We had some first world problems at Adrastos World HQ this week: a cable box containing 60 episodes of Law & Order died. I battled the provider to a draw but losing the season-5 episodes with the perfect L&O cast of Orbach, Noth, Merkerson, Waterson, Hennessy, and Hill hurt:
Law & Order is my pandemic jam and it’s not currently on a streaming service. I can’t let go of the craving.Told ya this was a first world problem.
I hope that those of you who have read my previously unpublished law school mystery, Tongue In The Mail, enjoyed it. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot by clicking on this link. The serialization is dead, long live the serialization.
This week we have a trio of theme songs with the same title. Our first Can’t Let Go was written by Bryan Ferry for his 1978 solo album The Bride Stripped Bare. Here’s a double dose with the studio original and Roxy Music live:
Our second Can’t Let Go was written by Lucinda Williams for her classic 1998 album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road:
Our final Can’t Let Go was written by Bill Meyers, Maurice White, and Allee Willis for Earth Wind & Fire’s 1979 album I Am.
I don’t know about you but I’m having a hard time letting go. Perhaps a jump to the break is in order.
Letting go is still a struggle. Maybe The Hollies can help:
We begin our second act with an article by stellar New Orleans music writer, Alison Fensterstock. FYI, I’m obsessed with her dog, Ziggy, who is the star of an ongoing series Huskies of the Bywater. The series is strictly informal if such a thing is possible. Strictly informal strikes me as an odd word choice but I’m a weird writer. It’s part of my charm, such as it is.
New Orleans During The Pandemic: We’re used to crises in New Orleans. La Fensterstock takes a look at how we’re handling the pandemic and how it will impact our local culture in the long run. Get thee to NPR.org for the details. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Ziggy in the piece.
The last word of the segment goes to Debbie Davis; one of the artists interviewed singing a Stevie Wonder classic:
I was trying to lift your spirits with that chirpy Stevie tune. These are not chirpy times unless you’re a bluebird:
Oops. My train of thought just derailed. Sorry for being a bird brain, y’all.
Restaurant Blues Redux: We continue with another story about the plight of the restaurant business during the pandemic. My interest is rooted in my family, uh, roots. Every Greek family has members who feed people for a living. Mine is no exception. Besides, I like restaurant people: chefs, cooks, bartenders, and servers alike. They’re good people and they’re suffering.
There’s a beautifully written piece in the NYT magazine by Chef Gabrielle Hamilton about her own uncertain future in the food biz.
Prune may be an odd name for an eatery, but Chef Hamilton is as good a writer as she is a chef. I wish her nothing but the best.
Pondering cooks and suffering has given me an earworm.
I know. Everything gives me an earworm. Mercifully, most of mine are benign. Pete Townshend wrote that song after seeing a documentary about a Chicago hospital. He mistakenly added an s and the rest is history. Those were Pete’s heavy drinking and drugging days so…
More Kaiser Chronicles: A friend sent me a link to a 2018 New Yorker story that poses the eternal question, What Happens When A Bad Tempered Distractible Doofus Runs An Empire. I’m glad I’m not the only one who makes this comparison:
Speaking of Kaisers, birds, and dogs, the last word of our second act goes to French, Frith, Kaiser, and Thompson:
The Thompson in question is, of course, Richard. Anyone shocked by that? I would hope not. I seem to be on a roll; a Kaiser roll…
We begin our third act with an odd variation on our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth: I’ve been using Panic In The Street images quite frequently during the pandemic. The one on the left is featured on the movie poster. Hence the pairing. They’re not exactly SAB but an argument could be made that they are. A losing one, but an argument nonetheless.
The method to my madness is about to be revealed.
The Movie List: This list reflects my ethnic pride in my countryman Elia Kazan. It also gives me an excuse to link to an old post about the batshit crazy argument I had with my late father about Kazan.
My Top Ten Favorite Elia Kazan Movies:
- America, America
- On The Waterfront
- A Face In The Crowd
- Streetcar Named Desire
- Panic In The Streets
- East Of Eden
- Viva Zapata
- Baby Doll
- Boomerang
- Wild River
FYI, my middle name is Elias, an Anglicized version of Elia. So it goes.
Ready for a Kazan movie poster collage? Good. You have no choice.
Our Kazan-centric second act continues in the next segment.
Saturday GIF Horse: Here’s Eli Wallach in a typically bizarre snippet from Baby Doll. The Kazan-Williams connection was powerful and powerfully weird.
Rock on, Eli. Speaking of rock, next up are three videos from the band that brought us Rock Lobster before roaming on to the love shack and forming the deadbeat club.
Weekly Vintage Music Videos: The B-52’s not only staged a major comeback in 1989 with their Cosmic Thing album, they rocked the world with three great promo videos whose titles are alluded to above. Hopefully, it wasn’t an elusive allusion.
Enough word play, let’s rock:
If that doesn’t cheer you up, nothing will.
Let’s close things out with some live music.
Saturday Classic: Here’s another show from the KSAN archives. As part of my continuing effort to date myself, I attended this concert.
That’s it for this week. We just finished season 6 of Bosch. It was great as usual. The last word goes to Harry and Jerry:
“There’s a beautifully written piece in the NYT magazine by Chef Gabrielle Hamilton” It was lovely. My brother and sister-in-law have been in this biz for 20 + years. They closed their place here in WV for good last week. It was the last place we had family dinners all together with Mom.
I totally agree about Law & Order.