he’s away from home more than most. He also has his own private apartment downtown that the family isn’t welcome to visit. Abby has a beautiful home in the burbs of L.A., but often she’s lonely and bored. She’s been with Ray since the beginning, when the two were growing up in Boston. They each know that theirs is a forever relationship. Abby’s a decent mother, but often it seems she is preoccupied by what she feels is Ray’s emotional abandonment and what she doesn’t have, which leaves the kids with their own form of double parental abandonment.

Kerris Dorsey plays Ray’s daughter, Bridget Donovan, named after her long-departed aunt. Bridget is a brainy high school student with the best grades. She has a guitar and writes and sings her own compositions. She’s searching for something to fill the empty spaces in her world and sometimes makes poor choices. She loves her parents but has an uncanny knack of seeing through them, which makes her a little jaded when it comes to them. Ironically, she loves her uncles and her grandpa unconditionally.

Devon Bagby plays Ray’s son, Conor Donovan. Conor is 14 when the story opens. Devon is the typical 14 year-old who likes to play video games. Conor also has a violent streak. He is never one to start a conflict, but you can be sure he will finish it when it comes to bullies. Conor feels like the most alone one in the series. Bridget tries to advise him, as do his uncles and grandpa from time to time, but he doesn’t really seem to connect well with anyone.

test7

Steven Bauer as Avi

test8

Kathering Moennig as Lena

test9

Elliott Gould as Ezra

Ray’s Work World
Katherine Moennig plays Lena, who is often in the office making her magic happen, but she sometimes gets her hands dirty out in the field. Lena is a lesbian who is unlucky in love as it often turns to domestic violence. Her loyalty to Ray is unwavering. He’s a demanding but fair boss who gave her a chance when things were at a low ebb for her.

Steven Bauer plays Avi. Avi used to be in the Israeli Special Forces and is the man you want on the case to adjust/convince/neutralize and clean, as needed, under Ray’s direction. Avi lives at home with his invalid mother. Like Lena, Avi’s loyalty to Ray is unwavering. I think Ray met Avi through his first boss in the series, Ezra.

Elliott Gould is Ezra Goldman. Ezra is a potent mogul in L.A. He first met Ray as a young thug when Ezra was on a movie shoot in Boston and saw Ray’s potential. He convinced Ray to move to L.A. and become one of his main fixers. Ray potentially could have other clients he’s a fixer for, but Ezra and his realm keeps him pretty busy.

Guest stars
There are a plethora of stars that traverse the seasons. Usually they last a season, sometimes they carry over into more than one, and sometimes they don’t last but a few episodes. Just a partial list of well-known names: Susan Sarandon, Hank Azaria, Katie Holmes, Ian McShane, Alan Alda, Sherilyn Fenn, Lisa Bonet, Tony Curran, Rosanna Arquette, James Woods, Ted Levine, C. Thomas Howell, Paul Michael Glaser, Brent Spiner, Jake Busey, Ann-Margret, Stacy Keach, Bronson Pinchot, Dabney Coleman, Richard Benjamin, Cheryl Ladd, Diane Ladd.

Aside from them are dozens upon dozens more in the cast.

Non-human Characters
ALCOHOL saturates pretty much every scene of Ray Donovan. Thankfully the kids don’t take after their family members. Ray especially drowns himself in it to forget things. Everybody but the kids are guzzling the stuff. Sometimes other mind altering substances like powders show up – especially with Mickey – but mostly it’s the sauce that is the preferred poison.

Sexual addiction is a condition that drives Ray. As the series goes on, Ray’s addiction to alcohol, pain, and sex thread their way through his world. Since Ray is the “strong one” that everyone turns to for this and that, nobody’s really interested in suggesting he seek treatment for any of them, as perhaps their fear is that he won’t be so good at what he does if he stops doing them.

The baseball bat that Ray keeps in his trunk. He doesn’t pull it out very often, but when he does, you know the beat-down about to go down.

test10 Ray with his bat

Linked closely to the baseball bat is violence. Ray will use everything aside from violence to fix work issues, but if those fail, he is ready, willing, and able to use it. He never lays a hand on Abby or the kids, yet he’s gotten into more than one drunken family brawl with his brothers and dad. Ray himself sometimes takes a beating; yet he has a curious relationship with pain. His tolerance for pain is very high. Even if he’s hurting, he shrugs it off, and there is a sense that he may feel that he’s earned his punishments on earth for his many bad acts. This stoic acceptance of physical damage combined with emotional numbness are certainly tied to his Catholic upbringing.

The phone – Ray is always on the phone. You know how they do a body count on John Wick movies? Or how many times Al Swearengen said f*ck in Deadwood? Seriously, someone needs to do a phone count on Ray. In the car, at home, in meetings, anywhere and everywhere.

test11

Donovan’s Fite Club

The boxing club is the one place in the series that truly feels like home base. Lots of the show is filmed at Ray’s family home, but honestly, it never feels homey there. It feels like so many strangers co-exist in it but seldom connect with each other.

The ocean and some homes near the ocean are settings for memorable events.

