Two reasons always make or break Oscars ratings. One, popular movies are nominated giving the audience a rooting interest. Titanic is the highest rated Oscar for this reason. Young girls all wanted Jack and Rose to win it all, which they did. When a movie is nominated that didn't even make as much as a baseball player's salary, then no one is going to care if it wins or loses.
Two, the Host is so important. If the host comes out of the gate with a great monologue people might stick with it, but if he tanks then the casual viewer will move on to something else. Before I left the house I caught three minutes of Jon Stewart's monologue and what I saw was bad, except for the Gaydolf Tittler joke. That was funny. But that's a big problem there. Jon Stewart. Who thinks Jon Stewart is funny? I don't, if I did I would watch The Daily Show. He replaced the Funny Guy on that show, Craig Kilborn.
You want a funny host who used to actually host a funny show. Greg Kinnear from Talk Soup. He's a really good actor who happens to be very funny, and quick on his feet.
Instead they keep bringing back horrible hosts like Whoopi Goldberg. Let's look at the hosts since Johnny Carson stopped doing the show.
2006/7--Jon Stewart--Not Funny
2005 Chris Rock---Funny
2004 Billy Crystal---Funny during the Reagan years
2003 Steve Martin---See Billy Crystal
2002 Whoopi Goldberg---Interesting, not funny.
2001 Steve Martin
2000 Billy Crystal
1999 Whoopi Goldberg
1998 Billy Crystal
1997 Billy Crystal
1996 Whoopi Goldberg
1995 David Letterman---Great. One of my favorite Oscar hosts. Got slammed because he wasn't a Hollywood insider. Oprah Uma thing was dumb, but the rest of the show was fun. He'll never do it, but I'd bring him back.
1994 Whoopi Goldberg
1993 Billy Crystal
1992 Billy Crystal
1991 Billy Crystal
1990 Billy Crystal
1989 No official host
1988 Chevy Chase---Rather stick a grapefruit spoon in my eye than watch him.
1987 Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, Paul Hogan---The Ménage à trois from hell.
1986 Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams---The hairiest Ménage à trois.
1985 Jack Lemmon---Only Neil Simon thought this guy was funny.
1984 Johnny Carson--The King.
The Freditor
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Tremendous Victory--Giants win 3rd Super Bowl, now can Jets please win one
I was 2 1/2 years old when the Jets won their Super Bowl, I am now 41 1/2 years old. They're due, I'm due.
As thrilling as last night's win was, I've experienced three Giant Super Bowl wins in my adult life, and in this one case I kind of know what it feels like to be a Yankee fan. That feeling of ho-hum, another world title, please pass the Grey Poupon.
I went crazy when the Giants scored their last touchdown, and I was excited to hear the sports talk guys go on about it today, but I guess because the Giants are my second favorite team in football, it lacks that exhilarating feeling that would definitely come if the Jets ever entered the promised land.
Was last night's game the most exciting of all time? The greatest of all time? I'm not sure. It's up there, but Buffalo's missed field goal against the Giants in 1991 seemed more exciting. I guess because it ended the game. Can you imagine if Randy Moss had caught that pass at the 20 yard line with 20 seconds left last night? The Patriots would have gone for a 37 yard field goal to send it into Overtime. That is the only way last night's game could have been better.
Before expansion and parity, teams didn't come back late in games the way they do now. So when Joe Montana and the 49ers came back against the Bengals to score that last minute touchdown in 1989, that was both thrilling and unprecedented. But for sheer 4th quarter theatrics, perhaps the greatest Super Bowl of all time was the 1999 Rams-Tennessee game. That ended with the Titans stretching at the goal line for a touchdown, only to miss it by inches. I wasn't watching football in 1979, but from those who saw it, they tell me that was pretty exciting. Pittsburgh beat Dallas, when Roger Staubach threw into the end zone and Jackie Smith dropped the winning pass.
I started following football in 1981 and fell in love with the Jets that year. They made it to their first playoff game in 12 years that year and then to the AFC Championship the following year. I was young and spoiled and thought they would do it every year. They didn't and in 27 years I have only seen them get to two AFC Championship games. My heart stopped both times and finally was broken. What would my heart need if they ever made it to a Super Bowl and then won? I'd love to find out.
My teams in descending order of passion and year they last won title:
Mets--1986
Jets---1969
Giants---2008
Knicks---1973
Nets---Never in the NBA
Islanders----1983
Rangers----1994
Devils----2003
The Freditor
As thrilling as last night's win was, I've experienced three Giant Super Bowl wins in my adult life, and in this one case I kind of know what it feels like to be a Yankee fan. That feeling of ho-hum, another world title, please pass the Grey Poupon.
I went crazy when the Giants scored their last touchdown, and I was excited to hear the sports talk guys go on about it today, but I guess because the Giants are my second favorite team in football, it lacks that exhilarating feeling that would definitely come if the Jets ever entered the promised land.
Was last night's game the most exciting of all time? The greatest of all time? I'm not sure. It's up there, but Buffalo's missed field goal against the Giants in 1991 seemed more exciting. I guess because it ended the game. Can you imagine if Randy Moss had caught that pass at the 20 yard line with 20 seconds left last night? The Patriots would have gone for a 37 yard field goal to send it into Overtime. That is the only way last night's game could have been better.
Before expansion and parity, teams didn't come back late in games the way they do now. So when Joe Montana and the 49ers came back against the Bengals to score that last minute touchdown in 1989, that was both thrilling and unprecedented. But for sheer 4th quarter theatrics, perhaps the greatest Super Bowl of all time was the 1999 Rams-Tennessee game. That ended with the Titans stretching at the goal line for a touchdown, only to miss it by inches. I wasn't watching football in 1979, but from those who saw it, they tell me that was pretty exciting. Pittsburgh beat Dallas, when Roger Staubach threw into the end zone and Jackie Smith dropped the winning pass.
