Jazz Fest started yesterday. Nothing brings out the old fart in me like the changes at Jazz Fest. It’s gone from a local-regionally focused event to just another music festival. This year, it’s gone cashless, which means buying cheaper items such as a bottle of water will take too damn long. The first day was a clusterfuck. I hope it gets better by Sunday when we’re going to see Los Lobos but I’m not holding my breath. End of “get off my lawn” rant. I hope I don’t sound like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.
This week’s theme song was written by Justin Currie for Del Amitri’s 2021 album, Fatal Mistakes. I’m hoping to see them in New Orleans at the end of June. There were only 50 or so people in attendance the last time they played the House of Blues here, so I’m skeptical it will happen. Stay tuned.
You Can’t Go Back continues the old fart theme of this week’s post with this cool video featuring 56-year-old Justin Currie all geezered up.
Here’s an oldie but goodie from the Dels.
Two more vaguely relevant songs before we begin our second act:
We begin our second act with a tribute to a legend.
Harry Belafonte, RIP: A great man died this week: Harry Belafonte was 96. He lived a long and glorious life. He sacrificed his show business career to focus on activism.
Harry Belafonte was an inspirational figure, so it’s no surprise that he inspired some swell remembrances. Here are some of them:
The WaPo for the win.
My favorite Belafonte movie was Robert Wise’s Odds Against Tomorrow. It’s a socially aware film noir that co-starred fellow Hollywood liberal Robert Ryan as a racist criminal. Here’s a swell picture of Ryan and Belafonte playing stickball while shooting the movie.
I would be remiss in not posting one of Harry’s hits to close out this brief tribute:
Let’s move on to one of the best teevee shows ever.
Succession Notes: I’m a bit obsessed with the HBO show about the Roys and their wicked, wicked ways. I think Logan Roy should have heeded Harry Belafonte’s sage advice in Man Smart Woman Smarter and made Shiv his successor. She’s clearly the smartest of his three children. Oops, I forgot lovable dingbat libertarian Connor. Everyone forgets Connor Roy.
There’s a veritable plethora of fine articles about Succession, but two recent ones stand out:
How The Rupert Murdoch Family Drama Inspired Succession by Margaret Hartmann.
That was the serious one. Here’s the funny one:
The Succession Characters Most Likely To Survive Yellowjackets by Emma Soren.
What’s not to love about a mashup of my two current fave raves?
The last word of our second act goes to the good old Grateful Dead:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: After writing about Harry Belafonte, I have the civil rights movement on my mind. My homey Wendell Pierce played Rev. Hosea Williams in the 2014 movie, Selma.
Trivia time: Hosea Williams’ granddaughter is Porscha Williams of Real Housewives Of Atlanta fame. Before she became a Black Lives Matter activist, she said this:
You can’t make shit like that up.
Best Of Letterman: While I was searching for Old Fart At Play, this clip popped up. Alternate title: Don van Vliet meets David Letterman.
Your Weekly Oscar: I love OP’s work with the French fiddler Stephane Grappelli. Makin’ Whoopee is a perfect melding of their respective sounds:
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?
Throwback Image: This cat poster was on many a wall during the 1970’s. I had one and I wasn’t even a cat person yet. I think my mom bought it to annoy my father who refused to allow a cat to live with us.
Maybe we should recreate this poster with Perry Mason as the model. He’s a jumper.
Saturday GIF Horse: Our Harry Belafonte tribute continues with images from Odds Against Tomorrow and The Muppet Show.
Harry was the coolest. Who among us wasn’t wild about him?
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: This week’s Sunday Dozen is about lawyer movies, so I thought I’d post this lawyer song with one of the longest titles of all-time:
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Burt Lancaster, Harry Belafonte, and Charlton Heston at the March On Washington. I wonder if Burt warned Harry about Chuck’s wingnut potential.
Harry Belafonte had character and poise.