Synopsis: After reading the above information, you can pretty much guess what happens in Ray Donovan. Problems come up at work and at home; Ray finds a way to fix work problems and a way to deepen family problems. Ray has been a very criminal-minded individual for a very long time; yet at the same time he is passionate about giving his wife and kids every material comfort, price is no object. He seems well-aware how he disappoints them emotionally yet clueless as how to fix it. A crucial piece that has only been touched on so far is Ray’s relationship with his father, Mickey. Where Ray is the expert fixer, Mickey is the expert breaker. Ray hates his father and wishes he would go away, but he always worms his way back into things. Most of the seasons, Ray has a new “boss” that is his primary client, and all of them are high power players in their fields. The first several seasons are set in Los Angeles, so there are lots of directors, producers, actors, movie sets, filming, screenwriters, drugs, kinkiness, etc. going on in the episodes. They say Las Vegas is sin city, but my bet is on L.A.
Impressions: I love the show because I love Liev Schreiber as Ray. He’s like an Iron Man Energizer Bunny that never wears down. I like how strong he is. What makes him such a compelling character to me is that, despite his giving his all, rarely does anyone acknowledge or appreciate that fact. In many ways, he’s an object that is being exploited for his workaholic ways and his chronic religion-cultivated toxic guilt. I love watching his face, his expressions, the way he moves, his navigating through all of it like a shark in the water. I also love how Ray’s relationship with each of his family members plays itself out through the seasons, especially the one with Mickey. Jon Voight is exceptionally good as Mickey. Wow! I also like how the creators of the show try to give all family members fresh story lines to work with.
Grade: 10
Etc.: from imdb: The necklace Ray Donovan wears carries a Saint Genesius medallion pendant. Saint Genesius is considered the patron saint of actors, lawyers, barristers, clowns, comedians, converts, dancers, people with epilepsy, musicians, printers, stenographers, and victims of torture.
Awards: 4 wins and 42 nominations

…

Who – Young Man Blues

Young Man Blues was written by jazz artist Mose Allison in 1957. Mose’s version is jazzy and smooth. The Who took the song and set it afire with an explosive charge. Mose Allison called The Who’s version The “Command Performance” of his song. That’s a great compliment from the author. Pete was a big fan of Mose Allison. He has said that if he never heard this song he would not have written My Generation.

The Who version has great dynamics. The bass and drums are all over the place and yet perfect. The Who sound like they are driving near a cliff and you know the song is going to fall off but they save it at the last moment time after time. The song was on the Live At Leeds album released in 1970.

The key to this song and most Who songs was the rhythm section. Keith Moon and John Entwistle pushed each other to greatness. The frenetic chaotic bass and drums made it exciting. You had the lead guitar player punching in licks between the lead bass and drums. Later on, when Keith passed away and Kenney Jones took his place…they were not the same. That is nothing against Jones…he was one of the best British drummers at that time but that touch of insanity was gone permanently.

A year or so before John Entwistle died, Roger Daltrey was complaining about John’s volume on stage to Pete. Pete replied that without that volume and John’s style…they are not the Who. That was a true statement. I saw the Who with John and later on without him. It wasn’t the same. Was it a great show without him? Yes, the songs were great but that element of danger was gone. That is what both Keith and John added to the Who.

So I’ll take this note for myself… February 14, 1970… I’ll buy a ticket for Leeds University when I get my time machine working…I’ll take some cotton balls though.

Young Man Blues

Oh well a young man ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
I said a young man ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days

You know in the old days
When a young man was a strong man
All the people they’d step back
When a young man walked by

But you know nowadays
It’s the old man,
He’s got all the money
And a young man ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
I said nothing

Everybody knows that a young man ain’t got nothin’
Everybody!
Everybody knows that a young man ain’t got nothin’
He got nothin’
Nothin’

Take it easy on the young man
They ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
I said they ain’t got nothin’!
They got sweet fuck-all!

….

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 3 – Paula Selects – One Day At A Time

One Day at a Time (ODAAT)

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Paula at http://paulalight.com

Welcome back to Paula’s Power Pop reviews and a big thanks to Max for putting these rounds together. I am having fun revisiting shows from back when, and one of my favorite shows in high school was One Day at a Time (the original series, not the 2017 reboot). The premiere aired on December 16, 1975, and the show ran nine seasons until May 28, 1984. It actually surprised me to learn that it went on so long ~ I did not catch all the later episodes in the 1980s. ODAAT was hugely popular for years and had a sweet spot in the CBS Sunday night lineup.

The premise of the show is that Ann Romano (played by Bonnie Franklin, RIP) navigates her new life in Indianapolis as a single mom to two teen girls, Barbara Cooper (played by Valerie Bertinelli) and Julie (played by Mackenzie Phillips, who was fired twice and did not appear in later eps). Pat Harrington Jr. (RIP) had a key role as their building superintendent, Dwayne Schneider. Back in the 1970s, Schneider seemed funny to me, but now he seems more like a creepy stalker always hanging around the girls’ apartment. Many things have changed regarding my perspective of the show, including believing that it was the height of romance for Mark (Boyd Gaines) to kidnap Barbara and not let her out of his car on their disastrous first date. Situations like these seem romantic in fiction, when you know the cute guy is a “good guy,” and the couple will up together, but in real life this would be totally cringe if not outright criminal. Anyway, in the 1970s, I identified more with Julie and Barbara, depending on the episode, but now I would identify more with Ann.

The original series focused heavily on second-wave feminism, which occurred during the 1960s to the 1980s. This is when women had achieved basic rights (somewhat), but still had to deal with workplace sexism, relationship roles, sexuality, and gender-based family issues. The show is not heavy-handed about these topics and relies upon on humor to smooth things along. I would say the writing ended up being tame overall, not really tackling big issues in a bold way, unlike, for example, All in the Family (which I will also be reviewing). Ann, Julie, and Barbara engaged in traditional, monogamous relationships with men, including eventual marriages for all three. This is not a criticism, just an observation. I enjoyed the show very much, back in the day.

Some of my favorite eps involve Shelley Fabares, as scheming businesswoman Francine, and of course the eps with the wonderful Howard Hesseman who just passed this January (RIP). He played Mark’s father Sam and became Ann’s love interest/husband (awkward!). One of my favorite episodes overall was “Airport” (S7, E2), where Barbara, Schneider, and Alex (the son of Ann’s boyfriend Nick, played by Glenn Scarpelli and Ron Rifkin, respectively) are all stuck at the airport waiting for Ann, whose flight has been delayed. Each of the three meets someone who seems like a romantic possibility, but none of them work out, so it is much more realistic than most sitcom plotlines. As a sidenote, Nanette Fabray (RIP) plays Ann’s mother Katherine, and she is the aunt of the aforementioned Shelley Fabares. Originally, Nanette’s last name was also spelled “Fabares.”