I started following football in 1981 and fell in love with the Jets that year. They made it to their first playoff game in 12 years that year and then to the AFC Championship the following year. I was young and spoiled and thought they would do it every year. They didn't and in 27 years I have only seen them get to two AFC Championship games. My heart stopped both times and finally was broken. What would my heart need if they ever made it to a Super Bowl and then won? I'd love to find out.
My teams in descending order of passion and year they last won title:
Mets--1986
Jets---1969
Giants---2008
Knicks---1973
Nets---Never in the NBA
Islanders----1983
Rangers----1994
Devils----2003
The Freditor
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Bullet the Blue Sky--My work friend tells me about growing up in El Salvador
This guy comes up to me His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal flush And he's peeling off those dollar bills
Slapping them down One hundred, two hundred
And I can see those fighter planes And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street....
Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run
Into the arms
Of America
---Bullet the Blue Sky, U2
When new people start to work with you, you say hello to them upon their arrival, but unless they have a boisterous personality, you tend to stick with your old work friends. And if they are an immigrant who is not great with the English language, you are even more likely to ignore them.
I am something of a social person, but oddly I like to eat my lunch alone. That quiet time allows me to read my newspapers and magazines and be at peace with myself. When I was younger I felt compelled to befriend every new worker who came into my company, no matter what company that was. Sometimes they became good friends, other times they moved on to others who were more their taste. But sometimes these new people tended to cling on like puppies. I am not a fan of cling-ons, they tend to interrupt my lunch peace. So I have to get cold with them and then they leave me alone. Sounds mean, but too bad.
Well at my current job virtually every new hire lately is an immigrant. They are all quite nice and they all tend to stay to themselves. One guy is a Latino fellow named Carlos. He started working with us a little over a year ago. He looks a bit like and has the build of famed Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. I say hello and goodbye to him and say "que paso Primo" when I'm joking around. Carlos has got a plum assignment. One of our other workers is an army reservist who has been stationed in Afghanistan for about a year or so. In his absence Carlos gets to do his route for that entire time. That route is next to mine.
Around Christmas time, I was looking for a letter from a customer. I asked Carlos if he could swing by my route and see if it was there, because I think the garbagemen have been stealing it the last couple of years. He got it for me and I was very grateful. I offered to buy him coffee, but he didn't want anything. He said, "You're my friend."
I was touched by this, but also saddened because of our limited contact. He was out of work a few days because of an emergency with one of his kids. When he came back, I drove over to his route to find out if everything was alright. While there we got into a pretty long conversation and I sat in my truck amazed.
This man is about 36 years old, but looks younger and he is usually smiling, so you imagine he had a pretty good life growing up. But appearances are deceiving. I assumed he was from Mexico, but he was actually born and raised in El Salvador. As you go south, first comes Mexico, then comes Guatemala and then comes El Salvador. He moved to America back in 1995 and doesn't sound like he's ever going back.
He was born in 1971 and the first 8 years of his life were happy and peaceful, for both him and his family. His country was divided as always by the very rich and very poor. Then war broke out in 1979. It took place mostly in the mountains and hills, but was still a burden on his country for 12 years. It was not unusual for helicopters to fly low overhead and start shooting.
Then one Saturday afternoon, November 11, 1989, there was a wedding in a church in his hometown, the capital city of San Salvador. Inside the church were all the guests with their gifts at their sides. Inside the giftboxes were concealed guns. They opened the boxes and ran out in the streets firing these guns in the middle of town.
Now 18 years old, Carlos would hear from his house, "pop pop pop pop pop pop", constantly, for 3 months. Sometimes the machine gun sounds were low and far away and sometimes they were very close and he and his family would be ducking on the floors of their house. His father was not a military man or a political man, so the guerillas had no reason to shoot him, but machine gun fire doesn't make those distinctions. One day there was fighting behind his house and it seemed to last forever. The next day his father and he went in the backyard and found dozens of stray bullets and shell casings littered across their yard.
On New Year's Eve 1992, the two sides signed an accord and peace was declared after 12 years of war.
A decent economy was destroyed by the long civil war and the rural areas were especially devastated. Young people from the farmlands with no place else to go are now causing trouble in the cities. Because of this two huge gangs have grown out of the mess and gangland violence and theft are the norm. Refugees who fled during the war have also come back with little industry to welcome them. Many have turned to drugs and violence as their new ways of life.
Carlos smiles because he's happy to be away from all of that.
The Freditor
Like all the colors of a royal flush And he's peeling off those dollar bills
Slapping them down One hundred, two hundred
And I can see those fighter planes And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street....
Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run
Into the arms
Of America
---Bullet the Blue Sky, U2
When new people start to work with you, you say hello to them upon their arrival, but unless they have a boisterous personality, you tend to stick with your old work friends. And if they are an immigrant who is not great with the English language, you are even more likely to ignore them.
I am something of a social person, but oddly I like to eat my lunch alone. That quiet time allows me to read my newspapers and magazines and be at peace with myself. When I was younger I felt compelled to befriend every new worker who came into my company, no matter what company that was. Sometimes they became good friends, other times they moved on to others who were more their taste. But sometimes these new people tended to cling on like puppies. I am not a fan of cling-ons, they tend to interrupt my lunch peace. So I have to get cold with them and then they leave me alone. Sounds mean, but too bad.
Well at my current job virtually every new hire lately is an immigrant. They are all quite nice and they all tend to stay to themselves. One guy is a Latino fellow named Carlos. He started working with us a little over a year ago. He looks a bit like and has the build of famed Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. I say hello and goodbye to him and say "que paso Primo" when I'm joking around. Carlos has got a plum assignment. One of our other workers is an army reservist who has been stationed in Afghanistan for about a year or so. In his absence Carlos gets to do his route for that entire time. That route is next to mine.
