New Orleans had a few days respite from the polar thingamabob but it’s back. I’m tired of having days with the high temp at midnight, Brrr, shiver, and all that jazz.

It’s too cold for an extended intro, so let’s dive in.

This week’s theme song was written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen for Steely Dan’s 2000 album Two Against Nature. It’s a funk song propelled by Walter Becker’s guitar. We don’t call him Uncle Walter for nothing.

We have two versions of Gaslighting Abbie for your listening pleasure: the studio original and an instrumental cover by jazz guitarist, Wayne Raglan.

That was a gas, y’all. We begin our second act with my thoughts on gaslighting, not Abbie. I’ve only known people who spell that name Abby. Oh well, what the hell.

On Gaslighting: There are two current definitions of the term. I prefer the older one as practiced by Charles Boyer on Ingrid Bergman in the 1944 movie Gaslight. Here’s the Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s take on that variation:

Psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.

Since the advent of the Trump candidacy, the secondary definition has become more popular:

The act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage

Saying that the Kaiser of Chaos is gaslighting the country is accurate but it’s weaker than the word LIE. Even after 9 years of Trumpian lies, Americans are uncomfortable calling someone a liar, so they use gaslighting instead. I’m a blunt and direct person so I prefer to call a liar a liar.

This week’s theme song is one of the only songs that uses the G word, so we’ll give XTC the last word of the segment with a title that includes the D word:

The Son Also Sets: I have a lifelong fascination with explorers. I’ve never wanted to be one, but I dig reading about their exploits. Oddly enough for a man who hates cold weather, I’m most interested in polar exploration. Go figure.

That brings me to a fabulous piece in the New York Times Magazine by Michael Wilson about the son of one of the greatest polar explorers of them all: Admiral Richard E. Byrd. His son Dick has tried to keep his father’s name alive. He’s done a darn good job of it too. I’m writing about the Byrds, after all.

The story also involves missing artifacts and a recently discovered flag. I am not making this up, but then why would I? My enthusiasm for this segment is unflagging…

Get thee to NYT.com for the details. 

Documentary Of The Week: Observant readers have surely noticed my passion for the art of Edward Hopper. But I didn’t know much about the painter and his life until seeing the American Masters production of Hopper: An American Love Story.

Edward Hopper was a shy and taciturn man. He was also tall, standing 6’4″. He was devoted to his wife Jo Nivison who was also an artist when the two met. It was a long and successful marriage although marked with jealousy on Jo’s part. She insisted on being Hopper’s only female model.

I’ve sometimes called Edward Hopper an accidental surrealist, but I was wrong:  He was a formally trained artist aware of modern trends. Instead of abstraction, he chose a lonely and mysterious realism as well as experiments in light like this week’s featured image.

I learned a lot from the documentary, but I already knew how to find the trailer:

Grading Time: I give Hopper: An American Love Story 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B+. It’s an excellent way to spend an hour.

The last word of our second act goes to Paul Weller:

 We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth: Last week, regular reader Julia Seven had this to say about the first Chris Wray SAB:

FBI Director Wray must have doppelgänger genes because I see him separated at birth from musician Chris Isaak and actor Kurt Russell. Now Christopher Nolan. My goodness!

I’m certain that Chris Wray can’t sing as well as Chris Isaak, but being appointed by the Indicted Impeached Insult means that Wray has done this:

The Movie List was on hiatus. It’s back with a vengeance inspired by the gaslighting segment. Joseph Cotten played the copper who rescued Ingrid Bergman from the handsome clutches of Charles Boyer in Gaslight.

After starting his career in a series of classics, Cotten did a lot of film noir in the 1950’s; another reason for this list. Rumor has it that I like film noir.

The Joseph Cotten Dozen

1. Citizen Kane
2. Shadow Of A Doubt
3. The Third Man
4. The Magnificent Ambersons
5. Gaslight
6. Since You Went Away
7. A Delicate Balance
8. Niagara
9. Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
10. Beyond The Forest
11. A Blueprint For Murder
12. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case

I’ll let John Wetton sing our way out of this segment:

Your Weekly Oscar: We haven’t done an Oscar-Fred doubleheader for a while. This time with an Irving Berlin tune. A reminder that OP played piano on The Astaire Story.

The Best Of Johnny: Carlin + Carson = Comedy Gold.

Saturday GIF Horse: Tired of hearing about Gaslight? Too bad. Here are two GIFs from that terrific film.

That’s crazy mad as opposed to angry mad:

Meme Of The Week: I found this elsewhere on the internet; at least one of our readers will be thrilled by this. Right, Al?

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: Tomorrow’s movie post is about Strange Bargain, a film noir starring Martha Scott and Jeffrey Lynn. This song has nothing to do with the movie but everything to do with bargains:

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Josephine and Edward Hopper.