Whitney Blake and Allan Manings, a husband and wife writing team, created the show, and Norman Lear developed it. Polly Cutler performed the theme song “This Is It,” which played in the opening and closing credits. Jeff and Nancy Barry wrote the song. Bonnie Franklin and Pat Harrington Jr. each won an Emmy in 1984 for their performance in ODAAT, and Alan Rafkin won an Emmy in 1982 for directing the episode titled “Barbara’s Crisis” (S7, E15). Pat also won a Golden Globe in 1981, and Valerie Bertinelli won two Golden Globes, in 1981 and 1982.

~*~

Paula Light is a poet, novelist, flash fiction fan, cupcake connoisseur, mom, grandma, cat mommy, etc. Her blog can be found at http://paulalight.com.

Moody Blues – I Know You’re Out There Somewhere

The Moody Blues hit big in the early 80s. I first got into them in the late 70s and I had all of their albums up to Seventh Sojourn. When Long Distance Voyager came out in 1981 a new generation of fans was made.

After I graduated in 85 I heard the single “Your Wildest Dreams” the following year and loved it. I remember the video on MTV and then a few years later in 1988 I heard this song. I could tell by the video alone it was essentially a sequel to Your Wildest Dreams. Guitarist/singer/songwriter Justin Hayward wrote both songs.

Sometimes we kick ourselves over missed opportunities and I do regret not seeing the Moodies live. I never looked at them as prog rock…they were just The Moody Blues…somewhat in a genre by themselves in some ways.

The song peaked at #30 in the Billboard 100, #52 in the UK, #15 in Canada in 1988. This was the band’s last top 40 single in the United States.

Justin Hayward: “I did the keyboard and the guitar and the LinnDrum for ‘Wildest Dreams,’ which was finished first, and for ‘I Know You’re Out There Somewhere’ I decided to use the same keyboard sound and bass sound that I’d got on a Yamaha DX7 and continue that theme. It’s identical tempo and everything.”

Justin Hayward: “I love performing it. Wherever we go, people like it. It wasn’t a massive hit, but people know it. It wasn’t a massive hit because it’s about 6 minutes long and no one did a successful edit on it. That’s probably the one that gives me the most pleasure.”

Since the two songs were connected…here they are.

I Know You’re Out There Somewhere

I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know I’ll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
And somehow I’ll return again to you

The mist is lifting slowly
I can see the way ahead
And I’ve left behind the empty streets
That once inspired my life
And the strength of the emotion
Is like thunder in the air
‘Cos the promise that we made each other
Haunts me to the end

I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I’ll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
I know I’ll find you somehow
And somehow I’ll return again to you

The secret of your beauty
And the mystery of your soul
I’ve been searching for in everyone I meet
And the times I’ve been mistaken
It’s impossible to say
And the grass is growing
Underneath our feet

[Interlude:]
You see I know you’re out there somewhere
O yes I know you’re out there somewhere
You see I know I’ll find you somehow
O yes I know I’ll find you somehow

the words that I remember
From my childhood still are true
That there’s none so blind
As those who will not see
And to those who lack the courage
And say it’s dangerous to try
Well they just don’t know
That love eternal will not be denied

Yes I know it’s going to happen
I can feel you getting near
And soon we’ll be returning
To the fountain of our youth
And if you wake up wondering
In the darkness I’ll be there
My arms will close around you
And protect you with the truth

Replacements – Achin’ To Be

A wonderful song from the band’s sixth album Don’t Tell A Soul. It was the first album with new guitarist Bob “Slim” Dunlap after Bob Stinson quit. They recorded their previous album Please To Meet Me as a trio with Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars.

Westerberg has claimed the song’s protagonist was a composite of several people, though one inspiration was his younger sister Mary. She was a Minneapolis budding rock radio deejay, Mary was experiencing the same uncertainties Paul had gone through prior to the Replacements. (In the video showed Mary as both Paul’s shadow and reflection.)

The sound of this album turned some of the older fans off. In order to get more radio play the record company brought in Chris Lord-Alge to mix the album. The album had a lot of those eighties effects used to enhance the music. The result was more of a polished Replacements album.

They would release one more album after this one called All Shook Down in 1990. Chris Mars left the band in 1989 and was replaced in 1990 by Steve Foley. The band toured with Elvis Costello in 1991 and would play their farewell gig in Chicago on July 4, 1991.

In 2012 they would regroup with a different drummer and tour until 2015. They sold out some arenas that held around 14,000 people in 10 minutes in some areas. After they broke up their legend grew and they were heard more than they were when they were together originally. For my money…they were the best pure rock band in the 80s for these ears.

Achin’ To Be

Well she’s kind of like an artist
Sittin’ on the floor
Never finishes, she abandons
Never shows a soul

And she’s kind of like a movie
Everyone rushes to see
And no one understands it
Sittin’ in their seats

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes out’s a mystery
Thought about, not understood
She’s achin’ to be

Well she dances alone in nightclubs
Every other day of the week
People look right through her
Baby doll, check your cheek

And she’s kind of like a poet
Who finds it hard to speak
Poems come so slowly
Like the colors down a sheet

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes out’s a mystery
Thought about, not understood
She’s achin’ to be

I’ve been achin’ for a while now, friend
I’ve been achin’ hard for years

Well she’s kind of like an artist
Who uses paints no more
You never show me what you’re doing
Never show a soul

Well, I saw one of your pictures
There was nothin’ that I could see
If no one’s on your canvas
Well, I’m achin’ to be

She closes her mouth to speak and
Closes her eyes to see
Thought about an’ only loved
She’s achin’ to be
Just like me

Stanley Brothers – Mountain Dew

Ok…we are veering WAY OFF the power-pop/rock path today! I was reading a biography of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll, and it mentioned he would sing this song occasionally. So reading a bio of an American football coach led to this post…you just never know! To paraphrase Bugs Bunny…we are taking that proverbial left turn at Albuquerque.