Around Christmas time, I was looking for a letter from a customer. I asked Carlos if he could swing by my route and see if it was there, because I think the garbagemen have been stealing it the last couple of years. He got it for me and I was very grateful. I offered to buy him coffee, but he didn't want anything. He said, "You're my friend."
I was touched by this, but also saddened because of our limited contact. He was out of work a few days because of an emergency with one of his kids. When he came back, I drove over to his route to find out if everything was alright. While there we got into a pretty long conversation and I sat in my truck amazed.
This man is about 36 years old, but looks younger and he is usually smiling, so you imagine he had a pretty good life growing up. But appearances are deceiving. I assumed he was from Mexico, but he was actually born and raised in El Salvador. As you go south, first comes Mexico, then comes Guatemala and then comes El Salvador. He moved to America back in 1995 and doesn't sound like he's ever going back.
He was born in 1971 and the first 8 years of his life were happy and peaceful, for both him and his family. His country was divided as always by the very rich and very poor. Then war broke out in 1979. It took place mostly in the mountains and hills, but was still a burden on his country for 12 years. It was not unusual for helicopters to fly low overhead and start shooting.
Then one Saturday afternoon, November 11, 1989, there was a wedding in a church in his hometown, the capital city of San Salvador. Inside the church were all the guests with their gifts at their sides. Inside the giftboxes were concealed guns. They opened the boxes and ran out in the streets firing these guns in the middle of town.
Now 18 years old, Carlos would hear from his house, "pop pop pop pop pop pop", constantly, for 3 months. Sometimes the machine gun sounds were low and far away and sometimes they were very close and he and his family would be ducking on the floors of their house. His father was not a military man or a political man, so the guerillas had no reason to shoot him, but machine gun fire doesn't make those distinctions. One day there was fighting behind his house and it seemed to last forever. The next day his father and he went in the backyard and found dozens of stray bullets and shell casings littered across their yard.
On New Year's Eve 1992, the two sides signed an accord and peace was declared after 12 years of war.
A decent economy was destroyed by the long civil war and the rural areas were especially devastated. Young people from the farmlands with no place else to go are now causing trouble in the cities. Because of this two huge gangs have grown out of the mess and gangland violence and theft are the norm. Refugees who fled during the war have also come back with little industry to welcome them. Many have turned to drugs and violence as their new ways of life.
Carlos smiles because he's happy to be away from all of that.
The Freditor
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hall of Fame selection of Goose Gossage a welcome relief
How do you spell relief? The Yankees spelled it G-O-O-S-E from 1978 to 1983 and few did the job better. Like most Yankees I didn't like him at the time he played, but appreciated him way more after he left the squad. He earned 310 saves in a career that began as a starter. In fact, he was a reluctant reliever for the Chicago White Sox at a time when relievers were still considered the scrubs of a pitching staff.
But Goose helped change that. He became the team's closer. The fireman who came in and doused the flames of the other's team's attempted comeback. Back then, offense wasn't as prevalent as it is now and a starter could probably get to the ninth inning more than half of the time. But then there were the moments when Ron Guidry or Tommy John would run into trouble and out of gas, and out of the pen would come this bull of a man, The Goose. The Mets used to have this silly looking, but fun baseball-shaped golf cart that they'd drive the relief pitcher in with. The Yankees used a boring K-car. Now I can't remember if Goose drove in with this K-car or not, I'm hoping not. It would have hurt his entrance. He had a thick Fu-Manchu moustache and a nasty scowl and he'd scare opposing hitters with his high hard heat.
Of course, hating the Yankees as I do, my favorite Gossage moment was when he gave up a go-ahead home run to George Brett in the 1983 Pine Tar Game. As Brett crossed home plate, Billy Martin showed the umpires that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat and he was thrown out of the game and the home run was disallowed. Brett went nuts, the AL president overturned the umpire's decision and the home run stood. But it was similar to another home run Gossage gave up to Brett in the 1980 playoffs. But pointing out two times when Gossage failed is unfair compared to the rest of his body of work.
He converted 50-plus saves that were from the 7th inning on, unlike today's "closers" who only come in for the 9th inning and usually with no one on base. He also converted 81 saves with the tying run on base, unlike Mariano Rivera, who has only saved 29 such games. In a group of the greatest closers, you have to separate the players into two categories. One would start with Dennis Eckersly, the first "modern" closer, who was not brought in before the ninth inning and rarely with men on base. That would start in 1988 and before that you would have the older closers like Rollie Fingers, Gossage and Bruce Sutter. The older guys' 300 saves might be worth more than the younger guys' 500+ saves. I know John Franco had 400+ saves in the modern era and I would not take five of him over one Goose.
As for taking 9 years to finally put the Goose into the Hall of Fame, I'm not sure what the baseball writers are thinking sometimes. I understand certain players deserve to go in on the first ballot over others, like a Babe Ruth or Willie Mays, but after that, what makes you a Hall of Famer in your second year of eligibility versus your 9th year. It is these kind of shaky grounds for election that make me appreciate the Hall of Fame less and less each year. Really, any kind of event that involves voting over performance. Jim Rice should have been in long ago, now he'll have to wait for his 15th and final turn at bat.
I enjoy wrestling because you have to pin the man to win, but I don't like boxing because a "judge" votes on whether you won or lost. Point totals of how many and how hard your punches are should be the deciding factor, but they are not. That's why champions keep their titles unless they are knocked out. Figure skating has a similar bias built in. Any event that relies on voting really disinterests me.
When Keith Hernandez, a tremendous clutch hitter and the greatest defensive first baseman of all time, is no longer eligible for the Hall of Fame, then that is an organization that really does not deserve my attention.
