Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (8/11/13)

It's that time, folks.  Graduation nights on Friday and Saturday meant a few extra long days - 13 hours yesterday.  And now the store is moving locations - so it's a 12 hour day of work today and the same for the beginning of next week.  No time to do much else this morning but eat last night's leftovers and get back on the road.  Baseball practice for Caleb all week - Christian starts his last year of football - and Dee gets ready to start school next Monday.  Sorting through my change for quarters to wash the car and listening to some tuneage . . . 

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

CHAKA KAHN - THS IS MY NIGHT.   This is from the 1984 "I Feel For You" album.  It's the lead track and a great dance song.  I may have heard the single "I Feel For You" first but this was one that I played over and over on my cassette of the album.  It later had an awesome dance mix.  But just listen to the strength of Chaka's voice - perfect start to the day.

MOODY BLUES - BLUE WORLD.  This was the end of 1983 or maybe early 1984.  It was from the first album after the great "Long Distance Voyager".  I didn't like too many songs on the album except for this single.  It was the only song that recalled some of their earlier sounds.  From this point forward, their sound became too canned for me.  But it's nice to hear this again today.

PHIL COLLINS - ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE.  This 1989 song reminds me of my days working at the UCI Bookstore in Irvine, CA.  It seemed to play on the radio stations we listened to at work all the time in those early years.  It was a huge hit in the day and Phil hasn't had another #1 hit since this one.  Trivia from the day - that's David Crosby on backing vocals.  To me it sounds more Genesis-like - and oft confused with "Man On the Corner".

SOMETHING RANDOM . . . next time.

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . . Shawn Burr came up with the Detroit Red Wings and was practically my age. Scary to think he passed away from a fall in his home last week . . . George Duke was one of the first Jazz keyboard players I was aware of.   "Dukey Stick" is a funk track worth researching . . . I didn't know Art Donovan as a player for the Colts - I knew him as the teller of great stories on NFL Films presentations . . . 

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST BRIT COMEDY SHOWS SINCE 2000

10.  THE MIGHTY BOOSH.  It's not for everyone.  I find that some people are just annoyed with the craziness of the show.  Other people think it's one of the most brilliant shows ever to come out of Britain.

9.  BLACK BOOKS.  I feel like I should be way more into this show but I guess because it took me a long time to discover it and then still haven't finished it.  Some great one-line humor.

8.  AN IDIOT ABROAD.  This could just be a Gervais-verse greatest hits list.  But this show, disguised as a travelogue with Karl is the best of the non-Ricky shows.

7.  THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK.  Guaranteed laughs.  It's a bit crazy to sustain over marathon viewings but it's extremely funny.

6.  THE INBETWEENERS.  These four lads have a chemistry that is instantly likable.  Their experiences are crazy and laugh out loud funny but the cast is what keeps this from just being annoying.

5.  LITTLE BRITAIN.  I discovered this sketch comedy by accident.  Some of the best characters of the past 13 years have come out of this show.  I don't even know where to start.  The Only Gay In The Village is a great place to start the list.  Or Vicky Pollard.  

4.  EXTRAS.  Ricky Gervais has a magic touch.  He didn't invent the "uncomfortable humor" sitcom but he helped perfect it.  This show deserves another run through, I think.  "What's ET short for?" / "Because he's only got little legs."

3.  THE OFFICE.  It would be #1 if it had lasted just a little bit longer.  This was a game changer for me and British comedies - it got me back into them for the first time since "The Young Ones".  And to think how this one show has influenced the current generation of American TV shows is amazing.

2.  THE IT CROWD.  It's a low brow type of comedy that does what the best comedies do - it doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewer.  It forces you to pay attention to details, doesn't explain references and recalls details from previous episodes.  I only wish there had been more.  Brilliant cast.  And a little crush on Jen.

1.  PEEP SHOW.  The adventures of Mark and Jez came into my life through a good friend.  I feel like I need to pass it on to others and they should pass it on to their friends.  Maybe I identify with Mark way too much too.  It's a brilliantly written series that also pays off for viewers who watch it in order.  This seems like a show that should appeal to every college age student ever.

I'm a huge fan of British Comedies - going way back.  But there's been a huge gult of great shows coming out of England in the past 13 years.  It's hard to even keep on top of the great ones - thanks goes to HBO, Hulu, Netflix and Cartoon Network among others for exposing us to them.

There are some that fall just off the list because they just didn't make it - like "Coupling".  Some I've never seen - like "Ideal" or "Green Wing".  And some that don't make the list because of the post-2000 requirement - "Fawlty Towers", "Mr. Bean" and "The League of Gentlemen".  The worst?  More like ones I didn't get - that I started and stopped early on - "Nighty Night" and "Benidorm".  