I got really curious and looked the song up. It’s great…I’ve always liked these old folk songs and bluegrass music because I respect them so much. I’ve played bluegrass with a professional before, and it is some of the hardest music I’ve tried to play. The time signatures are all over the place, and if you haven’t played the music a lot… it can be tricky. It made me a better musician.

I like the music because it’s so rootsy and earthy. I don’t listen to it a lot, but sometimes I will enjoy an hour or so of it. It reminds me of when my dad would go to work in the morning, and sometimes he would have this music on.

Good Ole’Mountain Dew!

This song is an Appalachian folk song that Bascom Lamar Lunsford first wrote in 1928. Lunsford was an attorney; however, he is very fond of folk songs. He once represented a man in court because he was illegally making whiskey called Moonshine. This experience led him to write the song. He ended up selling the song to Scotty Wiseman, and Wiseman changed a few lyrics but remembered Lunsford…he kept the songwriting credit Wiseman-Lunsford.

These songs are special. They were not trying to write hits…they just wanted to tell stories through songs. Instead of newspapers in the backwoods of the Appalachians, you had these songs.

Many artists have covered the song through the years, like Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Mother Maybelle Carter, Grandpa Jones, and more.

Willie Nelson released a version in 1981 that peaked at #23 in the Billboard Country Charts and #39 in Canada.

The lyrics never stay completely the same through the versions, but it still works. We will return to our normal programming in the next post!

Mountain Dew

Down the road here from me there’s an old holler tree
Where you lay down a dollar or two
Go on round the bend come back again
There’s a jug full of that good ole mountain dew

Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew

Now Mr. Roosevelt told ’em just how he felt
When he heard that the dry law ‘d gone through
If your liquors too red it’ll swell up your head
You better stick to that good ole mountain dew

Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew

The preacher rode by with his head hasted high
Said his wife had been down with the flu
He thought that I o’rt to sell him a quart
Of my good ole mountain dew

Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew

Well my uncle Snort he’s sawed off and short
He measures four feet two
But feels like a giant when you give him a pint
Of that good old mountain dew

Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew

Beatles – Across The Universe

When I became a Beatles fan way back when I was 8 years old…and up to my teenage years I hardly ever heard this one mentioned by people. I’ve seen its popularity grow through the years. My biggest problem with it is they should have spent more time on it. Lennon accused McCartney of subconsciously trying to destroy it. You could see Paul let out a big yawn while rehearsing in the Let It Be film but that probably had more to do with him being tired after hours of playing in a studio…but maybe Lennon had a point.

One of the reasons John got upset with Paul was because instead of getting professional backup singers or a choir…Paul went out the Abbey Road door and grabbed two “Apple Scruffs” to sing backup on the song. That version did not go on the Let It Be album, however. That version was on a charity album.

This first appeared on No One’s Gonna Change Our World, a 1969 charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. Bird noises were dubbed into this version to create a nature theme. It didn’t sound too bad.

When I bought the Let It Be album it took a few listens but soon this one intrigued me. The lyrics alone are enthralling because of the imagery. Since I first heard it, the song has taken on huge popularity.

It even had a movie that was made around its title and worked around Beatle lyrics in 2007. That alone boosted its popularity.

I always wondered about the Jai guru deva om phrase. “Jai guru deva, om” translates to “hail to the Heavenly Teacher” or “I give thanks to Guru Dev.” That was a mantra was invented by the Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – the late protégé of Guru Dev.

On February 4, 2008 “Across The Universe” became the first track to be beamed directly into space. It was transmitted through NASA’s antenna in the DSN’s Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, towards the North Star, Polaris, 431 light-years from Earth. The broadcasting of the Beatles song was done to mark both NASA’s 50th birthday and the 40th anniversary of Across The Universe. Paul McCartney described the transmission as an “amazing feat” adding, “Well done, NASA. Send my love to the aliens!”

David Bowie also did a good version of this song. Liam Gallagher has cited this song as a huge influence on him starting to write songs.

John Lennon: “I was lying next to me first wife in bed, and I was irritated. She must have been going on and on about something and she’d gone to sleep and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs and it turned into sort of a cosmic song rather than an irritated song… it drove me out of bed. I didn’t want to write it, but I was slightly irritable and I went downstairs and I couldn’t get to sleep until I’d put it on paper.”

John Lennon: “It’s one of the best lyrics I’ve written. In fact, it could be the best.” He added: “It’s good poetry, or whatever you call it, without chewin’ it. See, the ones I like are the ones that stand as words, without melody. They don’t have to have any melody, like a poem, you can read them.”

John Lennon: “The Beatles didn’t make a good record of it. I think subconsciously sometimes we – I say ‘we’ although I think Paul did it more than the rest of us – Paul would, sort of subconsciously, try and destroy a great song… meaning we’d play experimental games with my great pieces, like ‘Strawberry Fields,’ which I always thought was badly recorded.”

The World Wildlife Fund

Across The Universe

Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva

Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice

When I graduated in 1985, The Beach Boys were on my tape deck in my car. Although the music was 20 years old I could identify with them more than the music I was hearing on top 40 radio.

This was the leadoff track to The Beach Boys’ legendary Pet Sounds album. While the “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows” singles sold very well, the album had very disappointing sales when it was first released in America. The UK appreciated it much more along with Paul McCartney and John Lennon. America wanted more surf songs but Brian Wilson had moved into a different place.