The Freditor
But Goose helped change that. He became the team's closer. The fireman who came in and doused the flames of the other's team's attempted comeback. Back then, offense wasn't as prevalent as it is now and a starter could probably get to the ninth inning more than half of the time. But then there were the moments when Ron Guidry or Tommy John would run into trouble and out of gas, and out of the pen would come this bull of a man, The Goose. The Mets used to have this silly looking, but fun baseball-shaped golf cart that they'd drive the relief pitcher in with. The Yankees used a boring K-car. Now I can't remember if Goose drove in with this K-car or not, I'm hoping not. It would have hurt his entrance. He had a thick Fu-Manchu moustache and a nasty scowl and he'd scare opposing hitters with his high hard heat.
Of course, hating the Yankees as I do, my favorite Gossage moment was when he gave up a go-ahead home run to George Brett in the 1983 Pine Tar Game. As Brett crossed home plate, Billy Martin showed the umpires that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat and he was thrown out of the game and the home run was disallowed. Brett went nuts, the AL president overturned the umpire's decision and the home run stood. But it was similar to another home run Gossage gave up to Brett in the 1980 playoffs. But pointing out two times when Gossage failed is unfair compared to the rest of his body of work.
He converted 50-plus saves that were from the 7th inning on, unlike today's "closers" who only come in for the 9th inning and usually with no one on base. He also converted 81 saves with the tying run on base, unlike Mariano Rivera, who has only saved 29 such games. In a group of the greatest closers, you have to separate the players into two categories. One would start with Dennis Eckersly, the first "modern" closer, who was not brought in before the ninth inning and rarely with men on base. That would start in 1988 and before that you would have the older closers like Rollie Fingers, Gossage and Bruce Sutter. The older guys' 300 saves might be worth more than the younger guys' 500+ saves. I know John Franco had 400+ saves in the modern era and I would not take five of him over one Goose.
As for taking 9 years to finally put the Goose into the Hall of Fame, I'm not sure what the baseball writers are thinking sometimes. I understand certain players deserve to go in on the first ballot over others, like a Babe Ruth or Willie Mays, but after that, what makes you a Hall of Famer in your second year of eligibility versus your 9th year. It is these kind of shaky grounds for election that make me appreciate the Hall of Fame less and less each year. Really, any kind of event that involves voting over performance. Jim Rice should have been in long ago, now he'll have to wait for his 15th and final turn at bat.
I enjoy wrestling because you have to pin the man to win, but I don't like boxing because a "judge" votes on whether you won or lost. Point totals of how many and how hard your punches are should be the deciding factor, but they are not. That's why champions keep their titles unless they are knocked out. Figure skating has a similar bias built in. Any event that relies on voting really disinterests me.
When Keith Hernandez, a tremendous clutch hitter and the greatest defensive first baseman of all time, is no longer eligible for the Hall of Fame, then that is an organization that really does not deserve my attention.
The Freditor
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Black Dog--Led Zeppelin Tribute Band Brings It On Home with Excellent Show
***** (out of 5)
On New Year's Eve Eve, Dec. 30, it had been a long time since I Rock and Rolled as I went to see Black Dog play a show at BB KIng's Blues Club in the heart of New York's Times Square. This is my third tribute band show at BB's and they have all been excellent, but this might have been the best act of all, because recreating Led Zeppelin on stage is so hard even Led Zep has a hard time doing it.
I've never seen LZ in person live, but have seen enough of them on TV to know that their records might be more products of production than mere talent. Robert Plant's screams on stage have never matched his record output and I heard that in the studio he would drink tea with honey between takes to get that perfect scream down. Doing it night after night on stage is a much harder trick. But Black Dog nailed it.
Four guys, who all look to be about 40, and who probably jammed to Led Zep in their mirrors when they were younger much like I did, were up there having a blast recreating some of the greatest music in the history of rock and roll. The thunderous applause that grew through the night had to be a better high for the band than any drug they could have taken. BB King's holds only about 300 people, but my ears were ringing from the crowd noise on my way home. Not an easy feat from hardcore New Yorkers, much less hardcore Zeppelin fans.
Their guitarist, Dan Toto, like the rest of the band looks nothing like his band alter ego, Jimmy Page, but boy can he play like him. His first few songs were note for note copies, but Toto had such a serious face and closed his eyes so much that you sensed he had to feel his way through the chords. But around halfway through the show he started playing more solos and he lightened up considerably, having a great time by show's end with flourishing guitar theatrics. Yes, he even pulled out the violin bow for Dazed and Confused, although thankfully the solo only lasted about 2 or 3 minutes compared with the 23 minute version on "The Song Remains the Same."
Jeff Mott is an excellent bass player and really laid the groundwork for many of their better rhythm numbers. Until Sunday night, I never realized how important bass was to the Led Zep sound. He also plays a decent mandolin on Goin' To California. Tom Capobianco got the beats right on drums and never made a show of himself. Again, the drum solo was thankfully short. Nothing kills a rock concert for me like pretentious, overlong solos. To me, bands who play them are just trying to build beer sales.
Of course, no Led Zep tribute band would be complete without a Robert Plant sound alike and Rob Malave has the vocal chops to pull it off. He's been playing in Zep tribute bands since his days with Four Sticks and it takes balls to reach for those high octaves, as well as act out the almost gay handshow that is Plant's moniker.
The only gripe I have is that since the show started at 11:30, they could not play a full set. Chuck Berry played from 8 to 10:30, so our late crowd was forced to leave at 1:18. I thought that we would get to see them play until 2AM. But they managed to squeeze in many favorites along with a few surprises and shockingly No Stairway or Whole Lotta Love. But honestly those songs are heard so many times on the radio, do you really need to hear them once more on stage? What was even cooler is that while the crowd went wild for the group and made a ton of noise for an encore, no one called out for either Whole or Stairway, but more for Gallo's Pole, which I would have loved to hear, but they didn't have time for.