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . . I missed this Fincher flick - ZODIAC, but I hear it's pretty good -Jake Gyllenhaal too. . . ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO is one of those Kevin Smith movies that I've seen in parts here and there on cable but I should probably see it from top to bottom (so to speak) on Netflix. . . SADAKO seems to have some connection to the Ringu series - not sure but even the middling type of reviews don't "scare" me away from wanting to check it out.

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#356 - LA Confidential

#484 - Intolerable Cruelty

#882 - Last American Virgin

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -   The DOCTOR WHO project.  My chronological trip back through the Doctor Who adventures has been hit and miss.  I've started and stopped a number of times.  I get excited and find a few stories to watch at once.  And then go months without one.  I just finished the "Abominable Snowmen" story from 1967 - still on the 2nd Doctor - this is one of the better stories and I'd love to see this one get found.  Jamie and Victoria are such charming companions - I think they make the show more than any other duo to this point.  This is important to watch to know The Great Intelligence that reappears this past season.

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#28  The Clash - London Calling (1979)

There's something about a third album.  And in 1979, The Clash figured it all out.  This took punk rock to another level - it's pure punk but it works also as one of the best rock albums of the year.  The 70s ended with a bang and this was a shot that told us that the 80s would be quite different.  I've loved this album from the beginning - it blends rock and punk and ska and funk and it draws plenty of influence from Elvis - including the iconic cover.  I first knew "Train in Vain" but not I fall back on classics that work with great lyrics and great music like "Guns Of Brixton" and "Lost in the Supermarket".  The title song still plays on radio daily.  It's hard to imagine people today understand the importance of the lyrics without knowing the horrors of 3 Mile Island back in those days.  It's not a celebration of London, it's an indictment.  This album just doesn't ever disappoint.

"Lost In The Supermarket"

"London Calling"

"Guns of Brixton"

Previous Rankings

#29 - Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)

#30 - New Order - Power, Corruption, Lies (1983)

#31 - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

#32 - Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

#33 - Parliament - Mothership Connection (1975)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY - no time for TV this week, so I'm not even looking.  Trust in your Tivo . . . 

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . .  the Twix civil wars started here a year ago . . .

And now a merger . . .

They used to have these clever "need a moment" ads . . 

"Oh anything I want he gives it to me
Anything I want he give it but not for free
It's hateful and it's paid for and I'm so grateful to be nowhere
I killed all my nerves."  - The Clash

 Don't be hateful.  Stay hard.

sb

Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (3/31/13)

A great Friday for family time.  Celebrated Christian's 17th birthday by taking him and my Dad to Cowboy Stadium to see Michigan.  Turned out to be an awesome game too.  A very special day.  The rest of the week was a little bit of a dud for kids activities - Caleb had rainouts for baseball and soccer.  Christian had a couple baseball games that I wasn't able to watch.  We pick up tickets to go see the Michigan game this afternoon - so, it's going to be another trip to Arlington in just a little bit.  Easter dinner will have to wait until later in the evening.  Gotta leave in just a little bit.  Until then just sitting here talking to Miles and listening to some tuneage . . .

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

THE POLICE - KING OF PAIN.    I've never made bones about my love of 1983.  And if I had the chance to time machine back to that year, I'd set the controls to late August and early September of that year.  If you hop out of that machine with me and turn on the radio - you'll definitely hear this song.  If you check in on me, in my room, when I just get home from school - I'll be on my phone, in my chair and this album will be playing.  Every song on this album takes me back to a special place.  Sting sings it best like here when he's singing about the pain of love . . . 

AL JARREAU - TROUBLE IN PARADISE.  This 1983 single is off the "Jarreau" album.  It didn't get lots of radio play but it was one of the songs off the album that I played the most. Even as a youngster I loved the Soul song that talks about the moment in a relationship when you have to declare that love or lose it.  Such a raw moment and he talks about the  rewards of it . . . "Well, if you care about her / Don't ever doubt her love / Would you turn around and throw it all away? / Just let her know today."

NIRVANA - COME AS YOU ARE.  A nice little Nirvana song this morning.  I was in the mood for a couple of the other tunes but the guitar work here really makes me feel good this morning.  In 1992, this was the single that proved to everyone that Nirvana wasn't just going to be a one "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit wonder.  This song and "Lithium" that followed were much more interesting musically than "Smells".  This song defines much of what I think Grunge was at the time - it's got all the 1980s punk influences and that guitar solo at the beginning has the slow, underwater feel that I imagine was the sound Kurt was looking to capture.

SOMETHING RANDOM . . .  first is the trailer for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who . . .