I was very surprised to read that as of 2021, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is the Beach Boys’ most streamed song on Spotify. I would have thought Good Vibrations or one of their early surf songs.

Brian Wilson wrote the song with contributions from vocalist Mike Love and lyricist Tony Asher. Asher wrote all of the lyrics except for the “Good night, my baby, sleep tight, my baby” lines at the end of the song, which was Love’s contribution.

Pet Sounds peaked at #10 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in the UK. Wouldn’t It Be Nice peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, #12 in New Zealand, and #58 in the UK in 1966.

Mike Love has said that Brian Wilson made him do his part over 30 times. He started to call Wilson “Dog Ears” because he could hear something that no one else could.

Mike Love: “Brian must have been part canine because he was reaching for something intangible, imperceptible to most, and all but impossible to execute,”

Nick Kent journalist: “This time [he] was out to eclipse these previous sonic soap operas, to transform the subject’s sappy sentiments with a God-like grace so that the song would become a veritable pocket symphony.”

Tony Asher (Lyricist) “It was a great joy making music with him but that any other relationship with Brian was a great chore. I found Brian’s lifestyle so damn repugnant. I mean, for say, every four hours we’d spend writing songs, there’d be about 48 hours of these dopey conversations about some dumb book he’d just read. Or else he’d just go on and on about girls… his feelings about this girl or that girl… it was just embarrassing.”

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long?
And wouldn’t it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong?

You know it’s gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new?
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through?

Happy times together we’ve been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Oh, wouldn’t it be nice?

Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray
It might come true (run run ooo)
Baby, then there wouldn’t be a single thing we couldn’t do
We could be married (we could be married)
And then we’d be happy (and then we’d be happy)
Oh, wouldn’t it be nice?

You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But let’s talk about it
Oh, wouldn’t it be nice?

Good night, oh baby
Sleep tight, oh baby
Good night, oh baby
Sleep tight, oh baby

…

Hollywood (1980)

If you have the slightest bit of interest in documentaries or in silent movies, this is the series to watch. Not only is it a great wealth of info on the silent era…it’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever watched. It is made up of 13 different one-hour sections. It’s quite a series at 676 minutes.

All of these are on youtube. I have them listed at the bottom… just click on the links I gave. If a link doesn’t work…just copy the title of the episode on youtube and it will show up. If you want to watch a couple give it a try…I would suggest Episode 8: Comedy – A Serious Business and Episode 12: Star Treatment (The Great Stars Of The Silent Films).

There is one misconception about silent films that most have. When you think of a silent film what do you think of? Some people think of the hard-to-see Keystone cops running about like they snorted Peru… that is NOT what most silent films looked like. They played at normal speed and the cinematography was breathtaking in many of them. They are as clear as any movie you will watch if the print has been taken care of or restored.

There was a problem with some prints after the silent era. The holes in the film were at a different gauge for the then-modern film projectors and they played them fast and transferred them fast…that meant everything was sped up.

This documentary is to the Silent Era what Ken Burns Civil War doc is to the Civil War. It starts with the pioneers of the movies to the very end when sound took over and changed and some people say ruined an art form. When movies were silent…they were international…no need for translations…just different text. The sound changed all of that and silent movies were at their height.

You get to know the great directors, actors, actresses, cameramen, stuntmen, and movie moguls.

They interviewed these ladies and gentlemen in the late seventies and it was many of their last appearances on film before they passed away. I’m thankful that Kevin Brownlow got this finished and we now have first-hand knowledge of films’ most exciting eras.

I do wish sound pictures would have been held off a few years. The studios weren’t ready for talking pictures. The first “talky” pictures were clumsy and still. The mics had to be placed in flower vases and other stationary places. The silent artists perfected the art of pantomime. Most had great quality (especially in the 20s) that looked better than movies 40 years later. One problem was with the early transfers from the films…now with Criterion and others cleaning up the transfers…we can watch these beautiful movies the way they were intended.

Just like today, you had your formula movies and your great movies. In my opinion, I think the best genre of silent movies is comedies. Not Keystone Cops…they are more like cartoons than films. For me, it would be Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. They both had some of the most subtle and genius gags. Many of their gags have been copied to this day. There were others like Harry Langdon and Harold Lloyd that were popular.

I know it’s a big task BUT…if you like documentaries or silent movies…this series is worth it! Every episode is out there on youtube.

Here are the different episodes.

Episode 1: Pioneers (Groundbreakers Of Film)

Episode 2: In The Beginning (Birth Of Cinema)

Episode 3: Single Beds And Double Standards (Censorhip)

Episode 4: Hollywood Goes To War (World War I)

Episode 5: Hazard Of The Game (Stunts And Stuntmen)

Episode 6: Swanson & Valentino (The 2 Great Hearthrobs Of The Silent Films)

Episode 7: Autocrats (The Great Directors)

Episode 8: Comedy – A Serious Business

Episode 9: Out West (Westerns)

Episode 10: The Man With The Megaphone (The Evolution Of Directors)

Episode 11: Trick Of The Light (The Cameraman)

Episode 12: Star Treatment (The Great Stars Of The Silent Films)

Episode 13: End Of An Era (The Birth Of Talking Pictures)

This is the 12th episode and it is about two people…John Gilbert and Clara Bow. Clara Bow is my favorite actress of all time…and yes that includes today.

The cast listing is below the video.

Actors

Mary Astor
Eleanor Boardman
Louise Brooks
Olive Carey
Iron Eyes Cody
Jackie Coogan
Dolores Costello
Viola Dana
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Janet Gaynor
Leatrice Joy
Lillian Gish
Bessie Love
Ben Lyon
Marion Mack
Tim McCoy
Colleen Moore
Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers
Gloria Swanson
Blanche Sweet
John Wayne
Eva von Berne
Lois Wilson

Directors

Dorothy Arzner
Clarence Brown
Karl Brown
Frank Capra
George Cukor
Allan Dwan
Byron Haskin
Henry Hathaway
Henry King
Lewis Milestone
Hal Roach
Albert S. Rogell
King Vidor
William Wyler.

