It’s Bob Seger’s 78th birthday hence the theme song. The Gene Hackman neo-noir film of the same title predates the song by a year, but it’s just as good. A stone cold 4 star classic.
It’s fly season in New Orleans. New cat Perry Mason is a skilled fly swatter, assassin, and bug eater. He’ll leap high to catch his prey. It’s impressive but I’m easily amused. One of these days he’ll get tired of it and go on flyatus.
This week’s theme song was written by Bob Seger in 1976. It *was* inspired by a movie: American Graffiti, not Night Moves. It was a huge hit in the summer of 1976. I recall cruising El Camino Real on the Peninsula as it blasted from every car on the road.
We have two versions of Night Moves for your listening pleasure: the studio original and a 1981 live version.
I might as well throw in the movie trailer while we’re at it:
Next up, a Bob Seger adjacent song. He co-wrote it with his old buddy Glenn Frey as well as Don Henley, and JD Souther. Birthday boy Bob also sang backing vox:
I hope I horrified some of the music snobs out there. Unlike The Dude, I like The Eagles. Sue me.
Should I post something for the cool kids? They like Zappa, don’t they?
It’s a cruising song, the title notwithstanding. I’m uncertain if Perry has bug breath. I try to avoid him after he’s eaten bug.
One more song before we bugger off and bug-gin our second act.
We begin our second act with a piece about an odd sisterhood. Odd remains the week’s secret word. The damn duck better show up this time.
Porno Dorothy Parker is what Kathy Griffin calls Stormy Daniels in a remarkable piece by New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi. We learn that Griffin, Daniels, E. Jean Carroll, and Mary Trump have become friends and allies. This is what Dr. Trump had to say about Stormy:
“I would say ‘strange bedfellows,’ but I don’t want to,” Mary Trump joked. “It’s like the weirdest incarnation of Charlie’s Angels ever.” She admires Daniels for her strength in the face of these strangest of circumstances: “It’s not just that she’s handled it well, but she’s handled it very intelligently. You can’t tear down a woman who has no fucks to give about this. She’s so self-aware and so comfortable in her own skin, and they are the opposite. They have no self-awareness, and everything bothers them. It’s quite a wonderful, amusing contrast.”
In addition to her fine prose style, Olivia Nuzzi is one of those rare reporters who can get people to say things they wouldn’t say to anyone else. She did it again in this swell profile.
I think Prince has something to say about Dorothy Parker:
Cornhusker Mascot Blues: My ties to the University of Nebraska are tenuous at best. I used to tease my late friend Michael Homan about his Nebraska football fandom. I always called them the Cornholers and claimed not to know that it was really Cornhuskers. All corn is the same to me, y’all.
Nebraska has modified its mascot because of an intersection with white supremacist symbolism. The okay sign is no longer okay. Here’s the old and the new:
I heard about the change from an outstanding article at TPM Cafe by Roger Kreuz. I learned more about mascotry than I ever have before. I don’t know if mascotry is a word, but it should be.
Let’s move from the Nebraska Cornholers to a Tulane Green Wave alum.
Jerry Fucking Springer: The freak show impresario, Tulane grad, and former Cincy mayor died recently at the age of 79. I only watched his show sporadically, but it was one of my guilty pleasures. Very guilty as you can see from this clip:
The NYT has two cool feature stories about Jerry Fucking Springer:
We’re All Guests On The Jerry Springer Show Now by Jane Coaston.
American Ringmaster by James Poniewozik.
The NYT tries to be all highbrow and shit but who among us doesn’t like a good freak show?
The last word of our second act goes to Weird Al Yankovic with a parody of Jerry Fucking Springer to the tune of BNL’s One Week:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: Jennifer Jason Leigh played Dorothy Parker in the underrated 1994 movie, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
Here they are side-by side:
Dorothy Parker was an excellent writer and noted wit. She also dug puns, which is why I dig her:
Movie List: It’s not only Bob Seger’s birthday, it’s the 108th anniversary of Orson Welles’ birth. This list focuses on his acting, not his directing although there is considerable overlap.
The Orson The Actor Dozen
- Citizen Kane
- The Third Man
- Touch Of Evil
- Compulsion
- The Long Hot Summer
- Jane Eyre
- A Man For All Seasons
- Tomorrow Is Forever
- Catch-22
- The Stranger
- Moby Dick
- Macbeth
Orson played The Shadow on the radio. The last word of the segment goes to Robbie Robertson who name checks Welles:
Your Weekly Oscar: This time, OP live with one of his own compositions:
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?
Saturday GIF Horse: I’m feeling hopelessly lowbrow as I write this, so here’s more Jerry Fucking Springer.
No, you can’t. Who would want to? Beats the hell outta me.
Tweet Of The Week: A ditty shared by one of the OG NOLA bloggers. We gotta stick together.
— swampwoman (@swampwoman) May 2, 2023
Let’s class the joint up with a Cole Porter tune:
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Classic: I’m featuring a Neville Brothers set tomorrow. Here they are performing Fiyo On The Bayou at the 2008 Jazz Fest.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten in Citizen Kane:
