Kristofferson's music never quite measured up, because you could always smell the desperate aspiration he had for it to be better than it actually was, not to mention all the other better artists he constantly cribbed from. But I still find a lot of it vaguely effective, none more than this.




Is the only decent version of this from Fat City? And is it only presented in fragments for the sake of the film? Because I just realized the version I have on my record is shit.
 

Oh, James!

Also wanted to add a note on Pete Rose.

I'm not a big baseball fan.  It's the most boring sport, whether you're watching on TV or playing the outfield.  Maybe golf is more boring on TV.  I don't know, I've never watched golf on TV.

But Pete Rose was definitely in my home growing up, because my dad's team was the Cincinnati Reds, back during the "Big Red Machine" era.  He even had a Johnny Bench poster.  But like a lot of fans, my dad fell out with the team between the scandals of Rose getting caught betting on his own team's games while as a manager (and evidence he bet against his team) and the Marge Schott meltdown.  And like a lot of old-school baseball fans, my dad eventually lost interest and faith in the sport over further scandals over the years.  By the time the Astros won the World Series despite a proven cheating scandal (which was suprisingly a non-scandal), my dad just shrugged, "It hasn't been an honest game in a long time".

There's apparently a new Pete Rose documentary available, but I haven't seen it.  There's still a long-standing controversy over whether or not, despite Rose's gambling scandal (and more precisely his inability to publicly admit and atone for it), Rose should be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Defenders point out that Rose has always denied betting against his own team, but that doesn't really mean much.  Rose also denied betting on baseball at all...until he had a book to sell on the publicity of his confession.  Gambling and hubris aside, Rose still holds a number of baseball records, including most career hits.  There's not a lot of controversy about whether he is one of the greatest players of all time.  Like a lot of athletes, that doesn't necessarily make him an honorable man.  I don't really care about museums in small New York towns, but I know that my dad had some rather strong feelings on the subject.  He never forgave Rose for what he described as unbrideled arrogance, and I'm pretty sure that a lot of that bitterness came from almost a sense of personal betrayal as a former long-term fan.

Here's Rose on Letterman, equally unfazed or troubled by remorse about having to serve a prison term for tax evasion.




 

crumbsroom wrote:

EDIT: Actually, scratch that, American football is the pinnacle of unbearable dullness. Never been able to get through a single game. Probably not even an entire quarter.

Oh, I see how it is.  Obviously watching bad sports is always boring, and I don't know which American football teams they show up there (Buffalo?  Cleveland?  The Vikings?).  But if you have a really talented team, it can be more exciting (like watching Baltimore slap Buffalo around this weekend).  The action does come in spurts, and the time in-between plays can get long.  And all the goddamn commercials.  (I tend to watch with the sound down and music - there's little of interest from the announcers.)  I also imagine that all of these activities, whether baseball or football, is kinda like fishing.  It's meant to be boring so you end up drinking more.

Aww. Teri Garr. Multiple sclerosis.
https://apnews.com/article/teri-garr-dies-be39482a60724c5bb81bbd8f34dfaf2d

Jinnistan wrote:

One of my favorite trivia bits about Teri Garr is that she was sultry voice repeating the word "head" for the Monkee film's soundtrack and advertisements.  She was also a professional dancer, with Toni Basil, and so part of that BBS/Jack Nicholson crowd.




 

This made my day, even though it got me all weepy. I don't usually get too emotional over these high–profile passings, and I can't say for sure why hers is hitting me so hard. What a beautiful send–off. Let the world see her in her youth, vivacious and adorable, unburdened by physical ailments, and let her dance her way off the world stage, dancing away the final moments before taking that last bus ride to the unknown. 

Edit: I assume everyone knows I meant the video made my day, not Garr's passing, but I thought I'd clarify anyway.

Last edited by Rampop II (10/30/2024 9:07 pm)

Roy Haynes, one of the classic journeymen drummers of post-bop jazz, lasted to 99.

Some of the classic records on which he played: Charlie Parker - Bird at St. Nick's; Thelonious Monk - Misterioso; Eric Dolphy - Outward Bound & Out There; Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth; Andrew Hill - Black Fire; Jackie McLean - Destination Out & It's Time; Chick Corea - Now He SIngs Now He Sobs; Leon Thomas - Spirits Known and Unknown; Pharoah Sanders - Thembi; Gato Barbieri - Under Fire, and dozens of others.  He played with everybody.

Probably my favorite Coltrane version of "My Favorite Things" is the live version from Newport in 1963, which I only learned some years later was actually Roy Haynes sitting in for Elvin Jones while the latter was in rehab for a few months.



 

Jim Abrahams, one third of the Zuker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy powerhouse, got mauled to the bones in a freak rabid leukemia melee.



His solo output is best remembered for the Hot Shots films, but the largely unwatched Mafia! (which unfortunately was truncated from the intended title Jane Austin's Mafia because studios think you're stupid) is pretty funny too, definitely compared to all of the more recent spoof slop released since.

Silvia Pinal, classic Bunuel muse of Viridiana, Exterminating Angel, SImon of the Desert.  Folded her hand at 93.