Choreographer: Agnes de Mille,

Writer: Anita Loos,

Writer: Adela Rogers St. Johns,

Press Agent/writer: Cedric Belfrage,

Organist: Gaylord Carter,

Cinematographers: George J. Folsey, Lee Garmes and Paul Ivano,

Writer: Jesse L. Lasky, Jr.,

Special Effects Artist A. Arnold Gillespie, Lord Mountbatten

Agent Paul Kohner

Producer/writer Samuel Marx

Editors William Hornbeck and Grant Whytock

Property Pan: Lefty Hough

Stuntmen Bob Rose, Yakima Canutt: Paul Malvern, and Harvey Parry, Rudolph Valentino’s brother Alberto Valentino

English set Designer Laurence Irving

…

Steppenwolf – Sookie Sookie

Steppenwolf…they all look like badasses…all of them especially the ring leader John Kay. They had some danger in their rock and roll and Kay’s voice is just killer. I saw a version of Steppenwolf once in the 80s and John Kay demanded and commanded the stage swinging his mic stand like a weapon.

I met Mr. Kay one time very briefly…just shook his hand…a very nice guy so he wasn’t a badass that day. This song was written by Don Covay who wrote a lot of early rock songs about dancing. Don Covay was recording for Atlantic Records at this time. As they did with many of their artists, they sent Covay to Memphis to record at Stax Records, where the house band was top-notch. Covay wrote Sookie Sookie there with Stax guitarist Steve Cropper.

Steppenwolf had this song on their 1968 debut album Steppenwolf. It was released as the first single that year but didn’t do too well. The song did peak at #92 in Canada and that was it. The next single did a little better…it was a song called Born To Be Wild.

The third single was“Magic Carpet Ride,” ABC-Dunhill saw the wisdom of re-releasing the “Sookie Sookie”….however, this time it was a “B” side. Like the “Born to be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” “Sookie Sookie” not only featured the extraordinary guitar work of Michael Monarch and vocals by John Kay, it had that Steppenwolf signature organ sound

The song also ended up being used by some radio stations as background music for promos and commercials.

Sookie Sookie

Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now
Let it hang out baby, everybody work out
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Let it hang out baby, do the Baltimore jig
Let it hang out baby, boomerang with me
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Really got it bad child, drink a bottle of turpentine
When you wake up in the morning, feelin’ kinda fine
Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now

You better watch your step girl, don’t step on that banana peel
If your foot should ever hit it, you’ll go up to the ceiling
Hang it in baby, hang it in baby
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now
Let it hang out baby, everybody work out
Hang it in baby, hang it in baby, hang it in baby
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Rolling Stones – I’m Free

This song has been underappreciated throughout the band’s history. It’s a good song that sometimes comes off better live than the studio version they recorded. The song sounds like an anthem, and it deserves to be heard. The song was played a lot in 2008 because it was released on the DVD Shine A Light. Shine a Light was a 2008 concert film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting The Rolling Stones’ 2006 Beacon Theatre performances during their A Bigger Bang Tour.

I saw them on the Bigger Bang Tour at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. Although Churchill Downs is well known for its horse racing it was not built for concerts. Alice Cooper opened and he sounded great but they never could get the Stones sound right. On top of it all…it rained all through their performance. The next day I went home and actually downloaded a bootleg of the show so I have it for always which is cool. My dream tour of the Stones would be them just playing the Brian Jones era. They are the Stones…they could get by with it.

The song was released on their Out Of Our Heads album in the UK and later on December’s Children (And Everybody’s) album in America in 1965. They seemed to be listening to their competition because the line Hold me, love me, hold me, love me was in the Beatles Eight Days A Week. It’s a great B side to Get Off Of My Cloud. Rolling Stone Magazine rated it 78th best Rolling Stone song. The magazine had this to say about it: “A tambourine-spangled folk rocker with chime-y, Byrds-like guitar, this offhandedly libertarian tune wasn’t a big hit, but it’s one of the Sixties’ most pliant anthems.”

I think the song stands up with their hit songs at the time. They must think the same because it ended up on a lot of live albums. I’ve always liked B sides because sometimes you hit gold. Give me a choice between Get Off Of My Cloud and I’m Free…I’ll take I’m Free. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. You could see the growth in their songwriting after Lennon and McCartney gave them I Wanna Be Your Man.

John Lennon: We were taken down to meet them at the club where they were playing in Richmond by Brian Epstein and some other guy. They wanted a song and we went to see what kind of stuff they did. Mick and Keith heard we had an unfinished song – Paul just had this bit and we needed another verse or something. We sort of played it roughly to them and they said, “Yeah, OK, that’s our style.” But it was only really a lick, so Paul and I went off in the corner of the room and finished the song off while they were all still sitting there talking. We came back, and that’s how Mick and Keith got inspired to write … because, “Jesus, look at that. They just went in the corner and wrote it and came back!” You know, right in front of their eyes we did it. So we gave it to them.

