Adrastos, Diary, Fog Of History, Music, Odds & Sods, Television

Saturday Odds & Sods: Road To Nowhere

Enchanted Domain I by Rene Magritte.

It’s been a hot, steamy, and somewhat depressing week in New Orleans. I’ve had a setback in my recovery. I’m feeling better BUT my iron levels haven’t risen since I’ve been taking iron pills, so I remain anemic.

Anemia is a stubborn sumbitch, so the next step is a series of IV iron infusions. Sounds like a sequel to my first post about my malady, Diary Of A Human Pin Cushion. Oh well, what the hell.

Repeat after me: Never get sick on Mardi Gras day.

On a happier note, I hereby declare June to be Talking Heads/Rene Magritte month. It’s quirky new wave rock meets quirky old school surrealism.

David Byrne wrote this week’s theme song for Talking Heads 1985 album Little Creatures. It’s an epic song complete with a choral opening followed by a roller rink organ. The kids back then called it da bomb.

We have three versions of Road To Nowhere for your listening pleasure: the studio original, David Byrne live in 2019, and a rousing a cappella rendition by the Young@Heart Chorus:

Is this Cat Stevens song title the exact opposite of a Road To Nowhere? Discuss amongst yourselves.

That reminds me of one of my favorite political puns from the Trump regime, Tea For The Tillerson. Why has Rex Tillerson remained silent about the Trump menace? He famously called the Kaiser of Chaos “a fucking moron.” I guess tax cuts are more important than anything to Tillerson and his oily ilk. Plutocrats gotta plutocrat.

We begin our second act with a story about some nifty genealogical detective work.

A Nazi In The Family? It’s not usual for Germans to have the odd Nazi in their family tree, but it’s rarer in the United Kingdom. There’s an amazing story in the Guardian by Leo Hickman about his discovery that his paternal grandfather was a German POW.

Hickman ran down all the leads and even met his German family but not his granddad who died in 2004. It’s a grand story, well done, sir.

Thanks to Leo Hickman for climbing his family tree for the Guardian readership. In my own research, I learned there are many songs are called Family Tree. Here are two of them:

Let’s lighten things up and talk Survivor. Beats the hell outta pondering The Celebrity Apprentice and the host with the cotton candy piss hair.

The Survivor Eras Tour: I was originally a Survivor skeptic but eventually fell under its spell. Dr. A stopped watching a decade ago, but I’ve stuck with it despite the mud and hunger involved in the game. Repeat after me: Mud is from hunger.

Vulture’s Jason P. Frank and Nic Suarez have written a swell piece about the 8 eras of Survivor. Like the authors, I’m not quite sure what to think of the so called New Era. Shit has become so complicated that the authors’ Vulture colleague Brian Moylan has called for Jeff Probst to be fired. I disagree. I dig Probst as a host except when he says, “Get it on.”

I prefer this Probstian quote:

You say Proustian, I say Probstian. Let’s call the whole thing off.

The last word of our second act goes to Small Faces:

We begin our third act with a twist on our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Twitter Edition: I don’t recall how this hit my timeline, but this Tesla joke made me laugh.

Your Weekly Oscar: It’s another OP double header. First, the Macca classic, Yesterday. Then add an s for the Jerome Kern classic, Yesterdays. Does this make me a classicist?

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

The Best Of SNL: It’s a girl power sketch featuring my countrywoman Tina Fey and her Philly accent. They say water weirdly in Phillies-Eagles country.

Saturday GIF Horse: If you were expecting a Big Suit GIF, you were not far wrong.

I’ve seen many Talking Heads pix online recently. They’ve been out promoting Stop Making Sense and seem not to hate one another. Hell may have frozen over, which means a Talking Heads reunion is no longer impossible.

It’s been 28 years since the release of this kinda sorta reunion album with other singers filling in for David Byrne. Come on down, Andy Partridge:

For the uninitiated, Andy is the XTC guy. He wrote this song:

Tweet Of The Week: I assume I’m not the only one proud of Charles Barkley for this prideful statement marking Pride month.

Fuck yeah, Chuck.

The Junk Drawer: The campaign of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continues to attract more mockery than support. Check out this image that makes him look as if he has Mickey Mouse ears.

Let’s play his theme song again, Rishi Don’t Lose That Number:

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

Saturday Closer: In this 1997 set on PBS, David Byrne trades the Big Suit for a pink one.

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Talking Heads circa 1985: Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, David Byrne, and Tina Weymouth.