What we did hear was magic:
Electric:
Communication Breakdown
The Song Remains The Same
Good Times Bad Times
Heartbreaker
Living Loving Maid
Acoustic Set:
Goin' To California
What Is & What Should Never Be
Hey Hey What Can I Do
Electric:
Bring It On Home
The Lemon Song
Immigrant Song
Dazed and Confused
Since I've Been Loving You
Encore:
The Ocean
Rock and Roll
Black Dog
The Freditor
On New Year's Eve Eve, Dec. 30, it had been a long time since I Rock and Rolled as I went to see Black Dog play a show at BB KIng's Blues Club in the heart of New York's Times Square. This is my third tribute band show at BB's and they have all been excellent, but this might have been the best act of all, because recreating Led Zeppelin on stage is so hard even Led Zep has a hard time doing it.
I've never seen LZ in person live, but have seen enough of them on TV to know that their records might be more products of production than mere talent. Robert Plant's screams on stage have never matched his record output and I heard that in the studio he would drink tea with honey between takes to get that perfect scream down. Doing it night after night on stage is a much harder trick. But Black Dog nailed it.
Four guys, who all look to be about 40, and who probably jammed to Led Zep in their mirrors when they were younger much like I did, were up there having a blast recreating some of the greatest music in the history of rock and roll. The thunderous applause that grew through the night had to be a better high for the band than any drug they could have taken. BB King's holds only about 300 people, but my ears were ringing from the crowd noise on my way home. Not an easy feat from hardcore New Yorkers, much less hardcore Zeppelin fans.
Their guitarist, Dan Toto, like the rest of the band looks nothing like his band alter ego, Jimmy Page, but boy can he play like him. His first few songs were note for note copies, but Toto had such a serious face and closed his eyes so much that you sensed he had to feel his way through the chords. But around halfway through the show he started playing more solos and he lightened up considerably, having a great time by show's end with flourishing guitar theatrics. Yes, he even pulled out the violin bow for Dazed and Confused, although thankfully the solo only lasted about 2 or 3 minutes compared with the 23 minute version on "The Song Remains the Same."
Jeff Mott is an excellent bass player and really laid the groundwork for many of their better rhythm numbers. Until Sunday night, I never realized how important bass was to the Led Zep sound. He also plays a decent mandolin on Goin' To California. Tom Capobianco got the beats right on drums and never made a show of himself. Again, the drum solo was thankfully short. Nothing kills a rock concert for me like pretentious, overlong solos. To me, bands who play them are just trying to build beer sales.
Of course, no Led Zep tribute band would be complete without a Robert Plant sound alike and Rob Malave has the vocal chops to pull it off. He's been playing in Zep tribute bands since his days with Four Sticks and it takes balls to reach for those high octaves, as well as act out the almost gay handshow that is Plant's moniker.
The only gripe I have is that since the show started at 11:30, they could not play a full set. Chuck Berry played from 8 to 10:30, so our late crowd was forced to leave at 1:18. I thought that we would get to see them play until 2AM. But they managed to squeeze in many favorites along with a few surprises and shockingly No Stairway or Whole Lotta Love. But honestly those songs are heard so many times on the radio, do you really need to hear them once more on stage? What was even cooler is that while the crowd went wild for the group and made a ton of noise for an encore, no one called out for either Whole or Stairway, but more for Gallo's Pole, which I would have loved to hear, but they didn't have time for.
What we did hear was magic:
Electric:
Communication Breakdown
The Song Remains The Same
Good Times Bad Times
Heartbreaker
Living Loving Maid
Acoustic Set:
Goin' To California
What Is & What Should Never Be
Hey Hey What Can I Do
Electric:
Bring It On Home
The Lemon Song
Immigrant Song
Dazed and Confused
Since I've Been Loving You
Encore:
The Ocean
Rock and Roll
Black Dog
The Freditor
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Whoa, The Sopranos' Season Finale goes out with a Whimper
Whoa, The Sopranos' Season Finale goes out with a Whimper
After three seasons of knocking this show I thought this year was a bit of a comeback. My friends were all disappointed in it, but I kept saying that while it was nowhere near as good as the first two seasons, it was back to being entertaining at least.
But last week's episode with the home movie of Carmela in Paris was admittedly pretty bad and this week, virtually NOTHING happened.
Well, one thing happened. A storefront gets blown out in "Sheepshead Bay."
Actually, the town they used really wasn't Sheepshead Bay but my town of Ridgewood. I was working out at the gym a block away the night they filmed this explosion. Fresh Pond Road, between Catalina Bakery and the Glen Lo Irish Pub, which you can see in the scene.
But other than that, nothing.
Next season they have the Eight Final Episodes and everyone is hoping the show goes out a winner, but really what leads you to believe that that is even possible. They've clearly run out of ideas. They've killed off at least half their great characters and the other half are being given less to do.
Off the top of my head, I don't remember a great ending to a great TV series. Seinfeld was awful in retrospect. Everybody Loves Raymond was ordinary. Cheers was weak. Mary Tyler Moore was memorable, but great, nahh. MASH was overlong and actually revealed everything that went wrong with the show after Frank Burns left.
I'm putting it to you. I would like you people to tell me what you think was a great final episode to a TV series. Because I'm stumped. When Mike and Gloria moved to California, that would have been a perfect finale to All in the Family, but instead of letting the show go off in the sunset, it jumped the shark with the ugly little niece and the Puerto Rican tenant (Mr. Bunkers).
As Paulie Walnuts would say, "Marone."
The Freditor
After three seasons of knocking this show I thought this year was a bit of a comeback. My friends were all disappointed in it, but I kept saying that while it was nowhere near as good as the first two seasons, it was back to being entertaining at least.
But last week's episode with the home movie of Carmela in Paris was admittedly pretty bad and this week, virtually NOTHING happened.
Well, one thing happened. A storefront gets blown out in "Sheepshead Bay."