And speaking of traveling in time . . . here's the trailer for the fine George Pal's TIME MACHINE . . . 

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . .  Don Payne was one of the better writers for "The Simpsons" and always hilarious at Comic Con on the Simpsons panels.  He had some non-TV writing credits including as a co-writer on THOR . . . Richard Griffiths was best known as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the HARRY POTTER series but he also had memorable roles in Uncle Monty in WITHNAIL & I and King George in PIRATES OF CARIBBEAN.  

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST SPORTS STREAKS EVER

10.  OREL HERSHISER'S SCORELESS INNING STREAK.  I had just moved to Los Angeles in time to see Orel throw 59.1 scoreless innings.  That's just crazy talk these days.  When anyone gets to 30 these days it's worth an hour on SportsCenter.

9.  TAMPA BAY BUCCANEER'S LOSING STREAK.   You thought the Lions were bad a few years ago?  They barely tip the scales - Tampa Bay lost 26 straight games in 1976 and 1977.

8.  BYRON NELSON'S WINNING STREAK.  I remember how impressed I was when Tiger won 7 tournaments in a row in 2006-2007.  He was a month of victories away from winning the 11 in a row that Byron did in 1945.  I don't follow golf as close as other sports but I respect how hard this would be.

7.  MARTINA NAVRATILOVA'S WINNING STREAK.  Women do usually have longer winning streaks in tennis.  But Martina's run of 74 straight in 1984 is incredible.  No off days on the court - even in Majors.  Borg won 49 in a row - he was only 2/3rd of the way to this record.

6.  OKLAHOMA'S WINNING STREAK.  It's amazing enough that the University of Oklahoma won 47 straight games.  But I wonder how between 1953 and 1957 did they ONLY win 2 National Championships.  Two sets of players went from their Freshman year through their Senior season without seeing a loss.

5.  CAL RIPKEN'S CONSECUTIVE GAME STREAK.  Maybe I should be more impressed with this.  It built up from my childhood through my adulthood and until I had kids.  He took an unbeatable record and pushed past it by 25%.  2632 games is impressive by any standard - I work just about every day but sometimes you have bad Taco Casa and can't make it in.  Never happened to Cal.

4.  UCLA WINNING STREAK.  Just consider how long it has been since a college team went undefeated in one season?  And UCLA went 88-0, including TWO undefeated seasons in a row.  John Wooden had a magic touch - that doesn't happen by accident - even with great players.

3.  BOSTON CELTICS CHAMPIONSHIP STREAK.  From 1959 to 1966 the Celtics won 8 straight championships.  Had he not "retired", maybe Jordan could have pushed this record.  But consider how many breaks it took for him to win two sets of three championships.  I can't fathom the luck of this happening today - no injuries or free agents to mess up the run?  Not in my lifetime.

2.  WAYNE GRETZKY'S SCORING STREAK.  Hockey is a game that will throw out some 2-1 and 1-0 games every week or so.  So, how did Gretzky score in 51 straight games to start the 1983-84 season?  That's over half of the season with a goal or an assist.  I saw it happen and still can't even tell you how.  Amazing.

1.  JOE DIMAGGIO'S HITTING STREAK.  Baseball is hard.  Hitting is hard.  In 1941, he got a hit in 56 straight games.  How hard is it?  The next closest since then is Pete Rose with 44 straight.  I can't imagine ever seeing any current Major Leaguer even getting to 45 and then thinking at that point that you still have two weeks to go.  Two months of a hit every night?  Not happening.

I started thinking of streaks when I heard the Ray Stevens song . . . well, maybe too as I followed the Miami Heat win streak last week.  I'm rarely impressed with team winning streaks in the middle of a season until they become half the season or more.  Also, I didn't put lots of losing streaks in there although it seems like professional teams would win accidentally ever so often.  The least impressive streaks that get mention as the best?  I hate to say it but I'm not as impressed as I should be with Federer's 23 straight appearances in Grand Slam semi-finals.  The number is impressive but he really just lived up to expectations since he was so obviously one of the best 4 players for that time period.  The Cleveland Cavaliers lost 26 games in a row a couple seasons ago after Lebron left.  But who was there?  It wasn't even a good college team at that point.  BTW - not sorry to see the Heat lose to the Bulls . . . 

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . .  not many good new additions to the lists, so it's a good week to catch up with some "classics" - PRETTY IN PINK, BIG FISH and TREMORS will all fit that bill.

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#99 - Raging Bull
#158 - The Jungle Book
#221 - The Sandlot

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -  The DOCTOR WHO project.  Without new episodes, I've been really lacking on my Doctor Who watching in this new year.  The new episode aired last night and in anticipation, I started back up on my trip through the 2nd Doctor.  Just finished up an fun story "The Abominable Snowman" and getting ready to start a series that reflects on current events - "The Ice Warriors".  I love Troughton as the Doctor and I'm finding Jamie and Victoria to be a great combination as companions and probably the model for the companions to come.