I’m Free

I’m free to do what I want any old time
I’m free to do what I want any old time
So love me, hold me, love me, hold me
Cause I’m free any old time to get what I want

I’m free to sing my song though it gets out of time
I’m free to sing my song though it gets out of time
So love me, hold me, love me, hold me
Cause I’m free any old time to get what I want

Yeah

Love me, hold me, love me, hold me
Cause I’m free any old time to get what I want

I’m free to choose whom I please any old time
I’m free to please whom I choose any old time
So hold me, love me, love me, hold me
Cause I’m free any old time to get what I want, yes I am

TV Draft Round 4 – Pick 7 – Max selects – The Monkees

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Max from https://powerpop.blog

The Monkees

Does this show compare to All In The Family, Barney Miller, or other great sitcoms? No, it’s not even in the same zip code but it’s an off-beat quirky 1966 show that I have come to appreciate more and more. They influenced music more than other tv shows but its influence is still felt. How many young soon-to-be musicians have watched this show? I was one and it made me want to play music. I soon found other bands to follow …but I never left The Monkees completely. They were not great actors, musicians, or songwriters…although the late Mike Nesmith was a good songwriter. They made music fun…fun is something that I picked up on early on and I ended up playing in many bands.

The comedy was part physical, part Marx Brothers, and pure irrelevance. Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider wanted to build a television show that had elements of A Hard Days Night and cast four musicians/actors. Stephen Stills auditioned for a part and ended up recommending his friend Peter Tork. They ended up being a real band and toured.

The Monkees were four cast members who could all play an instrument and could sing. Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were working musicians. Davy Jones could play some guitar and drums and Mickey played guitar in a band so they weren’t just actors.

Davy was the cute one, Mike the serious one, Mickey the funny one, and Peter the innocent one. There is no need to describe any episode plots because they are not important. You would have some kind of plot and within the story, a couple of music montages later known as music videos. The show could be surreal and they constantly broke the 4th wall. They had a lot of cutaway scenes that people associate now with Family Guy. The show was shot in color and the sets were vivid.

You could see the difference in the show between the first season and the latter part of the second season. The first was a little more of a slick production…the later part of the second season they had more influence and you could see there were 4 stoned Monkees running amuck. It was much looser and anything went basically.

The Monkees only made 58 episodes from September 1966 to March 1968. After the show came to an end they made a television special and then a very trippy movie called Head. I do not binge-watch the show but I will occasionally need a laugh or to enjoy the same thing I enjoyed at 7 years old.

The Monkees had a big impact on pop culture with not only music but with music videos. The show was their own MTV at the time. Long after the show was over I was 7 years old and watching the three channels we had at the time and I loved The Monkees.

I had no idea The Monkees stopped making the show 7 years before when I watched them. I thought the band was still together and filming shows. Turns out I was watching the show in syndication but I didn’t find out till later. A generation was influenced like I was in the 70s. In the 1980s MTV played a marathon of episodes and their popularity soared yet again. I saw them in 1986 when they reunited and had a new song in the top 40. They also made comeback in the early 90s.

They didn’t play instruments on their first two albums because they were not allowed. Micheal Nesmith was a songwriter and did manage to get a couple of songs on there. Most of the Byrds also didn’t play on their first album…that is the way it was done in the early 60s for some bands. After the success of the show, they were asked to tour. Mickey spent time learning the drums because they wanted Davy Jones upfront and Mickey became a competent drummer. The band became real during the tour.

The Monkees led a revolt and demanded to play on their own albums. It started with their third album Headquarters and went on from there. They still had some top 40 hits after taking over like Daydream Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Valleri, and more.

Mickey Dolenz: “You know, the Monkees becoming a real band, I’ve often said, is like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan!”

Mickey Dolenz: “The Monkees are to the Beatles what ‘Star Trek’ is to NASA. They are both totally valid in their contexts.”

The Monkees were such a big influence on me. I picked up a guitar in part because of their influence. The shows were funny…and still are. Once I found The Beatles I was lost forever but the Monkees were important to a lot of musicians through the years.

They made it look fun being in a rock band. No mention of the backbiting and jealousy that goes along with it. For a seven-year-old kid…this was the life I wanted! Living in a cool beach house, playing in a rock band, and driving around in the Monkeemobile!

They had some famous guest stars like Frank Zappa, Liberace, Mike Farrell, Burgess Meredith, Julie Newmar, and Sammy Davis Jr.

I have all of the episodes and once in a while I will play a few and realize again why they are still remembered. Will the show ever be considered among the greats? NO… but it came along at a perfect time and when I need to watch something funny and irrelevant I turn on the Monkees.

I never got famous playing my music but that wasn’t the point. I still get great satisfaction and fun in playing my guitar now…and I can thank the Monkees for that. BTW…where is my beach house and my Monkeemobile?

….

Big Country – In A Big Country

When I first heard this song in the 80s…the first thing I thought of was BIG…not because of the name. The song came out of the radio like an elephant. The drums and the sound were so huge. This is a song that I liked…and sometimes that was dicey in the 80s. Dave from A Sound Day talks about the bass player and the band here. I have to credit Dave for making me take a look at the 80s again and many times being surprised at what I did like during my teenage decade…or missed

Steve Lillywhite produced this track. This came at a time when he was emerging as one of the top producers in the business, known for his work with Peter Gabriel and U2. His impact on this song included delaying the chorus until after the second verse, adding the bagpipe guitar break, and having Adamson sing the bridge an octave higher. When he first heard the demo, he was reportedly moved to tears

This is a song that MTV helped quite a bit. I heard it on the local rock station at the time but MTV played it on rotation. The network ignored the group’s next US single, Fields of Fire, which tanked their efforts in America.

This song’s working title was “Stay Alive.” Big Country’s booking agent John Giddings suggested that the name be changed to In A Big Country. The song peaked at #3 in Canada, #17 in the Billboard 100, #17 in the UK, and #34 in New Zealand.

In 1999 they released their last album with lead singer Stuart Adamson called Driving to Damascus but without much success.

Adamson moved to Nashville in the mid-1990s, where he met country music singer/songwriter Marcus Hummon, and together they released an alternative country studio album as The Raphaels in 2001.