Actually, the town they used really wasn't Sheepshead Bay but my town of Ridgewood. I was working out at the gym a block away the night they filmed this explosion. Fresh Pond Road, between Catalina Bakery and the Glen Lo Irish Pub, which you can see in the scene.
But other than that, nothing.
Next season they have the Eight Final Episodes and everyone is hoping the show goes out a winner, but really what leads you to believe that that is even possible. They've clearly run out of ideas. They've killed off at least half their great characters and the other half are being given less to do.
Off the top of my head, I don't remember a great ending to a great TV series. Seinfeld was awful in retrospect. Everybody Loves Raymond was ordinary. Cheers was weak. Mary Tyler Moore was memorable, but great, nahh. MASH was overlong and actually revealed everything that went wrong with the show after Frank Burns left.
I'm putting it to you. I would like you people to tell me what you think was a great final episode to a TV series. Because I'm stumped. When Mike and Gloria moved to California, that would have been a perfect finale to All in the Family, but instead of letting the show go off in the sunset, it jumped the shark with the ugly little niece and the Puerto Rican tenant (Mr. Bunkers).
As Paulie Walnuts would say, "Marone."
The Freditor
Guest Entry--A great reason to have unions, written by friend Tom
How did the non-union worker come to blame unions for negotiated benefits?
I’ve heard a lot of talk about how many people either don’t have a company pension plan or have to contribute to it. Ok fair enough, however, does that make it right?
Businesses of almost ALL sizes negotiate terms and conditions of the services they provide and they use the strength of their ‘numbers’ to justify forcing suppliers to cut the cost of or to raise the quality of the product. Take for example Wal-Mart….they negotiate with suppliers and demand concessions from then in order for the suppliers' product to get displayed and/or sold in a Wal-Mart.
Unions have acted as a counterbalance to the abuse of workers and the occasional greediness of employers for many years. They do this, in a simplistic viewpoint, by using their ‘numbers’ (how many members etc… ) They negotiate with employers over Terms and Conditions of employment. Unions also struggle to protect their members from unilateral changes in these terms and conditions by the Employer.
Somehow, without going into a lengthy discussion about the decline of Unionism in this country, non-union workers now ‘blame’ unions for getting negotiated benefits. AND they complain about benefits given to ‘Public” employees that were and are designed to compensate these employees for their Public Employee Salaries. These salaries are historically lower than the ‘Market Value’ of the Private Sector employment.
When a decent Union Job becomes an issue and the non-union workers compare what they failed to negotiate with their employer to those that have negotiated better Terms and Conditions…they say ….Union workers are overpaid and why should they have a low contribution or Free Pension Plan? Why should they get discounted or free Health Benefits? etc.. Instead, they could or should be saying THAT’S what I WANT.
Many horrific events have occurred‘behind the scenes’ to the workers of this country and only sometimes do they get attention through the media and other sources. (See Matewan about a disastrous coal miners strike.)
However, if we look closely at history we can find too many events that the people/workers under a government or employer have been abused and stripped of even modest ‘negotiated’ terms and conditions. Some examples:
Sweatshop workers locked in their place of employment when a fire broke out killing many. The Condition of employment regarding fire safety was not negotiated in a good way and caused this disaster. Did the benevolent Employer just give the workers safety…no they are the ones who locked all of the exits.
Approximately 17 workers DIE A DAY in THIS country EVERY Year because of unsafe working conditions or hazardous work. When the average employee goes to work most don’t think about the ‘safety’ of their work/office/jobsite…and most times there are Safety Codes in place so they don’t have to.
Do they realize or care that workers before them or from a different place and time fought hard for them and in a lot of instances DIED for those codes to be established? Rarely are improvements done ‘voluntarily’ by an employer, it usually stems from the efforts of Workers' rights organizations including Unions.
Steel workers in the early 1970’s, when that icon of American Business, US Steel went belly up, and I believe later reorganized, lost their ENTIRE Pensions with NO Insurance and absolutely no laws to protect their Retirement Plans. It took over 25 years for some of then to get anything if anything at all from their ‘plan’. This injustice was part of the reason that action was finally taken to enact laws protecting Retirement Plans and to insure Employers Compliance with safe-guarding ‘negotiated’ retirement plans. (See also Pan-AM Airlines and how they gutted their employees' retirement plans.)
Recently it was discovered, and I don’t believe any action has occurred to correct the problem, that Employers covered by these protections/Insurance have through the years opted out of their promises of providing Retirement benefits to their employees and have let the government insurance program pay their bills. This insurance, mind you, does NOT pay full benefits to those workers covered, but mere pennies on the dollar. This ’Fund’ is now depleted and will soon be working on a deficit with current government administrators refusing to ‘re-fund’ the program.
The gradual effect of this has been more and more workers relying upon the ‘safety net’ of retirement called Social Security, which coincidentally has been made to sound so important and is being destroyed by the very same powers complaining about pension benefits for employees. If every worker negotiated a Pension Plan from their employer the pressure on the system designed only to help those who have been less fortunate in their working lives would be greatly diminished.
The recent ridiculous rip-offs of workers by Corporations have seen some ‘light’ in the media, but where are the follow-up stories? What happened to the Enron workers? What happened to the retirement funds of TYCO employees or the effects of these corporations' actions on individuals IRS or Stock investments (so that an individual may strive for a better retirement)?
How quickly we forget about these events and sadly how jealous we are when others negotiate for themselves and their brethren better Terms and Conditions of Employment.
Major Airlines, after getting many financial aid packages from OUR Tax money, have demanded givebacks from their workers, or they have slashed benefits or they have gone bankrupt and negotiated deals under the law to take earned benefits away from their workers. Is this right? Isn’t this a Breach of Contract?
Hopefully, we will never feel the sting of a ‘layoff’ (and hoping there is something called unemployment insurance) or the indignity of working our entire lives earning and most times contributing to a secure retirement only to have it ‘stripped’ away by corrupt or mismanaged companies. Will there be a Retirement Security Act in place if THAT happens?