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#42  Prince - 1999 (1982) 

 It was Prince's 5th time around the block with a new album.  And I was finally ready to be on top of one from the very beginning.  I had just picked up on "Controversy" when this album was released in the Fall of 1982.  By the Spring, I know that both myself and my neighbor had a copy because when I wasn't playing it, I could hear it coming from his house.  It's fun.  Pure funk fun.  The first side is the "singles" - 1999, Little Red Corvette and Delirious.  But you are missing out if you don't listen to the other three sides.  The rest of the songs are funk workouts like he rarely does anymore.  The dirty imagery of "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "Automatic" are seriously fun.  But it's the mixture of clever lyrics and song writing of "Lady Cab Driver" and "DMSR".  This albums has such a huge number of memories tied to every song for me.  Like every one of these albums in the Top 50 - there is still lots to love with this album.  It's also a sound that just doesn't exist in this state anymore.  Put it on and take a trip back.  You'll see what I mean.


You have to be creative to find Prince videos around the Internet - let's see if this works.

Lady Cab Driver

Let's Pretend We're Married

DMSR

Previous Rankings

#43 - James Brown - The Payback (1973)

#44 - Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)#45 - The B-52's - The B-52's (1979)

#46 - Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
#47 - Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY

CASTLE (ABC)  A year ago I hadn't even watched an episode.  Turns out that since June I've watched 99 episodes, since tonight is #100.  It's been a pretty mediocre season but I'm sticking with it for some reason.  Keeping up the hope.  This one looks pretty decent with a REAR WINDOW tribute and the season is about over anyways.

KRISTEN SCHAAL: LIVE AT THE FILMORE (COMEDY)  I think she's pretty funny on "The Daily Show".  This live show might be worth the effort.

TUESDAY
JUSTIFIED (FX)  Well, another season has passed of a show that I know I'll love when I get around to watching.  Season Finale and I have no spoilers for the show yet.  Unheard of.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and COOL HAND LUKE (TCM)  What a Tuesday night double feature!!!  Hitchcock and Paul Newman!!!  Why would you even want to go out.

WEDNESDAY
BEST INK (OXYGEN)  We need more tattoo shows.  Seriously.  I'm continually fascinated by them.

SPIES OF WARSAW (BBC)  David Tennant is a spy in Poland just before World War II.  I've missed him so much and this looks really good.  I could just watch this station pretty much seven days a week.

THURSDAY
HANNIBAL (NBC)  Oddly, maybe it's because it's NBC or because it has the most mild trailer of all-time, but I really don't have any desire to watch this SILENCE OF THE LAMBS prequel.  Putting it on network TV seems to be the start of the bad idea.

ELEMENTARY (CBS)  The show has lost a little momentum since the Super Bowl episode (which was a high point, really).  But this robbery of a huge bank during a blizzard looks good.

FRIDAY
A WOMAN'S WORLD: THE DEFINING ERA OF WOMEN IN FILM (TCM)  All of April is for the best women in film.  This documentary is the appetizer for the whole month long meal of femme films.

MILDRED PIERCE (TCM)  What a great film to start out the month.  Joan Crawford is at her best in this one as a woman that got rich and then has family troubles.


SATURDAY
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC)  Haven't seen an episode in a few years and this probably won't change but I do like Melissa McCarthy and I have little idea who Phoenix is.

NCAA MENS BASKETBALL (CBS)  It's the Final Four games to see who will play in the Final game on Monday night.  These are typically pretty good games.  But judging from the first weekend - none of them will have been in my original bracket picks.


SUNDAY
MAD MEN (AMC)  Dang.  Thought I would have caught up by now.  Started this show in what 2010?  Watched all but the last episode of the 1st season and then . . . well, stalled.  Now that I'm doing "Breaking Bad" and "Dexter", this one has to be on hold still.

SPELLBOUND (TCM)  With only "Game of Thrones" going on over on HBO and no "Amazing Race" tonight, you best take a break and tune in to one of the better Hitchcock films with a true strong female lead in Ingrid Bergman.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . .  These AT&T commercials are simple and they've been cracking me up - especially since the NCAA tourney has started.  The recent one with Celtic and Lakers makes me laugh . . . 

And then there's "Candy Island" . . . 

And the werewolf one . . .

And finally here's why the name Nicky Flash is cool . . .

"You think you're special, well so do I
Why do special women make me cry?"  - Prince


Some things don't compute.  Stay hard.

sb