Big Country disbanded in 2000, Adamson became a country singer/songwriter, but got depressed after his second marriage collapsed. His wife declared him missing in November 2001 and the following month on December 16 he was found hanged in a hotel room in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Steve Lillywhite: “The music I felt wasn’t like the music I had grown up hearing, or rather, not like any one of them. It was all of them jumbled up and drawn into something I could understand as mine. I found I could play this music and connect the guitar directly to my heart. I found others who could make the same connection, who could see the music as well as play it.”

In A Big Country

I’ve never seen you look like this without a reason
Another promise fallen through
Another season passes by you
I never took the smile away from anybody’s face
And that’s a desperate way to look
For someone who is still a child

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive, here we go

I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single hope you had shattered
I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

So take that look out of here it doesn’t fit you
Because it’s happened doesn’t mean you’ve been discarded
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single hope you had shattered, see ya
I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive
Ha, ha

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

TV Draft Round 4 – Pick 4 – Paula Selects – Six Feet Under

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Paula from http://paulalight.com

Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under is probably my favorite television series of all time. But do you know what? I never want to rewatch it. I’ve rewatched Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc., but I prefer that 6FU remain pure in my mind without getting tarnished by new thoughts. Because I always have new thoughts about old faves! (Info source for this post is from Wikipedia.)

Anyway, 6FU was created by Alan Ball and premiered on HBO June 3, 2001 (my mom’s birthday). It ran for five seasons with 63 episodes. Each show begins with an unusual death of some kind and continues from there. The pilot kicks off with the death of Nathaniel Fisher, Sr. (played by Richard Jenkins), patriarch of the Fisher family, as he tries to light a cigarette while driving. Fisher is the owner of a Los Angeles mortuary and leaves behind a wife, 2 sons, and a daughter. The eldest son, Nate (played by Peter Krause) is estranged from the family but still returns for the funeral ~ on the flight he meets Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) and has sex with her. This isn’t a one-time fling, as she is a recurring character with interesting storylines of her own, including some with her psycho brother Billy (Jeremy Sisto).

Probably the most interesting character is the second son David (Michael C. Hall), who seems to be a straight-laced, rule-following conservative, but he is actually leading a double life as a gay man with a sexy boyfriend, police officer Keith (Mathew St. Patrick). David wants to keep the funeral home going, but Nate wants to sell it and skedaddle… he has second thoughts when his father’s ghost appears (perhaps his subconscious, as the show generally does not dive into the supernatural). David fights to keep his sexual orientation a secret, which upsets Keith to the point that he breaks off the relationship. David then goes on a series of dates, which I found personally amusing, as they mirrored my own horrifying dating experiences.

The mom Ruth (Frances Conroy) has a secret boyfriend and decides she doesn’t want anything further to do with the mortuary, though as a psychologist, she has opinions about everything. I found her character to be annoying and my least favorite, while others I’ve talked to about the show have the opposite opinion! Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is still in high school and consumed with the typical drugs and boyfriend gossipy drama as one might predict. She becomes more interesting as the episodes roll on and develops an attraction to Billy, which is scary. I don’t want to give away too much, but the Brenda/Billy situation is bizarre and fascinating. Federico, the corpse artist (played by Freddy Rodriguez) is interesting as well and has some funny lines.

While this show is obviously about dealing with death and the practicalities surrounding funeral arrangements, it’s also about family and relationships, and how complex and interrelated life events can be. I highly recommend it ~ and oh my gosh the finale is to die for! I’m sorry but no one can touch this ending, which is the best episode in TV history. Six Feet Under rightfully received high praise for both writing and acting and drew high ratings for HBO. It won many awards ~ 9 Emmys, 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 3 Golden Globes, and a Peabody. Fabulous show!

~*~

Paula Light is a poet, novelist, flash fiction fan, cupcake connoisseur, mom, grandma, cat mommy, etc. Her blog can be found at http://paulalight.com.

Bread – Mother Freedom

When I was 6 or 7 I thought this was a hard rock song. That distorted guitar sounded so good to those young ears. This is Bread letting their soft rock guard down and opening up a good electric riff. It took me a long time to admit that I liked this band but I do now. They did soft rock well but they also covered other genres. Most of the hits though were David Gates’s melody-driven soft rock songs.

This was one of Bread’s more upbeat songs and was usually played just before the encore that their concerts. The band was known for soft rock hits like Baby I’m-A Want You, If, and Everything I Own.

On this Gates written track, David Gates played the two rhythm guitars on the track, and James Griffin played the guitar solo. Gates sang lead, while Griffin sang backup.

David Gates had already been playing live in various bands for four years by the time he moved to Los Angeles in the early sixties. There, he began writing hits “Popsicles and Icicles” by the Murmaids and “Saturday’s Child” for the Monkees, and producing Glenn Yarbrough’s “Baby, The Rain Must Fall”.

In 1967, Robb Royer suggested to Gates that they form their own group, along with mutual friend Jimmy Griffin, and after being inspired by a bread truck passing by, the group Bread was born. Their debut album was released in 1969 and contained the song It Don’t Matter To Me.

Mother Freedom was on the Baby I’m-a Want You album released in 1971. The song peaked at #37 on the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album did well and peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts, #9 in Canada, and #9 in the UK.

So dust off your door beads, fire up your Chevy van, check your mood ring, and crank up some Bread…

Mother Freedom

Freedom, keep walkin’
Keep on your toesand don’t stop talkin’ ’bout
Freedom, get goin’
Lots to be learned and lots to be knowin’ ’bout
People, gotta reach ’em
Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout
Freedom, gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don’t you go away
Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Freedom, keep tryin’
People stay alive and people keep dyin’ for
Freedom, so don’t lose it
Ya gotta understand ya just can’t abuse it
Freedom, get movin’
Never gonna stop till everybody’s groovin’ on
Love for, one another
Callin’ some friend and callin’ some brother

Hey tomorrow
You’re not so far away
Mother freedom
We’ll know you well someday