I, for one, strive everyday to insure that not only my job provides security for myself, but for those of my coworkers. I put in a great deal of effort to help my company survive and increase revenues in the hope of having some benefits when I can no longer work. I work with the hope that these ’guarantees’ are there in 10, 20, 30 years. However, I alone cannot guarantee that. I know that alone it would be much more difficult to get these benefits. Is it possible for some, absolutely. Is it a reality for most, No. I strongly believe that too many others worry only about themselves and how fast they can make a buck. This includes Employers.
With a great debt owed to the Military personnel of this country, I must comment that without the efforts of Workers Rights groups, Unions, the Labor Movement and Veterans Associations, workers that were/are called to serve this country are guaranteed a position of equivalent employment with their current employer upon return. This was not ALWAYS the case. And yet a lot of rhetoric is thrown around about regarding the ‘Duty to Serve’ and the ‘Honor we bestow’ upon our Service Men and Women. Yet prior to a law being enacted many employers did not care about their workers once they left to serve and even less when they returned.
Is this Term and Condition of employment also not worth fighting for?
Unions do play an important role in the lives of EVERY worker because as a whole they have formed the Labor Movement in this Country, without such a movement many of the work situations and job protections most people don’t have to think about on an average day, would not exist.
Is there or has there been, at times, corruption and abuses of power within Unions etc. Yes. However, in comparison to the abuse of workers by governments and employers, who are also guilty of corruption and abuse of power at times, I believe that in ALL instances it should be corrected and ‘new’ protections set in place. Unfortunately, the events that occur putting workers or their organizations in a ‘bad light’ gets more attention and drama than those that occur in Corporations and or government. Take a moment and go back in history to a time when Unions were against the law, do you think that you would be making a living doing what you are doing at your current compensation if those men and women did not stand up against an Invalid Law?
Everyone should be allowed to get a free ride into the City of their choice, not have to pay for any services along the way and be content to work for any employer without Health Insurance. Without a Pension Plan. Without Safety Codes. Without minimum standards. Everyone should be ‘At Will’ employees content to take and live on whatever the employers/ government is willing to give them without any guarantees or say in their employment.
If an individual chooses to NOT negotiate for themselves or to seek to improve their lot in life that is their choice. However, they should not diminish the efforts of others who are not afraid to try to better their conditions especially when those efforts usually result in making their own working life’s better and more secure.
To those who work in the City, I don’t mean to offend, however, isn’t one of the reasons you travel to work there because you make more money in the City? If the associated costs are too high, are you currently negotiating with your employer for better compensation for that or are you content that the difference in pay covers the cost? Maybe it does not cover it as well as it used to. That is unfortunate. However, that in my opinion is based more on the greater negotiating power of your employer as opposed to the struggle of other workers trying to improve their lives.
Too many workers take their Terms and Conditions of employment too lightly. This has and can have a devastating effect on other workers, and that is not right. I ask that everyone look closely at the Rich and Powerful, both individuals and Corporations in this country and tell me that THEY have not or DO NOT NEGOTIATE their TERMS AND CONDITIONS of Employment, even at MOST times to the detriment of others. If it is okay for some to do it, and we are trained to admire their ‘Success’, then why is it unfair and unreasonable for others to do the same?
OK off the ‘soapbox’ for me.
Tom
PS From Fred--Any company with a large work force that has good benefits, is only doing it to avoid their workers rising up and starting a union. Pre-emptive negotiations. If you work for such a place, you shoulkd be very thankful that unions exist.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about how many people either don’t have a company pension plan or have to contribute to it. Ok fair enough, however, does that make it right?
Businesses of almost ALL sizes negotiate terms and conditions of the services they provide and they use the strength of their ‘numbers’ to justify forcing suppliers to cut the cost of or to raise the quality of the product. Take for example Wal-Mart….they negotiate with suppliers and demand concessions from then in order for the suppliers' product to get displayed and/or sold in a Wal-Mart.
Unions have acted as a counterbalance to the abuse of workers and the occasional greediness of employers for many years. They do this, in a simplistic viewpoint, by using their ‘numbers’ (how many members etc… ) They negotiate with employers over Terms and Conditions of employment. Unions also struggle to protect their members from unilateral changes in these terms and conditions by the Employer.
Somehow, without going into a lengthy discussion about the decline of Unionism in this country, non-union workers now ‘blame’ unions for getting negotiated benefits. AND they complain about benefits given to ‘Public” employees that were and are designed to compensate these employees for their Public Employee Salaries. These salaries are historically lower than the ‘Market Value’ of the Private Sector employment.
When a decent Union Job becomes an issue and the non-union workers compare what they failed to negotiate with their employer to those that have negotiated better Terms and Conditions…they say ….Union workers are overpaid and why should they have a low contribution or Free Pension Plan? Why should they get discounted or free Health Benefits? etc.. Instead, they could or should be saying THAT’S what I WANT.
Many horrific events have occurred‘behind the scenes’ to the workers of this country and only sometimes do they get attention through the media and other sources. (See Matewan about a disastrous coal miners strike.)
However, if we look closely at history we can find too many events that the people/workers under a government or employer have been abused and stripped of even modest ‘negotiated’ terms and conditions. Some examples:
Sweatshop workers locked in their place of employment when a fire broke out killing many. The Condition of employment regarding fire safety was not negotiated in a good way and caused this disaster. Did the benevolent Employer just give the workers safety…no they are the ones who locked all of the exits.
Approximately 17 workers DIE A DAY in THIS country EVERY Year because of unsafe working conditions or hazardous work. When the average employee goes to work most don’t think about the ‘safety’ of their work/office/jobsite…and most times there are Safety Codes in place so they don’t have to.
Do they realize or care that workers before them or from a different place and time fought hard for them and in a lot of instances DIED for those codes to be established? Rarely are improvements done ‘voluntarily’ by an employer, it usually stems from the efforts of Workers' rights organizations including Unions.
Steel workers in the early 1970’s, when that icon of American Business, US Steel went belly up, and I believe later reorganized, lost their ENTIRE Pensions with NO Insurance and absolutely no laws to protect their Retirement Plans. It took over 25 years for some of then to get anything if anything at all from their ‘plan’. This injustice was part of the reason that action was finally taken to enact laws protecting Retirement Plans and to insure Employers Compliance with safe-guarding ‘negotiated’ retirement plans. (See also Pan-AM Airlines and how they gutted their employees' retirement plans.)
Recently it was discovered, and I don’t believe any action has occurred to correct the problem, that Employers covered by these protections/Insurance have through the years opted out of their promises of providing Retirement benefits to their employees and have let the government insurance program pay their bills. This insurance, mind you, does NOT pay full benefits to those workers covered, but mere pennies on the dollar. This ’Fund’ is now depleted and will soon be working on a deficit with current government administrators refusing to ‘re-fund’ the program.
The gradual effect of this has been more and more workers relying upon the ‘safety net’ of retirement called Social Security, which coincidentally has been made to sound so important and is being destroyed by the very same powers complaining about pension benefits for employees. If every worker negotiated a Pension Plan from their employer the pressure on the system designed only to help those who have been less fortunate in their working lives would be greatly diminished.
The recent ridiculous rip-offs of workers by Corporations have seen some ‘light’ in the media, but where are the follow-up stories? What happened to the Enron workers? What happened to the retirement funds of TYCO employees or the effects of these corporations' actions on individuals IRS or Stock investments (so that an individual may strive for a better retirement)?
How quickly we forget about these events and sadly how jealous we are when others negotiate for themselves and their brethren better Terms and Conditions of Employment.
Major Airlines, after getting many financial aid packages from OUR Tax money, have demanded givebacks from their workers, or they have slashed benefits or they have gone bankrupt and negotiated deals under the law to take earned benefits away from their workers. Is this right? Isn’t this a Breach of Contract?
Hopefully, we will never feel the sting of a ‘layoff’ (and hoping there is something called unemployment insurance) or the indignity of working our entire lives earning and most times contributing to a secure retirement only to have it ‘stripped’ away by corrupt or mismanaged companies. Will there be a Retirement Security Act in place if THAT happens?
I, for one, strive everyday to insure that not only my job provides security for myself, but for those of my coworkers. I put in a great deal of effort to help my company survive and increase revenues in the hope of having some benefits when I can no longer work. I work with the hope that these ’guarantees’ are there in 10, 20, 30 years. However, I alone cannot guarantee that. I know that alone it would be much more difficult to get these benefits. Is it possible for some, absolutely. Is it a reality for most, No. I strongly believe that too many others worry only about themselves and how fast they can make a buck. This includes Employers.
With a great debt owed to the Military personnel of this country, I must comment that without the efforts of Workers Rights groups, Unions, the Labor Movement and Veterans Associations, workers that were/are called to serve this country are guaranteed a position of equivalent employment with their current employer upon return. This was not ALWAYS the case. And yet a lot of rhetoric is thrown around about regarding the ‘Duty to Serve’ and the ‘Honor we bestow’ upon our Service Men and Women. Yet prior to a law being enacted many employers did not care about their workers once they left to serve and even less when they returned.
Is this Term and Condition of employment also not worth fighting for?
Unions do play an important role in the lives of EVERY worker because as a whole they have formed the Labor Movement in this Country, without such a movement many of the work situations and job protections most people don’t have to think about on an average day, would not exist.
Is there or has there been, at times, corruption and abuses of power within Unions etc. Yes. However, in comparison to the abuse of workers by governments and employers, who are also guilty of corruption and abuse of power at times, I believe that in ALL instances it should be corrected and ‘new’ protections set in place. Unfortunately, the events that occur putting workers or their organizations in a ‘bad light’ gets more attention and drama than those that occur in Corporations and or government. Take a moment and go back in history to a time when Unions were against the law, do you think that you would be making a living doing what you are doing at your current compensation if those men and women did not stand up against an Invalid Law?
Everyone should be allowed to get a free ride into the City of their choice, not have to pay for any services along the way and be content to work for any employer without Health Insurance. Without a Pension Plan. Without Safety Codes. Without minimum standards. Everyone should be ‘At Will’ employees content to take and live on whatever the employers/ government is willing to give them without any guarantees or say in their employment.
If an individual chooses to NOT negotiate for themselves or to seek to improve their lot in life that is their choice. However, they should not diminish the efforts of others who are not afraid to try to better their conditions especially when those efforts usually result in making their own working life’s better and more secure.
To those who work in the City, I don’t mean to offend, however, isn’t one of the reasons you travel to work there because you make more money in the City? If the associated costs are too high, are you currently negotiating with your employer for better compensation for that or are you content that the difference in pay covers the cost? Maybe it does not cover it as well as it used to. That is unfortunate. However, that in my opinion is based more on the greater negotiating power of your employer as opposed to the struggle of other workers trying to improve their lives.
Too many workers take their Terms and Conditions of employment too lightly. This has and can have a devastating effect on other workers, and that is not right. I ask that everyone look closely at the Rich and Powerful, both individuals and Corporations in this country and tell me that THEY have not or DO NOT NEGOTIATE their TERMS AND CONDITIONS of Employment, even at MOST times to the detriment of others. If it is okay for some to do it, and we are trained to admire their ‘Success’, then why is it unfair and unreasonable for others to do the same?
OK off the ‘soapbox’ for me.
Tom
PS From Fred--Any company with a large work force that has good benefits, is only doing it to avoid their workers rising up and starting a union. Pre-emptive negotiations. If you work for such a place, you shoulkd be very thankful that unions exist.
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